2009: The Make it or Break it Year

This is the first year of the rest of your life. 

Economically, this is the first year Mamasan has ever been scared.  All kinds of middle class, hard working people are frightened they will lose their jobs and possibly lose their homes.  New York is the city of opportunity, however.  Like all good jobs waiting for the perfect match, I am sure my girl will find a way to progress toward her goals.

She has a roommate from home, (a late blooming troubadour) to share the rent, a job that is steady, albeit not the best in the city, and is doing well with her internship.

Lots of resumes and accompanying cover letters are being sent out and responses are starting to trickle in…in NY and Indy.

I noticed Frank Ross has put up another of his movies on IMDB, thus giving Britters her second legitimate film credit.  Not sure what is happening to the one in Greendingle. 

Prayers for our country, my family and all our friends who are looking for solid jobs to get through this crisis.  In many ways, the young who are just starting out are better off than their parents.  No mortgages, no car payments, no other obligations or worries…ah, those were the days.

Living Legends

The Hollywood Intern has transformed into the New York Intern and is meeting all kinds of accomplished artists.  Last week, she was working in her capactity as an intern at the York during a reading of a new musical.  She met Tony Walton, a blue eyed Englishman who has a long history of designing sets and costumes on Broadway.  He is directing a new musical and they were doing a reading.  So she meets him one day, she sends him her headshot/resume the next day/she sings for him the third day and he cast her in his public reading of the musical!  Now that is wonderful.  She will rehearse with them a few times and do the public reading on the 16th right before she comes home for Christmas.  For those of us who are not in the loop for NY theatre, Tony designed the wedding dress for Julie Andrews first wedding, and was also the groom and later the father of their daughter.   Another person reading for this play is the actor Sean Palmer who is on Broadway right now as Prince Eric in the Littlest Mermaid. 

So that was last week.  Last night, she worked a Gala at the York and met a few more extremely talented artists, authors, song writers, actors.  They were giving an award to George S. Irving, a character actor with a long history.   Besides meeting George, she met the following OMGs:

Jim Dale-Won a Tony for Barnum but we all would know him better by the Grammys that he has won reading the Harry Potter books.  He also wrote the theme for Georgie Girl.  Britt’s kind of multi-talented guy

Jay Sanders-another working actor with a long resume who is currently working on the latest Mel Gibson film, Edge of Darkness

Tom Jones-no need for introduction, just throw panties, sold over 100 million records, oh yeah, knighted by the Queen

Sheldon Harnick-lyricist for Fiddler on the Roof

Joseph Stein-librettist-wrote the books for Fiddler on the Roof, Zorba, and Rags. Wrote for Sid Caesar, Debbie Reynolds

So, my little girl, wearing my vintage red wool dress coat and newly acquired Wal-mart scarf and gloves, has been meeting living legends in New York.   She has found her internship at the York different, much different, than her internship at New Line Cinema.   She is soooooo much more at home with the artistic side versus the money side of the entertainment biz.

P.S.  she keeps getting compliments on the hand me down red coat.  Classic never goes out of style.  Or to paraphrase Mo Mo, Grace Kelly beats “Lindsay Lovelace”  or whatever her name is.  lol

New York, New York

Well, it was a lot easier putting my girl on the plane to New York than it was sending her off to LA last year.  She is very mature and strong and the apron strings are getting shorter and shorter.  Of course, text messaging to let me know she made it back to her apartment each night keeps me sane.  

Her new friends, Gretchen and Nancy, have been very sweet and supportive.  Already, Britt has secured an internship at a theatre and an audition with another due to them.  Nancy is taking her to a show Sunday.  She has another coming up that she found on her own as well as a hostess job in a restaurant.  She needs to find an entry level paying job, maybe as a casting assistant or production assistant so she can qualify for an apartment of her own.

