FROWbiz - your message Communicated, Understood and Remembered in a unique and entertaining manner!
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Hello all! Thanks for visiting our page. FROWbiz Productions is accepting engagements for Get A Clue Mysteries and The MistleTone Carolers. Any other events please reach out to us to check availability. THANK YOU for 20 years of amazing experiences!
20 years ago today I walked into the Harris County Courthouse and got a DBA for Judy Frow's Show Business. We had a fax machine, business cards and an idea. We are grateful to all our clients over the years for believing in us. People like Les Fox, Clare Sullivan Jackson, Bill Steigerwald, Linda West, Juliana Wathan, Andy DiRaddo, Danny Ward & Nancy Ames, Traci Rushton, Jill Lively, Merry Schooley, Clayton Orr, Rebecca Loeb, Nikki Smith, Lisa Journigan, Alex Rasmussen, Candace Hoelscher, Jordan Miller, James Mackey, Victoria Barclay & Louis Epstein, Delores & Bob Messer, Vera Cantrell, Jim Ewing, Debra Baker, Scott Davenport, Marty Thompson, Les Fox, Mark Day, and so many more. Thank you for the faith and the confidence. Happy 20th to FROWBIZ!!
Today is a very special day. For 20 years FROWbiz has been the family business. And March 5th marks the start of the FROWbiz family. Gene and I got married in the gazebo at Sam Houston Park downtown (which is one of the many reasons we love Candlelight Tour) We had met while Gene was in Toronto June 1984 and after a 1.5 year romance (including finally divorcing my 1st husband) I (illegally) entered the states to come to Houston to start a new life. Best.Thing.I.Ever.Did.
The whole idea of Judy Frow’s Show Business was Gene’s and he has been relentless in his support ever since. Practically every project involves a “show fight” where we both argue over our own point of view, finally settling into the final product, which always is the best of both ideas.
Being married and running a business together is hard. You can’t go to work and complain about your spouse and you can’t come home and complain about your work. But somehow we have figured out our way to do it. Our marriage is inextricably intertwined with our business and our business with our marriage.
Camilla has always been in the thick of it too. I remember her longing for the day when she was old enough to take my notes at Night Court. Best production assistant ever!
30 years ago today we were married. Although we have failed many times, we have always tried to follow my mother-in-law’s advice that she wrote on our wedding card. I have written these words on every wedding card since: “Love Each Other And Don’t Fight”
So happy 30th anniversary to my Captain Smith. From your Molly Brown. May our ship never sink!
Happy First Day of Rodeo 2016! Back in 2008, the Rodeo choir practically doubled in size.We sang with the track at the opening of every rodeo show, down on the dirt, with the cowboys getting ready to compete. It was so much fun! But the thrill came when we were asked to perform the national anthem at the Veterans Day Salute. The stage was outside facing south in between the stadium and the center. We were singing 2 songs - Texas our Texas and The National Anthem. Both had to be timed to the second as four F-16 jets were taking off from Ellington Field to do a fly over during the national anthem. The intent was to have them do the After Burn on the last note of the song. Very tricky timing as they had to take off 3 minutes before we even started singing to time it right. In rehearsal someone asked me why we were doing it over and over again as I timed the choir singing. I said "the pentagon needs to know the timing." then we all laughed as I said "I never thought I would ever say something like that." On the day of the event, it was windy and really overcast. Lt. Spike, from the Air Force was my liaison. As Jim Benton conducted, Lt. Spike was counting down right in my ear. My eyes were on the sky facing south. Jim was facing north conducting. I can't even begin to tell you what it felt like to see those fighter jets literally drop out of the clouds and bear down on us. Jim was watching me, I was watching the jets. I slowed him down, he slowed the entire choir down as the jets approached. I motioned to speed up; he sped the choir up. We were all one unit - one team watching and singing as the jets came faster and faster, just above Reliant Stadium. The choir hit the last note...Home of the Brave and the jets were RIGHT OVER US and activated their After Burners. WHOOSH!!!! WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE THE EMOTIONS. Lt. Spike grabbed me, kissed me and said no one else had ever timed it as precisely as us. IT WAS PERFECT. The icing on the cake was that those jets had just come back from Desert Storm and were being retired. That is my most fondest Rodeo memory and a career highlight. More stories as we celebrate Rodeo and FROWbiz this month!
