Introduce Yourself

Started by Chris L, Jun 21, 2017, 05:18 PM

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Chris L

Quote from: ignatzmouse on Jun 26, 2017, 10:31 AMHello everyone. My name is Simon, i'm from North Yorkshire, England, UK. I am new to this forum.

I am here to learn more about Stephen Sondheim. I am an enthusiast, but have little knowledge of Musical Theatre. Apart from Stephen Sondheim, i don't really like musical theatre. (so far!) There must be some great stuff.. so.. i'm looking forward to being diected towards some new great music.
Is there anyone else on the forum from the UK i wonder ?
Thanks Chris for approving my submission.

Simon (ignatzmouse)

Welcome to the cookie jar, Simon, as we used to say on the old forum. I think you'll find that there are plenty of UK members here, possibly more than there are American members. Glad to have you on board and I hope you learn a great deal about musical theater. You'll find that we have several posts already about musicals not by Sondheim in the Theater in General section, more than we have currently about Sondheim. And if you have questions you'd like to ask there (like "What shows/albums do people recommend I see/listen to?",  feel free to ask them. (In fact, that's not a bad idea for a thread.)
But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

Hester Jean

Quote from: artscallion on Jun 22, 2017, 10:55 AMI've met and spent time with many of them. The guest room in my house is even named after one of them, Hester's Hollow.

 :-*  :-*  :-*

Bookman George

#32
I'm George, but I couldn't use that as my screen name because the other George had already claimed it. So I used Bookman, a reference to my profession as a librarian.

I was kind of late to the board because for a period of time, membership was closed. But I was a lurker -- and felt like I knew a lot of the posters long before I could actually post myself.

I live in St. Louis, which is where Hester Jean/Connie also lives. Shortly after I joined officially, we met for coffee, and now we see each other at performances of all kinds all over town. She was the one who started calling me Bookman George, so that is the name I now go by.

I am among the oldest of the members in actual years -- I am 68, and now retired. I've loved musicals all my life -- inherited that from my parents. I've attended hundreds of performances at the huge outdoor summer theater here, known as the Muny. It's anything by intimate -- there are 10,000 seats, over a thousand of which are free to the public every night. But amazingly, I have seen a lot of fabulous performances there. When they can take advantage of the size and create a real "Muny moment," there is nothing like it. Not everything has been great, of course -- and it can be hotter than hell out there. But in balance, I have loved it. Now, in my retirement, I am a volunteer in the Muny archives. The theater will have its 100th season next year, and there will be an exhibit at the Missouri History Museum highlighting this unique St. Louis institution. My volunteer work is great fun.

My first exposure to the name Sondheim was when it appeared as the lyricist on our family's LP of West Side Story. Then Gypsy, Forum, etc. Despite not living near NYC, I saw the original casts of Company (when Dean Jones was still playing Bobby) and Sweeney Todd. Besides those show in NYC, I've seen lots of Sondheim in St. Louis, some in Chicago, and a fabulous Little Night Music in Central City, CO. I know some of the Sondheads travel regularly to catch productions far and wide, but I am less adventurous than that, and wait for things to come to my doorstep.

It is so good to be back among this fun and affectionate on-line community!


valmont

#33
I'm Darin.  I joined the original board in 1998.  I think my handle was always valmont, but things were kind of volatile back then and the board went through a few incarnations.

In high school, my older sister and her best friend used to play records after school.  I was much younger but they often let me join them.  He liked musicals, so it was almost always a cast album we listened to.  We sometimes watched the Tony Awards broadcast.  I remember one year the cast of Evita was performing, and I said with all the natural aplomb of a twelve year old, "who wants to watch a show about a married couple in bed??"  (I figured it out, eventually.)  The following year, we saw the excerpt from Sweeney Todd, and Steve, a fan of Angela Lansbury, ran out and got the album and we all sat silently listening, awestruck.

I work as a software engineer but I have advanced degrees in music and always wanted to compose musicals.

I've had the good fortune to meet many of the Sondheads face-to-face.  It has been like meeting a second family.
I was born to ask "why was I born?"

George

Quote from: Bookman George on Jul 04, 2017, 08:43 AMI'm George, but I couldn't use that as my screen name because the other George had already claimed it.



Don't you mean the real George?!   ;D
¡Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!

mrssondheim

Hello, my name is Aileen.

I have no idea when I started on the board.  I think I was directing Gypsy at the time, and found this group while doing research for the show.

When I first joined the board my name was Gypsydiva, then Mrs. Sondheim.  Now I am MamaRose.

I live in Sunny California, in Oxnard near the beach.  I am an actress and director, having done many Sondheim shows such as Company, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George, and Assassins.  There may be others, but I can't think of them right now.  Lol.

When I am not doing the above, I make extra money working with kids teaching them theater and music. I love seeing the love of theater and music grow in them.  It makes my heart burst!!!!

I love passion of any kind, in art, gardening, cooking, writing, etc (especially etc, heh heh). 

Damn, this sounds like an EHarmony profile. This board has seen me through a few boyfriends, but I just recently got married and am very happy.