Einstein and the Roosevelts

Well, a lot has happened since summer theatre.  The girl stayed busy working several jobs over the summer in between her lead role in Footloose and her dancing/singing role in Singing in the Rain, including several types of paid work: 

Head writer, artisitic director, actress in a film, housekeeper (my mom did the same thing her last year in high school in the same town-circa 1929-30), alterations, petsitting.  The petsitting was especially grueling as she rode her bike about 9 miles sometimes twice a day to the country to feed a horse, 2 dogs and a few cats and a bit of plant watering thrown in.  Throw an occasional babysitting gig in here and there and she was able to build up a bankroll for her move to New York. 

It was fortuitous and timely that DePauw alumni and Broadway team Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford decided to bring their new musical Einstein and the Roosevelts to Greencastle to test it out.  What a wonderful place to show off their work.  The fact that the newly renovated facility had not produced a musical during the girl’s senior year due to the disruption of tearing down and rebuilding the east wing of the building was kind of sad.  That was offset with the fact that it hosted a new musical to the scene and gave sissy a good reason to stay and save some money.  Of course, the best part is that these two ladies got their start right on the same stage back in the 50’s.

The play. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that much from this show.  I assumed that it would be a work in progress.  Well, it has been a work in progress over a period of about 20 years.  I was pleasantly surprised as to how put together the show was.  I literally smiled from ear to ear during all five of the productions.    After the first show, I went home and researched the historical characters as it had been awhile since I even thought about them.  Gretchen did a fantastic job of weaving the story together and pulling quotes from historical documents and scholarly reviews of the time.  As to Nancy’s music, I find myself humming the tunes to several of the songs, even weeks later.  Gretchen said the next step is to get the show produced on a legitimate stage.  It has great potential for success and longevity, in my opinion.

Britters developed the role of Lucille Mercer, secretary to Eleanor and purported lover and/or at least life long friend to Franklin.  Friends with benefits, for you younguns. (What rhymes with benefits?  I need to add that to my work in progress, Lucy’s Song.  More on that later.) Andrew, the director, took a very difficult to pull together show and made it run seamlessly.  There is so much packed into the show and the pacing was just right.  He always does a great job casting and setting the tone for a show.  It is never difficult to find great singers for shows at DePauw since they have such a great classical training for opera department.  But Andrew found singers who can act, which is not always all that easy.  The chorus was extremely deep in talent and each one had a fun part to show off and they did. 

My girl has a presence on stage that draws eyes to her.  It ain’t just mom watching.  President Casey said she was “captivating” . Other comments came from her choir teacher who told her her singing was beautiful.  He and she have had a love/hate relationship over the past couple of years, so for him to call her up to tell her that, really meant a lot to her.  He went on to compliment her on how she had developed the bridge between the great high voice and great low voice that he always recognized.  Well, Gabe, that is what the music lessons at your fine school was for, that and maturing vocal chords.  My kiddo has never been known to peak too early.  She works and works and works for what she wants.  As a freshman in high school, her voice was so soft, one could hardly hear her at contest time, earning her silver.  The next three years, she earned the honor of All State Choir.  One thing about Britters, she is coachable.  The nicest comment came from one mom (of Jon Cryer, star of Two and a Half Men ie, Gretchen) to another, ie moi.  When I introduced myself to her, she perked up said I had a “good girl there”.  Yup yup, I sure do.

Footloose

My girl was magic.  She and the boy who played Ren are EXTREMELY talented and they were hot last night.  He is going to Ball State this fall.  I guess he played a couple of lesser parts in this production when he was in high school.  He must have been younger as I can’t imagine anyone doing it better at North Put.  How could anyone possibly top what he did, acting, singing, moving?  He had it down.

I never liked it when my dad would brag about me, especially when I found out he showed off my report card to his buddies at the  tavern..geesh, so I try to NOT brag about my kids, especially in their earshot.  Until I found this weirdly anonymous place to shout without appearing to be THAT kind of mom, I save my bragging for my three girlfriends who also have brilliant children.  We take turns.   It’s fun.  We act as sounding boards when our kids struggle through things. We understand and experience momhood together.

