The Official Greg Jbara Love Thread! PART 4. CELEBRATING 1 YEAR OF LOVIN'!!- Page 58

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 10:39am

Wow, Traci's awesome. The only person on the Internet we can send an "e-meil" to!

Posted: 3/31/06 at 12:32pm

Today has been pretty bad so far. Not only did I just get home from a funeral of a lady who was pretty much like another grandmother to me and am completely emotionally spent, I got some news. Basically I have amazing news, horrible news, okay news, and better news.
Here we go:
Amazing news-- Anthony Rapp is coming to Tallahassee on Monday night at 8!
Horrbile news-- I have a softball game Monday night at 6 and they normally last about 2 hours and it takes 30 minutes to get to Tally.
Okay news- My mom said if it's not a close game I could leave early to make it on time
Better news-- My dad has some crazy connections in Florida State Univ. and a friend of his is working on getting me a ticket because i'm not an FSU student.
I am determined to go see Anthony, but if I don't get to a friend of mine is going to take my copy of the book (she doesn't have one) and get it signed for me. AGHH i just wish I didn't play softball.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 12:54pm

that's.....pretty good!

sorry about the funeral though. but Anthony coming..that is awesome. I wish he would come to Dickinson but I doubt that. I don't think a lot of people here know who he is unless they see his picture and plus, we're a small liberal arts college.

i just realized! my friend's dad is a professor there at FSU! hmmm....*plotting, plotting, plotting* Hmmmmm......


SHOW STARTS TONIGHT!!! AHHHHHH!

Posted: 3/31/06 at 1:18pm

WHOOO! My dad's connection at FSU got a ticket for me! I'm mucho excited now, maybe I'll actually get to go! Who is your friend's dad? Or what does he teach?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 1:21pm

Sorry about the funeral Julia, but yaay for Anthony! He's so great, you'll definitely enjoy seeing him! Let us know all about it!

Okay naptime, to be immediately followed by long post.

[Malki5]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 1:25pm

AHHH! One of my ovens just exploded! No one was hurt (nothing actually came out except smoke) but the noise scared Yoni. I just had it fixed on Tuesday. I called the service guy and basically said "my oven just went kaplooey!" He said he would come back.

As I was typing this, he came in. I love Anthony my oven repairman! Anyway, he will be back on Monday with another new element and he will fix it and clean it and also fix the self cleaning thing on the bottom oven.

[Traci]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 2:15pm

OMG, it's a good thing no one was hurt Malki. That would have scared me so much if it had happened to me.

Julia: I'm sorry about the funeral as well. It's hard to lose someone you're close with.

Ok, so it's totally 75 degrees outside right now. I LOVE it. And I am now off to the beach to play some volleyball.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 2:45pm

News for Annie...

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/98819.html

Okay, nap didn't go so well b/c I just did something I'm so proud of and can't sleep. Anyway, long post coming.

[SirLiir]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 2:46pm

Sorry to hear about that, Juile. I hope you will have a chance to meet Anthony. His book was amazing and he seems like a great guy to meet in person. Good luck!

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 2:48pm

w00t

[movieinmymind]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:22pm

amanda-I *CANNOT* WAIT FOR YOUR REVIEW!!!! those teasers you left us are pretty attention catching.

tracy-OMG, IT IS SO HOT! i performed in our school's talent show today, and i was wearing a very mini skirt, and i thought it would be ackward, but i was wrong because everybody else was sweating so much! gotta love spring. and, the beach? oh man, thatsagoodidea!! lol

malki-wow, sorry about the oven explosions! very glad you're okay!

dre-GOOD LUCK! :)

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:23pm

Okay, so as I mentioned, I was thinking about lottoing DRS but figured not to try on the chance Norbert would be out. Eventually I made plans with a friend but at the last minute decided if as of the lotto Norbert was in, we'd do that and take our chances. There were only a couple more people than seats available, but my friend came after the names started to be called. My name was called when there was one ticket left. Since I was gonna loan my friend money for the ticket and she wasn't there in time anyway, she told me to take the one. Box office said Norbert was in as far as they knew so I crossed my fingers.

Got my usual box...back one in the right. Went to dinner with my friend where I was wearing my "theater dork" T-shirt and between that and the fact that my friend and I were heavily talking about theatre, like 3 different pairs of people started asking me/us theatre-related questions. 2 were actually seeing Lestat that night...random. We actually got into a big convo w/ these 2 girls from Calif, that was fun. Then I got anxious at 7 so I checked the posting, and full cast was in! I was thrilled.

