Why, oh why, oh Illinois?

Greetings theatre fans! I know, I got back from Anaheim on the 4th and I'm just getting around to posting now, but I've been very busy getting caught back up with work and school and there just hasn't been much going on. It was very depressing logging on to playbill.com on Monday the 5th and seeing just about every headline on the page announcing a show closing. There were more last weekend, and there will be more on Monday. It's a sad state of affairs. Closer to home, I've got Madame Butterfly at the Lyric tomorrow and Music of the Baroque on Monday (thank god it's a holiday).

Anaheim was wonderful, and I had a great time, although the lack of celeb room calls was a little disappointing. Given the weather in Chicago over the last two weeks since I've been back, I'm wishing I was still there. One of the highlights was seeing Aladdin on Stage at Disney's California Adventure Park. It was a 45 minute stage show of Aladdin. Being so short, it didn't have the same emotional heft as the full movie, but it featured one new song not from the movie (sung by Princess Jasmine in her room right before Aladdin shows up at her window to wisk her away to A Whole New World), as well as the amazing sets and special effects. Given that Beauty and the Beast started out this way, is this a hint of Disney's next Broadway project? It worked much better than I would have expected on stage, with a multi-million dollar budget it could be spectacular. The best part was, we could take pictures, as long as the flash was off, so I got some good ones which I'll post on here sometime in the not too distant future. Then, when I got home, I had a package waiting for me, which was my remaining Christmas presents that hadn't arrived in time for Christmas, and one of them just happened to be the CD of New Girl In Town!!! Apparently it got a new foreign pressing last year and my parents were able to track it down for me! Thank god for Britain's looser copyright laws. Maybe that's how/where we'll finally be able to get Lestat and Dracula on CD someday.

Now, looking ahead to the future, I believe I've mentioned that I'll be taking the Licensed Professional Counselor exam soon, and I finally have a date, February 11 at 1:30. I've been listening to my audio study guide non-stop, which has meant no music until I pass, not even New Girl. Everything is on hold until I pass, which means that this is the last post until I do. If by chance I make it to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Miss Saigon, I'll post a brief notification, but that is it. Everything else can wait until after I pass, Art, Pacific Overtures, and Xanadu are the other main ones I'm wanting to see, and they'll still be around for a while, and then Once on this Island is a little later in the spring. One other thing to look forward is a potential New York trip the last weekend of February. The timing is great as I will be able to catch preview of 33 Variations, Blithe Spirit, Guys and Dolls, and West Side Story. Little Mermaid will still have to wait until sometime when my companion will be entertaining a client and I can go on my own, and South Pacific is losing its luster with Matthew's departure (although is anyone else as excited about his upcoming TV show as I am?) and with Kelli going on maternity leave. I may just have to mentally file it as a coulda, woulda, shoulda, and leave it at that. So, I believe that gets us caught up. Wish me luck on the 11th, and hopefully I'll be back soon.