When I know that I am annoying my non-theatre friends because I go on long tirades about shows, performers, composers, and performances, I know I have too much information in my head. This is a passion project of mine to get what I know out in the world, and something I can reference later in life.
It currently holds the place as 13th longest running musical on broadway, April 11, 1991 thru January 28, 2001 with 4,092 performances.
It has its hold firmly on one of the most recognizable Asian storylines in the history of performing arts. Originally opening on the west in 1989, to celebrate is 25th anniversary, there was a London Revival in 2014.
It was recorded and presented at select movie theaters around the nation on Thursday 9/22 and I was able to see this.
I had never seen Miss Saigon. It had been one of those shows that has always hovered on the periphery of my musical theatre obsession, but never really made its way to the forefront until recently.
When the 25th-anniversary cast recording was released, I listened to it. It was beautiful, but it didn't really catch me. There was one number that i feel in love with, and would listen to a lot from time to time. “Move in my mind” is one of those songs that will always get me going. Women singing, especially if there is harmony involved, and belting, and emotions. Yes. please.
I also did a little research on the show, and found out a lot about the original cast and some of the racist undertones, and that it was, unsurprisingly based on Madame Butterfly.
I was able to sing backup for a small men’s ensemble of Bui Doi once, and that was amazing, so i knew the music was great.
When they announced that we would be able to view i knew that it was something that needed to be seen with my own eyes. I immediately bought tickets, and convinced some of my friends to join my boyfriend and I.
I didn't really know what to expect. I heard from several people that they changed some of the songs, and of course there was a lot more swearing than anyone ever remembered. I want to say I enjoyed it, though the Social Justice Warrior in me kept complaining about the sexism, the racism, the white-saviorhood of the whole thing. It was also extremely depressing, but, you know, Madame Butterfly is also super sad.
I overall enjoyed the music more than anything. Much like Les Mis, it was incredibly powerful, and there are definitely some melodic lines that got stuck in my head, but it wasn't an easy score to hum along to.
The biggest downfall for me, was seeing the Gala at the end. I know for a lot of people it was a true highlight, and I feel like those people's opinions need to be honored, but for me, it was distracting. Lea Solanga is an incredible talent, but the first few acts were… confusing. Watching her sing was great, but then seeing her sing with cast members who just performed, was weird. When they brought out the original Chris, that was cool. But then the new Kim, and the new Chris… and all the kissing. It was… awkward, and seemed ill-planned
T
hen Jonathan Pryce came out, and he is not in the best shape. And he did the biggest number that the character he originated sang in the show, which is 900 years long. He brought out the new engineer, then the original producer, and composers came out. It was just… it dragged. I dont know what they could have done to entertain me. I think because I am new to this show, i felt like I was on the outside and I hated that.
Now that its being revived on Broadway, a new generation will be exposed to the Heat in Saigon. I really hope that the show has the same impact as the original. I appreciate having a complicated relationship with this show now, at least I have a relationship with it now. I do feel that the history of this show may be just as important as the actual show itself.
The first time I saw the Broadway Disney’s The Lion King live on stage I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It had been around, and around, it was probably on its 5th or 6th national tour, as it was around 2007 when I saw a touring company in Sacramento.
The original Broadway production opened on at the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1997. It has been almost 20 years since we first saw a live action Rafiki wail those opening notes, those notes that still gives us goosebumps. I still am a vocal advocate and supporter of the additional ensemble vocals that had been added to this show by Lebo M.
To this day, I can not say how much I love these a capella African chants. One by One, the Lioness Hunt, and Grassland chant are the best pieces in the show. Especially when One by One opens the second act and the actors are in the audience with birds. #myheartswells
The vocals, the puppets, the sets, the famous history behind Julie Taymor’s crazy brain child. Something that really help her make a name for herself. This show set the stage for Disney to promptly take over Broadway (and many welcomed it)
I was so so excited to see it again, and to share the joy of this show with my friends (and some of their kids, too)! I wanted them to see what I had seen, feel what I had felt. The show started and as "The Circle of Life" begun, I was all smiles.
