Waiting to Exhale

I wonder if I'd get any blogging done these days if it wasn't for the fact that I can do this on the subway. The same goes with email correspondence. I've become frighteningly dependent on the crackberry. Quick, too! If my thumbs ever give out, I'm kinda' screwed.

I've been running around like a crazy person. Last night was my second (third?) show of the week and there are more to come.

Last night was the Off-Broadway production of "The Marriage of Bette and Boo", by Christopher Durang (I love comps, especially when it's for a good show). If you're not familiar with Durang's work, he's mastered dark comedy. Not merely gray and cloudy, but outright pitch black. It's not for the delicate. I enjoyed it, although there was a fair amount of pain with the pleasure. The only way to pull off a Durang show is by being as completely genuine as possible. If you try for "funny", it won't be. It slices to the core of humanity but, at the same time, saying things out loud, much like that of a small child, that otherwise would go unsaid.

Tonight I'm taking a break from the theatre to hang with friends, but tomorrow I'm likely to get right back to it. There are two shows closing this weekend I absolutely want to try and make, if at all humanly possible. The first is "Saved"-- a musical based on the oh-so-hilarious film from a few years ago (and to which I already have cheap front row tickets). The next is "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", which I'd probably be okay in skipping except for James Earl Jones. It's also supposed to be a wonderful production, overall, but I do recognize that I can't always see *everything*. Terrence Howard is also supposed to be fantastic. So, for that one I'll probably try my luck of the draw at the TKTS booth and go from there. If Sunday night rolls along and I haven't seen it, it won't be the end of the world.

Tomorrow night is a concert in Central Park with Stephen Lynch. I love, love, love this guy. He's terribly funny. Whether or not I decide to go depends on weather and a few other factors. Getting out there by the time it starts is difficult enough and with the crowds I'm guessing I'll be somewhere in the back 40. We'll see. If we can nab good seats for CoaHTR, that will likely be a deciding factor.

Also this weekend is the benefit one-night-only reading of "Jesus Hopped the A Train", featuring the original 2000 cast and directed by Philip Semour Hoffman. I already wanted to go, but happily comps fell into my lap. Sweet! Then, Monday night, I end the current string with a friend's cabaret show on its last night. Whew!

Oh, yeah, and Wednesday Kurt Elling rolls to town-- and he's playing in my hood!! I have tickets for Thursday night, but know I'll see him at *least* one other time.

In all of this, did I mention we have a really tight deadline at work of June 30? About 100 new sites launching (I wish I was exaggerating on that number, but I'm not)? The following holiday weekend should be especially relaxing after the craziness, although I don't doubt that the following Monday will still feel too soon. It always does, regardless of the length of vacation, doesn't it? And I *like* my job-- I can't imagine how it is for people who don't.

There are other shows somewhat new on the scene that I'd like to see, but running longer than this weekend, so there's time. Oh, yeah, and probably getting out and doing some of my own performing in there somewhere.