It's been an…interesting year. Yeah, that's how we'll put it. Interesting.
I started out the year working very part time for Loveland Opera Theatre. A couple hours a week. Not bad! Our first major production, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, turned out to feel like more of a part time job. I played the role of Vittoria, understudied the principal role of Tessa, was the props mistress, and did administrative stuff as well. By the time we got into production, I was stressed to the max! It was fun, but I just did too much. Luckily I never had to go on as Tessa except in a few rehearsals, because I never had the time to fully learn the part. (Most people want to kill the person they are understudying. Not me! I threatened Kristi to stay well!) All in all, the show turned out wonderfully!
I continued my job search and even signed up with a Temp Agency. They never called me with any jobs, though. I'm not sure why. But, around the middle of May, I got a call from Falcon Properties offering me my old job back. At first I kind of freaked out. Yes, I needed money desperately, but did I really want to go back? I went in and talked to them. They told me that everything had pretty much gone to crap since I left and no one knew as much about the job as me. It was nice be appreciated! We agreed that I would come back, but only work until 2:00 in the afternoon so that I can still work for Loveland Opera Theatre. It works out very nicely. I can be flexible to go to singing gigs during the day, which is nice. I haven't been as stressed as I was before, probably because I'm not working a full 40 hours a week.
My 2nd show of 2007 was Front Range Music Theatre's Beauty and the Beast. I was in the ensemble, so I played the Aristocratic Lady, the Bar Maid (I called myself the Ale Wench) and a Plate! My brother Craig was also in the ensemble. My sister Shauna built the set (in our driveway again) and we all helped paint it. I'm most proud of the bookshelves for the Beast's Library. There were over 600 books that we painted the spines for, and more than half of them were named. We had a blast doing that! My brother Neal worked backstage and did the flying effects. When we did Peter Pan two years ago, the only people that could fly were the ones in the show, because the harnesses were specially designed for the actors. Well, this year, the harnesses were pretty much one size fits all, so they were giving rides to whoever was brave enough. Before our closing performance, I got to fly! It was scary, and I screamed a lot, but it was TONS OF FUN!!!!! I'd do it again in a heartbeat! The funniest thing about our whole Beauty and the Beast experience was Emily. She had the show memorized. She's now watched the movie at least 20 times and can sing any of the songs with a little prompting. She also continues talking about going to the play and how Daddy was a plate! Too cute! She got to wear her "Princess Dress" to the show, and she got to meet Belle. That gave her quite the thrill!
Another big adventure this summer was hiking! Shauna and Neal hiked Long's Peak in August, and in preparation, we went on several hikes. Shauna hiked over 100 miles this summer, but the rest of us hiked much less than that. (And come to think of it, Neal just did Long's.) I went on a hike a month from April to September. I love living in Colorado. You just can't beat our awesome mountains! The night before the big Long's Peak hike, we all camped at a campground down the road from the trailhead. That was a lot of fun! I should definitely go camping more often!
September also brought the Loveland Opera Theatre 2007 Gala. Our concert this year was an Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein. We had songs from The King and I, Carousel, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, State Fair, and Oklahoma! I was a featured soloist. I sang "Mister Snow" from Carousel and I sang Aunt Eller's solos in the title song from Oklahoma! Not only that, but I wrote the narration for the program. That was a lot fun, since I'm such a huge Rodgers and Hammerstein fan!
October was the best month of all, I think. I am now the proud aunt of 2 adorable nieces. Emily is 2 1/2 and cute as ever. She's talking up a storm and we can understand most of what she's saying. Rebekah Margaret was born on October 12th. She weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. She looks a lot like Emily. She's a very sweet baby and pretty tough. Emily loves her sister...quite forcefully! Bekah was born on Grandma Milligan's birthday, so they share a middle name. That made Grandma's whole year!
The year is winding down now and I can hardly believe that it's almost 2008! I already have two shows lined up for next year. The Loveland and Greeley Stakes are doing "Savior of the World" in March, just before Easter. I will be playing the role of Salome (no, not THAT Salome) in Act 2. Then I'll dive right into rehearsals for my first paid show! I'll be playing Fruma Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof at the Union Colony Dinner Theatre in Greeley! I'm SUPER excited for this, and not because I'll be getting paid. (That's just icing on the cake!) Fruma Sarah is one of my dream roles! I've known since June that I would be doing that role, so it's been in all of my bios since then. I think it's already on my resume, too, as a "Future Engagement". I'm such a nerd.
There's a reason I'm not looking forward to it being 2008, and that involves a certain birthday that I will be celebrating. I'm not looking forward to turning that certain age, and I might just stay the age that I am for awhile. We'll see.......
But anyway, I hope everyone has a great Christmas and an even greater New Year!!!!
And now a few pictures from this year:
Rob Hoch and I during a Loveland Opera Theatre "What is Opera?" performance at Greeley Central High School. We're doing the Act 1 Finale of Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart.
Me and Linda Akey in The Gondoliers.
An AMAZING picture that I took from backstage during the prologue of Beauty and the Beast.
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