Ciao, Bella!

the actress who shall play me in the musical of my life, si! 

Sometimes
You just need
Your hair washed
Scalp massaged
And hair cut
By a very camp
Fresh off the boat
Italian
In Soho
"Darlink, my Eenglish
Is not so good!"
Darlink.
If I spoke Italian
Half as well as you
Speak English
We would be laughing.

The end.

The Bake Sale

cake pops 

Today at work
We had a bake sale
To raise money
For charity
They put up bunting
And balloons
And laid out cakes
And "cake pops"

And biscuits

And brownies

And sold them 

For £1 a slice

And it was festive

And fun

And hilarious

To see grown ups

Excited by mounds of 

Permitted sugars 

It bought a welcome change in routine

And bought people together

To share delicious treats 

And that's what life

Should be about 

The end. 

Upside Downton Abbey

I'm a grown up
I live on my own
And pay bills
And go to the shops by myself
And I'm surrounded
By people
Who think the world
Is a drudge

Can you tell me how to get
To a place
Where the world is viewed
As an adventure
As fun
As full of possibility

There is a street
Where people
And glorified tennis balls
With goggly eyes
Remind us to look at the world
From a different angle
And laugh
And smile
And just be
And teach us to
Remember
To be a child
At heart

I'm a grown up
And I still watch Sesame Street
And it still makes me laugh
And smile
And makes my inner three year old
Cackle
At the steak and kidney pie
Falling on the muppet's head

The end.

Sing Out, Louise(a)

Patti: "sing out, Louise!"

If you had told me
Three years ago
Sitting in my lounge room
In suburban Sydney
That I would three years later
Be sitting with the host and creator of MusicalTalk
In London
Singing a new song
For a new musical
And recording tracks for my agent
I would have laughed
And said
"That's cool...
I want to be her."

The end.

You've Got a Friend in Me

image from here

I stood behind my kiosk and called out, 

Programs! £5! 

And one of the other ushers stood behind his kiosk and called out,

Drinks! Various prices! 

And we chuckled because it was silly

And he said

I’m determined to be your inspiration today

And he was 

Because sometimes all you need is

Someone else who is willing to smile

And share the ridiculous.

The end. 

Indigo Trio

They say there is nothing new under the sun

But change is the only constant

Find new for yourself

Discover a new everyday 

Singing with Indigo Trio was a delight 

To learn new music that no other singer has sung before

To explore new songs

To play with other musicians and discover the new

Make changes

Every morning

Under this sun of ours

That glowing ball of chemistry

Is a new day

Original. New or back to the source from whence it came

All is light

All is song and dance 

To find the new and make it your own

To be unafraid and just go out and do it

To conquer the old sayings 

And make change 

Make bliss

This is delight 

You Don't Win Friends with Salad

Homer Simpson once said, "You don't win friends with salad." Well, actually you do. Because this week, salads, and variations thereof, have become some of my best friends. Rainbow chard and basil, grated carrot, beetroot, and ginger, roughly chopped tomatoes, goat's curd with olive rind, fresh corn on the cob, cold roasted potatoes, all drizzled with balsamic and olive oil, a sprinkle of black pepper and a pinch of salt.  Oh my. The flavour explosions of joy. Filling refreshing, and so damn tasty. It's hard to believe I was once rather adverse to the idea of being a vegetarian. But fresh salads made from locally grown organic ingredients, and purchased from the markets where I have a community of friends who like me love the idea of fresh greens, I believe dear Homer, that I have won.

Part of It All

There is a song in the musical [title of show] called "Part of It All", in which the two leads Hunter and Jeff sing about wanting to be a part of the buzz, excitement, inevitable post-show blues, and life that is show business. And it is lovely when you are in the midst of it, and feeling exactly part of it. When you spend your days singing and dancing and fluting and running to the theatre and from rehearsal to rehearsal and you go to sleep dreaming about inversions and chord progressions and you spend your nights covered in white paint and hair gel and glitter and the thrill buzz excitement of being in front of an audience. And you wake up ready to start all over again. And if that is being part of it all, I love it with every inch of my being. 

11 Steps to Bliss on A Sultry Summer's Day

1. Buy bag of achachas from Eveleigh Farmers Markets
2. Freeze entire bag of achachas
3. Take desired quantity out of the freezer (always one more than you think) and allow to sit out of the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
4. Ensure you have a damp cloth or serviette handy
5. Peel off the hard orange skin
6. Marvel at the small white ball of goodness in front of you
7. Sink your teeth into the flesh
8. Enjoy the cold sweet fruity sorbet goodness that is the frozen achacha. Enjoy the sensation of fruit juice running down your fingers and hands. It is like you are five and eating a melting icy pole. It is better.
9. Repeat steps 5-8 as often as necessary
10. Place scraps in compost bin, clean hands and face
11. Enjoy the contented feeling of having consumed frozen fruity sorbet achacha goodness.

