Michele

Friday

I forgot my cell phone at home today, so I won't be answering it all day.  Tonight, Drew and I are going to see the best musical of all time, Les Miserables!  Haven't seen it in years.  It's Drew's last day of work (been 10 weeks already, can you believe it?), so we'll get dinner and then go to the show at the Walnut Street Theatre.  I am excited.  I know when I hear the first notes, I will be reminded that yep, no show beats this. 

Day Off

Wednesday night we went to see The Full Monty, in Media.  It wasn't a professional production, but it was still done really well.  It was a funny show and the guys were really good singers.  I thought the girls voices were tough to understand, partly because the music was overpowering.  But, besides that, it was a fun show.  The setting takes place in Buffalo, which was mildly amusing.  The poor city gets bashed pretty badly though... "I want to wake up knowing where I want to go, not going no where wandering the streets of Buffalo".... "We may be retired and living in Buffalo, which is probably an oxymoron."  Etc, etc.... and etc.   

Yesterday Drew and I spent the day home.  We did some yard work and sat outside for a while.  Now it's Friday and at least half the office has the day off.  It sure is quiet.  Yay, the weekend is almost here. 

Sweeney Todd

Who else is looking forward to the Sweeney Todd movie?  I can't wait to see it because I've always loved the musical.  I'm always fearful when they make a movie out of a musical, because they often times don't do it justice (one example: RENT).  So far the previews seem pretty good for this one.  To see a longer, movie trailer sort of thing, click here. 

Avenue Q

On Thursday, Drew and I went to see Avenue Q. We sat in the first row of the balcony, off to the side. A perfect view of the stage! The show was actually a lot more funny and better than I thought it would be. I had always wondered how that show won the Tony award, but I guess now I understand why. They are really good at making those puppets seem like the real characters. It wasn't like the Lion King where you see the puppet, but are kinda watching the guy who is controlling it. Here you actually watch the puppet which is pretty interesting. Yup, I liked the show.

The Light in the Piazza

On Friday night, Drew and I went to see The Light in the Piazza. It was a show I wouldn't recommend to people, considering all the really great shows there are out there to see. It was an opera-ish musical and kinda slow with no dancing or choreography like that. There was a main story line (that I won't bother telling) with many songs that sound the same. Then when a bit of a twist was thrown into the story, it was like "oh nevermind" and instead they sang yet another same sounding song. The cool part was the set design and lighting. That about sums it up.

Show Seconds

I haven't updated you on this yet. Drew and I went to see a band he likes called Sonata Arctica. It was the second time we've seen them, and it was only the second time they've played in NYC. It was a pretty good time 'cause I like that band more than most of the bands Drew listens to.

Also that week, we went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels again. Second time for that one as well. Jonathan Pryce has taken over John Lithgow's role. I like him much more... the whole show seemed to click together better and the jokes came across more clearly than they did the first time I saw it. For example, when Jonathan was doing the german accent thing, you could actually understand the words. Overall, great performance and very funny show!

Drew and I will soon be seeing Light in the Piazza, and Beauty and the Beast. I'll let you know how they are!

Altar Boyz

A few months ago Drew and I received a free CD that contained some songs from the off-Broadway show, Altar Boyz. After listening to it, we thought it would be an interesting show to see. Plus, the reviews have been very good. Drew got me some tickets for Christmas and we just went to see it tonight. It was very enjoyable and funny. If you don't know, Altar Boyz is a boy-band, and all their songs are catholic based and about God. The show runs an hour and a half, with no intermission, and it's sorta like watching a concert... but not. It is a comedy musical concert style thing. Good stuff, go check it out if you can.

On the Radio

I forgot to tell you. We have a radio alarm clock and keep it on the NPR station pretty much all the time. At night there is always classical music on. One night I just happened to hear the very beginning of a french horn solo that I actually played! It was just so strange to hear a song that I played on the radio. Of course, the professional was much more awesome at it.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Tonight we went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Man, that show was a lot of fun and very good. Quite funny too, it rivals The Producers. I don't think I ever saw a full original Broadway cast before. Very great stuff. I recommend this show big time!!! It was just funny the whole time.

Yesterday that show had a promotion. They were giving out free limited edition CD's. It contains almost all the songs, and a special message just before the final songs, that warns you to stop listening unless you want to spoil the ending. (the real cd isn't on sale until May 11th)Then we waited in line to get some signatures. John Lithgow and Joanna Gleason walked away just as we got up there, but we got other good people to sign. Check out my little photo album to see pictures I took. There are better descriptions too. Oh, and at todays show they were handing out those CD's again. So now we have 4, but only 2 have signatures on them :)

Quite exciting stuff. Drew and I are off to visit Will and Elaine in Connecticut this weekend. We're leaving tomorrow (Friday) night and returning Sunday morning. Poor kitty will have to be without us for a full day and a half. I'm sure he'll be fine. Bye for now!

Rent

Friday night Drew and I went to see Rent. We sat in the 6th row in the left section of the orchestra. Man, that show is LOUD!! But what a great performance it was. Plain and simple, GREAT! I have seen Rent several times now, but each time I seem to catch things I missed the last times. Hey, the movie is supposed to come out this year. They were doing some filming of the scenery over in the east village a few weeks back. I hope it has as much energy as the stage performance.... not sure how you can capture that on film. The show is ALL loud energy.

Movin' Out

Drew and I went to see Movin' Out on Sunday. I had seen it before in Buffalo, but he never did. It was really really good. We got the cheapest seats possible, which meant we were in the last row, but center which was fortunate. The best part was that we got to see some of the original Broadway cast stars. The roles of Brenda and Eddie (Elizabeth Parkinson and John Selya) as well as the lead vocalist, Michael Cavanaugh! He was a really good singer, and all of the songs sounded just like the CD, obvously. Nothing beats that! So yeah, it was a great show especially beause I was caught off-guard with having originals. That just made it SO worth it.

Musicals

I've been meaning to write about this since Thanksgiving.

Musicals (Broadway style) have been my preference of music for many years. Many of them have original songs and were written by composers who like that stuff. There has been a massive change though, and when watching the Macy's Day parade it ticked me off. They performed "Smash Hits" (according to who?) from the not-even-playing-on-broadway-yet musicals All Shook Up and Good Vibrations. Yes, Elvis and the Beach Boys do Broadway!!! Get the heck outta town.

Then and there I wondered what the plots could possibly be. To me, I just see Grease, but with motorcycles or surfboards instead of a car. Back in Nov, I could sense failure for both shows, and I'm at least half right. This past week, the reviews came out for Good Vibrations. Check out this page which has a quick summary from several reviews.

The idea of taking a band who is already liked, barely wrapping a storyline around it, and selling it as a "new musical" is not a new idea. In theory, it's a simple way to obtain audience approval because you already know the public likes the music. I compare that to when you go to any concert... you hope the band plays certain songs you know and love. OK, so when people leave happy, they tell their friends to go and buy their own $75 - $100+ tickets. That's why they leave ya with a lively - get up and dance - feeling at the end, so you walk away humming and spreading the word!

I want to go see Good Vibrations because I know I'd find much humor in the horrible-ness. But I'd cry over knowing how much money I blew on it.

I'm disappointed in Broadway in this aspect. Come on!! Write some good, original songs, and we'll call THAT a hit!