Last week was spent once again in the arms of my dear husband. It was so wonderful to see each other after a whole month of nothing but phone-conversations! Any longer and I may have forgotten the look of his smile.
Early this morning when I returned "home" to my house the thought struck that though the environment was familiar and comfortable I was farther away from home than I had been all week. "Home," a lovely Broadway ballad sung by Belle in Beauty & The Beast says
"Home will be where the heart is. Never were words more true! My heart's far, far away--home is too,"
and I find it hard not to sing it repeatedly in dramatic fashion while I unpack my suitcase.
Nothing too exciting this year as far as I can tell. Million-Dollar Quartet and Memphis look pretty snazzy. If I were to get free tickets to one of the nominated shows, I might pick Finnian's Rainbow, but I bet I'd settle on
Come Fly Away-- an all dance musical to nothing but Frank Sinatra vocals + a big band. No script, no singing-- just movement tells the story. This show better win choreography! It's amah-zing.
A number of crazy new shows (including an Adamms Family musical) and "meh" fad musicals. I about panicked when I saw that my beloved Ragtime is in revival and I wouldn't be able to go see it, but it appears that they've killed the magic completely; the choreography and acting are weak. All in all, I'm still excited for the show.
What was I thinking? I can't have people shooting in the streets be the first thing people see on my blog for the next several days! We need something pretty :) I choose to use Sierra Boggess (who played Ariel in the Little Mermaid on Broadway) with a perfect perfect perfect I'm going to drool if I keep staring Edwardian upswept hairdo. Ah, the beauty of wigs.
I know it's too late and that you've jumped to a conclusion, but actually no, that isn't a picture of what you think it is. Heaven help us, Andrew Loyd Webber just wrote a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. Get this-- it's set in Coney Island at the turn of the century. CONEY ISLAND? Oh man. "Love Never Dies" is currently at the West End in London, and will hit Broadway this fall.
I deliver unto you all the goods from the Tony's, and none of the boring crap. Merry Christmas.
A little microphone difficulty is taken in stride...Nicely. (Nicely? *snort*) Guys and Dolls starring Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit and Lauren Graham (from Gilmore Girls) as Adelaide? Fact.
Dig the choreography! Check how many Jerome Robbins bits you can find. Nifty tidbit of information-- every "Shark" in the cast is 100% genuine Puerto Rican.
Hello, lyrics.
The "swan lake" sequence of Billy Elliot where the kid flies on a wire is much prettier, but this number would carry a heavy weight of emotional impact into the audience. I can't believe the Billy's keep up this performance multiple times a day.
For the brief showcase of EVERYTHING at the Tony's, including the fun spats of Hair and 9 to 5, refer to this, the opening number of the program.
The new show on the block this year is Next to Normal, nominee for Best Musical and winner of Best Score, Best Leading Actress, and Set Design for the Tony Awards this year. (Billy Elliot might have won "best" new musical-- but hey, Ragtime and Wicked didn't win the "best" Tony either so we know the prize isn't everything.)
N2N's score is exactly what I like to hear and sing: deeply emotional, crystal clear mix placement, and goosebump raising harmonies. Top songs are "Superboy and the Invisible Girl," "Everything Else," and "You Don't Know/I Am the One."
The plot is blowing my mind: so different, so emotional, so stunning! Diana, the main character, is a mother suffering from bi-polar disorder and believes the illusion that her son is alive-- though he's been deceased years. Diana's son haunts her life and influences both her own daily decisions, and emotionally wounds the rest of the family: Diana's devoted husband and adolescent daughter who vainly tries to gain attention (insert "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" here for graphic irony).
With a script that includes things like "thank you, Doctor; Valium is my favorite color" and "these are a few of my favorite pills," Next to Normal has fully captured my interest.
P.S. You can keep Adam Lambert, Joni. I'd much rather take Aaron Tveit. ;)
I loathe finals. I detest formal schooling for all of its expectations, and I don't welcome its presence in my life. Too bad I have to take that ugly, stupid, drasted bitter with the batter and the schummina shhlemick kuh flattz....
I take great relief in telling myself that no matter what happens, no matter how I screw up, the outcome doesn't matter. The past few days I've summoned a particular lyric line to memory simply remind me of this fact; amends can always be made.
If you've ever felt the same way, that your life is one huge mess and you're the only one to blame for it all, this is my message to you--no matter what you've done, you haven't "screwed things up beyond redeeming." And neither have I.
From the musical PARADE, by Jason Robert-Brown. What a great show!*
"No! This isn't over! No, the date's not set! No, I won't wake up tomorrow Drowning in my sweat! Somehow I haven't, with my scheming, Screwed things up beyond redeeming. The journey ahead may get shorter; I might reach the end of my rope; But suddenly loud as a mortar There is hope!
This is not over yet."
*Parade has some of the best music I've ever heard in theater.
Top songs: All the Wasted Time (duet that knocks the socks off of a thousand relationships), It Don't Make Sense ("Did you ever see her smile? Her smile was like a glass of lemonade."), People of Atlanta, Old Red Hills of Home, and Picture Show (the one Mom heard me sing in the car a gazillion times...).
People frequently ask me what I'd want to see if I went to Broadway. This year my answer is IN THE HEIGHTS. Not just because it won the Tony Award for Best Original Musical 2008, but because this is the type of show that should be made more often. And the quality of choreography might have something to do with it....
Enjoy this vignette of my 2nd favorite musical of all time, RAGTIME. Shown here is the show's opening scene. Watch the choreographic staged rivalry between the whites (who wear only white), blacks (in vibrant colors) and immigrants (in muted browns and grays). I can't say enough about this show! It's marvelous.
Click here for the lyrics to SCHMUEL, which is Yiddish for Samuel, in case you were wondering.
I am obsessed with this song. I discovered it two days ago when Joni told me I could watch the original broadway cast recording of "The Last Five Years," the musical, in its entirety online. Last 5 Years incidentally was written by none other than the brilliant Jason Robert-Brown (the guy who wrote "Parade" and "Songs for a New World"). More about him later.
Having seen the whole show, I can say "the Schmuel song" is my favorite. I had several epiphanies watching this -- badly recorded -- clip starring Norbert Leo Butz (the original Fiyero from Wicked). The song reminds me of Hugh Nibley's concept of "Lunch is Free."
I just love everything about this number. I DID say I was obsessed with it, didn't I? "...Limb-o-vitch?" hahhaha
*Really, Mom, I'm posting this exclusively for you. No one else will care about Jason Robert-Brown OR the song. Besides, you're the only one I know who'll adore the Jewishness of the story. Also note the star-of-david atop the Christmas tree! Oh yeah-- this is the same show that "I hate these payless shoes" comes from. ...Ahem. Love you, Mom!*
