The Last Midnight: January

The Illusionists — Turn of the Century
Opened: November 25, 2016
Closing: January 1, 2017
Tony Awards: N/A

Matilda
Opened: April 11, 2013
Closing: January 1, 2017
Tony Awards: 
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Gabriel Ebert as Mr. Wormwood
Best Book of a Musical for Dennis Kelly
Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Rob Howell
Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Hugh Vanstone

Something Rotten
Opened: April 22, 2015
Closing: January 1, 2017
Tony Awards: 
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Christian Borle as William Shakespeare


The Color Purple
Opened: October 10, 2016
Closing: January 8, 2017
Tony Awards: 
Best Revival Musical
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Cynthia Erivo as Celie Johnson


The Encounter
Opened: September 29, 2016
Closing: January 8, 2017
Tony Awards: N/A

Falsettos
Opened: October 6, 2016
Closing: January 8, 2017
Tony Awards: N/A


Oh, Hello
Opened: November 6, 2005
Closing: January 8, 2017
Tony Awards: N/A

Holiday Inn
Opened: October 6, 2016
Closing: January 15, 2017
Tony Awards: N/A


The Humans
Opened: February 18, 2016
Closing: January 15, 2017
Tony Awards: 
Best Play
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for Reed Birney as Erik Blake
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Jayne Houdyshell as Deirdre Blake
Best Scenic Design of a Play for David Zinn


Jersey Boys
Opened: November 6, 2005
Closing: January 15, 2017
Tony Awards: 
Best Musical
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Christian Hoff as Tommy DeVito
Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Howell Binkley


Les Liasons Dangereuses
Opened: October 30, 2016
Closing: January 22, 2017
Tony Awards: N/A

The Last Midnight: December

The Cherry Orchard
Opened: October 16, 2016
Closing: December 4, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A


Heisenberg
Opened: October 13, 2016
Closing: December 4, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A


Fiddler on the Roof
Opened: December 20, 2015
Closing: December 31, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A

The Last Midnight: November

Kristin Chenoweth: My Love Letter to Broadway
Opened: November 2, 2016
Closing: November 13, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A

Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Science
Opened: November 22, 2016
Closing: November 27, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A

The Last Midnight: October

An American in Paris
Opened: April 12, 2015
Closing: October 9, 2016
Tony Awards:
Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Bob Crowley and 59 Productions
Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Natasha Katz
Best Choreography for Christopher Wheeldon
Best Orchestrations for Christopher Austin, Bill Elliot and Don Sebesky


Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons On Broadway!
Opened: October 21, 2016
Closing: October 29, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A

Casting Goals: Heathers the Musical

I always wondered what Heathers would look like if it had a racially diverse cast. So I decided let's do another #CastingGoals

Rachelle Ann Go as Veronica Sawyer

Leeds Hill as Jason "J.D." Dean

Cynthia Erivo as Heather Chandler

Lena Hall as Heather McNamara

Eva Noblezada as Heather Duke

Nikki Blonsky as Martha Dunnstock

Darren Criss as Kurt Kelly

Chris Peluso as Ram Sweeney

Will Swenson as Bill Sweeney/Big 
Bud Dean/Coach Ripper

Jon Jon Briones as Paul Kelly/Mr. 
Sawyer/Principal Gowan

Lea Salonga as Mrs. Sawyer/Pauline Fleming

Run and Tell That: Miss Saigon 25th Anniversary Performance/Gala

Note: Again you guys know I'm terrible at organizing my thoughts, but this is one of my better reviews if I do say so myself. Also please excuse the lack of editing.

