"Mama I'm sorry I called you a maid" and "I'm defying gravity!" and "I can't pay the rent!"
well it was certainly a week of broadway shows for me:
on wednesday i saw CAROLINE, OR CHANGE. i'm gonna be honest, at first i really didn't like it. i think i just didn't get it. i mean i got that it was all about change on both a literal level as well as figurative, but i was just bored. if you just want to go to the theater for pure entertainment value, this isn't the show to see. but aside from all that, the production was pretty good. Tonya Pinkins who plays Caroline was wonderful, although you can tell she's very tired. she's killin her voice. but the role itself is very tiring as well. and Anika Noni Rose who won the Tony for i think featured actress in a musical was in my opinion okay but didn't give a Tony winning performance. but then again, they gave a Tony to Idina who can't find the pitch to save her life. but i won't bash her anymore than need be.
speaking of Idina though, i finally saw WICKED on friday. i have been waiting for this show for 5 years! i got stearns and i tickets for the final weekend performances of Kristin Chenowith. first i'm going to praise this show, and then i will pick it apart. Kristin could not have been more beautiful. really she is one of the most gorgeous women alive. she just glows. from the minute the bubble appeared, stearns just started bawling. and now i fully understand his love of her after seeing this show. the costumes were gorgeous, as were the sets and the overall look and feel of the show. other notable performances were Randy Harrison as Boq, who did a wonderful job and surprisingly has a really nice voice, and Sean McCourt who has been playing the Wizard of OZ while Joel Grey has been out. I was very skeptical about what to expect from Sean, but he blew me away. he doesn't have a very strong voice, but he made up for it. he made the wizard his own, slick and kinda slimy which as i hear ia a big departure from Joel's performance. and there was a real connection between him and Idina.
and now the bad. Idina, surprisingly wasn't awful, but wasn't that great either. her "Wizard and I" was fierce. but it kinda went downhill from there. she didn't suck though, but again she wasn't anything to write home about. sorry to all of you Idina lovers out there, but i just wasn't impressed, nor did i expect to be. Norbert Leo Butz sucked all around. i don't like him. and while the character of Fiyero is written pretty poorly in the show (something that truly irritates me, cause he is written so well in the book) Nobert just doesn't do anything with the role. and i don't think he can act, nor can he sing. he's just there. yeah, i think that is a perfect way to describe Nobert, he's just "there". i also wish the show had more. it's always difficult to translate a wonderful book to either tv, or movie, or in this case, musical theater form. but i just think this show suffers so much in it's translation. there is so much that is left to the audience to make-up. the audience is expected to gain so much subtext that isn't given anywhere in the show. i dunno. things like that bother me.
however, with all of that said, i REALLY did love the show. i think when you can both praise and pan a show, it means something. it really was one of the best theater experiences i have ever had. and it was well worth the wait.
finally, on saturday i saw an off-broadway show entitled THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS, THE MUSICAL! so funny! go see this if you have the chance. so good. it's a spoof on musicals and how in the end, they are all really the same story just told diffently. it's in 5 "Acts" if you will each spoofing a different famous musical theather writer including in order, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander and Ebb. the basic plot is based on "I can't pay the rent!" "You must pay the rent!" but it is told in these different styles of musical theater. it was really really good. i totally recommend it.
with all of that, it was stearnie's and my 3rd month anniversary on sunday. i just love him. what more can i say? :)
and generally i am doing wonderfully. yea me!
on wednesday i saw CAROLINE, OR CHANGE. i'm gonna be honest, at first i really didn't like it. i think i just didn't get it. i mean i got that it was all about change on both a literal level as well as figurative, but i was just bored. if you just want to go to the theater for pure entertainment value, this isn't the show to see. but aside from all that, the production was pretty good. Tonya Pinkins who plays Caroline was wonderful, although you can tell she's very tired. she's killin her voice. but the role itself is very tiring as well. and Anika Noni Rose who won the Tony for i think featured actress in a musical was in my opinion okay but didn't give a Tony winning performance. but then again, they gave a Tony to Idina who can't find the pitch to save her life. but i won't bash her anymore than need be.
speaking of Idina though, i finally saw WICKED on friday. i have been waiting for this show for 5 years! i got stearns and i tickets for the final weekend performances of Kristin Chenowith. first i'm going to praise this show, and then i will pick it apart. Kristin could not have been more beautiful. really she is one of the most gorgeous women alive. she just glows. from the minute the bubble appeared, stearns just started bawling. and now i fully understand his love of her after seeing this show. the costumes were gorgeous, as were the sets and the overall look and feel of the show. other notable performances were Randy Harrison as Boq, who did a wonderful job and surprisingly has a really nice voice, and Sean McCourt who has been playing the Wizard of OZ while Joel Grey has been out. I was very skeptical about what to expect from Sean, but he blew me away. he doesn't have a very strong voice, but he made up for it. he made the wizard his own, slick and kinda slimy which as i hear ia a big departure from Joel's performance. and there was a real connection between him and Idina.
and now the bad. Idina, surprisingly wasn't awful, but wasn't that great either. her "Wizard and I" was fierce. but it kinda went downhill from there. she didn't suck though, but again she wasn't anything to write home about. sorry to all of you Idina lovers out there, but i just wasn't impressed, nor did i expect to be. Norbert Leo Butz sucked all around. i don't like him. and while the character of Fiyero is written pretty poorly in the show (something that truly irritates me, cause he is written so well in the book) Nobert just doesn't do anything with the role. and i don't think he can act, nor can he sing. he's just there. yeah, i think that is a perfect way to describe Nobert, he's just "there". i also wish the show had more. it's always difficult to translate a wonderful book to either tv, or movie, or in this case, musical theater form. but i just think this show suffers so much in it's translation. there is so much that is left to the audience to make-up. the audience is expected to gain so much subtext that isn't given anywhere in the show. i dunno. things like that bother me.
however, with all of that said, i REALLY did love the show. i think when you can both praise and pan a show, it means something. it really was one of the best theater experiences i have ever had. and it was well worth the wait.
finally, on saturday i saw an off-broadway show entitled THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS, THE MUSICAL! so funny! go see this if you have the chance. so good. it's a spoof on musicals and how in the end, they are all really the same story just told diffently. it's in 5 "Acts" if you will each spoofing a different famous musical theather writer including in order, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander and Ebb. the basic plot is based on "I can't pay the rent!" "You must pay the rent!" but it is told in these different styles of musical theater. it was really really good. i totally recommend it.
with all of that, it was stearnie's and my 3rd month anniversary on sunday. i just love him. what more can i say? :)
and generally i am doing wonderfully. yea me!