HE MAKES MY MOM FEEL SPECIAL...

I have often shared my love for the theater on my blog because it really is "a happy place" for me. I have spent many wonderful hours being carried away to a different world by the most amazing performers.

I have in particular shared my little theater crush  on Jonathan Roxmouth whom I first saw perform in Phantom of the Opera in April last year.  I was so moved by his portrayal of this iconic character that I just had to see POTO again. Since then I have seen Jonathan perform several times and have been totally captivate by his amazing voice and indelible charm.  

But what stands out for me is his interaction with my mom. I know, I know...you would hope  think that it would be his mesmerising eyes, his dashing smile or his tall, dark and handsome good looks or at the very least his sexy hands but no...for me its the way he makes my mom feel special!!

We saw Jonathan perform in the production Noel and Gertie 4 days after my dad passed away.  My mom and Jonathan shared a moment after the performance which was such a blessing to me and I share it in this post which is also the post.

A couple of weeks ago mom and I went to see Stage by Stage which was a charity performance Jonathan did at the Lemon Jack Theater in Centurion.  

The setlist was amazing:

"If I loved you" from Carousel
"Me" From Disney's Beauty and the Beast
"Being Alive" from Company
"She cries" from Songs for a New World
"Something's coming"  from West Side Story
"Oh what a beautiful morning" from Oklahoma
"Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera
"Unusual Way" from Nine
"Try to Remember" from the Fantasticks
"Bring him home" from Les Miserables
"This is the Moment" from Jekyll and Hyde

Of course Jonathan singing Music of the Night had me crying big ol' tears. But then, he sang a song that broke my heart. He sang "Try to Remember" from the show The Fantasticks.  I had heard that song sung a thousand times....very off key, very loudly and very poorly by my darra.  Dad was not a theater person but he was well read and enjoyed a variety of music.  He must have heard the song at some point as it became part of his repertoire  (for the lack of a better word).  Both mom and I just melted and the tears flowed freely.  It was one of those moments that leave you breathless...that catch you completely vulnerable.

Of course that was followed up by the beautiful soul destroying "Bring him home". And it was at that point that the ugly cry took over and I just let it happen!!  When Jonathan had finished singing he looked over at mom and winked at her and through her tears she gave a little smile and my heart overflowed!

After the show mom insisted on seeing Jonathan and so we waited for about 45 minutes in line to have a moment of his time.  Once again he just reached out to her and gathered her into his arms. As I watched them chatting I realised that Jonathan makes my mom feel special in these moments.  For a brief time she is smiling and almost happy which she isn't a lot of the time. And for one small moment I can breathe because I believe that there will come a time when the three of us (my mom, brother and I) will find more moments of happiness than of sadness.

So to Jonathan, thank you.  Thank you for making my mom feel special and for taking the time to talk to her, to hug her and to let her ramble on about this and that.  I can never express how much I appreciate it.

Now that you all know how special this guy is on top of being majorly talented....Jonathan is in rehearsals for his role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard which will be on at Monte Casino.  You don't want to miss this performance.

Also Jonathan launched his website this week so pop in and while you are there order a copy of his soon to be released CD.

MY OTHER HAPPY PLACE...

Despite fighting my asthma for the fifth week running I decided to join my mom and some friends for a late afternoon at the theater  I know I have said it before but it bears repeating….the theater is my “other” happy place.

And of course when the production stars my favourite leading man, the handsome and charming Jonathan Roxmouth then I can be nothing short of thrilled. Those of you who visit this little piece of the blogosphere will remember Jonathan from here and here and here

The production was A Handful of Keys.  This is not a new production as it was first conceptualised in 1994 by the talented Ian von Memerty and Bryan Schimmel.  The show is basically a two man piano (grand piano’s) show but I promise you, you have never laughed so much as you will during this show.  It has music showcases piano music “through the ages” with music by Bach, Debussy, Nora Jones, Alicia Keys, Chopin, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Liberace, Elton John, Clayderman and it also includes a South African medley and the most amazing “history of the Broadway musical” you have ever seen and it ends on a high note with a rock n roll finale.

I will confess that during the “history of the Broadway musical” I had two thoughts (that must be some record!!!).  The first is that I would love to see Jonathan play the role of Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and the second well….I had a moment where I pictured him in heels, fishnets, a corset and red lips doing the pelvic thrust!  Now that would be an interesting production of “The Rocky Horror Picture show”…..

Joining Jonathan on Saturday was the very talented Roelof Colyn (brilliant brilliant brilliant) who’s impersonation of both Richard Clayderman and Liberance had the tears running down my face.  The Clayderman piece used in the show just happened to be the piece my primary school orchestra played and I was the lead triangle…..yip I was cool back then already!!!

