I have neglected to write about some great shows I’ve seen over the past few months and not quite sure why but here goes nothing… I was lucky to have a good friend who was taking a theatre class and was able to see a bunch of shows at a very reasonable price and in some instances FREE   Although I can’t remember all the shows we saw, I can tell about the ones that stuck out.

• Spring Awakening – great show, had great front row seats and felt like we were right in the tick of things.  If you’ve seen the show you’ll know what I mean.  The acting was superb and some of the scenes were very realistic that it makes me wonder if they were really acting.  As an actor, if you can get your audience to feel this way and you know you were just acting then you’ve done one hell of a job with your character.
• November – this was a political satire with a bunch of great actors.  A lot of dialogue combined with good humor and great acting is what makes this show worth seeing (if it’s till running).  Don’t remember exactly when I saw this show but it was worth every penny!  If you need a break from the real politics go check out this show, it’s worth the money in this tight economy and it gives an interesting spin on politics.
• Avenue Q – if you liked the Muppets as a kid then you’ll love Avenue Q as an adult.  I have to admit seeing two Muppets get it on on stage wasn’t what I wanted to see but the show was really funny, had great moments to captivate the audience.  The set design was cool and characters were pretty funny. 
• The Heights – this was/is probably the best show I’ve seen all year!  I’m not sure what took me so long to see this show, meaning I should’ve seen it before they won the Tony because after they won, the prices were very expensive.  I was happy to see a current Hola member in that of Blanca Camacho performing and performing very well I might add!  The show depicts Latinos in positive light as we should always be depicted!  I felt a sense of pride watching this show, was able to related to a lot of what was said and left the theatre motivated and with a sense of inspiration.  If you haven’t seen this show, check it out immediately!  All cultures will be able to enjoy this show and connect to the characters on stage.
• Xanadu – “My name is Kyra” lol… This rollerskating show was cool, had upbeat music to keep you engaged in the show and was funny.  Not the best show I’ve seen but definitely not the worst…If you’re into musicals, you’ll probably like this show.  Also, if you are daring, get the tickets for the seats on stage and be part of the show…

There were a few other shows that I can’t remember the names of at this moment, there was especially one that I really care to forget.  Can’t remember the name of the show but definitely remember feeling like damn when is this crap going to be over!

Till next time, support your local theatre and if you’re an actor stay connected!

So we performed “Lessons Learned” in the Newark public library.  This was interesting because the audience was closer to us during our performance and we had a mixture of students from all different age groups.  All in all, we performed really well and the audience enjoyed and I believed learned some pretty good lessons.

I also had my first taste of “stardom” with some of the kids from the audience wanting to take my picture after the show and wanting to take a picture with me.  Was a great feeling and at the end of the day I hope they were able to learn some valuable lessons through our characters.  Pictures of the show can be found in the gallery and stay tuned for a brain dump from our next show which should take place in mid-Nov

So I’m sure you want to know how the shows have been going for me, well I’m happy to report a lot of good things.   I have the opportunity to play two characters in this show.  I play Jose and Celia Cruz’s father Simon.  Jose is a HS student who has just completed his HS journey and is about to embark on the new challenges of college.  Jose’s teacher, Mr. C., recognizes that Jose has no real plan in life and he is trying to help him out and put him on the right track to succeed in his future endeavours.  Mr. C. uses examples of 3 famous Latinos in history to help Jose see that he can be whatever he wants to be and that no one can keep him from his dreams.  The story starts off in the classroom where Jose is basically saying goodbye to his former HS and classroom and is a bit taken back as he is about to leave what is known and comfortable for him and embark on journey that will change his life.

Mr. C. guides Jose by teaching him about a Nationally recognized talk show host Geraldo Rivera, who learned about his roots and identity through his struggles to make it as a journalist.  He then speaks about Celia Cruz, one of the most recognized music legends who came out of Cuba and concludes with discussing Antonia Novello, the first Puerto Rican Female Surgeon General of the United States.

On Oct. 13th we performed the first show of the season for a group of middle school kids in a school in south Jersey.  We had 2 shows to perform and as expected we were all a bit nervous.  Just before the show started there was a bit of drama, one of the main characters and my co-star didn’t show up for the show.  So the understudy John had to prepare for the show in a hurry as we were about to start our first of two performances in under an hour. 

As they say in showbiz the show must go on and so it did.  John being the professional that he is got up to speed and we ended up having a great first performance and the crowd loved us.  Great teamwork on our parts also led towards a great show.  There were a few moments in the show that John didn’t remember his lines and we worked through it and the audience had no idea what was missing, let alone that we were missing the main actor that had worked with me on the scene.

This marked for me, only my second live performance in my acting career and I was greeted at the end by the audience with loud cheers and applauds.  That gave me a good boost of confidence and a boost of energy leading into our our second show which ended up being superb.

Stay tuned for our next show and pics of the performance…