Exit Stage Left

I'm still here, I'm just generally too tired to write a post and have it be coherent. I have a lot of great ideas, though, so I will hopefully be back to posting regularly very soon. Stay tuned.

I went to high school in Washington State, upon which I shall blame my obsession with Birkenstocks. I did manage to give up the wool socks and sandals look when I moved to California, but I do own several pairs of closed toed shoes for wintertime wear and live for summer when the Milano sandals can be broken out and worn on a daily basis.

While it's tempting for me to break out the Birks at the first sight of warm weather it's always important to remember that this is Colorado and the weather can change quickly and dramatically, which is why I had to institute the "80 degree rule." Five or six years ago I made up this rule, that it had to hit 80 degrees in Denver once before I was allowed to wear sandals. Sure, I wear flip flops around the house, but to break out the beloved Birkenstocks it had to hit 80. If it was 60 degrees the next day I could still wear them as long as the magic number had been hit.

I thought that today might be my lucky day for 2007, but sadly it fell a few degrees short and thus I am destined to socks and sneakers for a few more days. On the bright side: this at least gives me a reason to look forward to summer and the warmer weather.

This is what I was doing in St. Paul.

Greg said it better than I ever could.

Just got home from a quick business trip to see "Edward Scissorhands" and do some interviews at the Ordway Center in St. Paul, MN. I've been to Minneapolis once, but I was very young and don't really remember it. I'd never been to St. Paul... I'll probably never go again. The Ordway is gorgeous, a remarkable facility, and we stayed in a lovely hotel, but I went for a walk last night after the show, thinking I might stop and have a drink while I was in the situation where I could do so without feeling guilty for having to drive or anything and the city was dead--I mean DEAD--by 10 PM. Not even a restaurant open in the 'hood, except in the hotel. The bartender in the hotel restaurant makes a mean cosmo, though, so it all worked out!

I'd promise more of an update on the trip, but there's really not much more to tell, so this will have to suffice. I will add that I got to charge a $165 meal on my credit card, for which I'll be reimbursed, which was empowering. If you ever have the chance, I highly recommend it!

p.s. "Edward Scissorhands" is incredible; if you have a chance get out to see it. Maybe more of my thoughts on the show will be the topic of tomorrow's post...I try not to preach about our shows, but this might need to be an exception.

Since March 16 when I had the lump removed I've been logging into my health insurance account a couple times a week to see when all the bills are going to hit in anticipation of paying my $500 deductible. The bills were received at the insurance company last week, but hadn't been processed so I couldn't see them online...until today. I was shocked. The anesthesiologist alone cost almost $600. The surgery itself--the hospital charges--were $4,800. My doctor's bill still has not been posted, so who knows how much she cost? If I were the betting type I'd say she's the most expensive part of the whole process! I'm not sure what I expected to see when I opened the webpage, but it sure as hell wasn't a total of more than $5,000! What do people without health insurance do? I have a new empathy for the working poor in this country and I think I just became a little more of a Democrat.

Every Monday Playbill.com posts the weekly grosses for currently playing Broadway shows on its website. They have a chart that shows total sales in dollars, total capacity in seats available, average ticket price, total seats sold, etc, etc. It's somewhat daunting to glance at but I look forward to seeing what shows are doing on Broadway. It's sometimes a gauge for seeing what will eventually be sent out on tour and I think its interesting to compare shows that are considered critical successes, with those that are commercial successes and of course I like to see shows that I like doing well on the Great White Way.

I am similarly obsessed with our sales reports at work, where I can geek-out on a daily basis analyzing our percentage of capacity and amortizing where we are in relation to our sales goals. When there's a spike I look at advertising, promotions and press that have occurred that might have influenced daily sales and I feel proud when I can find a direct correlation to something I did that might've caused the increase. On the flip side, it's helpful to analyze tactics that didn't work as they relate to specific productions--never make the same mistake twice!

If sales continued as I expect they did, I should go into the office tomorrow to discover that our second engagement of "Wicked" is sold-out. "Wicked" is currently playing in New York at the Gershwin Theatre and at just over 1,800 seats it's the largest of the Broadway houses. Since it opened in October of 2003 "Wicked" has played at 100% of capacity. On the road it has never had a seat go unsold--even in houses that are substantially larger that their Broadway counterparts--a feat the likes of which I have never seen. Sure, there are blockbusters: "Phantom of the Opera," "Les Miz," and "The Lion King" all continue to play to sold-out houses on a regular basis, but to have a show that's been running for three years and more than 1,000 performances nave never have a single seat--not one--go unsold?! There's no denying that that's remarkable.

As I was brushing up on weekly grosses this evening in anticipation of tomorrow's posting, I started pondering "Wicked's" success here in Denver and in New York. And, I began to wonder when the fascination and fixation on this show will ever die; when will I look at the weekly grosses and find that "Wicked" only played at 99% capacity? When do shows that are considered phenomenons lose their superstar status? How does it happen? And why? When does the product not to live up the hype and are there shows that can outlive anything?

