Some things just make you happy, and this is one of them.

I grew up with Sesame Street and was and am a big fan of the Muppets. In some ways, the Muppets inspired me to get into performing. I'd do little comedy bits and, if no one noticed, that was fine. I'd be playing to the fourth wall and the home viewing audience.

Sesame Street has been around for more than 40 years and incredibly, many of the performers who began on the show are still with it. What a great opportunity for the performers but also what a wonderful gift that they've given to viewers in staying with it. I could turn on the show with my daughter and see the same people who were there when I watched it. In a world where things can move far to fast, Sesame Street has evolved but also remained a constant.

The song Sing was written by the great Joe Raposo in the early days of Sesame Street. He also wrote such memorable songs as Bein' Green, C is for Cookie, and the Sesame Street theme song.

A few years back, my wife and I directed a children's theatre benefit and used the simple and lovely tune to close the show.

Here's a wonderful rehearsal video in which several of the actor who first sang Sing in 1969, sing it in a casual rehearsal for a performance, 40 years later. How cool is that?

And, just for fun, here's a celeb version. The Muppets bring out the best in everyone I think.

I've been part of shows that have been put together in a short time but not one with the scope of Elizabeth Rex. Everything that you usually do in the six week rehearsal process is condensed into just a few weeks.

In my ideal scenario, I can take some time to get to know my character, memorize the lines, play with my performance for a couple weeks, add costumes and props and then open. Unfortunately, we didn't have that luxury this time around and I've been feeling like I'm always two steps behind where I want to be.

It hasn't helped that the show has been tough to cast and people's schedules are such that we still haven't had a rehearsal with everyone in the large cast present. This has also made it difficult to bond with some of my fellow performers. Those connections are important, I think, to establish trust on stage. I think all involved are doing a fine job, it's just not always the easiest.

Though everyone was not present last night, I felt we had a wonderful rehearsal. It felt comfortable and fun, yet challenging and focused on the job at hand. It was truly a breath of fresh air. We open on Saturday.

As part of my upcoming role as Shakespeare, I have a looong soliloquy that opens the show.

Monologues can be fun but a challenge in that you're responsible for your own acting as well as what your (invisible) partner gives back. I was listening to an interview with Christine Lahti and she was expressing similar thoughts about monologues.

She said they are, "very challenging. I'm one of, I'm the kind of actor who is only as good as my fellow actor. I really depend on what they're giving me. I am so locked into them, moment to moment, which is the Sandy Meisner kind of technique that I completely embrace. So to be alone up there and to have to imagine the responses from whoever I'm talking to... to have to imagine responses is a 100,000 times more difficult than being able to look into someone's eye and get a response."

As an example of how much easier a monologue is when performed to another person, Lahti mentioned a memorable scene in Running on Empty that I remember as being quite wonderful. The film stars Lahti, Judd Hirsch, and a brilliant River Phoenix.

In the movie, many years earlier, Lahti's and Hirsch's characters took part in the bombing of a napalm plant that accidentally killed a janitor. They have been on the run for years and their children have known no other life. Phoenix is a music prodigy and secretly auditioned for a prestigious college and was accepted.

Lahti meets briefly with her stoic father (Steven Hill) in a restaurant to ask him to take Phoenix in so that he can follow his dream. During the tense conversation, she finally and tearfully apologizes to her dad and begs for his help. He sits emotionless but, as she rushes to leave, his tears and sadness flood out of him.

Of the monologue, Lahti said, "I remember people saying, 'Oh my God, you were phenomenal.' And truly, Steven Hill, what he gave me, is the reason I'm good in that scene. Truly. That's my perception of that scene, which I think is a great scene... He might say the same thing but, for me, it was what he gave me."

To listen to the whole interview, you can go here.

One thing I love about acting is that, whatever seems to be going on in your life can somehow be used to fuel your work. Aside from a couple auditions, I haven't been acting for a year or so. I'm now doing a play that goes up in two weeks and I'm feeling a little stiff and out of practice. I understand why but its frustrating nonetheless. The rehearsal period is short so time isn't in my favor.

The play is called Elizabeth Rex and I play Shakespeare at the end of his life. As far as we know, he hadn't been writing as much or at all and this morning, while out on a run, I realized that (duh!) I should be incorporating my own feelings and frustrations into the character. Not only does it give me some common ground with the character but it takes a bit of pressure off of me as well.

Okay, now for scene two...

I received an email today from the artistic director of one of the theatres where I recently auditioned. It seems an actor had to pull out of another theatre's production and they were in need of a replacement. Rehearsals have already begun and the production opens in three weeks. My inclination was to say "Thank you but no." My cup "runneth over" with many other things and I'm already feeling overwhelmed. But, after talking to my wife, I decided to find out more. It couldn't hurt and I could always turn it down.

I got a call from the director, James Alexander Bond, while I was out shopping and we set a time to meet this evening. When I got home, I googled Elizabeth Rex to try to get an idea about what the play is about.

Essentially, the play takes place in the early 17th century in England. The Earl of Essex, who once was the lover of Queen Elizabeth, rose up against her. She's had him towered and slated to be beheaded. The night before the execution, there's a curfew and Shakespeare and part of his acting company are confined to the Queen's barn for the night. One of the players is an openly gay man, Ned, who plays Shakespeare's great female roles and is also dying of the pox. The Queen comes to spend the night with the players for distraction and becomes taken by Ned and his ability to freely speak his mind. At one point, she says to him, "If you will teach me to be a woman, I will teach you to be a man."

I was auditioning for the role of Shakespeare and, based on his barely being mentioned in the reviews I found, I guessed that it wouldn't be a big role or too much of a time commitment. To make a long story short, I auditioned for James and he gave me the role and a copy of the script to look over before the next day's rehearsal.

I got to the car and started flipping through the script and found that, not only does Shakespeare start the show with a four-page monologue, is on stage the whole show and has dialogue throughout. Uh-oh. Maybe this isn't going to be so easy after all.

As I read the script, I realized that, while Shakespeare is present and part of the action, he doesn't drive it. He's like a tiny link on a charm bracelet. In some ways, he seems like a bit of an afterthought.

There's a lot of historical references in the play so I'm going to have to do some research while learning about 300 lines in a week or two (yes, I do count lines... read here for the why).

Looks like the next couple weeks are going to be a whole lot busier than I expected.