dwayne blogged

Two articles in the AM New York paper today caught my attention. And they were both on the same page. One was about Cookie Monster and how Sesame Street has decided he’s not really the Cookie Monster. In fact, all this time he’s been a monster who happens to like cookies. His trademark song "C is for Cookie" is now "A Cookie is a Sometimes Food". What happened to it’s okay to be who you are? And he’s a monster. He’s allowed to eat more. Well it’s as good as writing the character off. I think it’s sad.

Meanwhile, a picture of the pope was taken and published in such a way that it made him look like he had two horns. Ooh! That’s sure to cause some controversy. I mean I’m talking to about it. What it actually is, of course, is the collar of the shirt belonging to the man standing behind him. Nothing more.

Oh did I mention, in the business of last week, I met Susan Egan and got her to autograph my copy of her third solo album Coffee House? That’s the second time I’ve met her. Awesome!

Everyone’s sick at school. The change in the weather is affecting people left right center! (That’s a very Singaporean term. Maybe it’s used in the US too. But I miss saying that.)

Anyway, I was at Tower Records browsing through the musicals section more thoroughly and I found myself taking down so many titles that were of interest or that I had not ever heard of. And I’ve heard of at least 150 musicals. I was really excited about Disney’s new musical revue "On the Record". There was also "Mary Poppins", the new London Cast recording with new songs written by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles. There was also a musical called "Striking 12", about the little match girl and well I could go on and on  but I won’t.

On my way back up to my apartment, I noticed someone had left many things lying around; someone was obviously moving out. I grabbed a copy of Shakespeare’s Richard II and the book "Under the Tuscan Sun". I also grabbed a wonderful tin container (see picture) which I immediately used to store my electronic related apparel like wires, cables and adaptors. My day was complete!

In my free copy of AM New York, the weather said Wednesday would hit a low of 240! And it was accompanied by a picture of someone breathing fire from his mouth. I just thought it was really funny. The sun today was great by the way. In fact, on my way home, I sat on the steps of the Columbia University library basking in the sun for the first time since coming here and read a book and even wrote a song for the music composition class that I’m taking.

Other exciting things in the newspaper, this time around the Village Voice, included a feature of Singaporean filmaker Royston Tan’s "15". It didn’t exactly get a great review but hey, it was mentioned! Congrats Royston! Also in this week’s edition of the New Yorker, they had a four page spread on Singapore. It made me think about all the things I missed about Singapore. I guess the advertorial worked, even on me!

But back to "15";  That was released way before I got here. Also, "The House of Flying Daggers" and "2046" have only just been out or is coming out. And while I’m getting US films much earlier than I used to get them in Singapore, I’m getting the Asian films later. And all this time, I hadn’t realised I really wasn’t getting the rotten end of the deal back in Singapore.

I’ve been working so hard, listening to musical after musical, reading chapter after chapter, rehearsing line after line and though work is what I enjoy, I had forgotten what fun really was. But today I was led to have fun! I went out to see what a Disney audition in New York was like (totally part of work). Of course I’m not allowed to audition while in school, but anyway I didn’t. I just went down to nose around. After that I just wandered and I had a wonderful $2.75 two hot dogs and a Pina Colada deal. And I had the wonderful sun to accompany that meal.

I went to Toys R Us and bought this little green frog puppet just in case I have to use my puppeteering skills here (Hey Brian!) Brian Zimmerman is my puppeteering mentor. Then on my way home I chanced by this cactus selling for only $3 and it was a bright spunky orange. Low maintenance for something that will brighten my every day. And the guy said it lasts forever. Something humans don’t have and a good reminder to live each day to the fullest. So I’ve got two new friends now. =)

I’m not sure about other cities, but the subway in New York is so different from the one back home in Singapore. There’s an incredible "hooha" about it in the media all the time. Not surprising considering how many fire breakouts, power outages, delays, trains stalled, and changing of routes (which is the most confusing) that happen each week. And I’ve been "victimised" by it too. The main thing that gets to me is when the subway screws up when I’m trying to get to class, because at school they don’t let you in if you’re a minute late, but that in itself is another whole story.

The problem is MTA (Metro Transport Authority) is supposedly broke, even though they raised the subway fees just recently.  The service is in excellent disrepair. The MTA blames the public though, for things like holding train doors. Well, it’s an ongoing debate. I’m not sure what will happen as these "events" continue but if you ever visit New York, be prepared.

Among the other shows that I didn’t mention I caught are a recital (Marcia Porter who was very polished) at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, The Contract (The Pied Piper) by the National Ballet of Canada at the BAM or Brooklyn Academy of Music (breathtakingly refreshing choreography) and Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafoe put up by Yale students.

I’ve absorbed so much I feel like I’m a vitamin C tablet that would give anyone an overdose of flavor. It was a good week for me. Mid-term week at school and continues into the next week. There is a due amount of stress but really, I’m working as hard as I can and my own progress is all I care for, not so much the grade.

It’s getting a lot warmer and I’m not too sure I like that. Hah! Just read Gregory Maguire’s "Mirror, Mirror", but it didn’t come close to being as good his own "Wicked". I also watched "The Notebook" (which made be bawl because it was so so emotional and true), "Finding Neverland" and "The Goodbye Girl". Listening to more Broadway recordings like "Peter Pan", "The Wild Party" and "Urinetown". I thought I would never say this, but it’s wonderful being in school.

Looks like I’ve been meeting people these days. Today was Kristin Chenoweth for the second time in my life. She launched her second album, As I Am (which had Christian themes) and was at Tower Records to promote it. She performed 3 great songs from her album including the famous "Taylor the Latte Boy". It was so funny. She was really warm and she gave a speech about how she was Christian but respected everyone no matter what their sexual orientation, race, religion, etc. I was in line for 2 hours before I got a chance to take some pictures and give her a copy of my own gospel album. She was really happy to receive it and said she would listen to it later at home. Yay!

Instead of trying to put up badly taken photos at this event, here’s a picture of the program. I attended Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s first collaboration, "God Bless You, Mr Rosewater" at York Theater today. It’s adapted from a book by Kurt Vonnegut. Both Kurt and Alan were part of the forum after the wonderful musical was performed. The lyrics and music were great and so was the story. It really was ahead of its time when it was released in 1979.

I also met Alan’s daughter who was a classmate of a current classmate of mine and I spoke to father and daughter for a while about my own ideas for a musical I am currently writing.  He promised not to steal my idea and then signed my Aladdin DVD Companion Book. Yet another splendid enriching day.

On March 31st was the Live Telecast of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion from Rose Theater as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series on PBS, public television. I didn’t realise that when I bought tickets, and neither did I realise I had been given a ticket to this performance the evening before. Imagine my horror when the realization struck me.

I was afraid to go back to Lincoln Center because I didn’t want to get the lady, who gave me a discount for the balcony seat, in trouble. And I was indeed questioned. Nonetheless, I received a call at the end of the day welcoming me to watch the concert seven rows from the front!! I was so happy and grateful. It was a great show! And Stephen Sondheim (Happy 75th birthday) and James Lapine were also present. The show had a wonderful cast including Audra McDonald, Patti Lupone and Michael Cerveris. I went home a happy man.

Please excuse the bad photography.