Recently a debate about the teaching of the biblical texts in our public schools has arisen. It was a featured story on Oprah today, made the cover of Time magazine last week and has come up more than once in the past couple of weeks on my favorite talk radio show. If you know me, you know I'm not a particularly religious person. I was raised Catholic, went to church every Sunday and have received four of the seven sacraments, but I haven't set foot in a church in more than five years and have a feeling it will be at least five more before I do. However, while religion isn't my bag, I have to admit that I truly admire others with a religious conviction or devotion as long as that devotion is pure and truthful and does not exist out of vanity or hypocrisy. I find it somehow inspiring that others have the faith to believe and trust in something that they have no physical proof exists.

As a student I always struggled with reading for school, I never enjoyed literature classes which forced me to read at a specific pace and then be tested on my comprehension and analysis of that reading. I have always enjoyed reading for leisure or pleasure, however, and embrace the educational aspects of that experience. In high school eight semesters of English courses: literature, writing, grammar, etc. were required for graduation. After taking the standard courses and as much creative writing as possible, I was somewhat forced into taking literature courses in order to get that diploma. I struggled my way through "Comic Vision," and "Popular Literature" and then found a class that seemed somewhat interesting: "The Bible as Literature."

Being Catholic, I was really only familiar with the New Testament--upon which Catholic liturgy focuses-- and thought this might be a good opportunity to learn about the stories of the Old Testament specifically and, in turn graduate. I didn't fear the teacher trying to make me more Christian and I didn't fear demagoguery as a result of the experience, nor did my parents. I simply viewed it as a class which taught me about the actual writings in the Bible, which, like it or not, is the greatest-selling book of all time. It is by most counts, a masterpiece and one with which a great deal of cultural and historical references are based.

I don't believe that Americans have to be intimately familiar with the Bible--in fact I feel exactly contrary to that, but I do believe that since 76.5% of Americans classify themselves as Christian they should at least be familiar with the stories, lessons, fables and parables contained within the text they consider sacred and upon which their faith is based. The fact that 60% of Americans can't name five of the ten commandments tells me that not only are Americans quite possibly--on the whole--the laziest society in the World, but also that they are--on the whole--hypocrites. We encounter Biblical references on a daily basis in our society and sadly I would venture an uneducated guess that an equal 60% of Americans have no clue that these references even occur. Politicians pander to this Christian sub sect knowing that those of us without a spiritual or religious inclination will simply accept the references as a part of the greater whole of society. Sadly, I think those of us who don't read the Bible as a part of a religious ritual or spiritual fulfillment are more familiar with the specific references than those who claim to live their lives with the writings as a central driving force. It is indeed that which has taught me that the Bible is not just a religious text, but a social and cultural one. One that has become so ingrained in society that rather than asking if we should be teaching it in a public school setting, I would ask: why aren't we demanding that it be taught?

I don't like writing generic update posts or simply bitching publicly, prefering instead to choose a topic and then just go to town, but tonight as an homage to the way my life is going right now, and the way my brain is functioning, I'm going to take advantage of the bullet function on blogger.

• Why is it that newspaper websites like this and this suck-ass so hard? They are the slowest f'ing sites on the planet. I need them to be fast, I don't have all the time in the world. Oy!
• One of my co-workers--and someone I would probably put in the "best" friend category--left the DCPA two weeks ago. I am now not only doing my own job, which takes up enough time, but I'm doing hers, as well, until we find her replacement. Which might explain why I need this site and this one to be a little faster: fucking clips, I thought I was done with that part of my life. Oy!
• For the third time in three months the check engine light in my car came on. And, for the third time in three months I shelled out another couple hundred bucks to have the magic light extinguished. Which means that for the third time in three months I've spent more than $700 each month on my car. Oy!
• My breast is healing nicely (thanks to everyone for your thoughts, comments and e-mails!). I had my official post-op appointment last Friday. The bruising is almost completely gone. I have one big bruise that's causing something called "epidermal fasciitis" (yes, that's a real word). It's causing the skin on the surface to fall off and then oozes out some puss and blood before scabbing over. I realize that was probably a big TMI moment for most of you, but this is my blog, dammit, and I'll fucking say what I like. :) Anyhow, this fasciitis takes--get this--six months to heal. Plus it drastically increases my risk of infection so I get to go back to the surgeon a little more frequently. Oy!

I'm sure there's much more about which I could bitch, but I'm exhausted and struggling to keep my eyes open, so I think I'll go tuck myself into bed and pop in a library-rented DVD and hope to fall asleep. In closing I'd just like to point out on last thing: have you ever noticed that a majority of the word "boy" is made up by the word "oy?" Took the words right outta my mouth...