The end. 

The Life I Lead

to dance around the living room

to watch cyd with her legs up to eternity flirt with gene

who danced in the rain laced with milk

so it would be more visible on camera

to watch yul and deborah

one-two-three-and across the royal palace of what is now Thailand 

but used to be called Siam

etcetera etcetera etcetera!

to have tea with jam and bread on the mountains of austria

maria and mary are your nannies

julie is magical because she sings and dances and appears in two different movies with different coloured hair and rescues the children of europe and england from their sad fathers

just a spoonful of sugar and imagination and pop into the pavement to win races

singing makes everybody happy 

even retired grumpy sea captains

yes sir!

to want to be a part of that world

to be a strong princess

to be like barbara and fiercely independent and capable

just leave everything to meeee

hello dolly, hello dolly, it’s so nice 

to one day find yourself transported

from the land of oz to the rooftops of london 

and all you have to do is click your shiny red shoes together

and wish and pray your life could be enchanted

the end. 

Eleven

I'm not big on maths, but I love patterns in numbers and dates. Like when the date is 01/02/03 or 04/05/06, or the fact that one of my birthday's fell on 10/09/87... It's a strange idiosyncrasy that completely defies my utter distaste of mathematics as a subject. We were never good friends. But I digress. 

This week I received a delightful email that stated the following. In 2011, we will experience 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11. and 11/11/11. So cool. There is something poetic and lovely about all those ones. Now, take the last 2 digits of the year you were born. Add the age you will be this year. The answer will always be 111... Amazing. And yes it works for everyone, even if you were born after the year 2000 (the answer will be 11). 

One of my work colleagues pointed out that this will work for any year (for example, in 2012, the last two digits of the year you were born plus the age you are turning will be 112). Now, how all this works is completely beyond me comprehension of mathematics. I'm sure it's so simple it's obvious. But my brain doesn't work that way. I'm just happy to enjoy the symmetry and poetry of it all. 

In the world of numerology, eleven means mastery. It is also said to represent idealism, vision, artistry, invention, and balance. So if this is the year where we master our dreams and passions and artistic selves, may the year be filled with eleven. And now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to enjoy elevenses...

Melbourne

image from ineedaholiday

Once upon a time yesterday there was a girl called Lulu who liked musicals very much. She liked them so much that one she decided to fly all by herself from Sydney to Melbourne to see some new musicals. So she booked her ticket and off she went. When she got there she was very excited because her hostel was right by the river and in walking distance to Federation Square and the Melbourne Arts Centre, which are both very lovely. 

After walking down by the riverside and admiring all the pretty sculptures lining the riverbank, Lulu took herself to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image to see the current exhibition, “Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales”. Lulu spent a few happy hours wandering the halls of the exhibit, admiring how clever the people at the Disney Studio were and still are, and getting a little bit teary at all the lovely princess stories and remembering just how much they are a part of her psyche, even if her university educated feminist self says that the messages they espouse are a little bit dated. The critical part in Lulu’s mind also wondered about the stories not being told in the exhibit, for example, why/how/when did the Walt Disney Brothers Studios become just the Walt Disney Studios. Lulu remembered from her university days that there is a lot of story being told in what is purposefully left out, and she made a mental note to investigate it further later on. 

Then Lulu made a mad dash for the Melbourne Arts Centre, which was luckily just a hop, skip, and a jump across the river. She collected her ticket, and went downstairs into the Fairfax Theatre to watch Program One of Carnegie 18, a new musical theatre development program. In short, it was utterly wonderful (if you would like to hear the longer version of this part of the story you will need to keep an eye on Flusical for Episode 6: Carnegie 18). Lulu laughed, cried, held her breath, and was filled with utter excitement at the high level of talent, and the wonderful new works on display. In the interval she met a lovely lady named Jan, who happened to be the editor of Australian Stage Online, the newsletter in which Lulu found out the London Central School was holding Sydney auditions. Lulu thanked Jan profusely for changing her life for 2011, and with much discussion about musicals and Australian theatre to be had, Lulu and Jan sat above the river eating wicked but utterly delicious treats.

