Vacation and Awards

This is my first post in a few weeks because I was travelling out of the country on a two-week vacation to Sydney, Australia and New Zealand. I flew to Sydney for four days and then on to New Zealand, where I spent two days in Queenstown and two in Franz Josef, then two days in Wellington followed by two days in Auckland before returning home to Los Angeles.

It was quite a trip. Sydney is a great city with much to do and some very interesting beaches and wildlife, zoos etc within a relatively short distance. The weather was off and on. Some sun, some rain. It's early spring there so you never know. We didn't travel outside much except to go to Manly Beach one day and a wildlife park another day. We ate well. That's one thing for certain, No matter the weather, you can find an abundance of good food.

From there it was off to Queenstown, New Zealand which is a cute little tourist town on the south shore of Lake Wakatipu.

There's a great deal of winter sports and plenty for the thrill seeker (not me) and then this quiet little town has quite the nightlife for all those spending the day sporting. I took a boat ride through Milford Sound.

Mirror Lake on the way to Milford Sound

From there, we drove up to Franz Josef with a quick stop in Lake Wanaka and the National Transport and Toy Museum (what a treat!).

The Transport and Toy Museum where bears drive the vintage cars.

We took a helicopter ride to the Fox Glacier and liked up towards the top. Amazing!

Then drove up to Picton for a three-hour ferry ride across the strait to the North Island and the New Zealand Capital of Wellington. Here, the weather starts to turn on us. Not much sunlight from this point on. Rainy days and gloomy days. But again, plenty of restaurants to choose from. And we tried to choose different cuisines each night of our trip. And there was the National Museum (Te Papa) and the Parliament building to tour.

Auckland was last and while it was nice, it wasn't great. If the weather had been nicer, we would have ventured out to the shore or taken a ferry to Waiheke Island. But the weather was gloomy or rainy every day.

One goes to the hotel gym when it rains.

We ate well. Notice a theme?

And we did one day trip to the Waitomo Caves and Rotorua and the thermal pools. Nice.

While I was away, the Scenie Awards presented by Steven Stanley of Stage Scene LA were announced. Both shows I was in this year won multiple awards. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Glendale Centre Theatre won multiple awards including for Outstanding Ensemble Cast Lead Performance in a Musical - Larger Theatre (which includes me!). And The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee also won for Outstanding Production, and one for Musical (Intimate Theatre) Outstanding Ensemble Cast Performance, Musical (Intimate Theatre) (including me again)
So my Facebook page was lighting up with posts from friends and colleagues congratulating one another and giving thanks to Steven for those awards while I was in Sydney.

So thank you Steven Stanley!

Lastly, I booked a commercial while I was in New Zealand How did I do that? The audition was the morning of my flight to Sydney. Fortunately, I wasn't leaving until 11:00pm. So I auditioned that day. No callbacks. I found out I booked it 4 days into my trip. And shot it the day after I returned!

Award Season in LA

Last night the Ovation Awards were handed out in Los Angeles. The Ovation Awards are LA's version of the TONY Awards given to theaters in LA.  The awards are broken down into two categories, Intimate Theatre and Large Theatre. And I love that they do that. Otherwise it would be like the big Broadway shows going up against the little Off-Off-Broadway houses.  There are so many intimate theaters here in Los Angeles, that I couldn't possibly name them all and I shan't!

The Broadway World Award nominations were announced yesterday as well. And again, even more friends and colleagues were nominated for awards. I wasn't. :( Boo Hoo! But then neither were the couple of productions I was in. That's okay because last year I got some love. Now, unlike the Ovations, there are a lot of categories. Unfortunately, the Broadway World Awards does not separate by smaller and larger theaters. But then they do separate the touring productions from the local productions. And they have cabaret awards. Thems a lot of awards!

But imagine being with a small theater in the Valley (that's the San Fernando Valley, the other side of the hills from Hollywood and West Hollywood for those of you outside of LA) and you're in your theatre company's intimate production of Uncle Vanya and you're up against Annette Bening inThe Cherry Orchard at The Geffen or Dame Judi Dench in The Importance of Being Ernest at The Ahmanson. It's hardly fair. (BTW I made those up Judi Dench did not do Ernest at The Ahmanson. But can  you imagine? Squee! Oh! But apparently Annette Bening did do The Cheery Orchard..at the Mark Taper...in 2006. I knew I didn't just pull that out of my ass) So yay to the Ovations for splitting up the categories.

So a handful of friends were nominated for Ovations and a couple even won! Yay!  But most of the nominated shows, I've never seen or even heard of.  I go to theater almost every weekend, yet I managed to miss so many great shows. Why is that? Poor taste in what I choose to see? I try to support my friends in their shows. My friends have poor taste in the project they choose to be in?

None of the above. It's simply this. There is a hell of a lot of theatre in Los Angeles. A ton of it! You can't possibly see all of it there is so much. That's right. Los Angeles. Big theater town. You didn't know that did you? Well, it's true. There are dozens and dozens of little theaters all over town. There are storefronts in almost every neighborhood of this city that have been converted into performance spaces. I have friends opening in shows every weekend. I wish I could see them all. And I want my friends to know right here and now that I really do have the best intentions and I really want to see them all but its tough. And obviously if I'm in a show, well then, it can't be done.

In the last few weeks alone I've one friend do standup, a group of friends and acquaintances from my acme Comedy Theatre days doing their improv show, Sondheim on Sondheim, Damn Yankees, Willy Wonka, Guys & Dolls, Broadway Bound and Spring Awakening.  Coming up, I have Heathers, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, Arsenic and Old Lace and Deathtrap. Lots of old stalwarts there. Plus a cabaret act. And I'll bet there are a couple of other shows that I will have to see coming up, some new pieces.

Well, I have to go. Lots of theater to see. Congrats to all the nominees and winners! Go. Support Theatre!