As the dialogue started, and the story began to unfold, I became less than enthralled.
Was it that I had already seen it once, and the Disney magic had worn off? Or was it, that after all these years of playing Broadway and countless national and international tours, the show lost the polish it once had?
I felt a lot of over-acting from the "feline" actors. I can't tell what it was specifically, but their movement on stage seemed trite. Especially that of the 3 main male characters, Young Simba, Mufasa, and especially Scar. The Hyenas, Shezi, Bonzai, and Ed were incredibly sloppy in their performance. I could barely understand their dialogue, their singing, and the movements that they had seemed without motivation. It was all very distracting.
Throughout several numbers, members of the ensemble seemed straight up bored. They were not involved in the scene at all. I know that when you are a flower with a giant taco on your head, you may not want to smile, but you are pulling focus, dude. It seemed so unprofessional and awkward.
One of my favorite pieces, made famous by Tony Award, Grammy Award, Drama Desk Award winner Heather Headley, and also done masterfully by the Nala that I saw in 2007, Shadowland, lacked power, lacked sorrow, and lacked a literal and figurate voice in this performance.
If I didn't know that song so well, I would have had no idea what she was singing about and that made me sad for people who could have enjoyed that number they way so many have in the past.
Reading through the bios of the cast, a number of the performers had played various roles literally thousands of times. Were the actors just going through the motions and I picked up on it?
It's hard to say what my problem was. Friends of mine who were seeing the show for the first time were still incredibly entertained with it, as I was the first time. They loved the spectacle that it was, some of the vocal pieces they had never heard had their hearts racing.
One problem everyone I was with had, and it is a constant problem at the venue we watched the show. The San Diego Civic theatre has terrible sound. It always has been terrible and I assume it always will be terrible. The dialogue was extremely low, and quiet and the music was unbalanced.
I know I am critiquing the crap out of this, and the bottom line is overall the show was just okay. I'm glad I got to go with my friends. I am even more glad that the tickets were at a discounted price. Disney's the Lion King is still such a great show, though, so I can't be mad at it for too long. I would definitely see it again. Lastly, I want to include one of the best things, I personally feel came from Broadways Disney's the Lion King. As the Broadway show celebrated it's 10 anniversary, it had a homecoming of sorts. in 2007 the Lion King opened in Johannesburg. "There would be no 'Lion King' without South Africa. This is where the umbilical cord was first cut," said Oprah Winfrey, who brought 150 students from her Girls Academy which is located nearby.
In a previous post, I had a lot to say about the live broadcast of Musicals on network television. I still stand behind my support and adoration for this, even as it works out some kinks. We can all agree that there is much to learn.
I was TERRIFIED when Fox announced that it was going to jump in the game with ‘Grease:Live’. I literally could not complain about it enough.
I was stone cold wrong.
I was so irritated by this idea of Grease being brought to the small screen for a lot of reasons, all of which I had mentioned, and I feel like the Fox executives read my post and said “He’s right, let's change these things”
While Grease will always be sexist AF, and it has been 9 months since I watched this event live, I want to say how wonderfully surprised I was at how much I truly enjoyed the production.
There was so much thought and care put into staging this. The sound stages and exteriors were in front a a live audience, that you COULD SEE on tv. The halls, the gym, the diner, everything looked great.
Also, for good measure, I loved the transition for Marty to singing in her room with the girls, to singing at the US show for “Freddy My Love”
Some of the more questionable lyrics were either omitted or made more family friendly, and most importantly, between Thomas Kail’s direction, and Aaron Tveit’s acting, Danny Zucko seemed like a guy who got sort of lost in a very real way, and tries to be a better guy. Its not implied, it's not awkward. Many have said that his performance in this production was bland, or lackluster (I admit, I did some research for this post) but I disagree. I remember distinctly thinking that there was a choice to soften him up during his "tough guy" Danny, and I thought it went a long way in the storyline. A fresh perspective on where Zucko was coming from. It made sense that Danny joined Doody in “Those Magic Changes”. It spoke more about their journey, particularly Danny's
The dance numbers were on point and actually focused on ALL the dancers, not just leads. That's always nice to see when the choreographer goes through so much work to have most of it scrapped in favor of “star time”
The supporting cast was amazingly well done. Vannessa Hudgens, who’s father had just passed, truly showed the meaning of the show must go on, and using your pain in your performance, Kether Donahue, an all around personal favorite, might have been the funniest thing that graced that sound stage, the boys, who were more or less forgettable, didn't irritate me as the “thunderbirds” or “Burger Palace Boys” (whichever version is your favorite) tend to do. And also, they were multi-racial, which made me very happy.
