"To Part With You, More Than I Can Bear."

2pm.

Having never seen the show before and only hearing 1 song before entering that theatre, I had goosebumps the entire time. Zonya Love as Celie, Montego Glover as Nettie and at the 2pm peformance Lakisha Jone (of American Idol 2007) as Sophie. Oh my God. The music was beauty, the staging was flawless. I have never cried while watching a musical before, even seeing Rent, I didn't cry. But Color Purple had me. I bawled. Zonya Love is quite possibly the best Broadway Debut actress I have EVER seen and I expect to see her on the stage again very soon.

At the stage door when I she came out, I stared at, and began to cry. She grabbed me, and hugged me real tight. I will never forget the words she whispered in my ear. I know that someday I will be on a broadway stage making my Broadway debut. Thank you Zonya saying what you said, to me. We exchanged our names (finally after all that crying on her shoulder), and she gave me her e-mail to keep in touch as we parted ways. 

7:30pm

The final performance. Oprah was there. The director sat in my Box Seat with me. The Preacher belted and held out his opening number rifts for about 3 minutes (as opposed to 30 seconds like it's written in the music). He said "One last time y'all let's make it good." And the audience roared with applause and some of us gave the number standing ovation. It was marvelous. Chaka Khan was on as Sophie for the evening and Lakisha assumed the role of the church soloist. I prefer Lakisha as Sophie SO MUCH MORE. Chaka didn't know her lines...

At the stage door for the final show, a security guard came out asking everyone "Is there a Sean Flynn out here?" and I was like "that's me!" and he said "Zonya would like you to come with me." and i went backstage, people were JEALOUSSSS. And She gave me a backstage tour, a shirt, and the entire cast signed poster. We sat in her dressing room and talked for about 30 minutes as she gathered all her belonings and cleared out the room. 

She held my hand as we exited the stage door together. And we were escorted to a car and brought to 77th for the after-party. 

The entire cast was there, the director and writer of the show and I had a wonderful conversation about the show. Zonya and I danced. I hung out with Ruby and Jenny, the twin sisters who played Young Celie and Young Nettie. Those two seriously so adorable!! 

I had one hell of an evening. Chaka Khan actually talked to me. I almost died. 

 

Show reviews and the Midnight Society

THE SEAGULL 2/20. Starring Diane Wiest and Alan Cumming. Directed by Slava. Amazing. Truly amazing. The cast worked so well together. The set, the lighting, the sound, everything just worked with this show. I will be back to see it on closing night (this was the 1st preview). 

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I kind of didn't go to any classes this week. I feel terrible. I am SO behind on schoolwork. I've got a paper due tomorrow for my Woman: Writer/Subject/Audience course. I still need to run over to the library at school to pick up an article and write about it's arguments. It snowed on friday, campus closed at 3pm. Saw a show with Amanda...

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THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION. 2/22. Never will a show like this come around again. A historical drama about the 20th century's most popular and most useful invention, the television. Starring Hank Azaria, and Jimmi Simpson. Two competitors in the invention of TV revisited the story, via television (very interestingly done theatrically). A farmboy (Jimmi) and a tough comm. executive (Hank). Which one will win? From the invention, to the court case that settled it all. Amazing. 

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Hayden, Amanda and I have formed The Midnight Society, we meet weekends, stay up all night and watch movies (horror, or comedy) and we just chill in the lounge until the sun comes up. 

It's not very healthy. I need to sleep. 

But it's something fun to do with friends. 

Multiple Show Reviews

XANADU. 2/16/08 2pm.

Good times. Finally saw Kerry Butler (I got stuck with her u/s last time). 

What a feel good show. Cheyenne Jackson was fab as always. 

And of course the dynamic duo Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa are fierce. 

The cast told me they couldn't stop talking about me backstage, they said that they love that I sit on-stage because they enjoy seeing my adorable smile up close. 

I love that show. I made friends with the SM and she's hooking me up with free tickets. 

Made an attempt to score lottery seats for IN THE HEIGHTS. But lost. My friend Danielle joined me on an exciting race to every theatre on 44th to see what shows had good seats left. We got killer seats for...

ROCK 'N' ROLL. 2/16/08 8pm

Holy crap. Had no clue what this Tom Stoppard play would be about. Boy, was it one hell of a play. 1968-2006. Prague has just been invaded. Music is being banned. It's a historical drama about the history of a group people mixed with the history of Rock and Roll. A Trevor Nunn favorite, the turntable set, and the use of an awesome projection screen curtain. The songs blared before each scene setting up the mood for what was to happen next. Starring Rufus Sewell (The bad guy in most of his films: Tristan and Isolde, Bless the Child, etc.), he was quite a treat. Also starring Brian Cox. Yes, THE Brian Cox. X-Men. Yeah. Haha. 

Danielle and I saw...

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY 2/19/08 7:30pm

Best. Play. On. Broadway. 

End of story. lol. Fucking fierce. 

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

It tried to make Broadway AND theatrical history with being the first ever fully African American cast production....

But it failed.

Debbie Allen should not and I emphasis SHOULD NOT direct a damn show. 

The actors were playing stereotypes, which made the story truly unbelievable. 

The show was lost in translation. The interpretation was just every where.

And...the fact that they were playing stereotypes made the audience believe it to be a comedy. 

They laughed...at every single fight.

They laughed with Terrence Howard proclaimed in his pivotal scene that he was not a "fag". 

Terrence played the stereotypical drunk.

The fights were stereotyped as comical.

It was awful. 

My First Time

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Sean is sick...

I auditioned for the Senior Directing Projects on the 11th. 

I performed my Dog Sees God monologue. Kicked ass at it, by the way.

