Music | Kelsey Toney

Only thing to do is jump over the moon.

May 29, 2011

How many of you know where that quote comes from??

I am absolutely thrilled to tell you guys a little bit of news that I’ve kept from this little webspace for a few weeks now.

I’ve been cast as Maureen in a local theatre production of RENT. RENT is my very favorite musical ever.

When I was a freshman in high school, our choir director introduced us to the music of a musical that she’d just discovered in NYC. It was a little out there, and she cherry picked the songs to be sure that they were all appropriate for us to sing, but our show choir performed that music and I loved it from the very first time I sang about measuring life in love.

As I got older, and more interested in the music, I had an opportunity to work on the song “Take Me or Leave Me” in a college musical theatre workshop class. My love for the show (and the amazing drama queen Maureen) grew.

Even more years later, when the motion picture was released, and I had an easy and cheap way to see the show over and over, my love just really continued to get deeper.

For me, the stories in RENT are about love. Love that is color blind. Love that isn’t defined by gender or station in life. These stories that weave together the plot of RENT are about the fact that we’re all imperfect, and yet still perfectly made to love each other. Life is fleeting. And we must leave regret behind us and focus on the present moment. Not what has been. And not what might come.

The role of Maureen… I’m no fool. I know that there is some Kelsey in that character.

I often wonder if the people that have recently said, “OH MY GOSH, you’ll be such a good Maureen” are trying to compliment me or insult me. Winking smile

Certainly, that character is narcissistic, unfaithful, and impulsive.

Three traits that I don’t readily see in myself.

But that character is also emotional, passionate, creative, and willing to raise her voice.

And I think that I have a little bit of that.

So, needless to say, having the chance to play Maureen is a dream come true.

I can’t think of one other role in one other show that I’d be more excited to play. I really can’t.

I’m so happy to share this with you! If you live in the DFW area and want information about where and when the show is being produced, let me know.

Have a great week, everyone!! Smile

Time Warp!

March 1, 2011

Whoa! Almost a whole month!? My bad.

It isn’t me, it’s you.

I kid. Anyway, I’m doing GOOD. I’m happy, and that’s nice.

Lemme tell you about some of the things going on in mah world. Hmmm…

Well, Daron and I have been watching the original Star Trek movies, which is GANGSTER. I love scifi… bad scifi is even better. Not that Star Trek is bad, mind you, it’s pretty awesome. Wrath of Khan was AMAZING, and definitely in my top 7 sci fi movies of all time. (I need to make that list official at some point.)

So, yea, Leonard Nimoy is like my favorite person EVER, now

… except for Daron (who isn’t a Vulcan, which totally counts against him… actually, maybe he is a Vulcan)

What else… There is a DFW area theatre awards organization called The Column Awards, and their big GALA (The theme is the ROCKY HORROR COLUMN AWARDS) is just a few weeks away. I was cast as Magenta in the opening number!

This is awesome for several reasons…

1. I was JONESING for a little stage action. A little singing, a little dancing, a little crazy makeup… That’s what I’m talking about.

2. I’m gonna get to perform in front of lots of my friends, and lots of people I don’t know yet, but would like to! So that’s awesome too.

3. The time commitment was relatively small, compared to a full scale production, which is probably a blessing.

Last but not least, being NOT cast in a (different) show recently, has made me really want to be sure that I’m not using a POTENTIAL rehearsal schedule to slack off from working out. So, I’m grateful for the clarity of mind that came from not being cast. It got me off my butt and into my running shoes for the first time in MONTHS! remember this girl??

Yea, me too.

I’m gonna go find her.

Email or comment or send me a carrier pigeon! I miss you guys!

**SMOOOOOOOOCH**

Things keep happening…

April 25, 2010

I may not tell you about it… but things definitely keep happening.

This post may be a little bullet pointy… but, it’s what I’ve got for ya.

I submitted an audition video for GLEE’s open casting call.

If you have a myspace log in, and a few minutes, please go here, and leave me some stars! There is no limit to how many you can leave.

Please go have a listen. Here is the voting link: My Glee AUDITION

2. I’ve been making a LOT of Vlogs lately. Vlogs are video blogs, and I’ve been having a ton of fun with them lately. You can visit my youtube page to see all of them, but I’ll post a couple of them here for you, too.

3. The rehearsals for the musical are going extremely well! I’ve been working hard, dancing, memorizing, and trying desperately to do a great job.

