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hopefullystillatheatrestudent · 3 years

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i'm so excited about you taking asks again ahhhh okay so. if you'd absolutely had to choose. what would be your top 5 cockles moments, and why? thank you ily <3

here’s the thing: there are so many routes i could go down with this, because cockles moments come in all shapes and sizes and formats. these include moments from their panels, their bloopers, the footage we get when they don’t even know they’re being recorded, stories being passed down from photo ops & autographs(one of my personal favorite ways to get cockles, tbh, because they’re all insane), and social media(tweets to each other, instagram posts & comments, etc.).

SO! since many a list like this has already been made, and i want to stand out from the crowd, what i’m gonna do is definitively give the number one spot to each of these five categories.(i might even throw in honourable mentions because they’re so despicably in love that they warrant that. i really put my whole pussy into this, guys, i hope you’re happy.)

disclaimer: these are my own personal opinions. but that also means i’m right. so. enjoy.

number one: top cockles panel moment

so we’re starting off with a bang, because how do you even BEGIN to rank what atrocities jensen and misha commit at jibcon. every single one they’ve had is damning in it’s own right, for different reasons.

however, considering just how much unabashed fuckery they’ve given us to sift through, it’s a good thing i do have a personal favorite despite it all. it’s heartwarming, the sweetest thing i’ve ever seen, AND it’s jarringly cinematic - mainly because it has a whole ass arc to it that was years in the making. it might even be surprising to some people, but my favorite cockles panel moment, and what i consider the one that encompasses their entire gut-wrenching journey from 2008-2013 in the most sweepingly romantic gesture possible, is this one.

i want this burned into my retinas. i am not even joking. when i'm through with my explanation, let me convince you why this is thee most romantic cockles moment of all time.

first, some history: people call this the resume off, but many seem to forget the botched attempt at a resume off a year prior. and yes, you guessed it: it's during their break up. it's a juicy time period for a reason, guys. it came across as exceedingly one-sided and VERY awkward. let me refresh your memory as to just how bad it was, and just how hard jensen was trying and ultimately failing at winning misha over: the funniest part of the whole resume off in 2013??? every joke/bit had literally already been made/done. they were just going through the motions again, but the difference THIS time...is that misha reciprocated jensen's energy. it. is. fascinating. i want to get into it more detail in another post, and i'll link it here when i'm done, but the main takeaway, i think, and the main difference that showcases how much they've grown in a year, is that in jib 3, misha flat out refused to do an accent, and this time around, he indulges jensen for literal minutes. when i tell you they're crazy, they're crazy. i can't wait to actually dive into it later.

ANYWAY, the resume off culminates in this moment here. and, like, a million things happen in this gifset. actually, more like a million and one. the music starts playingneediremindyouthatthesongissingingintherain(h e l p), misha starts dancing, jensen 'perpetually fake grumpy' ackles lets misha think he's not going to join, misha sits down defeated, but no!!! that was jensen's plan all along(look at his stupid fucking smirk) and he offers his arm to his dance partner who immediately grins like a fool, jensen then leads misha into their kick step, they perfectly synchronise and let loose, and are then very clearly having the time of their lives, hanging off of each other with joy and ease. from their expressions alone i can tell that this moment is so. so. so. so! much more than what initially meets the eye. i mean-misha is fighting back the biggest smile i've ever seen. to me, it reads like jensen is offering something to misha, something that misha kind of gave up on expecting, and him offering his arm like that is like, a surprise to him in the best possible way(and it's so not platonic, let me just say that.) as soon as jensen did that, it ushered in a new era of cockles. this panel is jensen and misha's favourite for a reason, and i think this moment is the biggest clue as to why.

whew!!! ok. that took a lot out of me and that was only point one. moving on,

number two: top cockles blooper moment

cockles bloopers hold an extremely special place in my heart, because it shows just how fucking disastrous jensen and misha are. they are so goddamn infatuated with each other that they HOLD UP PRODUCTION ALL THE TIME TO FLIRT WITH EACH OTHER(???). let me repeat. let it sink in. jensen ackles; arguably one of the most professional actors on that show who puts everything he has into each scene, with mountains and mountains of notes to prove it: would rather hold up production to flirt with misha collins. this sounds fake. it's not. he does it. all. the. time. and here's the thing guys!!! i'm gonna let you in on a secret!!! misha loves it. he loveesssss it. on top of that-misha collins: overlooked because he's pranked and people assume he's unprofessional as well, but his only pranks are in retaliation/off-set, and he rarely if EVER causes problems if he can help it....lets himself get carried away when it comes to jensen making kissy faces at him!!! are you actually kidding me!!! i mean. misha. it's just a face. you've seen it a million times. i don't buy that it triggers something in you that strongly....you like it, and you like jensen's reaction. you can't fool me!!! lisa berry's face in that one gifset shows just how fed up the crew is with their gross, coupley boyfriend antics.

i could pull up so many examples. sooooooo many. but my favourite was sealed since the moment i saw it.

i actually already wrote an analysis on it but i can't find it :(((( which SUCKS because i really unpacked the whole thing. i'll try to summarise.

basically, a backstory is part of this too!!! jensen and misha both had a really really hard time with this scene(because it's explicitly romantic there i said it), they sat down for hours and poured over their scripts together, they were super super nervous going into filming, both of them, jensen especially, were super hard on themselves for their performances not being true to their characters but they both complimented the other's work(boyfriend moments fr). so, yeah. they weren't confident going into shooting. and how do they get themselves to feel better???? by cuddling each other, apparently.

a lot. a LOT. happens in this specific blooper. to the point that i saw it years before i knew about cockles and it raised all sorts of flags for me.

1) stop pulling my face towards your crotch(as a thinly veiled request that misha would, in fact, move jensen's face towards his crotch, considering it was jensen moving himself there in the first place. also, why so comfy down there guys???) 2) you're my baby daddy i know(in the most intimate voice i've ever heard please) 3) i know, i know, i love you too i didn't say i love you i know but you wanted to say it etc. misha's right, of course. that's what jensen meant.

it just reeks of comfort, familiarity and intimacy between the two, and it's a moment that is extremely sweet and silly at the same time. they're so <3

number three: top cockles found footage moment

WONDERFUL category. truly the culmination of the cockles experience. many people have said that shipping cockles doesn't work because 'they're just onstage you dummies!! they're playing it up for the audience!!!' here's the thing, love. i could not disagree with you more. once you climb your way up the cockles ladder, you soon learn that they are, in fact, playing their dynamic DOWN, not up. they really are just Like That™, and they could not care less about the paying audience, if we're being honest, considering how much time they take to giggle with each other and refuse to let the audience in on the joke. and i love them for it <3

anyway, my point is that this category is for all you naysayers out there, all you 'jensen and misha's relationship is just for show and is real life queerbaiting'(?????lordhelp???) oh yeah? ok, explain this.

he. he. he calls jensen sweetheart. literally enough said. there's nothing to really add here, except, misha and jared then immediately engage in damage control. jared's method is distraction and misha's is retconning('get out of the car, dude') this was what got me to buy into the cockles dumpster for GOOD good. you don't call your buddy sweetheart accidentally and sound so completely earnest while doing it! especially not when that buddy is jensen ackles!!! you think he would let any of his friends call him that? do you?

one more thing; if it was a slip of the tongue, little mouth thing or whatever, you think jared wouldn't have jumped on it immediately??? i can hear it now. 'did you just call him SWEETHEART???' yeah. that's what i thought. you know why he didn't? because it was too revealing.

number four: top cockles autograph moment

i mean, i think we all know what it's gonna be, and if you don't, well, do i have the piece de cockles resistance that is gonna send you over the edge.

if you haven't heard of this story by now, as a cockles, truther, i'm gonna go ahead and get you to read it, because there is no possible heterosexual explanation for any of it, and you're fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

spoiler alert: it's the story where phones weren't allowed in an auto session, jensen nuzzles himself in misha's hair, leans his full body weight onto him, holds his hand, etc. etc. i'm imploding just repeating this back, actually. also, just, the sheer amount of stories from photo ops where they tackle hug each other or slap each other's asses or sing romantic songs to each other or almost kiss is, frankly, a lot. if i could wish for anything, it would be to witness them in person.

and finally,

number five: top cockles social media moment

this one is super difficult, because there's obviously a lot to choose from. but you know what? full send, i'm going with this one:

i just. what to say about this. how often do misha and jensen watch sunsets together for it to qualify as ‘always’ ??? why are sunsets synonymous with their relationship??? that’s like??? a very romantic thing????? ‘this guy’??? the fact that it’s a CANDID??? i don’t know guys.

that could have been better but i am TIRED so. there you go rose ily

#cockles #cockles ask #liz answers #i really just. spend hours. writing about misha and his boyfriend.#why. why do i. do that #long post for ts

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saltine-kakyoin · 4 years

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OH SHIT!!!! my clown ass never saw that u rb'd those ask posts, i was Looking at my notifs to see if u would so i could send u some but SOMEHOW I MISSED IT??? clown hours.... ANyways for the emoji one have 🤗💙💘🍀😇 and 👍 (tried to not do repeats from your ask 2 me cause they all apply anyways but, Regardless) and for the questions post, maybe 5, 11, 12, 17, 20, 23 and 25? ;__;/ ily so much and i hope u have a rlly lovely night!!! and that this coming week is kinder 2 u!!!! 💖💖💖💖

ahhh, it’s no worries!!! idk about you but for me, tumblr has been having the Time of Its LIFE lately wrt notifications and most disconcertingly, unfollowing people! D: so i completely get it, it’s no worries!!! ;w;/ i already know for a Fact i’m going to write so so much, so i’m gonna put this under a readmore >w< ruth 🤝 sarah respectful lesbian moments

edit: so I finished writing it and it’s Insanely Long- just in case you don’t make it to the bottom, thank you mein broth-er!!!! ; O; i hope you have a wonderful night too!! writing all of this out made me reminisce on some really nice times, and I’m having an a1 night! ^^ ilysm! it’ll probably be daytime when you read this, so i hope you have a great day! <3

🤗 given the chance I would gladly hug you

on god!!!! ;___; i think i would frfr dissolve if a got a Ruth-Certified hug, things have been so overwhelming lately

💙 you are my closest friend

the feeling is mutual!! <3 we don’t always get to talk often, but fhdhshg when we do we talk about like All of the Madness in Sarah’s Mind^tm, and you are so patient + tolerant of my incoherent ramblings which is something i don’t think i’ve ever fully experienced? anyhow, after a year (more than a year?) of having these kinds of convos and going through the general madness of life together, I totally agree ;w;

💘 I love you so much

i love you too!!! so so much!!! 💃🕺 i don’t think words will ever be able to express how much i love and appreciate you! 💜💛

🍀 i’m lucky to have met you

i know we talk about this often, but seriously i feel the same way! it’s a little crazy that we met, technically, because Joseph Joestar tm deserved more than to be a cheater... there is something hilarious about this wild friendship rooting from him!! of all jojos!! 🤢 but i’m so grateful that we met, it’s been such a wonderful ride ;w; <3

😇 you’re a sweet cinnamon bun

🥺🥺🥺🥺 bro i- fhdhghdhgh thank you!!! ;o;

👍 you are fun to be around

ahhh, thank you!!! i am glad you feel this way bc whoo boy, i think some other people would look at the madness i tell you about and go 👁️👁️ that’s a no for me, luvs. remember last year when i was losing it tryna prepare for ren faire + i cut my palm on that one glass bottle? bc a- i barely do and b- i feel like that moment encapsulates the nicki minaj roman holiday-ness of my life XD i’m really grateful you’ve stuck around through it all 🤗💕💖

now buckle in bro!!!! the essays are incoming!!!

5. Name a movie that makes you genuinely laugh.

i swear on my life the Mortal Kombat movie from 1995 is a national treasure, it is SUCH a solid movie and has so many funny moments. Robin Shou makes such a 🥺🥺 Liu Kang, and jesus fuck he can be so savage when the script calls for it!! there’s one part where he takes Johnny Cage’s luggage and straight up fucking chucks it into the ocean + then bullies him about it later! honestly the Ballad of Johnny Cage and His Luggage is one of my favorite parts from the movie <3 if you haven’t seen it + you like cheesy, old school movies, i really recommend it!!!

