161 - The Oldest Profession

I like positive nights. In spite of this yucky cold, Friday night was a wonderful night of whoring around.

Haze and I hadn’t done our “Christmas” yet; Friday was it. Dinner first at Cortesses Bistro in St. Augustine. If you hadn’t been there, it’s worth the trip and the price. The restaurant is a restored home, with candles on the table and beautiful art on the walls. The staff is courteous and attentive; the food exceptional. I teased Haze that it wasn’t too hot to eat outside at the tables underneath a 100+ year old oak tree. (It was in the low 40’s when we got there.) Bistro also has the “Wine Cellar,” a bar on the other side of the court yard, which often has live entertainment. When I was in Limelight’s 15th Anniversary Celebration, the courtyard was our favorite haunt after the show. In fact, that’s where I first had a “red headed slut.”

After a wonderful dinner, not just the food but the conversation too, catching up since we don’t have that opportunity that much anymore, it was time to head just a few blocks away to see Limelight’s “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” What fun!!!

Haze hadn’t been to Limelight since they had completed their massive renovations, and I’d only been down once (not for a show). I gave Haze my “nickel tour,” showing her where the original walls had been, what had been added on and changed. Saw Beth and Anne before the show.

“Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” The show was so much fun to watch, and Amy was simply amazing. It’s a big cast, over 20, and most did a remarkable job. Just loved Don Runk’s “The Side-Step.” The young woman who played Doatsy Mae was just wonderful, and loved her singing of “Doatsy Mae.” Amy Farmer, who played Miss Mona (Dolly Parton’s roll in the movie) did a phenomenal job with a hard role. I’ve seen her in a few other shows, but those shows didn’t show off her incredible talent like this one did. Just loved ‘Girl, You’re a Woman,” and her rendition of “I’ll Always Love You” (not in the original Broadway show) should have stopped the show, it was that good. Only 2 disappointments – “Hard Candy Christmas” (my favorite song in this how) and the fact that Shelli was out of town (director and music director) so I didn’t get to see her.

I created the pic above from Limelight’s website. What I love in it is, “Sold Out!” They actually added two additional shows, and those have now sold out as well. What a wonderful thing to see in community theatre.

I owe a lot to Limelight Theatre, Beth, Anne, Shelli and Gary. In late Summer of ’05, the folks and I went to see “Smoke on the Mountain.” At intermissions, Anne struck up a conversation with Mother and Dad, who then started talking about me. After the show, Mother and Dad found Anne to introduce us; she told me about the auditions for “The Spitfire Grill” the end of January. Told me I really should audition. That put the bug in my head. I did go to the audition, and was the last person to leave. They wanted me to sight-sing one of Hannah’s ballads. Oh boy. That role was the lowest in the show, and everything I sang prior to then was in my upper register. They also talked to me for a bit. I’ll never forget Beth saying that she was very concerned about my not having done any theatre. I walked away that night very confused. Felt being asked to sight-sing the ballad was a good sign, but Beth’s comments concerned me. The next day, Beth called me and said, “I think we found our Hannah. We were blown away when you sang that song.” WOW. We rehearsed for 2 and a half weeks, and did 25 shows.

Why the history paragraph? Well, because it’s my blog and I can. But really, because the folks at Limelight took a chance on an unknown person who’d never done a show. So much of where I’m at now in the theatre community is because they took that chance. Every time I audition and get cast in a show, I want to email them a thank you. It felt so good when Beth said Friday night that she was so glad to see me doing well in theatre. So since I haven’t emailed them after every audition, I’ll now say a huge THANK YOU to Anne, Beth, Gary and Shelli for giving me my start. (And I will audition there again; my dance card has just been full lately.)

I would encourage everyone to go see Whorehouse at Limelight, but the rest of the shows are sold out. If by some chance Beth can convince the cast and musicians to do a couple of more shows, get your tickets ASAP.

TTFN!

An LOLCat in closing....