Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A Very Good Week

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The first peony bloom of the season – from the bush that didn’t bloom at all last year. I have to move it in the fall because the tree that is next to it is overwhelming it with shade. But, for some reason, it was able to produce one big beautiful flower this year. I’m grateful.

The catmint is nectar central for all the bees. Honeybees, bumble bees – they’re all there. The constant buzz (literally) of activity is the best movie in town.

And later in the day, I saw this:

Henry lurking in the shadows. Was he watching the catbird? Or was he contemplating life?

I grabbed my camera and took some photos. Right after that, he turned toward the entrance to his den and disappeared. I think it might have been due to this guy on the edge of the back forty.

I think he lives under our next door neighbors’ shed.

But enough about all that. Let’s get to the meat of this post.

I have to go into the city on Saturday. Why?

Because I have a ticket to the matinee of Hamilton!!!!

Oh my goodness, I am beyond excited about this! Here’s how it happened. One of the guys working on the music for Escape to Margaritaville  also worked on Hamilton  for several years and continues to work on the tours. He and Don got to talking about that one day and Don mentioned that I really, really, really wanted to see it. He said that he has access to House Seats and did I want him to put me on the list?

YES. YES. YES. He asked me to pick three dates in June. I chose three matinee days. He submitted my name and our credit card info. Saturday turned out to be the day the box office thought might work best, but I was still on a waiting list and as this week went by, I began to give up hope. I mean, it’s Hamilton  and getting a ticket is nigh to impossible.

Yesterday, I asked Don whether he had heard anything yet from his friend who had told us that he would hear something the week of the performance. Don said he’d call him. Coincidentally, his friend was emailing him the confirmation at the same time Don was calling.

I’m in!

House seats aren’t free – they’re still pricey, but less expensive than the cost of seats being sold to the general public. I learned my lesson when I turned down the opportunity to buy a house seat to see the original cast when it was at the Public Theater. I grabbed this chance.

Whoo hoo!

A good week: the celebration of my dear friend Rick, Comey is testifying today, the Original Broadway Cast album of Anastasia  is being released tomorrow, and I’m seeing Hamilton  on Saturday!

Happy Thursday.

Wednesday

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After three days of rain, darned if I didn’t just look outside to see the sun shining. Huzzah!

I’m still on a bit of a high from Monday night’s celebration of my friend Rick. I’ve been away from San Diego and the MFA program for 16 years now. And though I am friends on Facebook with most of my former students and am usually aware of what is happening in their lives, seeing so many of them in one place so many years later was incredibly powerful. So powerful that I was a bit shaken by the experience – in a good way.

There was such love in that room. And joy.

I forget sometimes what teaching meant to me. When we left San Diego, I was more than ready to move on. I love my coaching work. But teaching? Knowing that I’ve had an impact on the lives of my students and hearing them say that very thing so many years later reminded me that though I tend to compartmentalize the various stages of my career, that part of my life is still alive and kicking, living on in my students.

Don reminded me of all that when I called him Monday night. He knows most of those former students and knows, he says, the impact I made on them. I tend to underplay that kind of thing and deflect any compliments. But I’m going to bask in the glow of those relationships and the affirmation of the work we did there.

This peony, which is on the bush that didn’t bloom last year, is about to fully open.

This one, on the other bush, isn’t far behind.

And, now that the sun is out, I may see this rosebud open today.

Some of you have written me, sending me links about the announcement that Escape to Margaritaville  is going to open on Broadway next year. I’ve known that since January, though the official press release just came through, which is why you’re reading about it now.

Don’t get too excited. We aren’t. Because we know, as veterans of the theater, television and film, that nothing is guaranteed. A lot can happen between a pre-Broadway tryout and the eventual Broadway run. Scripts can and will be rewritten, characters might change, actors can be replaced. I’ve seen it happen. Don has seen it happen even more than me and he has certainly – as has every actor – had roles promised to him only to see them taken away.

No one in the cast knows anything about a life in this musical beyond the run in La Jolla. And the producers and director won’t be making any decisions until after that run has ended.

Yes, it would be wonderful. But…we’ll see.

Even Anastasia, which was a rare transfer to Broadway where most of the cast remained intact, replaced one lead actor and several ensemble members. It’s just the way of the world.

But thanks for caring!

Happy Wednesday.

 

What an Evening!

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This is all I’ve got for you today – a picture of one of the beautiful peonies that are in the bouquet I purchased the other day.

Pretty darned gorgeous.

Oh my. Yesterday’s party for my friend Rick was wonderful. I had no idea how moving it would be to see so many of my former students. And Rick. And students that went through the program after I left, some of whom worked with Don in Pygmalion  a few years ago.

Such a moving and powerful evening, this celebration of Rick’s work. I cannot put into words how he has shaped the lives and careers of the students who have gone through the MFA Acting program for the past 24 years. That he is adored is clear. That he is loved and respected for his mentoring of the program and of the students, that he shaped that program into what it is today is also abundantly clear.

I said a few words during the program. I realized that I had known Rick longer than anyone else in that room and I wanted to share some thoughts about the journey we made – giving up jobs in a prestigious acting program at Boston University and moving all the way across the country to work in a smallish program that had real possibilities.

It is now ranked number 7 in the world.

Rick and I confided to each other that if only one of us had been chosen, the whole thing wouldn’t have happened. It meant everything that we did it together.

So many impressions of the evening: former students who have just had babies, who are older, yet it seems like yesterday we were all working together, who pulled me aside to say how much my training has meant to them in their careers, who traveled great distances to be there for Rick. The MFA program at USD/Old Globe is an intimate one in the best possible way. We really got to know each other and that shared experience is priceless.

There’s a search going on for his replacement, but the truth is he’s irreplaceable. There is no one like him: kind, compassionate, funny, wise, completely committed to the growth of the program and to the quality of training – a mentor who has made his mark on so, so many.

Rick and I have been through so much together. Seeing him honored last night was a profound experience.

On a personal level, there is no one else, save my husband, who can make me laugh as much as Rick. When I think of our years together, I think of laughter, crazy over-the-top laughter. And joy.

I didn’t get home until just after midnight, staying much longer than I’d planned. It was lovely, a reminder that the work we did was valuable and that my former students are out there making their mark. I don’t teach any longer and it’s easy to forget that what I did was important, that I did  make a difference. And Rick? What a profound difference he has made. Words seem inadequate.

Thank you, Rick – for everything.

Happy Tuesday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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