Live Blogging a Live Stream

Tonight history is being made.  Broadway HD is live streaming a current Broadway show - She Loves Me.  This is the first time something like this has happened, and for theatre junkies, it's a dream come true.  Because hopefully it will be such a rousing success that it will continue to happen.  Unfortunately, She Loves Me is a show I've seen live already.  Don't get me wrong, I loved it.  The set and cast was fabulous.  However, it would have been much more fun to see something new.  But nonetheless, I'm sitting here with my bestie smiling like a nut getting ready to have vanilla ice cream and signing along.  It really is a fabulous thing!

And these are my thoughts - thoughts I pretty much had when I saw it live, but it's rude to blog when you're in a theatre : )

~ It didn't start out well.  There were definitely some technical difficulties.  Thank goodness for Twitter, where we learned that everyone was having the same issues.  Since then, it's been absolutely perfect!

~ This set is gorgeous! I'm so happy they won the Tony for set design.  It looks like a beautiful parfumerie that I would love to shop in.

~ Zac Levi is just so darn dreamy and likable!  And so darn talented.  

~ The only issue I have with the show is that Amalia and Georg are supposed to hate each other.  I just don't buy the dislike. 

~ When I saw it, there was another actor playing Ladislav.  The new actor is quite good.  Apparently this dude was on Frasier. So that's cool.

~ Laura Benanti has a beautiful voice, but I'm just not a fan of that Soprano in the middle of a show of non- classically-trained singers.  She just doesn't fit in with the sound.

~ The kid that plays Arpad is so going places.  He's phenomenal!

~ Gavin Creel is such a cutie (Shallow comment of the night...)

~ Jane Krakowski's ability to get her leg up on Gavin Creel's shoulder and then jump into a split is utterly baffling!  I can barely touch my toes and she's splitting across the stage...

~ I'm always shocked by the dark turn and how quick it comes.  Things lighten up pretty quick after but whoa, wasn't expecting it...

~ Knowing when I have to pee at intermission I won't have to wait in line with 332 other people might just be the best thing to come out of this evening.

~ I saw Peter Bartlett - the head waiter - in Something Rotten! and he was just as funny. In only one number, he manages to steal the show and nail every joke.

~ Zac Levi is perfect in this part!

~ Intermission! I'm loving that this is being billed as a Romantic-ish comedy.  So cute!

~ Vanilla Ice Cream Time!!!

~ "Well I'll have a little talk with myself..." : )

~ Where's my shoe?!  - I had this song stuck in my head for weeks after seeing it.

~ I'm more interested at the moment in Where can I get those pajamas?  So cute!

~ A whole song about Vanilla Ice Cream - how can you not love it?  Also, the whole reason we had a vanilla ice cream break - just in case you weren't sure.

~ Just as I was fascinated by Jane Krakowski's split, I'm equally in awe of Zac Levi's ability to do a cartwheel and that clever little hat trick!  I can barely walk down the street without tripping...

~ I have to admit, I've felt the need to sing a song about a library too.  Though, as hard as I've tried, I've never met a dreamy optometrist at the library, unfortunately.

~ I would totally wear every piece of clothing the women in this show wear.  Beautiful!  

~ So clever to do the 12 days of Christmas with carolers narrating!

~ The Christmas shoppers look like me about 3 days before Christmas...I'm stressing just thinking about it.

~ They keep going on and on about how "awful" Georg was - I just don't see it!

~ Hollywood kiss in the snow -  Perfect ending!

~ Using the "Please come again soon" after the curtain call - so perfect!

And that's that - a fabulous way to spend an evening and I'm now hoping all the shows follow their lead.  So exciting!

June Reads in Review

When compared to last month's list of 9 books, June was fairly pathetic.  I'm supposed to be reading more in the summer and based on this stack, I'm reading WAY less.  However, I'm reading less because I'm getting to do WAY more exciting things.  So I'm ok with it.  I achieved the 3 books for the month, which was the goal, and it looks like I'll be back on track to read a few more than 3 this July, considering I'm about half-way through my first book of July already...

"The Weekenders" by Mary Kay Andrews: I'm a big fan of her books because she always releases one just as summer is hitting, and it usually takes place in the South - sometimes on the beach, and sometimes not.  They're perfect for the summer reading list.  This one was good - chick lit mixed with a mystery.  I do feel it could have been about 100 pages shorter.  Overall good as usual, but not as good as my favorite of hers "Deep Dish."

"The Philharmonic Gets Dressed": This is a kids book that I picked up at Lincoln Center because I realized I've never purchased a kids book that was NY themed.  Anyway, this one is a beginner's guide to an orchestra which is just as cute as it sounds.  Such a great book for kids who love music!

"Broadway Nights" by Seth Rudetsky: Can I just say I love Seth Rudetsky?  Can he be the Will to my Grace?  The best thing about reading books written by him, is that you can hear him saying pretty much every single line of the book. His main characters are just a slightly skewed version of him, and since he's so delightful, that's definitely a good thing.  So darn funny and a great guide to insider Broadway terms - I even learned a few things.

Trivia Tuesday

~ Update on me driving to Trivia, I'm now 75% certain of how to get to the bar.  I was able to make it this week with just a little assistance. Yay Me!

~ It's very hard to Trivia, when the guy sitting next to you is blowing his nose ALL evening long...

~ When there's no Orioles game on, the bar shows Water Polo, Swim Trials, and motorcycle racing, which are just about as exciting as they sound.

~ Us English nerds were super excited to get a question on Novel Characters.  We were not excited that the question turned out to be about The DaVinci code aka a book nearly EVERYone has read.

