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.

Broadway Babies

In case you aren't aware Tony Winner Laura Benanti announced via twitter that she is expecting her first child with hubby Patrick Brown. With this baby news why don't we talk about all the other baby

Audra McDonald and Will Swenson
The McSwensons are expecting their first child
together as of May 2016. Both Audra and Will have
kids from previous marriages Audra with 1 (Zoe) and 
Will with 2 (Bridger and Sawyer) 

Laura Benanti and Jason Brown
This newlywed couple (Does 9 months of marriage still count
as newlyweds?) announced at 10:54 this morning that she is
expecting her first child in this very adorable picture

Annaleigh Ashford and Joe Tapper
In the May 11, 2016 edition of People Tony Winner Ashford
and hubby announced they were expecting their first child

RANT

*This is a rant, not a long one, but it's still a rant*
So I'm watching Show People on Youtube as I often do and Lea Salonga is being interviewed in this episode. Lea is talking about how she is a judge on The Voice of the Philippines, Paul Wontorek (The Host) asked her "Do you think you would turn you chair around for Anne Hathaway singing 'I Dreamed a Dream'?" Lea said "No" which was fine she can have her own opinion, but what really bothered me was when she said and I quote

"...It was an acting piece not a singing piece for the film."

Now Lea I have a question for you. Aren't all musical theatre pieces also acting pieces? You have to act while singing a musical theatre piece. Especially a song like "I Dreamed a Dream" you can't just sing "I Dreamed a Dream" you have to act it out. I don't mean you need sets and costumes. I mean you need to add emotion to what you're singing. Otherwise you're just making noise. Now in the movie did Anne Hathaway focus more on the acting of the piece and not the singing yes. But in the movie that song is after Fantine just had sex for money for the first time. She was at the lowest point of her life. Anne Hathaway focused on that. Hathaway didn't focus on making her singing pretty she focused on telling the story. Now theatre on stage and theatre on film are two completely different things I understand that. I just am very irked (urked? erked?) about what Lea said. For musical theatre when you sing a song you are also acting. The two go hand in hand in my opinion.

Here is the interview and you can watch it for yourself if you want to.

Willkommen: Hudson Theatre

Hudson Theatre exterior

Broadway has welcomed a new theatre into it's arms (The Hudson Theatre,) The Hudson Theatre was built in 1903 and was originally used as a fully functional theatre. It was then transformed into a Hotel and the theatre became an auditorium of sorts. In 2015 Ambassador Theatre Group bought the Hotel and are currently restoring it back into a fully functional theatre. It is due to reopen in February of 2017 when previews for the revival of Lanford Wilson's Burn This starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The Hudson will be the 41st Broadway theatre and will be the oldest Broadway theatre. The Hudson Theatre will have a total of 1050 seats making it the 11th smallest theatre on Broadway.

Fabulous Baby!: Miss Saigon (2014 West End Revival)

I am a huge Miss Saigon fan. I am a massive fan of Miss Saigon. In case you don't understand I LOVE MISS SAIGON. The sets were absolutely beautiful. The sets were humongous! After watching the 2014 West End Revival bootleg I have grown to appreciate the sets even more. Not just were the sets gorgeous, but the lighting was gorgeous and so were the costumes and everything blended so well together. I prefer the design of this production. It looks a lot grittier and more realistic. I just find this whole production design beautiful. It was completely robbed of Olivier Awards. Just look at these photos and videos of the production.

Siobhan Dillon and Chris Peluso

Kwang-Ho Hong, Eva Noblezada and Ensemble

Company

Jon Jon Briones and Ensemble

Jon Jon Briones and Ensemble

Company

Magic to Do: A Midsummer Night's Dream

I played my final performance as Egeus yesterday. I will miss this cast. I had so much fun.

Theatre Performance
Camp Walnut 2016

Hairspray Live!: What We Know So Far Part 3

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
• 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
• They will have a live studio audience
• The studio audience will be a part of the story and share dialogue with the characters
• New songs will be written*

Magic to Do: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Guess who starts tech tomorrow. This guy *Points to self*