Happiness Is...Friends. (The Real Ones, Not the Show.)

I have had the great joy in the past few weeks to witness three of my friends take their bows with a smile and a show clenched tightly in their cute little fists.

***The Melon Patch Players' current production is Private Lives, a very wordy production that involves a lot of kissing and 1930s British humor. A particularly dapper-looking Ashley Richards (A.J. Richards, superstar of the B-movie horror world) makes a grand tuxedo-clad entrance, not an unusual enough event to elicit any kind of response, which made my "YEEEOOWWW!" a little embarassing. Yes, I received thanks for that later. Ashley proceeded to be the best thing in the show - not surprising. That he could remember allllll that dialogue was impressive on its own. He also has a wonderfully convincing stage kiss technique. And I was proud.

***The Icehouse Theatre's current production is The Man Who Came to Dinner, another 30's based romp, American this time, of a dinner guest who never leaves (yeah, we've all been there). It's an excellent show with a very large cast, all of whom are at least decent, and by and large very talented. Definitely see this show! Kevin doesn't enter until the third act, and proceeds to use every inch of the stage to scream and grab ass in some sort of Marx Brothers/Larry Flynt way. He's like Kevin, only more Kevin that even Kevin, which is a lot of Kevin, and a real joy to watch. Any time you get to see a friend enter stage left with a middle-aged maid tossed over his shoulder, pawing at her rear while wearing a cream-colored suit and a Hummer Yellow dress shirt with MATCHING SOCKS, you can't help but feel a little charge. That entrance also garnered a "YEEEOOWWW!", but everyone was laughing so hard that it went unnoticed, thank goodness. And again, I was proud. Especially because I realized that I have a friend who actually looks good in Hummer Yellow.

***Disney's Story Theatre's current production is You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. S.T.A.G.E. is a cast-member-only theatre, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be good. After the trek out to the theatre, involving parking in a sketchy lot hidden in the resort area, a bus ride that involved presenting photo ID, and an usher who instructed us brusquely to sit down fast and quietly and not bother anyone (we were late), I was starting to feel like I'd been inducted into some strange club. I would have been fully prepared for the bus to drop us at a nondescript building where a large man stood at the door and merely glanced down at us to ask for a password. Luerne's entrance did not get the trademark "YEEOOWWW" only because we arrived late and, having missed her first entrance, hollering out at her second or third would have been an inappropriate announcement to her and the rest of the audience that I was either absent or not paying attention during the initial entrance. (Yes, as you have learned by now, I am not the world's most courteous audience member, preferring to ensure that all around me know that I have a personal relationship with whomever is on stage at the time.) So, Luerne gets to impart wisdom throughout the show as insightful as "Don't tell me my life is unlike a Shakespearean drama" after explaining how she dropped an ice cream cone, and halting a jumprope session to proclaim, "Life just seems so futile". She was great, just great, and stole the show. Not to detract from the cast, which was uniformly splendid, but I still say she stole it. And again, I was proud.

Meanwhile, Jason is working on a revamp of the Bay Street site as payment to them for allowing Real Love Diplomats to record in the theatre. I think it looks great, and I can't wait for them to see it. I'm proud of him, too!

Now, it could be the Frosty talking, but I have a lot to be grateful for, including my friends' talents and abilities. So thanks to all of them for making me smile.