Many shows have been filmed on stage. The most notable examples are Rent, South Pacific, any Sondheim show and a few other gems. The most anticipated one was that of the critically acclaimed, cult heavy show known as Miss Saigon and that day has had finally come. September 22, 2016 I walked into the movie theatre that would change my life. A day that I predicted would come. Miss Saigon is written by the same composers who wrote Les Miserables and is based off of Puccini's tragic opera Madame Butterfly. Ok blah, blah, blah information that we all know and if you don't Google it. Saigon has been with me since about early 2015 I think. It all started when I was looking for Broadway bootlegs *Gasp* (Get over it we all do it) an ad came on and I could not skip it. I was annoyed by that part, but then

12 words changed my life "Dream the dream I long to find, the movie in my mind" I stopped. I practically cried. I then frantically looked up that ad on Youtube and I just listened to those 10 seconds over and over and over again. I was so mesmerized by the voices that sang the song. Those voices were Rachelle Ann Go and Eva Noblezada two ridiculously talented women. That was my introduction to Miss Saigon. Around that time both my brother and I were having health problems. (We’re both great now. Please don’t worry.) At that time I had basically hit rock bottom and was about to go even further, but those 12 words changed my life. The vocal intensity in those 12 words was breath taking, the vocals were breath taking. At the time nothing connected with me. Every time I heard those 12 words things just got better. I felt connected with this song. The song described what I was feeling, what my life was like and what I wanted my life to be like. Anyway I’m not trying to leave you all vaguely depressed. Long story short I found out the title of the song was "The Movie in My Mind" and whenever I was upset I would listen to the amazing rendition these two women give and I would strangely feel a lot better. I eventually listened to the rest of the score, but I still kept going back to "The Movie in My Mind" it was just so beautiful and so heart wrenching. I honestly wish that I could personally thank both Rachelle and Eva for helping me fight back and get control of my life again. (If either of you happen to read this know that you changed my life for the better. You are amazing.) Ok anyway back to the actual review. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Most of the problems (Which were few) I had were technical/production problems. The first one was at the very begin. The lights darken on the theatre and I was so happy when I saw tiny Eva in her little hat look up, but then a bunch of pictures came on the screen. The pictures and clips were all from the Vietnam War and were shown over the "Overture". That wasn't the only time that happened and it was annoying. When the pictures or war clips were shown over the action it made me feel like I was watching a documentary and not a musical masterpiece. However as soon as the pictures left the screen I was happy. Let's start with the woman whose beauty and voice knows no bounds Rachelle Ann Go who portrayed the very brief, but (In my opinion) crucial character of Gigi. Go is a superb actress and has a set of killer pipes. I just don't think it's possible to describe the journey and growth as an actress she has had because of this experience. Go's voice can fill up a theatre and she has enough star power to light up every marquee on West End and Broadway. Even her character choices were brilliant. I loved how she portrayed Gigi as this head strong, young adult who has had a terrible life, but does what she must in order to survive.

Rachelle Ann Go

I love the little looks that she gives and the touching moment after the bar fight with Kim where she and the other girls shield her from it. I also loved how to keep with Gigi having this tough Amazonian exterior she gave Kim a little shove after the song. I am given chills every single time she belts out "Dream the dream I long to find!" Her voice is so powerful and it gives more meaning to these lyrics. I also loved the little older sister moments that she had with Kim especially the bar moment I mentioned before and during "The Wedding Ceremony" how she was basically running it and was watching Kim and making sure Chris wasn’t gonna hurt her. I loved the little things like that which Go portrayed to perfection! I honestly would be okay with a spin-off musical with Gigi where she opens "The Smoothie in My Mind" I would be completely okay with that musical. I just want to hear Go belt to the rafters. I think what makes Go even more astonishing in this role is English is her SECOND did you hear me? SECOND language. She has better diction than most professional stage actors and English is her SECOND, I'm gonna repeat that, her SECOND language. I would love to see Go take on the title role in Miss Saigon I think it would be thrilling! Go in my opinion is the only Gigi worth mentioning. No one will ever top her performance. In the beginning of the show Gigi begs a marine to take her to America. That marine was John played by the friendly giant Hugh Maynard. This is not Maynard's first round in the Miss Saigon ring. He previously portrayed the role of John in the UK Tour.

