The Official Greg Jbara Love Thread! PART 4. CELEBRATING 1 YEAR OF LOVIN'!! — Page 81

Pssh, Cat.

MATH IS FUN!

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i know! I LOVE that kiss at the end of the song. so sweet! man, i love this musical so much!

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so glad that you were able to see it. it is so good. I always "aww" when Greg says "I'll blow up your little neck pillow," "Only if you leave," "I could help you to the gate." all so sweet! I would totally date Andre!

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*cries* the neck pillow liiiiiiiiine.

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Summer is cool

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So yeah, I haven't been posting very much lately...

Life's been really hectic, you know, school, knitting, hunting hedgehogs in the outskirts of my town...

I just, I feel like I've gotten really distant from the GFUers, and I really want to close that gap.

My life's been going really well, I'm really starting to appreciate the little things in life. Like strawberry jam...but I have to take out all of the seeds, and well, that just isn't pleasent, and well, by the time I take out all the seeds, I don't feel like jam.

I've had to change a couple lightbulbs in my bedroom, I burned my finger on one of them, it was a problem.

I've just kind of been wandering around my house, walking through the walls when night falls, you know, the usual stuff. I cleaned out my keyboard one day, it was really more interesting than it seems.

Then yesterday I went to clean out my locker and found that there were pencil shavings in it. It was really upsetting because, well, I try not to make a habit of sharpening my pencils in my locker. I'm really suspicious of the master of custodial arts at my school, Carl. Do you think he has a pencil sharpening fetish? I'm a bit worried about that.

Anyway, I just wanted to catch you all up on my life!

I know! so sad!! and in that little, depressed voice of his! ahh!

Liz, did you see this?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=8896

Hehe, yes Dre, known about it for a little bit over a month, but thanks!

Hi, everyone...

I've never posted in a love thread before, so please forgive me if I break any of the "rules."

I just got back from seeing DRS for the third time. This was the closest I've come to seeing a full cast, and the first time I've actually gotten to see the wonderful Ms. Gleason.

My hands are literally raw from all of the applauding that I did. Tonight had some odd energy for some reason- it could be that there were about 10,000 high school students in the mezz.

Was anyone else there tonight? Some really funny stuff (ad-libbed) happened. I'll post more about it later- I promise.

But for now, I need to get some dinner (yeah I know) and watch "Conviction" that's sitting on my tivo, enticing me.

ZE MOLE!

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www.thebreastcancersite.com
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03

Ah, midnight salad dinners and tivo is the way to be. Or something like that.

First- I enjoyed "Conviction," though I wish Greg's part had been bigger. He's totally believable in a judge's robes. Nice to see him without the Andre accent.

Now, about tonight's show...

As I mentioned, most of the mezz seemed to be full of high school students, and their general enthusiasm spilled out into the rest of the audience. My ribs hurt at intermission (and after the show) from all of the laughter, and my hands are a bit raw from all of the applause.

The only cast member out tonight was Rachel de Benedet. Christine Bokhour covered her track. This is the first performance I've seen where all of the principals were in. (Joanna was out the previous 2 times, and Greg was out the last time.) That said, it was great to see the cast clicking. There's great chemistry between Joanna and Greg- I'm glad I got to catch it before she leaves the show.

This was really a great audience- the ensemble got entrance applause! So did Jonathan Pryce, Norbert Leo Butz, and Joanna Gleason. I tried to start applause for Greg, but it didn't catch on. Probably because we'd all just applauded. As I said, there were a few mistakes and ad-libs, but they just added to the fun. I would've loved to know what the heck was going on behind the scenes... I just have a feeling. Props seemed to be a problem at times.

The highlights:

The night's mishaps started early, during the train sequence. When Norbert plunked his stuff down, his boombox went rolling over, almost hitting Jonathan on the foot (who promptly looked at it and gave a slight WTF? look to the audience- one of 10,000 on the night). Then, when he reached in his pocket to grab the money that the woman gave him, a bunch of other fake cash came flying out and he had to gather it up. The two of them never stopped talking during "What was a Woman to Do." It was almost to the point of being distracting. Almost.

As I'd mentioned, this was the first time I'd seen Joanna Gleason. Wow. While I'd enjoyed the song before, she just owns it. It was absolutely beautiful. (And she looks great, too!) One small question- I noticed that the "usher" is holding one of the Playbills in color. Does anyone know when the production switched to black and white?

I don't know if it was the audience or just tonight in general, but "Great Big Stuff" was even more over the top than I've seen it before. If it's possible, Norbert was even more of a maniac. Absolutely hysterical. He continues to amaze me with how much energy he has with this role. It got a huge (and deserved) round of applause. You could tell that he went all out and was completely trying to recover to get his next lines out in the near future while we were going nuts.

During this break (and throughout the song), it looked like Jonathan and Greg were using every ounce of self-control not to crack up. Greg was great at the stoic thing- he lost it the least of anyone on stage tonight. Compared to some of the others, he was the picture of self-control. (Or maybe he was just lucky not to be onstage for a lot of it)

Greg got a lot of applause during "Chimp in a Suit." I felt bad that the audience completely drowned him out applauding/laughing after the partial moon for quite awhile. Once again, I'm not sure how he manages not to react with the audience in stitches.

"Oklahoma" was as funny as always. Jonathan did a little ad-lib after telling Norbert to just go somewhere. He mentioned that he heard J13 was open. Not sure if this is a regular ad-lib, because I've never heard that comment before.