I am so lucky to have two healthy, intelligent, well grounded and talented kids.  I am so fortunate that they are self motivated to do their work at school without me hovering.  I am so proud of them.  Recently, my 13 year old boy was inspired by Jason Castro’s rendition of a couple of songs on Idol this year.  He picked up the $40 uke we got him for Christmas when he was 4, the one he stepped on and cracked shortly afterwards.  Now he is the resident expert on the Hawaiian singer and his version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and can actually play it like he took lessons for 9 years.    Glad I didn’t get rid of that uke at a yard sale.

Back to the girl: Her fluidity of movement is outstanding.  Her voice is so beautiful and her technique has grown from the training at college.  Her acting never missed a beat and she can dance.   She is a natural.  I can say that without question because of my dramatic training and teaching, but…

I wish someone would tell me.  Is she really that stunning, that gorgeous, that entrancing or am I a victim of partiality cause she is mine?  Were all eyes drawn to her when she was onstage? Did her blonde hair really look like a halo framing an angel’s visage?  

I saw Footloose in rehearsal, in production twice, so I knew the flaws, the highs and the lows. 

Last night I was overcome with emotion.   My girl was magic.

 

 

DePauw Commencement May 18, 2008

Invitation to Graduation

Brittany will be graduating on Sunday, May 18 at 1pm and we would love to have you attend.  We are so very proud of her and all she has accomplished in the last four years.  Besides earning her diploma with a double degree in Music and Theatre, she kept up her grades, worked year round and has even invested in a Roth IRA.

Brittany stretched her wings and traveled to New York, Connecticut, Washington DC, Virginia, California without once asking us for ticket money.  One summer she was the Musical Director in a summer camp putting on three musicals.  Last summer she traveled to Los Angeles and worked as an unpaid intern at New Line Cinema and also worked a second job at a grocery store.  This summer she will be working at DePauw making a video, earning some money and hopefully resting a bit. During the school year, she was an ITAP fellow (Technology, media, etc.), which should help her get a good “day job,” probably in the Arts.

Brittany was never really in plays at high school, but got the bug the summer of 2004 when she was cast in State Fair. She was so afraid, she almost didn’t audition.  I admit I had to almost push her onstage, because I knew she had it in her and told her “this is what you are supposed to do”.  A few weeks ago, she found out she was cast as Ariele in Footloose at Putnam County Playhouse, opening in June.  On the same day, Britt learned she landed a part in Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford’s musical Einstein and the Roosevelts.  These are two ladies who graduated from DePauw in 1957 and are the best known female writing team on Broadway.  They actually came back to Greencastle to work with Prof. Andrew Hayes, the director, to cast the parts.  The show will be the fall musical at DePauw, so it is waaaaaaaaay off Broadway, but it is a fantastic part for her to land, especially considering DePauw has so many classically trained singers who auditioned, too.  More importantly, she is working and networking with professionals

Tonight, we went to her senior seminar for her theatre degree.  She wrote a play and had students do a reading of it.  It finally hit me that she really is graduating with a Liberal Arts degree from DePauw University.  Wow.  I am really proud of her. Wish Mom and Dad could see her. 

Red Letter Day, Wednesday April 9, 2008

Last Wednesday was a red letter day for the girl.  She was informed that she was cast in two productions with great parts.  Both of them are musicals and both of them are dear.

First of all.  Almost on a lark, she auditioned for Footloose at the community playhouse.  She will be singing and dancing back on the stage where she first caught the bug for musical theatre.  That was back on aught four, the season between her senior year in high school and her freshman year at college.  That was the summer of State Fair, young love onstage and off and a very pivotal point in her life.  Her confidence grew and she was able to express herself in a much different way than playing softball, basketball, cross country, and volleyball.  She will play the role of the preacher’s daughter and was cast by her very first teacher, the woman who taught her to dance starting at the tender age of 2.5.  I thought it would be a good way to overcome her shyness.  By the time, she was 5, when I saw her facial expressions while performing in the trio of the Three Little Pigs, I realized she would someday be an actress.  She had it.