Hugh Maynard and Male Ensemble

Maynard was a beautiful John he had the right amount of anger/carelessness that John needs (In my opinion at least.) In my opinion John is the complete opposite of Chris. He is loud, careless, does drugs and loves to have a good time. Maynard portrays the perfect John. Maynard also owns some amazing vocal powers which proved him well throughout the show. They especially helped him on "Bui Doi" (This is the best rendition of that song by the way. That opening crescendo is orgasmic for lack of a better word.) However I feel Maynard went too far into church for "Bui Doi" I think he just got too into it. That's not a bad thing it's easier to pull back an actor, but I did thing that for a song like "Bui Doi" it was a little inappropriate to have some of those big riffs. The riffs weren't bad. I'm going to repeat that the riffs were NOT BAD he hit all the notes and sounded great on them and they worked perfectly in the song, but in my opinion it was a little inappropriate for that song. Maynard still did a great job as John and his "Bui Doi" was sung beautifully. Other than that one note his portrayal was fantastic! Next we have the very controversial role of Ellen. It's very difficult to critique this role, because you can’t have expectations for it. It is also a very difficult role to play because everyone hates that character and the character could be portrayed in so many different ways and all of them would be right. The role of Ellen was given to Tamsin Carroll and Ellen was also given a new song "Maybe" (We'll get to that in a little bit.) I think Carroll did a great job in what I consider to be one of the hardest roles in musical theatre. (I'll talk about that in another post.) The only problem I had was Carroll's portrayal of Ellen felt older then everyone else. I'm not sure if it was how she held herself/acted, but

Tamsin Carroll

Ellen felt older than the other characters. Carroll still gave an excellent portrayal do not get me wrong, but I don't know what it was about her performance she just felt older. Now about the new song Maybe it's a beautiful song and I loved it, but it felt out of place tone wise. I felt the music changed too drastically from "Room 317" to "Maybe". I am giving credit to the composers though they have been continuously working on the character of Ellen since the musical's inception. There have been multiple songs and multiple rewrites of said song so they're trying. I don't think there will ever be a song that perfectly fits for this situation. That's because there are so many different emotions that Ellen is feeling or could feel and you can't convey them through song. It’s hard to convey them at all. I give major props to Carroll though she did a phenomenal job. Ellen was not the only third wheel in Chris and Kim's love affair. We also have Thuy played by Kwang-Ho Hong who is basically giving a performance that is the male equivalent of Rachelle Ann Go. Hong gave a thrilling performance as Kim's cousin. His best moment in my opinion was when he didn't even speak. It was right after his entrance in "Thuy's Arrival/Thuy's Intervention" he was about to leave and Chris still had his gun pointed at him. Hong just walked right up to the gun so it was right on his forehead. I just find that moment so powerful. All of the other Thuy actors place the gun on their forehead using their hand while Hong just walks right up to it. I think that just shows that Thuy will stop at nothing to get Kim. I also loved how during "Back in Town/Coo-Coo Princess" you could see it pained him to have 

Kwang-Ho Hong and Eva Noblezada

Kim hurt in this way. I believe that Thuy really does love Kim and he just wants her to have the best life she can have (as long as that life is with him.) I love that about Hong's portrayal of Thuy he shows the emotional side of him. I think this really came across in "Thuy's Death/You Will Not Touch Him" when it looked almost painful for Thuy to have to kill Tam, an innocent child. I just think that adding that touch of humanity to Thuy makes him an even scarier character. Just like Go English is not Hong's first language. You could tell that by his accent, but I mean the diction he had. I'm actually starting to question if Go and Hong are even human. They learned a whole new language and still have better diction then most English speaking actors/actresses. It’s ridiculous how crazy talented they are. The main man in our love triangle is a young lieutenant by the name of Chris portrayed by Alistair Brammer. Brammer was an amazing Chris and he had a great set of vocals, but there was something about his Chris that was off putting it came around during "The Confrontation". It may have just been more of that’s how the character was written, but to me it came across as way to violent. I think Chris

Allistair Brammer, Eva Noblezada and
Female Ensemble

is supposed to be angry, but it felt more like rage and more of something The Engineer would do and not Chris. Other than that one moment Brammer was an amazing Chris. Now speaking of The Engineer let’s talk about the best performance of the night which goes to another Saigon veteran Jon Jon Briones. The Engineer is the character you love to hate, but you can only love him with an adorable man like Briones playing him. Briones was a part of the original cast and probably holds the most performances under his belt out of any Engineer. I think that helped him greatly with this role and with every performance (at least from what I’ve heard) he just gets better and better. Briones has the perfect comedic timing. Most Engineers go overboard or they don’t show any, but Briones makes you laugh and laugh and it fits perfectly. I think he showed just the right amount of abuse towards the bar girls without it being too much. He also did the one thing no one else has done in my opinion. HE WASN’T CREEPY! A lot of the actors who portray The Engineer make you feel very uncomfortable and that takes away from the story and Briones was creepy at times, but it was a good creepy not an “I’m gonna have nightmares about this” creepy.

