lookie what i did, ma!

"villains" was featured in playbill.com

check it out here...

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/135149-Bell-Bowen-Camp-Cohn-Narver-Create-Villains-Tonight-for-Disney-Cruise-Line

and check out our promo video...

magic 24 christmas party

yesterday afternoon, we had our magic 24 christmas party. i tell you what, this cast knows how to throw a par-tay. the green room was beautifully decorated, complete with a "fireplace" with sound effects and everything, stockings and a christmas tree with white-elephant gifts underneath it. there was quite a spread of delicious treats, covering two tables and two counters...

santa paid a visit...

we lined up and took turns sitting on his lap. i, of course, didn't pass up my opportunity to tell him what it is i wanted for christmas this year. "i want things to work out for my big brother to star in this t.v. show in china." santa promised that, "if he was a good boy, he'd see what he could do." of course, he's going to make it happen. haven't you ever seen miracle on 34th street?

santa's visit was magical. bill (our hades in "villains". he's brilliant) and his darling wife katherine are a professional "santa and santa's helper" duo. they are no joke. we're talking his suit cost $700 and he's the best santa i've ever seen in my life! he came in and gave every single one of us a hug and took pictures with everyone. again, we were all 5 years old all over again (this seems to be a reoccurring theme).

santa also oversaw our white elephant gift exchange. for my gift, i gave a $15 starbucks gift card and a ridiculous picture of myself in pigtails, with drawn-in unibrow and blacked-out teeth, which i signed "happy holidays! love, cinderella"...complete with the official cinderella signature. when ed, the director of twice charmed, chose my gift, claire and i just about peed our pants. it was too perfect. he's now threatened to keep it in his office forever. the gift was a hit...

following the gift exchange, santa, and his beautiful little helper, led us all in a christmas sing-along. he sure can tickle those ivories! santa can do it all.

we all just kept looking at each other asking, "how do you top this? this cast does it all!"

i feel so lucky to be here with this cast full of kind, charming, hilarious people. i love my new disney family. i love all of the toronto adventures i've had so far and the adventures that are certain to follow.

merry christmas from toronto!

happy holidays from cindy and charming...

we began and finished "twice charmed"... all in a week and a half. it was quite the whirlwind. lots of character work still to do. but, it'll be fun. i'm really lucky to have a prince charming that i really enjoy. james larsen, you are the best!

in case you were wondering, i'm in heels. james is 6'6". yay for tall, dashing, performing boys.

olympic torch

this past thursday night, the olympic torch passed through toronto. we caught it on day 49 of the relay at the intersection of wellesley and young... a block from our apt. building!!

i love the olympics and have never seen the olympic torch in person.

toronto has been one adventure after another for me, so it's only fitting that i saw it here with a group from my magic 24 cast!

we were freezing our buns off waiting for the torch to come, so we made friends with the local policemen...

the welcome wagon...

o canada!

the olympic cauldron will be lit in vancouver on february 12, 2010.

disney magic

about a week ago, our mainstage magic 24 cast had a character training with our resident character trainer bill sykes (i know, you can't hear it without thinking of the poor little orphan boy who just wanted some more porridge. and yes, that's actually his name.)

bill began the training by showing us a video of live footage capturing characters interacting with children. they were hugging and smiling and the images were set to a soundtrack of magical, heart-warming disney music.

after the video, bill shared personal stories of characters who went out of their way to reach out to children, changing their world forever. he shared stories of children overcoming cancer because they were promised that they'd get to "go back and see mickey again" were they to get better, and that dream gave them reason to live through each day of chemo.

faith plus a dream= miracles.

just as he finishes sharing these stories, tugging at our heart strings, magical music starts bursting out of the speakers in the room... and who should burst through the door but mickey, minnie, pluto, goofy, chip, dale, donald and daisy.

tears. just a room full of 14 fully-grown adults weeping tears of magical disney joy.

1. i have never been that close to these characters that i've grown up loving all my life.

and i tell you what... we were fully aware that our character cast had arrived a full week prior and had been rehearsing in secret next door, but for those 5 minutes of bliss, that was mickey freaking mouse. no man behind the mask. there was not a doubt in our minds that that was really him. it was magical.

