"No Day But Today"

So yesterday totally proved to be as awesome as anticipated. RENT was fabulous! I was afraid the touring cast wouldn't be very good.-- I've seen a couple of iffy ones in places like Hamilton, but, I was actually pretty impressed with this cast. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't without its weak points. I didn't hate Mark (Jed Resnick) but I dunno...he hasn't *quite* grown into the role yet. It was kind of weird to see a brown-haired Mark too, though I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. Mimi (Arianda Fernandez) was definitely the weakest link. She had classic Mimi qualities, which gave her potential, but her voice was SO lacking. She could barely hit the notes during "Light My Candle" and "Out Tonight" wasn't great either. She somehow pulled it off when she was singing in the group numbers, so we figure she's just not so good at her solo bits yet. Benny(Michael Ifill) seemed slightly disinterested in his lines so he didn't come across as strongly as he could've. I liked Joanne (Chante Carmel Frierson) her voice was good and I liked the idea of a Joanne who was "bigger"it made the parallel between Joanne and Maureen more interesting. I liked Maureen Tracy McDowell) for the most part but her "Over the Moon" needs a little bit of work still. Roger(Bryce Ryness) on the other hand made my favourite Roger list, along with Luther Creek, Adam Pascal and Carey Shields. He's a little too tall but he kind of resembles Luther Creek, which made me happy *hehe*. He totally had the Roger moves down...and he did the handcuffs=). His guitar skills need to be improved slightly, but that's okay. He was so cute when he was sitting onstage watching "Over the Moon". He wasn't hiding his delight at all...very nice smile=). Collins (Warren G. Nolan, Jr.) was great too, I like the idea of Collins with dreads...it works. I definitely approved of Angel (Ano Okera) the most though. He made my feminine quota and then some. I hate butch Angels...even Wilson was slightly borderline for me.

We were laughing at Bryce Ryness' bio in the programme. He lists his acting credits (some of which are very impressive) and then gives the URL to his myspace site: www.myspace.com/bryceryness *hehe*. He also thanks a bunch of people and in the middle of the list was Jesus. Because of the placement we thought it had to be his Spanish buddy Jesus=p. But after reading his myspace profile and judging by his involvement with the Christian Crusades and Bible Study, I'm pretty sure it's the "take a closer walk with thee" Jesus. Hmm...don't ya wanna thank your savior *before* your fellow actors Bryce? He's a *little* creepy about his wife too. They seem to be the classic pretty, young Christian couple. Not that there's anything wrong with that I suppose. Their lives are just..."interesting". In any case I love the fact that he seems to be so into RENT, living the philosophy to the fullest. He updates his myspace blog with all the highlights from the show everytime they're in a new city (such a cute newbie keener) and RENT has inspired him to get involved with an organization called Invisible Children that helps kids affected by AIDS in the Sudan. He might've been a cool person to interview for my feature. My friend and I wanted to see how long it would take him to friend me. He added me in less than 12 hours...aww!

My friend Dyan and I REALLY wanted to try for the rush line today and see it one last time before it goes on to Philly, but she has Mother's Day obligations. Oh well!

Fordy's show last night was FANTASTIC too. He had a full band for some songs, which gave everything a great little punch. Murray played bass...he had a pretty black and white bass. Clearly a new toy *hehe*. It's such a rarity these days to see him without Daryl's acoustic and OMG, Dusty Fosterboard and The Cocksure Lads came too!!! Holy Crap, Admiral Trafalgar *hehehe* SOOOOO Funny!!! Mark Mariash played drums, Mike's friend Jesse played fiddle, his other friend Jennifer Bush sang a bunch...she can really sing, and Mike's brother John has recently taken up the Steel Pans, which sounded AWESOME. Apparently Canada Needs You: Vol 2 is in the works so he debuted a bunch of songs frim that. I really liked most of them...some of the ones inspired by his trip on the boat last summer were great! I gotta say though, I want to say that the highlight was the new songs but, "Heatseeker Boy" with a full band again...YES!!!

Mike did his crazy Canada-themed trivia sessions again too. The prizes were so Canadian they were hilarious! Oh, and yes, the evening did not go by without about a million mentions of the Oatmeal Stout of course=p.When we talked to him afterwards he actually asked me about my article! Yikes! I feel SO bad that I never sent that to him. I HAVE to get on it now. He's playing again in 2 weeks so I'm going to aim to at least have another draft by then.

All in all, excellent day! I even replaced my RENT T-shirt. Though, I'd forgotten how expensive Hugh's Room is, Yikes! I had to borrow a bunch of money from everyone to pay the bill cuz I was short. Next time I'm just going for an appetizer or something. That's my plan for The Great Atomic Power show on June 7th.