Before I get into the show, I'll also note it was an odd crowd seated-wise. The entire rear mezz was sold out but most of the furthest right side of front mezz wasn't.

Anyway, right around Oklahoma I realized b/c it was so empty, I could def move there so I did. I sat in the aisle, second row, then first when ppl wanted to switch b/c of lack of leg room. So yay for that.

Okay, so the show. Let's see...

Things didn't really pick up until "Great Big Stuff"-with both the audience and the cast. The dialogue between Lawrence & Freddy is back in with the dentist and such, as others have noted.

Anyway, from GBS on, something felt different w/ Norbert. Not to say that he lacked energy or anything the last couple of times I've seen him, but he seemed to reach a whole other level last night. Greg said with him especially when the audience really gets into it, he just...starts going crazy in the part, and the result is wonderful. His singing was the best it's been since he started having vocal problems.

Okay, now the fun starts. When Norbert said his "underwear" line and lifted his butt cheek, the audience hooted, but to my surprise, he began admiring/gazing at his butt cheek in the mirror!! I lost it, it was so funny!

Oh, I *think* I finally figured out who Mylinda as Jolene reminds me of. I have the DVD, I'll double check, but I think it's one of the band-aids in Almost Famous...the one that stays with what's his face and talks about his aura. I'll double check on that.

And...Ruprecht. Oh boy, where to begin? Okay everything was the same up till "we lose more cats that way." Norbert was doing louder, more hysterical crying, but when Jonathan came over to hug him, he skipped the kiss/lick and went straight to the humping. Now I've noted it's been a bit different lately but this time...wow. He got on top of Jonathan, who was forced to lie down on his stomach, and was humping him there...funny enough, but then...he reaches into the toilet...grabs his fish, puts it back into his mouth, and starts...riding Jonathan like a cowboy. He bounces on him as if he were on a toy horse or a bull, and waved his hand in the air as if he was swinging a lasso--you know stuff cowboys would do. I hope you guys got the image. If not, I'm sure I'll think of a movie or something that demonstrates. Anyway, that was HILARIOUS.

So finally Jonathan stops him--the two of them cracking up a little. While Norbert's sucking his thumb in Jonathan, then he kisses him. I was waiting for the lick then, but to no avail. Finally Jonathan gets his "he's very affectionate" out. Norbert did more with the "mother" sequence, repeated "sister?" like he was very disturbed by that idea.

Then when Jonathan mentioned the genital cuff, Norbert went outta control, acting every aspect of that out--throwing it away and stuff. Oh boy. It took more effort for Jonathan to get Norbert to sleep. Finally he did, but I could see Norbert smiling and laughing. And poor Jonathan kept trying to begin the song, but he couldn't stop laughing. He tried 3 times and just burst out. Finally the entire audience applauded, and he got out his giggles, and did the song.

When he said the Bush line, there was delayed reaction by the audience (that too has been happening lately). Someone in the rear mezz on the left side screamed and applauded and then the whole audience did. Jonathan mouthed "thank you" to that person, causing more laughter. Then he finally finished it. He went to sit Mylinda down on the toilet, but she screamed...he didn't put the seat down. Hahaha.

Then when the song started, I'm not positive I feel like Norbert said "okay" in regular, non-Ruprecht voice, I had a delayed reaction. I'm not sure, I think me along with the audience was laughing too hard to notice one way or the other.

I think the rest of it was the same, with some added movements/acting outs by Norbert that cracked me up. He went back to his regular Ruprecht voice for "makes two..." for a little while he changed to a deep funny voice...last night it seemed extra lispy.

And the audience was gone after that--they were really energetic after GBS but the rest of the night they were insane with laugher, cheering, and applause. It was fantastic.

Ooh, I could swear when Jolene was exiting the hotel, Greg, Norbert, and Jonathan kept laughing about something and were trying to hide it. Forgot to ask about that. Oh well.

Rachel keeps getting better and better. Her "Am" was fantastic, and she seems generally more comfortable with the character. Once again, Nothing is too wonderful=eargasmic. Ooh! Someone in the audience obviously got the midget w/ crazy glue joke because they burst out laughing sooo hard, I never heard that reaction before. I guess it's really, really funny if you're familiar with it.

