Advanced Review

Here's a word to the wise, if ever oh ever you're given free tickets to the new show in town, just politely decline the tickets and head to Trivia instead.  If you don't you'll regret the few hours you spent at the theater, and the few hours of sleep you'll miss.  However, you'll have lots of stories to tell - once you've digested what you've just seen.  

Stay tuned to Broadwayworld.com where the review will be up soon.  Until then, I'm off to bed - much later than usual - to mull over exactly what I plan to say about the last 2 hours of my life...

Winter Doldrums

There are 3 things that I haven't been able to get off my mind all day.  Neither of these three things are particularly interesting, however because it's the dog days of winter and not much else is happening, these are the three things I'm planning to write about this evening.

1. How exactly does a presenter that's paid to read a piece of paper announce the wrong name at the Academy Awards?  I mean, how does that happen?  With all the technology today, we haven't figured out a way around handing 2 giant movie stars the wrong envelope. I feel as this has never been an issue before, but for some reason in the last few years it just started happening.  

However, I must hand it to the poor La La Land people for handling all of the awkwardness with grace and class.  

2. The People vs. OJ Simpson is so good, that I'm literally angry at myself for not turning it on sooner.  I was 10 when the whole OJ thing happened, so I remember bits and pieces - how could I not?  It was on every station at every time of the day for months. But I definitely wasn't aware of details.  So not only is The People vs. OJ Simpson entertaining but it's also enlightening.  And the cast couldn't be any better.  Ryan Murphy is super skillful at placing the right people in the right roles.  You cannot take your eyes off of anyone. They're all so talented!  I'm only 4 episodes in and I'm already sad that it will end in 6 episodes.  I'm now trying to pace myself just to make it last.

3. I love living in the future.  Somehow we haven't mastered the art of handing people the correct envelopes, but I can click a few buttons and watch an amazing show on British television from the comfort of my American sofa.  I'm so happy Broadchurch is back on my television screen.  Talk about talented casts.  This is another show where you can't pull your eyes away for a second because of the uber-talented cast and the intriguing story.  This year's story line - revolving around the sexual assault of a woman in town - has been handled with so much respect and grace.  Everyone involved seems to have made the decision that awareness and treatment of this epidemic is extremely important which is nice to see.  Such great television, that I'm so happy I don't have to wait the 10 weeks for that I usually do.

Oscar Sunday

The Oscars are definitely not my favorite awards show, but it's one of those things you just have to watch. If for no other reason than to stay in the know for tomorrow when everyone will be talking about it.

After an hour in, I'd say that Jimmy Kimmel is doing a pretty good job.  I'm not his biggest fan, but he's pretty funny.  His shtick with Meryl Streep was sweet and even though she looked like she'd rather not be the center of attention, it was a nice way to honor her.  I'm also a big fan of the shower of candy via parachutes.  Too cute!  And what I'm loving is that the focus isn't solely on race this year - because it doesn't have to be.  There are so many people of color nominated this year, which is fabulous to see.  After last year's disappointing whitewashed ceremony, this year's ceremony is a sight to see!

I have no stock in who wins however, since I haven't seen a single movie nominated.  I've only heard of about 3 of the movies.  But based on what I've heard, Mahershala Ali definitely deserved his award and his speech was heartfelt, which always gets me.  However, since we've only had an hour of awards so far, that's the only big award I've seen so far, so I can't say yay or nay to any other award yet.

The biggest excitement was Lin Manuel Miranda performing which he did beautifully.  The young woman that sang his song was super talented and did a beautiful job with the song. And I have to give it to her, even after getting struck in the head with "waves" behind her, she kept singing so go her!

So that's my analysis so far!  Cutting edge material if I do say so myself : )

February Reads in Review

I know technically February isn't over yet, but since the only thing I did all day was lay on my sofa and catch up on shows on my DVR due to this creeping crud, I decided the books I read this month would be much more exciting.

Matilda by Roald Dahl: I'm working on a top-secret project that has me reading all Roald Dahl books.  And honestly, I hated this one just as much as I hated the show.  It's just too weird and too violent, for lack of a better word.  I much prefer James and the Giant Peach.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro: I'm a sucker for a Sherlock Holmes book and this one was just creative enough to not feel like a repeat of all the Holmes story.  In these books, Holmes is Charlotte Holmes - Sherlocks Great-Great-Great-Niece, and Watson is Jamie Watson, Dr. Watson's Great-Great-Grandson.  Both are teens living in Connecticut where they're solving crimes.  Ok, it may be just a wee bit far-fetched but it was fun and if you like mysteries, it's definitely up your alley.

I Hate Everyone Except You by Clinton Kelly: The funniest book I've read in a long time.  I wasn't even a huge fan of his, but I loved the title.  He's a great writer and very, very funny. I only wish the book was longer, because I was super sad when it was through.