~ No one on our team is in the majority of people who live for Shark Week, evidenced by the complete lack of knowledge on any question in the Shark Week Round.  Thankfully, a 6 letter word for breaking the surface is the same when discussing whales as well, so breach wasn't too difficult to decipher.  But the other 2 were hopeless.

~ My need to email loads of different people at work every day made answering a question on the last 3 letters of an Army email address a breeze.  

~ The Twitter bird's name is Larry cleverly (or not so cleverly depending on whether your a basketball fan or not) named after Larry Bird.  Get it?  Way to be cute, Twitter overlords. (On a semi-related note - and since I discovered this during trivia this evening - Stephanie Block liked my tweet regarding Falsettos.  That's useless in the long run and really cool at the same time!)

~ Having someone sing Billy Joe and Bobby Sue can help greatly if you're attempting to figure out the name of the Steve Miller Band song - Because once they sing it, you sort of hear the rest of the song in your head and since the refrain is the title, it's super exciting.  (Take the Money and Run in case you were wondering...)

~ An entire round of "sporty" quotes was just a terrible point-loser.  Why don't we know sports people?! Unfortunately one of the quotes wasn't uttered by Sporty Spice so we really were screwed.

~ Reading articles upon articles on the EURef financial crisis and reading multiple times that the credit of the UK was downgraded by Moody's had no effect on my remembering that Moody's was the name of the credit company.  None whatsoever.  I could tell you everything about the UK's credit but nothing about who did it apparently.  Let's just say I can now.

~ Super excited to find the last question was about Neil Patrick Harris.  Super not excited to find that not only did we know the answer but everyone else did too.  So much for moving out of second to last place.

Scrappy Blues

About 11 months ago I went to England and Belgium for almost 2 weeks.  This past weekend I finally completed my scrapbook of those photos.  I certainly hope that happens to other people.  Because I was feeling like quite a slacker.  In all honesty, I had some trouble with it because I was overwhelmed.  I took over 900 photos over 12 days.  That's a lot of editing, printing and situating (my term for what I do when I attempt to scrapbook.)  And since that time I had taken 8 trips to NYC, 1 trip to Texas, celebrated Christmas, and took a trip to the ocean that I also wanted to document.  #Overwhelming

In this ridiculous process of "finishing" the album, aka starting with a plan, scrapping that plan after a month, starting with another plan, then also tossing that plan and finally deciding on the simple option, I learned a few things.

For one, I'm apparently neurotic and slightly obsessive compulsive. Who starts a scrapbook 3 different times?  This girl right here. I originally started with a 12x12 but quickly decided that even though I had 900 pictures, only like 100 were actually good, so there was going to be a lot of filler in the 12x12.  So then I moved on to a 6x8 which was a lot more manageable. But then I also wanted to edit my photos, which is mind-numbingly annoying when using PicMonkey. So I actually relied a lot on my cell phone pics to make up a majority of the album - PicTapGo + My trusty Canon Selphy really made that process so much easier.  So - Lesson 1 I guess is - Don't mess with simple.  If it's overwhelming, then it's not fun any more.  

Secondly, even though I had the best of intentions taking journaling cards with me to write about the trip in the moment, I was much too busy enjoying the trip to take the time to write.  Also, when I did have the time, i.e. on trains, planes and automobiles, the journey was much too bumpy or cramped to spread out and write. While it's best to scrapbook on the go, it's not always practical.  I suggest just taking some notes on things that need to be remembered on your phone, and then writing them down when you get back home. What there was time and space to do though was to edit photos on my phone.  Getting them done a little at a time, instead of one enormous batch was so much easier to handle.  Then printing was a breeze. Lesson 2: Technology is your friend.

Invest in some journaling cards designed by In a Creative Bubble.  She's amazing and makes super simple and super cute journaling cards for travel as well as every day life.  All you need to do print them out and fill them in.  And they look fabulous in an album.  My 3rd lesson: Apparently I like simple designs.

Lastly, as much as I love to scrapbook, and as much as I enjoy looking at everyone else's albums, my friends do not.  I just spent months of my life making it perfect, and only close family actually wants to see it.  Unfortunately, my friends are not crafters making them simultaneously a pain in my neck and no fun when it comes to showing off.  Lesson 4: Get crafty friends!

And one last lesson I learned just as I was writing this post - I need better lighting in the room in which I took these photos of my album.  I promise they looked better on the phone screen...

Pier 6 Fun

Some weekends I go pretty much the entire 48 hours without doing anything exciting at all. Other weekends are chock full of fun, like this weekend for instance.  Last night was the DC fun and tonight was the Baltimore fun.  Since they built up the Harbor East part of the city, concerts at the Pier 6 pavilion on the water have gotten a lot more inclusive and fun. Instead of purchasing a ticket to the concert, you can now go down with chairs and nice picnic, and sit across a small canal and listen to the music from there.  I've been hearing about this phenomenon for a while but never tried it until this evening.  And seeing as it's been a fairly cool summer so far, it was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday.  Sunset, friends, on the water and Barenaked Ladies - I love summer!

Next to Normal

About 6 months ago, I became obsessed with the musical Next to Normal - the story of a woman with bi-polar disorder and how the illness affects her family.  It doesn't sound like the basis of a beautiful musical, but after hearing just a song or 2 I was hooked.  And that was just seeing it on YouTube (while I wholly disagree with Broadway bootlegs in principle, in practice I will admit to watching them repeatedly...), I had completely missed the opportunity to see it live.  So being the hopeful musical theater junkie that I am, I googled it and found that it was playing at the Keegan theater this month. I purchased the tickets then, and have been waiting anxiously for tonight ever since.