Now for Shiffhausen...wow. The bit with the feather...Jonathan started doing all these movements with it--I think he did it last time but it was so much funnier with it being Norbert. Kept moving from side to side being suspenseful till finally Norbert motioned w/ his hands to move it along and then he giggled it a bit. And it was funnier when Jonathan started tickling. He made that go long too...kept asking tickle tickle? in a REALLY high voice and more so...at one point consecutively they went...tickle? No. tickle? No. tickle? No! Norbert lost it at that point, which I found hysterical b/c he's being tickled and not supposed to be laughing.

Then the song started. Umm, can't think of anything out of the ordinary the first verse. Ooh, the second hit, when Norbert yodels, instead of saying "that's lovely" Jonathan looked at him strangely and exaggeratedly(is that a word) imitated his yodel? Again little laughs here and there.

Oh and ..."are you psychosomaticome? to be.." Again, long moment by Jonathan...something he does every night, but just funnier with Norbert. He took the stick, kneeled down to Norbert, and started playing it against him like a bow on a violin. Again, very exaggerated and long, causing Norbert to move him along again and again crack up. Finally when he left, before Norbert said "I guess that's that" he waved his finger through his hair, indicating Jonathan was crazy. It was great.

Oh yeah, one more thing, Jonathan also stepped/walked on him at one point.

Let's see...Like Zis/Like Zat fantastic as always.

The More We Dance keeps getting better--Jonathan's dancing skills are really beginning to shine through--he now dances with Rachel from the very beginning of the song, and when he's leading everyone, he's clearly one of the best dancers on the floor.

Love Is Your Legs was great as usual, and Rachel did this crazy riff on the really high "Love Is Your Legs." God I love her.

"Love Sneaks In" was once again gorgeous.

Norbert put a little more fun, interesting movements into "Son Of Great Big Stuff."

Rachel can now jump over the orchestra bar. Good for her.

Finally Dirty Rotten Number. Wow. Wow. Wow. All I can say is Wow. Woo-WOOW! The two of them sounded amazing together and that final note-"us"--now they're singing the same note. I assume voices are the same as instruments--when you're playing the same thing, you want to sound like one instrument. I imagine that's harder to do in voices. But they're "us"--was PERFECT. Sounded like one person. It was just an amazing sound, it wasn't possible for them to be more identical. You could hear their strong voices and OMG.

Finally, Jonathan developed his own spanish voice. It's pretty slow and dragged out.

Other things to mention...everytime they spun the wheel, or during the Navy scene, the bike at the curtain call, and the married couple...I really missed Joe. From what I could tell, the new guy has a similar face and I'm sure he's great...but oh well. *le sigh*

Eh, to be continued. Lemme get this up first at least.

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:25pm

My scroll bar thanks you, Amanda.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:31pm

Anytime Mary

(But can we refrain from jokes about my long posts if possible for today? Someone who used to be my friend who's suddenly a bitch totally attacked me for them, and I totally stood up to her, I'm so proud. I know this all done in fun and you know I never mind, but just for today..thanks)

[Dre2387]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:47pm

shootinstr - I don't know his first name but his last name is Parker. No idea what he teaches.

amanda- never mind annie, I can't wait for the show!!!

traci- it is nice out! i want to rent a bike and ride it, but they ahve all been taken.

malki- sorry about your oven. hopefully it gets back in working order

jamie- thanks a lot! hopefully it goes well. and check your PMs.

amanda- OMG.

I can't believe I can't see it again. Well, i might near the end of May but not sure. That sounds incredible! Especially when Norbert took out the fish, and when Jolene sat on the toilet with no seat. Did she fall in a bit? haha. that would have been so funny! I can sort of see the Ab-fab woman resemblance to Jolene. She's the american one married to one of the guys that one of the main characters was married to early on. sorry if that is confusing.

uh... i think that is all i want to say.

oh, except this....

GREG JBARA ROCKS MY SOCKS!!!!

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:53pm

I would read it, but it would only make me depressed as I am not seeing DRS again.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 3:58pm

but it will make you laugh. really. I'm sad but I was happy to know what she was talking about and at least sort of imagine it in my mind. it;s funny!

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 4:06pm

Okay, so, continuing on...

