in retrospect: AWESOME.
Okay. So for those of you who don't know, I was born and raised in New York City. In downtown Manhattan, to be specific, but that's neither here nor there. But, yeah. I also had the very great fortune of having parents who were avid theatergoers, and who instilled a love of theater in me from a very young age. (Since theater is currently my career, I owe a pretty huge debt of gratitude to them.) And they devoted a pretty huge chunk of their disposable income to the arts -- opera for my dad, ballet for my mom, and Broadway shows for the whole family. Starting at about age eight, my big birthday or Christmas/Hanukkah gift every year would be tickets to the Broadway show of my choosing. THIS WAS MADE OF AWESOME, no lie. And ever since then, I've been collecting every Playbill to every show I see. Primarily Broadway, but any professional production anywhere, I try to save the Playbill. Some people collect stamps. I collect theater memories. This is my career, this is my life. I haven't counted in a while, but I'm probably about up to a hundred by now -- and I've been slacking off on saving them in the past couple of years. My parents are moving out of my childhood home this summer, so I've been salvaging any of my old stuff that I still want, and my Playbill collection has only recently joined me in my current apartment.
Anyway. Back to theater. In particular, my mother raised me to believe that there is one God, and his name is Stephen Sondheim. (This is only sort of a joke.) For those of you who don't know much about musical theater, Sondheim is The Major composer/lyricist of the second half of the 20th century. He wrote the lyrics to West Side Story, for starters -- and that was just his first professional show. Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Company, and a whole bunch of others -- all of these are Sondheim shows. I love his music LOTS AND LOTS. (The guy just turned 80 this year. This was a Big Deal for Broadway devotees.)
So when I was about 14, there was a show running on Broadway that was a revue of Sondheim's music, called "Putting It Together". That was my birthday present that year. I haven't thought about it in YEARS -- it was a fun show with some major musical theater legends performing in it (Carol Burnett, George Hearn), but being a revue, it doesn't stand out in my list of Awesome Shows I Have Seen (I prefer proper plotlines). But this afternoon, I was browsing wikipedia (like you do) and had a minor revelation moment. When I got back to my apartment, I dug through my Playbill collection and found it.
Guys.
GUYS.
-
I SAW CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS LIVE ON BROADWAY WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN AND I DIDN'T REALIZE IT UNTIL TODAY.
!!!
This does not quite top the fact that I have seen Neil Patrick Harris performing Sondheim live twice -- once in "Assassins", once in another revue. I was at least aware of it at those times. Also, twice. BUT STILL.
Anyway. Back to theater. In particular, my mother raised me to believe that there is one God, and his name is Stephen Sondheim. (This is only sort of a joke.) For those of you who don't know much about musical theater, Sondheim is The Major composer/lyricist of the second half of the 20th century. He wrote the lyrics to West Side Story, for starters -- and that was just his first professional show. Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Company, and a whole bunch of others -- all of these are Sondheim shows. I love his music LOTS AND LOTS. (The guy just turned 80 this year. This was a Big Deal for Broadway devotees.)
So when I was about 14, there was a show running on Broadway that was a revue of Sondheim's music, called "Putting It Together". That was my birthday present that year. I haven't thought about it in YEARS -- it was a fun show with some major musical theater legends performing in it (Carol Burnett, George Hearn), but being a revue, it doesn't stand out in my list of Awesome Shows I Have Seen (I prefer proper plotlines). But this afternoon, I was browsing wikipedia (like you do) and had a minor revelation moment. When I got back to my apartment, I dug through my Playbill collection and found it.
Guys.
GUYS.
-
I SAW CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS LIVE ON BROADWAY WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN AND I DIDN'T REALIZE IT UNTIL TODAY.
!!!
This does not quite top the fact that I have seen Neil Patrick Harris performing Sondheim live twice -- once in "Assassins", once in another revue. I was at least aware of it at those times. Also, twice. BUT STILL.