Testing my "skills"

July 6/14

It's been SOOOOOO long since I posted an entry on my blog, that I'm not sure I even remember how to DO it! Life passes by so quickly, I gave up writing here exactly ten months ago to pursue other things, but I'm going to try to get back to it and see what happens! For my next trick, I will attempt to "pull a rabbit out of a hat" by putting up a photo! (Drum roll please)!

Photo by Mairlyn Smith

 

Hey, I think I actually DID it! It's a friggin' miracle! - Maybe I'll do some MORE!

 

This past week, my daughter, Kate and I attended a Wednesday matinee performance of Stephen Sondheim's musical, COMPANY at the Berkeley Street Theatre. We had spectacular front row centre seats - (as Drake would say, "Best I've Ever Had"), and the show was more than two hours of gut-wrenching laughter and tears. Thank goodness I tossed a bunch of Kleenex in my bag before leaving home. Afterwards we met up with my old Global Television pal Dina Pugliese, co-host of CITY TV's Breakfast Television and Canada's Got Talent, along with actress/singer Nora McLellan who plays "Sarah" in the show. (Dina's "date", Mairlyn Smith was a delight, and I thank her for offering to take the above shot for us).

 

 



 

Nora's stage partner is the great Brent Carver - one of the country's best musical theatre stars. It's a small role, but he does it so well, as he does everything. Such a stunning voice.

 

Star of the show as Bobby "Baby" is Dan Chameroy who is called upon to do everything imaginable including pratfalls, and of course, belting out the amazing song, - Being Alive.

Gifted performer Louise Pitre (original "Fantine" in the Toronto version of Les Miserables) gives it all she's got in the role of the sarcastic "Joanne", blowing the audience away with her hard-hitting rendition of The Ladies Who Lunch.

Another featured actress in the show is Nia Vardalos (writer/star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding). She is extremely funny in the role of "Jenny".

COMPANY originally opened on Broadway way back in April of 1970, ran for over 700 performances, netting 14 Tony nominations. If you're a Sondheim fan, grab a ticket to the Toronto production which runs only a few more days.

It was so much fun catching up with Dina after many years. She is such a beautiful person, both inside and out. Back in the Global days, she worked in the video library and helped me countless times to find footage of celebrities for my entertainment stories. It was her dream to ditch library duties and become a television reporter or anchor. She changed her image, went for auditions and the next thing I knew, poof! - she'd taken off for bigger and better things at CITY, becoming one of their most popular personalities. I'm proud of her accomplishments.

When I quit my TV job in 2002, (to help take care of my ailing Mum, who passed away in 2010), Dina and Melanie Zettler put together a farewell video featuring the sweetest, funniest comments from all my longtime newsroom friends. It was screened at my goodbye party and I cried all through it. I left Global (after 18 years) shortly before Dina took off. I still have an email she sent shortly after my departure. Here's a portion of what it said, which still touches my heart.

"HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!....I'm going through serious Elaine withdrawal.

If I walk over to look at your vacant desk one more time I'll be
borderline pathetic!

All the wonderful people who came back to your party reinforced the huge loss Global now suffers from losing real talent. I'm aiming for February to find something new....time will tell. Let me know if you seriously hear of anything.....Lord knows I'd absolutely LOVE to work with you in any capacity again"!
luv ya
di
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She's a truly unforgettable lovely lady and deserves all of her success. Keep it up Dina!
Luv ya too.