Sprinkles Cupcake ATM

I'm super proud of this fun post over at the Levy's Unqiue New York so go over and check it out!

http://levysuniqueny.com/5160/sprinkles-cupcake-atm/

And don't forget that is where you can see most of my new NYC entries now!:)

Stagelighter Review

New York is filled with hopeful performers dreaming of making it big on Broadway.  A tool that they often use to achieve this goal is attending industry workshops.  At these workshops, actors attend a class run by casting directors, agents, or an industry icon, receive feedback on a performance they give in class, and get face time in front of people who may have casting power.  These workshops are wonderful and allow actors to get about 10 to 15 minutes of the industry professionals time.  Recently a new tool known as Stagelighter was introduced that improves and enhances the industry workshop experience.  The best part is, Stagelighter isn’t only available to actors in New York!

Stagelighter is a website designed to help improve your audition skills and build your network, and it does so with alarming success.  At first I was very skeptical that a website could offer anything close to what a live and in person class could offer, but boy was I wrong.  Stagelighter actually gave me MORE than I have ever received in an industry workshop. 

To participate in Stagelighter, I had to make a video of myself singing a song.  I sat down with my lovely vocal coach and recorded myself singing “What’s the Use of Wondering from “Carousel.” I ordered two sessions.  One  session was with an actress that I highly admire and one with a casting director I frequently audition for.  I created my Stagelighter Profile which included my headshot, resume, and a short video introducing myself and stating which performers I look up to and two dream roles.  (Mine were Alice Beane in “Titanic” and Nimue in “Camelot.”  I then uploaded my singing video, typed in a question of my choice to ask each coach, and hoped for the best.

Three days later I got my first response!  Oh my goodness was it shockingly helpful.  It was from Christiane Noll.  I received a seven minutes video response jam packed with helpful, positive, constructive advice.  She pointed out what I did well, and what I could do to make the song even better.  She walked me through the song measure by measure, discussing what the character was thinking, how that can translate into the musical line, and where new thoughts occur.  

My second coach, Gayle Seay, responded a few days later.  Her feedback was equally helpful.  She gave extremely detailed notes about my performance in the video I submitted as well as roles and material I should look at for the future.  Since she had time to put careful thought into the feedback, I found it a thousand times more helpful than the rushed industry workshops I had taken previously.  Again, it was invaluable to be able to take the video response to my vocal coach as well, so we could put in specific work on Gayle's feedback.

The one thing I wish stagelighter.com would do, especially for those of us living in NYC, is hold monthly recording sessions.  I was a little embarrassed at the amateur recording I produced, despite having a relatively nice camera.  It would be wonderful if they could set up sessions with a fabulous camera and excellent sound quality for those using the Stagelighter.com product.  Another product it could add is help creating and editing a reel.  It would be wonderful if performers could submit their reel and get feedback on that as well.

Overall, my experience with Stagelighter was one of the most positive and beneficial theatre experiences I've had in New York.   I was such a fan that I got several of my most jaded friends to buy sessions and they all ended up raving about it.  Recently I took a trip to Malaysia to visit my friend who is a dancer in a show near Kuala Lumpur.  She was sighing that there was no way for her to stay relevant in the New York industry from 10,000 miles away.  I told her about Stagelighter and her eyes lit up!  I can see this site revolutionizing how performers far away or on tour can stay active in casting directors minds.

Since this is a New York blog, I wanted to review Stagelighter because it gives people an insight into the New York audition world.  A lot of performers are trying to weigh whether or not they are ready to move to the big city.  Stagelighter can help with that.  It will also let performers in the city get more effective feedback from their auditions.  Non-union performers who have a difficult time being seen at the union open calls will also find this tool invaluable.  It's very New Yorky, despite having the capability to be used from the other side of the globe - literally.  So what are you waiting for? Check it out!

A mini-move

So great news!  I'm now going to be paid to blog!  YAY!  This means that most of my new entries will be found on the Levy's Unique New York blog which can be found here!  My first entry was Melt to Earth.  Please enjoy!

The Levy's, or LUNY as we like to call it, are a family of tours guides who have been gracious enough to hire me as their blogger/social media coordinator.  I also give tours for them - so if you want a private Megan tour - they are who to contact!:)

New Year's Eve Confetti

Here is a very cool article about the man behind the confetti in Times Square!  We all pay so much attention to the ball that I fear   Treb Heining goes unnoticed!  Article is from mashable.com. Please enjoy!

http://mashable.com/2013/12/31/times-square-new-years-confetti/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

105 years ago

This was Times Square 105 years ago.  Kind of fun to take a photographic tour back in time!

The photo is courtesy of this link: https://twitter.com/beschlossdc/status/417102270740701185

LaGuardia Airport

It's the busiest travel time of the year.  Thousands upon thousands of travelers will be passing through LaGuardia Airport.  In fact, I just passed through LaGuardia on my way home to Florida.  I thought it would be cool to learn a little bit about this travel hub.

The catalyst for LaGuardia being developed for commercial flights came from its namesake, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.  He is a very colorful character worthy of a novel, let alone his own blog entry.  In fact, a musical (Fiorello) was even written about him.  Check it out!  And read about the man here. 

At any rate, the story goes Fiorello La Guardia was flying into New York with a ticket that read "New York," but ended up landing in Newark as Newark Liberty Airport was the only commercial airport serving NYC at the time.  After being flown to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, La Guardia held an impromptu news conference urging New Yorkers to support a new airport within their own city.  Construction on La Guardia airport began in 1937 with the help of the WPA and American Airlines. 

