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...