I was not a fan of Carly Rae Jepsen’s added song. I don't know why it was there. It was boring, it didn't show off her voice, we were all sad. I'm going to chalk it up to something important happening off stage...
Though I will have to gush a little about Boys II Men pulling out all the stops. I grinned ear to ear for one of my favorite numbers in this show. It was such a magical moment.
To be frank, the BEST thing was that race scene!! I appreciate they kept that intact from the film and they used every filming trick in the book to make that come alive, with literal smoke and mirrors. The imagination, and stagecraft (set craft?) behind making this pivotal moment come alive continuously blows my mind and is something that people always mention when discussing this event.
Mario Lopez was a shit show. Plain and simple. While I'm sure he's a lovely and competent man in real life, his performance was unbalanced and distracting. I really needed him to not be there.
Overall I hope this continues. I hope I continue to be surprised, and this format is enlightening children and families of all ages to how wonderful theatre can be. Cheers to the production team of Fox's Grease: Live! and cheers to all the Emmy's you won.
Next up, Hairspray: Live on NBC. will you be watching?
I did this thing, and it was not theatre related. I set a goal and I reached it. I'm super proud of myself. I wanted to share it with you.
About 2 months ago, we had this Leadership and Culture presentation in our office. It was really informative, and I walked away with some perspective, and a lot to think about.
A Little Background: There was a topic that was brought up in the meeting that really got my attention. I wanted to hold on to this idea as soon as I heard about it. It a series of 30-day challenges that had been self-assigned to a guy who ended up having a TED talk about it. We were then asked if there was a 20-day challenge we could do for ourselves. It was presented as something that didn't have to be difficult, it didn't exactly have to change your life or your whole world. A challenge just for you, and help you grow.
To Get a Little Personal: I had recently (and not so recently) been told by medical professionals that I need to focus on cardio in my workout routines. It's good for my body, which is genetically at risk for diabetes and heart disease, just like it's good for most people’s bodies. I had already started showing some of the pre-diabetic warning signs, and I needed to continue to take care of myself to stay healthy. However, I fight with the same boredom that many, many people do when it comes to cardio. Bikes, and ellipticals, and treadmills, and ever the stair climbers… you are huffing and puffing and staying in place. Its tough to stay engaged. So I thought it over and figured one mile is not that hard. I decided to start a mile a day challenge.
For this challenge, I gave myself one simple rule: I had to run at least one mile every day, for 30 days.
Off and Running: It was a simple start and I felt great about it. Sometimes I would be feeling really good, the initial mile would have me energized, and I would run more than a mile. Sometimes the cardio would warm me up and I would actually do some lifting for another 20 or 30 mins. It got me up off the couch and out the door. I was active for at least 15 to 20 mins every day, and I could feel a big difference.
My Mile a Day Goal Tracker
The Good: In the time I had given myself for this challenge, my boyfriend, Ben, and I had a little vacation planned. I had to plan a little in advance and map out a couple of routes while we were gone. It was nice that I was able to get out and run while I wasn't at home. I ran around a super cute area in Oakland, and found a really nice trail outside of Reno. Places I most likely would not have seen!
The Bad: One or two times, I would have to go to the gym late, at the end of the day. 10 pm on a treadmill seems really awful, but it was actually fine. I would crawl back home, shower and get right into bed. Those nights I actually slept extremely peacefully.
