I've Had a Great Run of Seeing Theater The Last Couple Months

Now, I usually see 2-3 shows a year. Obviously, I would always like to see more, but there are things called time and money that can put limitations on things. I have a whole rant on ticket prices, not just for theater, but in general, that I could go on, but I'll save that for another time. And I never win lotteries. I enter them, never win.

However, the same could not be said for my sister the last couple months. It seemed like the only lottery she couldn't win was the one for Oh, Mary. In the last two months we saw The Notebook, Our Town, and Gypsy (in previews). That's a pretty good run. The Notebook really is a notch above most of the other movie to musical adaptations we've been getting lately. It changed enough from the movie, especially how the flashbacks to Young Noah and Allie were told to us, to make it feel like it's own little thing. Our Town is Our Town. I had never seen it before and now I can say I have. And now I can say  I've seen a Kenny Leon directed show, too. 

But the grandmommy of them all was Gypsy. I got to see Audra on stage for the second time, and my sister got to see her for the first time, and what an introduction for her. It's such a staggering performance. This production better be filmed for PBS Great Performances or something because it's a great revival that makes such smart choices. I want to see it again. And I need the cast recording so I can listen Audra's "Rose's Turn" on repeat.

Then my family sees a show together every Christmastime, and this year's selection was Sunset Boulevard because that was the one my dad was most interested in seeing. Thank god he's not a Gypsy fan, or otherwise we would've been out of luck when they had their flu outbreak. It's a great production no doubt. With multimedia becoming a trend on Broadway in recent years, this seems to be the only show that it really felt essential to the telling. But I'm still not an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan.

And there's so much theater coming this spring that I want to see. 

I still need to see Death Becomes Her. That looks like a freaking blast of musical comedy. I want to see Maybe Happy Ending because I've heard nothing but good things, and if we want original musicals on Broadway, we should go see the ones that make it to the Great White Way. I want to see BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical. And now I'm blanking on what's coming but I know there will be more. There will always be more.

journal, the theatre

I Have Been Processing My Thoughts on Dear Evan Hansen Since 2017

Dear Evan Hansen is closing on Broadway and it's got me really starting to formulate my thoughts on this show fully in a really long time. I was one of the fortunate who got to see the original cast (Mike Faist!). I say fortunate just because to be able to get tickets to a blockbuster musical during the original cast's, especially with someone giving a performance like Ben Platt, is fortunate. Honestly, a lot of his problems of being wrong when it came time to the movie was that awful hair. Not to knock the understudies or new casts, because some of the performers we discover or come in for a run are phenomenal, and in this show specifically I would've loved to witness Jordan Fisher perform "Waving Through a Window". But to be able to get a ticket to the original run of a production is always a special thing. So I'm glad I was able to see it while it was a hard ticket to get. All that being said, now onto my issues with it. 

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cinema, the theatre, thoughts

Earworm: The Spring Awakening Cast Album and All That Followed

So, the entire cast album of Spring Awakening has never one that's been in rotation for me. I had never seen the show. My sister and I asked to see it in 2007 when we were 11, and our dad said he'd look into it, and a few days later he said no, it was, and I quote, "highly inappropriate". I never really sought a bootleg of it once they were being put on YouTube, and that was sort of that. 

But, me being a theater nerd, songs seeped through and made it onto my showtunes playlist. Those were "Mama Who Bore Me", "Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)", "The Bitch of Living", and "Totally Fucked". That was the extent of my relationship to the show. Then the documentary, Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, debuted on HBO, I watched it. And it sent me deep into the wormhole.

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earworm, the theatre

I Just Saw Little Shop of Horrors For the First Time

Yes, this is true. It took me 26 years, but I finally saw Little Shop of Horrors. And it was so much fun! The only things I knew about the show before I saw it was Audrey II ate people, and the song "Suddenly Seymour", but with no context for its place in the show. That was how little this show had permeated my brain.

But I'm so glad I got to go into it pretty much clean. It's not like it was a show I listened to the cast album a bunch, so I didn't have a version of what it was supposed to look like in my head, so I could just sit back, be surprised and laugh. And laugh I did.

It was such a great time in the theater. I got to see Christian Borle perform for the third time, and the Seymour I got to see was Skylar Astin in his last performance, so that was pretty cool. And now I'm gonna listen to the cast album from this production, which means I now get to experience Jonathan Groff's Seymour. So, two Spring Awakening alum's for me. Skylar Astin was the third original cast member to play Seymour after Groff and Gideon Glick, so I wonder if there's gonna be anybody else to do it. I shall wait and (potentially) see. 

journal, the theatre

Broadway Shows I Wish I Saw in Their Original Run

I recently watched Spring Awakening: Those You've Known. And it really made me sad that Spring Awakening debuted when I was ten. So in the course of a bad night of insomnia, as one does, I kept thinking about the shows I was never able to see the original production of, for reasons of geography, being able to get a ticket, too young, my parents would never, or I just wasn't born yet. 

I will preface that this is pretty much all musicals. Not because I'm against plays, but I think because we have some sort of performance recorded for posterity for musicals, plays don't usually have the same feeling that you missed out on something because you can see another amazing performer in that role and not have something to compare it to. 

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lists, the theatre

Hugh Jackman Needs a Good Old-Fashioned MGM-like Musical

I got to see Hugh Jackman in The Music Man with the fam recently. Bought the tickets in December and the only date that worked for all four of us was in April, you know how that goes. And it was an enjoyable experience, even though it was The Music Man. The production was great, the actual musical was, fine. This was my first time ever experiencing it, I don't think it's a strong enough show, especially for today's audiences. But I did like Hugh Jackman in it, and it got me thinking about his past musicals and movie musicals.

