Thursday, January 26, 2006
One of the Long Days....
......is what yesterday was...you know...one of those days when you wake up really early,mentally "pack" your meager city bags for the tasks ahead (no wonder i see so many of those small rolling suitcases trailing behind so many actors and actresses these days...a new wrinkle since i was away at Barter: the urban travelling actor) ...anyway: so you lie there in your comfortable bed wondering how long can a day be, and then you have to heave yourself up into it and greet it with all the energy it takes to get it going....
Which in my case, yesterday, was not so very hard, since my first appointment of the day was with my 15 NYU students down at Steinhardt School of Music, and I love them! Except, as of yesterday, there are now 16! One more young woman came aboard, and we are glad to have her! The class, a mere 2 and a half hours, could be 4 hours and it would still feel short, because there is so much passion and gift in that room! All the way from James Cunningham, the amazing pianist, to the very least of the young talents in the room, there is enormous exciting potential, and so the time flies by all too quickly...i genuinely like these students. They apply themselves with respect and thoroughness, and are gentle with themselves and with others. They love love love what they do, and are thrilled to see ahead into what is possible....and yesterday was the first day we held class that it was not raining! So i enjoyed my walk from the subway stop at Chrsitopher Street over to West 4th even more than usual. I stopped for my morning coffee in the lovely cafeteria at the Student Union Building...my NYU ID now gets me in there and it is such a nice way to start the day...because the building , new and sparkling, is such exciting architecture....open, spacious and inviting.
So class flew by...and then after takihng care of paperwork and organization in what I am now calling my new "office" (actually it's simply the 12th floor conference room, whenever it is not in use), Bill Wesbrooks and I went to lunch at a favorite place of ours. We had such a stimulating talk, as we always do, and he filled me in on a lot of the history of Steinhardt, finally putting into perspective for me how it relates to NYU as a whole, who the Steinhardts are, and other valuable things for me to know about this estimable school and its mission. Interesting. He also filled me in a bit more on who all the various players are and how they work together, pulling all the various departments together into the larger entity. NYU is so huge!
I like Bill W. very much. Aside from the fact that, after a relatively short exposure to my methods and energies, he liked me enough to trust me with a class of sophomores (which shows a useful intuition on his part), I also like the way he organizes his thinking, which enables him to run a complex school in an efficient and creative way...i like his taste...i like his mind and intellect. He pulls no punches, says what he thinks and is one of "right to the point" people who get the job done well. And there is a respect with which he treats his students that resonates with them. Never inappropriate or familiar. Just supportive and wise. They adore him. I have yet to hear one single thing from any student that is not respectful and admiring. Other students I have known do not show that same sort of respect, and waste no time in blaming their teachers for all the ills of their lives...I have yet to see that sort of behavior at Steinhardt. In line with that, my kids come fully prepped, song learned and coached, required paperwork completed (I give them a Circumstance Report to fill out for each song).
I am learning things from Bill. My teaching is being influenced by this too.
Tonight, I go to his MERRY WIDOW rehearsal at Loewe Theater, and he wants me to coach the principals , much the way I worked with a couple of them a few weeks ago...he has offered to not only give me program cresit for this work, but to pay me as well!! That's nice. I look forward to this work tonight.Just being on the stage with those glorious young voices will be fun!
Anthony Drewe and George Stiles sent my name to Tara Rubin as a request: they want me to audiiton for the role of the Housekeeper in MARY POPPINS, which is coming from London to NYC in the late Fall...how sweet....when Peter and I were in London last year, the boys also got us their house seats for MP, and we took them out for wine before the show...it was wonderful...what Ants and George have done is compose new music to add to the familiar movie score to further theatricalize the show and make it thrilling...it totally succeeds...NYC will adore it...and if am meant to play "Mrs. Brill", which seems right up my particular alley, then I will do so..sweet of them to suggest me.