So it's Rodeo time here in Houston. In 2007 FROWbiz had the very good fortune to have been commissioned by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to create a volunteer performance company to record and perform the national anthem and also to have interactive characters to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Houston Live Stock Show & Rodeo. For the next 3 years we were intimately involved and loved every minute of it. All thanks to Clare Sullivan Jackson, who referred us and promoted us (and always has been) FROWbiz #1 supporter. Today's pictures are the original choir who rehearsed under Jim Benton and recorded the National Anthem. It was played before every Rodeo for the next several years. More stories and pictures to come as we celebrate FROWbiz and the Rodeo!
Happy Go Texan Day! Here's a little gem of Miss Annie Oakley aka Nina Burks from a hotel competition in the early 200s for decoration and spirit. This was Omni Westchase. oh yeah, I believe they won!
One of my favorite events from 2012 - produced by the one and only Sullivan Group - HBJ's Celebrate Enterprise Battle of the Bands. I always enjoyed running that competition and meeting all the semi-professional musicians in the corporate world. And of course, how can you have a bad time with Donna McKenzie is your emcee. This was a quick pick we grabbed together! Good times, good music, great event!
This was post 9/11 - no work in sight - I got a call from the Houston Area Realtors that they had a new mascot, named Harvey the computer mouse. I was the first person to wear this costume and this is me with my favorite band - Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes at an event. Another episode in "What I do For Dough" but truly, at the time I was very grateful for the work.
Today FROWbiz is with Friends of HSPVA helping to produce their annual luncheon. It's one of those labors of love - we do this one pro bono - and we're so very thankful for the fine education our daughter, Camilla got, but also the opportunity to work with these fine kids and their dedicated teachers and staff each year. Thank you Howard & Melinda Speight for bringing us on the team!! Thanks to Pete & Patrice McKinney, Marty & Bruce Lundstrom, Paul Shaklin, Scott Davenport and all our friends who support this wonderful school! Here are some photos from previous Friends Luncheons! One day soon I will post about the AMAZING and Award Winning events that FROWbiz, Sullivan Group has produced collaborating with the uber talented kids from HSPVA. Mind blowingly wonderful! But for today - here's to a successful and profitable luncheon!
Today's topic is...cue music from Chorus Line "What I did for Dough" when times were tough and there was no work (particularly after 9/11, Katrina, Rita and Ike) we took whatever work was offered. In this case, dressing up like a duck and working a trade show booth. Thanks Rosella for giving me work when I needed it! Here's to doing what needs to be done so you live to act another day!
So I was looking through pictures and found this little gem. This is "Miss Ima Alwaysright" and she actually founded FROWbiz. Back in 1993 I was working at Bank One and had just been promoted to Trust Officer (without a degree which was pretty unusual in those days - probably now too) Every year we had a day long seminar on Quality Service - which we called "Service Quality" I was given, what I considered the black bean, to speak on how to IMPROVE our quality of service. I was terribly uncomfortable, I was quite literally the new kid on the block and, though I had been working as an assistant for the previous 3 or 4 years and had definite ideas on how we COULD improve quality of service. But it didn't feel right having the newest member of the team "lecture" my senior colleagues. So I thought it would sound better coming from a customer. So I thought I would "read" a letter from a customer (that I would have written) and then I thought I should 'BE" the customer. fortunately I had a very progressive (and theater loving boss - Mark Day) and he loved the idea. So on the day of the conference, Mark got up and said "Judy couldn't be with us but one of our very best clients (and he actually rolled his eyes) Miss Ima Alwaysright is there. And Miss Ima, with her shopping bag filled with uncashed dividend and society security checks) toddled up to the podium and proceeded to tell the audience how they could improve service to her and other clients. My colleagues laughed, nodded their heads and paid attention. Six months later I discovered nobody really remembered what anybody said that day EXCEPT what Miss Ima said. It was a powerful affirmation of the use of theater and non-traditional presentation methods to engage, entertain and educate and audience. Three years later Gene convinced me to expand on that idea and Judy Frow's Show Business was born. And for 20 years we HAVE used traditional theatre techniques in non-traditional ways to educate, enterain and engage audiences in Houston and around the country. Well done all!!
So the great FROWbiz costume sale of 2016 is over. A lot of beautiful costumes went to new homes. We've had some beauties over the years. Here are just a few of our wonderful costumes - some built by us and various costumers and some rented from our wonderful vendors!