And let me tell you, the show absolutely did not disappoint.  I was blown away by the talent of this cast. I didn't think the Keegan was considered a regional theater so I assumed it would be actors that were doing this for fun.  But I was very, very wrong.  The actors had some serious shows beneath their belt already, and their ability to sing the extremely complicated score was nothing short of amazing. The set decoration, consisting of upside down steps, and off-kilter doors was the perfect way to show that Diana was slowly losing her grip on reality.   Even the theater itself was fabulous.  The Keegan is tiny, only having about 50-75 seats in total.  But it was comfortable and intimate, which made you really feel like you were part of the action happening on stage.  And since most of the songs are so heartfelt, it makes you feel that much more for the characters and what their going through.

Overall, I can't find a single thing to not like about this evening.  The show always hits me pretty hard, and I will admit to tearing up (though, not as much as I would have if I didn't know what was going to happen.)  And ordinarily I don't go for shows that choke me up, but there's just something about this one.  I'm so happy that we got the chance to see this amazing cast act their hearts out and will be anxiously awaiting their next production.

Friday Five: England Edition

Because of the EU referendum, England has been in my mind a lot today. I have no idea how it happened but England will be leaving the EU, and it seems most people are quite unhappy about it.  I feel terrible for those people and have been silently wishing them good thoughts all day.  They're going to need the good vibes over the coming months and years. The vote however doesn't make me love the UK any less. It's still one of my most favorite places in the world. And because of that, here are my favorites from my last few trips...

1. Of course The Globe is on the list!  I mention the Globe specifically because I'm a Shakespeare nerd, however the other theatres I visited were also equally cared for.  The Barbican in London and the Swan in Stratford are 2 of the best theatre experiences I've ever had.  I'm in awe of how the arts are treated in the UK.  It's a major focus which is amazing to see.

2. Next up are the gorgeous homes in the Cotswolds - not forgetting the gorgeous people of the Cotswolds.  I've never felt so welcome and so taken care of than I did in the smaller villages.  People are just genuinely kind. 

3. York Minster Abbey is just as impressive is everyone says it's going to be.  It's quite the feat of architecture.  And the best part is, there are tons of other beautiful, historic and important buildings & churches scattered everywhere you look in the UK.  I'm always in shock of the age of the places I'm looking at.  To see them still standing and still thriving is just a testament to the dedication the monarchy and the government has for honoring the past.

4. Life - most specifically in some of the bigger cities like London and Edinburgh, but everyone is just so full of life.  It's chaotic and crazy and noisy and maddening, but it's also exciting and a jolt to the system.  Everyone is headed somewhere to do something.  You feel like you're a part of something when you're right in the thick of it all.  There are different accents and colors and races, and yet everyone is just sort of living and existing as one.

5. The green space.  Even in a major city like London, there are little parks and spaces to go to catch your breath when city life gets a little too hectic.  And the green spaces are actually green, with flowers and plants and trees everywhere.  In the US, where most cities are pretty much just cities, it's neat to see a dedication to calm and tranquility as well as to the environment. I'm more of a city girl at heart, but wandering around a bustling village like Stratford surrounded by trees, a river and fresh flowers, I started to day-dream about a little cottage in the hills with a back garden of my own.

To Exit or Not to Exit?

Before I go on for a paragraph or two, I'd like the record to reflect that there are many, many things I don't understand about the EU Referendum.  For all my love of England, I'm fairly clueless on this one.  I've tried to read articles and do the research, and yet it's still not making sense.  So be forewarned, if you do understand what's happening in England tonight, the next sentences may make me sound like a dunce.  I'm really not, just confused that's all.

For starters, the whole act of a referendum in the first place is totally alien to me.  A few months ago, there was a Scottish referendum on whether or not to leave the UK.  Now there's another for leaving the EU.  How do these referendums get decided on?  I know people vote on the actual referendum, but who is the deciding body that makes the decision for what the country will be voting on?  For an entire country to secede from a union, seems like a HUGE deal.  Was this a parliamentary decision, or did one of the parties just decide that it might be fun to completely re-write geography, finance, and history because they were bored?

And that's not even addressing the point of leaving the union in the first place.  I understand why some Scots wanted to leave the UK.  They wanted to exert their independence and stand on their own feet.  That I could see.  But in this case, the UK is already its own independent country.  They don't even have the same money system as the rest of the Union.  There doesn't seem to be an upside to leaving. What's the point?  

Finally there's the reporting and opinions on the referendum.  From what I've read, seen and heard over the last few months, no one has openly said they want to leave the EU (except of course the politicians - I'm speaking more on the public in general).  However, in the exit polls that I'm watching right now, it looks like the country is split almost 50/50.  It's pretty close.  Of course, on one of the paper's front pages for tomorrow, there's a quote from a pro-Brexit politician conceding the vote to the Remain-ers.  I'm confused.  Don't all the returns have to be counted first? Shouldn't he check with the rest of his party before he goes about waving a white flag willy nilly?

Like I said, I have no idea what's going on.  In my opinion, without a shred of understanding, I like the idea of staying in the Union.  How different would it be for the Brits to not have the ability to freely travel around Europe?  Passports and visas would be a bit of hassle for members that have never had to deal with them before.  Also, they're pretty much already getting the best of both worlds - support from the greater Union and their own government & financial system (which is doing better than a lot of places, it must be said.) 

But then again, there's every possibility that I'm wrong...I suppose I'll just wait to hear what Twitter says in the morning to determine my real feelings on the subject : ) 

Three for Three

Today is a day that I have 3 things that I'm gushing about and have posts running through my head about all 3.  Granted, one is much more important and serious than the other 2 but all 3 are quite post-worthy on their own.  So I've decided to just write about all 3.  I'm sure you're super excited...

