Mascot of the Month: April - Linda Emond

Linda Emond is the new Mascot of the Month.  I just saw her in Cabaret, and I was blown away.
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So this Cabaret is a lot like the 1998 original in many ways - up to staring Alan Cummings.  Now Alan himself (always stunning) is a little different.  A little sly-er, a little less jovial, an older, smarter but weary emcee.
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But Fraunlein Schnieder (and her admirer) are younger than usual.  Linda Emond is Fraulein Schnieder and she broke my heart.  It helps that Danny Burstien (her admirer) is a great actor along with her.  And their love story - older, wiser and even more poignant than Cliff and Sally's is - is handled so deftly by two talented actors.
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But Linda Emond!  Wow, she got to me.  So I looked her up.  Well, she has been a lot of work on Broadway, Off Broadway, TV and the movies.  And in most she loses herself int he part.
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There was one part I saw in Los Angeles in 2003.  It was Tony Kusher's Homebody / Kabul.  I went (and drug Eddie and Jane Hunt) because I was dying to see Maggie Gyllenhall.  It was three acts (oye), and Act One is a 40 minute soliloquy by the Mother, and the second two acts are her daughter (Maggie) and her husband looking for her in Afganistan.
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I wasn't impressed by the show, except for the mesmerizing Act One.  Miss Emond, a native of New Jersey, held Ed and my attention like no one ever before and few since.
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In researching her, I find that it was a homecoming of sorts - as she attended California State University at Fullerton (LINK to show and CSUF's story)
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She was born in May of my year (1959) - meaning she is 2 months younger than I am.
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She was also in Julie and Julia - unrecognizable (to me.
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If you get a chance to see Cabaret, do so.  It is a great show, a thrilling night.  And be prepared to be surprised.  Fraulein Schiender will break your heart.