Theatrical Shirtlessness

As I mentioned last week, Rocky is not the only shirtless character in our production of "The Rocky Horror Show," and although I am not onstage during this scene, I must applaud Frankenfurter and Brad for their shirtless antics. As you can see, Messieurs Ku and Greene are both acting up a storm while not wearing shirts which makes a strong argument, in my opinion, for more shirtlessness in plays and musicals.

I am in my final week of this IMS President's dream of a show, and I don't know what I am going to do with myself next Tuesday when I am not onstage watching others rip a mummy costume off of Rocky. Perhaps I will have to comfort myself by finally watching "True Blood." I have held off on watching this show because 1) I do not have HBO, and 2) I am afraid of the pantslessness, but when one is facing the prospect of having nightly good shirtlessness taken away, one must resort to extreme measures. I hope it will do the trick.

In the meantime, I plan on enjoying every last moment of live stage shirtlessness that I can, and I hope, gentle readers, that you will all savor every bit of shirtlessness in your lives as well. Until Friday, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Rocky and friends

As a salute to my friends in New York City who are braving Hurricane Irene this weekend, I offer a photo of our delightful Rocky, Andrew, in front of the Empire State Building. May his shirtlessness in general and lats in particular inspire you to stay safe in the face of possible natural disaster.

Some of my fellow castmates have been teasing me about my unabashed love for Andrew and his exemplary shirtlessness, but I ask you is it possible to look at this torso and not feel happy? Yesterday, he helped me at the gym with some of the machines, and I had visions of myself wearing a tank top and showing off my perfectly defined arms. While I do not advocate for female shirtlessness since there is plenty of that in the world already, I think shapely arms are a positive attribute in both genders, and I am grateful for the help of an IMS poster boy in achieving this goal.

In the meantime, I realize that I have been remiss in not mentioning the other two shirtless gentlemen in our show. Since I have not asked permission to use their names, I will only say that Brad and Frankenfurter are nothing to sneeze at and very much appreciated as well. I don't have the same rapport with these individuals to ask for shirtless pictures of them as I do with Andrew. But both of them meet the 2 Point Standard of IMS and do this blog proud in their nightly shirtlessness. Bravo!

I'm off to the gym to work on my shapely arms. An IMS President's work is never done. I continue to be...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

The IMS Seal of Approval

I realize that the latest posts have been making IMS sound like the "I love Rocky" blog, but looking at the stunning Andrew Madsen who plays the titular character of the "Rocky Horror Show" at the Hangar Theatre (until September 3, in case anyone was wondering) can anyone blame me? I asked the divine Mr. M for some of his modeling shots which he provided to me in an email that declared he felt like a jerk for sending me pictures of himself. Obviously, he is not a jerk but merely a gentleman for providing me something that I sincerely asked for, unlike certain former Congressmen from New York, but I digress. Mr. Madsen was even kind enough to send me several shots so that I would could choose my favorite and offered me several choices with pants since he knows how I feel about pantslessness. [Pantslessness is for private.] This photo is just so ridiculous that I had to post it; he looks superhuman. And he is so kind that I don't even mind that at no point in the show does anyone douse him with water.

Given the above photo, I believe it is evident that the show is going well. On opening night a friend told me that she heard someone audibly say "thank you" when Magenta and Columbia ripped Rocky's mummy costume off. We are bringing good male shirtlessness to Ithaca, and people are happy. They like the rest of the show too. We've had raucous applause after the Time Warp, lots of shout outs at all the principals, and props abound throughout the show. My personal favorite is the waving lights during "Over at the Frankenstein Place." People stay and dance after the show, and after only one weekend of performances, I've been stopped at the gym and at restaurants several times by people telling me how much they enjoyed the show.

I'm so grateful to be in a show that features good male shirtlessness and entertains, that I don't really have anything else to say. The only thing that makes it even better is that several of the roles have been cast non-traditionally and no one seems to bat an eye at an Asian Frankenfurter or Dr. Scott, or even the small Indian phantom creeping around on stage for that matter. Sigh. Life is good. I'm off to explore a gorge where perhaps someone else will take his shirt off. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Happy Opening Night!