The Ugly: The worst was an evening where I was in a dance workshop for almost 3 hours and hadn't run my mile yet. A lot of people said to me “you danced for 3 hours, that counts” but it would have broken my rule. I had to RUN one mile, that was the deal that I had made with myself. I'm glad I stuck to that and didn't compromise. It made me feel that much more accomplished when I looked back on my 30 days.
This was at 10:20 PM
It was one of the tougher months I have put myself through, but it got me into a good routine. My last day of the challenge, I tried to push myself to run 2 miles, but I ran out of time I could spare being at the gym. I ended up with a good idea of what i can accomplish at the gym. I'm proud of myself. I wouldn't even say this is a wholly original idea, either. I obviously got the idea from someone else, who was explaining someone else's journey. Mini-challenges have been around for quite some time, but I like the small little wildfires it creates within a community.
Several friends and colleagues of mine have asked me about this and they have been inspired. Some are modifying the idea so that it for works for them, and what they hope to gain in the fitness department, but using the basics of “it's just one mile” to get motivated.
The Bottom Line: Let’s face it, some days, a mile is hard. You don't want to get out of bed, or you had a long day, you just finished a whole pizza by yourself, but you do it. You get some endorphins, you move on with your day. Other days, you think its going to be a drag, but then you hit a good stride, and you really feel motivated to take the day on and continue being active! I guess its all about perspective.
On Friday, September 30th, Ben and I went and saw the new musical "October Sky" at the Old Globe. This show is an adaptation of the 1999 film starring Laura Dern, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
I have to admit I was excited for this show when it was announced. We had a gift certificate to the Globe that was burning a hole in my pocket and I picked this show as the front runner in my head.
The Good:
The stand out of this show for me was absolutely the set. The set was just phenomenal. I read that, since this was based on the film, they wanted to keep a cinematic quality and have the scenery move seamlessly, and they succeeded. The set moved swiftly and the pieces were gorgeous. The highlight was the large wooden structures. They also had a great giant scrim that projected sweeping west Virginian skies it extremely effective. On several occasions, both of us were pointing at the beautiful things that were taking place.
The Bad:
About 2 weeks before we saw it, I started realizing that this might be the whitest show ever. I was right
The story takes place in a small mining town, Coalwood, West Virginia and is based on a true story. Families lived in the town, that was owned by the mining company and they worked in the mine. The company also owned the houses they lived in, and the schools the children attended.
The bulk (95%) of the actors were white. There was one black family, and the father’s skin color played into the script very minimally, literally in one scene it was quasi-mentioned. There was one other black actor, Bathtub Amos (Destan Owens) who sings a pretty amazing song. That is it. The ensemble was very large, and also very male. I would say that white men took up more than 50% of this cast.
The Ugly:
This show was seriously lacking any sort of female narrative at all. There were maybe 8 women total in this cast, and only 4 or 5 were named, and only 3 had a strong storyline. The 3 “main” females in this cast existed only for the men.
Ironically one of the major plot points was the female teacher, Miss Riley (Sandra DeNise), getting the point across that not everything in the world is designed to pick up or knock down the male main character, Homer Hickam (Kyle Selig), except in this storyline, it is.
I was reading the liner notes about the show, and the guy who wrote the music and lyrics for the show, Michael Mahler, had a strong perspective on why each of the 3 women mentioned had such a strong presence in the show. The female director and choreographer Rachel Rockwell lumped all women in these small towns together as one being. That really bothered me. It felt like she thought of the women as a sole entity that lived to worry about and care for their fellas. I think that is totally unfair.I know historically that this is how these women have been portrayed, and that isn't accurate at all. Even this show proves that they were women who had autonomy, who found a lot of strength where there wasn't much being given, had dreams and hopes for themselves, and their children, outside of their seemingly small lives.
I wanted to hear more about their stories. I don't think it would have been too tough to have these women speak with each other about something other than the male miners that happen to be dictating their lives. (FYI did not pass the Bechdel test)
Bottom Line:
I will say that I did enjoy a large portion of the music. I love bluegrass and folk, and this was clearly an inspiration to the composer. I did find myself distracted by a lot of the music sounding familiar. I picked up music from David Yazbeck’s the Full Monty, Kitt & Yorkey’s Next to Normal, and Joe DiPietro’s I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change.