~ We'll get the most important one out of the way first.  At this very moment, a group of Democratic congressmen and women are staging a sit in to force a vote on gun control.  I'm astonished by this simple act of rebellion on their part.  It's powerful and hopefully it'll be useful to call members to action.  I'm equally astonished (in the other direction) that not only has Paul Ryan blocked the cameras from recording it, but he's also asking his followers to retweet a message claiming the sit in is a "stunt."  When did politicians get so slimy and unprofessional?  They're using Twitter now as a way to disagree on matters of legislation? Disgusting!  I'm very much in favor of gun control and back these members 150% in what they're trying to do.  #NoBillNoBreak

~ Ok, now that the important stuff is out of the way, I can gush a bit.  First in the gushing category is Hamilton, mostly because I: A. Haven't gushed about it in a while and B. Work with boys who could care less about anything theater related and they roll their eyes when I try to gush at work.  So even though I fangirl a lot about Hamilton (as does everyone else on God's green earth) I've been attempting to avoid the music.  I know a few of the more famous songs that they use for news stories and things, but I had never listened to the album all the way through.  I wanted to be surprised when I finally got to see it in September.  But due to some cajoling, I decided to give it a listen.  And now (expectedly) I'm hooked.  It is as good as everyone says it is, it might even be better.  Every line, every note, every intonation is perfect. I can't even imagine the amount of energy that Lin Manuel Miranda spent writing this masterpiece.  He really and truly does deserve every bit of credit he receives.  Also, it's hard not to love a guy that does this...

We snuck Tveit in &out thanks to our good friends at @LesMizBway next door & caught this along the way... pic.twitter.com/HPQyXseOfT

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 22, 2016

While still managing to film live #Ham4Ham's like this one every single Wednesday (on top of the 532 other things he's doing currently.) 


~ Last gush of the day belongs to the amazing and heart breaking final episode of Person of Interest.  I will admit to not understanding every single thing that happened in the show over the last 5 years, but I have loved all the characters and the writing, oh so much. It was so groundbreaking when it came out, and it was one of the only shows that really kept me on the edge of my seat from week to week. To see it go was pretty sad.  But, I'm so glad they were able to get a final run to tie up all the loose-ends.  And while my favorite, (Spoiler Alert!) John didn't make it out alive, he died rescuing his friends, who all survived to fight another day, even Bear their adorable canine mascot/6th member of the team.  All of that makes me hopeful that one day in the near future, we'll get a re-boot and get to see what the team's been up to a few years from now. (And if that reboot could possibly be a prequel so we could see John and Root again, that would be fabulous...)

Trivia Tuesday

~ It turns out that even though I go to trivia every week, I'm incapable of finding the bar when I am actually driving, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

~ Looking up the Facebook hint of the week and remembering it, really comes in handy.  Especially when they do something sneaky like make the Facebook hint of the week the actual answer to a question.

~ I love when you can answer a question, before hearing the question.  For instance, when the round is "Letters" themed and the first category is "Bond, James Bond".  Obviously the answer was always going to be Q, right?

~ Having the entire table sing "Shut up and Dance with me" is not only enjoyable, but also a sure fire way to get the answer to a lyric question.  Turns out Juliet is the Shakespeare character mentioned in the song.  I'm certain that the other people in the bar not playing trivia were wishing that lyric came earlier in the song, so they weren't forced to hear 5 different tables singing the song out loud...

~ The only thing about Motown our entire team could even begin to guess was James Brown, and the fact that they make a little side-step shimmying move thing that one team-member felt the need to demonstrate.  Unfortunately, while the move was spot-on, it couldn't be used as an answer.

~ The only reason our team knew that Maine was the one US State to border New Brunswick, was due to an insane love of Anne of Green Gables as a child.  

~ We FINALLY got a spelling question right because we all agreed on it.  That NEVER happens.  We usually have to different spellings and choose the wrong one of the 2.  Fortunately, Presbyterian shows up on a load of churches so it's an easy one to remember. 

~ Pediculophobia is a fear of lice.  Honestly, doesn't every single person have this phobia?  Is there anyone in the world that says "you know, I really wouldn't mind having lice..."?

~ Our team name in the next life is going to be called The Slow Processors.  The time it takes to get to an answer is quite ridiculous.  And when you factor turning in one answer then thinking of the correct answer a mili-second later, it's just a pain in the neck!

In Which I Rant Endlessly...

I am one of those people that is always nice to customer service people.  I was a cashier for 4 years in high school and college so I know the job sucks.  I go out of my way to use please and thank you, and take what they're saying as fact.  That's the way you're supposed to be. You're supposed to be respectful and kind.  And they're supposed to be helpful in return.

However, as I've learned today, when they're completely, and utterly un-helpful in return, I have no idea how to act.  Let's just say I had to deal with 2 different car rental companies today. Both of which, I had reservations for.  And neither of them actually respected that reservation, which meant I walked away from both car-less - which is a bit of an issue because I had just dropped my own car off to be fixed.  That right there, that's the issue.  

I'm not asking for much.  I understand that there are runs on car rentals.  I even understand that car rental companies can't be expected to rent a car to someone that doesn't have a reservation.  But when I have a reservation, a reservation that was confirmed earlier today not once but twice, why on earth do you not have a car for me?  Why did you rent all your cars out, including the one that had my name on it?  And why when I asked for a supervisor did you tell me I could call Baltimore City, and tell me if I wanted a car, I'd actually have to drive to Baltimore City?  Why are you so darn unhelpful?!  And rude to boot!?

