From Anthony

I have my own blog on Myspace.  It most often tends to be a journal of ideas with little emphasis on events in my life.  This blog seems dedicated to telling people what is going on in our lives, so here it is.

This summer with Ohio Light Opera (OLO) has been a real joy so far.  For those of you who don't know how this company works, here is a brief explanation.  The company produces 7 or 8 operettas, light operas, or musicals a summer.  Some of the shows are very familiar (such as Oklahoma! and The Mikado this summer) and some of them are very obscure.  More on that later.  The shows run in repertory, which means we never do the same show 2 days in a row.   The cast members, orchestra and crew all come from different parts of the country and are all pursuing careers in the arts.  We are live in college housing on the campus of the school that operates the company.  Desiree and I live in a very large house with 6 other cast members.  We both get along with all of them very, very well.  It is not unusual for all of us to share a big meal together or to sit in the living room and talk until the wee hours of the morning.  

This is the company's 30th season and my 3rd with them.  My first summer I did almost exclusively chorus roles, which did not please me very much.  Last year I had a few more things to do and this year I am playing fun and interesting roles in 5 shows and assistant-directing one other.  It is great fun.  Today we opened a show entitled The Cabaret Girl.   This performance was a land-mark in numerous ways.  Most importantly, this was the U.S. premiere of the work.  It opened in London in 1927 and has never made it across the ocean.  This show is also the 100th title produced by OLO.  It was composed by the 40th composer whose works have played at OLO.  One of the songs my character sings is not included in the orchestrations of the show, which makes most of us believe that it was not included in the original production.  If that is true, that means that I sang a song today that has never been performed before.  As I sit and placidly type this I want to stand up and shout "Yeah, baby!  That rocks!"  I feel so lucky to be having such a great experience this summer.  Audiences have been very receptive to me so far and I am having a great time.

Of course the great draw-back is that the "summer of Desiree and I living together" has turned into the "summer of me staying in Wooster OH, and Desiree going to trainings in Chicago, flying to a funeral in Utah, and working 4 days a week in Columbus."  Oh well.  We still have 3 days a week together which is WAY better than nothing at all.

The moral of the story:  moving away from our comfy little womb in Utah was a scary thing.  But I feel very blessed to be having a great time pursuing my crazy career in a pleasant place with nice people.