How many Secretaries of State have you met?

Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting Colin Powell. As mentioned, his daughter, Linda (a talented actress and wonderful person to be around in her own right) is Hermione in "The Winter's Tale". He and his wife came to see the show yesterday afternoon, and after the show, he came into the green room to meet the cast. After he greeted all the men, Linda introduced Megan, Rebecca and I to him, and he shook our hands and congratulated us on the show. After meeting the cast and crew, he was trying to figure out how to get back to the highway, and Linda asked my advice on the matter, and I got to give the former Secretary of State driving directions. Bitchin'.

More "Winter's Tale" reviews

Independent Press
The Princeton Packet
Home News Tribune
TalkinBroadway.com
the NY Times review has been sent to staff, but it has not been posted on the internet yet, when it is, I'll post the link here. Some of the actors may read my blog, and so I don't want to post the review here in case they read it accidentally.

UPDATE:
The NY Times Review is now online. Note the cute blonde :)

"Please take care, there's a bear, and the play..."

"...is a crazy Tale of Winter" (with apologies to Simon, but not so much to Garfunkel)

Preview article from the front page of Playbill.com last Friday (note the cute blonde in the pic at the bottom:))
The reviews are also in from:
Curtain Up, Wall Street Journal, Newark Star-Ledger, and the Daily Record
They're all good, because the show is. Great cast, great performances, great set, great lighting, great bear. Ending my tenure here on a high note is good, because there's been so many lows this season. I highly recommend you come out to the show. Mom, Dad and Elissa (and her bf) will be in town for Friday's show. Can't wait :)

Heroes / LOST Crossover?

The latest "Heroes" has Sylar stranded on a beach somewhere, after being teleported there by Hiro. My silly fan boy theory is thus:
He has been teleported to The Island around the time of the crash. He will find the cockpit, and seeing the pilot (portrayed by Greg Grunberg) he will mistake him for Matt Parkman (also portrayed by Greg Grunberg) and kill him in an attempt to take his powers.
So it's not "The Monster" that kills the pilot, it's Sylar, who is, in his own way, a monster. Now Sylar is on the Island, fucking with people.
That's my wacky fanboy theory. Ta-da.

Hooray invited dress!

So my reason for lack of posts for the last ever has been load-in/Thanksgiving/tech.
Today is invited dress for "The Winter's Tale" and tonight is first preview. Spirits are high and the mood is comfortable. The cast is a wonderful and friendly bunch and there has been very little drama and things have gone smoothly. At least until the turntable issues last night that prevented the invited dress being run last night. Those problems were fixed by production staff (Scenic/Props, Production, Chuck, Karla, and Ruggaber, the designer) quite efficiently.
I must now go to my place back left, but I will post actual posts more often now that tech is wrapping up.

Random update

So I haven't posted in almost a week, and it's mostly because nothing has happened that made me go "ooh, I gotta write about this in my blog!"
Thursday night was "Big Lebowski" with Kristen (she'd never seen it before) with White Russians
Friday night was the Bourne Trilogy with Kristen.
Sunday was strike. fun.
Monday was cool. Kristen and I celebrated 3 months since my last cigarette, and she and I also made it "official." By that I mean we are now officially "boyfriend/girlfriend" instead of just "dating". I never understood the semantics involved in such decisions. She got me a movie pass and I took her to dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe. We had a wonderful evening :)
On the Kristen front: it looks like I will once again be off to Vegas. Kristen and I may be heading to Sin City in January to work on a commercial shoot. Not sure yet. Stay tuned.

Finally, a propos of nothing: Mike Mussina is retiring from the Yankees. The man was a truly talented pitcher, and a class act. He had his first 20 win season last year, and is going out on top. He will be missed. See you in Cooperstown, Moose.

Exit, pursued by a bear.

STNJ presents a BCrowe Joint:
Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale
I will be run crew for the show, as well as a certain ursine beast in the world's best known stage direction. I've been building the bear for the past 2 weeks. I'm now on break from attaching the fur to the skeletal structure. I kind of HAVE to be the Bear, as I don't think any of the other crew members or non-Equity cast can carry it. It's big and heavy.
Oh, and btw, who is in this cast? you ask?
Kristen Kittel as Mopsa/First Lady. That's right, the lovely actress who I'm dating is making her mainstage debut and earning her first Equity points.
Jesse Easterling, Kelly's adorable little rapscallion son will also be making his mainstage debut.
Also, appearing are Greg Jackson and Scott Whitehurst, two of my favorite people on the planet, as well as David Faubert, Jack Moran, and Rob Gomes, all 3 are truly gentlemen and scholars. Also, Hermione is being portrayed by the daughter of Colin Powell. That's right, THE Colin Powell.
And of course, it wouldn't be an STNJ show if it didn't include an appearance by the one and only Jon Barker.
I must get back to work now, this bear can't go onstage naked. More details to come.