In the late afternoon, Lulu was lucky enough to interview Vanessa Pigrum, the Artistic Director of Carnegie 18, for Flusical. Vanessa was very lovely, and Lulu was left feeling inspired and ready to take on the world. The second program of Carnegie 18 was equally as exciting and moving as the first program, and Lulu was particularly taken by the new opera about netball. She had no idea that the drama of netball could be so fitting for an opera. Or that sopranos could be so funny. 

By now the sun had set over Melbourne, and while most other folk were watching the tennis, Lulu made back for her hostel. Sitting in the kitchen writing up her notes for the day, Lulu had a wonderful conversation with a Canadian traveller. They talked about politics and nations and the state of the world and indigenous affairs and national identity. It was very lovely, and it was only when the kitchen was closed for the night did the conversation come to an end.

Four hours later Lulu was back at the airport, and by now she was very tired from her grand adventure and severe lack of sleep. Thankfully adrenalin and inspiration were abundant, and helped her to stay awake throughout the day so she could work, edit the next episode of the podcast, and write about her adventures. And then she collapsed into bed to dream about all things musical. 

The end.

Double Dutch

photos are from Dutch Double's Facebook page 

Back in the day we used to spend our recess and lunch times jumping rope. The teacher on duty would bring out the crate full of skipping ropes. Red handles for individual ropes. Yellow for long ropes. If you combined two together, you could play double dutch, two ropes turning in opposite directions. It was tricky, but with practise, you could do it. And perfecting the art of double dutch was hardcore. You were elite if you could do double dutch.

Yesterday I came across a group in Pitt St Mall called Dutch Double, a performance troupe using a combination of break dance moves, fast jumps, pumping music, and skipping ropes. It was awesome. It made our primary school days of skipping in the playground look like, well, primary school kids skipping in the playground. This is hardcore skipping.

A quick Google search reveals that double dutch is quite popular all around the world. There are championships. It's an official varsity sport in New York. And watching YouTube clips this morning of other jump rope troupes, I thought, wait 'till they make a movie of this... And then discovered, they already have! Disney (of course) released "Jump In" in 2007 starring the rather gorgeous Corbin Bleu, which roped in (sorry) a massive 8.2 million viewers when it premiered in January 2007 (higher than High School Musical which debuted at 7.7 million). But the sensation is not new as evidenced by this HILARIOUS pop song by Malcolm McLaren (former manager of the Sex Pistols)...

Skipping. It's fun. It's good for your heart. It's good for your soul. And if you master double dutch, you will have awesome dance skills, be able to work in a team, and busk in Pitt St Mall for money. Win.

7 Steps

Seven steps to a fun night out.

1. Get one of your besties to come over and play dress-ups. Application of make-up, and playing with hair absolute musts.
2. Purchase munchies (and not feel guilty that you are eating crap).
3. Go to hole-in-the-wall-blink-and-you'll-miss-it-vintage-store in the back streets of Surrey Hills
4. Meet interesting urban artsy types
5. Watch hilarious so-bad-it's-brilliant-plus-it-has-young-very-attractive-Johnny-Depp-in-lead-role movie musical
6. Drive home listening to early Cat Empire album.
7. Smile at life.

New Year's Eve

It’s days like these that will make you happy. Spending time with friends. Popping in to see Matt and Clairie-O, meeting lovely people and playing board games. Catching the train across the Bridge and seeing the myriad of people lining the foreshore. Sydney is made for big events on the harbour. A bright blue sky day. Warm. People of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life are out on the street. The air is alive. I meet Len at Dawe’s Point. All the “VIP’s” feeling extra special because they have invites. Wrist-tagged and bag searched and inside to where the mood is festive, the music pumping. The view is spectacular. I don‘t recall seeing the fireworks from this side of the bridge before. The Opera House to my right. The sound of the giant bangs. Explosions of sparkle in the sky. 

We walk around to Circular Quay. The kind concierge at the Marriott finds me a safety pin for my holey jumper. Walk up Pitt St and up to the State Library. On the steps of the palace I meet Heath and Lyn and Ben. We walk down to join the queue for the Cahill Expressway. It is orderly and calm and moves quickly. Onto the Expressway and down to the western end. The view is utterly spectacular. The Bridge, the Opera House, the Quay beneath us. People are patiently waiting for midnight. We eat ice cream. Girls in colourful costumes walk past to entertain the crowd. 

