LGBTQ news and entertainment
My cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE at Sacramento Music Circus gets into the spirit of things with their own version of “The Telephone Hour” – new millennia.
I love these kids. Three more chances to see them! Tonight and tomorrow afternoon!
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| Me in black and Kat Murphy on the right |
On the opening day of BYE BYE BIRDIE at Sacramento Music Circus, I was asked to teach a Master Dance Class as part of the community outreach program at Music Circus.
I’m occasionally asked to teach these classes, and I do so with the understanding that I’m a choreographer and not a “technical” teacher. I talk about the style and thought behind the choreography, but trust me – no one wants to see me demonstrate a tendu or dégagé 🙂
My trusted partner in crime, Kat Murphy, came along to warm the group up; and then we taught a bit of the show’s “Got A Lot Of Livin To Do” choreography. We also sat and did a Q&A with the dancers about classes, approach to choreography, and other theatre topics. Some really good questions came up.
When I was asked to teach the class it was in the middle of rehearsals for BYE BYE BIRDIE and I was knee deep in choreography. It crossed my mind I might be a bit fried by opening day. But I was so glad I followed through. So many thanked me for the class; one dancer said she lived 30 minutes away and only had access to ballet classes – no theatre dance. So, it filled my soul a bit to see folks enjoy dancing so much.
Please note: I didn’t know they were recording this or I certainly would have “danced out” more. At this point we had been dancing for almost an hour and a half, and I was giving the group one last chance to dance. This 51 year old was trying to reserve resources 🙂
Can we talk about the girl (her name is Alison we found out later) in the white tank top? She is KILLING it! Alison, you better live that dance.
She and all the folks who showed up made me smile. I hadn’t danced without the pressure of a rehearsal time limit in a while, so it was fun to just dance again.
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| “Got A Lot Of Livin To Do” |
Regular readers of The Randy Report know I split my career between writing about LGBT and pop culture issues here and working in the theater.
The past two weeks my posting here has been a little light as I’ve been choreographing a new production of the all-American musical Bye Bye Birdie for Sacramento Music Circus. Artistic Director Glenn Casale invited me and a fab cast on a terrific journey bringing this classic to life again.
I’ve received some emails asking how the show went, so I’m happy to share this montage of clips from the opening night performance.
Make sure you catch the moment between my partner in crime/Associate Choreographer Kat Murphy as she reacts to “Conrad Birdie” (Nate Hackmann) at the 4:02 mark. Nate, Kat and the whole company stopped the show with that performance of “Honestly Sincere.”
Loved the whole experience. If you’re in the Sacramento area this week, head over to Sacramento Music Circus and see the result of our work. It’s fun.
Click on any of the pics to enlarge.
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| “One Last Kiss” |
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| “Healthy Normal American Boy” |
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| “We Love You Conrad” |
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| “The Telephone Hour” |
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| Nate Hackmann as “Conrad Birdie” |
Rehearsing “The Shriners Ballet” from Bye Bye Birdie at Sacramento Music Circus yesterday with the fab Janine Divita (“Rose”) and the men of the ensemble. )That’s me in the lower left hand corner).
Today we get the drummer in for couple of hours, which always jazzes the dancers 🙂
The skit opens Tuesday!
Apologies in advance today for light posting. I’m staging three big numbers (including “Honestly Sincere”) today at Sacramento Music Circus for the upcoming production of BYE BYE BIRDIE opening next Tuesday.
Thought I’d share a little of the world I’m working in right now. Happy Tuesday!
I’m “Honestly Sincere” when I “Put On A Happy Face” and share that I’ll be heading back to Sacramento Music Circus this summer to choreograph BYE BYE BIRDIE!
This will be my 3rd summer dancing with the “Kids” at Sac Music Circus, and we “Got A Lot Of Livin’ To Do” before everything is “Rosie.”
Definitely looking forward to it. As always when I’m working in the theater, The Randy Report will continue – just means some double duty for a while. But I love doing both. I’ll share the backstage process of putting on a show from as many perspectives as I can.
If you’re in Sacramento in early July, opening night is July 7th! Come down and say hi 🙂