11. Describe the memory of the last time you felt true happiness.

So I can’t remember the last time I did, bc my memory is horrifically terrible + probably getting worse as time goes on?? but i will tell you about one of the more recent times I remember! :D There is one crucial expository note for this memory- my brother-in-law makes THE best chili in the entire world. my brother and I were trying to recreate it because it’s such a simple but delicious + filling meal- I think this was our first time trying to create it? and it was SO chaotic, the tomato sauce and stuff kept popping and burning me and we weren’t 100% certain that we’d gathered the right ratios for the ingredients and it was just. madness lmao. Chance’s chili is one that you leave alone for multiple hours at a time (I think this is the case for all chili but i don’t cook often enough to know ;__;), and we were kinda 👀👀👀 because we weren’t sure it’d turn out right? But it did!!!! I vividly remember when it was finished and we taste-tested it + went oOOH FUCK! it wasn’t quite the same as chance’s but ohhh my god it was so good 🥰🥰🥰 but yeah!! we ate it all up and I think this was around the time I started my playthrough of Esteban for Dragon Age 2? which was one of my favorite playthroughs for the entire franchise... he’s just a simple ig beard model mage ;w; i wanted to show you what he looked like in this post but the formatting went wonky so ig i’ll just post him separately?? it’s 1000% in-character for him to infiltrate my jojo blog 😔

12. Name a song that makes you feel ethereal.

hm...I’d say it’s between Forget About or Feet of Clay! They’re both such light and tenderhearted songs, and when I listen to them I feel like I’m in an apartment kitchen slow-dancing with a love, and it’s so dark except for the slowly rising sun. I don’t know if that feeling could be described as ethereal? but it’s close enough for me

17. What is something you own that is important to you? What makes it so important?

I have a small collection of scripts from the shows I’ve been in, and two of the most important ones are from the plays my high school put on during my sophomore and junior years, The Nit-Wits and The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, respectively! The Nit-Wits has a ton of sentimental value to me because it was the last show I genuinely acted in, and it was a show we had to pull together in 2 or 3 weeks!! We were originally going to do a murder mystery play for the fall, but none of the cast was feeling it and it just wasn’t going to come to life in time (honestly this speaks volumes for how much we weren’t vibing with it, because all of our shows came together at like.. the final dress rehearsals if not opening night lmao). I vividly remember we took a vote during rehearsals about whether or not to switch the show, and then we did and it was SO fun + chaotic!! My character was one of the only regular characters in the show, but I think everyone else had a lot of fun acting as actors who were hired to be maniacal, and that made acting off of them so fun! I remember there was also a night my friend Adonis almost tore the entire set down because he ran through a door and tripped over a set brace in his haste!! The Nit-Wits is hugely important because it was a really fresh acting experience for me, and again, my last time genuinely on the stage and not behind the scenes!

MCM is important to me because it was the first play I ever stage managed! I’d stage managed our musical the spring prior, but that was a huge undertaking and involved many different people and moving parts. Stage managing a play, at least at my high school, was a calmer and more intimate experience, and one I really enjoyed! Another huge reason I treasure MCM’s script is because it is one of the last shows I had with my friend I told you about- he was a senior. I have little notes and doodles from the cast and crew scattered throughout my book for this show, and I remember being so irritated by this because it meant I was losing space for stage directions, cues, and notes. Now, I’m super grateful to have these scribbles- it’s one of the only things I have left of him.

On that note, relating to him, MCM is also the show which birthed my most horrific theater horror story!! During one of the performances, I guess he forgot his line?? idk. But he ended up jumping six pages ahead of where the current scene was (I knew this bc I was following along in my book backstage + was frantically trying to figure out where he’d gone), which threw the entire cast, who were all tragically onstage, way off-track. This resulted in the most frightening game of script ping-pong I’ve ever seen: he’d skipped six pages ahead, so Adonis ended up saying a line from two pages after the six-page skip, and somehow someone else went!! oh I have a response to that line! And then said something like 9 pages back! I think the lead actress tried to ground everyone back to the lines they were supposed to be saying, but she ended up just saying a lot of their lines? And one of those lines that was supposed to be said by someone else was supposed to cue a black-out that someone got murdered in, but my lighting techie was SO fucking lost (we were both huddled over the script next to the breaker trying to figure out WHERE the hell we were! i think i had a flashlight in my mouth so I could flip through the book with both hands and thus faster??), so ofc the lights stayed up! I remember getting through this scene being the most painstaking endeavor of my entire life, but thankfully intermission was right after it! We actually extended intermission because the cast needed a hot second to fuckign RESET for Act 2 bc sweet jesus that was so bizarre...Needless to say, after that show we never messed that scene up again + everyone who acted in the show became super anal about knowing their lines as the years went on. The Six Page Skip became a legendary part of our hs theater Canon (like biblical canon ;w; although I don’t think anyone’s talked about it since my class graduated) alongside the times one of our ensemble dudes had to break through the roof of the girl’s dressing room to retrieve the keys to the theater + i got stuck on stage!

20. What’s the sweetest thing someone has done for you?

I really had to wrack my brain to answer this one, as I’m generally not the person people do things for, you know? This answer goes wayyy back, to 8th grade :O but so! there is mild exposition for this- when I started middle school, I lived in North Carolina, but we moved to Florida right before 7th grade bc my grandma is ill. We lived with my uncle while we were looking for a house, so I went to the local middle school bc why wouldn’t I? but in November, we finally found a house + my mom was like....So... are you going to switch schools or...I’d struck up some really solid friendships in this time, so i was like Mom I’d Rather Die OAO. So, we struck up a deal that I’d get to stay at that school on a zone waiver + that she’d drive me to school everyday. Sometime closer to the end of eighth grade she was like, yeah so.. I can’t do this for high school, it’s too much gas- which was valid! I was really sad about it, but I sucked it up.

Anyhow, fast forward to the last day of eighth grade, which was perhaps the saddest day I’d lived up until that point, mostly bc I knew I was probably never going to see all my friends again. My best friend, who I was like hardcore v close to + the person I shared all my wacky AUs and OC’s and headcanons with, was waiting with me for my mom to come pick me up, and then!!! When my mom pulled into the school she suddenly whipped out this lengthy letter she’d written to me about how much she enjoyed my friendship and how grateful she was that we were able to have lunch together (lunch was.. tragically ;__; the only time we really saw each other that year), and that she would never forget me! And she’d drawn me a ton of fanart from all the things I was obsessed with back then!! it was so much so fast, but then my mom was yelling at me to get in the car and I had to go :(

We kept in touch through email freshman year + fake-dated bc a senior was stalking me? ;J; and then we went to Megacon together! but I became really heavily involved in choir and theater after that, and we just kind of drifted apart :( we do follow each other on ig tho! It’s insane to think about her and that letter because on GOD ruth, that was a thinly veiled love letter and I never like... wrote her anything back that was as worthy as what she wrote me. But, she’s doing really well in uni now, so I guess it’s all okay? idk! ; o ;

23. What’s your zodiac sign? Do you think you fit the general characteristics of that sign?

I’m a Cancer!! and also a metal dragon by the Chinese Zodiac, which I’ve always thought was pretty sick! :3 I am 10000% your stereotypical Cancer, super emotional and introspective + often prone to tears ;u; My mom always said that dragons are steadfast and loyal people, and I think this also applies to me, to a fault. I checked around some websites to see what characteristics were often applied to metal dragons specifically, and it seems they are pretty strong-willed, ambitious, and generous? I don’t know if you could call me strong-willed or ambitious, but it’s all good ig.

25. What’s a song that gives off good vibes anytime you listen to it?

Ohh man, I went in on this question for Shannon, but bc I was digging around my library for Jules, I actually found an old fave! This song is from one of my all-time favorite musicals, Once on This Island- it’s The Human Heart! This song is so sweet, and god between the writing for the orchestra + the writing for the ensemble, this song is a straight masterpiece <3 I love love love the line, “Through your love you’ll live forever”, and although I am Hardcore Terrified of getting a tattoo, I really want that line tattooed on my body. if you have time, I recommend giving Once on This Island a listen!! I’ve never heard a show that uses its instruments and singers the way OoTI does (and holy FUCK it is so breathtaking live!!! I got to see it on Broadway and bro.... 🥺🥺 it was transcendental..)

#me when i talk to jules- floods her w a wall of songs #me when i talk to ruth- floods her with a wall of incomprehensible thoughts #the lov is stored in the walls of text! ; O ;#thank you again ruth!!!! this was really fun to write out and i may have cried while writing a few bits but it's fiiiine #i loved writing this 🥰#long post #like INCREDIBLY long post!!!!#sriracha ask game #fullmetal-the-last-alchemist

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anais-mitchell · 5 years

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hadestown 7/3/19

Here are my extremely extra, barely coherent, thoughts on seeing Hadestown live on a song by song basis! Nobody asked for this and it took forever but I’m nothing if not embarrassingly extra.

Road to Hell: The way they walk onstage with zero fanfare is just amazing. Andre took like 30 seconds to start the song, he looked out at the audience and unbuttoned his coat and it was sooo funny. He owned this song as always, the energy was so high and the audience was having the best time! One detail I loved was when Hermes introduced Orpheus, Persephone looked so proud like “that’s m’boy.” Then he waved his hand super excitedly and it was the cutestt.

Any Way the Wind Blows: First of all, Orpheus is watching Eurydice in awe during this whole song. When she says “anybody got a match?” he starts frantically rifling through his pockets for one before she gets one from Hermes. Eva portrays Eurydice’s scrappy, emotionally guarded nature so well during this song, you can really feel how rough her life has been and why she’d be hesitant to trust someone like Orpheus with her heart. When she first lights her candle, Clotho blows it out immediately and gets such a vicious joy from it. The next time Eurydice lights it, she cups her hands around it and glares at Clotho which was SO GOOD.

Come Home With Me: This works way better live than in audios and is 10x better than the previews version. The audience cracks up after “cOmE hOmE wItH mE.” Also, before he goes over to her he’s trying to craft a paper flower for her (which she looks at like “wtf is this.”) It’s clear Eurydice isn’t really taking him seriously but is still intrigued, and she’s having a good time with him so why not humor him? Also Reeve’s movements as Orpheus are super fast and jerky which just makes the awkward humor even better.

Wedding Song: AHH SO FLIRTY AND FUN. You can tell they really challenge each other with their polar opposite worldviews. When Eurydice says “you wanna take me home?” she flashes her shoulder under her coat and poses dramatically which is the most Eva thing I’ve ever seen. The turning point comes hard when Orpheus sings his song and procures the rose, and Eurydice’s admiration and wonder are so real it hurts my heart. Also the way Orpheus perks up at “when we’re wed” kills me. Eva went up on “and the trees gonna lay the wedding table” which I like better than taking it down.

Epic I: Amber looks absolutely radiant when she stands up and stares out in the middle of the song, that is all. But Reeve sounded lovely and the staging wasn’t what I expected, I always thought he was sitting during this number.

Livin’ It Up On Top: The Biggest Bop To Ever Bop. Everyone is so excited to see Persephone and she is So Drunk. I’ve heard the kiss goodbye to Hades is often different show-to-show; at my show, she kissed him on the cheek and he didn’t really look up at all. Then when she was towards the stairs she looked back to see if he would be looking at her and he wasn’t so she looked pissed before descending. Amber’s energy and dancing are on fire during this number, it really just has to be seen. Before Eurydice was pushed into dancing by Persephone, she was chatting with John’s character and it was really cute. Also ORPHEUS’S TOAST!!! It’s such a sobering moment in the middle of the party and everyone can find some truth in it in their life. But right after, the music springs back to life SO LOUDLY and made me ridiculously happy. What a fun number.