The cast really seemed to shine when singing together as well, which is a bummer that the show was so solo heavy. There was a female trio that was gorgeous, the miner’s chorus was amazing, and the whole ensemble together gave me goosebumps
The cast was talented overall. Some of the cast was weaker than others as far as believability in their roles, which was a surprised considering how far along they are in the run. The most impressive singer that stood out, in my opinion, was a black man who sang a glorious song about moonshine. By far the best vocals and the best stage presence.
I guess I came back to the question, Why was the show written? It's not that this was a bad story to tell, but my QUESTION is why are these stories still being told. The white male narrative is so tired. This could have easily been a multiracial cast. There wasn't a lot of dialogue about race, or even class, honestly. Yes, historically speaking, you would not have seen a heavily integrated mining town in the late 50s, but I feel like Hamilton has really paved the road to ignore that.The film paid a great tribute to Homer Hickam, and was did pretty well, and really help launch Gyllenhaal's career. I don't regret seeing this show, but I do not see a ton of marketability in this.
From Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Children of Eden and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Also, I should probably say Prince of Egypt as well, even though that’s not technically a stage show, but still, learned so much from the music
I find it really odd to be a completely non-religious person and be so enamored with these musicals. I find them entertaining, and very worthwhile story telling.
I had the same experience as most being exposed to some of these shows. I watched the JCS movie really young, and it scared me, and then bored me. I sang "Any Dream Will Do" with a High School Ensemble, I heard "Day by Day" in Wet Hot American Summer, it did nothing for me, until I really started diving into theatre and I teched on Godspell, and then was in JCS a year later, and it hit me what a powerful story it was. It never did anything for me, theologically, but the drama hit home at my emotional core. The love, and the loss, it was great, also, great scores. As you may have read previously, I am not a big ALW fan, but Superstar is just the bees knees for me. Stephen Scwartz is good with me, and has always made me happy, and Godspell is a good example of why.
I'm totally out of the frame in this photo, but I was in this cast
Prince of Egypt was always something I was obsessed with. I saw the movie opening weekend, I got a boxed set with a picture, and tickets to the movie, I just love it. When you Believe, in all of its forms (Feature Length Film version or the ICONIC Pop Version with Whitney & Mariah) always makes me tear up, its just a composing, and great writing.
JATATD & Children of Eden came to me much later in life, and while i'm not as well versed in those scores & books, they are always a great listen, or a great show if i get a chance to catch them. I think its the accessibility of religion, and faith, mixed with the ease of music that makes these stories so grand to me. I did kick but at a Jeopardy category once, and it was on the bible, and I owe my streak to these shows.
When NBC originally announced in 2013 that they would be airing a LIVE broadcast of The Sound of Music, the world side-eyed the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical so hard.
Once the casting got announced (Carrie Underwood, and Vampire Bill in the lead) the world rolled its eyes, and once the broadcast aired, live, as promised, the world laughed. It was a laughable occasion, although it was tremendously important.
Bringing live theatre into the home of millions of people who don't have the means, and maybe not even the desire to explore live entertainment was such a thrill to think about. Hopefully it's creating new theatre lovers, though you would never know it from the hate-filled live-tweeting, and the moment by moment recaps that while hysterical, were pretty defamatory. While i can admit the show had its flaws: Carrie Underwood can't act, Vampire Bill is not very good at…. anything, and it was the first glimpse into the unnerving sound quality that is produced when there isn't a live audience for something that was meant to be live, there was a lot of stuff that was truly wonderful about that evening.
People who never would have had the slightest idea who Audra McDonald, Christian Borle, or Laura Benati was, got a glimpse into their true Broadway Worth talents. They got to see an unmixed sound of raw, talented voices, and how to recover in a performance when something goes wrong. It wasn't perfect, but it was magical.