And most importantly, why was I tongue-tied and incapable of being rude back to you? Darn you lack of back-bone!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to this very important dude right here.  He's funny & kind, always loving and cooks us the most fabulous meals every single day. And he's quite possibly the best dad a girl could ever ask for.  I hope he enjoyed his day because he deserves the very best.  Love him bunches!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers!

Trivia Saturday - Surprise!

So somehow, not entire sure it wasn't due to a mathematical error, we made it to the Trivia semi-finals again.  That meant a super fun Saturday edition of Trivia.  However there are some downsides to that...

~ Semi-finals are always at a larger bar than the one we usually go to so they can fit up to 25 teams.  This meant we were forced to drive into the city and visit the Horeshoe Casino.  The restaurant - Guy Fieri's something (I'm still not sure what the actual name was) - was inside the casino.  That brings us to point #2...

~ We regularly get the best service at our weekly trivia games because it's always the same 2 servers on Tuesday nights and they're wonderful people.  We apparently take them for granted, because when receiving terrible service at Guy's place today, we had no idea how to act.  Sometimes you do have to ask for a soda 4 times before you receive it.  The same goes for the trivia host.  Our weekly host's name is Phil and he's a lovely human being with a great sense of humor.  I'm not sure what today's host's name was but he was an awkward human being who needed to stop eating the microphone if he intended for anyone to understand what he was saying.  Please refer to these points when you wonder how we did so poorly - the servers and the host threw off our mojo.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it... : )

~ Boxing is a sport that no one on our team watches, wants to watch or has even seen in passing.  To reinforce our lack of knowledge the trivia host gave us an entire 3 questions having to do with boxing - a round in which we didn't get a single point.

~ When the first 2 categories are marketing and training, and the entirety of the team are either marketers, training specialists and teachers, you may wrongly assume you've got it made in the shade for the rest of the game.  You will be very, very wrong.

~ While some may argue pulling obscure Star Trek facts out of thin air makes you "smart" or "cool",  our team has decided that coolness is so not based on star trek - even though the 2 that pulled the facts were on our team.

~ To make us feel better - that's my assumption anyway - after the whole boxing round fiasco, the host decided to present a movie themed round.  Easy right?  Nope, yet another round where not a single question was answered. 

~ Alan Turing created the enigma machine.  The enigma machine is located at the cryptologic museum in Maryland.  He was the father of modern computer science.  He was gay at a time that you could be arrested for being so.  There's a prestigious computer science award given in his name.  There's a fabulous movie about his life starring Benedict Cumberbatch, that I saw and loved. It made me cry.  All of this information floating in my head, and we get asked for the name of the stinking movie! Couldn't come up with "The Imitation Game" to save my life...

~ Somehow knowing that "Non Sequitur" was a two word Latin phrase for "it does not follow" and it's a comic strip made me feel just a little better, after getting every single question I attempted to answer, wrong.  

~ It was a bad day for my brain.  It might have had something to do with the $12 margarita I was surprised to find I had ordered.  

~ In Words with Friends, there are 101 two-letter words that you can play.  Starting out attempting to answer that question by counting on our fingers didn't really help at all.

Friday Five

1. Among all the fabulous Hamilton news this week (Phillipa Soo is going to star in Amelie, the documentary is out in October, the original cast is filming the show!!!), the best news of the week was that when Lin Manuel Miranda leaves in July, his standby, the lovely Javier Munoz will be taking over the role.  Since I knew Lin would be leaving before I got to see it, this is the best possible outcome.  I can't wait to see "#Javilton"!

2. When I finally find Prince Charming, this will be the way we tell our friends and family we're having a little prince or princess.  This is by far the cutest birth announcement I've ever seen!

3. There has been some really fantastic reporting and commenting on the Orlando disaster over the last week.  Even the late night hosts have had some really insightful and kind things to say about where we are and where the US needs to be.  But my favorite quote came from Seth Myers in the wake of Donald Trump's insensitive tweet regarding the congratulations he's receiving for being right about the radicals.  Seth Myer's said:

"I'm not sure who the congratulations are coming from but maybe you should save them for the first responders and those lining up to give blood."

4. Seeing as the Tony awards were just so wonderfully wonderful, can you blame me for wanting more?  I mean, this awesome video of Sean Hayes, James Corden and Jake Gylenhaal singing a song from Aladdin is pretty amazing.  But where in the world are the other videos of all the other commercial break karaoke performances?  I need these to show up on YouTube, post haste!  Get on this theater gods!

5.  Yet another Disney animated movie to get excited about!  Though, it's up in the air if it will be better than Finding Dory (which while I haven't seen, can't be anything but perfect!) 

Count Me Out

One of my dream destinations has always been Australia.  It just seems like such a magical place full of beautiful sites and wonderful people.  Of course the cost and length of a flight to Australia has always been the downside.  It's so very expensive and I get antsy on my way to Texas.  I can't even imagine 17 hours in the cramped quarters of a jet.  But one of these days, I've always said it was going to happen.  

That is until I read an article today, and started thinking of that myth about Australia that everyone quotes - Everything in Australia wants to kill you.  That's not entirely true I know, but it is home to some of the scariest insects, marsupials, and some of the other most ridiculously heinous animals known to man. Up until today I had sort of placed that fact out of my mind and focused on the good of this beautiful island.  

But today, scrolling my way through Twitter, much to my chagrin I discovered this picture.  