All I’ve Ever Known: SOFT SOFT SOFT SOFT. Eurydice’s vulnerability throughout this song and Orpheus’s constant reassurement of how much he loves her,,, chef’s kiss especially considering how the plot develops after. When Orpheus begins his part, Eurydice is turned away from him and when he sings “who am I that I should get to hold you?” she does a tiny head shake like she’s not deserving of it :(( but then when he sings his next line she turns around and starts singing with him. The interlude is so beautifully choreographed and intimate (but #EurydiceTops) and the ending + the kiss just melt my heart. They continue kissing into the train whistle for WDH. OH ALSO!! Persephone is off to the side watching them for the whole song with a very bittersweetly romantic expression… she’s definitely thinking about when she and Hades were young and in love like that…

Way Down Hadestown: Everyone’s reaction to this song starting is so fucking funny, Hermes and the Fates look so excited for the Drama™️, Persephone is pissed and needs a goddamn drink, and Orphydice just want everyone to go tf away so they can cuddle. (Seriously though Orpheus and Eurydice are so ridiculously cute in the background of this number) I’m obsessed with Amber’s bent over exorcism dance and her energy throughout the song, it’s such a last hurrah for Persephone above ground and she’s going to make the most of it damnit. Eurydice’s curiosity grows throughout the song and she starts drifting away from Orpheus until Hades’ entrance, and his entrance is SO COOL. As annoyed as Seph is to go back under, you can see a glimmer of excitement at seeing Hades again especially since she doesn’t realize how much he’s changed Hadestown. The ending of the song is so good and Eva’s belting kills me.

A Gathering Storm: Orpheus and Eurydice are staring up into the audience at the “storm” which adds a really cool ominous effect. What was even more ominous was all the ensemble finding different exits from the stage (I was mostly watching John who exited through Hades’ balcony door, but they all used a different one) and backing off the stage completely dead eyed. Definitely a nice visual symbol of them becoming the workers. Eva conveyed Eurydice’s fear and anxiety so well, especially with the Fates bringing back the “wind comes up” motif; the return of this motif, especially after Eurydice’s vulnerability during All I’ve Ever Known, is a great manifestation of Eurydice’s doubt in her decision and her security with Orpheus.

Epic II: Reeve’s voice Big Pretty. I love the staging of this Epic with Orpheus all alone on stage, it’s hard not to believe in the power of his song once the music picks up with “king of mortar.” I also really love how the workers come up as a visual representation of the evolution of Hadestown. + the transition to Chant makes me NUT.

Chant: Seph’s look of absolute disgust as she enters Hadestown is soo good and I LOVE the workers choreo. One thing that really surprised me was that while Amber brought a lot of anger to Persephone, there was also so much sadness? Especially when she was listening to Hades justifying his actions, it was like a devastated horror and despair rather than unflinching anger. (Also her mic went out a tiny bit during her lines but it’s barely noticeable listening back to it) Orpheus is so in his own world during his bits and we are ALL Hermes yelling at him to “look up!” The most iconique part of the song though is 100% “the gods have forgotten the song of their love” where everything stops and Persephone rips her hand away from Hades and then Orpheus goes right back in with the la la las. As for Eurydice’s verses, Eva’s vocals may not have been as strong as they could be but her acting killed me. You really got the sense that she wanted to believe in Orpheus, she wanted to believe that she could be optimistic like him but the world was dragging her down into her jaded ways. The Fates were so vindictive grabbing her bag/jacket and she was crying when she fell on the floor :((

Hey Little Songbird: My mom as soon as this song started: “Did he win a Tony?” I really didn’t get predatory vibes from this which I liked as a directorial choice, it was a lot more like Hades was just laying the offer out and not like he had underlying sexual motives. (That being said... the way he skulks around stage... Big Hot) My favorite dumb detail in this number though was definitely how after “they’ll take you down, they’ll pick you clean” the Fates lined up and gave Eurydice a little wave with the most sinister smiles on their faces.

When the Chips Are Down: This song starts with Hades walking offstage and leaving Eurydice alone (except for the Fates and Hermes as the narrator) to consider his offer, and she’s standing at the front of the stage in the same pose from the Tonys performance with the two coins in her hand. Eurydice seems extremely overwhelmed and emotionally tortured by the Fates; they taunt her by twirling her around and pretending to include her in their dances which distresses her a lot. But you can tell that they’re just confirming what she’s already thinking. And man are the Fates GLORIOUS. They’re so much fun and their harmonies are incredible. I still can’t believe Jewelle Blackman just exists with a voice like That... HOW.

Gone, I’m Gone: Eva sang this a lot differently than I’ve heard in usual audios? It was still excellent but I guess she was just trying some new things with it. (Not to harp about how much I love Eva but her acting is just so fluid and adaptable depending on what she’s feeling that performance, no two performances are the same with her for sure) She was so heartbroken but also very resolute :((

Wait for Me: STUNNING SHOWSTOPPING BEAUTIFUL PERFECT NEVER SEEN BEFORE NEVER THE SAME- Yeah this was good. Orpheus’ pure panic at seeing Eurydice gone and how he immediately throws himself into rescuing her THAT’S LOVE BITCH. When the workers start rotating on stage during “how to get to Hadestown” their lights are shining straight out into the audience and it makes you feel like you really are a part of the number. Not going to harp on the staging too much considering we’ve all seen the Tonys performance but the swinging lights took my breath away and when the stage opens up with his la la las and the lights of Hadestown shine so brightly and the workers are staring up in awe? (Hadestown absolutely deserved best set design don’t @ me) The best moment in the whole show. All the fuss about this number is so justified. It’s utterly incredible.

Why We Build the Wall: The staging of this is so simple yet so effective. The workers stand up ramrod straight and resume their dead eyed look as soon as Hades (and Persephone) enter the stage. This song hits so hard in 2019 and I’m so grateful it exists. Tbh though I COULD NOT take my eyes off of Amber the whole song, well at least until Eva ascended lol. Her barely masked horror and despair are so well conveyed yet she has to sing this song she couldn’t believe in less. After seeing it live, I much prefer the lack of a Eurydice solo- in this version, Eurydice doesn’t sing at all until the final line, rather just taking in the entirety of Hadestown wide-eyed and almost scared until she assimilates. It doesn’t really fit this characterization of Eurydice for her to have already internalized the mantra of the workers and I much prefer seeing Eva’s face journey up until she reluctantly sings the final line. By far my favorite part of this song (which I could honestly write an essay on) is the moment right after Hades calls Eurydice to his office; Eurydice and Persephone share the longest look that I couldn’t put my finger on for a while, but I think the best way to describe it is just utter powerlessness. Eurydice is powerless to refuse Hades and is scared of what might happen, but her looking at Persephone for help does nothing because she’s equally as powerless to stop her husband from fulfilling his power trip. It’s such a subtle moment between the two women at the mercy of a man and gahhh I could talk about it forever.

Our Lady of the Underground: I WOULD DIE FOR AMBER GRAY, I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE I SAW THIS SHIT LIVE. She’s one of the greatest performers of our lifetime and deserves every award ever. She enters the stage arm in arm with Hermes which is so cute but homegirl is SCHWASTED. She keeps on taking swigs from her flask and her dancing is just so ridiculous but works so well?? Her life is falling apart but she’s having the time of her life which is honestly relatable. One cool thing about this number when I saw it is that half the band was different so I got to hear some different names than usual when she introduced them. My soul fucking ascended on “you want stars?” and didn’t come down until the song ended. God bless Amber Gray.

Way Down Hadestown (Reprise): Ahh I was surprised by how much I dug the staging for this number, the way the Fates dance through and around the workers is so cool. Eurydice’s face changes throughout the song to reflect the sense of dread that keeps building up, and at the end she tries to run away and is blocked by the workers :((

Flowers: Eva actually cried through this whole song it’s fine I’m fine. She’s sitting down on her knees the whole time and just looks so small and sad my heart. I feel like Eva’s changed the way she sings this song from London a lot and she’s sacrificed a lot of vocal tricks and notes for a more helpless, lonely, devastated performance and it’s sooo good.

Come Home With Me (Reprise): THEY’RE SO HAPPY TO SEE EACH OTHER KILL ME. They literally do not let go of each other the whole time and you can see how much they each blame themselves for how things happened and how much they don’t want each other to blame themselves and it all just hurts a lot. But Eurydice’s face just falls and becomes fearful when she remembers Hades and realizes they can’t leave :(

Papers: Hades is LIVING for the drama in this song. The whole time, Eurydice is just trying to get Orpheus to go because she doesn’t want to break his heart anymore than she already has. Hades is still on his power trip for sure and relishes telling Persephone to stay out of it and telling Orpheus about his deal with Eurydice. Eurydice has to be physically ripped away from Orpheus for the fight scene and you can see how much her heart is breaking thinking about what Orpheus might think of her now. OKAY AND THE FIGHT SCENE, I’ve heard criticisms of it for being cheesy but I honestly think it’s really well choreographed and engaging. It’s not just the workers mindlessly beating up Orpheus as I previously thought, most of it is in retaliation to Orpheus trying to get back to Eurydice or make his way up to Hades (I guess to fight him which would be HILARIOUS) Persephone and Eurydice are both watching and the powerlessness of the female characters definitely comes back as a theme.

Nothing Changes: Harmonies!!! Acapella!! This is such a short song with such little staging that I don’t have much else to say than these women’s voices are incredible.

If It’s True: At the beginning of the song Eurydice reluctantly joins the workers and looks away from Orpheus as he sings the song, which clearly hurts Orpheus. He starts at such a low place but his process of inspiring the workers and exposing the truths of Hades’ façade is sooo well done and I love the response from the workers. This song is such a good turning point for Orpheus of realizing the world is shitty but also realizing there are more concrete ways to change the world and change people than just writing songs. Also this is a recurring theme in each song but AMBER’S FACE JOURNEY DURING THIS SONG. In this version of the show, Persephone actually knowing who Orpheus is adds a new urgency and purpose to her pity for him which I love (more on that in the next song.)

How Long?: Hi as everyone’s favorite How Long? Stan™️ I was SO THRILLED WITH EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PERFORMANCE. Amber and Patrick are just so fucking good at understanding what drives their characters it’s insane. The staging is basically just them on either side of the lift (which is under the stage at this point) with a literal chasm between them as fog pours on the stage. Patrick barked out some of his lines in the intro as if he was insecure and threatened by Orpheus and Persephone’s investment in Orpheus which was a new layer I hadn’t considered. I think older versions of this song have been more conceptual and less urgent; Persephone used to be arguing for the concept Orpheus represented (love, freedom, idealism) but now her argument is deeply personal after a whole show of watching Orpheus fall in love with Eurydice, toast her bringing summer back, and suffer in Hadestown. She really plays it as Persephone’s last stand and that if Hades doesn’t relent, he stands no chance of getting her back emotionally. And Hades is SO STUBBORN AND SMUG up until Persephone pulls the “just as long as I am your wife,” at which point he realizes just how endangered his marriage is. The final chorus is just so heartbreaking as they realize how irreconcilable they are but how desperately they love each other anyways.

Chant (Reprise): The shortest summary of this is Hades Has Feelings And Hides Them Under A Power Trip x20 ft. UNIONIZING. Hades really feels like he’s lost control over Persephone, the workers, and himself and has to flex on Orpheus by belittling him and Persephone as well as building his ego up. So yeah, not a great look but damn is it fun to watch. The workers rising up is so good, they’re doing their work when they suddenly start breaking off and questioning the status quo. Persephone is also seething the whole song and just extremely pissed off that Hades is reacting like this after she tried to talk some sense into him. But as for her verse (RIP in peace), as much as I love it, I didn’t miss it all that much seeing it live. I actually didn’t even th ink about it until a few hours after the show. I think the song is stronger with it, but now I guess I can see why they cut it? BUT BOY OH BOY WAS I NOT READY FOR THE MOMENT™️. The lights of Hadestown get so bright you can’t even look at them and “I conduct the electric city!” is so LOUD you feel it in your bones and then everything is dark. It’s such an indescribable moment live and is also Hades’ most arrogant moment in the show which is Fun considering he’s about to get emotionally rekt.

