Hi Dolls,
Remember me? It's been a few weeks. A few roller coaster weeks. But a good roller coaster and I can't wait to tell you all about it. There's so much to talk about... EVITA, New Mexico, a cowboy hat, some vodka induced antics and oh, I'm going to be on Logo in a few days. My friend, the comedian Sue Funke told me it would be detrimental to blog about too many topics at once. She knows this stuff. She's an e-commerce expert and went on a rant dropping buzzwords like "reader exhaustion" and "scanability".... Honestly I tuned her out and went into my own head thinking about ME. So then, what's a Broadway legend to do when there is so much to talk about? Break it up into installments, Sue says. So that's what I'm doing. This one will be about EVITA. The rest will follow in semi-rapid succession. So keep your eyes to the blog if you wanna know everything.
EVITA. Wow. What an experience. Yes, I got to tell my story of exactly who Patti LuPone is to me and then launch in to her signature role with a medley of "Rainbow High" and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina." We'll get to all that in a second. First, I have to immediately thank Shaynee Rainbolt, Terese Genecco for making a stand-up comedian with a baritone singing voice (who knew) with no vocal training but with a lot of Patti LuPone in his heart sound as good as he could. And Frank Spitznagel for accompanying me brilliantly. He got ahold of the actual score from the show. The actual score! Katina Corrao, Glennis McMurray, Sara Jo Alocco for the opportunity to make a dream of mine come true. And to the rest of the cast performing their own dream roles. Wow. I haven't been around so many gifted and so many GENUINELY NICE people in so long. I'm thinking lately actors may be better people than stand-ups because every acting experience I have had with actors to date has been incredibly rewarding. And of course my amazing friends who came to support me: Susan, Emmy, Jackie, Jeremy, Cooper, Rob, Jessimae, Yamaneika, Leticia, Judith and Sue. And the people in the audience that I did not know that came up to me after and told me that I had moved them. Because for a brief moment, I DID rule Argentina and that audience were my descamisados and it was HOT.
I had a couple of amazing things that happened to me leading up to the actual performance. I like to think they were signs from God. I'm actually quite spiritual and I believe in signs and listen to them. The night before, I was performing stand-up downtown. After my set I checked my blackberry (I get so criticized for constantly checking it) and I had an email from Maile Hernandez. Okay if you are a LuPonista, you are aware of this woman. Maile wrote a book about Patti LuPone. She told me she'd heard of me and what I was doing and that she wanted to wish me good luck. Her email was extremely warm and genuine. It was extremely exciting and encouraging to hear from someone else who has been touched by La LuPone in her own way. After I got home from the club, I couldn't sleep. I was too excited.
But the signs from God didn't stop with Maile. Sit down. Next morning I got an email from an executive at CREED Cosmetics. He told me that "Ambre Cannelle" is their unforgettable fragrance introduced in 1949 that was favored by Eva Peron and to wish me good luck, they would like to have a bottle messengered over to me in time for my performance. WOW. So I get to sing Patti LuPone's signature role AND smell like a lady dictator? YES! I gave him Shaynee and Terese's address on the UWS. I live in Astoria and I'm not ashamed. But you cannot have Eva Peron's parfum messengered over to a non-Manhattan address. It would be a sin. So I picked it up from Shaynee and T's before I got dressed.
What did I wear. A black suit and cowboy boots. I think a lot of people were thinking this would be a drag performance. No. I was telling my story about why this is my dream role and then performing my dream role. I sang the songs in my key. And let the acting fill in the rest. Now, I have a tremendous fear of singing in public. I'm not a singer. I'm a stand-up. I honestly did not relax into the song and actual start to SING until maybe mid-way through Argentina. But blah blah. I had the time of my life. I didn't want it to end and I want to do it again and I will do it again. Stay tuned. I've got some ideas up my sleeve.
I've sung along with Patti LuPone to these songs for as long as I can remember. I will never forget this experience. I got to check off another "must do before I die" experience off the list. (That might have sounded morbid - remember only the good die young... so I'll be pushing 90... so relax) - but in all honesty this was a dream come true so thank you again to the mentioned people above, thank you to the unmentioned people in my life that I love and who love and support me... and to God for leading me to this place where I can do these fun things in life that not everybody gets to do. I am very thankful and I am very blessed.
So that's my Patti LuPone / EVITA experience. Lots more to tell you. I'll be catching you up to date regularly over the next two days so stay tuned. Things are in a great place and I just know that 2010 is going to be an amazing and lifechanging year. I'm ready for it and I hope you join me. So, stand-back Buenos Aires!
You can watch a clip of the performance here.
Love,
Danny