I have met many of the board members, and miss them very much!  When I first went to NYC to meet up with some, I felt like a freak!!!  Who meets people from a board????  They are all gonna be ax murderers!!!!!  They ended up being wonderful people who I love with all my heart, though the first one I met ended up being a bit crazy, faking his death and so forth.  What was his name???

I love my job, but some times I think about going back to the corporate life just so I can afford trips to NYC and the like.  They are never cheap trips, and art doesn't pay that well.

Well damn.  The above sounds so silly.  To the oldies, I love you and thank you Chris and Amy.  To the newbies, welcome to the cookie jar.  This is a wonderful place to come to and chit chat about the good and bad.  Art and drivel.  Food and heart ache. 

I am so glad the board is back.  I may delete this later and write a new one.  Lol.

A blank page or canvas. My favorite.

KathyB

Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 06:57 PMI have met many of the board members, and miss them very much!  When I first went to NYC to meet up with some, I felt like a freak!!!  Who meets people from a board????  They are all gonna be ax murderers!!!!!  They ended up being wonderful people who I love with all my heart, though the first one I met ended up being a bit crazy, faking his death and so forth.  What was his name???


I am the proud owner of a Lizzie Borden bobble head given to me by Aileen (when she was my Secret Sondheim) to let me know she wasn't an axe murderer. :)

mrssondheim

Quote from: KathyB on Jul 11, 2017, 08:00 PM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 06:57 PMI have met many of the board members, and miss them very much!  When I first went to NYC to meet up with some, I felt like a freak!!!  Who meets people from a board????  They are all gonna be ax murderers!!!!!  They ended up being wonderful people who I love with all my heart, though the first one I met ended up being a bit crazy, faking his death and so forth.  What was his name???


I am the proud owner of a Lizzie Borden bobble head given to me by Aileen (when she was my Secret Sondheim) to let me know she wasn't an axe murderer. :)

Oh my goodness, I had forgotten all about that!!!  I wish I still had mine.  Alas and alack. 
A blank page or canvas. My favorite.

Vera Charles

Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 06:57 PMWell damn.  The above sounds so silly.  To the oldies, I love you and thank you Chris and Amy.  To the newbies, welcome to the cookie jar.  This is a wonderful place to come to and chit chat about the good and bad.  Art and drivel.  Food and heart ache. 

I am so glad the board is back.  I may delete this later and write a new one.  Lol.


Me, too.

Bookman George

Quote from: George on Jul 10, 2017, 07:22 AM
Quote from: Bookman George on Jul 04, 2017, 08:43 AMI'm George, but I couldn't use that as my screen name because the other George had already claimed it.



Don't you mean the real George?!   ;D


Of course I do! I defer to your authenticity!!

JimW

I felt it was appropriate to use my first post here to introduce myself to those who don't know me.  It's like a new beginning.

So I'm Jim, living in Dublin in Ireland.  I work as a Project Manager/Business Analyst by day in the FinTech industry.  Recently had a significant birthday but I look tem years younger (or so I tell myself).

I joined the original board back in 2004 or so and was thrilled to find so many people who shared my obsession with Stephen Sondheim and musical theatre in general.  I will admit though to being slightly in awe of the knowledge base of the contributers back then. Not that this ever stopped me for sharing my opinions and points of view (that's almost impossible) because it was a welcoming place to talk and even if people didn't agree with what you said they shared that in a polite and supportive manner.  In the last few years of the board I did become more of a lurker and only posted occasionally but that was more to do with personal stuff that was going on at the time.  I'll try to be a bit more present here because I did miss the board when it finally disappeared.

I do musical theatre and drama as a hobby, both acting and directing.  It's mainly been onstage in the last few years but I have directed a few one-act plays.  Last role was Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd which I thoroughly enjoyed because I had been waiting to do a production of Sweeney for many years.  No upcoming roles planned at the moment but do hope to direct another one-act in September/October.

That's really it in a nutshell.  Great to be back and thanks to those who made it possible.

Edit to Add: I'm a terrible self-editor so expect to see the word Edit beside practically all of my posts!

JimW

Forgot to say in my original post that one of my most favourite times from this board was when we all met up for the Encores Follies in New York 2008 or so.  It was really great to meet some many of the people that I knew through the board.  Haven't managed to make it back to NY since then actually as far as I can think.  I'll need to rectify that.

Vera Charles

Quote from: JimW on Jul 26, 2017, 04:17 PMEdit to Add: I'm a terrible self-editor so expect to see the word Edit beside practically all of my posts!
Hah hah! I'm very happy to come out of the closet as one of those, too!

Chris L

Hey, Jim! Glad you could make it and hope to see Edit on many posts from you! ;)
But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

AmyG

Quote from: JimW on Jul 26, 2017, 04:17 PMEdit to Add: I'm a terrible self-editor so expect to see the word Edit beside practically all of my posts!
I am too @JimW. That's why I made the courtesy edit wait time, that is, the amount of time you have to edit your post before it's marked as edited, a whopping 10 minutes. I love power!  ;)

Oh, and this post officially makes me a Full Member! 🍾🎉🥂