Epic III: NO SONG HIT ME HARDER THAN THIS SONG. Some details from the beginning I loved was Eurydice grabbing Orpheus’ hand and giving him A Look showing how much she believes in him and his song, and how nervous Orpheus was at first with the high stakes. But as soon as the la la las started I was TOAST. It was clearly the last thing Hades was expecting to hear and shook him to his core. Amber started crying as soon as they started, and her “let him finish Hades” was so soft and sad. Also Orpheus is looking at Eurydice during the whole “it was like you were holding the world when you held her” bit which is just as painful as it sounds. You can just see Hades’ whole world he’s built coming down around him as the music swells and he and Orpheus go up on the lift and THE NOTEEE. It’s as perfect live as it is in audios. Also the workers individually standing up and taking off their skullcaps is such a good touch. But seriously I could not take my eyes off Amber this whole song, she was crying almost as hard as I was tbh. When the song slows down and we get to “where is the treasure inside your chest?” Orpheus is clearly just reading Hades so hard, and Hades is just slowly walking over to Persephone without breaking eye contact. Hades’ la la la is so so so soft and barely a whisper, but Persephone just breaks down as he takes her hands. The moment is so tender and well acted I nearly died seeing it I swear. PLUS HE PULLS OUT THE FLOWER!!! CINEMATIC PARALLELS!!!

Lover’s Desire: I loveee the new instrumental for this and the use of the la la las. I always expected the dance to be extremely tender and reverential which it somewhat was but I was SO pleasantly surprised by how FUN it was. They had their emotional moment at the end of Epic III but this really just shows you what they were like when they were young, you just watch them and think about how much fun they must have had years ago. They’re smiling and teasing each other the whole time until they end with Persephone’s head in Hades’ shoulder and stay that way all through Promises.

Promises: This song is way more happy than it has any right to be considering it made me cry again. Eurydice is so in awe of how Orpheus brought the gods back together and they strip away every promise of finery and security and just relish in how much they love each other plainly. Also the workers are on the side the whole time, Afra and John are clinging to each other and so are Ahmad and Kimberly, but with Timothy hugging the both of them. Eurydice actually directs her line “I don’t know where this road will end, but I’ll walk it with you hand in hand” tot he workers and goes down the line grabbing their hands and singing to them individually. And the vows at the end!!!! That’s always been one of my favorite parts of the show and they delivered so well. Orpheus lays everything out on the table and gives Eurydice the choice of whether or not she wants to stay with him, and I love the fact that he does this after he literally came down to the underworld for her. He recognizes that he fucked up and she doesn’t owe him coming back with him, but she reassures him of how much she loves him right away. They can’t tear themselves away from each other when they ask Hades if they can go, and when he says “I don’t know” Persephone pulls away with the most betrayed look on her face :(

Word to the Wise: I have nothing to say except the Fates are perfect and have never let me down.

His Kiss, The Riot: Patrick’s portrayal of Hades’ inner conflict in this song…. *chefs kiss* The way he stares at the flower as a symbol of Orpheus and love and redemption but can’t make himself surrender to it completely… The “all my children” verse really makes you feel like he thinks he’s helping the workers. Also I love the way he shouts “who makes WORK for idle hands.” It’s just such a good villain song, especially when the cacophony of instruments swell around him so eerily. He sings the final part of this song straight to Hermes, almost like he’s hoping he’ll give some input but Hermes is tragically confined to his position as the messenger. Also the way he looks straight at Persephone during “nothing makes a man so bold”….

Wait for Me (Reprise): The way Hermes delivers their instructions at the beginning is so resignedly sad like you can tell he knows what’s going to happen but is trying to give them hope :( They just want to make it out together so badly, but you can already tell Orpheus’ anxiety and doubt is kicking in. Not sure if this was intentional, but the staging of Orpheus and Eurydice at the front of the stage singing the wait for me melody and looking up at the audience reminded me of A Gathering Storm; instead of facing off against the literal storm, they’re preparing to face off the mental storm to come. The workers are so desperate for them to make it out, the “show the way” bit is so impassioned and breaks my heart. AND THEN HADES AND PERSEPHONEEE. They start on opposite ends of the stage and make their way to each other as they sing, and then come closer until they’re holding hands but then the turntable turns them apart. This scene just perfectly shows how much they’ve both grown throughout the show and how they know that their love isn’t perfect, but all they can do is try. The entire cast harmonizing on the wait for me melody at the end is SO transcendentally beautiful, and then Eva jumps in and belts for the GODS!! I love this number so much, especially how the workers and Persephone are so emotionally invested in their success but in the end Orpheus and Eurydice are just left alone.

Doubt Comes In: This song is BRILLIANTLY staged and I’m so glad Rachel Chavkin has her damn Tony. The whole stage is dark and filled with fog and you really feel how lonely and scary it must seem, especially with the sinister music and malicious singing from the Fates. Eurydice is in our view at the beginning and when she is singing, but other than that, Orpheus is literally walking this road alone. Reeve does such a great job conveying not only how anxious Orpheus is but exactly why he is anxious, and it’s SO hard to watch especially compared to how optimistic he was at the start of the show. As they reach the end, the walls begin to close back up and cover the lights of Hadestown, and then It Happens and my heart just DROPS. The light flash back on and illuminate everything so horribly- it takes so long for either of them to even form words as they realize what happened. When Eurydice drops she drops FAST and it’s so viscerally upsetting watching her go down as Orpheus runs to her. His face absolutely shatters :(( also my mom and her friend had no idea how it ended and they were so shocked and upset lmao.

Road to Hell (Reprise): Andre takes a really long time to just take everything in and let the audience react before he even starts with “aight.” He walks all the way over to the pit and looks down at where Eurydice was for a long time, and Orpheus is just sitting there shell shocked and gutted. The whole first half of this song is just so slow and purposeful, recycling the motifs from Road to Hell and then you finally get what they mean by “it’s a sad song, but we sing it anyways.” The catharsis I felt seeing Eurydice come out for “anybody got a match?” and Persephone rising up on the lift to symbolize spring coming back with a look on her face that I can only describe as tired but grateful was so strong. Andre carries this finale so beautifully and the swelling music and harmonies just make me CRY. The song ends with Orpheus coming out again in his apron with a smile on his face which is so lovely.

We Raise Our Cups: This song just grounds the whole show and gives Persephone (and Eurydice) the chance to reflect on the show’s themes of love and perseverance which I adoree. Amber’s voice is so lovely and this is such a perfect reciprocation of Livin it up on Top and just made me so happy :’)

#my posts #hadestown #take a shot eveytime i repeat the same exact phrasing or talk about amber's acting lmao #n e ways i hope someone likes this hehe it took a long time and i want to go back to the show #nyc trip 2019

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michael-radi-the-glamorous-life · 4 years

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In Review: "Oklahoma!"

The first time I saw Oklahoma! live was at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada (in 2006?). I remember turning to my parents and saying:

“That was fantastic, and they really didn’t stray away from the dark part of the show. I don’t think I ever need to see this show again!”

All of this to say that, when the recent St. Ann’s Warehouse production of Oklahoma! first caused a stir at the Warehouse and then again in its move to Circle In The Square, I did not feel the need nor desire to run to see it. I had seen it onstage twice, plus the two filmed versions, and how different could it really be?

So I waited…until last weekend. The second-to-last performance. (How’s that for procrastination?!)

So, was it all that different?

Well, no. But yes? And also really no.

Don’t Throw Bouquets at Me

Most of what I’ve heard people say about this production were things like:

“It’s so dark!"“

“It’s really different!”

“They did some cool, but strange things with it.”

“They took it in a completely new direction.”

“I’ll never see Oklahoma! the same way again!”

“You have to see it. You would appreciate it.”

Some of this I agree with, but some of it I very much do not.

Let’s tackle the idea that this production of Oklahoma! was particularly (thematically) dark: Yes, but no darker than any production of this show really should be.

It seems to me that either - with the number of people whose minds were blown by the production’s darkness - many people had not ever seen Oklahoma! onstage, or just were not aware of the content of the show. But let us not forget - early musical theatre was all dark. It’s written into the DNA of the genre: There is disturbing content (usually intentional, sometimes not) between and underneath all the glitz, glamor, and show tunes.

Examples:

Show Boat - Racism, Prejudice, Abandonment

Carousel - Domestic Abuse, Murder

South Pacific - Racism, Tokenism, War

The King And I - Racism, Colonialism

The Sound Of Music - …I mean, it’s set against the backdrop of Nazism…

And these are just Rodgers/Hart and Rodgers/Hammerstein musicals! Once you start including Lerner & Lowe, Comden & Green, and Kander & Ebb you get more murder, classicism, racism, misogyny, mob mentality, white supremacy, white saviorism, colonialism, capitalism, and so much more.

Now, to be fair, many writers included these themes specifically to subvert them - it’s a large part of why the piece was written (whether or not they accomplished their goal). But it’s undeniable that dark themes have been part of the tradition of musical theatre since its very inception.

Which brings us back to Oklahoma!

This production did not specifically add in dark elements to the story - they already existed. These themes include:

Murder

Rape

Toxic Masculine Behavior

White Male Entitlement

White Privilege

Racism

Misogyny

Mob Mentality

Intentional Othering

Community Crime Cover-Up

Excessive/Irresponsible Gun Usage

White Expansionism/”Manifest Destiny”

Violence or Threatened Violence Used to end Disagreement

And more

What I think this production did brilliantly was something that was ultimately a simple idea, but probably very technically difficult to thread throughout the entire production: They stripped the show of it shiny, musical theatre veneer and let the subtext become the text.

It was very effective.

Don’t Laugh at My Jokes Too Much

What I loved the most about it’s blatant stripping of the musical-theatre-genre-crutch was how often in the show the characters were all just sitting down in chairs spread across the stage, speaking in matter-of-fact tones.

Musical theatre so often relies on stage business, larger-than-life personalities, big voices, over-the-top movements, music, and choreography to provide the “entertainment” side of the evening, all the while hoping that the underlying messages of the show don’t then become lost on the audience.

Oklahoma! took no chances here. When the darkness of the scenes’ text, subtext, or situations were paramount, they stripped all of those other elements away, leaving you to sit with exactly what was being presented to you.

This worked so well that, during intermission and as I was leaving the theatre, I heard people saying things like:

“Is that how it’s always done?”

“Wait, what did they change?”

“There’s no way that’s the actual text.”

But it is! This production just made sure you did not forget it.

Now, that’s not to say that the production didn’t lean into the lighter moments of the show and bring out the comedy, dance, and fun - it totally did. BUT, often the laughter was tentative.

Why?

Much of the humor in Oklahoma! is based upon racist and misogynistic assumptions and, amongst the rest of the stripped down show, you could not laugh your way around that. This was awesome to behold across the audience. (Disclaimer: Not all of the humor is in this vain, and these performers were truly funny.)

The stripping down idea was so pervasive in the show that - at 2 separate moments - there were scenes in complete darkness.

And a couple other times the only light was coming from the live, projected images of the onstage camera capturing the hauntingly intimate moments.

Your senses were heightened, and there was no escaping the show’s text. It was very well done.

Don’t Sigh and Gaze at Me

The sound design was brilliant.

I’m not sure I can stress enough how fantastic the sound design for this show was.

The sporadic and intentional use of handheld mics, live stand mic/monitor setups, wireless mics, no mics, sudden live gunfire, and traveling sound across a circle of rumbling speakers was effective, intelligent, and well-executed.

Additionally, the orchestration was great. I hadn’t been a fan any time I had heard the show performed on award shows or morning shows, but when played live - in the room as intended - the balance was excellent and it added a grounded modernity to the show.

The lighting often confused me.

Some of the choices were beautiful and made a lot of sense: The light for the Act 2 opening dance sequence, the use of the party string lights, having full house lights on for the top of the show, and the pure darkness scene choices.

But then other choices seemed very random and without meaning or intention. Though, perhaps these choices were simply lost on me.