Jon Jon Briones and Ensemble

WHERE THE HELL IS HIS OLIVIER?!?!?!?! Not only has Briones got the acting chops, but my god his voice! Briones has a spectacular set of vocals on him and he’s 51. Briones could easily play the role of Kim in a gender bent Miss Saigon. I’d see it and so would other people. I'm just gonna say one last thing about Briones and that's his rendition of "The American Dream" oh my god I could not stop laughing! Now for the titular character of Miss Saigon portrayed by the stunning Eva Noblezada who is the best Kim I have ever seen. Noblezada is absolutely stunning and I love her portrayel of Kim. She makes Kim a fierce character which not many actresses do. She portrayed Kim as a very strong and powerful woman which she is. Kim has to be a strong woman because of everything she has gone through. Noblezada’s belt gives the songs the power that they most often lack especially during "Thuy's Death/You Will Not Touch Him" you see that she didn’t want to shoot Thuy, but she also couldn’t see Tam die. You could see Kim struggling over what to do and struggling to actually pull the trigger. Her strong belt also intensified the song "I'd Give My Life for You" which was strong and haunting. Noblezada was like an exploding supernova for her entrance. Kim doesn’t say a word for a good 5-10 minutes and then she sings “I’m 17 and I’m new here today the village I come from seems so far away…” and is timid and shy, but she gradually builds confidence “all of these girls here know much more what to say, but I know” until “I’m so much more then you see! A million dreams are in me.” Her voice fills the theatre during that moment. You can feel the heartbreak during "The Movie in My Mind" and you can see the fire and anger in "This Money’s Yours" and you then see her sweet and tender side during "Sun and Moon". She has so many different tones in her voice for the exact same score and switches perfectly between them in a matter of seconds. However this

Eva Noblezada

supernova lost her impact for a brief moment which was disappointing. Before Kim sings "Little God of My Heart/This is the Hour (Reprise)" she enters with Tam and they walk around the stage for a brief moment. During that brief moment Noblezada looked dead. Her expression was completely blank if it was a look of boredom that I could have dealt with, but she had nothing. It was as if she was just going through the motions and then she realized “Wait I’m doing a show” and she switched right back into character. That was Noblezada’s only fault in the entire show other than that this young star has a very bright future if she plans it right. I cannot wait to see more from every single one of these truly talented people. I still cannot believe that I have been a part of theatre history. Overall this production is amazing and if you didn’t see it you missed one hell of a show. There were a few times that they had some funky camera angles, but that’s beside the point. The cast that Cameron Mackintosh created for this production was fantastic. Every single one of them brought something new to the table and every single one set higher standards for their parts. When this comes out on DVD I’m gonna tell you once go buy it! I’ll tell you twice go buy it! I’ll tell you thrice JUST BUY THE DVD FOR GOD’S SAKE THESE PEOPLE HAVE THE MOST AMAZING VOICES AND THE SETS ARE SO PRETTY AND SO IS THE LIGHTING AND JUST BUY IT! I’ll see you soon dearies, momma has to do some homework.

Miss Saigon 25th Anniversary Cinema Screening

I'M SO EXCITED!!!! I'M SEEING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF MISS SAIGON!!!!! The 2014 West End Revival was pro-shot and yours truely bought a ticket to the one night only event! I can't wait! I'll post a review after I see it! I'm so excited! Insert "Everybody Say Yeah" from Kinky Boots. It's tonight at 7 and I'm so EXCITED!!!!

Hairspray Live!: What We Know So Far Part 5

Anything with an * marks new information that has been added.