It is difficult to say which sections of the production I enjoined the most because one moment I was laughing so much my tummy muscles thought I had decided to attend a cross fit class and the next I was so moved by the pure sounds of the piano during “funeral for a friend” and the next blushing when Jonathan stripped down to his undies (there was a lot of whooping for joy and clapping in the audience let me tell you and there were NO complaints) and then there was a moment when Jonathan sang “on my own” that I thought my heart would break and I was going to end up doing the ugly cry but two seconds later I was laughing so much I started to worry that that the show should come with a disclaimer that reads “adult nappies” are not included in the ticket price!!!

My mom loved the production and I was so thankful to hear her laughing at some of the silliness on stage.  She did raise a concern that Jonathan seems to be taking off more and more of his clothes in each production he does….in Phantom it was just a mask, then in Noel and Gertie he stripped down to his undershirt and boxers and now in A Handful of Keys he stripped off the shirt as well………suddenly “Hats off” takes on a whole new meaning.

Speaking about my mom…..ai I love her dearly but she lives to embarrass me. We had a dinner reservation for after the show and we were running a little late (my friends were already waiting) so I was trying to hustle her through the crowds outside the theater but she was as stubborn as a mule pulling in the opposite direction…turns out she wanted to go give her boy-O a kiss!!!  There is a bit of a story to it though not just my mom being pervy.  

In December just 4 days after my dad passed away we had tickets to see Jonathan in Noel and Gertie. It was a major discussion as to whether or not we would go but in the end we decided that we needed to get out of the house and do something normal….something that had nothing to do with my dad and the fact that he was no longer with us.  We had lunch with my brother and then he went to a movie and we went to the show.  We sat right in front which was probably not the best seats in the house (the theater was very small) during the intermission I tweeted that we were there and that we were trying to have a normal moment.  After the show mom and I were walking to meet my brother when I heard my name being called….sitting at the little coffee shop was Jonathan.  Now I can admit at this point that I was fairly jealous when he reached out and hugged my mom but she had cried her way through the final song so it seemed only right to give her a moment.  Jonathan was really sweet to her and to me (although the attention was definitely on my sweet momma) and as we said our goodbyes he kissed mom.  

On Saturday afternoon his performance had brought her such joy and she had laughed like she has not in a while so I guess giving him a thank you peck on the cheek would not have been the worst thing ever…..but mom had a little glint in her eyes that made me think better of it…….cougar!!!

This run of A Handful of Keys has unfortunately come to an end BUT you can catch Jonathan (should I call him Mr Roxmouth???) in the new show “Hats Off” which is also show at Montecasino.  “Hats off” is described on the Computicket website as “as an ingenious mix of Tom Lehrer, Gilbert and Sullivan and Monty Python, this is a comedy revue brimming with catchy tunes, tongue in cheek chemistry and laugh out loud humour. Suitable for anyone with a pulse” The show starts is run on 11 May so get your tickets soon!!!

Photos from the show were sourced from Jonathan's Facebook fan page....

I found this clip on Youtube and since it was uploaded by Ian von Memerty I am going to share it with you.....a little bit of the history of broadway...

And this one....

MY OTHER HAPPY PLACE...

Day twenty eight: I have so much to share with you all about the time I have spent with my family but today I want to take a moment and give thanks for my second “happy place” and that is the theater.  I LOVE all forms of theater from ballet, to plays to opera. I enjoy a good pantomime and have been known to giggle during a cabaret show or two. The theater was my home for many years, first when I danced, then when I moved into acting and directing (I like telling people what to do giving direction)and lastly as a playwright. I always sit right in front because I like to hear the "swoosh" of ballet slippers on the stage floor, I like to see the details of the facial expressions of the actors as they give their all to the audience and I LOVE to feel part of the story.  I also prefer to either see the opening performance or the final performance of run.  Opening performances are charged with nervous excitement and a final performance has an air of enjoyment, anticipation with just a hint of bitter sweet sadness.

 I currently have tickets for the following shows:

The Hurly Burly show:  which is burlesque show.  I have never seen one (only the movie with Cher) so I am really excited.

Dirty Dancing:  I was not sure about seeing this stage production of the popular movie because let’s face it Patrick Swazye is Johnny but I really am curious to see how they are going to pull of that scene where they practice the lift in the water on stage so I got tickets.

Noel and Gertie:  As most of you know, one of my celeb crushes just happens to be the incredibly talented Jonathan Roxmouth.  After his resounding success playing the role of Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera in both South Africa and Manila Jonathan now takes on the role of Noel Coward in this new stage production.  I can’t wait to see this one!! I am very excited to see Jonathan in a different role to Phantom... 

  

Be still my beating heart....

