tavie.com

What a night. Well, first, some dry-blogging, scribbled in the back of Will Shortz's Favorite Sunday Crossword Puzzles:

I'm sitting in a deli on 52nd and 8th having a coffee and doing a crossword because it's too early to go into the theatre to see "Wicked". Suddenly

N E I L P A T R I C K H A R R I S ,

love of my 12-year-old-life, walks in. My heart stops. I studiously ignore him, sneaking covert glancesas he nods and smiles at a more obvious gawker.

I'm very conscious of my disheveled hair and sweaty face. As Neil, looking both scruffy and handsome as hell, flits around the store picking out snacks and drinks, I whip out my cell phone and text message everyone I can think of. As he walks out the door, "Everlasting Love" starts playing on the radio. It's so right.

Sigh.

Well, how is Wicked supposed to hold up after a moment I'd dreamed about daily in pre-adolescence came to pass? (Yes, I used to fantasize about just bumping into him. Of course, in my fantasies, we would always speak; I wouldn't play cool-New-Yorker-ignoring-the-celebrity in those. Rather, he'd bump into me as I carried an armload of books, stoop to help me pick them up, meet my eyes, etc...)

Anyway, Wicked held up marvelously. I'm not even going to attempt a review*, because it would be a rave that I'd doubtlessly be embarrassed about later. I'll just say it did everything I want musical theatre to do. It thrilled me. It gave me goosebumps and tears at all the right moments. I was sitting in the dead last row, as far back as I could get and still be in the same theatre, but I'd brought along my dad's binoculars and they worked very well. I'm a smart cookie. I felt sorry for everyone around me without binocs, though. They didn't seem to mind; the pretty, butch lesbian and her less pretty, femme girlfriend laughed uproariously at everything Kristen Chenoweth said, and then bitched loudly during intermission about how Idina Menzel was mean to them when they were in college together. (They both gave her a standing ovation, though.)

Kristen Chenoweth could do no wrong, and knew it; she milked every line and gesture. We ate her up. Idina Menzel erased all doubt that she deserved a Tony. Randy "Justin from Queer as Folk" Harrison, a surprise as Boq, was adorable. Norbert Leo Butz was a little creepy. The subsitute (not Joel Grey) wizard was underwhelming. The only real drawback, though, was the horrible ending. You can't tell that the ending is so bad from listening to the soundtrack alone, but it was really quite terrible, completely changing the ending of the book (and the original source material, too.) Stephen Schwartz musicals have not been impressing me lately with their endings. Bad writing. Yuck.

No matter. Magical theatre, baby. I loved it.

*Whoops. Oh, well.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 12:30 AM | shower me with attention

Friday, July 16, 2004

RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT

COFFEE MACHINE BROKEN NO COFFEE

I AM GOING TO DIE

Why are you in Tavie's head? 3:08 PM | shower me with attention

I am going to the Lordy, I am so glad...
I am going to the Lordy, I am so glad...
I am going to the Lordy
Glory hallelujah!
Glory hallelujah!
I am going to the Lordy...

Why are you in Tavie's head? 12:58 PM | shower me with attention

Thursday, July 15, 2004

I was also gonna say... oh! For my birthday, what I had wanted most of all was a ticket to see Wicked before Kristen Chenoweth leaves on the 18th. I was led to believe that this might be a birthday present from my parents, so I put off looking for one myself. Then, on my birthday, my parents gave me nothing (well, dinner, but they give me that every night), and I was very sad. It was very Red-Ryder-Air-Rifle-BB-you'll-shoot-your-eye-out. My mom felt so bad that she and my sister started looking for tickets. Of course there were none, as everyone knows it's Chenoweth's last week.

But last night my mom found one for this Friday night, paid through the nose, and I'M GONNA SEE WICKED!

Now to work.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 9:24 AM | shower me with attention

The good thing about aiming to be in at work by 8 and consistently failing is that I have no trouble being in before 9. That will be useful once my hours officially change.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 9:18 AM | shower me with attention

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Yesterday I spent my birthday money. I'm going to detail exactly what I bought; the first one is just for erin:

Clothes from Old Navy!
I can't officially say I hate Old Navy anymore because I got some nice things, including a stripey blouse, a tan courderoy jacket, a white tank top to wear under the shirt I'm going to knit first with my birthday yarn, and, best of all, brown courderoy pants THAT FIT ME IN BOTH THE WAIST AND LEGS. That's right, PANTS WHERE YOU CAN SEE MY ASS! And what a nice ass it is, everyone admire it!
(I also found JEANS THAT FIT, but I didn't want to spend too much money so I left them for later.)

I also bought:

Will Shortz's Favorite Sunday Crosswords
Dress Your Family in Courderoy and Denim, David Sedaris
Sense and Sensibility DVD
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves DVD
Assassins Original Cast Recording

Why are you in Tavie's head? 10:38 AM | shower me with attention

Monday, July 12, 2004

Dammit. Dammit. I'm caught up with the Harry Potter books. Now I have to wait for the sixth one like everybody else.

I took a cab home from school as a post-birthday present, using some birthday money, because it was a downpour, I had no umbrella, I had a bag full of books, and I was exhausted and had gotten only had 3 hours of sleep last night. In fact, I don't know why I'm awake now. Good night.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 9:45 PM | shower me with attention

Sunday, July 11, 2004

It's not my birthday until Rynn sings the traditional song into my voicemail. It just isn't.

Warmhappy.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 1:57 PM | shower me with attention

Happy birthday Kirsten!

My sister turns 25 today! A quarter-century of fun!

Speaking of birthdays, today was what I have dubbed (in sing-song, dig), "TAVIE AND KIRSTEN'S DAY OF FUN!"

It started with an omelette (this is not a birthday thing, she cooks for me frequently) and a yellow birthday card with a holographic turtle on it, signed by the Stephanies, Kirsten, Erin and Gina, and news of their collective gift: then came GOING TO MY FAVOURITE YARN STORES and BUYING ANY YARN I WANTED!!!

I got 7 skeins of Rowan Summer Tweed in this shade to make this, and four big skeins of a gauzy, creamy yellow to make this, and also a skein of incredibly luxurious, way-too-good-for-me-so-I'm-making-something-for-the-dog-with-it Manos Multi, to make this.

I am very excited. I got really fancy, luxurious yarn for projects I've been dreaming about but completely unable to afford to buy the yarn for. It was a dream-come-true-garage-door-opener-silly.

Then we met up with the Stephs and had drinks at a Mexican place, and then Kirsten and a Steph and I went to see Mother do Soundtracks Live and someone brought in the soundtrack to the television series Saved by the Bell. They didn't even try to improvise when that came on, they just ran around the stage in complete pandemonium screaming as the audience screamed in delight. It was indescribably hilarious.

I am very, very tired.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 1:35 AM | shower me with attention