SW3 6NA

A year ago from today I took my adventure to London, England. Every since I was in middle school I wanted to study abroad, not knowing where until I got to High School. I choose London for numerous reason, the main one being they spoke English. Besides that it was the second theatre capital of the world. Since I was going to college in New York, why not live in London for four months. I honestly do not know even where to begin with describing this experience. To be as cliché as possible it changed my life. I made new friends and actually did learn a lot about myself and how to live on my own without Florence or Ricky.

My friend Mollie posted this on her Facebook and I thought it was so great I decided to repost it. It was the top 50 DONT’S

Don’t:

1. Say jello, soccer, dollars, or to go
2. ever say double fisting
3. pet the  swans
4. mistake the fake guards at McDonald’s for being real
5. pose with guns around the guards
6. call girls sluts on buses “are you going to call me a slut again?”
7. stay in the Ice Bar for longer than an hour
8. offer the RA’s drinks each time they get a noise complaint
9. celebrate new month every month…or new week every week
10. ask why the guards walk the way they do after you just weren’t listening to the tour guide 20 minutes ago because you were too busy watching the guards walk that way and laughing
11. gamble at any casino in Leicester Square
12. talk in a southern accent because you think Brits can’t tell the difference
13. try to pick up British guys using an English accent
14. sit down at pizza express and only order a drink
15. bring an ISIC card as an ID to get into a bar
16. go to Janet’s bar sober…or Walkabout
17. walk inside Eton college to take a picture
18. take pictures at G’s casino
19. eat an whole appetizer sampler at Friday’s
20. talk to 16 year olds…and 25 year olds in the same night
21. get on a bus with an Irishman driving and expect him to be sober
22. go to any Chinese buffet that does not allow you to put your own food on your plate
23. expect restaurants in Dublin to be open before noon or after 6pm
24. run away from a S.W.A.T. team running into a building thinking it’s not a movie
25. follow a bird off the Cliffs of Moher
26. sing “I want it that way” if you’re drunk, driving, and Irish
27. fall asleep with your mouth open on a bus and expect pictures not to be taken
28. get a guy’s phone numbers on a bus on the way to a football match
29. drink over a two liter of Strongbow or Diamond White
30. rip your pants on St. Patty’s Day
31. buy a drink at Janet’s Bar
32. think you will actually see Hugh Grant just because you live a block from him
33. expect anyone at Hank’s to be British
34. buy a bottle of wine for one pound, it does not taste good
35. flirt with a French waiter if you don’t want to be kissed
36. play Frisbee in the narrow hallway…or soccer-frisbee
37. play soccer and Frisbee in a private field
38. miss class 4 weeks in a row to force a change in the attendance policy
39. put your ham sandwich through security at the Vatican
40. laugh at signs about water bottles being the size of umbrellas and expect not to be reminded of it
41. go into O’Neils, HK
42. let a bird crap on you
43. get mad at automatic stuff in other countries
44. get in other people’s pictures on the London Eye
45. go to Athens during the riots
46. buy a 2 euro gyro for breakfast everyday for nearly a week
47. believe you saw Paul McCartney while in Liverpool
48. buy 6 jager bombs for 9 pounds at the Court, it’s not a good deal
49. stare at or take pictures of the cookie or coffee guy at the markets
50. go on a pub crawl with Aussie’s dressed in monopoly attire and expect them to be normal people

Anyway. I hope you enjoy and I hope one day to return and somewhat relive what I did while over there.

Shrek the Musical

Shrek the Musical

So last year while all my other friends went to go see Spring Awakening, I choose to go to see the musical Shrek. I was nervous, I never listened to the music but just really wanted to see Sutton Foster. She did some local theatre in Germantown (my hometown) so I feel like we were friends, even though we clearly aren’t. Anyway. So sadly this was just when it opened so there were no student rush tickets (now they have the for only $30.00, what a deal) so I paid a lot of money for my ticket. I told my self it was a treat for finishing my first semester of college and completing my exams, just so I wouldn’t feel so bad if the musical was bad.

Little did I know how good it was going to be. As I sat in my wonderful seat, I was looking at the set trying to decide if I liked it. As the overture started I could tell who ever wrote the music did a great job. It just so happen that it had some of the same writers from Thoroughly Moder Millie, another one of my favorite musicals. The show was wonderful. The costumes were great but what was really enjoyable was the ENSEMBLE! They were amazing singers, when they sing the Act II song “Freak Flag” you never want it to end. That is one of my favorite songs.