Martha's Vineyard: Isle of Dreams and The Fairy Tale Girl both by Susan Branch: I read these because I fell in love with "Falling in Love with the English Countryside."  These both followed the same suite - lots of fun sketches and sweet stories.  I loved them!  Of course, I liked the one about England better, but these were both fabulous!

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by JK Rowling: Of course, this is a second read for me.  But I'm loving the illustrated versions of these books.  They pictures are gorgeous and really bring the story to life - even more than JK already had.  

Friday Five

1. Because I already bought tickets, this makes me so happy!  I absolutely adored Tales of the City when I read them years ago.  The 70s & 80s in San Francisco was such an interesting time, and the books captured that time so well.  I can't wait to see those books come alive on a New York stage, if for only one night.  

2. I finished Clinton Kelly's memoir - "I Hate Everyone Except You" - this past week and I have to say it might well be the funniest book I've read in a very long time. He's just so clever and sarcastic, and it really comes across in his writing.  I'm hoping he writes another soon because I could use some more laughs in my life!

3. I've never been the person that stays up to watch the late shows.  I love them all, but I'm just way too old lady-ish to make it past midnight.  But in today's political climate, it sucks to miss all the good stuff that's happening on these shows.  That's why I love the new Late Night in Review on the New York Times.  Each morning they share the best lines, and the best segments, and preview the next night's shows.  And if it turns out I missed something amazing, then I can just go online and watch what I missed.  It's just so much easier than staying up past my bedtime...

4. I've been looking back at Twitter to see what my other favorites are from this week, and it's been hard to really find anything.  It's been pretty slow here.  However, looking at all the ridiculous things I've liked in the past few months has made me laugh and smile quite a bit, so I suppose Twitter is one of my favorites this week.  Social Media may be the end of civilization, however you can't argue that there is some good in it.

5. And lastly, because I had such a great time seeing Brandon Uranowitz at 54 Below, I have to share the video I've had on repeat since then.  I didn't think I'd like anyone better singing this song than Christian Borle, but Brandon was amazing!

          

Happy Friday Eve!

Taking the night off, to recover from whatever creeping crud this super weird Maryland weather has given me.  Happy Friday Eve everyone!

Wrecked...

As I've said multiple times, I avoid things that make are going to make me cry, like the plague.  Any book or television show or theater piece that may have something just ever so slightly tear-inducing and I'm out. It's not fun for me.  Whenever I talk to friends about this, they don't understand.  To them, crying about something entertaining is cathartic.  They feel much better after letting it all out in a crying session.  This is not the case for me.  

This evening, because This is Us is the best show on television, I watched last night's heart-wrenching episode.  I knew full well that it was going to kill me.  I read some things today to prepare myself, because had I not, it would have made the whole experience so much worse. Not that it wasn't bad enough already.  I cried for a good 2/3 of the episode.  It was so moving and so heartbreaking.  I love those characters so much that it's just so difficult to watch sometimes.  

Now, if I were my friends, I'd be feeling great right now.  But I'm not. I'm me and I feel awful.  My eyes are puffy.  All they want to do is close and sleep even though my brain wants to read.  My nose is stuffy.  And I'm still thinking about all the sad things I watched 3 hours ago and still feeling sad about them. Why exactly would anyone want to do this on purpose? 

I'll stick with comedy instead if no body minds. At least laughing from crying doesn't create the same puffy, stuffy and weepy effects.

Trivia Tuesday

~ Even if your numbered guess is ridiculously out of the ball park (about 3 million out of the ball park...) adding "and 4" to the end of the guess somehow makes it a funnier guess and will most likely make more people agree with you.  You'll still be wrong, but at least you'll be laughing.

~ Folgers is apparently the best selling coffee in the United States which, as we learned this evening, enrages the Dunkin Donuts coffee lovers.

~ Fracas is a "hard" word to spell according to the question askers.  I'm not sure how anyone would go about spelling that particular word any differently.  However, quarrel - which was the word used in the definition of fracas is a bit more difficult, seeing as I could have sworn there was another L in there somewhere.

~ According to some stat firm, it takes most men 120 sweeps of a 3 blade razor to get completely clean shaven.  I would like to know - as well as everyone else in the bar - just how hairy you have to be to require 120 sweeps of a razor?  

~ Mae West was an original blonde bombshell in the movie Every Day's a Holiday.  There's a chance I knew this because it was in one of the Susan Branch illustrations in her book.  There's also a chance that I'm imagining that.  One can never be sure.  At any rate, no one believed me anyway and we didn't wager any points so I suppose there's that.

~ Gepetto is Pinocchio's father.  My team mates think it's less weird that I've never seen Pinocchio than the fact that I've never seen Peter Pan. 

~ The only upside to having restless leg syndrome is that sometimes it's the answer to a trivia question. 

~ Somehow our team is very, very good at answering questions about Heath Ledger.  For a team that could only name 5 of his movies after a few minutes, those 5 managed to be the answer.  It was almost spooky.