This is one of my favorite songs… no, probably my SINGLE favorite song from the show, called Love is my Legs, and it is HILARIOUS! Mandy, who is playing Muriel in our production filmed us practicing it, and posted it. I thought I’d share it here too.

4. We performed at the Denton Arts and Jazz festival yesterday, and it was a very… interesting experience! Lots of fun people watching… I did not perform my best, and was a little disappointed, but I honestly did the best I could, and just tried to survive it. :-\

Lots of my friends, and co-workers showed up, so it was great to see them.

I also got to meet lots of the people who are special to my new friends and castmates, which was super fun.

5. Daron competed this weekend in the Flower Mound Open! He and his partner, Jimmy took 1st place!! He made several videos and vlogs, and I’m sure he’d love it if you went over to his site, Tennis and Tunes, and checked them out. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!!

6. I updated my 365 photo project! So far, I’ve only totally dropped the ball, and not photographed ANYTHING 6 times, out of 115 days! So, that’s pretty good!

Please visit my flickr stream, here: to see all of the new photos…

I think that’s enough content for tonight.

xoxo.

Here I am!

March 20, 2010

Hello my friends!

I’m writing to tell those of you who haven’t guessed (or haven’t heard already) about the good news I teased about last week… but also to talk about how AWESOME my spring break has been!

Saturday: Daron and I went with my mom and John to see the Phantom of the Opera! Phantom is one of those classic musicals that you (or at least I) never turn down the chance to see. I guess I’ve probably seen it 5 times live.

Sunday was JUST laying around… which is always appreciated.

Monday: I was in TRUE kelsey form, and went a little crazy…

YEP! Most of you already know, and the rest of you guessed correctly… haha! I am so proud to say that I was cast in my local theatre company’s production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! I’ll be playing Christine Colgate… A character with SO much singing (!), Dancing (!), and shenanigans, its crazy! The cast of this production is a venerable talent show of local musical/theatre power houses. I am humbled to be a part of it.

So, back to “true kelsey form”… you know, if you know me at all that I am an absolute SPAZZ about office supplies. Markers, pens, sharpies, postits, folders, tabs, binder clips, paper clips… I love them.

A girl like me, with a giant script… it doesn’t take long for me to get it bound at kinkos, and go buy fresh color coded tabs that mark each scene, and musical number… It was the highlight of my day.

On Tuesday, I lounged around, caught up on a billion blogs, and played video games. WIN.

Wednesday, I went and got a manicure and pedicure with my dear friend Erin… followed by lunch, and a trip to the mall for purse hunt, March 2010… haha.

Thursday was LUNCH with some of the cast and crew of the SHOW! It was pretty awesome to talk with them about the production, and to have my mind put to ease when I had questions about my voice and training.

Friday, Sweet Jessica and I went out to the Allen Outlet stores, to partake in the Gap Give/Get promotion! It is 30% off of EVERYTHING, including sales and clearance items at the entire family of Gap stores (including Gap Body, Banana Republic, Old Navy… and their respective outlet stores.) I spent too much money, but it was very fun, and I got a lot of stuff I can wear this spring and summer.

Saturday, the randomass Texas weather went from 75 degrees yesterday to 35 degrees today, and so I’m staying bundled up and toasty with my hubby…

I bought New Moon earlier, so I may torture him into watching it with me later, who knows.

Tomorrow, Sunday is our FIRST rehearsal/meeting/read-through of the show, and I am positively buzzing with excitement. I’m ready to meet everyone officially, though they all already feel like close friends, and I’m ready to get started.

Didja miss me?

March 12, 2010

Hey guys!

I won’t lie to you. I have enjoyed every day of this 1 month long-unplanned-but-appreciated-blog-hiatus-except-for-the-cross-post-of-my-guest-article-for-heather.

I mean, I love my blog, and I love blogging, but I’m so glad that it isn’t my livlihood, because sometimes, I just don’t want to talk in generic terms, fit for public consumption, about my day or my life.

I’ve been in a fine mood, and everything has been good, I’ve just felt a bit out of touch with the health and fitness community.

I’m blogging today though, so… beggers can’t be choosers! Take what you can get!

I’ve decided to start today with some photos, and a teaser.

I’ve kept up with my 365 project RELIGIOUSLY and only missed one day so far, out of 71! I have not, however been posting them here, so I offer you a recap…

**Google readers, you will need to leave the comfort of your reader to see ALL of the photos, but I will post some photographic HIGHLIGHTS of the past month here for you as a taste**

Week 6