Addendum to cowboys - can't believe I left out Chief Scoundrel, Jack Scratch aka Drew Heyen! Not enough coffee this morning!!
So keeping with the western theme in honor of Rodeo, here are the cowboys, sidekicks, drunks and gentlemen of the FROWbiz Corral!
Boy I've fallen down on the job these days! This morning's post, in honor of Rodeo is Saloon Girls. Around ten years ago (maybe longer) I was getting into my costume and took a realistic look in the mirror. I was no longer a saloon girl. I was more like....management. So I stopped being a saloon girl and became the saloon madam. Had a blast discussing the trials of small business ownership with audience members ever since. Here's to the girls in the FROWbiz brothel! Love you ladies!!!! (PS I know I'm missing some! :-( xoxox)
Woke up this morning thinking about this event. As I'm heading to the Wortham soon to set-up for a Mercury concert tonight, seemed appropriate. A 2012 beautiful little Sullivan Group event for the Greater Houston Convention & Visitor's Bureau. Showing of Houston's performing arts, the dinner was held on the stage of the Brown. Beautiful set by Staging Solutions and lit gorgeously by Russell Freeman of the Wortham. A ballerina from HSPVA danced the Sugar Plum Fairy, Aaron Echegaray represented the music scene and Kregg Dailey opened the show with Be Our Guest and closed it with Music of the Night. It was beautiful and showed off the spirit and talent of Houston. But the best part was that it was such a collaborative effort, which, in my opinion, sets Houston apart. We work well together in our sandbox!
Today's post is from a nice little interesting job we did back in 2001 or so. Marksman Homes was having an open house for realtors and they wanted to create an atmosphere of community and neighborhood so the houses would feel " lived in" Using 2 of the model homes we created our own neighborhood - in one house a wedding planner was talking to a bride and her fiancé. Her father was next door having a beer with the neighbor. Two neighborhood kids played hopscotch on the sidewalk. It was an interesting use of theater and a great day! Thanks to Gustavo Roman, Ellen Horr, Paul Shanklin, Gene Smith, Camilla Smith and Kate Raley!
You were at two of my very first FROWbiz gigs. We are still singing together 20 years later. You masterfully designed, crafted and coordinated Edwardian era costuming for 2 dozen people over 7 months on a shoestring budget. We have sang as pirates, Victorian ladies, Edwardian ladies and you made beautiful costumes for that too. You wore a giant Cursor puppet (HOW could I have forgotten CURSOR!! and I have no idea if you're in this picture but you get the idea!).There is no one else I enjoy singing with more. THANK YOU Ann Candler Harlan for over 20 years of friendship, music and theater. And Happy Belated Birthday!
So it's Melissa's birthday. She is that cavewoman on the very right of our banner. She is awesome, fearless, funny, gifted, generous. She once had a nightmare that I sent her on a gig where she had to do the tango and she didn't know how to tango and i said "oh you'll figure it out. don't worry" And it was a nightmare because I WOULD HAVE SO TOTALLY HAVE DONE THAT. Because, you see, Melissa can do anything and be anyone. And we love you. Our cat loves you. she spent two weeks swearing in my sewing room making four authentic Dutch costumes with a pattern that made no sense. But she figured it out and the costumes were gorgeous. She puts the PAPP in paparazzi! So happy happy birthday to you Melissa McClung.
So Kramer Family Event #1. This is 2006. Traci Rushton invites me to a meeting with one of her clients to plan his 50th birthday party. I immediately fall in love with this man. He is brilliant, funny, charistmatic...I know all this because I wrote a show about him. We were all superheroes and we wove his life story into our life story. I was Wonder Woman, Mary Allen Keating was SuperGirl, Alex Stutler was Wolverine and Kregg Dailey was Batman. Jim Benton on the piano. I had never worked with Kregg before and he was super stoked to not only play Batman, but a singing Batman. and through my connections to John O'Quinn we got the honest-to-god Batmobile on Don's front yard. This was a night to remember and we ALL HAD A VERY VERY GOOD TIME! I had one of Don's friends say "Wonder Woman I was in love with you when I was a kid." Super fun time. If I had a time machine this is the first event I would go back to!