~ Playing one Elton John song after you've just asked a question about another Elton John song is just playing dirty.  Do you have any idea how difficult it is to remember the lyrics to Tiny Dancer while Candle in the Wind is playing?

Happy President's Day!

This year it seems appropriate to really show our thanks for all the presidents that have come before the present one.  I mean, ordinarily, President's Day is just a lovely federal holiday in February that allows us to have a 3 day weekend.  And don't get me wrong, I love this whole 3 day weekend thing.  There are lunches to be had with people you love, and sleeping in to do.  I personally would love a 3 day weekend every week.  (It's much more civilized, don't you think?) But this year, I actually thought about the reason for the holiday.

I thought about the sacrifices that have been made and the hard work that has been done by Presidents 1-44.  Not all have been perfect, but most all have done what they thought was right for their constituents - the American People.  At this particular moment of time, when the current President is doing only what he thinks is right for himself, it would be lovely to have any one of those previous Presidents back to knock some sense into him.

But that's just my 2 cents.  Now, I'll go back to enjoying what little is left of my 3 day weekend!

A Springy Winter Sunday

This picture was taken today - February 19 - in Annapolis Maryland.  Today it was 74 degrees, sunny and not a single cloud in the sky.  It was gorgeous!  It's most likely a tease, but that didn't stop pretty much everyone in Maryland, that's been cooped up all winter from hitting the docks and hanging out in the sun.  All ice cream shops were packed.  Dogs were everywhere.  And I even saw shorts and capris wandering around.  In short, it was wonderful!  So wonderful that I keep forgetting it's only February.  I want so bad for this weather to last for the rest of the year, which won't happen.  It'll be chilly this time next week I'm sure. However, only a few more weeks until it's officially spring.  So until then, I'll be dreaming about this gorgeous day!

Mortified Baltimore!

Last year, right around Valentine's Day I discovered Mortified! Baltimore.  This group gets together to share their most mortifying and embarassing stories about love, family, friends, and just about anything else you can think of. Last Valentine's Day the theme of the night was love, and I had never laughed so hard in all my life.  It was so funny, that I just knew I had to go again.  Unfortunately, every few months something would come up and I'd miss their engagement.

However, this year at Valentine's time again, I was able to make it work with my schedule and finally see these amazing people again.  And again, it was a night full of laughter and some cringing.  This year's theme again was love so all of the participants read from letters, or journals or book reports that they had written when they were little about being in love with first boyfriends or girlfriends, about first kisses or just about what they shouldn't be doing at camp.

What blows me away is the fact that these are just regular people that choose to try out and go through this process of sharing their most embarassing stories with the world.  I wouldn't even be able to read something I had written now in front of an audience, let alone something as cringe-worthy as a journal entry from 20 years ago.  But these people are gutsy and very funny and pretty darn awesome!  And maybe by watching them, a little of their gutsiness will rub off on me!

Friday Five

1. Excuse the language on this one, but it's amazing!  Our President's press conference yesterday was ridiculous to say the least, and Seth lets him have it for it.  
            

2. Seeing a show I've never seen before live.  I had read Peter and the Starcatcher but never caught it on Broadway.  So when Bowie Playhouse announced they'd be doing it, I was pretty excited.  I gotta say, even though the actors were pretty great, the show is still just as weird as it was when I read it.  I just don't get it.  But the rest of the audience seemed to love it, so maybe there's something wrong with me...

3. The best news I've heard all week is the casting of Miranda Hart as Mrs. Hanigan in Annie in the West End.  I've been wanting to see Miranda Hart in something fabulous since her television show went off the air, and now that I'll be in England this summer, this is the perfect excuse.  I'm pretty sure she'll be brilliant!

4. I'm sort of a sucker for Children's books about very diverse things.  I like kids books to share stories about lives in other places or about things that you don't usually see kids books about.  Add to that, great art that I've always loved and you've got a winner.  That's why I'm pretty excited about this kids book about Keith Haring.  I've always loved his simple drawings (his artwork was the logo for the original Falsettos!) and now there's a great kids book about his life and why art's so important.  Can't wait to snag it!

5. Coming from someone who saw this show in person, I have to say that this review is spot on!  I'm so happy for Brandon Uranowitz and also I'm pretty happy for me, because with reviews like this, it means he's gotta do another engagement, right?!

Newsies - Read All About It!

I sort of missed the whole Newsies on Broadway thing a few years ago.  Well, I suppose that's not totally accurate. I sort of deliberately missed the whole craze.  I had seen what Disney did to my Mary Poppins, and had been avoiding any and all Disney on Broadway attempts since then.  However, when the chance to see it in a movie theater, for a whole lot less than the price of a Broadway ticket, came up, I decided to take the leap.