• Cast
• Maddie Baillio as Tracy Turnblad
• Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad
• Martin Short as Wilbur Turnblad
• Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle
• Kristin Chenoweth as Velma Von Tussle
• Dove Cameron as Amber Von Tussle
• Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton
• Garrett Clayton as Link Larkin
• Derek Hough as Corny Collins
• Andrea Martin as Prudy Pingleton
• Rosie O'Donnell as Gym Teacher
• Sean Hayes as Mr. Pinky
• Ephraim Sykes as Seaweed J. Stubbs*
• Shahadi Wright Joseph as Little Inez*
• Creative Team
• Kenny Leon will return as director
• Harvey Fierstein will return to write the teleplay
• Jerry Mitchell will recreate his choreography for the event
• Alex Rudzinski will be the live TV director
• Location
• They will switch from filming in New York to filming in Los Angeles
• They will have multiple filming locations
• They will have indoor and outdoor locations
• Other
• Hairspray Live! will air on December 7, 2016
• There will have a live studio audience
• The studio audience will be a part of the story and share dialogue with the characters
• People from Baltimore
• The Corney Collins Show
• A pre-auditioned audience member will have a dance solo during the telecast*
• New songs will be written
• Cut songs will be added

Maddie Baillio and Harvey Fierstein

Casting Goals: August: Osage County

So I previously did a cast list for an African-American version of August: Osage County, but it's buried in the depths of my Facebook somewhere so I'm gonna make a new one. Now I know some of the ages of the actors aren't the right age for the role, but I mean come on this cast list is kick ass.

Oprah Winfrey as Violet Weston
(Oprah, The Color Purple, The Butler)

Audra McDonald as Barbara Weston-Fordham
(Porgy and Bess, Lady Day, Master Class)

Cynthia Erivo as Ivy Weston
(Sister Act, The Color Purple)

Raven-Symoné as Karen Weston
(That's So Raven, Sister Act)

Taye Diggs as Bill Fordham
(Rent, Hedwig and the Angry Inch)

Whoopi Goldberg as Mattie Fae Aiken
(Sister Act, The Color Purple, Ghost)

David Alan Grier as Charles Aiken
(Porgy and Bess, The Wiz Live!)

Leslie Odom. Jr. as "Little" Charles Aiken
(Smash, Hamilton)

Norm Lewis as Steve Heidebrecht
(Porgy and Bess, The Phantom of the Opera)

Shanice Williams as Jean Fordham
(The Wiz Live!)

Brian Stokes Mitchell as Beverly Weston
(Ragtime, Kiss Me, Kate, Shuffle Along)

Isaiah Johnson as Sheriff Deon Gilbeau
(The Color Purple, Side Show)

Casting Goals: Gypsy

So I have already done a Casting Goals for Gypsy (Then titled I Dreamed a Dream) with an African-American cast, but I want to redo it because I recently thought of a much better cast for this show. Now just like previous Casting Goals I'm not going to write out these long written explanations. Just their picture and a brief description after that.

Stephanie Mills as Rose
(The Wiz, The Wiz Live!, Children of Eden)

Queen Latifah as Rose
(Chicago, Hairspray, The Wiz Live!)

I think both of these women would be a great choice for Rose. I think they would both bring something different to this Rose. I think Stephanie Mills would add this ferocity (I don't mean *finger snaps* fierce. I mean Mama Bear protecting her young fierce) to Rose (Not that Rose wasn't already fierce character.) Mills voice is very powerful and she has that Mama Bear quality in my opinion. I just feel that her Rose would be special. Meanwhile Miss Queen Latifah can stop a room with her singing voice. This would be the most difficult role the Latifah has taken on in her career. It would challenge her in all the right ways. I can't quite put my finger on it, but both of these women would make for an interesting and new Mama Rose.

Shanice Williams as Louise
(The Wiz Live!)