The airport opened for business December 2, 1939.  We have to remember in 1939, air travel was not nearly as common as it is today.  People were fascinated by the idea of air travel and were willing to pay just for the opportunity to watch the planes take off!  People paid a dime to watch this spectacle and in two years the airport raised $285,000 just in observation fees!  What was once considered a $23 million"boondoggle"* (Note: some price estimates were $40 million) quickly became a financial success!  Other airports, including Newark Liberty, were not able to keep up with La Guardia airports success.  LaGuardia soon won bids from the five largest airlines in the world before the airport was even entirely completed!  

LaGuardia wasn't used solely for commercial flights.  As you may have noticed, the opening date is ominously close to the start of WWII.  It was used as a training facility for pilots during the war.  

At the time LaGuardia airport was completed, it was considered a very large airport.  It soon became comparatively small.  By 1968 general aviation aircraft were actually charged fees to operate out of LaGuardia during peak hours!  Other laws and fines were put into effect to stop overcrowding.  In 1984, a "perimeter rule" was put into effect, banning non-stop flights to cities further than 1,500 miles away from LaGuardia Sunday-Friday.  The FAA also limited the number of flights and types of aircraft that could opera from LaGuardia.  In 2007, Congress passed an Act that revoked federal traffic limits to LaGuardia.  The biggest impact on reducing overcrowding, however, came from the 9/11 attacks.  Reduced demand for air travel to the NYC area greatly slowed LaGuardia's traffic growth.  Since then, the Port Authority has made several renovations and monetary investments to make the airport's operations more efficient  and improve the airfield layout.  Additionally, Port Authority created rail networks such as AirTrain Newark and AirTrain JFK to make LaGuardia's competitor airports more enticing to travelers and airlines.  Still, as every holiday traveller knows, LaGuardia falls victim to frequent delays.  (The lady who works the Hudson Newsstand at LaGuardia's terminal A informed that the morning flights are always on time, but as the day progresses more and more delays accumulate.  So if you are pressed for time, wake up for that 7 a.m. flight!)

If you should visit my friendly Hudson Newsstand friend in terminal A, be to sure to look for the 235 foot James Brooks mural entitled "Flight."  Business Insider published a beautiful article about the mural a few years ago, which I'm just going to link you to instead of rehash myself.  It's a wonderful little treasure of an article so please do yourself a favor and visit the link!  http://www.businessinsider.com/laguardia-airports-mural-has-a-secret-communist-message-2010-12    After reading the article, look up in terminal A as the author suggests and revisit a time "when air travel for the masses was a glittering promise, and then when it became a subversive idea."

*"boondoggle" is my favorite word of the week!

The Stonewall

A few months ago I blogged about the Pride March.   It was while researching the Pride March that I first discovered the Stonewall Inn.  On June 28, 1969, the night/morning following Judy Garland’s funeral), an openly gay club known as the Stonewall Inn was raided by police.  Police often raided gay clubs, especially the Stonewall as it was the largest openly gay club in the U.S. at the time.  On June 28, 1969, however, the Stonewall fought back.  They fought back for six days and nights, and fought so mightily that the police fought back and the gay rights movement was born. 

I assumed that the Stonewall Inn I frequently walked past when strolling in the Village was the same Stonewall Inn involved in the riots.  The truth is, the Stonewall Inn was actually closed later in 1969, and the space was used for various shops ranging from a shoe store to a Chinese restaurant!  In the 1990’s the space returned to a gay club, simply known as “Stonewall.”  In 1999, it was registered in the National Register of Historic Places for its historic significance to gay and lesbian history.  It thrives for a few years, but was eventually neglected and closed again in 2006.  A year later, in 2007, the club reopened under the supervision of Bill Morgan and Kurt Kelly.  The club regained popularity and continues to pay homage to its rich history steeped in LGBT cultures.

This week I actually had the opportunity to perform at the Stonewall Inn.  I had never set foot in the establishment, but once I did it did not let me down.  It was everything you could want from the Stonewall.  The club is two floors.  The bottom level is a basic bar with a billiards table.  The upstairs is a cabaret space!  I was performing in “Lavinia and Chocolatina’s Laugh Lounge.”  

This cabaret was everything you would expect from the Stonewall Inn. Lavinia Draper is a character played by the brilliant Susan Campanaro.  Lavinia is an oversexed “hot mess” of an emcee who does impressive splits while doing hilarious renditions of well-known songs.  She also tap dances and plays the ukulele!  Chocolatina is a drag queen character played by Erik Kraft.  Chocolatina is a wonderfully impressive character who sings and dances her ways into audiences’ hearts.  Perhaps more importantly, Erik Kraft is a professional chef who specializes in chocolate.  At the end of this particular performance, Chocolatina pelted the audience with delicious homemade artisanal chocolates!  The audience was also treated to eggnog shots and cookies.  What more could one want from a holiday performance at the Stonewall than drag queens, chocolate, cookies, shots, and Lavinia Draper singing “They know that Saaaaanta’s on his way.  He’s loaded lots of chains and whips and paddles on his sleeeeeiiiiigh….”

I was performing with a group called “Bad Kitty the Series.”  They are a burlesque dance company with a cat theme.  We danced to “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Santa Baby” - at one point starting a conga line snaking through the audience.  Through this, I got to a dance with a gentleman dressed as Santa who seemingly managed to wander to the Stonewall’s cabaret space by accident.  He was thrown off guard but seemed to be having the time of his life.  In all seriousness, who couldn’t.

I’ve had trouble recommending places to visit in the Village.  I spend shamefully little time there.  Well, from now on I will seriously recommend that everyone goes to the Stonewall and enjoy a bit of history as well as really whacky off-beat wonderful cabaret performances!