If we had organized a proper party it would have included the following things and/or people:

this

them

him

him

and cake and soda.

haps birth.

Hey [tos]sy-types. Lady Blackwell is having a birthday today!

Swassie, I for one am super glad you were born on this day those many (but not so many - jeez...) years ago.

I feel lucky to love you, and I think this year is going to be an extra-awesome one, filled with many Golden Pony turds! So make your best Golden Pony wish and blow out your imaginary candles from your imaginary cake, (that we all haven't made you yet), and know that you are cherished by me and the rest of your [title of show] family.

Happy Birthday, Love!

Tosser Rachel is a student from Kansas City. She recently got her dad hooked on all thing [tos]. She says can't do anything without him telling her "that's so [title of show]!" She's away at school during the week and commutes back to KC for the weekends. A few weeks ago, she bought some Campbell's Vegetable Medley and took a picture on her phone to show her dad when she got back to KC. However, apparently they were on the same wave length that week, because what should she find in her bedroom when she got home? This:



Nice work, Rachel's dad!

This comes to us from tosser John W. Thanks, John. Surely everyone should know what this is a parody of by now....


If you don't know -- or even if you do -- this is always good for a laugh...

Glad that folks like Jason Wetzel and Luerne Herrera are around to create such things!

Jeff, you better take me to all of those shows you mentioned below. You hear me Jeff? I ain't playin' withcoo. I'm going. With. You. Please also add to list Mama Mia. How the f have we not seen that show. They dance in the aisles!

Heidi's blog title seemed unfitting to her blog, which is just about informing people of her Merm adventures -- as it relates to [title of show]. I'd like to demonstrate to her what an actual "Personal Selfish Agenda" blog really is:

Things I wouldn't be sad if I received as gifts at a stage door:

1. Out of print Broadway cast recording CDs
2. Any German Board Game distributed by Rio Grande Games
3. Peanut Butter Bumpers

People I'd like to meet at a stage door:

1. Lynda Carter
2. Lyle Waggoner

Shows that I'd like to see, but haven't yet.

1. August: Osage County
2. Jersey Boys
3. Saturday Night Live

Wow, it would be really swell if one of my above wishes came true.

See, Heidi -- THAT'S a Selfish Agenda Blog!! Now I can feel gross and not you.

...on Easter no less... classy...

I wanted to tell the [tos]sers out there who have been so awesome and amazing to have either bought tickets or asked about buying tickets for the days I was supposed to go on as Ursula next weekend, that I will not, in fact, be going on for Ms. Scott due to a little injury to my I T band.

Anyone? You in the back, can you tell the rest of the class what an Iliotibial band, or commonly know as an I T band is?

Well, it's the big effin' tendon that runs from your hip to your knee. See? Mine's all out-a-whack because of these. I'm totes fine, but I need to take a sec get my I T band back in business. It shouldn't be too much longer, but it means that I won't be able to don the tentacles and play the evil octopus for the people next Saturday and Sunday. boo...

I'm bummed that I won't be going on this time, but it's all good 'cause I get to watch this and this. I mean, I have DVR and I could watch them anyway, but you get my point... And Cicly Daniels who WILL be going on, is a rock star and I can't wait to see her work it! Go Cic!

So there's your Easter gossip. Hope you are enjoying this bright sunny day and having fun doing whatever you do do today. Thanks again [tos] peeps for crossing over into my Mer-show, and I'll let you know when I'm back on the water ride.

Happy Easter Everybunny! You know what to do...

I love watching this. Makes me think of the ole [tos] spirit of getting together your peeps and just having fun and creating and being a rockstar. Me likey.


Umbrella - Rihanna (lip dub in High Definition) from TP CMM on Vimeo.

(Full disclosure this came on my radar (that sounds dirty) from ass kickers Josh and Josh. So, technically I'm serving you blog seconds but it's a good excuse for you to check out the Josh's. They're rocking a nice In the Heights moment if you scroll down some too.)