What's this you may ask?  Well this picture is a monitor lizard.  Some poor unfortunate couple on the island of Thailand discovered it on their front port attempting to get into their home.  Now if that doesn't haunt your dreams, the video of the giant swooping tail will, I promise you.  If I were one of the poor unfortunate souls that discovered this on my front porch, my house would no longer be mine.  I would write off the house, everything inside of it and the island as well.  I would jump on the first plane to the other side of the globe and never, ever look back.  I'd create a new life in some land-locked country far from the reaches of this foul and terrifying creature.

Now you may wonder what this has to do with Australia.  Well, after some research, (Google is not always your friend) I've learned of all the deadly and terrifying creatures they have there, the monitor lizard also calls Australia home. I'm sorry, up until today I didn't even know what a monitor lizard was.  But I'm now ready to mark entire continents down as no-fly zones just to avoid them.  Nope, Nope, Nope - I'm out.  There is no reason on god's green earth why a lizard should be as tall as I am.  Geckos, Newts, I can take, but lizards that are this creepy and may eat me just to show their lizard friends they can, not so much.  I mean really, I was under the impression that dinosaurs were extinct... 

June in Theatre

In the month of June, I was lucky enough to see 2 shows I hadn't seen before and another I had seen twice before.  Let's just say it was a very good theatre month.

First up was Matilda.  I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about this show.  For starters, I was quite excited to see it with Christopher Sieber, knowing he'd been killing it as Mrs. Trunchbull for the last year or so.  However, when word came down his last show would be June 5 and we were seeing it on the 7th, I was pretty bummed.  Then it came the story line.  I've actually never read Matilda nor have I seen the movie so I had a vague idea what it would be about but I wasn't exactly sure.  

The production itself was fabulous.  The stage decoration was colorful and fun and perfect for a kids show.  All of the actors and actresses were fantastic - particularly the little girl that played Matilda.  I even liked the actor that replaced Christopher Sieber - he was a riot!  My problem was more with the story line.  It got dark - like super dark.  I know Roald Dahl has a sort of history with dark stuff, but I wasn't expecting it to go that dark.  For a kids show, I was expecting light and breezy - not so much creepy teachers bumping off their sister and brother in law.  Also after 2.5 hours, the ending seemed just a bit rushed.  The ending was at least happy I guess, but it got happy in about 30 seconds.

Survey Says: It wasn't my favorite, but my theatre partner in crime loved it so it was definitely worth it.

Second was Something Rotten! for the third time.  It's ridiculous how much I enjoy this show.  It's just fun and funny, and makes me smile.  Unfortunately, Brian d'Arcy James just left last month, but the rest of the cast was pretty much the same.  Fortunately, Brian's replacement, Rob McClure, is just as funny in the part.  He even looks a bit like Brian, so at certain times, I had to do a double take because I thought I was seeing Brian.  

Survey Says: Still a fabulous way to spend an afternoon, as well as the perfect way to sit out a nasty thunderstorm. Also, my theatre partner in crime laughed a whole lot so I'm assuming she loved it as much as I did!

Last was the King & I, which I will gladly admit to only wanting to see because I'm a fan of Daniel Dae Kim. Shallow yes, but at least I'm honest.  It was also going to be my first show at Lincoln Center.  This one was a huge success.  First, the venue is perfect!  I'm not sure there's a bad seat in the house, and with the enormous stage, we got to see some gorgeous set decoration.  At one point a boat rolls onto the stage and the entire stage moves to cover the orchestra pit.  It was amazing!

I will admit also to not being a huge classic musical fan.  I'm a bigger fan of the new stuff. But I did enjoy this one quite a bit.  This was another case of having the general idea of a storyline, but not knowing the particulars.  Marrin Mazzie was perfect as Anna, and her chemistry with Daniel Dae Kim was spot on.  He was just as dreamy in person, and wonderful in the part.  He's not a fantastic singer, so he sort of talked his way through, but it still sort of worked for the part.  It truly was a gorgeous production - everything from the costumes to the set pieces were chosen perfectly.

Survey Says: Probably wouldn't seek out the show itself again, but thoroughly enjoyed getting the chance to see it with such a great cast!

Trivia Tuesday

~ Unfortunately, Pluto is still not a planet.  While this fact unfortunately cost us points on the very first question, it did create hours (ok, at least 2 hours) of fun, while thinking of Pluto jokes we could add to each slip we turned in.  Because while it may not be a full blown planet, it's still a dwarf planet which technically still makes it the farthest planet from the sun.  My favorite joke of the evening came during the borders category - "Neptune is bordered with Pluto."   My other favorite was googled during half time "How do you throw a great party?  You planet."  Heehee!

~ I know nothing of any type of music that is popular today.  Who knew Justin Timberlake had a new song and who knew it was on the top of the charts?  Answer - everyone at my table except me.

~ So grossed out that the question on anatomy was about teeth.  That must be why we got it wrong.

~ We knew an entire round based on sports figure's nicknames was going to be rough.  But at least we were able to get one right.  Thankfully, we remembered that Gordie Howe passed away last week, so he was most likely Mr. Hockey rather than Wayne Gretsky which was who we were going to go with.  However, I have NO idea why Roger Federer would be called the Swiss Maestro or Fedex.  He's not Swiss.  Tennis doesn't rely a lot on time, nor does Federer "deliver" in the clutch (Tennis doesn't really have a clutch, right?)

~ The word "dilatory" is misleading.  Wouldn't you expect that a word having the route of "dilate" would mean to expand?  Apparently not.

~ Whenever a Shakespeare question is asked, it's always an easy one.  No fun!

~ Contrary to one opinion at the table Nairobi is a country not the capital of Libya.