For instance, I was never sure what the intent was behind the full-stage washes of lime green and burnt orange. They seemed to be randomly placed throughout the show. I was also not a fan of taking the entire theatre from pure darkness to full stage and house lights in ~30 fade-ins. This might be due to my light sensitivity though.

The set was purely appropriate and quite effective.

I loved the pervasive wooden look of the entire show. The use of the chairs and tables was excellent. And adorning the walls with rifles was a great touch - not letting you forget what this show is really about.

All in all, the production elements really helped deliver the vision of this production, and often enhanced it far beyond my expectations.

People Will Say We’re In Love

It’s entirely possible that you may gather from this review that I loved the show.

Well, I enjoyed it and I’m glad I saw it.

It was not the mind-blowing experience for me that it seemed to be for many - though this is probably because of that Stratford production I saw in high school that clued me in to the realities of musical theatre’s pervasive dark side.

But I did think it was excellently done and well worth seeing! I appreciate what this production did, and I’m sure I’ll never see an Oklahoma! quite like that ever again.

Only one more comment about the production itself:

Yes, Curly is not a good guy. In fact, no one in this show can be considered a “good guy” - they all have tremendous flaws that negate their more endearing, sympathetic, or empathetic qualities, and can leave you feeling both empty and disgusted.

The choice to change the wedding fight at the end was, in my opinion, not necessarily more effective than having Judd go after Curly openly. It accomplished the same ideas - Judd still threatens by coming to the wedding and bringing a gun, and Curly and Laurey both still want him dead, and everyone is still relieved to have had the excuse to be rid of him. Yay mob justice.

So the change still got the job done. But I remain unconvinced that it was oh-so-different or more effective.

Anywho!

If you missed this one, I would highly suggest (even if just for research) making a trip to TOFT at some point to give it a gander.

OK?

#glamorous life blog #glamorous life #In Review #Oklahoma!#Broadway #Circle In The Square #revival #St. Ann's Warehouse #dark #theme #element #theatre #theater #musical #musical theatre

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sadienita · 5 years

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Imagine/ blurb/ head canon

I’ve never seen anyone do this for really any K pop group. But I think it would cool to see the boys (17) with an American popstar or someone with a career just as busy as they are. And I think you do a really great job at writing. I hope this gives you any ideas. Hope you have a great weekend

~ ~ ~

Seungcheol

Would kind of love that you were so different to him

The language barrier would be a big issue but he’d really be willing to try

Works real hard on his English to be able to talk to you

The distance would be the worst

He hates being away from you and if there’s anything you fight about its not seeing each other enough

He loves listening to your music

Literally always wants to do collabs with you

Is super excited when he can finally show you off to fans and he doesn’t have to hide it

Lowkey feels like it’s fate that brought you together

Jeonghan

You catch his eye pretty early on

He likes the sound of your music and your aesthetic

He flirts with you a bit before you start secretly dating

He tried to learn more English but is really happy that you’re also learning Korean

Keeps the secret well but when you collab with Seventeen people start to get suspicious

It’s not too long after that that you officially announce the news

He doesn’t love the distance but he does love the excuse to go on vacations to visit you

It’s hard to see each other but you find time and spend as much of your vacation time together as possible

Thinks it’s a pretty amazing coincidence that he found you

Joshua

Is unsurprised when he clicks with you so quickly

You have a lot in common with how you two grew up and it’s nice to reminisce about those things together

He introduces you to his mom pretty early on and oh boi

You live closer to her than he does

Needless to say the two of you become best friends

He loves that you get close to his family and that he can see all of you together

He teaches you some Korean so that when you meet the other members you can talk to them

It’s rusty but it’s sweet and he loves that you make an effort to learn

Junhui

Very intimidated by you

He knows his English isn’t good enough but he wants to talk to you and get to know you

He does his best (with the help of google translate)

You think he’s sweet and endearing and you give him a chance

Despite the language barrier you click with him really well

You surprise him by starting to learn Mandarin

You also start to write a lot more love songs and he very excitedly asks in they’re about him

He dreams of sharing the stage with you one day

Soonyoung

It’s your dance moves that catch his eye

He sees a performance from an award show and he knows he has to get to know you

He’s very excited when he finally meets you and even though he’s still working on his English he does his very best to ask you to dance with him some time

It starts as a collab but grows into more the more he gets to know you

Almost accidentally tells people that you’re dating so many times

So no one is super surprised when the news officially breaks

You introduce him to different dance styles and ideas

He thinks you’re the most talented, beautiful, sexy being on the planet and he makes sure that everyone knows it

It would be annoying if it wasn’t so sweet

Wonwoo

He thinks you’re very cool, you have a great voice and he’s a little jealous that you click so well with some of the other members so quickly

It takes him a while before he starts talking to you in very broken English

He’s pretty relieved to find out that you’ve learned a bit of Korean, it makes things easier

The more you talk the more you have in common

Whenever you have free time at the same time you play video games together

It’s a good way to bond over a long distance

Even if it means one of you is up at a god awful hour

He’s pretty excited to collab with you

You two keep the relationship a secret for a long time before letting the fans in on it

You’re both just private people but when it gets serious you share the news

Jihoon

He falls in love with your music before he’s even seen a picture of you

When he meets you at an American music show he’s pretty quiet

The other members get him to talk to you cuz they know he really likes you

He’s just intimated in general but he immediately figures it would work with the language barrier

But you talk about a collab and then plan it and then go through with it and he can’t help how much he likes you

You keep it low key and you visit as much as you can

There’s a lot of late night video calls

He writes so many cute love songs about you

The others start getting a little sick of it they just wanna sing about anything else

He’s really sweet and nervous about all of this but he really loves you

Seokmin

He’d been listening to your music for some time before he met you

He deadass does not think he has a chance with you

So he’s pretty shocked when after chatting with Joshua you come up to him and start flirting in Korean

You can’t understand his responses very well but he’s just impressed that you said anything in Korean at all

He really likes you and he loves singing impromptu duets with you

So much that Seungkwan suggests you write and record one

From the minute you release one the fans love the two of you together

Which makes it easier going forward

He’s so over the moon every day that you fell in love with him

Mingyu

You catch his eye initially during a red carpet

He does a double take and makes a bee line for you during the after party

He does the best with his English but you still have some awkward moments

Either way you think he’s sweet

It’s on and off for a while with the distance

It’s hard for the both of you

But then you meet up again and decide to give it a real try

Honestly you two are a model couple

You look beautiful together in pictures but you’re both total and absolute clumsy dorks

And it’s the cutest thing in the world

Minghao

He first sees images of you at the MET Gala and he loves your outfit

He starts listening to your music after that and he reaches out to you

He does his best to talk in English and gets Joshua and Hansol to help him learn

It takes a while before you finally meet in person

You greet him in Mandarin and the biggest smile graces his features

He loves teaching you words in Mandarin and Korean

He starts dancing with you as well and you start working on choreo together

The fans love seeing you collab

They also love seeing you out and about together, best dressed couple

He’s so happy to have you in his life

Seungkwan

Okay he’s not saying it was love at first sight

But it was love at first sight

He sees you onstage at an award show, belting out a tune and he falls in love

He reaches out and he’s super nervous about it

But he loves that you get along so well

It’s starts out rocky, just trying to balance everything

But once you get the hang of it it’s great

You two are the cutest couple ever and the fans think so too

You collab with Seventeen, and then do a duet with Seungkwan before telling fans

But they already figured it out from how he looks at you

You two are just the sweetest

Hansol

Meets you at an event in Korea

You’ve been watching the tides and working with Korean artists and he thinks you’re really cool

He talks to you about working with you and you agree to do a collab with the hip hop unit

From that point on you two are best friends

You send a lot of messages and memes

It just grows into more over time and morphs into a romantic relationship

You two are pretty chill about it and are pretty relaxed

You have a lot of late night chats (or mid day chats for you) about really deep topics

And he just falls more and more in love with you

Being in love with your best friend is the best thing in the world

Chan

He loves your music and dancing and he’s really excited when he finally meets you

But the language barrier and distance prove too much and after a month you break up

After a little while apart he reaches out and you reconnect

And you fall for him all over again

He learns more English and you learn more Korean

And you can’t help how much you like him

You work on a song together and eventually you travel to South Korea to work on it

And you officially start dating again

And the rest of Seventeen are really glad cuz they want him to stop moping over you

The two of you really are too cute though and people can’t help but love you two together

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schmergo · 5 years

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I just saw the most interesting production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast last week at a small professional theatre in Northern Virginia called Creative Cauldron. I don’t usually write about shows that my friends won’t get to see (this one has closed), but this one was such an exciting little surprise that I have to put this out there.

This theatre is a black box. The other show I’ve seen there only had five actors and they seemed to fill up the space. How on earth, I wondered, could they put on a big spectacle show like Beauty and the Beast?

Ultimately, I left the theatre not entirely convinced that the show worked in such a tight space, yet its strongest elements were so powerful, creative, and memorable that they made the clumsy bits of staging feel less significant.

I don’t want to get into what I feel the shortcomings were because people involved in the production might read this, but I will say that not all aspects of characterization, staging, and costume/prop design were fitting for the small space, where details and sight lines are key. The production was definitely strongest when it kept things more minimal and abstract. I was delighted by the last verse of a “Be Our Guest” that ended not with a giant kick line but black light and choreographed movement with white gloves. Household objects’ clever costumes were less bulky and limited movement less than most productions, which made for a highly energetic ensemble. Lighting alone effectively conveyed a forest, and a children’s ensemble played objects ranging from Maurice’s invention to wolves. I loved the versatility of the set’s design, consisting of many bookcases that can be slid aside to reveal passages, occasionally blocked by wrought-iron glass-covered gates with a rose motif.

These gates played a role in one of the best scenes of the musical, in which the Beast discovers Maurice in his castle. Instead of immediately entering the scene, he presses his twisted face against the glass gates, bathed in red light, skulking from panel to panel and reappearing each time with the suddenness of a horror movie jump scare. I haven’t been so scared of the Beast since I was a toddler.

That brings me to the best thing about the show, the reason I would have gladly paid over twice the admission price to see it despite its inconsistency: the two title roles. I’m not exaggerating when I say this Belle and Beast are my favorites I’ve seen in any live production of Beauty and the Beast (of which I’ve seen many). I’d seen both actors in smaller roles in larger productions before- Eleanor Todd (Belle) as an ensemble member in Camelot at STC, Wyn Delano (Beast) as a very memorable Steward in Ford’s Theatre’s Into the Woods, and it was awesome to see them shine in the spotlight here.

Todd made Belle feel more real and present than I’ve ever seen before with an intimate portrayal that perfectly fit the small space. She didn’t use a cutesy “princess voice.” She was sensitive, smart, thoughtful, decisive, refreshingly modern and surprisingly funny. Each subtle expression of her eye or twitch of the corner of her mouth reflected the thoughts Belle was too polite to express (I loved watching her internally screaming while Gaston sang about how many children they’d have, awkwardly clutching her watering can like a talisman to ward him off). She acted her way through her ballads in a way that made them feel fresh and new- and wow, what a voice, clear and warm and totally worthy of a princess. Her Belle is so likable that you feel like she’s your best friend confiding in you, and it’s easy to see why the Beast fell in love with her so easily.

I can’t say enough about Delano’s portrayal of the Beast or the design of his costume, and really, the two go hand in hand. That’s a character that I’ve always loved and yet I usually feel let down when I see Beauty and the Beast onstage because the elaborate prosthetics make it tricky to show much expression. No matter how high the budget, they never look quite right. Seeing a production image of Delano in character is what prompted me to buy a ticket. Rather than wearing a mask, elaborate makeup, or a giant muscle suit, his Beast wears two streaks of black paint below his eyes, furry gloves with long scary claws, and a long cloak. The rest is up to Delano himself. He contorts his face and hunches his shoulders, roars and growls. His own long hair serves him well as both a Beast and a Prince, and his expressive eyes do a huge amount of the characterization for him. He’s extraordinary.

