How I spent my summer vacation.

Mmmmm.....

Comic Relief

Since JCS is so dark and I've been so anxious and depressed about it, I think it's time for comic relief. We went to see JCS at Wolf Trap last summer. It starred Ted Neely, the original Jesus from a hundred years ago. The gasp when he came out for the first time was priceless, the whole crowd turned to one another and said, "He's OLD!" He's sort of short too and obviously has done chi gong or tai chi or something because all his movements were slow and slower. From a distance he looked quite Asian....

There's a line in "Last Supper" where Judas is screaming (as usual) at Jesus and he starts calling him a faded, jaded mandarin.... I never got that til I saw the show at Wolf Trap... He really did look like a faded mandarin. Not the orange so much.

At any rate, the highlight of the show is of course the end. At Wolf Trap, they put Jesus up high on a cross, dressed in a glowing white diaper and he has a very prolonged, agonizing scene where he struggles for breath as he is dying... Except, unintentionally, since Ted is so thin and obviously has major breath control it was just a bit too real. We were turning to one another, worried, "do you think he's okay? it looks like he may be REALLY dying" We were relieved when he ascended, flying through the air in his glowing white diaper... which was very appropriate for a very old man...

I tell you what though... that man can SING! Oh my gosh, his voice just soars-- it's unreal. I finally saw the movie for the first time recently... he was kinda hot, you know? If it's not blasphemous to call Jesus hot....

And speaking of blasphemy, those nutty kids have been completely inappropriate at PGSTT. Look at this:

It's fun to stay at the.....

As Anthony, PGSTT's Jesus says, "and that, my friends, is how you buy yourself a one-way ticket to hell" And the Christ MCA....

Remember, it's just comic relief.

Dude

Feel like I'm on the Autobahn. Trying to find an exit but the other cars won't let me over.

Okay, that was a bit dramatic huh?

Had an entry that I wrote last week that was brilliant if I do say so myself but in the interest of protecting the innocent, I had to erase it. So. Instant reply of the week:

Went to first night of tech week for my daughter's show, Jesus Christ Superstar in which she plays Judas, and freaked out. 6 pages of notes, emergency trip to her voice teacher and 'our' musical director, blocking, blocking, teaching her Reiki moves so she can teach Jesus....and realizing I may have a tiny control problem considering my anxiety when I am not. In control that is. Busy all week, high, high, high anxiety opening night (for me, not her) and it turned out okay. She was great, everything was smoothed, why did I worry?

Go to donate blood the next day, they take my blood pressure and I won't even tell you. Yikes. Course, then I get the inevitable "ummm, aren't you a YOGA teacher?" Yeah. I am. Just like with therapists, you get drawn to the profession you need the most.... physician, heal thyself.... whatever the hell that means.

Have to go watch my daughter betray Jesus and hang herself AGAIN on Sunday-- I don't mind telling you, I am not fond of this show under normal circumstances but to have Rhia doing it...I just feel really stressed out about the whole thing. Go straight from there to St. Pius to watch Children of Eden, my FAVORITE show, and am very pleased and happy with it. Tra la la....I get my good buddy the videographer to let me sit up with him on the tables where he is filming with the promise to not move and be quiet... I'm loving it.... and then they start singing The hardest part of love, is the letting go....

I apologize to St. Pius for ruining their tape.

Oh Lordy, the sky opened up and the waterworks turned on and I just could not get myself together.


And it's only in Eden grows a rose without a thorn
And your children start to leave you
On the day that they were born
They will leave you there to cheer for them
They will leave you there to mourn ever so
Like an ark on uncharted seas their lives will be tossed
And the deeper is your love for them
The crueler is the cost
And just when they start to find themselves
Is when you fear they're lost
ohhh

But you cannot close the acorn
Once the oak begins to grow
And you cannot close your heart
To what it fears and needs to know
That the hardest part of love
And the rarest part of love
And the truest is part of love
Is the letting go

Oh Dear.

You are now entering....

At King's Dominion there was (is?) a ride where they had small tv screens positioned throughout and a strange man's head would, in a very spooky voice, say "you are now entering the bermuda triangle". Very hokey. So, of course, for years this has been our mantra whenever anything hectic is about to start. Like Tech Week. Which starts today for Rhia's performance of Judas in JCS.

Tech Week is legend in the theater. If you are a theater geek, just saying the words brings a shiver of fear. This is when all hell breaks loose. You are running the show, sometimes for the first time if you are not an anal director like me. You are running it with sound, lights, costumes, props, sets....and this is what separates the men from the boys. You sort of WANT tech week to suck, it helps you find out what needs fixing. You'd rather know it now than after the show starts. Plus, the worse it is, the more the cast bonds and the better the show is. It's weird.

It's weirder not being the director/producer. It's a huge lesson in control-itis. I don't mind telling you this show is very important to me and it's taken everything I have to not barge in and try to 'backseat' direct it. It's just..... well, the story is REALLY important. And Rhia's part is huge and hugely demanding vocally. And well, you gotta FEEL the show. And I do. And have. And will.

Barry & I have held off going to the rehearsals til now. Cause mostly, it's not my place even though the directors have been very sweet inviting me. I'll do the show next spring-ish. We are going tonight, the first night of tech, because we can just go watch and hopefully, I'll keep my mouth as pinned quiet as possible.... cept for Rhia who already knows and wants me to take some notes and give some input. Mainly I'm going cause I love the cast & directors and I can be Rev. Yoga Healer and add some calmness to the bermuda triangle.....

Can't Wait! I'm sure it's gonna be GREAT!!!!

Insight of the Day

You teach people how to treat you.

And it's really hard to un-teach them.

~~Linda Miller, Rev. Yoga Healer aka Sensei