On the hour, the half hour, and quarter of the hour before midnight single fireworks explode over the city and over the Opera House. People cheer. And suddenly it is ten seconds to midnight. And the pylons light up with giant numbers, helping the crowds around the foreshore count down. And then it is 2011! And the fireworks erupt. A lone bird flies confused over the bridge through the smoke and glitter. The bridge becomes so covered in smoke you can’t see it any more, and even some of the fireworks are obscured. A giant hand appears on the Bridge. 2011, Make Your Mark. With your hands go out into the world and create. High five the people you meet. Offer your hand in love, in gratitude, in peace. Wave goodbye Sydney. 2011, I’m off to make my mark on the world!

Christmas Stocking

Christmas has passed and it’s now the season for taking stock of the year. Some of this year has been awful. But you breathe into the pain, and you just keep breathing, and suddenly you find that you are surrounded by an absolute plethora of amazing food, music, family, friends, and theatre. And you come to the end of the year with the ability to say that much of it has been utterly wonderful. In no particular order, the beautiful, inspiring, exciting, and lovely things in my life this year have been...

• The Eveleigh Farmer’s Markets with my bestie Len
• Starting dance, singing, and flute lessons again
• Starting Flusical with Flick
• Starting the Movie Musical Project
• Learning to cook pasta, ice cream, polvoron, bread, pastry, and cheese from scratch
• Quitting the security of a full-time job to pursue theatre and it being utterly wonderful 
• Getting paid to watch Jersey Boys several times a week
• Moving to Ashfield with beautiful housies 
• Developing my personal meditation practise, obtaining my Meditation Facilitator’s Certificate, running morning meditations in Glebe
• Performing in The Pajama Game and meeting all the beautiful wonderful people at Strathfield Musical Society
• Singing with the Bling Band
• Running my first City to Surf  
• Discovering MusicalTalk, Seth Rudetsky, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and Superforest 
• Knowing that I am surrounded by the most beautiful, talented, wonderful, supportive friends
• Knowing that I have incredibly beautiful, talented, wonderful, supportive families 
• Working with amazing people 
• Seeing Shoshana Bean, Donna McKechnie, Stephen Schwartz, and Liz Callaway perform in Sydney and Brisbane 
• Being accepted into the London Central School of Speech and Drama Masters of Music Theatre program

Yum and Fun

My goodness what a weekend! There have been so many moments of inspiring, beautiful, and lovely in the past three days that I barely know where to begin. I performed in my first dance concert since I was 14, I visited the North Sydney Markets and Eveleigh Farmer’s Markets and wished all my wonderful vendors a Merry Christmas, thanking them all profusely for the past year of amazing locally and organically grown delights, I cooked up a storm with my housie/bestie Len, I met a ton of performers, musicians, and techies, I partied, I watched the 8th Annual Cabaret Showcase, and I marveled at the way the weather can change from bright hot sunshine to cold and rain and even snow in Australia in December (?!?!?!?!?), all in the space of 48 hours. Crazy!!

And now to the yum factor. Following the cancellation of other exciting Saturday night adventures Len and I decided to put a rare weekend night at home by baking up a storm. Len put his recently acquired Italian culinary skills to the test and whipped up the most incredible roast pumpkin ravioli in a thyme butter sauce. Dear future girlfriends of Len, this man is a seriously amazing cook. No seriously. Freaking amazing. The promise of the addition of roast garlic to reprises of this dish is something I’m very much looking forward to. Dear Len. Please stop reading the blog and get baking. Many thanks... :) I had some left over plums and cherries which weren’t going to last much longer, so making a variation on a Cyndi O’Meara recipe for a lemon tart, I whipped together a cherry pie. It was ridiculously easy, and oh so very, very tasty. And I realised afterwards, with considerable joy, that I knew where every single ingredient came from, and just about all the farmers who had worked to bring me these goodies. The eggs and plums came from Champion's Mountain Organics, the honey from Malfroy's Gold, the cold pressed macadamia oil from Hand n' Hoe Organics, the flour from Demeter Farm Mill, and the cherries from Yuri’s Sustainable Produce in Orange. 

Beautiful food, beautiful music, performing, and spending time with amazing people. Life really doesn’t get any better than this! 

Watching Mould Grow

For the past week I have been dutifully turning 4 lumps of curdled milk in an esky, watching (semi)patiently for signs of mould, and squealing delightedly when I discover a fine furry white layer surrounding two of the lumps. I have not gone mad. I am conducting the most fabulous art/science experiment to come out of north-western France. Cheese-making. Camembert to be precise. These four round discs are the result of a wonderful day standing over a hot stove, stirring 10L of goat’s milk, adding cultures and non-animal rennet, waiting, stirring, waiting some more, more stirring, more waiting, more stirring, a little chopping, some careful pouring, and voila! By Christmas, I will have home-made camembert to devour! And because I did the course with my bestie Len, and my S’mum Meg, I will have not one, but three different camemberts to sample. WIN! 