2. i was filled with the greatest sense of pride and gratitude that, for the next year of my life, i get to be a part of this magic. the kind of magic that made us feel the way we did when mickey burst through that door. for the next 10 months, i get to help adults and children alike feel that every day as a i cruise around the world. my. job. is. the. bomb.

3. our character cast had stayed late into the evening hours rehearsing so that we wouldn't catch wind of the special appearance they gave us- learning dances that were never to be performed again on the ship or anywhere else. they did it just for us. so. neat.

magic 24 character cast, we love you guys! thanks for allowing me to be a 4 year old again for a full 5.23 minutes!

(keir, katie, jen, moi, gina, james, ryan, mo, katherine, bill, rayna, julia, prescott and david)

...and there you have it. tissues and all.

cruella photoshoot

just before our "villains" rehearsals came to a close, a small group of us were taken to a big warehouse here in toronto. the building, formerly a movie theatre, has been converted into a large photo studio.

after being gussied up in our "doggie" fashions, the six of us girls were led out into the studio for a cruella photoshoot (villains has a "project cruella" section... a la "project runway"). we were led into a giant room where one of the corners, including the walls and the floor, had been freshly painted white. there was a large screen set up and cameras and lights everywhere.

we were each filmed/photographed individually in each of our fashions and then photographed together.

it was such a fun day. i'd never been a part of a photoshoot like that.

and, to top it all off, they fed us yummy ethiopian food for lunch. i love the diversity of toronto.

life at disney is hard...

(rayna, tiffany, claire, gina, moi and katherine)

your resident "disco doggie diva"...

monster ball

a few weeks ago i saw GaGa in concert with these lovely people...

(andrew, moi, john and zach)

the concert was everything i had hoped it would be. i'm a big GaGa fan.

the concert was...

outlandish

brilliant

fashion-forward

crazy

sexy

touching

ispiring

hilarious

in two words... performance art

favorite quote of the night, "people ask me what it feels like to know that some people will hate what i do. and i tell them, 'i don't care if my fans love me. i care if my fans love themselves.'"

a lot of people think that GaGa is some un-talented, outlandish performer who does crazy things just to get attention. they simply don't understand that she is absolutely brilliant. she does what she does because growing up, she felt out of place. she felt like a "monster" of sorts. and she wants her fans to feel that they're accepted. that they're not alone.

besides that, you should hear her acoustic stuff on the piano. brilliant. her voice is amazing and she is a brilliant musician.

i love that i got to experience the brilliance of GaGa with my boys in toronto

show me your teeth!!!

ragtime

...aching to see this revival on broadway. keeping my fingers crossed that it will still be around when i get back from cruising next year.

stunning. revolutionary. inspiring.

ragtime.

an evening with jason robert brown

the adventures of claire and becca continue!

this past money night, we spent an evening with this guy.

he was a little conceded. he was a lot a bit brilliant. he is a r.i.d.i.c.u.l.o.u.s. musician.

his songs and lyrics are so accessible and thought-provoking.

i've been a fan for a long time, so it was really fun to see him live.

he played...

"someone to fall back on" and "i could be in love with someone like you"

-from his album 'wearing someone else's clothes'

"being a geek" and another song that i forget the name of

-from a musical he wrote called '13'

"still hurting", "summer in ohio", "goodbye until tomorrow", "moving too fast" and "i'd give it all for you"

-from 'the last 5 years'

"honeymoon in vegas"

-from a new musical he wrote called 'honeymoon in vegas'

he invited a girl named chilina kennedy to sing a few of the songs/duets from the last 5 years. she's done a lot of theatre here in canada and she was brilliant. her voice reminded me a lot of sutton foster and there was such an honesty to her story-telling.

thankful...

today i'm extremely grateful for a lot of things.

here are just a few...

a wonderful job

my beautiful toronto apartment

new friends at disney

the journey i'm embarking on this year

parents who love their children for who they are

brothers and sisters who are my best friends

love and acceptance

dreams

let the season begin...

happy thanksgiving from canada!!!

a group of us woke up to have breakfast together and watch the macey's thanksgiving day parade (which i l.o.v.e.)...

sailor mickey made his debut in the parade representing disney cruise line!!

what a guy...

our cast had the day off, so we all spent the afternoon relaxing and preparing yummy dishes for our thanksgiving feast. let me tell you, it was quite an affair. everyone looked lovely and there was quite a spread with vegan and non-vegan dishes alike...

the dessert table (i contributed home-made strawberry cream pies with home-made graham cracker crust and vanilla gooey cake)...

i feel so lucky to have spent thanksgiving with such great people...