Pop up:  I am a big Nataniel fan.  Now for many he is an acquired taste but a more talented individual is yet to be born.  Nataniel writes his own songs, scripts his own shows (which are a combination of songs and stories), he cooks like a dream, writes the most amazing monthly column in a local magazine and his costumes are a vision to behold. I admit that I enjoy his smaller shows more than the big production he does each year (although I have not missed one in 9 years). I guess because they are more intimate and relaxed. I find his talent to be astounding and there is something very sensual about him that I find hard to translate into words.

THANKFUL SUNDAY...

Day Twenty five: I am thankful for my happy place. If you pop in regularly you will know that my happy place is the movies.  There is something magical about the darkness, the smell of popcorn and the story unfolding on the screen which just transports me to “my happy place”.  I love going to the movies and even if the story is not very good and the acting poor I still enjoy the experience.

Last Sunday I went to watch the final installment of the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II.  At first I was not really keen on going because the reviews were mixed and I was not sure if they could do the story justice.  Also social media had been particularly quiet about the movie.  I did not have a single tweet in my TL about it and on Facebook my friends were also very reserved in their opinions. 

Boy, am I glad I went.  I really enjoy this final meeting with the sparkling vampires.  Bella finally comes into her own and comes alive, Edward has a couple of good one liners and the fight scene is done to perfection.  The makeup and special effects are really good and although the avenue pursued by the story tellers differs from that of the original book the end result is the same. 

I leave you with some of my favorite stills from the movie…

Check out that walk in closet...I just about died

Loved the eyes...

This was so funny...

MONDAY MELLOW MADNESS...

I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed weekend.  We were really blessed with the weather this weekend and after much deliberation I through my "to do" list out of the window and spent some time out in the sunshine.

On Friday I received an email which ended with this: "Mentally, cutting people form your life does not meant you hate them, it simply means you love and respect yourself.".  I read the same words on Twitter on Saturday morning so with this in mind I grabbed my Ipad, a blanket and headed outside.

I spent a good five hours cleaning up my Facebook accounts, then moved onto Twitter and the blog roll.  What I discovered was that I had accepted friend requests not always being sure who the person was.....I had liked pages on FB because they were running a competition or were mentioned by friends.  I did not really keep track of it all and as a result had like 700 pages "liked".  Going though them all was painful and deciding who to cut was not fun but necessary.

When I first joined Twitter I kinda went nuts and followed all kinds of celebs and popular personalities which means that I was following like a gazillion people.  I went onto each one's profile and if there was not a tweet which appealed to me in the first five listed I deleted the person.  Plus some celebs just Tweet about "dumb" stuff. I have bravely "unfollwed" about a hundred people and am amazed at how positive my twitter feed now is.

It was pretty much the same with my blog roll and I am happy to say that the ones I kept are really blogs I read on a daily basis.

On Saturday evening Lydia and I met up for dinner and a movie...she is the best date EVER!!! We had so much fun and it was fantastic seeing her after her New York adventure.  

The movie was an Afrikaans work which was wonderfully done.  I have added a clip but it is obviously in Afrikaans so I apolgise to my non Afrikaans speaking readers.....consider it a learning curve and there are subtitles. The movie was called Wolwedans in die Skemer which means Wolf dance at dusk.  It was a bit of a horror which was interesting and I did not know who the killer was until almost the end when I got suspicious of one of the characters. It was pretty intense and I must say I enjoyed it very much.

Then we went for yummy dinner at a restaurant called O'Galito.  It has a Portuguese flavor and the seafood is always to die for...

Source

Welcome back my sweet friend...

Yipeee cocktails

Having an...orgasm......that's the cocktails name...I promise!!!

Avo ritz with caviar daaaaaaaahling..

Steak with calamari tubes

We stayed out nice and late but being a good girl I was up early on Sunday for church. While I was in the shower this happened...

Madam Charis took over my bed...at least she brought me a rose.  The only problem is
where she got the rose from as we only have white ones in our garden and that
is most definitely pink...

It turned into a really nice hot spring day so the fur babies and I took a blanket and enjoyed the wonderful sunshine under a cool tree.  They played up a storm and I read.  It was perfect!!

MONDAY MELLOW MADNESS...

I hope you all had a stunning weekend.

Here is a glimpse at mine....

On Saturday it was a beautiful day outside but alas...woe is me I had to work.  At least \
MacDonald s helped make the load easier to bear!!

There was a fun day walk and with the masses walking/running both the  5 and 10Km
races I got stuck in our office park because so many roads were closed!!

On Saturday night I begged persuaded my brother to go with me to the drive in.  

It was such a wonderful almost summer evening and the place was packed...

The vintage cars can be rented but they are currently being restored

Ummmmm Ice Age 4

Ummmmm The Dark Knight Rises...

Sunday was a bit of a rough day as my Asthma was giving me grief  but it was a nice
enough day for me to bath the fur babies.....

I seemed to have passed my addiction on to Charis.... fortunately she just likes the bottle
and not the contents!!!