that girl allison
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When shall we three meet again?
I love Macbeth. It’s my favorite of Shakespeare’s dramas. I studied it while I was abroad in London. I worked at the last broadway revival starring Patrick Stewart (I watched that production 13 times in all it’s 3 hour and 15 minutes of glory). I was excited but honestly skeptical when I learned it would be coming back again this season.
As a one-man show. That was one act and an hour and forty five minutes long. What?! But the silver lining was that Alan Cumming would be the star. He’d be playing all the characters. Still: the prospect was intimidating.
But yesterday I went to see the recent revival and I was absolutely blown the fuck away.
The premise is that Alan Cumming is a patient in an institution playing all these characters in his padded cell. They make full use of the three cameras and screens watching him. In all fairness, there are two actors in the show with him but they are there mostly to watch over him occasionally and sedate him when necessary.
The concept is truly heartbreaking to watch. Any time Cumming gets a little too into the action he’s imagined, the doctors rush in to sedate and put him back into his bed where he curls up in the fetal position and cries briefly.
Alan Cumming is a force to be reckoned with. He’s incredible. During the curtain call, he seemed very humbled and surprised to be receiving so much attention for his out-of-this-world performance.
I love Macbeth and if you do too, this is a production not to be missed.
Disclosure: My company works on this show, but I am in no way shilling for them.
It’s the big night tonight. The most important evening for most theatre people (on this side of the pond at least). Below are my predictions of who will win and who should win.
TONY Awards Past… at the HAIR after party in 2009.
I just watched this clip for the first time in forever.
Rent means more to me than any show ever. This clip made me bawl. I remember watching this after-the-fact on VHS in the years following after I’d paid some who-knows-who for a copy of their VHS. I’m friends with one of the fellows on screen above and it’s mind-blowing, still. To this day.
The TONYs are this Sunday. I’m rooting for Matilda but I’m not sure how to describe what watching the above clips are like. Even though I didn’t watch them in real time, they’re still incredibly moving to me. Who knew that show would have a 12 year life on Broadway. Most shows don’t. I was at Rent’s 5th year anniversary performance, their 10th year anniversary performance, and their second-to-last and final performance.
Even though I don’t cry much, this show will always make me cry and will always have a special place in my heart.
Forever and always.
(via yogawarriornyc)
I’ve had a couple of shows that I’ve absolutely loved that have crashed and burned so quickly on Broadway that it would make your head spin. High Fidelity was one of them. And when a concert of the aforementioned beloved musical is taking place, you buy tickets. (Even if it’s happening at the excessively overpriced 54 Below, you still go.)
Kristen and I both have an unrelenting love for HiFi so we were beaming and our work days could not go by quickly enough. We grabbed a leisurely dinner at Glass House Tavern and then went over to 54 Below to claim our seats at the bar. It was like a reunion of friends, old and new. I saw so many people that I hadn’t seen in - literally - years. I saw assorted cast members of Bring It On (and one from American Idiot - Van Hughes) at the bar and then realized that they’d be singing back up for the ensemble numbers.
Will Chase took the stage and it started.
So I finally got to see Kinky Boots last week. My friend grabbed two standing room tickets which were totally fine, view-wise. I’d heard many great things, like choreography and cast, and that this is the show that might beat Matilda for Best Musical. So I had an open mind.
Full disclosure: I’m incredibly, incredibly biased with regards to the Best Musical this year, I know. I think Matilda is the best thing since Rent (that’s an awful comparison, I know).
Verdict: I thought it was a well- written musical. Some of the music was very catchy and the cast was phenomenal. It had moments of serious boredom though. And I spent the entire first act waiting for the amazing choreography. The only amazing choreography was in the act one finale and the show finale.
Stark Sands is incredibly endearing and of course has an amazing voice. Annaleigh Ashford is hands down hilarious, with an incredible voice (and her character is definitely paying a bit of homage to Cyndy Lauper for sure).
And Billy Porter. MAN. I’ve always been keenly aware of his immense talents but he just blows the roof off the Hirschfeld with his performance. I think Porter and Ashford might reason enough to see this show.
The themes behind it, as directed by the brilliant Jerry Mitchell, are a tad confusing. Maybe a bit convoluted too. It’s partially about a drag queen coming to terms with his difficult relationship with his father but at center of that journey is a heterosexual relationship? Maybe it’s not meant to be analyzed in such a way.
I really did enjoy it. Do I think the choreography is competition for the likes of Matilda and Pippin? Certainly not. Will it win Best Musical? I’m nervous there’s a chance, purely for the fact that Lauper’s name is associated with (she did write the score, after all).
So I’m glad I saw it (so I can have an educated opinion about it and all that) but I’m still crossing my fingers for Matilda.
I haven’t been watching Smash this season (because… the writing, just.. enough said) but when I saw a former classmate complain how they blatantly ripped off Rent and the backstory on last night’s episode, I was intrigued and went on Hulu to watch it.
I was a little lost, to say the least, but as soon as they announced that one of the writers of their show had died, it immediately resonated with me. I remember reading about Rent’s road to New York Theatre Workshop, Jonathan Larson’s death, the transfer to Broadway, and everything else when I was 11. I poured over the “bible,” as it was called, for hours, reading all of the passages. Years later when I befriended a person who happened to be an original cast member since it’s off-Broadway production, I asked in an interview with him once, “What did it feel like when you heard that Jonathan had died?” And all he could say was, “I felt like I lost a very good friend.”
One of the complaints was that last night’s episode ripped off the backstory of Rent without even acknowledging the show. Well, I think it would’ve been a bit too cheesy, and more meta than necessary, to add in a line something like, “this is exactly like what happened to Rent!”
Duh. We’re theatre people watching this show. And if we’re good theatre people, we know the story. On the wall of Jesse L. Martin’s character’s office was a Rent poster from the run at New York Theatre Workshop. I think that was homage-paying enough.
I think Smash is horribly written, but I appreciated this episode. It was a flashback to the mid-late nineties and my childhood.
So, there were donuts in the conference room at my office today as we waited with baited breath for the nominations on NY1. The donuts were good; the fact that Matilda received 12 nominations was better.
Things I’m particularly excited about:
- Bring It On’s nominations (Best Musical, Best Choreography). I loved this show - though I may be biased. But I’m totally ecstatic that it got two nominations that it very much, IMO, deserved.
- Rob McClure for Chaplin. He was just phenomenal. There were no words.
- Condola Rashad in The Trip to Bountiful. She was endearing, and funny, and gave a great performance.
- Pippin’s nomination for Best Revival of a Musical. You just have to see it to get it.
The hysterical moment came when they announced Best Lighting of a Musical. Kenneth Posner received three out of four nominations. I’m not sure that’s ever happened before. If he doesn’t win.. it’ll be the biggest shock of the awards.
I guess nothing else is that big of a shock as far as the nominations go. I suppose I have to see Kinky Boots now. I guess I’ll be rushing it!
Congrats to all of the nominees!
Love this.
4/20 memories
Three years ago today American Idiot opened on Broadway. Of course it opened on Four Twenty. Here are a few photos from that night, including one of my favorite photos ever: my photo with Billie Joe Armstrong.
I’ll be heading to New Haven, Connecticut in a couple of weeks with a friend to see the wonderful and energetic non-equity tour of American Idiot. Can’t wait!