The whole Chuck/Andrew's replacement thing. I gotta backtrack. Do you guys remember a little while ago Mamie mentioned his replacement being Matt and cute and was gonna be on the cam? I read that and was pretty sure she confused him...Matt's another replacement, but double-checked my playbill b/c who knows maybe Andrew's replacement is named Matt as well. It turned out to be Timothy, and I was typing that until something struck me...he's a swing, not in the ensemble. That really confused me. So then I thought maybe he just wasn't in the playbill yet.

Same thing today which made me realize something's up I'm not realizing. At intermission I looked at all the pictures when it finally hit me that it's Chuck! I don't why in I find him so much more attractive in Andrew's part, but I do. He's GREAT. Falls down really well. Mamie, that leads to believe that you met and were referring to Matt Wall, he replaced Michael Patersono (who's gonna be in A Chorus Line...). Among other things, he plays the accordian. He was on the cam during a roving day.

So glad I finally figured that out.

Anyway, so after curtain call, Mylinda gave the BCEFA speech. Sally is the new "spokesmodel," I guess Rachelle retired. I think they've had better things in the past...they have a new DRS T-shirt, it's black and says Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in pretty blue...I held myself back, I was proud. They have autographed playbills and posters, Mylinda made a joke that sure you could wait for us to come out to get these signs, but...you better buy these...b/c we never leave! Heh, I already have mine.

They did have some cool autographed production photos. Jonathan was showing those--there was one of him and Mylinda and he started staring at it, and asked her if he always made that face. Mylinda stared at it and finally said she doesn't think so, he stared at it more, made a face, was about to say something, then changed his mind and said "no actually, it's quite excellent."

Ooh, that reminds me! He does a huge butt dance in front of the mirror while admiring it.

Umm, then Jonathan asked for the house lights to go up and explained they were doing an auction. The winner would get champagne with the cast--well he said him, Norbert, Rachel, and Mylinda--Joanna prob left, and Greg was collecting money. He said he has an important question, and asked if there was a doctor in the house. That sounded alarming, but someone in the orch below me said yes, and Jonathan said great, $100 bid from you sir, thank you. HAHAHA!

The next bid of $150 came from the rear mezz! They were impressed, then Jonathan and Norbert taunted the front rows and said c'mon guys, the poor people are bidding!

And then, a girl all the way in the back screamed "$50,000! If I could see his butt cheek again!" Everyone laughed, especially Norbert then he motioned to her to come here with his finger, like Patrick Swayze does in Dirty Dancing? More laughter and then doing a dance to accompany it, he screamed, "Show me the money!" HAHA.

Anyway, the winning bid was $600. It was cute b/c Jonathan was being British, err, Walesish about it, saying we have an "advonce of..." Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've spent more money than that on DRS tickets alone, so I think I should get some...err, virgin champagne backstage at one point...

And of course, we resumed standing and began our mass exodus. I tried to avoid the cast members, particularly Greg, b/c while I have a perfectly good reason to not give money, I'm not sure it's appropriate for everyone else who doesn't know me to hear me say "c'mon, you don't think I spend ENOUGH on this show?" I think I was pretty successful--being short comes in handy. Looked at some of the production photos--some cool ones, but was a good girl and didn't buy anything. Good will power from me.

By that point, they wouldn't let me go out the 46th street entrance. So I got stuck on 45th Street, where 3 days of Rain is playing right across the street. OY. My advice...through June if you are seeing DRS, do NOT go out the 45th STreet entrance. Not only was across the street packed, but so was our side! As if Julia was gonna cross the street to sign autographs. And then a frenzy just ensured, people would be like, what Julia Roberts? and stop dead in their tracks. It was an adventure finally getting out of that mess. Plus, there were a lot of people at the Tarzan stage door I had to get through. Ulgh. Finally, I arrived at my 5-ppl DRS stage door. Felt much better.

I was thinking last night that I'm not sure where the picture rule comes into effect now. Jonathan took pics with the few people waiting, and I realized I don't remember him ever saying no to a picture. I think Rachel's done the same. It could also be b/c it hasn't been too crowded. Oh well.

Greg of course came out last, and was shocked that this family was waiting for him...of course the daughter told me she wanted a pic w/ him where I started saying oh yaay, he's the nicest guy ever, etc. and...boy did he prove it last night. He stood and talked with them at the stage door for nearly half an hour! (See Malki, don't need to feel guilty anymore). They were just...amazed I guess. The daughter is an aspiring actress, so he gave her advice, told her to finish college, then contact him and he'll help her with agents...someone else, I wasn't sure quite what the relation was but another guy I think was going into scenic design and Greg started suggesting companies and such for him...now he mentioned he's gonna be an announcer on...a talk show? I didn't want to but in for the most part b/c I realized how much this meant to them (I'm becoming such a good girl!...ooh I did take the picture for them though, I think now not only are there a few pics of me on Greg's site, but a few pics I myself have taken...I really am there a lot...), anyway...Barb, do you know anything more about this announcer/talk show thing?