Kramer Family Event #3 2013- The triplets' bat mitzvah at HMNS. Dance Force did a fantastic flash mob version of Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling and Jeff Lane and Mark Roberts were Men in Black. It was a comic book Action hero kind of event with incredible lighting by Kevin Friddell. Traci Rushton once again produced a flawless event that we all had fun at. Tomorrow - where it all started - Kramer Super Hero Birthday party!!
So as promised, today's post is the SECOND Kramer Family event we have been honored to be a part of. Two fiftieth birthdays and a bat mitzvah - all for BASH and Traci Rushton! this picture is from Princess Ilene's Birthday Ball and featured an all-singing all-acting interactive troupe of fairy tale characters who wove Ilene's personal history into the script, conversation points and show. Much fun was had with a tremendous cast that included Mary Allen Keating (who wrote most of this show I think and produced the event for FROWbiz), Melissa McClung, Jody More, Alex Stutler and Leslie Smith. Much fairty tale fun was had. Tomorrow....Kramer Event #1 - the infamous Super Hero Party!
I have a gala meeting this morning for Mercury's 2016 event and I was reminded of Ghosts of Galas Past. Like this little gem from 2013 for Cristo Rey School. it was a bizarre little theme - we nicknamed it Fellini meets FROWbiz because we were all various characters who wandered the streets of France in a non-verbal passive/aggressive interactive way. It was held at Silver Street Studios - in fact I think it was one of the first events ever held there - before the studios were built. so there were 2 VERY LARGE rooms. Odd Odd Odd but fun. With Gene Smith, Greg Henkel, Jeff Lane, Jody Morse and Brittney Karbowski
Today's post honors a man who has been my friend, business and legal advisor, fellow small business owner commiserator, client, producer and one of the most fearless performers I know. He came to Night Court MANY years ago to support his uber talented wife Kirsten but ended up being a mainstay onstage and the driving force offstage of Night Court ever since. He has been Ally McBeal's Baby in a Diaper, a River Dancer, Donkey, Timon, Han Solo, SuperMan, Tom Brady, Riff Raff, Bob Cratchitt and I don't know who else. He has kicked me in the butt when I needed it, gave me a job when I needed it and supported our family over the many years I've known him. He also did the most amazing death scene EVER in a FROWbiz mystery. So Happy Birthday Scott Davenport! There would never have been a FROWbiz without you!
Woke up this morning thinking of this event. 2012 - these four fine entertainers performed our original parody songs roasting a group of executives graduating from an under-50 organization to their over-50 counterpart. The show opened with YMCA:
Old Farts, you have outgrown our group
I said Old Farts, you have started to droop
Hey old Farts, I'm sure that you'll make new friends
Just do not forget your Depends!
Old Farts, old age isn't that bad
You know, Old Farts, now you mustn't be sad
Because Old Farts, though viagra's o-kay
You're too old to (singers do pelvic thrust) anyway.
Oh yeah, did I mention we opened for Foreigner? The event was in a River Oaks backyard in a tent and My God, did it ever pour - to the point that water was leaking in and getting awfully close to the speakers. However, it did not rain on MY portion of the event - only Foreigner. We had front row seats and it was FANTASTIC. A great night of performing and enjoying a helluva band!
Kudos to Mary Allen Keating, Justin & Leslie Smith & Benji Leal!
Today's post is in honor of Main Street Theater. Last night we had a thoroughly wonderful time at Cabaret and Cocktails and I'm all pumped to make my on-stage Main Street debut this spring in Working, directed by the one and only Andrew Ruthven! For several years we helped produce their gala and Main Street Actors are the very backbone of FROWbiz. Thank you also for the referrals you've sent us over the years. MST is our theater of choice and we will continue to do whatever we can to support you! Congrats on your 40th Season! Here are a few photos of past galas and this year's re-opening of the Times Blvd theater that we were privileged to work on!
Hey FROWbiz fans! sorry I've been away. Family business in the Great White North derailed my journey of FROWbiz memories! So let's play catch up. while I was gone it was Alex Rasmussen's birthday. Alex and I worked together at Sullivan Group and now his own company, Rasmussen Resources. There are way too many stories to print here (some of which are unprintable in mixed company) Many hours spent tag-typing proposals in his office with great music playing, so many wild ideas we dreamed up and then executed perfectly! Some close calls. Some "what were we thinking?" But for the most part superb events! I don't have room to post all the photos from Alex/Judy Adventures but here are some of my favorites! Happy Belated Birthday Alex!