Told ya. Anyway. So back to the first part of the show. I was a tiny child. For some reason I was really excited to see Sutton Foster live on stage. I heard so much about her and how wonderful  she is etc… So, I knew her song was coming up, I let you watch instead of me trying to explain it. This one is from the Seattle show, the youngest girl was not on Broadway (even though she is clearly better than the girl who is on Broadway). Watch.

The show has some humor haha, it really is a good show I promise. Though the title might be misleading it is a very well put together show and fun for all, adults and kids. I could keep showing you videos, but I want you to see the show and I don’t want to ruin anything. As shown, I am clearly and fan of the show, especially the music.

thanks,

the quirky performer

So long Orpheum, Hello Wagner.

Well, today is my last day at work. Although I believe I will be back over Christmas, it won’t be as exciting as this summer has been. When I arrived back here this summer, I knew things would be better and they were. I have a better desk, and I was working better hours. I was beyond excited that Wicked was coming and couldn’t wait to help out education during their Summer Insitute camp.

I’ll start with that. The Orpheum Summer Institute was a wonderful time. The way our Education put it together and allowed all the teenagers to meet the Wicked cast as well as do other awesome workshops was so much fun to watch. I made new friends and will hopefully be working on it again next summer, who knows?

A few weeks before that I did the Burger challenge. Does everyone remember that? Torture. Oh the things I do as a intern. It was fun but two days after that I got mono and was out of the office for almost two weeks. Was it the burger? I don’t think so, it just so happens that the person who worked at my desk before I arrived has mono so I must have gotten it from using the same phone and keyboard as her. Not from eating a burger.

So Wicked arrived here at The Orpheum and I was beyond excited. I saw it three times, too much? Never. I went twice with the Summer Institute and once actually by myself. It was wonderful and I am sad I will not be in Memphis when it comes back next time. But I could not have learned more about handling a show and what it takes to run a large three week production.

As the summer went on I began to host more and more summer movies, it was great. I do think people enjoyed listening to me pretty much make a fool of myself. I had people notice me outside the theatre and say: “Hey aren’t you the intern at The Orpheum” or my favorite one was: “Hey it’s Quintern the Intern.” I have one more curtain speech to go and then I am done. Hopefully to return next summer to do the same thing. The Orpheum Summer Movies are definately one of the best things about working as a Summer Intern. You get to see the great classics on the big screen with an always enteraining crowd.

I am very thankful to have such a wonderful job at such a wonderful place. While this has been my only real job I have ever had, I know it will help me out in future positions I would like to apply to. Thanks Orpheum Theatre and the wonderful staff that works here for all the fun, knowledge and memories you have now bestowed on me.

Until next time,

Quintern the Intern

 

p.s. I leave you with a video of me as Mr. MacAfee in my High School production of Bye Bye Birdie. I forgot this was even on youtube!!

Broadway Fail.

My co worker sent me this, I would kill myself if this happened to my show.

‘SPIDER-MAN’ A NO-SHOW

By MICHAEL RIEDEL

August 12, 2009 –

SPIDER-MAN has vanquished Green Goblin, Electro, Doc Ock and Lizard.

But when it comes to the greatest supervillain of them all — The Riedeler — Spidey has met his match.

The $45 million “Spider-Man,” directed by Julie Taymor and written by Bono and The Edge, is caught in my net, and I can report today that escape is virtually impossible.

Mwahahaha!

Last week, production crews at both the Hilton Theatre and the scene shop where the show was being built were put on “hiatus” because the producers ran out of money. Assistants in the scene shop “ran to the bank to cash their checks because they weren’t sure they’d clear,” a source says.

Now comes word that the actors have been released from their contracts, with no incentive (i.e., money) to hang around waiting for the production to get back on track.

Meanwhile, ticket agents are desperately trying to get refunds for deposits from theater parties that booked early previews.

“I hope they don’t stiff us the way Garth Drabinsky did,” says one ticket agent, referring to the disgraced impresario recently sentenced in Toronto to seven years in jail.

A desperate attempt was made last week to save “Spider-Man” by bringing in a couple of veteran producers. But they’re too smart to get involved in what’s turning out to be the biggest fiasco in Broadway history.

And so, while the official line is “the production will begin previews on Feb. 25, 2010,” the betting is that the Hilton Theatre, whose insides have been gutted for this show, is going to be an empty barn this winter.