This new craze of filming shows and showing them on the big screen might just be my new very favorite thing!  I still much prefer theater, however if it's a show I'm just a little interested in, it doesn't make sense to foot the bill for a theater ticket.  So seeing them from the comfort of a movie theater for about a quarter of the price is the next best thing.  And what makes this Newsies on Film thing even stranger is that Newsies closed a few years ago.  They re-assembled the cast and crew to film it and then release it on film.  Now that's dedication to arts!

So after all that, what did I think about it?  I thought it was amazing!  Disney may have finally won back my heart.  I've actually never even seen the original movie either, so I walked in completely unsure of what to expect.  But now after seeing the musical, I might need to see the real movie as well.  Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay were fabulous as the leads.  I only knew Jeremy Jordan from playing a jerk on Smash, so it was nice to see him place a nice guy for a change.  It was also fun to see Andrew Keenan Bolger act since I've fallen in love with his writing.  But that's just the main characters.  The rest of the cast were immensely talented.

The choreography was very dance heavy, so I'm thinking most of the newsies had a dance background, which meant huge tapping and gymnastic numbers.  Those are always crowd pleasers and in this case, they were show-stoppers.  At one point the dancers are all dancing on individual newspapers.  It's hard to explain, but it was awesome!  And I haven't even mentioned the music yet.  I'm not sure how I've never heard these songs, but now that I have, they're stuck in my head, where I'm sure there'll be for a while.

All in all, Newsies is fun for the whole family and I highly recommend it.  After seeing the crowd that was there for this first showing, I'm pretty darn sure Fandango will be showing it again - loads of times!

To Paint Night or Not to Paint Night

A few months ago, I railed a bit about Paint Nights.  I mean, they seem to be the new It thing to do for crafty people who like to drink.  I'm a crafty person, but the drinking thing is not something I need.  So paying $45 to learn how to paint from someone who says things like "well I painted the flower like this, but you can do it any way you want..." and then paying for drinks as well, is sort of not my thing.  I mean, if the expert painter is just going to tell me that I can choose how to paint something, then what in the heck do I need the expert painter for?

However, I may be ready to change my mind.  This past weekend, a local high school decided to hold a paint night a a fundraiser for St. Jude's.  The event was held at the school, and the expert painter was an art student at the school.  And the design was adorable and tied back into the Cancer research theme.  They even went ahead and included a list of colors for certain cancer awareness in case you wanted to change up the color.  I chose purple because it covers all cancers. 

Also, since it was a high school, instead of drinks, we were treated to cupcakes and brownies - so much better!  I was pretty skeptical that it would be a viable fundraiser since there would be so many supplies needed, but I heard they made about $1000, which is a great start towards their goal of $5000.  So I've changed my mind, paint nights really are a great way to spend the evening - as long as there's sweets, and it's for a good cause!

Trivia Tuesday

~ When Valentine-less, spending V-Day at trivia with friends is actually a pretty nice way to forget about the dumb holiday.

~ However, when you are Valentine-less, it's quite hard to know many of the Valentine-centric answers.

~ Of course at the very same moment the Question asker is about to ask a question that's a tad off color, will be the very moment that a family with 3 small kids walks in to the bar.  (But honestly, who brings their kids to a bar/restaurant on V-day around 9:00??)

~ Before last night's Timeless episode, I was unaware that Al Capone committed something called the St. Valentine's Day massacre.  I suppose I should thank Misha Collins for helping me answer this question this evening, because if he hadn't been in the episode, I never would have watched it.

~ Tatiana Ali was the little sister on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  Laila Ali is a famous female boxer.  That first name is important to get right.

~ Also, when keeping score 42 + 5 = 47 not 32.  I'm not sure what I was on this evening, but apparently it was affecting my math skills even moreso than usual. 

~ While others on my team are extremely effective at guessing the name of a song based on the very first line of it, I'm incredibly useless at this.  Add to it, another song playing over the question to save teams from cheating off each other, and I'm out.  Like I said though, thankfully the rest of the people on my team are awesome!

~ When half the team loves dogs, having the Westminster Kennel Club dog show on all televisions is a bit of a distraction.  Seriously, who can concentrate with all the cute?

~ Knowing that a speed skater from the 1988 Olympics is a white guy with a blonde fro, isn't enough.  Apparently, you also have to know his name is Dan Jansen to get the points...

Musically Weird

I'm always up for a good award show.  From the dresses to the inspiring speeches, they're a great way to spend an evening.  Each year I look forward to the Emmys, and the Oscars and especially the Tonys.  But, never the Grammys.  I know next to nothing about music - and chances are the music I do like, is most definitely not nominated.  So missing the madness is nothing really new for me.

However, after seeing a few hundred reports on all that happened last night, I've never been so happy to miss it in all my life.  The very first thing I saw when I woke up this morning, was Cee Lo Green covered in a gold with some creepy mask.  Then there was a pregnant Beyonce covered in more gold - apparently being amazing.  I'm a little confused as to why this is considered amazing, but apparently it is.

