Gotta love rollercoasters...

Hi everyone,

Don't forget Boy Crazy at Hooch in the Gypsy Co-Op on Saturday May 6th at 8:30 p.m. It's going to be an amazing show - mark your calendars! Hope you all had a lovely Easter or Passover. Mine was kind of indicative of life in general right now, a bit of a rollercoaster. I spent Good Friday down with a not-so-good migraine that lasted two days. Thankfully I was able to enjoy Sunday with the family. Easter dinner... mmm yum.

And now the rollercoaster. I was let go from my job recently. The international mailing list got a longer version of the story, but since several of you on this list are friends of mine and already know, I won't repeat it yet again. Needless to say it was hurtful and surprising, especially since I'd been in it for a very short time. Having had a week to contemplate it though (which is pretty much all I've been doing), I sincerely, honestly think that at this time next year I'll be thanking the stars that it happened. I had the chance to meet some great people with whom I'm developing friendships. I worked for a company with a wonderful woman at the helm and I truly believe that having her become part of my life, which she still is, is the reason why I was led there. Each scenario exists for a purpose and once its purpose has been achieved, the necessity of its existence ceases to be and a new one takes its place. The seed that was to be planted where I was was planted, even if the fruit will not ripen until further down the road. So it's back to the search, which can be disheartening and exhausting. (Anyone with leads, please let me know!) There is one huge gift that I have now - the time to make music. I had been working so much overtime, including weekends, that invoices and receipts were all I was starting to recognize. But piano keys feel sooo much better under my fingers than calculator buttons, and words should never take a backseat to numbers, and no matter how hard I try I hear no melody in the sound of adding machines.

Now the coaster goes back up... In 1995 & '96, I worked as an usher at the Toronto Centre for the Arts (then the Ford Centre). I was hired before the opening of Sunset Boulevard and stayed on for Ragtime, which moved and inspired me like no musical I had seen and heard since Les Mis. It's still my second favourite musical of all time; to call the score "beautiful" simply doesn't do it justice. It is exquisite. So I'm overcome with nostalgia and very, very pleased to say that I'll be back at the Centre at the end of May, this time as an ensemble member in Encore Entertainment's production of Ragtime. I was cast a few months ago and rehearsals thus far have been a joy and a welcome challenge. I am so honoured to have been chosen, because although I've always loved musicals, I'm the only person in the cast who doesn't have any musical theatre background!

When we introduced ourselves on the first day, everyone had just done Company or Chess or Into The Woods or something and here I was, this singer/songwriter chick saying "Uh, hi. I'm Tanisha... and um, this is my first musical." Very daunting at first. But now I'm loving it and learning a lot. I find I'm singing more quietly than I'm capable of though, which is weird because I can completely let loose when I'm doing my own thing. I'm sure that an expert would say that's it's some sort of a psychological block because I'm a bit intimidated in the midst of all of these incredibly talented people who are old hat at this. That expert would probably be right; it's a brand new arena for me, much more demanding that high school choir! But it's beautiful. Singing this stuff is better than s... cheesecake, Mom, cheesecake. =)

Talk to y'all later, Tanisha.