Date: Thursday, October 28, 1999
Time: 10:55 p.m.
Listening to: Chuck Wagner's solo CD (current song - Stars)
Currently obsessing over: Chuck Wagner
Currently reading: Falls the Shadow, by Sharon Kay Penman
Currently avoiding: school work -- in particular, studying for my art history midterm
Out the window: it was a nice sunny day, but very windy
Quote of the day: Me: "I knew he [Chuck] was in the room before I saw him. He's just got that presence."
Julia: "Well, yes, when a six and a half foot manly man hottie walks in the room, people tend to notice."
Picture of the day (sensing a theme yet???):

Chuck Wagner as Dr. Henry Jekyll

Just a brief journal entry tonight to gush about my latest obsession - the absolutely phenomenal Chuck Wagner. Stacy and I went to see him in Jekyll & Hyde this past weekend in Ottawa, and I have to say, I'm hooked. Well, I have been ever since I saw him in Beauty and the Beast, but this weekend just confirmed that he is a permanent fixture in my top ten! What a dear, dear man, and an amazing actor - he even made Jekyll & Hyde look good! :-)

Ok, first, the show. I'm not a huge fan of J&H - I find it takes itself entirely too seriously. However, there are some lovely musical moments, and all in all it's an enjoyable evening at the theatre, if you know what to expect going in. What I did like was that Chuck seemed totally aware that this was *not* high art, and he was just having entirely too much fun, especially as Hyde. Stacy and I were literally crying at times, we were laughing so hard at some of his antics, but it was in a good way, since he was doing it on purpose. I think. :-) And he also made a lovely, sincere Jekyll. His This is the Moment had me in a puddle under my seat. The rest of the cast was quite strong, although Lucy (Sharon Brown) didn't belt as much as I would have liked. Her A New Life was by far her strongest number, and I actually turned to Stacy after that song and said "Why didn't she do *that* in In His Eyes???" She also seemed to be focusing too much on her accent and not enough on actually saying her lines properly. Now, she does a much better Cockney accent than I do, so who am I to judge, really, but I'm not the one up there on stage! Kelli O'Hara, on the other hand, who was on as Emma (she's the understudy) was absolutely fantastic. Her voice was very powerful and beautiful, and her acting was very strong. I was very impressed. For some reason I got a great kick out of Stride (Abe Reybold) even if he was overacting and overenunciating wildly. James Clow (Utterson) was a little too earnest, but still very nice. There were some very strong voices in the ensemble, as well - I know Stacy doesn't like all the Facade reprises, but I really liked the arrangements of some of them, and the singing was quite strong.

The show itself was, I think, much funnier than it is intended to be, but however good Chuck is, he just can't make the Transformation or the Confrontation believable. I strongly maintain, however, that this is the fault of the staging, not the actor. :-) And there's certainly nothing wrong with Chuck's singing voice. Wow. I knew from seeing him as the Beast that I wouldn't be disappointed, and did he ever deliver. He has one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard, and he just blows you away.

After the show came the most fun, though (of course!). I had bought Chuck's CD at the theatre (it consists of 10 songs and cost me $30, which I think is highway robbery, but I'll pay any price for Chuck!) and the guy told me that Chuck would come out to the lobby after the show and sign it for me. Now, I'm all for anything that keeps me from wandering around the NAC in the dark and rain and cold looking for the stage door, so that was good news to me! So we hung out in the lobby after the show, and it only took him about 10 minutes, which I thought was pretty impressive. We hung back and let all the other people go first, then we had a little chat with the man himself about J&H and BatB and the internet and other things, and he signed stuff for us and we got pictures taken. My picture isn't developed yet, but rest assured that it'll be developed and scanned and up on this site in no time. :-) I'm considering taking pictures of the inside of my bag to finish off the roll so I can take it in for developing. I need this picture!!! :-)

So that was my weekend. I have now, in a little less than a year, met five of my top ten all time favourite theatre performers (including number 1!). Not bad, eh? And now I'd better get to bed so I can actually get up at a decent time tomorrow. The story about sleeping through my midterm on Tuesday will have to wait until another day. :-) (If you really want to hear it, you can always email me!) Sweet dreams, all!

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