Brandy524

Awww, thanks! Lucky Dog is an Alabamian? That's awesome! You have to bring him home. I do love musicals and performing; that's how I met my husband! One day I will make it to NYC for a show! For now I just have to catch the tours as they roll through Birmingham or Huntsville. But one day!!

I've just read through from all the Scandi updates forward. I want to meet the road show! But sadly it doesn't look like you have plans to come anywhere close to Alabama. But it sure looks like you're having fun!

That picture with Mr. Six reminds me of something a friend told me. He's an actor at SFOG in the gunfight comedy show, and he said that the first year they had Mr. Six, the guy had so much makeup on that he could only stay out in the heat for about 15 min. because he would start to melt. But now they've started using latex masks. He also said the original guy (at least at SFOG) was, I think, 28 years old. Interesting, huh.

My girls have finally gotten into Yo Gabba Gabba. It's so annoyingly addictive.

So close to me, yet I still have never been. Hadn't heard a lot of good things about it in the past so our reasoning was always to drive an extra hour to SFOG. I'd still like to check it out sometime, though.

Monster Mansion looks great! I'm so glad they didn't completely change it, just spruced it up a little. I can't wait to see it. I used to be terrified of it when I was a kid. Ah, memories. I have seen that Batman queue full! Not fun times. Hot Georgia summer, metal building, poor ventilation, yuck. Great report!

I haven't been in here a while! Been busy with Bus Stop. And now I've found out my husband and I are going to be doing Barefoot in the Park in September. I'm very excited! Just wanted to share!

Funny thing, when I first bought the movie on DVD the cashier carded me. Seriously. She had to make sure I was 17 because of the language. It's funny to watch it when it comes on tv because of the way they bleep out everything. One of my all time favorites, though.

Even though this is not musicals related, I thought this thread would be appropriate rather than creating a new thread. I'm making my return to the stage after almost four years. I auditioned for, and was cast in, Bus Stop. If you're familiar with the show, I was cast as Elma. I am so freakin' excited! I have been dying to get back into theater. My husband is also in the show. It'll be staged the second weekend of May. I'll keep y'all updated. Just wanted to share my good news!

It is a good place for pictures. They have a garden area that's really pretty, as well as the pioneer village. And on the other side of the park by the falls there's a campground with some pretty wooded areas. If you ever make it down here, let me know. We'd love to meet up with you.

Okay, now we move on to the zoo, and I use that term loosely. There are not many animals. And here she is again. So that's all I have. I hope you've enjoyed this little look at the only attraction in Gadsden. If you're ever through this area, stop by the park. This deer just wanders around the park. The employee said she was born and raised at the park so she's accustomed to people. She'll just walk right up and let you pet her. Fat, lazy bunny. I don't know why this bunny was behind glass, but the other bunnies were in the petting area. Maybe he was a dangerous bunny. Is there such a thing? You don't usually hear "danger" and "bunnies" in the same sentence. I think this is a cayman. It's scary regardless of what it's called. A big ball of sleeping ferrets. I have no idea how many there are in there. A big ugly iguana. Glad you can't pet him. Thank goodness for the hand sanitizer station! The bunny petting area. One of the employees got a baby guinea pig out for the girls to pet. They loved it. The guinea pig petting area. This bunny was just hopping around outside the animal habitat. One of the employees said if you could catch it you could keep it. No thanks. A sleepy little fox. He opened his eyes and looked at me but didn't move. This guy was scary. It's a Canadian lynx. He was growling and stalking up and down the fence. And I swear his growl sounded so fake. If you weren't seeing the cat right in front of you, you would swear it was a fake growl. I think this is a mule. I'm not sure. This deer to be exact. Trying to see the deer. "Bad llama." He'll probably be getting a shearing soon since the weather is getting warmer. Goat kisses anyone? A goat. He wouldn't look up to get a picture. Darn him. The first thing in this area is this little girl. Her name is Sheila, I think. The sign was gone from her fence.