The course was a fabulous day of cheese-making and learning with Karen Borg, at the North Sydney Community Centre. Karen is the owner and creator of Willowbrae Chevre Cheese, a wonderful goat’s cheese enterprise in Wilberforce (north of Sydney). I have been visiting Karen’s stall at the markets for nearly a year now, and I am utterly addicted to her goat’s curd, and marinated fettas. Oh sweet heaven help me, if there is nothing more delicious than a bit of plain curd on a fresh piece of bread! 

On the day of our cheese-making, we learnt the art of camembert and ricotta (you can also sign up for a day of blue cheese or fetta... they are absolutely on the to do list...) Ricotta is ridiculously easy, and utterly delicious when smothered in olive oil and thyme and baked in the oven until golden. While our camembert’s sat transforming from goat’s milk to curds and whey (yes, this is where Little Miss Muffet came from... she was eating curdled milk, and depending on what temperature the milk had been heated to, the beginnings of camembert or ricotta!), we sat on our tuffets feasting on pasta with a light cheesy sauce, rocket salad with pear, marinated fetta balls, and roasted walnuts, sweet potato and broccoli quiche, mini savoury tartlets, and an enormous cheese platter with blue cheese and camembert, and curd and all kinds of wonderful. 

It was divine to be sitting in the beautiful surrounds of the North Sydney Community Centre on a bright blue sky Sydney day, learning the craft of something that most people may not even think about, let alone try. Cheese just comes from the supermarket right?! To attempt the science that is cheese-making, to chat with like-minded people about the origins of our food, to enjoy beautiful food and appreciate where every last morsel of it comes from. It may be slow and full of effort, but that’s why I love it. It’s like watching mould grow. A daily practise that with each day brings new surprises and joys. I can’t wait for Christmas!  

A Midsummer Night's Dream

I just returned from a most delightful evening at the theatre. And by theatre I mean the outdoor amphitheatre at Centennial Park. The production was A Midsummer Night’s Dream staged by Wild Rumpus Productions. The audience sat beneath the trees with picnic rugs and hampers full of food. We had Mersey Valley cheddar and Jalsberg and dips and berries and fresh bread and wine and juice and olives and eggplant and semi-dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes. Is it obvious that we feasted? And as the sun set to the west, the players gathered around us to tell the story of lusting lovers and impish elves and fairies. No set, no props, beautiful simple costumes, simple lighting, and some wonderful good old-fashioned story telling. This was Shakespeare at it’s best. Wild Rumpus Productions claims in the program notes to create performances “that are bold, irreverant and of the highest professional standard,” and that they did. Young and old, from the four-year-old pink fairy sitting behind us, to the oldest grown-ups were all kept entertained with spirited and playful performances that bought the Shakespeare text to life. Can life get any better than this? Sydney on a beautiful clear night, summer fruits coming into season, wonderful friends, fabulous food, and a night out at theatre. My Oberon! What visions have I seen! And thankfully, not a dream, but the stuff that dreams are made of. Wonderful.  

Wild Rumpus' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is running until 28 Nov, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7.30pm. Highly, highly recommended! Tickets can be booked here. 

Podcasting

Last year I started listening to a FABULOUS podcast called MusicalTalk. Every week a group of Brits get together and talk about musicals. Their focus is mainly on London and the UK theatre scene, with occasional dips across the pond to talk about what’s happening on Broadway. They talk with actors, directors, writers, stage managers, audience members, all the plethora of folks involved in making musicals, and have a whole list of very well known industry folk on their interview credits including Stephen Schwartz, Alan Menken, Anthony Rapp, Johnny Depp, and Stephanie J Block to name but just a few.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to MusicalTalk and I thought, I like talking about musicals! Why don’t I do my own podcast? And talk about Australian musicals? And in a rush of excitement I told the girls at dance about it. And they got very excited. And then, last Thursday after Chris had whipped us into shape in Broadway Jazz, Flick and I sat down and attempted our very own podcast. The results are here for your listening pleasure. In this inaugural episode we talk about our first experiences of musical theatre. It was ridiculously fun to sit and talk musicals. It was ridiculously fun to sit and edit the thing (thank you Apple and your wonderful GarageBand invention!). In short I had a total blast. Do what you love. And you will be happy. The end. 

PS. We need a name for the podcast. Suggestions welcome!