I think I have nice Easter memories. Not so much about Jesus, but more about my mom making us an easter egg treasure hunt. She would put clues in the plastic eggs that rhymed and led us around the house leading to a big L'eggs egg (PS who knew about this?) that had a final clue to our easter baskets. To say that I loved this tradition would be an understatement. I lived for the hunt people. And, sometimes the clues had candy in them.Good work moms. So in conclusion, I'm glad Jesus did all that stuff for my candy...um ...I mean my candy..wait...I mean our sins. Sweet yummy candy sins.



And Happy 20th to this rabbit. How long do rabbits live? Maybe this rabbit isn't with us anymore. The spot says "when he's gone...they're gone" though, so, maybe he is still here. He's just really, really old.

When Jeff, Susan and I were walking home from a show tonight at our old stomping ground Ars Nova (home of the hippest hipsters), Jeff said he needed more info on how the whole rabbit thing started with Easter. So this is for Jeff, as is this. However, I think this is what Easter means to me. Also, this rabbit below may replace Jeff as composer of [tos], we're taking some meetings. Hoppy Easter.

Hunter's blog brought to mind one of my favorite documentaries: PARIS IS BURNING.

I urge you to check it out. There's so much to learn and know.

For instance, you might be axing yourself: "What is banjee girl realness?"


Here, I'll get you started:

I think the best way to celebrate Good Friday is to crank this. What? This is good and it's Friday. Would that we could all meet on the piers at Christopher Street, play this, and werk it out. There's so much to enjoy on this. So...enjoy. TGIF. Please note at 1:31 when the emery board goes flyin'. Classic.

So I'm Irish and fully support wearin' of the green. I post this for you tossers. Would that I could make one of these for each of you and hand deliver it. Since I'm too lazy to do that, this YouTube vid will have to do. I love watching this and think she is awesome. This video relaxes me and reminds me of elementary school. So crank this, watch the video, keep the snakes out, and don't drink too much.

So I was having a slight bummer of a day yesterday: lost all the data on my cell phone for the second time in a month (which means I have none of y'alls numbers...), and the screen on my lap top died, leaving me feeling very incommunicado. Then I get to work to check stuff and not only do I get shout out on the blog, but also a BYOOTIFUL bunch of flowers from the [tos] gang!

Thanks guys, you totally saved my day. I promise a full report with photos of fancies when I can get that pesky lap top thing operational.

P.S. The show totally rocks and any tossers on the left coast should definitely make the trip to come see "Dancing In The Dark"!

on tosser Benjamin Howes' big opening! Our very own BH will be rocking the Old Globe Band Wagon style when he opens in Dancing in the Dark tonight!

Your [tos] family is supes proud of you in your big fancy show with fancy people! Word.

Break a Leg!

I thought this was really clever, interesting, and strangely beautiful. Things like this make me love NYC.

In honor of the opening of In The Heights:



Special thanks to our friend Johnathan 'the diss tractor' McClain for the sick verbals.

We can't wait to see you at the afterparty, Lin!

Hey tossers,

I know, I know. It's been ages since I blogged and the e-mail caches are full of all the inquiries about where I've been. For most of the time I was in Ithaca writing another new musical with my writing partner Rachel Lampert. This latest show is called "Bed, No Breakfast". It's a comedy about seven people stranded in a bed and breakfast in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was our first attempt at writing a lot of ensemble songs and I think it turned out really well. The show sold out almost immediately and they even extended it a week. So the pain of birthing a new show was totally worth it.

Since then I've been teaching voice lessons and teaching classes at La Guardia High School with Sandy Faison (as Hunter mentioned below). We work with the Drama students, most of whom have never really sung before. It is a daily exercise of killing vampires as we help these people realize that they can actually sing. And every semester there have been 4 or 5 students who suddenly come out with this voice that surprises everyone in the room. It is exactly like that poetic cliche of a flower blossoming right in front of you.

Man, teaching is hard but it's a lot of fun to see a new generation of students get excited about a musical theatre song. Last week two guys, who were kind of bored with the class last fall, got hooked on "Agony" from "Into the Woods". Last semester two girls couldn't stop singing "Some Things Are Meant to Be" from "Little Women" and another pair brought down the house (I mean the multipurpose room) with their rendition of "What Kind of Girl is She?" from our own [tos]. I'm trying to get a young future torch singer type to get hooked on "Time Heals Everything" from "Mack and Mabel" but so far she isn't biting. Last year my favorite blossomer was a guy named Zach who is a very unlikely looking musical theatre star. He was in "Big Ass Rock" from "The Full Monty" and everyone was shocked at how good he was. He went on to be in the spring talent show (Rising Stars) and then was in the fall production of "City of Angels".