Okay, I'm back from lunch. I just feel the need to mention how crazy the weather is in Alabama right now. When these pictures were taken last weekend it was in the 70s. But just the weekend before that it snowed. Not kidding. Anyway, back to the pictures. This sign welcoming you to the pioneer homestead is actually on the back side of the park from the entrance. This used to be the entrance before the city overhauled and remodeled the layout of the park. And quick story: As we were walking through this area we passed a drink machine with three people standing at it. Two guys (one with a ponytail) and a girl. Ally starts asking me, "Mommy is that a girl?" Super loud. I tried to tell her to be quiet and just walk and she kept asking over and over. The girl that was with them finally said, "No, that's not a girl." Oh the things children say. And this concludes the pioneer village section. Next up is the zoo. Inside the post office. And this one says Liars Bench. Which one do you belong on? Can you read it? It says Whittlers Bench. This is outside the post office. Post Office. I thought this was kind of pretty. Rusty old water wheel behind the grist mill. This machine is inside the grist mill. I'm not sure what it is, and there was no sign. Grist Mill, obviously. I know there are some train enthusiasts on here. And the bridge again. Another self-explanatory shot. Interior of the right side of the home. Interior of the left side of the home. As a kid I always wanted to be able to go in and go up the stairs. Just because. A pioneer home. A pioneer meal in the Cook House. Moving on to the Cook House. And this outside. But there was a some kind of machine inside. And a laundry tub, I think. This building didn't have a sign on it. When you just gotta go... NOTE: This is not a real bathroom. But you probably figured that out on our own. The Chicken House. The kids wanted to go in but there was a lot of dirty hay in there. Yuck. This was as close as I'd let them get. Inside the blacksmith shop. Pretty self-explanatory. The barn. We didn't walk over to it, so there's no interior picture. Sorry. Inside the loom house. All the buildings (except the schoolhouse) have bars on the doors so you can't actually go in. I guess vandalism might be a problem. Punk kids. The Loom House. I guess the sign explains it. The kids in pioneer school. The first building you come to is the schoolhouse. This is the pioneer village as seen from the train. The first thing you encounter when you walk in is the first of three train stations. Welcome to Noccalula Falls Park. This is the ticket booth and gift shop. Obligatory cute kids picture.

Yes, we have tourist destination in Gadsden, Alabama. Well, not exactly. I wouldn't make a special trip for it or anything. But if you happen to be in the area it's a nice little family outing. I showed you pictures of the actual falls a while ago and promised I'd do a report on the other side of the park, the one where you actually have to pay to get in. The pay side has a train, pioneer village and small zoo. I have lots of pictures so it may take me a while to get them all up. These rock chairs are part of some kind of Masonic display. The girls said they were princess chairs. And while I was editing photos my lunch hour rolled around. So I'll post some more when I come back. Okay, so these first few were taken on the free side of the park, where the falls is. The kids were scared of the Noccalula statue. And for good reason, she's ugly.

I saw He's Just Not that Into You on Saturday. It was cute. Definite chick flick, but cute. And the whole time they're telling you these "don'ts" you're thinking, oh geez, I've done that! My husband and I rented Eagle Eye on Sunday and we liked it. Not spectacular, but still good. A lot of things get blown up and they destroyed about 50 cars.

I like the music from Chicago, but I wasn't really blown away by the show. The girl that was playing Roxie was really annoying, and I just didn't like the style of it.

He also made for a crappy James Bond. Granted he wasn't all that great, but he was one of the ones I least wanted to give a baseball bat to the head. Now I did like the girl that played the daughter.

I just saw the movie version of Mamma Mia this weekend and I was kind of annoyed by it. Now granted, I know nothing about the stage version, so I have no idea how closely the movie follows it. But there were so many people in the movie that I wanted to hit with a baseball bat. I mean really annoying people. Did anyone else feel that way? And my husband says Meryl Streep makes his butt itch; he had to cover his eyes every time she sang because she annoyed him so much. We're going this weekend to see a college do Thoroughly Modern Millie. I'm excited about that because I absolutely love the music. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Aww, the Bama one is so cute! Thanks for the shout out! It's hard to believe those are campers. They're bigger than my house!

I'm not sure when we're going to go yet. It may be a few weekends from now. We're actually taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese in Birmingham tomorrow. It'll be about a 3 hour drive from Gadsden, but it would so be worth it to me. I never thought I would see one of those things again in my life, and it was such a vivid memory from my childhood, that I just have to see it. I'll keep you posted on when we decide to go.

I'm digging up this thread because I've just found out that the guy in Alabama that has a show has now opened a restaurant in Phenix City. It's called Showbiz Pizza Zone. The address is 3928 U.S. Hwy 80 W. Here's a link to some pictures of it on showbizpizza.com. I am so totally going to make a drive down there soon! Anyone in the area want to try to meet up there?

Done! Good luck with your project!

My girls have watched this a few times, but didn't really get into it. I've tried to watch it but it seemed too odd to me. Maybe we need to give another chance. They've gotten into the Imagination Movers. Their songs are really catchy too.

^ I didn't like either movie version (Carol Burnett or Kathy Bates) because they cut the good songs. Stage version is much, much better.

I love Annie, myself, but others in this thread say they hate it. I've done the show with a local theater group and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're getting free tickets, why not go? At least if you don't like it you won't be out any money. And you never know, you may find yourself leaving the theater singing the songs. Just because your friend is a musical director doesn't mean he's the final authority on what's good or bad. Don't make a choice based on his opinion alone.

My husband and I agreed to only buy each other two gifts and spend the rest on our girls. He got me a digital photo album, and a new set of baking pans (both of which I picked out). I got him the second season of Star Trek the Original Series, Remastered, and the HBO miniseries John Adams. I got several things from my parents, but nothing extravagant. We kind of went low-key on grown-up gifts and focused on the kids. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and holiday season and that 2009 shapes up to be a good one for everyone!