As I mentioned before, his Beast is terrifying at the beginning, and his deep voice and abrupt movements were so scary that I kept flinching at his outbursts. He paces, storms, recoils, leaps from furniture, yet he’s also intensely anxious and self-conscious and it’s easy to see how these traits motivate his behavior. I didn’t think he’d be able to do the sweet and romantic side of the Beast as well, but he did, adorably and goofily awkward. He holds Belle during their dance like he’s afraid he’s going to break her. There’s something of the little boy in his Beast, which works especially well because this production cast a member of the children’s ensemble as the young prince in the prologue. “Gosh,” you think. “The Enchantress cursed a little boy. He went through puberty in a monster’s body. No wonder he’s so messed up.”

The young actor who played the Prince in the prologue also helped the Beast transform into a human, washing his face and removing his claws and cloak, while Delano did the work of showing his bone structure shifting and changing. It was a beautiful moment to see his younger self’s almost tearful expression while setting his older self free. I’ve seen that scene done with dazzling special effects but never with the same emotion. Delano barely looks any different after the transformation but the way he carries himself is almost unrecognizable.

He’s just as powerful a singer as an actor. When he sang his sad reprise of “If I Can’t Love Her” near the end of the show, he sat on the steps right next to me and the intensity of his singing moved me to tears. I may or may not have been in his spotlight. If I was, the audience got to see me stare at him and ugly cry.

I also want to give a special shout out to the children’s ensemble, especially the little girl who played the Enchanted Rose, here a wordless confidante who wistfully reacts to the Beast’s ranting and singing. “I don’t like this any more than you do,” her eyes seem to say as she drops petals. Full disclosure: this actress went to the drama camp that I worked at three years ago, and I recognized her at once because she was a memorable performer even then. I’m super proud of her!

Seeing this show made me look at some of my favorite Disney characters and songs in a whole new light. If you ever see Eleanor Todd or Wyn Delano cast in a major role in the future, GO SEE IT!

#dc theatre #virginia theatre #informal review #beauty and the beast #musical theatre #musicals #disney #batb

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supastareden · 5 years

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Bang Yongguk left his K-Pop idol past behind; now he name-checks Kurt Cobain and confronts his mental health struggles in music

Taylor Glasby Apr 18, 2019 2:45 pm BST [LINK]

"I’m constantly living my life trapped in fear," the B.A.P frontman and solo artist tells Taylor Glasby

The date of the 27th has orbited Bang Yongguk’s life like a moon. The first ever London concert Yongguk played was at O2 Academy Brixton on April 27, 2014. He and the five other members of K-Pop group, B.A.P, did a pre-show interview where I recall him as attentive, but mostly silent, avoiding extended eye contact.

It was in stark contrast to Yongguk on stage; the charismatic rapper whose forceful, punchy delivery intimated a jumble of emotion and frustration below the surface.

Six months later, on November 27, it was alleged that B.A.P had filed a lawsuit against their agency regarding working conditions and profit distribution, putting the group out of the public eye for months. After reaching a settlement, B.A.P’s comeback single, ‘Young, Wild & Free’, netted them a win at one of Korea’s weekly music shows on November 27, 2015.

Last year, Yongguk’s contract with his agency expired and he left (as did all the members as their contracts ran out) to go solo. And right now, he’s sat in a London hotel lounge having arrived from Paris. His concert, where he’ll perform his eponymous, just-released debut album, is the next evening – March 27.

Yongguk is still a shy man. He wears a bucket hat so low that it’s hard to see his eyes but his speaking voice is as soothing and resonant as ever. Solo interviews aren’t that bad. “Now I can be honest, so it’s OK,” he says. Back then, he points out, he couldn’t be. It was easier to stay quiet.

Yongguk’s album tears off the idol skin he’s worn since debuting in 2012, but giving a voice to those silent years and his total creative control made for a tumultuous process. “I’d never done anything like this, so I felt a lot of pressure about whether I could do it on my own. I have the tendency to be a perfectionist,” he says softly. “When each aspect came together I received a lot of positive energy, but I don’t want to do an album like this again. It hurt too much.”

“I don’t want to do an album like this again. It hurt too much” – Bang Yongguk

‘Bang Yongguk’ knits dozens of sounds – from sensual R&B to jaunty space age synths – into a dense, complicated journey. It’s punctuated with sarcasm (the trap-meets-Chinese Pipa of ‘Xie Xie’), love and loss (a jazz instrumental, ‘Portrait’, and distorted electronica of ‘Hot and Cold’), but much of it reveals a life lived with introversion, loneliness and depression. His lyrics are based on the contents of his diary, the keeping of which was inspired by his grandfather who passed away during the early days of B.A.P.

“He’s the person I respect the most in this world,” Yongguk says. “By chance I found a diary he kept, read it, and started writing my own, thinking [one day] people that really liked me would read the stories in it, just like I remember my grandfather by reading his.”

Yongguk included two older songs in the tracklisting – ‘Portrait’ and ‘AM 4:44’. Released in 2015 during his group’s hiatus, the latter’s helplessness and fury are so potent that listening to it, even now, feels like a physical blow. “The assholes who ruined this are living with their bellies full”, he spits, “…I know I want to leave and put down the weight of reality that trapped me and just cry.”

“The theme of this album is myself, and ‘AM 4:44’ fits best with that,” he explains. “It’s still hard emotionally when I listen to it but if this song wasn’t on this album, I don’t think I could call it ‘Bang Yongguk’.”

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The final track, ‘See You Later’, rich with blues guitar and warped dance beats, wears a sense of the triumphant in its pacing. “Come and let’s have a drink, I’ll remember you forever, thank you and see you later,” he exhorts in the lyrics, name-checking artists (Cobain, Lennon, J Cole), family and friends like an acceptance speech. The basis of it, however, is a Will he wrote in his journal.

“I think I’m constantly living [my life] trapped in fear,” he says slowly. He sounds matter-of-fact but the particular Korean words he uses express the emotional profundity of his statement. “I thought the subject of my Will would be good as the last song because I had thoughts that this album could be my last. I don’t think I wrote anything too emotional. It’s a song that I made thinking it would be nice if they remember me when they hear ‘See You Later’.”

If anything captures the constantly swinging pendulum of light and shade that is Bang Yongguk, it’s this. A man who writes a song for others to play after he abandons music, or even his death, yet discusses it as calmly as you would the weather. Talking with Yongguk is to be laughing one moment, the next, experiencing an urge to grip him tight to this world.

“Finding happiness in life is the hardest thing,” Yongguk reflects. “I’m on tour, so I’m in a state of happiness, but my fans know how difficult it is for me to be back onstage. When I’m up there I get the feeling they’re holding me, it’s comforting.”

In October 2016, Yongguk took five months off from B.A.P, openly sharing his diagnosis of the panic disorder which prevented him performing. “When I was promoting as B.A.P, it was very hard mentally. When my contract expired, I stopped wanting to make music or be a public figure.”

During the first few months of leaving his agency, Yongguk hid himself; “Other than going for walks with my dog, I don’t think I left the house.” He began spending time with family, something his schedule hadn’t allowed for, and “one of the things I wanted to do was learn to play tennis. So I learned how to play tennis,” he smiles. “But there was a sense of emptiness and when I look back, that was me thinking, ‘I need to do music’.”

South Korea’s view of mental health has typically been unsympathetic; seen more as a weakness in personality than a legitimate health problem, many suffer in silence. There’s progress in changing perception and treatment, but it’s slow. Only a handful of idols, including Yongguk, have opened up about their struggles within K-Pop’s high-stress environment.

“I’ve always felt a lot of pressure towards myself,” he muses. “Even though I was doing my best, it was like, ‘what are you doing, you should be trying even harder’. When I was younger, I let it pass, not realising it was depression. I also thought maybe I’m too old to get help.”

“I’ve never felt embarrassed about myself in regards to this,” Yongguk adds. “I’m getting treatment and I’m diligent in taking my medication.” He pauses. “To be a little more honest, I’ve come to believe that I won’t be able to take myself out of this depression.”

His candour is painful but for years his fans have found in it a strength, a voice or a mirror to their own issues. They leave messages under his videos and social posts, some letting him know that he’s saved their lives. “When I see those messages I feel a strong sense of responsibility but embarrassment, too, I feel like I’m not worthy. When I look at myself, I feel that I’m weak,” he says, “but it’s like my fans are motivating me to get up and work.”

At his overcrowded gig, he’s visibly nervous during the first half. There are a few glowing Matoki’s – B.A.P’s lightstick – but most of the audience only grip phones. His confidence slowly uncurls, and he ends the show with one foot on the monitors, drenched in water and sweat, the crowd chanting his name. There’s no confetti cannons or expensive video backgrounds. It’s as far removed from idol-dom as it gets. He’s happy nonetheless.

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When it comes to B.A.P, he’s still experiencing mixed emotions. “I’m speaking about this for the first time,” Yongguk says. “I don’t want to use the word “withdrawal” [around his decision]. That was completely what my former company wanted. Even when I left, I still did all the remaining schedules. I wanted to end my contract alongside my members but nothing worked out the way I wanted it to, so I feel a bit sad about it.”

“At that time, I thought about just enduring it [until all the contracts had expired], but also felt like… ‘you’ve already endured so much, do you want to endure it even more?’ I’ve left the company, but I don’t think I’ve withdrawn from B.A.P. I still see myself as B.A.P’s leader. I still believe there’ll be a time where we make an album together.” As for the next chapter of his own work, he thinks for a short moment before replying. “I don’t know what that music will be, but whatever it is it’ll be music that sounds like me.”

Bang Yongguk’s album ‘Bang Yongguk’ is out now

#Bang Yongguk #NME #Bang Yongguk left his K-Pop idol past behind; now he name-checks Kurt Cobain and confronts his mental health struggles in music #B.A.P

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thesweatycollectiontyrant · 5 years

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Favorite Shows

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why specific shows mean so much to me, and I want to profile them in sort of a “why” type of post. No sort of big thing, just have a lot on my mind and want to talk about it.

Tuck Everlasting

This show deserved such a longer life than it had on a stage in New York. If I were only allowed to choose one thing that I adore about this show, it would without a doubt be the score. Every facet of it. Orchestrations, harmonies, reprises and all of that good stuff. Luckily, I make these rules.

The meaning and heart of this show is so vast and beautiful. First and foremost, the relationship that Winnie develops with the Tucks is something a lot of people fall in love with. She finds a father she never had in Angus, a nurturing mother she’s never had from Mae, an older brother in Miles, and a best friend in Jesse.

Something my friends and I discuss often is how natural of an actress Carolee Carmello is. She is nothing but honesty, truth, and transparency onstage. In this day and age, that’s something everyone should strive for. It’s truly a shame that she doesn’t have a Tony award yet (something I believe she earned in 1999). A little more about her character, Mae. Mae loves people, not things. Mae wears the same old clothes and is content with them. She rarely looks at herself in the mirror anymore by the time Winnie comes along, and her only prized possession is the music box that she has. She cares most about her family.

In terms of the immortality that the Tucks have, Jesse is often representative of the positives of being immortal. He’s young, spry, good-looking, and loves life and nature. Miles tends to be the figure for the negatives when it comes to living forever. He tends to skew Winnie away from the possibility of her also drinking from the spring and living forever. In “Time”, he explains to her that his immortality has done nothing but forced him to lose everything important to him., while Jesse tells Winnie in “Seventeen” that if she drinks from the spring that they can live together forever and live lives of happiness and possibly (probably) romance.

With Angus, Winnie has just lost her father, and Angus has never had a daughter. He tends to be gruff, but has a big soft spot for Winnie.

Of course, there’s The Man in the Yellow Suit, Hugo, Constable Joe, Mrs. Foster, and Nana, but whenever I get around to doing a full post dedicated to this show, I’ll talk about them too.

The themes in this show are something to love as well. It covers growing up, time and death, and loyalty to family. The Tucks, being in their predicament have seen and been forced to let go of many important people and memories in their lives. When Miles talks about his relationship with his son and former wife in “Time” or when Mae describes her favorite memory of when Angus asked her to marry him in “My Most Beautiful Day”.