Got off my topic...the long day...well...such are my meandering ways....suffuce it to say: i did not get home til 10 pm last night...and Peter, the same, so we ordered Chinese, ate and fell into a welcoming bed! I ache from all the walking! Ah, New York City life! And the aching famliarity of ending a long day with delivered Chinese! God Bless those men on their sturdy bicycles! What would we do without them?
Which in my case, yesterday, was not so very hard, since my first appointment of the day was with my 15 NYU students down at Steinhardt School of Music, and I love them! Except, as of yesterday, there are now 16! One more young woman came aboard, and we are glad to have her! The class, a mere 2 and a half hours, could be 4 hours and it would still feel short, because there is so much passion and gift in that room! All the way from James Cunningham, the amazing pianist, to the very least of the young talents in the room, there is enormous exciting potential, and so the time flies by all too quickly...i genuinely like these students. They apply themselves with respect and thoroughness, and are gentle with themselves and with others. They love love love what they do, and are thrilled to see ahead into what is possible....and yesterday was the first day we held class that it was not raining! So i enjoyed my walk from the subway stop at Chrsitopher Street over to West 4th even more than usual. I stopped for my morning coffee in the lovely cafeteria at the Student Union Building...my NYU ID now gets me in there and it is such a nice way to start the day...because the building , new and sparkling, is such exciting architecture....open, spacious and inviting.
So class flew by...and then after takihng care of paperwork and organization in what I am now calling my new "office" (actually it's simply the 12th floor conference room, whenever it is not in use), Bill Wesbrooks and I went to lunch at a favorite place of ours. We had such a stimulating talk, as we always do, and he filled me in on a lot of the history of Steinhardt, finally putting into perspective for me how it relates to NYU as a whole, who the Steinhardts are, and other valuable things for me to know about this estimable school and its mission. Interesting. He also filled me in a bit more on who all the various players are and how they work together, pulling all the various departments together into the larger entity. NYU is so huge!
I like Bill W. very much. Aside from the fact that, after a relatively short exposure to my methods and energies, he liked me enough to trust me with a class of sophomores (which shows a useful intuition on his part), I also like the way he organizes his thinking, which enables him to run a complex school in an efficient and creative way...i like his taste...i like his mind and intellect. He pulls no punches, says what he thinks and is one of "right to the point" people who get the job done well. And there is a respect with which he treats his students that resonates with them. Never inappropriate or familiar. Just supportive and wise. They adore him. I have yet to hear one single thing from any student that is not respectful and admiring. Other students I have known do not show that same sort of respect, and waste no time in blaming their teachers for all the ills of their lives...I have yet to see that sort of behavior at Steinhardt. In line with that, my kids come fully prepped, song learned and coached, required paperwork completed (I give them a Circumstance Report to fill out for each song).
I am learning things from Bill. My teaching is being influenced by this too.
Tonight, I go to his MERRY WIDOW rehearsal at Loewe Theater, and he wants me to coach the principals , much the way I worked with a couple of them a few weeks ago...he has offered to not only give me program cresit for this work, but to pay me as well!! That's nice. I look forward to this work tonight.Just being on the stage with those glorious young voices will be fun!
Anthony Drewe and George Stiles sent my name to Tara Rubin as a request: they want me to audiiton for the role of the Housekeeper in MARY POPPINS, which is coming from London to NYC in the late Fall...how sweet....when Peter and I were in London last year, the boys also got us their house seats for MP, and we took them out for wine before the show...it was wonderful...what Ants and George have done is compose new music to add to the familiar movie score to further theatricalize the show and make it thrilling...it totally succeeds...NYC will adore it...and if am meant to play "Mrs. Brill", which seems right up my particular alley, then I will do so..sweet of them to suggest me.
Got off my topic...the long day...well...such are my meandering ways....suffuce it to say: i did not get home til 10 pm last night...and Peter, the same, so we ordered Chinese, ate and fell into a welcoming bed! I ache from all the walking! Ah, New York City life! And the aching famliarity of ending a long day with delivered Chinese! God Bless those men on their sturdy bicycles! What would we do without them?
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