~ Eros is Cupid's counterpart to the God of love.  Seeing as I guessed Aros out of thin air because it sounded like the name of something Greek, I'm pretty proud that the mythology expert at table who was struggling, confirmed that "Eros" was correct.  Sometimes you get an answer right and you don't even mean to.  That was my only success for the evening.

~ During Tony's week, when the category is "Musical Founding Fathers" don't put all your eggs in the "It's going to be about Hamilton" basket.  It might be about a singer/songwriter/producer who created some crazy band you've never heard of.

~ John Amos' name on Good Times was James.  Because we were told his son's name was JJ, choosing a J name at random (assuming JJ stood for something Junior) was surprisingly a good theory.  

~ Two of the four people that played this evening are visiting Mt. Rushmore this summer, 1 of the 4 has already been there.  And yet none of the 4 could answer what order the darn presidents are in on the dumb rocks.  (For the record, I'm the last one of the 4 that could care less about seeing giant heads of presidents...)

Focus on Love not Hate

I have to get something off my chest.  It's something I say a lot but I haven't written about it in a while so I feel it's time.  I hate Donald Trump.  I hate him so much.  There I said it - I do admit to feeling a bit better.  

I just don't get it.  I don't understand how a person so full of hate and bigotry be so far ahead in the polls.  Do people not see that there's not a fully working brain in that head? How else can you explain away his comments regarding the horrible tragedy in Orlando?  Thoughts, prayers, love - that's what everyone else is sending the families and loved ones of those involved.  Not Trump though. 

He congratulates himself for being "right about ISIS."  Funny thing is that this wasn't an ISIS attack.  The FBI and Homeland Security has confirmed this.  The shooter has been on the watchlist for quite some time, but he acted alone out of hate. Much the same hate that Trump is displaying when posting such a heartless message in the wake of senseless tragedy.  He does go on to say that he's planning to outlaw "all immigrants from nations that have a history with terrorism."  Do you know how many nations that really is?  Pretty much all of them.  Not to mention, the shooter wasn't an immigrant at all.  He was a US citizen that was allowed to buy an assault rifle legally even though he was on a watchlist.  But why consider banning weapons and weapon sales like this at all, when you can attack immigrants and an entire group of people that had nothing to do with the attack? Therein lies his strategy, I suppose. 

Then there's the matter of his "problem" today with the Washington Post, one of the most well-respected papers in journalism.  Trump has decided to "revoke their credentials" for "phony" reports. First of all, how exactly is that going to work?  This isn't communist Russia. You can't stop them from reporting just by saying so.  Second of all, he sounds like a 5 year old who's angry that someone took his toy.  Honestly?!  How is this man going to be a respected President who can stand up to other nations, when he's so easily offended by journalists? And most importantly, how is he going to be a president when he can't even be a decent human being?  Isn't some bit of compassion necessary?  He's clearly lacking that, as well as a host of other skills to get the job done.

Ok, now after that rant. I'm done.  I want so very much to not give him any more screen time or air time that he already gets - which isn't deserved. I want to focus on the good and not the bad and hope that by doing so, the world will become a little nicer. So I'm vowing now to follow the words of Trump's polar opposite - Lin Manuel Miranda.  "Love is Love is Love is Love is Love." That's what I'm focusing on and that's what will get us through this difficult time. Focus on the love, and Hate (and hateful people like Trump) will never win.

Tony Awards Live!

Some people go crazy for the Emmys, while others go gaga for the grammys.  Meanwhile, I'm a Tony's girl.  It's like a national holiday.  So tonight, I'm trying something different and live-blogging my thoughts - as well as I can while fan-girling, that is.

~ The opening speech about last night's heartbreaking news out of Orlando, was pitch perfect.  I thought they may pre-empt the ceremony in honor of the victims, but I agree with going on.  The theatre community has always been about diversity and spending the evening showing what diversity can accomplish and celebrating it, is a perfect response to the hateful act. #HateWillNeverWin

~ I LOVE LOVE LOVE the opening act.  James Corden is now my most favorite host ever.  The songs, the cutest little boy ever, the love and inclusion message - every single thing was perfect!

~ "Welcome to the Tonys, which are sort of like the Oscars but with diversity!" and "There's so much diversity here tonight that Donald Trump is thinking of building a wall around the theatre tonight." HAHAHA! 

~ Jane Krakowski, and Renee Elise Goldsberry's dresses are gorgeous!

~ The live Ham4Ham outside the Beacon is genius!

~ Ok, Audra McDonald's dress is my new favorite.

~ Love Renee Elise Goldsberry, but Jane Krakowski was amazing in She Loves Me!  She deserved the award for the splits she does, alone. (Hamilton award count: 1)  However, the fact that the cast of Hamilton is crying because she Renee won, is very very sweet.

~ Audra McDonald is pregnant, belting and tap dancing - clearly she's super woman!

~ I had no desire to see School of Rock before tonight, but now I'm thinking it might need to happen.

~ Titus Andromedon (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) auditioning for Hamilton was awesome! This would be me if ever I got enough guts to audition for anything.

~ Daniel Dae Kim is just as dreamy in a tux as he was yesterday in his Kingly duds in The King & I.

~ ~ Hamilton Award Count: 3 (though I was hoping for a 3 way tie between Groff, Diggs and Jackson)

~ Do any of the nominees up against Hamilton actually think they might win?  

~ Lin! getting a standing O from his family - too cute!  He wrote a sonnet for his acceptance speech because of course he did.  I just want to have dinner with him and have a little of genius wear off on me. (Hamilton award count: 4) "Fill the world with music, love and pride!" Yes!!!