The last thing I want to profile about this show is some of the lyrics in this show.

“Looking back is something to look forward to.” - Mae Tuck in “My Most Beautiful Day”

There is so much to unpack there. Come on.

“Time truly divides.” - Miles Tuck in “Time”

“Watching life pass it by just floating on top.” Angus Tuck in “The Wheel”

Every time I listen to this show, I am undone. It is such a beautiful and intimate story, and I wish it could’ve had a longer life. I am dying to work on this show in any capacity. Someday, I want to conduct it, but until then, I’ll keep rocking out to “Live Like This” on long drives. Or short drives to the grocery store three minutes from my house to get my mom mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Big Fish

I got the opportunity to be in this show almost a year ago and it was so fulfilling. The script, at times, is bunk, and the story can move a little faster than some can process, but what this show needs to succeed is a strong cast that is dedicated to telling the story.

There’s so much in this musical that I adore and if I were to talk about it in depth this would be a very very long post, so I’ll just cap it with saying that I love the score and the relationship between Edward and Sandra. I also love the relationship between Edward and Will.

I love the revisions made to the show for the small cast version with Sandra singing “Magic in the Man” (though I do love “Two Men in My Life” with all my heart) and Will and Edward singing “This River Between Us” rather than “Showdown. In the version we did, we actually assigned “Magic in the Man” to Jenny Hill to give her some more of a backstory on her relationship with Edward and left “Two Men in My Life” in the show for Sandra.

The show is really special because I lost my grandfather two months before we did this show. It was a real restoration to my soul to be completely honest. He was a lively man with lots of stories that he always told and a character like Edward Bloom is a pretty good counterpart.

The score is so lush and beautiful. I could listen to it all day.

Fiddler on the Roof

This show kinda ended the Golden Age. I really love the Golden Age and I think that’s where my heart lies when it comes to my love of musical theatre as a whole. It was very influential to many shows in the future and I’ll always love it.

I’m not Jewish, but what’s special about this show is that it was remarkable to many that it resounded beyond the Jewish faith. The center of this show is truly about tradition, togetherness, family, and true love.

Tevye and Golde is one of the most unique and real relationships on the stage, especially for that time period. They didn’t marry for love; they married so that they could have children and a successful life. Each one of their children progressively wishes to marry outside of that ideal, Tzeitel marrying her childhood sweetheart without a matchmaker, Hodel being engaged to Perchik without a matchmaker or permission from parents, and Chava marrying outside of the faith, directly disobeying orders from the family and with no permission from parents or a matchmaker.

Tevye has to make many hard decisions throughout the show, allowing his daughters to marry men for love. The turmoil that he experiences when disowning Chava has always been hard to watch.

There are so many lovely and beautiful and amazing moments in this show, including “The Dream”, “Tradition”, “Matchmaker” (especially how they did it in the last Broadway revival), “Sabbath Prayer”, and “Chavaleh”. Danny Burstein refers to the score as “musical theatre mother’s milk”. It is nourishing like no other. I will always love this show.

The King and I

This was a show I truly learned to love my freshman year of college. Like many, I’ve known “I Whistle a Happy Tune” and “Getting to Know You” for a very long time. I got to see it with friends from college when it went to movie theaters and I was amazed by Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe, and Ruthie Ann Miles. Each of them gave such incredible performances.

I wish this show could be done more often, but it requires a mostly Asian cast. I am so thankful that there is more representation now than there was when this show premiered, so much so that the last revival was cast completely appropriate. Kind of ridiculous that it took this long.

The women in this show are what propels it. There is a chilling scene in particular when Lady Thiang finds Tuptim and confronts her about her relationship with Lun Tha.

One thing I’ve always been fascinated by is race in the classroom. I’ve had the privilege of having teachers of all different ethnic backgrounds, including my preschool teacher. I’ve always been grateful for the opportunity to learn through all different lenses. I was moved to tears almost immediately when I saw the classroom scene when Anna is teaching all the children during “Getting to Know You” and then there’s the dance break where one of the wives performs a dance for Anna, and then Anna and Louis perform a dance for the children and wives, and then they morph them together! It’s just beautiful because that’s a symbol of people of different ethnic backgrounds coming together and teaching each other something so special that it’s beyond words: they dance. I adore that scene.

The relationship between Anna and Lady Thiang is also something I admire very much. The scene before “Something Wonderful” is also just gorgeous. There’s something to be said for Ruthie Ann Miles’ performance transitioning between Broadway and West End. As many know, she got into a near-fatal car accident while walking with her child and unborn child on the crosswalk, and both children were killed. In the West End, she used a cane because of the recovery from the wreck, which aged the character and made her a little less mobile, but it also made her more authoritative and made you want to listen to her and know what she was thinking. It was a brilliant decision to incorporate that into her character.

Getting to see this production, albeit in theaters, was an amazing experience.

John & Jen

I got to music direct this show my freshman year of college with two dear friends of mine as the siblings. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s real; all of it. I love it.

This score uses motif and reprises in a way that is really touching to me. If I were to choose a song that makes me happy, I’d say “Timeline”. It’s really groovy and it’s the biggest character shifts for the both of them. If I were to choose one that always makes me sad, it’d be “Hold Down the Fort”. Kate Baldwin and Carolee Carmello both were extraordinary in the role of Jen. It became so important to me when I got to do it. I’m thankful for this show.

Ragtime

This will be the last one. This show is so incredibly special to me. Other than something like Wicked, this show was one of the first shows I really got into. The story and score are so cohesive and they work together really well. I love Ahrens and Flaherty and their style is so broad, yet so specific.

Similar to my feelings on The King and I, Ragtime incorporates the lives of Caucasians, African-Americans, and Jewish Immigrants and they all learn things about each other through various encounters during the show. Some find love, some find hate, and it’s just an incredible show. I will never get enough of this beautiful story about justice and truth according the law.

Mother and Tateh’s relationship is one of my favorites in the mega-musical canon. *do y’all consider Ragtime a mega-musical? I do? or do I?*

The show requires a very large and very diverse cast that can sing and act incredibly well. Nothing is like the full orchestration doing this show. I love it so dearly. It has so many lessons we can learn from.

I really love these shows and they’ll always mean tons to me.

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hopefullystillatheatrestudent · 3 years

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okay so i’ve been going crazy these past few days. all about cockles/jensmish and obsessively watching their panels or reading the transcripts BECAUSE. THEY ARE LOUD. LIKE. i saw some fancams on twt and i thought people were just exaggerating but noooooooooo!!!???? so, getting to the point. you said that how do we know that jensen is performing masculinity? because jared isn’t and THAT IS A BIG BRAIN MOMENT. ON POINT. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. a particular moment from gag reel that jumps out (which you’ve talked about) when jensen goes ‘cas, you are my baby daddy’ and misha goes, ‘i know i love you too’ and jensen goes, ‘i didn’t say i love you’ and misha goes, ‘i know you wanted to’ and jensen says, ‘i love you’ WHAT THE FUCK! that was NOT a joke. yes, people took it as a joke and had a good laugh BUT I HAVE WATCHED IT TOO MANY TIMES AND IT LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE BECAUSE IT WAS NOT A PERFORMANCE. THAT WAS JENSEN. THAT WAS MISHA. jensen has a had trouble with the pda and being all touch feely (the breakup theory) and he gradually grew into it, accepted it and misha was right there all along, never pushed it. it was like a deancas au but tbh, 99% of destiel is because of cockles and we all know it. i just. jensen has latched onto dean as an emotional support because he tunes with it. understands it. projects on to it. yeah, i just had to say it and get it off my chest. (and what about those poetry pages on instagram? alma? what is your opinion?) btw, you have a lovely blog and your analysis are right on target.

so there is a LOT i’m going to address here(how dare you bring up [gunshot] i HAVE to talk about it now) so again!!!! under a cut it goes but i hope you appreciate my rambles anon it seems like you do :,)

1. jared vs. jensen and performing masculinity. hell yeah man. jared and jensen are both just ‘guys from texas’ but they are still so vastly different. today i actually had a revelation that i’m pretty sure has to do with me being bi. and it’s that i have a group of straight friends(that i love dearly but they care too much about hockey and pitbull imo could not be me) and i have a group of queer friends(who are also batshit[affectionate]). and it’s like whichever group i hang out with a different side of me emerges? they’re both me, it’s just that certain aspects of who i am as a person only surface depending on who i am around. however, i will say i feel like i watch what i say around my straight friends more. i see that very clearly in jensen as well. around jared during panels and on set, he’s definitely putting on an air of machismo and engages in typical guy talk. i do think an element of it is performative, because he wants validation from jared that they’re still just two dudes from texas taking on the world together despite his sexual identity. does that make any sense??? i hope so. but when he’s with misha he is an entirely different person and his sense of humour becomes wildly different. the machismo fades away, he’s way less caught up in what people think about him, lets his guard down, etc. to go back to my original point which is how j2 are different in that regard....jared does not do this. he is a constant. he does not flip a switch between ‘performing masculinity’ and ‘not’ because he isn’t performing any part of who he is. he just IS. so yeah these two are similar in many regards but there’s somewhat of a dissonance between them when it comes to how they perform masculinity because one of them is putting on a show and the other is merely being.

2. that crypt scene blooper(here just in case you need to see it again. do it. as a treat.) when i tell you i have easily seen this over thirty times??? since it first came out??? i mean it. it is such an overlooked(r*mantic) moment and it means so much more than people think it does. i’ve talked about the context behind it, and i think that’s why this blooper was so meaningful, so i’ll mention it again. jensen and misha had a LOT of trouble with this scene. the reason is that jensen couldn’t wrap his head around why dean would be saying these things, if i remember correctly, and both of them sat down and scoured over how they should play it for a while before filming(teamwork ;) teammates *ahem*). [to be honest we all know why jensen had a hard time with that scene and it is because it is blatantly romantic. rip to him but i would simply give in to it at that point but oh well] so anyway, their heads were scattered going into shooting, which is NEVER a good headspace to be in for a scene, ESPECIALLY not a pivotal one. but they had each other to help them through said weird energy on set that couldn’t possibly have invoked the best feelings, especially considering jensen STILL doesn’t think he played that correctly(but he praised misha on his performance :,) ). and with that context every single part of that video hits haRD

-’stop pulling my face towards your crotch’ i think this is objectively hilarious because it really really looks like jensen is pulling HIMSELF towards misha’s crotch. again, you’re fooling no one, jensen. misha’s wheezing laugh and the way he wraps himself around jensen is also,,,sweet??? like i don’t know how else to describe how i see it but this moment really reads as jensen, in his weird ‘constructing elaborate rituals’ way is asking for security through a physical touch from misha and he happily obliges and gives jensen what he needs. because i mean...watch it again. jensen ‘fights back’, but not really at all, actually. pretty wimpy counterattack. he literally lets himself be smothered by misha, and i would literally describe what they end up doing as cuddling.

-’i need you, cas. you’re my baby daddy’ i love having an actor’s perspective on things bc i think i can explain what’s going on here. jensen just delivered what was(in his own mind) a rotten take of the lines he’s most scared of delivering. so the scene was already messed up. therefore; ensuing fuckery is warranted to help him feel better. but there’s also for sure more than meets the eye for what he says here because of misha’s reaction after??? like he seemed genuinely touched. first of all, he’s saying ‘you’re my baby daddy’ as half-jensen, but not necessarily dean either(because he didn’t say the previous lines as true to his character...you get it), to misha, not cas. i think i’ve made this point before, but every single innuendo in the gag reels is to misha specifically, never once cas. therefore; logical conclusion: ‘you’re my baby daddy’ was for misha and it meant something deeper than we think because of what follows it

-this part. jensen’s giddy ass smile after he sees misha crack and then misha says ‘yeah, i know’ (can i just say his voice when he says this is so intimate???? like am i intruding guys??? sorry i’ll let myself out) also he is smiling SO BIG

- ‘i know’ ‘why are you laughing?’ ‘no i know i love you too’ this analysis is already so long but i still want to get into what THAT whole exchange means. ‘why are you laughing?’ to me sounds like jensen’s pretending to be affronted by misha laughing at something that is serious. and it’s serious because he quite literally meant ‘i love you’. he did. misha knows it. misha’s really REALLY good at cutting the bs and just getting to what people are actually trying to say. he has an innate sharpness to his sense of humour. so yes, misha is being 100% accurate when he says ‘i know, but you wanted to say it.’ misha isn’t lying here. jensen did want and mean to say ‘i love you’. and then he actually does say it(in a jokey way but not really).