Adele was the only thing I would have liked to have seen but even she had some issues - broken grammy's and false starts. Then there were the dresses - what in the world was happening in fashion land?  These dresses were huge and not so beautiful - a few were even a bit trashy.  Call me a prude, but what's wrong with pretty dresses that cover more than a quarter of your body parts? 

And of course there was the music.  I heard the show opened with Hello by Adele.  I'm fairly certain that would have been the only song I would have ever heard before. Like I said, I know next to nothing about music.  But even I know that most of it sounds all the same.  But music is super objective, so I'm willing to give the music a pass.  

But I'm sticking to my guns on the outfits.  Get a mirror people!

Snowy Days

Like I said yesterday, I was lucky enough to see 2 shows and one live taping while I was snowed in in New York.  Some of these things were better than others.

First up was Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.  Here's the thing.  I'm the one person in my theater friend group that's been promoting this show.  I'm the only one that actually wanted to see it.  I mean, it's based on War and Peace, so I was assuming it was going to be a hard sell.  But I thought Josh Groban would tip the scales for them.  Unfortunately, he didn't so that's why I bought one ticket for me. 

Of course, Josh Groban just happened to get a cold the day I finally would get to see it.  But understudies are usually fabulous too, so I was still positive.  Based on the stage alone, I would enjoy the show.  Have you seen a more beautiful Broadway stage ever?'

But even the wonderful understudy and the beautiful stage couldn't make me like this show. I hate to say it, but I hated it! I think it may have had something to do with it being just too giant.  There were actors everywhere - dancing on the stage, in the audience, on tables in people's faces.  There was so much going on, I never knew where to look.  Also, the music was so loud, I couldn't understand what anyone was saying. Every other review I've read has said this show was amazing, so I'm not sure what it was exactly that made it so terrible to me but I'm not willing to spend the money to try it again, just to see if Josh Groban would make it better.  

That was Wednesday - luckily, my fabulous experience at 54 Below erased most of the Great Comet disaster of that day.  On Thursday, the snows came which was no good since I had a ticket to see a Live with Kelly taping.  So after trudging through the snow, I finally arrived at the studio where I was ushered to my seat to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan co-host.  Of course, Kelly Ripa was there too.  But let's be honest, I was there to see JDM.  Anyway, aside from the frozen feet that were snow-logged, I had a blast.  It's so weird to see the behind the scenes action up close.  But for the most part, it all looks like it does on television.

I thought it was a little weird that the producers would instruct us when to clap and how loudly to clap.  Also, during commercial breaks I assumed the hosts would just chat to each other, but no.  They would chat with the audience and take pictures with people who asked.  It was all very interactive.  I had a blast and I would definitely do it again - hopefully on a day when it's not snowing 3 inches per hour...

After retreating to my hotel room to beat the cold, I bravely made a decision to go back out in the mess to see if could snag tickets to some show that evening for cheap.  It seemed a waste to just watch tv in Manhattan when Broadway was a block away.  The show I got luck with was In Transit.  This was something that I sort of wanted to see because a friend had seen it and said it was "kinda cute."  But it wasn't anything that I just had to get tickets too.  However, after seeing it, I'm totally in love with it!  It was fantastic and so much better than the Great Comet.  It's a musical that's totally sung Acapella - no band whatsoever, which is impressive enough. But add to that the sweet story and the great jokes, and you have a great little musical.  This was definitely one that I would see again.

Thank goodness I liked it, because after all that snow I think I was owed at least one win... : )

Mendel Sings it Out

When I was stuck in New York, I had the pleasure of seeing 2 Broadway shows and a taping of Live! with Kelly, all of which were lovely in their own ways.  However, the real reason I was in New York was to see Brandon Uranowitz in his very first show at Feinsteins @ 54 Below.  And I have to admit, I've never been so happy to see a solo performance in all my life!  I had the very best time, and left having the biggest smile on my face.  He definitely made me a very happy girl!

A few months ago, Brandon - who played Mendel in the Falsettos production I keep gushing about - announced he'd be doing a few shows at Feinsteins and that this would be the very first time he'd ever done something like this.  Because I loved him in Falsettos, I bought the ticket immediately.  Also, I knew from some digging that famous friends sometimes show up un-announced as special guests, and I had hoped that this would be the case.  Then a few weeks ago, he announced that Stephanie J. Block would be joining him for one night only - and somehow I got lucky, that it was the night I'd be there. Woohoo!