Les Miserables' issues have nothing to do with Jackman's and the majority of the other performers' work. (Sorry, Russell Crowe.) And I think The Greatest Showman is trying so hard to be earnest and uplifting it fails as a story. What would have been more interesting was to use the artifice of a movie musical as part of P.T. Barnum’s schemes, cons, and deceptions. (But that's a rant for another day.) Hugh Jackman is the kind of star that can do a Broadway residency and an arena tour because he can, and sing all the standards and incorporate the new show tunes into his act, I want to see that Hugh Jackman. 

The kind of movie musical I would like to see Hugh Jackman in is a good old-fashioned MGM-style movie musical. Particularly of the Gene Kelly type. Dashing leading man, that's cheeky and kind of shady meets girl who turns his life around, with a dream ballet at the end. 

Here's how I think this should go. It should be a love story, maybe while they're putting on a show, that classic trope in the classic movie musicals. And he falls in love with an age appropriate co star. No 40 or 50 year old being put together with a 19 year old here. And then you could add in the finding love for the first time, or again, later in life, so there's a bit more poignancy. Might I suggest his costar in The Music Man, Sutton Foster. There can be a tap number! And you gotta do the dream ballet. You can't have Hugh Jackman and not let him dance for six minutes. 

For the songs, maybe do one or two originals, gotta get the Oscar nominations where you can, but it would be interesting to look back at the Great American Songbook with a modern lens. Songs like "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Embraceable You", "I Got Rhythm", and pretty much anything Cole Porter and Irving Berlin wrote. There's a reason those songs are classic. Maybe do some new arrangements or put them into different contexts than they've been in in previous films. The possibilities are endless!

Moral of the story is that if you get Hugh Jackman to sing and dance in something quality and you'll have a winner!

cinema, the theatre, thoughts

No Better Birthday Celebration Than Dinner and a Show

Yesterday was me and my twin's birthday and we decided to celebrate with dinner and a show. Honestly, the best way to spend a birthday.

Because it was my birthday, I wanted to pick out a nice dress, even though it would be hidden most of the time under my big coat and the darkness of the theater. So, I picked my new little black dress and I felt like a sophisticated lady. 

We went to a nice Italian restaurant and I got the beef bolognese and it was delicious. It's a restaurant we've been to a couple times before, and it's one of a few that's on our list of regular places to eat, which, as important it is to try new places, it's also important to have your regular spots. Just don't make them too regular, otherwise the feeling of going to those places goes away.

So the restaurant was in Bryant Park, and we were seeing Company at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, so we had to skedaddle once we got out, but we made it to the theater with ten minutes to spare. Nothing like the rush of making it to a show on time, an experience we don't usually have because we were raised to be early to doors opening. 

Company was fantastic. It was actually the first ever Stephen Sondheim production we had ever seen professionally staged. (My high school did Into the Woods, but it was high school.) We've been lucky enough to see Broadway shows since we were five years old, so we're happy to finally cross this off of list of shows to see, especially since Sondheim passed away. And to top it off, to see a production that was such a reinvention of the material, with Katrine Lenk as "Bobbie". We also got to cross off Patti LuPone, Christopher Sieber, and Christopher Fitzgerald off our list of big Broadway stars to see on stage. I do also have to give a shoutout to the production design and staging because that can sour a production of Company, as my sister can attest because she watched a filmed production and absolutely hated it, and the only reason we saw this one was because of me, and she liked it. So, you're welcome sis.

All in all, a great way to spend your birthday. Though it is odd see Company on your birthday. Like the existential questions that show brings up is odd on a day you usually celebrate. So. Fantastic show.

journal, the theatre

Musicals That Should Get the Live Broadcast Treatment

With Annie Live! airing on NBC, the live musical broadcast is back! And it’s got me thinking about the next musicals I’d like to see get this sort of treatment.

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lists, the telly, the theatre

Clips That Bring Me Joy, Vol. IX Stephen Sondheim Edition

 I love these clips. I hope you love these clips. And I thought since there is now a giant in the sky, I'd find some of my favorite performances of his work. May your memory be a blessing, Stephen Sondheim.

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lists, the theatre

Stephen Sondheim, What Will We Do Without You?

There is a giant in the sky. The greatest to ever do it, Stephen Sondheim. I don't have the words myself to describe what a loss he is. I look forward to reading pieces about the impact of his work, and his influence on and support of new artists, something that is beautifully illustrated in a scene from Tick, Tick... Boom!, in a voicemail left by Sondheim himself.

Stephen Sondheim recording this voicemail for tick tick boom takes on a whole new meaning now pic.twitter.com/ztz3wyqB5m

— Dominique (@heysleepyface) November 27, 2021

Since Sondheim has passed, I'm going to do a deeper dive into his work than I've ever done before, because while I know pretty about much his whole career, I haven't listened to everything. That's going to be a great time of discovery for me and I can't wait for it.

I think there's a reason that when writers pass away, no matter the medium, is because they are the ones who make us laugh, and cry, and put words to our feelings that we didn’t have before. And the way his lyrics have been making the rounds in tweets and statements about his passing, that seems to be true. I mean, I did it in the title and first sentence of this post. 

There is one lyric that has been making the rounds that from Anyone Can Whistle that I've just learned, that I think will sum up the legacy of Stephen Sondheim and his work.

None of it was wasted, all of it will last.

the theatre, thoughts