But it was during "Ruprecht" where things went off-course a bit. Jonathan got the giggles very, very badly before he could even start singing, and they were infectious. He was barely able to get through the pre-song dialogue (and looked relieved for the Bush reaction), and couldn't sing he was giggling so much. It didn't help that the audience was howling because he was laughing. Norbert was laughing pretty hard on the bed- you could see the ferret wobbling. Unfortunately, this set off a series of events. Jonathan had tried to stuff the goldfish in the ferret's mouth after taking it out of Norbert's pocket. It missed, and during the laughter, it fell on the floor. Where it stayed during the whole number- mor about that in a second. Mylinda had to cough a few times, but she was mostly able to hold it together while Jonathan was laughing so hard. He stopped the song after a couple of bars, composed himself (hard to do since we were all howling), and said "Maestro, I'd like to start it again." And they somehow got through the scene, mostly. I'd loved to know what set Jonathan off so much though! I noticed Jonathan and Norbert giving each other a huge hug as the scene was changing. Seemed like they were laughing again, but it was hard to tell.

Back to the goldfish... I kept my eye on it, because I was worried one of them was going to trip over it! Somehow they all avoided the goldfish. Unfortunately, it wasn't on a part of the stage that turned, so it remained there for the next scene. Enter Greg to save the day. On his walk across the stage to give money to the nun, he calmly picked it up, seemed to look at it for a second, and gave it to the nun (with the money). Again, not sure how you don't crack up giving a nun a goldfish.

"Here I Am" seemed somewhat weak following all of our laughter, but Rachel York seemed to pick up steam throughout the performance.

OK, Act II. Which I promise is a shorter review. Funny comment I heard during intermission: "why are all those young kids in the really good seats? In the boxes?" I inwardly snickered.

Just when it seemed things were going to go smoothly, we got to "Ruffhousin' mit Shuffhausen." All 3 of the actors got minor giggles at various points throughout the number (Rachel the least, and she was able to recover almost instantly after lowering her head for a second). When Jonathan reached in his coat for the feather, he realized... it wasn't there. So, he announced to all of us something along the lines of "I've forgotten what I need to test you. I have to go get it." He then walked offstage, and said "Danke" to whoever handed it to him. During his walk offstage, Norbert and Rachel started laughing. As an explanation for everything, we got another "he's crazy", complete with signing from Norbert.

Once the feather was onstage, Jonathan and Norbert ad-libbed for a few seconds about how the feather was very important and how Jonathan should carry it at all times in case of emergencies like this. All of this was greeted with laughter and applause.

After they finally got through the number, it was time for "Like Zis/Like Zat." Greg and Joanna got the show back on course. They're absolutely wonderful together. I know many people have said it, but I totally agree. I also felt like his facial expressions were priceless more than a few times throughout the show. He held it together, which was an accomplishment tonight!

The rest of the show went pretty much as normal. There was a huge round of applause during "Dirty Rotten Number," and it's always interesting to see how they kill that time onstage.

All in all, it seemed like the cast felt the audience out at the beginning and just rolled with it. They all were interacting with the audience a lot more than I've seen in the past (Jonathan almost constantly!).

Sorry this was so long! This was definately one of the more entertaining nights I've had at the theatre in awhile. I absolutely love this show- it's one of the few things that's able to lift me completely out of the mess that's my life as of late. And for that, I'm grateful.

Well, welcome to the thread and thanks for the post! If you hang around a bit, you'll see there's absolutely no need to apologize for long posts

I love when the mezz is full of students! It really invigorates the audience and my best experiences at DRS have been when that occured.

Yaay for ensemble applause!! I feel like I only saw that once or twice. Yeah, Greg's entrance is in a weird place, it's really hard to get one started for him unfortunately. The one time Dre and me did he said he was happy for his ego, but felt bad b/c we were cheering over Rachel's line.

The changing of the playbills...I think I have 5 in color, and my 6th was in B&W. So the 5th time I saw it was the day of the DRS Virgin Records signing...the day before I went to Disney...so the very end of June. Then the 6th time I saw it with two friends and a jerk...and that was early July. So there ya go, end of June/early July was when they ran out of the colored ones.

I know what you mean about Norbert's energy in GBS--I saw it almost 2 weeks ago and felt the same way--like it seemed better if that's possible.

And you're right, Greg is fantastic at not cracking up! When I finally sat mezz dead center, I got the funniest view. At one point while they're all twirling the mirrors, Greg's sitting there not amused. Just between the mirrors and frames it's hilarious, but you could only see it in certain sections.

Jonathan always cracks up during Ruprecht, but this may be the most I've heard!

And Greg gave the Nun the goldfish?? ROTFLMAO!

There's a thread on the main board that apparently Jonathan was fairly professional about it, mentioning being a bad doctor for forgetting his tools...or something? Another event I would have liked to see. Hahaha, importance of the feather!!

Yes, Jonathan definitely plays to the 4th wall more than John.

Was this your second time seeing it?

Anyway, glad you really enjoyed it!

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Anyway, my plans changed for tomorrow, but I think I'm pretty set now.

I was gonna rush Jersey Boys matinee, but then my friend told me JLY would be out, and I saw it already without him, so my purpose of going back would be to see him, so it's pointless if he's out.

So instead I'm gonna rush Wedding Singer...not so popular, so I can sleep for 2 1/2 extra hours!

And then I'm rushing [title of show] at night. This is slightly sadly my most exciting day of break.

But Starletta's post is making me want to go back to DRS...noo, I wanna see new shows. Help me people! Convince me not to see DRS tomorrow.

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Aw man I totally forgot about Greg's TV episode tonight. Poo. It reruns sometime this week though, right?

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