We all know what talented professionals we have heading up the Marketing team.  What you might not know about Paul and Owen is that they are some crazy dancing machines!  I especially enjoyed what they've done with the Thriller dance.    Check them out below (to get them to show all they can do, click all the different red buttons) -  

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Everyone should check out this site.  Some really funny "Elf Yourself" style flash cards you can send out to your friends.

My brother, Danny, just opened as the title role in Leonard Bernstein's Candide at the New York City Opera last week.  For my family, every opening is both super exciting because it's great to see my brother advance his career and find success in what he's doing.  Along with that comes the intense anxiety of waiting for the reviews to come out. 

So, my parents and some of my siblings came into town Tuesday night to see the show and we loved it.  The theater is built for ballet (sound absorbant stage surfaces) and so it's not exactly the best experience for opera, with light to no mic-ing.  But all in all it was a joyful experience for my fam.  It was great to hear him singing closer to classical music again and not doing the Jersey Boy's "rock" stuff that isn't so great on a classically trained voice.  

The next day, my sister and I set ourselves to the task of scouring the internet for all commentary - reviews, blogs, whatever. 

Now, opera people are traditionally hard on the show itself - they love Bernstein as New York icon, but they think the show is conflicted.  Is it a musical or is it an opera?  Plus the show's been rewritten and staged about a million times since it first opened.  Plus, I think all the snooty classical people reject anything American as being too new, unrefined, and well American (see American Gothic ish photo below). 

This time was no exception, all the reviews focused on the show itself, but happily for us all, they were generally kind to my brother.  For instance, the Theater Mania reviewer wrote the following:

"Leading them in the title role is Daniel Reichard, looking far more fresh-faced and innocent than he was in Jersey Boys these past couple of seasons. Not only is he singing in a pure, silvery tenor, but he's getting all the humor from a role often undermined by the excessive production values. He's gleefully intrepid even when he has to sing the mournful "It Must Be So" while journeying through an orchestra row with patrons staring up at him."

Awesome start!....then my sister sends me a message board post she found:

"Daniel Reichard needs to work on his high note rather than his abs (which is quite defined now)."

Well, they can't all be stellar. 

A little over 3 years ago, my brother-in-law Sean's job moved my sister Annie and their family to Tokyo.  Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I'm from a crazy big Irish Catholic family and that we're all very close.  So it's been rough only getting to see them once or twice a year...especially with their kids (Katie, Billy-my godson, and Molly) growing up so fast.   

Anyway, it's made easier by the fact that Sean constantly updates us with photos from their travels all over Asia and Europe (it's sad to know that Molly at 2 is better traveled than I will every be). 

Over the New Year, my sister Libby visited them in Tokyo just as they were coming back from their latest trip to Australia.  Any visit from Aunt Libby means a trip to Smash Hits, their favorite Tokyo karaoke bar, where they can rock out to Chumbawamba, The Four Seasons (they're obsessed with Uncle Danny the star), and all the latest Hannah Montana songs. 

Annie just sent us some YouTube documenting the night.  Here's a great video of Katie singing Ashley Tisdale while Molly dances her heart out!  Way cute!