Even though I was excited about the show, I was still a bit nervous.  I don't really like going to events like these alone.  Making awkward small talk with the person you've been seated with is just odd.  But again, I got lucky and was seated with 2 other theater-nerds that were there by themselves as well.  We spent the hour leading up to the show gushing about our love for Broadway and specifically Falsettos.  If that wasn't enough, we were graced with the presence of Andrew Rannells and Christian Borle who were there to cheer on Brandon and Stephanie.  I must admit, I got a little tongue-tied at that point, and had to make a serious effort to not continuously stare at their table - which was about 10 feet away!!! (I was so good at trying not to embarrass myself that I missed the chance to sneak a smile at Andrew when I heard his voice as he was heading to the men's room and I was heading to the ladies...Why can't I be not me for like 30 seconds?!)  This seems to happen a lot at 54 Below, and if I lived in the city, I think I'd go broke just hanging out to see who I could spot going in.

The best pic I could snap of Rannells and Borle...

Anyway, enough about my crush on cute Broadway stars, it was finally time for the show to start. And here's where I gush.  If he hadn't said that this was his first time doing something like this, I would have thought he'd been performing like this for years.  He was unbelievable!  He was funny and sweet.  He told hilarious stories about himself and his life, while singing the beautiful music of Bill Finn.  He shared the stage with Stephanie J. Block, his partner and another friend, and sang gorgeously with all 3.  He was gracious to his friends in the audience that came, as well as everyone else that was there to see him.  To put it simply, he was absolutely fabulous! He represented the music well and also was able to throw a lot of himself into the show, which is always a trait of a great performer.

In the end, I left thinking  that all I want to do is sit down and have lunch with this amazing man. And I hope that he realizes just how well he performed, because if he never does this again, I'll be super sad but super happy I got to see him at least once.

Snowed-in in the City

The following things may or may not happen to you when a freak storm decides to drop a foot of snow in the city and strand you for an extra night than you were planning.

~ You will plod your way through 6 inches of snow to get up to ABC Studios because you have a ticket to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan co-host Live with Kelly and you really don't want to pass that up even though your entire outfit is not snow-ready.  This will be the highlight of the snow day - everything will only get worse from here.

~ You will eat a tiny breakfast and dinner, and a huge lunch from Shake Shack, all from the comfort of your hotel bed because it's freezing outside and you're just so tired of being cold.  

~ You will fall not once, but twice embarrassing yourself in front of kindly strangers because you failed to bring appropriate foot attire and because you're super clumsy.

~ You will wear the same combination of clothes for 48 hours straight, because extra clothes are not a thing you needed when you were only going to be away for one night.

~ You will attempt to win the Dear Evan Hansen Lottery because surely with all this snow, there has to be some cancellations.  And you will still lose.

~ Since you lost the Dear Evan Hansen lottery, you will decide to brave the elements just to see if you can find some snow day sales on any show.  You will fail miserably at the TKTS line, and hit a home run at the box office for In Transit.

~ You will walk the 5 blocks in 30 degree winds just to see In Transit, and love every minute of the show, while also dreading the 5 block walk back.

~ Finally you will crawl into bed, building a fort of pillows to block the cold air that's seeping in the windows, to get all toasty and warm, and still think that NYC is the greatest city in the world - even if it's not so dreamy in the snow.

So much more to say tomorrow about the real reason I was there, but I've been mentally composing this post in my head for the last 24 hours since I was alone for all of that time, and I went a little stir crazy...

Trivia Tuesday

~ I'm a hilarious person.  I mean I make myself laugh, and sometimes that's all that matters. Apparently, I made a great joke tonight, that no one but me appreciated.  There's just no accounting for taste : )

~ Geography and Sports continue to be our team's downfall.  As luck would have it, the half-time question was about sports and the final question was about geography.  

~ When the category is Wizard People - the question has an equal chance of being about the Washington Wizards than it does being about actual wizards.  Thank goodness tonight, luck really was on our side, and it was a Harry Potter question instead of dumb basketball!  Seeing as we had already bombed the football question, it was nice not to have to add insult to injury.

~ It's sad that the only reason I knew that the Loving v. Virginia case legalized inter-racial marriage was because of the movie Loving which was just nominated for an Oscar. 

~ The DC in AC/DC does not stand for District of Columbia.

~ I've been calling the Chic Fil A drive-through line at lunch time, the 7th circle of Hell for so long, that I thought there were only 7 circles in Dante's Inferno.  Apparently, there are 2 more that I was unaware of.  Considering how bad that line is at lunch time, I might have to increase its title to the 9th circle...

~ Thanks to Doctor Who, half of our table could sing the first verse of the song about the Kookaburra.  Who say's TV isn't good for your intelligence?

~ Sportugal is what the country is going to be called when Spain and Portugal merge  - which isn't ever going to happen, but it's certainly a fun name to say.  It's like the spork of Europe.

I'll Stick with the Cat in the Hat

Up until I read James and the Giant Peach this past summer, I had never read any Roald Dahl books as a kid.  That was pretty surprising to me, because as a kid I read all sorts of books.  I mean I loved Dr. Seuss and all of the Serendipity books.  I read Graeme Base and tons of fantasy books.  But other than seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the original masterpiece, not the creepy remake with Johnny Depp - I didn't really know much about his books aside from knowing he wrote them.