Tonight is the Opening Night of "The Rocky Horror Show" at the Hangar Theatre, and with 4 days of tech for this massive show, I am a bit fried. Thank goodness for the good male shirtlessness in the show which has made even the most tedious of lighting cues pleasant. Our Rocky has made tech more enjoyable not only with his excellent shirtlessness but his kind attitude and team spirit. For those people who think that theater kids don't participate in team sports, think again. Putting a show together is an enormous team effort, and a show like Rocky Horror in which even the ensemble has multiple costume changes and every number needs rock concert-like lighting truly requires drill team precision. So tech was certainly enhanced by the excellent physique and even more excellent temperament of our titular character.

In the crunch to get the show up, I have turned to IMS' beloved secretary for shirtless pics, and she has not let us down. She's kept me up to date on "True Blood" which I can't watch because I don't have HBO and am slightly afraid of the pantslessness, and she suggested Alexander Skarsgard for today's post. While I tend to find vampires too pale for the 2 Point Standard, Mr. Skarsgard does a good job of remaining pale while appearing to have seen the sun at some point in his mortal life. And the abs are not bad either!

Wish me luck tonight! I realized that at last one of my IMS dreams has come true, to be in a show that prominently features good male shirtlessness. Ahhh... the good life! I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Crazy Stupid Good

Today was my day off, and I went to see this movie with a couple of my cast mates. We loved it! Ryan Gosling's abs were worth the price of admission, undoubtedly. Mr. Gosling also wears a suit quite well. He is also a good actor. I think I love him! But seriously, this movie made me cry in a good way, you know that "maybe there is such a thing as true love" kind of way. I cried in the "those abs are so good" kind of way, too. Overall, a totally satisfying afternoon at the movies. What's funny about watching a movie with New Yorkers outside of New York, is that we laugh at a lot of things that no one else laughs at. This makes me wonder if perhaps New Yorkers are not as miserable as the rest of the country seems to think we are. Hmmm...

In any case, the moment of truth is almost upon me. The actor playing Rocky will take off his shirt in tech this week. Now that I know him better as a person, I can confidently say that he possesses one of the best accessories to shirtlessness, kindness. He is in fact one of my favorite actors in the production. This makes me even more delighted to be working with him in a shirtless state for the next three weeks. If only we could figure out how to throw some water on him in the show, then he would have all my favorite accessories to shirtlessness! But alas, we can't always get what we want. I'm just happy that I'm at last in a show that features unabashed shirtlessness after a season of Shakespeare done in period costumes and several productions of "Man of La Mancha" where everyone was fully dressed and dirty because we were playing prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition. It's good to be playing a space alien! I continue to be...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

Shirtlessness Abounds

So I'm still obsessed with the J. Lo video and song and hope to see more of shirtless William Levy in videos, cologne ads, and cheesy television shows in the future. I don't know anything about him (yet), but I am definitely into him.

In the meantime, Rocky Horror rehearsals have been filled with promises of shirtlessness without any shirts coming off. There are, however, a lot of tank tops. Next week is tech, and I am really looking forward to it, perhaps more than ever before. All I can say is that the Assistant Director has a note that she passes to the Stage Manager with a nod from me that reads "The Assistant Choreographer thinks this scene would be better if (Actor's name here) took off his shirt." The sign goes back an forth a lot, but no one has been ordered to take of his shirt yet. I thought being Assistant Choreographer would bring me some power, but it doesn't. Bummer. Never fear though; this show is filled with shirtlessness and the actors will have to rehearse their shirtlessness sooner than later. I'm filled with anticipation and continue to be...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS

I'm Into Shirtlessness

I have this kooky habit of downloading one song a month so that I can keep up with the kids. I turn my monthly downloads into a mix for the year, and then I can look back on each year and remember it according to a pop soundtrack. A lot of people know that I do this and send me suggestions for songs for the month. A few months ago, a friend suggested "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez which became my June song. The other night I thought I should check out the other songs on the album and happened across this video. OMG! The shirtlessness is incredible. Now I don't know what happened between J. Lo and Marc Antony, but I have got to give props to a woman in her 40s rocking a dress made out of coins rolling around on the beach with 20-something William Levy wearing khakis and some sand. It's all good, and I will have no problem saying that I'm into anyone who looks that good in the surf. Phenomenal!

So as I cool down from this video, I will report that Rocky Horror is certain to contain a lot of shirtlessness. I'm very happy about it. At last I get to do a show in which the men are wearing less clothing than the women! I actually think I may be living the IMS dream. I wish the same for all of you loyal IMS members as well. Until then, I am...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS