Avenue Q!!!!

Each time you smile, it'll only last a while..." -- Avenue Q
I saw Avenue Q tonight! I love this show. My husband says that I'm on a theater high. It renews my spirit. Gives me hope. It's life reaffirming. I love the music, the characters (talk about great character development) and the story. It won the Tony for best musical in 2004. The first stop of the tour is here in San Diego and it's been here for about 5 weeks. It ends on Sunday at 2pm. As two of the characters say in the show, "That makes me sad."

So, last time I saw it, I happened to run into one of the actors in the show as we were leaving the theater. I said "hi" to him and told him how much we enjoyed the show. But that was it. So, this time, we walked over to the side where they exit, which is on our way to the parking garage, and a few of the actors were already out. I got to meet Robert McClure, Minglie Chen, and Christian Anderson from the show. Robert plays the lead character Princeton as well as Rod. Minglie plays lots of different characters such as Mrs. T and Bear. Christian plays Trekkie Monster and Nicky, among others. They have my utmost respect and admiration. They not only sing, dance and act, but they also have to be puppeteers. They do such a wonderful job having their emotions and body language carry over to the puppets that they play/hold/act with. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I talked with Robert a bit, he's my favorite. I am in awe of him - so talented. He plays two COMPLETELY different characters and you quickly differentiate the two, despite seeing him man both (often at separate times on stage, however there are occasions where both his characters are on stage). Anyway, I also got their autographs on the Playbill for the show and a picture. This is the first time I ever got a picture with the actors from a theater show I saw. I'm getting "fearless" in my "old age". My philosophy has become, it never hurts to ask! Anyway, here is my picture! =)

From left to right: Christian, Robert, me and Minglie.


From left to right: Rod, Princeton and Lucy. Robert plays both Rod and Princeton.


Alright, on to COSMOS stuff. The students finished A LOT of stuff today - their backboards and movie. I'm very proud of how their backboards have turned out. We practiced their presentations and videotaped their practice. I hope they practice, it will only improve their presentation. I saw some of their videos and I loved them. The creativity and hard work put into the videos are apparent. I know they put in a lot of time and energy -- you will see it paid off! You should be proud of all you did. Everyone accomplished a lot in a short period of time.

So, one of the quotes I opened with "Each time you smile, it will only last a while...". I love this quote. It's from the song "For Now" from the show. "Everything in life, is only for now." Now, if we told students at the beginning of COSMOS that you'd be sad for a little while, that the uncomfortableness would only last a while, they probably wouldn't have believed us. Even if some of that remained throughout COSMOS, COSMOS is "temporary". It's only four weeks of their lives - an important four weeks mind you - but they will return to the comfort zone soon enough. Very soon! If you think about it, we are only "happy" for a while. Everything comes in waves, big waves, small waves, still waves. But smiles will come again! Because sadness/frustation/indifference/etc. only lasts a while. It's reassuring. I guess I look at it as "glass is half full".