Raven-Symoné as June
(That's So Raven, Sister Act, Empire)

Ok you can't do Gypsy with Latifah or Mills as Rose and not include Shanice Williams as Louise. Williams is such an adorable young woman. She blew everyone away in The Wiz Live! and she would blow everyone away as Louise. Williams would add this cute, adorable quirkiness to the role and really make it her own. I think Williams would make a great Louise. Her Little Lamb would be heartbreaking and her Let Me Entertain You would be sexy and fierce. Meanwhile Raven would bring the right amount of sass and comedy to the role of June.

Norm Lewis as Herbie
(Porgy and Bess, Scandal, The Little Mermaid)

Norm Lewis would make such a very interesting Herbie. I think he would give this kind of demandingness (Yay making up words) to the role. I feel like in all incarnations of Gypsy Herbie is portrayed as a pushover. He is wrapped around Rose's thumb and while I believe that is true Herbie is also a very mentally strong man. He knows what he wants and will get it. (He doesn't go as drastic as Rose, but he will get it.)

PAGES UPDATE

Hello loyal followers, if I have any of those... I'm adding a new feature to my pages whenever there is text crossed out like so abcdefg that means the link is dead. (These are not the droids you're looking for. Does that quote fit into this context?) It was taken down or the account was deleted, but it's gone. It's still out there somewhere though and I will do my best to find it. I also don't feel like deleting stuff anymore. Do you realize how much of a pain it is to edit the pages on blogger?

Also just a quick guide to my abbreviations in case you were wondering what they mean
OBC= Original Broadway Cast
(u/s)= Understudy
(s/b)= Standby
(alt)= Alternate
Pro-Shoot= Professionally Shot (Think of Rent's final performance or any Sondheim show)

The Last Midnight: September

An Act of God
Opened: June 6, 2016
Closing: September 4, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Opened: October 5, 2014
Closing: September 4, 2016
Tony Awards: 
Best Play
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Alex Sharp as Christopher Boone
Best Scenic Design of a Play for Bunny Christie and Finn Ross
Best Lighting Design of a Play for Paule Constable
Best Direction of a Play for Marianne Elliott

Les Misérables
Opened: March 23, 2014
Closing: September 4, 2016
Tony Awards: N/A

Fun Home
Opened: April 19, 2015
Closing: September 10, 2016
Tony Awards: 
Best Musical
Best Book of a Musical for Lisa Kron
Best Original Score for Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for Michael Cerveris as Bruce Bechdel
Best Direction of a Musical for Sam Gold

ANOTHER RANT!

Ok so we all watch theatre clips online whether they're bootlegs (Don't pretend like none of ya'll have watched a Broadway bootleg. We all have get over it) or if they're promos or an actor/actress singing them in concert. This is what you normally will see in the concerts.

Person 1: YES!!!!

Person 2: BEAUTIFUL!!

Person 3: SLAY MY QUEEN!!

Person 4: He/She's so beautiful!

Person 5: I don't really like how they sang this. (This comment could be something as nice and well put as this and the replies to them are harsh most of the time. For example...)

Person 1: Well your comment is invalid!

Person 3: Shut up you uncultured swine!

Person 6: GET SOME CULTURE. This person is beautiful and more talented than anyone you can name. Stupid.

Now obviously there is a lot more swear words. What I don't understand is why do we have to be this way? We are all here for the same reason we all love theatre! We are all apart of the same fandom. Why do we have to be so negative and cruel towards each other when we are just voicing our opinion. I'm not saying I accept people who are harsh when they share their opinion. I do not condone someone who says "This stupid mf they can't sing for sh*t. They should go die. No one likes them." That I despise. But if someone very nicely says "I don't understand what they were going for in this song." or "I don't think they showed a lot of emotion" or "I don't think their voice is suited for this type of song." comments like that are fine. It is possible to have a nice conversation with another person who has different views then you. For example I was watching a video of Rachelle Ann Go (The current Fantine in Les Miserables in West End, former Gigi of Miss Saigon Revival) singing "I Dreamed a Dream" I saw a comment that stuck out to me. 

Them: She is a bit too shouty for my taste...

Me: When did she shout?

Them: On "shame", "stride" or "cannot" she is a bit shouty. I also dislike her facial expressions and her vibrato is a bit annoying sometimes. But that's only my personal opinion.