At 11:45pm and 1am I received phone calls for call backs. 

I missed classes today because my body is so weak. 

I don't know what is wrong, I thought it was a cold, but I can barely move.

My head is spinning like a Disney Tea Cup. My nose, chest, and my ears are congested. I hate that my ears begin to pop when I am sick. 

It snowed...all...day...today. 

Call backs were great. 

The Brecht piece I got called back for is can either be really good, or it will really suck. 

The callback: We had to do our audition monologue over again, then do once more but change the "I" 's and such and narrate our monologues, saying "you" and such. It was very difficult. I pulled it off after standing there and thinking for a moment.

Then I was told to read for the character Uriah. And got another call back for saturday at 9am.

The Henley piece is unbelievable. 

I connected to the character the moment I began reading that script earlier today. Oh. My. God. John Richards Polk. What a great character. What a cute show. 

The callback: 3 scenes, 1 monologue (all from the show). Kate seemed to like me. Oh God I hope she does. I want that show. 

As I left the call backs, I walked outside...and the snowfall turned to sleet, it felt like tiny needles pricking at my face as I walked today. By the time evening came, the inch thick snow that planted itself on the ground had turned to a nasty slush. Needless to say, there was water in my shoes. It was awful.

Snow.

That's all I can say is...Snow. I was chatting away online with a friend when she immediately says OH MY GOD! IT'S SNOWING. I freak out, pull open my blinds and there it was. In a matter of minutes the sunny sky turned dark and the wind began to blow, and the snow came down. Heavy amounts too. What a sight. 

She ran to my room, we opened my window and snapped photos and got all giggly. It was quite a good time. We decided to go

 down into the streets to get some hands on shots, and as we reached the lobby, the first wave slowed down. But that's okay, we got some fun shots in the smaller wave of snow. Megan and Amanda came down and we decided to hit up Dunkin Donuts. And sure enough, as we were finishing our coffee and donuts, the 2nd wave hit. It was sheer madness, the wind calmed, the sky went from sunny to dark again, and 1 snowflake came down and I said "Oh look it's snowing again" and then boom, the window picke

d up and the 2nd wave hit. It was crazier than last time. What an awesome time.

It's been a wonderful 48 hours...

These past two days have been the reason why I moved to this city. 

To see the wonderful things this place has to offer. 

Yesterday my friends Megan, Amanda and I went to the village to see a screening of Southland Tales, the new Richard Kelly movie (Donnie Darko fame). The film was absolutely amazing. Definitely a different direction for Richard Kelly but same time-travel themes and such. We took the subway (the 6 to the V) and walked through the lovely Lower East Side. We visited vintage clothing stores, tattoo parlors, the awesome bohemian markets full of jewelers and such.

I visited my first New York City sex shop WITH a peep show in the back. THAT was interesting. But seriously fun. Had coffee at a TRUE coffee joint with those beatnik mugs the size of bowls. It was lovely. Spot's Cafe, check it out. The theatre is located on 3rd st. off of Ave. A. Two Boots Pioneer Theatre. This small indie joint. The theatre was a small screening room a very different feel from those mainstream places. 

We went to an Afghani Restaurant for hookah and drinks and of course authentic Afghani cuisine. Unbelievable. What an awesome place to go to. I forget the name of it, but it's at St. Mark's Place. 

Today, Megan and I decided to visit Chinatown. We walked through the REAL deal Chinatown, not the touristy knock-off areas, but the actual Asian markets that sold authentic imports and the we walked through the fish markets and the food district. We both purchased a knock-off item, a Prada briefcase for me, a coach wallet for her. I also snagged Juno, There Will Be Blood, Sweeney Todd, and Enchanted on DVD (Juno and TWBB were SAG copies...so the real deal, not filmed from a theatre, but burned copies of the DVDs sent to SAG members...LUCKY!!!)

We then went to the Elizabeth Center, now...this place u go down an escalator inside a building you're immediately transported into an Asian Mall. Honestly, a handful of shops that sold authentic Asian imports (anime, manga, sanrio, jewelry, clothes, etc) it was amazing.

Tonight my friends Megan, Caroline, and Danielle went to Chelsea to visit my good high school friend Catherine Garrison and to experience the NYC Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast. Now, keep in mind, The Rich Weirdoes are my loves. I tried not to be bias, but the NYC Cast did not have the energy, nor did they keep character during their performances. Orlando has the BEST of the BEST working on RHPS and NYC has some very not-so-into-it people. It made me miss the Rich Weirdoes even more.

Some serious photos are coming soon.

But for now this is all I have for you.

xoxo, 

Sean. 

Super Bowl Sunday

45 seconds left in the game and the miracle of miracles happened. The Giants scored, and won the game with 2 seconds left.

As I exited the school grounds and got onto the streets of Manhattan, the screams and shouts were heard up and down the busy streets. Cars were stopped people were running, shouts were endless.

I neared 2nd and 71st and might I just say, what I saw was the most amazing site. New Yorkers piled in the streets, news casters, cars with people jumping on the hoods, people hanging out their windows shouting. It was amazing. I kept hearing people say "It's wonderful to see everyone so happy" and it's true. New Yorkers are stereotyped as being mean and shallow. Well, today, I saw the true side of a New Yorker, a nice, genuine person. They hugged and kissed everyone that passed. It was awesome.

Post-Game drinks were in order so me, Danielle, Daniel, and some others headed over to Tequila Jacks and had a few beers. What a night.

I won the "Root Beer Pong" game with Danielle...$20 bucks to Best Buy. 

And I got a gift card to H&M for the trivia challenge. Yeah I own. 

Tonight was wonderful.