I think the second time out, in 2014, they were learning, but this one seemed a lot more off. The casting was poor, Allison Williams, while very talented, was a terrible choice for Peter, Christopher Walken was more interested in himself than the production, and some of the production magic was removed when you saw that rigs sometimes go wrong, and camera ops sometimes get the wrong information. Also, whoever picked this show may have forgotten that it's not Disney's Peter Pan, and it is so very boring. Christian Borle (and his biceps) gave the production some substance, as well as the gaggle of professional Broadway dancers including Ryan Steele and Alex Wong.
I was definitely more disappointed with this production. It was trying to hard to throw around its weight in being a big NBC production, and it really missed the mark.
Though, nothing prepared me for what 2015 brought. When they announced they were going to have the Wiz be live, I had mixed emotions. I like the music from that show, but a lot of the dialogue is dated, it would be awesome to see an all-black cast of a musical on a primetime network, but are they going to do an all-black cast? Are they going to half-ass it like they did with Sound of Music? Are they going to try TOO hard like they did with Peter Pan?
There wasn't a lot of history to look back on. As the months rolled by, and they announced casting and I got more and more excited: Mary J Blige, David Alan Grier, Amber Riley, Uzo Aduba, Ne-yo, Elijah Kelley, and also Queen Latifah as the Wiz… which I will get into later in the post, but I really was excited about. Also having an unknown Shanice Williams as the lead I feel was brilliant, and the cherry on the cake was having the original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, playing Aunt Em. One of the important things about having the Wiz Live on a primetime network like NBC was the visibility and a representation of black actors. I was ready for this show. I feel it could be done. A great mix of respected performers and artists. I was not disappointed. This show had such a wonderful energy, and look to it. I think NBC really hit its stride with this. I hope to see more of this caliber of performances in the future, and I hope it fosters a new generation of performers and theatre lovers alike.
http://milasuniverse.bigcartel.com/product/representation-matters-12x12 "Photo taken by Kamila Powell of her 3 year old daughter as she is inspired by the talents of women who she can identify with. Spreading the message that representation matters."
This brings me to what I am truly dreading, The bandwagon effect has started and other networks are wanting to get on this ratings monster of live musicals, and leave it up to fox to riddle their new big production of “Grease Live!” with stunt casting and poor choices. Let me just rant for a minute here, but first off grease is a poor choice full or so much sexism it hurts my brain. Ladies, listen to men, and make sure you change every aspect of yourself to be liked. Being sexy is far more important than being yourself. Also, and this is the theatre geek in me getting pissed, they are doing a live production of the MOVIE version of this musical. Which irritates me immensely. I truly, honest to god will fight you on this, the music in the stage version is far superior to that of the movie. Let's talk about the casting of this atrocity as well. The only shining jewel in this crap hat is Aaron Tveit, whom I have mentioned many times before. He is a God among men, he made Les Miz the movie bearable, he brought us all to tears in next to normal, he made us all want to disguise ourselves in catch me if you can the musical, he is just perfect. I am assuming he will still be wonderful as Danny Zuko.
But Julianne Hough has never impressed me, even as a dancer, Vanessa Hudgens is still so full of promise but I also feel like she is horribly miscast as Rizzo, and I wonder if this choice was made to really set herself apart from her as Gigi when she lead the revival on Broadway (that really didn't do very well), Kether Donohue, whom I'm really loving on You’re the Worst, is continuously cast as “the fat one” in things, and she's not even fat! The thing that is cracking me up about the casting of Marty and Frenchie is that both Keke Palmer and Carly Rae Jepsen made their Broadway debut in the same role (The Cinderella Revival). Mario Lopez and Ana Gasteyer will be just fine in their respective roles, but once again, they are only lending their names to this production, and then having Jessie J perform an “updated” version of Grease is the Word… well… we’ll see. I am definitely going to watch this, but i doubt that it will be very good at all. I think that they are intentionally make a lot of choices that NBC was choosing to stay away from, and it seems like this will continue to dumb down the general audiences to what to expect from live shows.