Me: I understand that it's your opinion. (I'm a huge Rachelle fan) however I do respect people's opinions. Here's how I see it. Most actresses go for the crying and "Life isn't fair" approach to this song. Rachelle approaches it as "F*CK YOU I WANT/DESERVE A GOOD LIFE!" She is more angry sad then sad sad and that's why she may come across as shouty. I hope that made sense.

Them: I really think Rachelle's vocals aren't my personal taste but you're comment made me think about her interpretation, which is actually quite' interesting.

I paraphrased because there were some very rude comments from 2 other people. Anyway what I'm trying to say is it is possible to have civil arguments. I never called the person any names or say they were worthless. I was very nice and they returned the kindness. Even though I am an avid Rachelle Ann Go fan I didn't berate him. Everyone has their own tastes. We are all here for the same reason to love theatre.

NOTE: This rant doesn't just apply to theatre. Another very good example- Politics. Everyone wants the same goal and that is to be a better town, state, country whatever. Everyone has their own idea on what that is or how to get there. That doesn't mean you should berate someone else if they don't believe the same thing as you. It means that you should find a middle ground and work up.

NOTE 2: I'm gonna take a quote from Laura Benanti's dad which is geared toward women, but can really be applied to everyone.

If you think of life as a big giant wall. If you spend your time climbing it all the while trying to claw other women off of it. No one's ever gonna get up there. Just keep climbing get to the top and then reach down.

Sorry this post got very Kumbaya towards the end.

New Page: A Star is Born

I have a new page called A Star is Born and I use this page to highlight one star and their amazing career. I change the person/star once a  try to change the person about once a month. So go check it out when you can. Maybe you'll find a new Broadway obsession.

Hairspray Live!: What We Know So Far Part 4

Anything with an * marks new information that has been added.

• Cast
• Maddie Baillio as Tracy Turnblad
• Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad
• Martin Short as Wilbur Turnblad
• Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle
• Kristin Chenoweth as Velma Von Tussle
• Dove Cameron as Amber Von Tussle
• Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton
• Garrett Clayton as Link Larkin
• Derek Hough as Corny Collins
• Andrea Martin as Prudy Pingleton*
• Rosie O'Donnell as Gym Teacher
• Sean Hayes as Mr. Pinky
• Creative Team
• Kenny Leon will return as director
• Harvey Fierstein will return to write the teleplay
• Jerry Mitchell will recreate his choreography for the event
• Alex Rudzinski will be the live TV director
• Location
• They will switch from filming in New York to filming in Los Angeles
• They will have multiple filming locations
• They will have indoor and outdoor locations
• Other
• Hairspray Live! will air on December 7, 2016
• There will have a live studio audience
• The studio audience will be a part of the story and share dialogue with the characters
• People from Baltimore*
• The Corney Collins Show*
• New songs will be written
• Cut songs will be added*

Maddie Baillio and Harvey Fierstein

Run and Tell That: Les Miserables (Dallas Theater Center)

Well I recently watched a production of Les Miserables on Youtube, but unlike many productions this one took place present day. "BLASPHAMY," "WHAT," NO YOU CAN'T!" Is what I'm sure a lot of you might say. However this reinvention of a very long, tiring and old musical is just what it needed. It was not the most visually inspiring production, but sometimes the show is better when it doesn't have that. Now I'm terrible at describing so you will see a picture of the set

The Final Battle

to the right. Now since Les Miserables is such a long show, let's start from the beginning and work our way their. Let's start with the songs and overall production. The prologue and specifically the chain gang. I loved the opening especially how during the part of the overture and a little bit into the work song, you see Valjean trying to escape and getting caught. I liked that little add on that if/when you notice it, it adds a little more impact on the story. However what ruined that scene was all the convicts prancing around like little elves on Christmas. It was very weird and it was not right. The rest of the prologue was pretty good. After the prologue we meet the strong and tragic character Fantine and her intro song At the End of the Day which shows the similarities of back then and today. You'd be surprised how a lot of women are shamed and shunned for being a single mother. I'm not going to get to much into the politics/social economics of this piece because that's not what I'm here to talk about. Fantine finds her way to a brothel in Lovely Ladies. The updating of this scene was good and bad at the same time. It was very over the top with the stripping, pelvic thrusts and kinky scenes going on I felt very uncomfortable watching it. However the scene was brilliantly acted. Their was also a pimp or drag queen of sorts and I was a little confused as to what their role was. It was still a very effective scene and brilliantly acted by the cast, but some parts were just a little questionable.

