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My Night at the Theatre: End of the Rainbow on Broadway

August 8, 2012 By Justice Fergie 1 Comment

Yep. I was at BlogHer ’12 in New York City with the rest of the female blogosphere this past weekend. Actually, it wasn’t even just for a weekend – I was there for 4 nights and 5 days…

A long time to be gallivanting from party to party and dinner to dinner and packed room to packed room. It was both insanely fun and insanely exhausting at the same time. So much happened at #BlogHer12 that, instead of boring you with one monster post, I’ve decided to break it up into manageable pieces (fully realizing that I am not writing about my Kenyan Safari Trip, or anything truly deserving of a multi-part post).

The first highlight of my Manhattan jaunt was a Broadway show! It’s been way too long since I’ve gotten my musical theatre fix. I used to be a theatre junkie and didn’t go a few months without seeing a production. These days, though, I’m caught up in the Mom Matrix and my typical live entertainment experiences include shows like Moona Luna (saw them last week).

So, when Holly at Mama Drama offered me a ticket to check out a show while in town, I leapt at the chance. I decided to see End of the Rainbow, which focuses on the life of Judy Garland in the months leading up to her death in 1969.

Synopsis:

It’s December 1968 and Judy Garland is poised to make a triumphant comeback… again. The drama unfolds in a London hotel room as she prepares for a series of concerts at the famed Talk of the Town nightclub. Alongside her young fiancé and trusted pianist, Garland—with her signature cocktail of talent, tenacity and razor-sharp wit—takes on her most challenging role ever: herself.

The entire cast was excellent, but Tracie Bennett was simply mind-blowing as Judy Garland. I can see why the reviews sing her praises – her performance was captivating. I had heard some stories here and there about Judy Garland struggling with drugs and alcohol but to see the extent of it, and to get a glimpse into her painful lifestyle, was eye-opening.

What was most unexpected for me was that, apparently, Judy Garland was FUNNY! I mean hysterical; quick-witted, sarcastic and sharp-tongued. Bennett had the audience laughing from beginning to end, even when we knew the situation at hand was, in reality, tragic.

It always amazes me how playwrights and directors can tell a complicated story in just 2 hours, and with few characters, and 1 or 2 backdrops. This show was no different: the majority of the storyline took place in Garland’s hotel room at a Ritz-Carlton in London – where she hid and downed pills and alternated between drinks of soda water and alcohol; the remainder of the scenes happened either at the venue where her Talk of the Town shows took place – backstage and on stage – or at the local radio station where she was interviewed (in an obviously altered state).

Bennett’s singing voice — raspy, powerful and heartfelt – was perfect and, though I only “knew” Judy Garland as “Dorothy,” I have to believe that her performance portraying Garland was spot on. The show had one, 15-minute intermission and lasted about 2 hours. What moved me the most was Garland’s desperate need to be loved – even as a famous, successful artist…and how her fifth fiance started out with dreams of helping her to kick her demons, but then selfishly serves as her enabler (or worse) and likely plays a part in her early demise. I found myself rooting for her, wanting her obvious calls for help to be answered, all while laughing to the point of tears.

The last show runs on August 19th – if you are looking for a slam-dunk at the theatre, see this show while you can.

Filed Under: Blogger Junket, life, Style, success Tagged With: Belasco Theater, BlogHer12, Broadway, End of the Rainbow, Judy Garland, Tracie Bennett

#Mom 2.0 Summit Day 2 Recap ~ Taking the Stage

May 7, 2012 By Justice Fergie 2 Comments

Kicking off Saturday Enjoying Brunch with the Shot@Life Ladies

Laura and Carrie really outdid themselves this year. The venue is spectacular! I can’t believe that during all my years living in, and traveling to, Miami that I’ve never beed to the Ritz-Carlton on Key Biscayne – I’ve been missing out. But not only was the setting amazing, the group of bloggers in attendance was impressive. And not in the sense that there were rockstars there (like Jenny and Kristen and Isabel and and Gretchen and Ciaran), but in the sense that everyone was so warm and down-to-earth.

Also – I enjoyed the sessions. I was expecially excited about the Stepping to the Front of the Line: Case Studies in Doing Things Differently session (more on that in another post) and the Setting Your Course in What’s Next: How Do You Even Do That? session. Neither disappointed. For several months, I’ve been feeling as though the blogosphere – and me personally – has been in a state of flux and lack of clear direction as to where we’re headed as a platform and as a community, so I was intensely curious to hear what the presenters had to say in these discussions.

Key takeaways from these two sessions for me were…

You have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs
~ courtesy of Love Crunch

Live Hungry. Champion Good Ideas. Stand Behind Good Ideas.
~ courtesy of Living Social

Be Prepared to Adapt.
~ courtesy of Gabby Blair, Design Mom

Be Innovative In Responding to Challenges.
~ courtesy of Karen Walrond, Chookooloonks (more on this one in another post too!)

I was also very much looking forward to hearing Brene Brown speak for the very first time. I loved her. It was like chatting with a brilliantly in-tune friend.

