So, the update: New stuff first.

COPPING IN?
Our new 'Mary Delgado' Jennifer Copping has had her first full week in the company. I really enjoy working with her, and she is doing a terrific job! She brings a new and slightly different energy to the role. We're literally 'playing' out there right now, figuring out as we go how best to play each moment with one another. (The truth is, she and I did our scenes together exactly ONE time before her first performance in front of 1500 people.)
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BE CAREFUL WHO YOU CALL DIM
I met NBA player and Toronto Raptor JASON KAPONO on Saturday night. He and his wife and some friends came to the show, and we had an impromptu photo session with him afterward. This dude is tall. He's probably got a foot on me. So, I Google him. He's listed as 6'8" and here's the kicker: his position is "Small Forward". Gotta love the NBA. He was charming and inquisitive, and he loved the show. So, we like him a lot.

That brings my Distinguished-Individual-Meetings (DIMs for short) to three, since beginning the show. On Opening night, actually, I met JEANNE BEKER, best known as host of CITY TV's ubiquitous 'Fashion Television' program on Opening night. She loooved the show, and was a lot of fun to talk to. In fact, my Dad chatted her up relentlessly after I was whisked away. There's probably a story there... Best leave that one right there.

The other, not to be outdone, is Canadian film and comedy icon EUGENE LEVY. Second City and SCTV alum, he is perhaps best known as the hapless Dad of one of the kids in the American Pie movies. But in the theatre world, he will always be remembered for "Waiting For Guffman", a mockumentary about a group of community theatre 'actors' who put on a show they think is headed for Broadway. It was his second time seeing the show (he saw the US Touring Production in the fall) and he said he preferred the new Canadian Cast. Of course he said that. We like him, too.
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GOOD SIGN
I saw in a newspaper ad that DANCAP is selling single tickets through April 19th now, which is very good. I believe they are taking group orders (more than eight seats) well beyond that, though. Which is even better.
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MODEL BEHAVIOUR
I'm breaking out my 'Blue Steel' look. (Zoolander, anyone?) Tomorrow I'm doing a group photo shoot for Canadian Living Magazine, along with a bunch of boys from the JERSEY BOYS. I think it'll be out in time for Father's Day, so check the newsstands around May/June. I'll give you more info when I know it.
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JEFFY NIGHT LIVE?
Some fundraisers are in the works at various venues around Toronto that I may be involved in. Details are still being worked out, so I'll give you more info when things are set in stone.
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COMMENT-TATERS
So many of you sent me your support, and some even sent your own sickness-at-work horror stories, and I want to thank you for that. It helped put things in perspective a bit. I mean, we're all human, everyone gets sick, even people who have to use their voice for a living.

I always been very sensitive to minute changes in my throat as it relates to speaking and singing, and I think that helped me catch it very early, and ease my way back sooner than expected. And once I was back, I was pretty careful not to overdue it for the first show or two. But, it feels soooo good to be 100% healthy again. Actually, the whole cast is back healthy again, and the show is really flying now. I love my job!!!

And along those lines, in closing, I have to share a story with you. Precisely as I'm beginning this blog post, I receive an email from a member of my extended family, Annette Mutch. When I read it, I knew I had to include it here. It's the mother of all 'sick-at-work' stories... here it is:
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Bob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs.

Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.5FM in Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won. Read his letter below.

~Hi Sue,
Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother.

Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job.

As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose.

Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit.

This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi. Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it.

This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my ass started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it, however, the crack of my ass was not as fortunate.

When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my ass.

I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His
instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. Needless to say, I aborted the dive.

I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't shit for two days because my ass was swollen shut.

So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your ass. Now repeat to yourself, 'I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.' Whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish-bad day?

May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day! !!!!
Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Keep on Taking the Wheel, everybody.