Nehal Joshi, Christia Mantzke, Steven Michael
Walters and Salma Salinas
The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery

Anyway we have tragedy after tragedy. We then meet Cosette who is abused by her care takers the Thénardiers whose outfits were completely hysterical and were fantastic. Madam Thénardier looked like she belonged in The Real Housewives of Montfermeil and Thénardier with dreads was fantastic. This is another scene that again transfers well to present day. Several years pass and Cosette is all grown up who was updated to be an adorable geeky bookworm. Look Down held so much more meaning being updated to today. It didn't hit me until I saw that number, but this story could happen today and it would fit perfectly, especially with the upcoming presidential election, but I'm not gonna talk about that. I think before we get any farther into the story we need to go over specifics. Our hero Jean Valjean is portrayed by the talented Nehal Joshi. While Joshi is talented I don't think his voice suited some parts of the role. His rendition of Bring Him Home was not the soft spoken, head voiced number like it normally was. It was a little belty and loud which is not his fault. The role of Valjean requires you to have a voice as flexible as Play-doh. Besides that one song he tried a lot of new things with the character of Valjean. A lot of them were different from previous portrayals of the character. Valjean's chaser Inspector Javert is played by the Edward Watts whose voice fits so beautifully into the role of Javert. His rendition of Stars was superb. We then meet the tragic Fantine portrayed by Alison Blackwell this woman was an amazing Fantine and again with this story now being set in present day it adds even more layers to this character which Blackwell portrays beautifully. Salma Salinas who has a very good voice for someone at her age is a great Young Cosette. In all the gloom and doom we meet the hilarious caretakers. Madam Thénardier played by the hilarious Christia Mantzke puts a new twist on the role of this trashy woman who tries to be very classy. She did this hilarious walk in her probably 6 inch platforms that was so perfect. Her husband portrayed by Steven Michael Walters while not as funny as Mantzke he was still a very good choice for the role. When we have another time jump that's when some of the character changes went down hill a little the most annoying one was Gavroche (Mark Hancock) who looked like Pig-Pen from the Peanuts.  I was not a fan of his updated look. Gavroche's pal Enjolras is played by John Campione whose performance was good, but nothing special. I did like Enjorlas' updated aviator look. Now that years have passed Éponine has grown up and is portrayed by Elizabeth Judd who

Dorcas Leung
In My Life

was not suited for this role in my opinion. I don't think her voice is suited for a classical musical like Les Mis. I was also not a fan of Éponine's updated look. I was not a fan of the dreads she was give. Anyway Éponine is in love with the adorable Justin Keyes who portrays Marius. He added this dorky, nervous teen side to the character which is surprisingly not shown that well in other portrayals. Keyes goes as far as fanning his arm pits when talking to Cosette during In My Life it was little things like that which made Keyes a great Marius. Also how could Marius not fall in love with the adorable Dorcas Leung as Cosette whose just so adorable. Cosette was updated as a modern day cute, geeky bookworm which fits so well with this character. Oh my god I just love this. This production turned a character which normally annoys me into one of my favorites. My favorite moment was during In My Life when she notices Marius she puts her book down and does this semi-model pose which is just so adorable. Leung's Cosette was the best thing about this production in my opinion. So the question that needs an answer "Can Les Mis be updated to a contemporary time period?" My answer is YES as well all musicals can. Some musicals might require for you to update the book, while others don't. Was this the greatest production in the world? No it was not. But what's important is the director (Liesl Tommy) tried something new with an old show. I would love to see more productions brought to present day. Maybe in She Loves Me Amalia and Georg find each other on a social network. Who knows? The updates don't have to be perfect it just has to show that even though something may take place in the 1940's it could have happened today in 2016. That's just my opinion. Below are highlights from this production.