“Spider-Man” has been in trouble from the beginning, done in by the inexperience of its producers — Sony, Marvel Comics and David Garfinkle, a Chicago lawyer who, sources say, had almost no Broadway experience.

“He was in over his head,” a source says.

Taymor, the director of “The Lion King,” conceived of “Spider-Man” as an “installation show,” something big and bold and full of special effects. Something, in other words, like Cirque du Soleil.

That’s fine if you’re going to put the damn thing up in Las Vegas, where “installation shows” run several times a day and are funded in large part by hotels and casinos.

But at $45 million — and with a weekly running cost of almost $900,000 — “Spider-Man” at the 1,700-seat Hilton could never be profitable.

The show would have to run five years, selling every single seat in the house, to just break even.

“That,” says a source who crunched the numbers, “is insane.”

Artistically, it’s impossible to tell if “Spider-Man” is any good.

The designs for the sets and costumes that I saw were impressive, and some of U2′s songs weren’t bad — moody and melodic, if not all that theatrical — but even people working on the show weren’t quite sure what it was going to be like.

“A lot of it seems to exist only in Julie’s head,” one source says.

Which may be where it remains for a long, long time.

A Friday treat.

So I realized that my blog was having too many topics and I was not being specific. I said I would talk about Youtube/Musicals/College life. So, that is what I will be talking about from now on. Done and Done.

Well back to Youtube I go. I am a huge fan of funny videos from Youtube. I watch them all the time. I have tons to share with everyone but for right now I will give you two that I watch often. First I i give you “Bad Crack.”

Not only does her voice crack once, but TWICE. I love voice cracks but it is always awkward when someones voice cracks and they don’t find it funny…but I start laughing. I would just like to say to those people, I am not laughing at you, just the voice crack

Next I give you one in which the first time I watched it, I did not think it was funny at all. Then after that I was in love with it. This video is called: “The Grape Lady.” Now you need to focus on when she falls at the end, make sure your volume is up so you can hear the noises she makes. Then watch the black lady’s reaction when they zoom back to the news people. Then watch the video over again so you can see what she does before she falls and how she tries to cheat, priceless. Anyway. This video makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope it does the same to you!

I love when she says, “I can’t breathe.” They also have really funny music videos of this lady and a bunch of other things. It still gets me every time haha.

Sorry if you guys have seen these, but hey if you have any new ones e mail me qbusey@gmail.com

 

Thanks,

the quirky performer

 

p.s. Ironically, I fell in my bathtub this morning and I said to my self…”I can’t breathe.” Now I think i have a bruise rib. I am in pain. Ouch.

What’s your status?

I don’t know about you, but I do like to update my facebook status a lot. Many people do. In fact so many people did, they created TWITTER, which by the way isn’t really working today. Anyway.

 I was on youtube the other day just typing in random things when I came upon this. It is a video about facebook, created by a group know as UNTUCKED FILMS. The company website is www.untuckedfilms.com you should go there, some of their videos are really really funny. I decided to put this one up because it is know to many, especially me. Now, I don’t go around looking for things to put as my status, but still.

Thanks,

the quirky performer

Humpalicious hump day.

What a day it has been here at The Orpheum Theatre. Before I get into that, my co worker Holli sent me this video…it has Kathy Bates in it.

Looks pretty emotional if I do say so myself. Anyway.

September 21-27

Well today started out like any other normal day. Woke up, found out my piano lesson was cancelled, got to work and sat. The out of no where the day became busy. I had to call all the upcoming shows and find B rolls as well as TV and Radio spots. Sounds easy but some companies didn’t have any of the ready nor did they have any sheets to fill out for posters. So in return, I made a company make one right then and there, I laughed about that haha. Anyway. Then I became a travel agent. I planned a trip for Tom Prestigiacomo to go to New York to see Jersey Boys so he could talk about it, but then low and behold the tickets never got ordered. So he leaves tomorrow and we have still yet to get tickets for him…how will this turn out? Who knows. I mean more than likely he will get tickets, but hey it is still stressful.

(For more info about Orpheum Season– www.orpheum-memphis.com)

Jan. 27- Feb. 14

 I made a resume today, a real one for jobs outside of musical theatre. it is pretty nice, took me all morning. I wonder what kind of real job I will get in my life. I like special events and I really like public relations, so hopefully one of those…boo jobs let me just perform and  I will be happy.

I promise that my Chick-Fil-A blog is coming, I just want to make sure it is the best one. Also, new musical: CATCH ME IS YOU CAN….will  have more information about that as well as videos.

Until next time,

the quirky performer