That's the main reason I chose to read James and the Giant Peach - I hadn't yet and that seemed weird.  And I have to admit, I loved it.  I thought the story was sweet and funny and I'm a sucker for cute illustrations.  Because of that I thought Matilda the Broadway show would be just as cute. Not so much.  That got too dark too quick.  But I was pretty sure that was a Broadway thing to make it more appealing.

So, since I'm working on a secret project, I decided to pick up the book instead and read what I was sure was going to be a much happier and less nasty book.  Um, not so much.  I think James and the Giant Peach might be the exception to the rule.  Matilda is just way too dark for kids!  I might be in the minority in this opinion, but I'm super curious why parents let their kids read these books.  What's wrong with happy go lucky stories where everyone is kind?  None of these characters are super nice.  Even Matilda, is sweet but kinda terrible.  I mean, her parents are awful so she has the right to be a little terrible, but really?  And having a teacher throw students, or put them in a box, or force feed them chocolate cake - doesn't that ring out a little too cruel for kids that may already be a little scared of school?

After Matilda is through, my plan is to also read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but after the first half of Matilda, I'm a little worried.  So help me god, if it ruins my favorite Gene Wilder movie for me, I'm not going to be a happy camper!

Super Bowl Sunday!

The Ravens are not in the Super Bowl this year, and the Patriots are.  Therefore I really don't care.  Except for maybe routing hard enough for Atlanta that they beat the Patriots by a whole bunch'a points!  However, I still find myself watching mostly because it's what you do on Super Bowl Sunday.

There are things to like though.  Food for one thing - I've eaten a yummy & giant bowl of homemade chili already.  And there's chips and dip and cake for later so at least there's that.  And of course there are the commercials.  Speaking of which, is this the first year that companies are releasing their ads before the big game?  Because I swear I've seen at least a dozen ads this week.

But what I'm the most excited about is the Schuyler Sisters from Hamilton are singing before the game.  Yay for the theater invading sports ball!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday and Go Falcons!

Hamilton > Spamilton

In all of my excitement over BroadwayCon, I forgot to talk about what we saw in New York when we weren't geeking out at the convention.  Instead of seeing a big show - though we saw one of those too, and it was awful! - we chose to go a little off-Broadway and see Spamilton.  That's right, not Hamilton, but Spamilton.  Hamilton is such a huge hit that it's spawned a rip-off musical - complete with original songs and special guest stars - that people pay real money for (not Hamilton level money but big nonetheless.)

The show itself was hilarious!  The creatives behind it were super smart and took the music that already existed and just changed all the words.  They included songs about the show, about other shows and even about Lin Manuel Miranda himself.  Knowing Lin actually saw this show, I'm shocked that he wasn't more angry about some of the things he said about him.  But aside from that, everything else was laugh out loud funny.

Of course, everything surrounding the show was less than funny.  What we learned when we arrived was that the show is actually above a restaurant.  This teeny tiny room that already contained a full stage, maybe held 100 people. All of these people were crowded around tables, like a dinner theater. Of course, since we bought the cheap seats, we were thrown together with a couple in a banquette.  We were a bit smooshed but I could handle it. However, I'm sure the couple was super excited to have us crowding them on their date night.

Then there was the drink minimum.  Everyone had to order at least 2 drinks.  Now, other venues I've been to have said this, but never enforced it.  In this case, it was strictly enforced, so much so that we had to order both of our drinks at the same time. There were no margaritas on the tiny menu so my 2 drinks were bottles of water - at $7 each.  My 2 friends ordered some sort of Cosmos that were quite strong based on their giggling afterwards.  For 3 of us our bill was $95.  Seriously?!  It would have been cheaper and more comfortable to see a Broadway show!

But if you're a Hamilton fan that can't seem to get tickets, and you don't mind drinking 2 drinks quite quickly, I'd highly recommend it!

Friday Five

1. Sometimes you find weird things on the internet. And sometimes those weird things just make you smile and really, anything that makes me smile on the internet these days is a win! This is one of those things - random theater celebrities singing verses of Careless Whisper on via Twitter.  Ridiculously amusing!

2. I'm loving Seth Myers!  I've pretty much bragged on him to everyone I know.  So now it's your turn.  Each evening he takes on the ridiculousness of the day's politics in his Closer Look segments.  They are beyond fabulous - funny and topical and scarily true.  I was a Corden girl for a long time, but I think I've changed my allegiances...

3. I'm using this outlet to brag a bit on myself just for a moment.  The fact that I've finished a full month of Project Life - and we're not talking sort of completed with holes still to fill, I'm talking completely full pages! - makes me so happy.  I know it's jumping the gun a bit, but I've got a good momentum going, and I love how it looks so far.  1 month down, 11 to go!