I was looking through photos again and came across this gem from a Sullivan Group event of long ago. We were commissioned to create a rock parody show that celebrated sales success (and challenges) of an international oil and gas producer. Greg Taylor was the emcee and sang lead on "Momma told me not to sell" Mary Allen Keating kicked but with Pat Benatar's Hit Me with your Best Shot (I can't remember what song that was turned into) and I donned Mary's leather to sing BTO's You Aint' Seen Nothing Yet. We performed on the stage of the Cynthia Wood Pavillion (which was pretty cool) and we sang to track. The opening number was Queens We Will Rock You and there were like 23 bars of vamp while Greg introduced the show. I remember Mary and me standing backstage focussed solely on counting bars so we wouldn't screw up. It was A LOT OF FUN and it was another Alex Rasmussen/Frow adventure. So Rock Out everyone and enjoy the day!
I am in the land of snow and ice so thought I'd post about a lovely spring time event from long ago. Thanks to Merry Schooley and Art Attack for this Friends of Hermann Park event at the Warwick back in 2000 or 2001. The Four Season Fairies from Texas Renaissance Festival interacted and totally enchanted the guests.
So these three crazy kids. My parents and my husband. Always supported me 100% From driving me and my sister to multitude of rehearsals when we were teenagers, to making me chicken soup with crackers on opening nights when I was nervous, to drying my tears, to not putting up with self-pity, to being “Mr. Judy Frow” on multitude of occasions. These three have pushed, cajoled, supported, comforted, cheered, driven and been there with me every step of the way. By the time ya’ll read this I’ll be on a plane to Canada to see the parental units and my husband is picking up some unfinished Mercury business today. I THANK YOU and love you!
Today looking through pictures decided to look at something more recent and was reminded of this very fun morning. A DM Premiere event, had Star Wars characters supporting a VIP Speaker as Obie Wan. Much pew-pew fun was had. May the Force be with you! A super job was done by Scott Gibbs, Kevin Dunn (in the Wookie) and Richard Flores and Gene Smith as Stormtroopers. Thank you Clayton, for many years of fun!
Happy Birthday to Violet, The It Girl, Princess Snowflake, The Dancing Doodlebug, the Valentine Cherub, Cigarette Girl, M'Lady, Nellas the Elf, Tap Dancing Shopping Bag, Tap Dancing anything, Live Auction Jewelry Model, sassy teenager, Angel, Stage Crew and the best production assistant, costumer, makeup artist, note taker, Judy-Manager and daughter a theater company could wish for! Happy Camilla - I think you are beloved by all!
Today we celebrate a Jan 18 birthday early. Today we celebrate a FROWbiz performer, prop and costume creator, Night Court Technical Director and Prop Master Extraordinaire. He knows when to tell me "no" and I love watching the wheels turn in his head when I present him a challenge. He is a lovely singing cowboy, a wild Chainsaw Lunatic and was the creator of Sid the Spruce (as acted by Jeff Lane) He has been in just about every Candlelight Tour playing a wide variety of characters. He can build any prop and is an amazing set designer and builder! Happy Birthday my dear friend and colleague! Looking forward to many more adventures! xoxoxox
We're just in from a very long production day for Mercury. Realized I was so focused on tonight's concert I totally forgot to post today. So here is a picture of when Gene and I met Robert Duvall. Yes, That Robert Duvall. I was stage managing the TMW Conference for Coterie Spark in Anaheim and Robert Duvall was the guest speaker. He was lovely. His wife was lovely. He became my new favorite speaker that I've worked with (Neil deGrasse Tyson is up there too). sometimes Frowbiz has taken us incredible places and introduced us to incredible people. this was one of them.
Wasn't sure what to write about today so I was scrolling through 20 years of pictures and came upon this one. These two. Mary Allen Keating and Jeffrey S Lane. The backbone of our performing company. This is from a 2006 event at the Museum of Natural Science that Ook and Ook first made their appearance. More Ook performers later, but today we honor Mary & Jeff. Thank you for 20 years of wonderful performances, laughs and memories! Also want to do a shout out to Linda West and all our friends at Melange Catering. Melange introduced us to HMNS and many other adventures!
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