In the beginning...

OK, cheesy title to start with but what the heck, it is my first blog ever, so it is "the beginning". I was going to call this blog "An Actor's Life for Me", but since there is so much more to my life than being an actor (especially since I live in Southern CA and hardly any one can make a living with a family just being an actor in musical theater out here), I decided to amend it to being a dad who is also an actor. Being a dad has been the greatest thing to happen to me, next only to marrying the love of my life, and since I wouldn't be a dad without my amazing wife, for me the title "dad" includes "husband" as well. Some might say I shouldn't put them together like that, because my relationship with my wife should be separate from my responsibilities as a father, but I am the father I am because of my relationship with my wife. The stronger my friendship with her and the closer I feel to her, the better husband I am and therefore the better dad I become.

Quick stats:
Married: 12 years going on Eternity
Kids: Four (Girl - 8, Boy - 6, Girl - 4, Girl - 2). Maybe a fifth sometime soon but not sure when.
Acting: Started 23 years ago at the age of 14 in church productions. Mainly musicals over the years, but a few straight plays.

I like the challenge of straight plays, because sometimes the music can be a crutch for me since it can drive the action or emotion in a scene more than just the words. When all you have are the words, it is up to the actors and director to drive the flow and climax of the scene. I act all over Southern CA, in CLOs, semi-professional and professional theaters. Maybe I'll post my resume sometime. I have had the privilege to play some of the greatest roles written for the male singing actor: Che - Evita, Archibald - Secret Garden, George - Sunday in the Park with George (anyone see a trend here), Curly - OKLAHOMA! (some may question this one, but then you need to look deeper into the script and maybe watch Hugh Jackman's performance in the video of the London production - inspiring), Tony - West Side Story (2x), Fredric - The Pirates of Penzance (3x) (True this one is a silly part, but where else can you act like a total goofball and still sing a pretty as you possibly can, usually they do not go together), Enjolras - Les Miserables in Concert (one of three productions allowed to be produced), Matt - Fantasticks (this may well be one of the most beautiful plays ever written, if you didn't like it you saw a bad production). As well as a ton of other's that were just plain fun to do like Reverend Oglethorpe - Smoke on the Mountain, Harry and Vinnie - Lucky Stiff, Billy Crocker - Anything Goes and so on.

So maybe this is enough for my first posting.

"Cheerio, but be back soon."