4. I've been reading Michael Ausiello's columns for years now.  I'm a sucker for great entertainment reporting, and he's one of the best.  He's very funny and he always has the best news.  So a few years ago, when he shared that his husband passed away from Cancer, I literally could not get him out of my head for days.  I've never met the man, but what a terrible thing to have to go through so young.  Today he released the news that a book about his time with Kit and what he's gone through since will be coming out in September. I'm sure it will be terribly sad, but I'm also sure the book will really showcase his wit and his grace.  I can't wait to read it!

5. So in a weekend full of marvelous quotes about Broadway and theater, my absolute favorite was by a playwright I had never heard of until last Sunday. Paula Vogel said: Theater must be the dog that bites the hand that feeds it.  Seriously?!  I suppose that's why she gets all the awards.  How beautiful is that?!  

Life Lately

I snapped this photo in New York back in November, and I think it tells you everything about life right now in the United States.  It's just weird, man.  That's all I can say.  Nothing is making a darn bit of sense, and there's a chance that we've elected a president that's literally insane.  So yeah, that's pretty much life lately...

As for my little corner of the world, things are fabulous.  I've spent the last hour trying to hash out just how much I loved BroadwayCon in blog form for BroadwayWorld.  I don't think I'll be spoiling anything when I say, I LOVED it.  But it seems that I only have one blog post in me per day, so that's why I'm taking the easy way out and going with a Life Lately post here.

Watching: I've been watching a lot of Girls on HBO.  I never really thought a show that's basically a hipster version of Sex & the City would be for me, but it's hilarious.  Of course, now that I like it, it's ending in a month.  So I'm super sad about that.

Reading: Since I told you all about the books I read last night, you know what I've been reading.  Currently at this particular hour of the day, I'm reading "The FairyTale Girl." Another by Susan Branch and the prequel to "A Fine Romance" that I read last week.

Creating: Still plugging away at Project Life and that's it.  I haven't made a card in weeks.  I really should get on that.

Dreading: Don't judge me, but I still haven't taken my Christmas stuff down, and I really need to be doing that this weekend.  Ugh.

Planning: England for next summer - I know Brexit is awful and I really do feel for the Brits, but it's actually affordable for us Americans to escape to Britain for a bit now.  Finally!

January Reads in Review

I'm usually a straight fiction kind of girl. But lately, I've been delving into memoirs and biographies quite a bit.  There are some seriously interesting people that are writing books these days.  And without really meaning to, I read 5 books this month about those very interesting people. 

"A Fine Romance" by Susan Branch: I don't really need to tell you about this one because I spent an entire day's post gushing about it.  But, again, it was amazing!

"Talking as Fast as I Can" by Lauren Graham: I read "Someday, Someday Maybe" by Lauren last year and loved it.  So I've been anxiously awaiting her next book, and this one did not disappoint.  Whereas her first book was fiction, her second book is an autobiography of her life so far - From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls. Ha!  It was pretty much perfect, and a super quick read.  She wrote a lot about her upbringing and what got her into the business. Then she went into her life during Gilmore Girls.  In the best chapter, she binge-watched all episodes and talked about what was going on during each season - her hair, her wardrobe, what was happening behind the scenes.  Her quirkiness and sense of humor really shined through, and you can just tell, that having a cup of coffee with her would be a blast!

"The Only Street in Paris" by Elaine Sciolino: I've been wanting to read this one since it came out but I was being cheap, so I had to wait until it came out in paperback.  Even though I hated Paris, I have this weird fascination with books written about it. Don't ask.  Anyway,  Elaine Sciolino was an editor at the New York Times in Paris for a lot of her career - making me very envious (I think if I could live there a bit with an awesome job at the Times, I just might like it more...)  So her account of the Rue de Martyrs was really a love story to her little corner of Paris.  She really seemed to understand that what makes a place great is the people that are in it, so she took the time to highlight her friends and family that share her street.  It's a great book, and I'm super sad that I didn't get to see this street when I was there.  I'm pretty sure I would have liked Paris a bit more if I had.

"One for the Books" by Joe Queenan: What was supposed to be a funny book with a clever title all about books turned out to be a very sarcastic, very snobbish book about all the "great" books one man has read in his lifetime.  I was definitely not a fan!  He's a great writer, but he almost insults readers that don't have his time to read or choose to read page-turners rather than the classics - which is funny, since he's not writing any great literature here.  If you like reading about books, you might like it.  But if I were you, I'd go for "So Many Books, So Little Time" by Sara Nelson instead.  Much funnier and much less pompous.

"Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books" by Cara Nicoletti: Another book I was waiting to come out in paperback.  And I can't believe I waited so long - it was wonderful!  She is a pastry chef, a butcher and an English Major who loves to read. Her focus is on food in literature - seriously?  I can't believe that's an actual focus - why didn't I think of that in college?  Anyway, the book follows her life story through the books she loved at the time.  And after each book, she shares a recipe for something delicious that's mentioned in the book. While I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, the stories were delightful!