Tonight I am music directing a production of "Sweeney Todd" at Fordham University in the Bronx. (I can never remember how to imbed a link, so you'll have to manually go to www.mimesandmummers.com to get to their website.) They are a fantastic group. Mimes and Mummers is a club that has been around for 100 years or so and the entire production is student run. They have very limited resources but unlimited energy (and ulimited blood). I've had a blast working with them. AND many of the them are freaked out tossers. Every day another one becomes hooked. They are primed to be there the minute we open on the Broad Way....

So tonight send your "Break a Leg" wishes to us in the Bronx so that we can really slit some throats.

Whew! I'm back on the blog folks. Feels good....feels good.

But who is Jen Tepper?

[title of show]'s uberintern, musical theatre devotee and all around bundle of excellence.

Fierceness.

In honor of Jen's birthday, I'd like to share this awesome email she sent us this morning. It typifies why it's so fun to have Jen as our intern...cause she sends us emails like this:

To: [title of show]
From: uberintern Jen Tepper
Re: donkadonk

I just wanted to forward this message that I just got from my friend Frank:

"So yesterday in my Ancient Satire class we were discussing Horace's Satires and a particular passage he wrote that talked about how he wrote for a select group of people who would really appreciate what he was saying and not for a huge mass of people who might pay attention but would be generally indifferent.

Our professor then asked if any similar sentiments were ever expressed by artists in modern popular culture, saying that Horace's words were unusual. He asked the class if anyone had a modern translation for what Horace had written some 2000 years ago. I slowly raised my hand and responded:

How about I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing?

There was an audible noise of amazement from this nugget of wisdom among the class. The professor said that was perfect, proving not only that [title of show] is awesome, but it also gets you good grades and actually makes you smarter.

Have a great birthday tomorrow. I hope it's so [title of show].

- Frank"

I loved that and wanted to share it.

Also, I listened to 'Die Vampire Die' on repeat for the 20 minutes before I did my Grad speech in front of the committee today... and I kicked some butt. I painted that speech for those academia whores, and then I painted some more!

Word. See you tomorrow!

-Jen Tepper

Isn't she a bundle of sass?

Wouldn't you love to have an intern that sent you emails like that?

Happy Birthday, Jen Tepper! Your [tos] family loves you and we're very thankful to have you in our monkey house!!

So I've been practicing the t-shirt technique and I still need some work. Need to master to treat my Doll's Life tee with respect! Just bloggin' on to let you tossers know that we are def hard at work on the Ep8 tos show. No spoilers here, but I will say that I may have seen Mindy on set. I repeat...I may have seen her that's all people. Settle down.

Also shout out to the cast and crew and producers of LaGaurdia Performing Arts High School's Rising Stars 2008 show. My pal Sandy Faison (yes that Sandy Faison...I know she's a total rockstar!) along with our very own Larry P are turning it out and teaching and shaping the tossers of tomorrow. Sat night Larry, Susan and I went to see the show and it was great. Smart, fun, creative, with some incredible singers dancers and actors.

Special nods go to tossers Billy Rayner and Anthony Alfaro who had some great original material and who I m sure you ll be seeing a lot of in the future. Also Edward Tolve tapping his ass off, Molly Jobe, the choreography of Daniel Curry, his piece was crazy good!, the flow of Najee Ritter and calling the shots production stage manager and tosser Anna Natalie! We also were rocked by sugar artist Tess Duran who created before our tosser eyes a beautiful piece of art made out of sugar. Cool. So good job all Rising Stars and shout out to any tossers kicking it at Laguardia Arts.

Jeff Bowen hipped me to this. I just did the laundry (glamour...realness) and it totes works:

So, add some Pan-Asian spice to your laundry routine with Japanese T-shirt folding!