2009: End of the Aughts

Well, another year has marched on by. Let’s take a look at what happened for me in 2009... I saw some great concerts with some heavyweight Broadway talents: Kristin Chenoweth, Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone! Also got to see some great operas, including Salome and Ghosts of Versailles at OTSL, plus a world premiere musical: Abe—which turned out to be quite entertaining (despite all the hype of its camp value). Got the opportunity to go to Italy (next year) with my church choir peeps. Best of all, I worked a LOT this year. My favorite gig? Merry Widow, because who wouldn’t love to sing German operetta in German??? Was great to work with Tim Ocel twice: first with Don Pasquale and secondly with Amahl and the Night Visitors—for which I got my first legit newspaper review. And as much as we had to say about O Pioneers!—for better or worse—there is something to be said about doing a new work and creating the first characterization of a role…and being heard on the radio for it wasn’t too shabby, neither!

Can you believe we’re about done with another decade?!? Remember how about 10 years ago this time, lots of people were freaking that computers were going to send us back to the stone age? Crazy that it’s been that long. Looking back, there were many highlights to the years of the Aughts—the decade of my twenties. Here’s a list of some highlights of each year:

2000 – The Pirates of Penzance | attending President Clinton’s speech in Quincy

2001 – spending Spring Break in cold Chicago | having the best. summer. job. EVER: MUNY Usher

2002 – Amos in Chicago | turning 21 | experiencing real-life sitcom living in Senior House with Mark, John and all those wacky guest stars (you know who you are!)

2003 – going on Franciscan Pilgrimage to Italy

2004 – conducting Gypsy | graduating from QU | becoming Uncle Phil to little William

2005 – having least stressful (and laziest) summer in recent memory

2006 – earning my Masters from WashU | seeing Voigt in Salome

2007 – birth of my niece, Grace | performing The Magic Flute | seeing Christine Brewer in Die Frau ohne Schatten…then missing the bus!

2008 – serving as Best Man at John and Hilda’s wedding | experiencing and obsessing over the Election

2009 – making Radio Broadcast Debut | singing quite often (and in this economy, that’s a blessing!)

Hope you have an enjoyable (and safe) New Year’s Eve. I’ll be enjoying a friend’s cabaret concert in midtown, then ringing in the new year in South City. Happy 2010!