Must See TV

I have officially had it with the TV situation at 13W. We have a widescreen HD flatscreen just hanging on the wall, mocking me while I watch analog broadcast on a crappy little TV with rabbit ears that never come in well enough to make it worthwhile. I miss cable. We get CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS, and 5 spanish channels. We don't even get My9 or the CW. And the reception is AWFUL and we have to fuck with the antenna constantly. I yearn for cable. I've gone a year without, and I can't take it anymore. I NEED CABLE.
I crave it. I dream about it at night.
I don't need HBO, or a DVR, or thousands of channels.
I just want ESPN and Comedy Central, and more importantly, I WILL NEVER HAVE TO USE THE RABBIT EARS AGAIN. Seriously, not having to put up with snow and static on every show will make me soooo happy.
The ability to tell teams apart during a football game will make Sundays more enjoyable. Not to mention the ability to watch MNF again.
And like I said, the HD TV is just mocking us. We can watch DVDs Blu-Ray, downloaded stuff, and PS3, but I want ordinary old TV on an extraordinary TV.
WE NEED CABLE!

Yes We Can

Post-election excitement is wearing off, now we just have to wait for Barack to actually take office in January.
I am so surrounded by liberals at work and in my social life, I forget that I actually have conservative Republican friends. Facebook has been a minefield of secret Republicans whose red state leanings don't emerge until election season. My red state cousins aren't a surprise, but the amount of Long Island Jew friends of mine surprises me, as Long Islanders, Jews, and young people are all typically Democratic groups.
I feel like I have to censor my statements as not to offend my Republican friends, but at the same time I HAVE to rejoice that the GOP reign of terror has come to an end. Now, hopefully, with a democratic Congress and President, some of the changes that so desperately need to happen in this country will. There's always hope.
Like the hope that we'll never have to deal with Sarah Palin ever ever again.

And btw, the John McCain who conceded... where was he for the past 8 months? That was the John McCain I wanted 8 years ago, the McCain I would have voted for over Al Gore, not the angry, evil geezer that's been spewing hate and lies all over the country. He really shot himself in the foot trying to go Right.

For anyone who wants to bring me presents...

Just saying, Christmas is coming up.

Happy Halloween 2 days ago

I have more important things to do with my life than post happy Halloween wishes on my blog, so I'm sorry it's late. Halloween plans changed, and Geoffrey the Vampire escorted Kristen, Zombie Prom Queen 1986 to Kelly's Halloween Bash. It was quite the event. I was a champ, in the span of 10 minutes, I managed to make Kelly's son Jesse cry (he was overtired) and set off the smoke alarm (I've never broiled steak before, wtf was I thinking?) Kathy and Jackee as Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson) and Dr. Gonzo win for best costume.

Yesterday was spent being a waste and hanging with Sully and Forbes in the evening, then heading to NYC to meet up with Kristen to go to JC for Elizabeth's b-day night out at Bar Majestic. Nice bar, poor service, but we had fun anyways. Hadn't hung out with JRock in forever, and Kristen and Elizabeth hit it off like whoa. Kristen has decided we need to go out like that more often. I hope she doesn't mean "in JC", though we did have fun.

Today was spent fetching lunch for Kristen and watching "Armageddon" while she ate and worked on homework and writing her play. I enjoy going out and being "Metropolitan" with Kristen about as much as I enjoy being a total schlub and doing nothing with her.

Now I'm watching the G-Men smack the Cowboys around, then The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror XIX".
Seriously? 19 Treehouses of Horror? How old am I?

Ooooh, a blog!

So I've decided to blog.
Not that any of you care. You never read my LiveJournal where I posted all my deepest darkest emo thoughts, soul searching surveys, and deeply insightful internet quiz results.

Anyways, I have a blog now, where I will recount my amazing adventures in the Garden State, the "holy crap, that's a HUGE motherfucking" City across the river, and any other excursions like the one I took home last weekend.
What? You didn't know I went home last weekend?
See, this is why you should read my blog.
There will be more exciting stuff in the future. This is just an introductory post. I don't want to blow my blog load in one post, do I?