And the family was from California, so that was the topic of most of the conversation. They talked about towns and stuff I had no clue about so I just smiled and nodded. They asked him how he feels about LA vs NY and he said if he could make the money here and the family not be a factor, he'd stay here in a heartbeat, but explained the situation and how he's going back and his kids and stuff. I think I heard him say he doesn't think he'll be back for at least 15 years. We'll miss him.

Umm...oh then one point Greg mentioned how great the audience was, and I knew I could but it there and I was like oh yeah it def was, and Greg laughed and said yeah, so how many times have you seen the show now? Hrmph, made me admit it...I went *cough18cough* He asked me how much money I think I've spent I said I'm too scared to count (I did later but I'm not revealing it) but I did tell him about how I prob won that auction. So then the family was like how could I afford it and I was like oh, I won the lotto and such, and they were like lottos? And aww, Greg tried to explain about them...he said yeah 3 hours before...I gave him a face, and he said is that right Amanda? And I took over and said no 2 hours, 2 1/2 hours you can put names in, and explained all the shows that did it and how some have different times, how easy most are to win, etc. The whole time everyone including Greg was shaking their head at me, as if to say wow...she knows...a lot. Guess my "theater dork" shirt was appropriate last night.

Umm...oh I mentioned shows, Greg mentioned he never saw Ave Q. Too bad, I know he'd love it. Then they started talking about restaurants, Greg mentioned Victor's (me: cam!), and other places, and the best I was thinking was when they asked about cool, hip joints? At that point Kevin came out as if to say he's still here and I mouthed to him that he's telling them about cool, hip joints, and we both giggled. Unfortunately, I didn't get what I hoped to hear. They mentioned swing dancing, I wouldn't call that "hip joints" and I don't think Greg could think of much anyway. Too bad, I was really excited to hear his answer to that.

I *think* that's it...oh yeah, Kevin left and told Greg his family called wondering where he is, Greg freaked out, and Kevin laughed and said he was joking. Heh. But seriously he stood and talked to them for like half an hour...he just...amazes me. I just...wow. My first thank you e-mail I sent him, I wrote "I never knew people like you existed." I have the same feeling right now.

New York is going to suffer a big loss to the community in late July

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 4:17pm

Dre, no she didn't actually sit on it. Jonathan was trying to push her down on it, as he does when he says "thus ends the verse" but she squeamed, then he put the toilet seat down, then sat her down.

[Malki5]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 4:46pm

Amanda, thanks! You made me feel better. He really is an amazing person. And yes, NY will feel it when he leaves, as will all of us here. I love that he talks about anything and everything, no holds barred. Maybe I should ask him how to get my brother into doing voiceovers. It's something he should have been doing for years but never really did anything about. I hope we hear more about the announcer thing soon, that would be cool! Glad you had such a great time. sounds like the show was a blast!

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 4:49pm

I'm very jealous.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 4:55pm

Malki, I'm sure he'd be happy to help. He's def done it in the past for Ripley's Believe it or not. (Barb, I'm really learning from the website...you proud?)

Ohh, one more thing. Rachelle Rak is going to be in Broadway By The Year: 1956 this Monday at Town Hall, not sure of the time. I'm really gonna try to be there...hopefully cheap tickets will pop up.

Mary...umm...bad story...umm...my house burned down when I was 13. Rough time. So yes I got to see DRS but that happened too...see? No reason to be jealous?

[movieinmymind]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 5:47pm

Amanda-what an AMAZING story.

I KNEW i loved Jonathan Pryce for a reason. hahaha! he really sounds like the perfect lawrence replacement! and Ruprecht sounds funny beyond belief! i wish i was there last night. *sigh*

but, thank you so much for the details. it really makes me feel like i was there, even though i wasn't. :)

[SirLiir]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 6:12pm

Great review Amanda. Just a quick question: did Rachelle Rak leave the show?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/31/06 at 6:18pm

No, she was in last night--told me about Broadway By The Year at the stage door. It's a monday night, doesn't interfere w/ DRS.