~ The set design for She Loves Me looks just as beautiful digitally created as it does for real on the stage at Studio 54. Seriously, how does she do a split like that?! Where can I get a pair of pj's like that?  Too cute!

~ I still have NO idea how Jesse Tyler Ferguson wasn't nominated for Fully Committed.  Memorizing 40 different characters and performing them in 90 minutes is a feat of super-human talent.

~ Not the Humans!?  That's a big upset!

~ Hamilton Award Count: 5 (Yay Tommy Kail and fabulous speech!)

~ To Life! L'chaim! - Ha! Josh Groban in Fiddler - so fantastic!  His reaction was priceless!  "Oh, that just happened on the Tony's" Yay, arts education!

~ In the words of Something Rotten! - "Who is this fiddler and why is on the roof?"

~ After a little more than an hour, I'm ready to announce that this may be my most favorite Tony award broadcast ever!

~ Who stole Neil Patrick's Harris's hair?

~ I'm adding the female accountant's dress to my list of faves.  The orange is beautiful!

~ Yay Andrew Rannells!  He'll hopefully be nominated for Falsettos next year.

~ If I could be sure I wouldn't cry, I'd really want to see The Humans.  

~ How does one decide to take up the Banjo?  Not that he's not fab at it, but it's just so odd to see Steve Martin playing it. "To be on Broadway you have to study and work really hard, or you can do what I did, and already be famous." Ha!

~ The Moana trailer is out!  Woohoo!

~ The Law and Order bit is fantastic - since L&O is one of the few shows that shoots in NYC, most of Broadway has been in it.  

~ Hamilton Award Count: 7 (I'm feeling bad for the set designer who is the only HamFam that hasn't won yet.  Do you think he'll be voted off the island since he lost?

~ Still not really into seeing The Color Purple but Cynthia Errivo has an absolutely gorgeous voice!  Much deserved standing O!

~ Nathan Lane!  It wouldn't be Tony's night without him. "Winning means everything, is the first lesson I learned at Trump University." Ha!

~ Emilio Estefan is the sweetest. Yay Gloria!!  You go girl!  The woman playing her in the show looks and sounds just like her - that casting director is fabulous at his/her job!

~ Carpool Karaoke!!!  This has me grinning from ear to ear! Even if some of it is a repeat, I'm in love!  I just want to be a fly on the windshield of this car.  I have this idea in my head that Lin looks like this on a daily basis in his own car.

~ Sad Jeff Daniels lost to Frank Langella.  From what I hear, he's a powerhouse in Blackbird.  However, he just gave a beautiful speech.

~ The Oscars couldn't even see fit to include more than one race in their nominations and telecast, but the Tony's are not only including all races, genders, sexual orientation, but also disabilities as well.  This version of Spring Awakening looks so amazing!

~ Hamilton doing Rent!!  Oh my god! Way to make me cry.  Such a gorgeous sentiment for today!

~ I love how CBS has decided to Broadway-ify all of their commercials for the evening...

~ I'm not sure how I feel about all of these awards being given off stage. I mean I love having time for the performances but these artists deserve their moment in the sun as well.

~ Why is the music playing so loudly over Diane Lane's speech?

~ Blair Underwood is dreamy.  That is all.

~ The woman that just won the special award missed her chance to give a kiss to Blair Underwood - she's gonna regret that tomorrow.

~ Why is James Corden wearing that awful suit?

~ Who better to intro Hamilton than Hamilton's number one fan boy and girl - President and Mrs. Obama.  So great!  

~ Hamilton - here we go!  Moment of silence for awesomeness!  How in the world did that not warrant a standing O? So, So, So Brilliant!  Such a great song choice too.  They were able to include everyone in the cast.  

~ Christian Borle is my fave!  He is also dreamy but is not wearing a ribbon.  Really Christian?

~ Yay Humans!  Eli's daughter from the Good Wife is in it which is admittedly the only reason I wanted it to win.

~The crazy red suit is now gone.  Will we ever know why he was wearing it?

~ James Corden's parents are adorable.

~ Ok, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and spend the money.  Waitress looks great!  I wonder how not so fun it is to wear a pregnant belly for a whole show?

~ I'm seeing ads this evening for independent movies I've never heard of before.  Is that an assumption that since we like theatre we'll like them?  

~ Hamilton Award Count: 9 (they can only tie The Producers not break the record)

~ Andrew Rannells in The Book of Moron, Glenn Close in A Clinton Line - HAHAHA!

~ Go Bebe Neuwirth!  Yet another show I've never seen live.  I'm going to have to fix this.

~ Sad to see She Loves Me lose out to the Color Purple.  She Loves Me was fabulous!

~ Oh my goodness, Seasons of Love for the In Memoriam segment?  Perfection!

~ HOLY COW!!!  The fact that Leslie won instead of Lin is HUGE!!!  His speech is so uplifting.  This cast is like a set of the most amazing people on the planet.  

~ Second shock of the night, no Phillipa Soo.  Yay Cynthia though!

~ Wow, that sparkly green jacket James is wearing is a lotta look.

~ I just don't get the Streisand thing.  She's cool, but really a standing O for just walking on the stage?

~ Why does Streisand's outfit look like it was taken from the cast of Hamilton?

~ Surprising almost no one - Yay Hamilton!  Though, I'm still not sure she actually opened the envelope before announcing the win...Why is the cast not on the stage too?   Lin's on verge of tears face is my favorite.  I swear that's his natural state. "Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now." Awesome!

~ And Hamilton to close the show!  Awesome! Yay Schuyler sisters!  The perfect ending to a perfect show!

And so ends one of the greatest Tony telecasts ever.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!