(mo, justin and i)

(jules, lindsaykate and i)

yesterday, on our way home from work, jules and i bought some colored construction paper and craft supplies. later on in the evening we had a girls night with lindsaykate during which we made little indian

and pilgrim head dresses for everyone to wear at our thanksgiving feast.

they were a hit!

...the indians

...the pilgrims

hunter felt it his duty to tell the story of the pilgrims and indians as it really happened...

i ended the evening by soaking in a nice hot, candle-lit bath listening to christmas music.

so fancy and festive.

radio city rockettes

this past wednesday night, my friend claire and i went to see the radio city rockette's christmas spectacular. we were so stoked when we found out that they toured to toronto. neither one of us had ever seen them live. we excitedly reminded each other all day at rehearsal that we were seeing the show that night.

let me tell you, the rockettes do not disappoint. it was everything we'd hoped it would be. precision. absolute precision. wow. we were seriously giddy all night as we watched. my two favorite numbers were the toy soldier number and the ny sightseeing number. it was absolute perfection.

claire and i decided that we're going to be rockette holiday singers when we move to ny. it's gonna happen.

...the delightful little aussie herself

here's to a fancy, festive night on the town...

the distance you have come...

"all journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware." -Martin Buber

i'm getting really excited about all of the parts of the world i will see this year. i'm so passionate about traveling. i love seeing and experiencing different places and cultures. i love tasting the food, walking the streets and smelling the smells; looking at architecture, listening to the melody of the languages spoken. i love it all. travel has played a huge part in shaping me. i feel that seeing the world has opened my eyes to different ways of thinking. it's given me my sense of adventure and a passion for life, the beautiful world we live in and all that they have to offer.

i sat down today and listed all of the places i've lived and visited in my life and the new places i can add to the list during my cruising this year. here's a re-cap...

i've lived in:

utah

england

pennsylvania

ukraine

canada

states i've visited:

utah

california

nevada

oregon

idaho

montana

colorado

new mexico

massachusetts

ohio

virginia

maryland

pennsylvania

new york

new jersey

washington d.c.

florida

countries i've visited:

u.s.

canada

england

ukraine

scotland

wales

france

spain

czech republic

denmark

norway

finland

bulgaria

greece (crete, cyprus, patmos)

egypt

israel

china

hong kong

mexico

south korea

australia

new places i will visit this year:

u.s. virgin islands

british virgin islands

bahamas

caribbean

sweden

russia

italy

portugal

gibraltar

malta

tunisia (north africa)

germany

estonia

i love that this will be a year of unexpected surprises, friendships and adventure.

ode to canadia...

disney does it right, friends! i think a couple of us screamed when we got to our apartments and realized that they are private suites that look like this...

we may or may not have a complementary cleaning service once a week, a washer and dryer and (if you look closely you'll see it) a plasma screen t.v. juuust spoiled!

our building is in a part of toronto called yorkville. it's just south of the ritzy shopping/restaurant district and just north of the main/downtown shopping district (which is fun to walk through on our way to work).

the city is enchanting...

it's the perfect blend of old and quaint and contemporary chic...

littered with beautiful, historic churches reminiscent of the ones i used to see growing up in england...

the space needle and some beautiful building on the walk home from work...

there are so many beautiful little side streets around town...

and there's so much to do in the city. here's a fancy museum we walked past today...

more pictures to come, lovelies. the city is enchanting. it's like a mix between old england and a quieter, cleaner nyc. it's fun to walk through the city and take the subway every day.

i feel so lucky to be here working on such a fun project with such great people.