That afternoon was the highlight of the day though – we had a 12×7 Anything-but-General Session. There was a lineup of 12 different speakers, myself included, who had 7 minutes to present on their topic. It was such a fun and interesting approach to solving the conference organizer challenge of providing lots of great content, giving people the opportunity to speak without packing the schedule and losing overstimulated attendees to, say, the beach.

And? My presentation went swimmingly! My topic was Channeling Your Awesome: Keys to Aligning Your Passions Into One Business Strategy - seemingly impossible to fit in 7 minutes! The audience was engaged and thanks to the sage advice I received from Karen, Anastasia and Monique, my content was well-received.

Giving my spiel...and rocking Humid-Miami-Hair.

Saturday night I had the privilege of joining some fabulous ladies for dinner at Essencia on South Beach – I was in heaven being able to order an entire snapper and satisfy my yearning for saltwater fish. Then, I headed back to Key Biscayne to do a “poetry” reading at the Bounce and Hallmark Desserts and Delights Party – big fun.

Beautiful Table. Gorgeous Company.

My roomie Elena and I wrapped up Saturday staying up late and chatting; ahhhhh another good day.

Filed Under: Blogger Junket, success

#Mom2Summit: Day 1 Recap ~ Exhaling

May 7, 2012 By Justice Fergie Leave a Comment

{I actually wrote this post on Thursday night and then got distracted and forgot to publish it! Typical. So here are my retroactive thoughts from Day 1 of Mom 2.0 Summit…}

Every single time I’m preparing to go out of town to attend a blog conference I run around like a chicken with my head cut off prepping my workload and my household for my absence. Invariably, I end up questioning why I’m going – do I really need to be gallavanting off in Miami for 3 days?

And then I arrive at the conference and realize – Yes. Yes, I do.

That’s how I’m feeling right about now at the end of the first day of Mom 2.0, after a quick dip in the pool, #ONEMoms and Microsoft happy hours and the White Sand White Party sponsored by LG and Honda.

I love nothing more than seeing friendly faces and giving hugs and laughing with these gals who get me. It’s such a rejuvenating reminder that what we do is awesome, even though it’s intangible and confuses the daylights out of our non-blogger friends and family.

I’m among my peeps and I love it.

Filed Under: Blogger Junket, success Tagged With: Mom 2.0 Summit

Buick GMC, Essence Magazine, B. Smith, NYC and Me

September 23, 2010 By Justice Fergie 10 Comments

Last Monday I had the fantastic privilege of attending the Essence Magazine Fierce and Fabulous 40 Awards and Luncheon in Manhattan, courtesy of Buick GMC. Back in August, I received a phone call from Buick asking me if I would be interested in trying out a 2011 Buick vehicle for a week, driving to NYC and attending the Essence luncheon and covering the red carpet. What an opportunity!

I got to test drive a sleek Buick Enclave for an entire week. I drove it to New York and loved the ride. My car is a GMC Acadia, so I already know and love their cars and the Enclave is in the same category as my Acadia. But….the Enclave definitely had a few luxury features that I was psyched to learn about.

The cooling seats were an awesome perk! I live in the DC area and the summers are sweltering. Boy could I have used these cooling seats when getting into an 120 degree car after a long, hot day.
The In-dash navigation. As much as I love my Garmin and Google Maps on my Droid, the In-Dash Nav was lovely. No need to plug anything in or type anything into my phone – I just called OnStar and they downloaded the route to the dashboard.
The rear-view camera! My Acadia beeps as if I get too close to something while backing up, but having a full view of what’s behind me is a huge bonus.

And off I went to The Big Apple. The next 24 hours was a whirlwind of adventure, surprises and fun. The highlights were definitely: dinner at B. Smith’s restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen; our group (StyleMom, Duong, Carolyn and I) were blessed with a visit from B. Smith and her husband! What’s more? They invited us back to their home!! Can you imagine? Me in B.’s gorgeous penthouse apartment on Central Park West. It was amazing. She and her husband were just so warm and hospitable, sharing their memories, stories and space with us. Definitely a memory for the books!

The next day was the Essence event. We had the pleasure of interviewing Essence staff, and all of the celebs gracing the red carpet! The day was unbelievable and hard to put into words. Listening to the accomplishments of the strong and beautiful women in the room, and being surrounded by such power and inspiration was moving. Diahann Caroll delivered a touching and honest keynote speech. Nichelle and I definitely shed a tear. I met everyone from Gayle King to Malinda Williams to Gabrielle Union to Kerry Washington to Tracee Ellis Ross to Michelle Ebanks to Cathy Hughes to Naomi Campbell to Angela Burt-Murray to Wendy Williams to Mikki Taylor to Estelle to Mary Mary to Anika Noni Rose to Sherri Shepard to Valerie Jarrett to Malaack Compton-Rock – I could go on! Check out the Essence.com photo gallery here.

But instead, I’ll let you watch the video of my experience that the hard-working Michelle and Colin put together on behalf of Buick.

I can’t thank Carolyn at GM Communications enough for the invitation and for being such a wonderful hostess! I had a blast. I’ll be posting my own photos soon. Happy 40th Anniversary Essence!

Thanks to Buick for providing me with the use of the Enclave for a week, sponsoring my travel, and for the hot ticket to such an exclusive event!