However, the other role she has been cast in is extremely cool. She will get to develop a role of Lucy Mercer in Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford’s newest musical Einstein and the Roosevelts this fall at DePauw.  Yes, she will have to hang around Indiana a bit longer than she would like, but it will more than make up for the fact that she was shorted being in a fall musical her senior year due to the fact that the school was being torn up for remodeling.  

 

 

Doodle Gets Published!

Photo by Brittany Brumfield, DePauw University senior

The Layers of Sundance: One Student’s Perspective

By Brittany Brumfield | January 26, 2008

 

 

All I could see were feet. It was our first trek up the hill of Main Street and my only view were the Uggs of the girls in front of me, which I had to watch closely because without good traction it was only a matter of minutes before the entire group of us were taken out and sent tumbling down the mountainside. I was also focusing on the terrible discomfort of my new jeans, which were extra tight due to the thermals I had underneath. I was also layered with two pair of socks, three shirts, a jacket, a coat, gloves, a hat, and a scarf. Still, my toes and fingertips had gone numb and I realized the trip down Main would not be all fun.

We had traveled from DePauw University with intentions of watching/reviewing films and interviewing filmmakers for a class. I am a senior and an aspiring actress on the verge of embarking into the difficult world of film, therefore, I came to Sundance with my own added flavor of networking intentions. As I watched the meticulous movement of the Uggs in front of me, I wondered how on earth I would accomplish anything if I was unable to look at the people who crossed me in the street. My guts overpowered fear and I looked up. I was embarrassed to discover that every person I crossed made an open effort to stare—a slight thrill washed over me and the refrain “I’m glad I bought these jeans” ran through my head. I then realized these people were not staring at my jeans (even though they looked fabulous), they were hoping I was a star whose sighting would make their trip worth the money.

That was my first taste of Sundance: a place of extremes. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States and a place where the small voices of the industry have the opportunity to speak as loud or soft as they want, in whatever language they desire, and find an audience who will listen and appreciate their unique words. The downside is that the Sundance Film Festival has become a popular trend for well-known names (i.e., Paris Hilton), a place to flash their faces and clothes, adding a nice bit of excitement to the average citizen. It’s ironic that a festival that promotes the opposite of Hollywood attracts Hollywood onto its streets, and it is this aspect that voices the mixed-up ideals of our media-ridden society.

For me, it is obnoxious to walk around the crowd that festers outside a building, praying to see someone famous, and whose appeal is a fabrication of the media. I have been pushed into the street many times as I walked to and from films, and I find it rather funny to hear the cameraman yell “Back UP!” as he probes a lens into an oversized black vehicle. But, regardless of the added annoyance, these moments add the kind of excitement that completes the ambiance of Sundance. For what is the appeal of the Festival if it doesn’t open up opportunities for filmmakers to enter their unique voices into the mainstream, and change the shape of the culture our society imitates?

Only at Sundance lies the roots of change, and it is our duty to take the negative alongside the positive. We hope those with the power will make business deals which pull new voices out of Sundance to pursue careers in film. Only when they succeed can the focus of our media change, allowing society a chance to mold itself into new understanding. For this reason, I am an avid fan of Sundance because the positive intentions of this mountainous community outweigh the negative aspects that come along for the ride. The filmmakers prove there is beauty in the world and it will be the responsibility of wealthy production and distribution companies to lift up the eyes of the gifted and push them into the light.

http://www.sundance.org/festival/insider/2008-01-26-L@S-student.asp

The Thick of It II

I’m anxious today. Missed opportunities.I hate not having a good time.  I hate cold weather when I feel like running.I hate when I don’t represent the type of person I want to be.  Ignore this entry. It just needed to be written.