- so yeah. it is actually so romantic??? like in a weird way jensen was professing his love for misha here?????? and that’s why this clip will NEVER. ever. get old.

3. jensen having trouble with pda and projecting onto dean: we can all call ourselves dean coded cas girls but NO one deserves that title more than jensen ackles himself. he is dean winchester but marginally less repressed because he actually did admit he was in love with his best friend and let himself be happy, and pretty early on too. one year and two months as opposed to twelve years. so. happy deancas au is correct. and yes about the pda thing: one day i want to write my own post about both of their body language when it comes to each other, but all i can tell is jensen, even in the early days, couldn’t help himself from flirting with misha, but if misha ever crossed a line, jensen would not be happy. clearly he’s come around, however. what i find sweet is that misha always follows jensen’s lead when it comes to how much affection they’re allowed to show each other onstage. it touches my soul

4. destiel is cockles fault. yeah. and the thing is everyone knows it, too. even non-cockles shippers will explain early destiel as entirely dependant on jensen and misha’s wild chemistry. and that chemistry is easily explained by the fact that misha and jensen are literally just wildly horny bisexuals who were crazily attracted to one another and were falling in love on screen before our very eyes. and when you have THAT insider info(which sounds cray doesn’t it!!!! the destiel actors are in love irl??? huh???) everything really does click into place. why destiel got SO popular when the show and actors never ever intended for it to happen.(i know some people think misha was playing cas as gay the whole time for shits and giggles, and i won’t deny that[especially considering he found out early on that destiel was why he was staying on the show], but i don’t think he really wanted it to amount to anything, nor did he care??? i mean he has the real thing with jensen, for one, so their characters aren’t really as important. for two, he loves joking about destiel because it’s a cultural phenomenon and it’s fascinating, and i’m sure he did ship it because he’s unhinged, but i don’t think it was vastly important to him either way.) destiel got popular because everyone was and is unintentionally reading into the real deal. i could pull up countless gifs that people have used as destiel proof that is actually just jensen and misha being messy. mainly jensen. if i’m being honest. the symbiotic relationship between destiel and cockles is why i’ve stayed onboard the destielcule and shellerscape for three solid months now; because it is utterly fascinating to witness and kind of super beautiful, too.

5. alma(and others). so. i do NOT want to really REALLY get into this in its entirety here and now so i will just give you my opinion on if i think alma is misha or not. also; i don’t want to mention the other poetry accounts here bc i feel like that’s a bigger breach in privacy, but a lot of people do know about alma now. way too many, actually. this is why we can’t have nice things. anyway-to answer your question-there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that yes, misha is running that alma poetry account. i am 100% certain. some people think it’s actually three people and they’re all connected to misha in some way but that is so needlessly complicated. as it goes in psychology; the easiest explanation is probably the right one. it’s just one person running that account, and it is misha collins. i don’t know why it’s so hard to believe KNOWN POET misha collins(who is known to spend most of his free time writing poetry anyway) would have created a secret poetry account to write about his intense secret relationship under an alias and also get legitimate feedback since no one used to know it was him. oh and the handwriting is identical??? you are blind if you do not see that i am sorry. and a million other things prove it’s misha too but yeah all you need to know is yes. it’s him. it would take a literal livestream from a random woman on that account to convince me otherwise. and honestly not even that because a random woman could technically still log in if misha asked her too. so. it would take a hell of a lot to convince me otherwise, clearly. that said DO NOTTTTTTTTTTTT GO ONTO THAT ACCOUNT WITH A SUPERNATURAL RELATED USERNAME AND COMMENT THINGS THAT ARE COCKLES RELATED. ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT’S OKAY. sorry i got heated but god please just don’t be dumb so many people have already gone way too far

6. thank you for your lovely compliment on my analyses!!! i love doing them but i don’t know if people actually like reading them so i really appreciate it

#liz answers #cockles ask #mini analysis #spec #mine

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ruinedbynegan · 5 years

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Closer: Chapter 29

A/N: I can’t believe that this blog has so many followers! Thank you to the 270+ who are here...let me know if you like this so far!

“Thank you,” I told Negan, my voice sincere. I was grateful that he had given me the space to tell my story without interruption. Even more so, he didn’t judge me for what I did, rather, he complimented my resiliency. And regardless of everything, he accepted me.

“Let me ask you something,” Negan said. “Do you think I’m a monster? Shit, I’ve killed people before. Enjoyed it, even. What do you think about that, Carson?”

I pursued my lips and thought for a moment. “I think…that whatever you’ve done, you did it because you had to. And I imagine that a lot of that comes with your status as the alpha. You’ve had to do certain things to maintain your sense of dominance over the pack. I think that you’re the kind of man that likes being respected...but when it’s necessary, you also like to be feared because it keeps people in line. I think that being what you are, what we are, changes a person. Or did you always beat people to death with a baseball bat?”

Negan let out a booming laugh that echoed around us. “Shit, no. I…” he paused, his laughter fading. It crossed my mind that maybe he was going to talk about himself, his past. I sat with him in comfortable silence, not wanting to force him to talk about the life he lived before. When it was right and when he was ready, he would tell me.

Negan was the one who broke the silence that lingered between us. “I was a high school coach. Before.”

I looked at him for a moment before I started giggling. “Seriously?” I asked.

He smirked at me and nodded. “Are you seriously laughing at me, doll?”

I scoffed playfully. “No, it’s not you...well, it is you, but more of the idea of you yelling at the kids in your class. Run faster, you sorry shits!” I attempted my best Negan impression and it had both me and Negan bursting into a fit of laughter.

“I don’t fuckin’ sound like that!” He countered.

I smirked at him. “Maybe not. But still...it would have been interesting to see you as a coach.”

“Interesting, huh? What, just because then you could have seen my ass in gym shorts?” He quipped, winking at me.

I was blushing furiously. “N-no!” I stammered.

Negan smiled smugly at me. “It’s okay, baby. I know you’re into a little freaky-deaky.”

My mouth fell open and I couldn’t help the laughter that followed. “You’re ridiculous!”

“You like it,” Negan replied.

I scoffed playfully, realizing he was right. I did kind of like it.

The laughter faded, leaving Negan and I staring down at the city. At some point, we had unconsciously moved closer together, our knees and shoulders now touching. But I didn’t scoot away from him, realizing how comfortable this felt. How comfortable it felt being with Negan. I yawned, growing tired and allowed myself to scoot back against the windshield of my car, it propping me up slightly as I laid down. Once again, my eyes found the stars, finding the various patterns that swirled around in the night sky. After a moment, the hood creaked slightly and Negan scooted back, laying next to me. He propped himself up on one arm and looked down at me.

“Let me ask you something else, Carson. Why that song?”

I smirked up at him. “Because anything by Lana Del Rey is amazing,” I said, stating the obvious. “But also because it felt right.”

Negan hummed and reached for my hand, but I didn’t pull away. He stroked the palm of my hand before gently lacing his fingers with mine. Heat spread throughout my body, lingering more in some places than others. Leave it to Negan to make hand holding such a sensual experience. I unconsciously bit my bottom lip, the action causing Negan’s tongue to sweep across his lips in the most perfect way. By now, I had stopped breathing.

“Like this?” He asked as he continued stroking my fingers. His eyes were on me, the hazel orbs smoldering and burning through me. And his voice, the low drawl of it...it had a direct line to my core.

My wolf was silent, but her primal instinct was urging me forward, to close the distance between Negan and I. Because this wasn’t a dream— this was real. Negan was real. And what I felt for him was very real. This undeniable attraction, the curiosity coupled with the desire I realized I felt towards him. But it wasn’t just the desire to belong to someone so completely that fueled me. It was the desire to let go of my self restraint, to be who I was meant to be. And I could have it. I could have him. I just needed to lean forward and press my lips against his…But then the rational part of my brain kicked in. The part of me that didn’t want to make this so easy for him.

Because where was the fun in that? Kissing him like this under the stars and then we lived happily ever after? No, I wanted him to be the one to give into me. I wanted him to take control by allowing himself to let go of it. Because there was power in that, giving someone else control over you, trusting them enough to take you to that place of intimacy that you’d never experienced before.

Sighing, I pulled my hand away from Negan and brought it to his cheek, gently caressing it. His stubble tickled my palm and for a moment, I imagined what it would feel like tickling the inside of my thighs…

“Negan,” I said, the tone of my voice different than normal, similar to the one I used onstage. I attempted to sound sultry and given the way Negan’s jaw clenched, I’d say it worked.

“Carson,” he replied, his voice hoarse. He was very affected by this, being in such intimate and close proximity to me. As I continued to stroke his cheek, I smiled smugly at him, biting my lip the same way as before. He groaned at the sight.

“Did you really think I was going to give in on day one?”

Tags: @haleyea @wolfangelwings @negan-jdm-winchester

#negan #the walking dead #twd #the walking dead negan #twd negan #jeffrey dean morgan #negan x oc #negan x original female character #negans thirst squad #negan fanfiction #negan x carson

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flannelpunkcalum · 6 years

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Could you do a second part to the Luke one you just posted, something like her flying out or him finishing the song or something. It was so beautiful I didn't want it to end ❤️❤️

flattery will get you absolutely everywhere absolutely! and shoutout to @plainwhiteluke for proofreading for me!!

part one can be found here

On tour, Luke forgets everything so quickly. Usually, anyways. Screaming at crowds of thousands every other night will do that to you.

Not this time.

He can’t sing Valentine without wishing it for her. It’s great - one of his favourites off the new album - but it doesn’t say anything about her sharp teeth or her soft hands. And when he thinks of that, he tries to write it down, but these days his legal pad is half-torn from scribbled out lines.

He feels blocked for the first time in months, the only time it really counts.

That night, he dresses early and heads onstage before soundcheck. His piano is already out, and he sits himself at the bench without looking at the empty seats surrounding him. They’ll be filled soon enough.

He flexes his fingers and plays a G chord. It’s as good a start as any, and maybe if the words won’t come a melody will. He could ask Cal or Mikey or Ash to help, but he wants this to feel intimate.

Focus.

He plays the G chord again. Okay, it’s a start. Then to the - um, C, G again, C, E minor, and then so it’s not just a four chord song he takes it to the G/F# the classics favour.

It sounds really nice, and he plays it again, enjoying the way the chords don’t fill the space.

Wait.

He plays it one more time.

Okay, this is just “Your Song”. He’s literally just playing an Elton John song. Don’t get him wrong, it’s a fucking great Elton John song, but it’s not right. It’s not hers.

Luke decides to play it anyways. “So forgive me forgetting, but these things I do - you see I’m forgetting if they’re green or they’re blue, anyway, baby, what I really mean - yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

Fuck, he wishes he had written this. It fits them - the distance that forms, the inarticulate love he’s got tearing at him, the longing - he wishes he could tell her it was for her. He stumbles over the chords on the way to the chorus, swearing under his breath, but he finds it eventually. “I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind, that I put down in words-” he can almost hear her join in, “how wonderful life is-”

“-now that you’re in the world.”

Luke stumbles over the chords, discordant under his hands. He stumbles his way off his seat on the bench, turns around -

It’s her. She’s there, standing on stage, looking creased from a plane ride and exhausted and that’s all he has time to see before he catches her in his arms and kisses her. He’s in such a hurry, he hits the side of her mouth first before they centre to each other.

She feels like a miracle.

He breaks away, breathless with surprise. “Baby, I-” He doesn’t want to ask why. Too many questions and she might disappear again. “Hi.” He says instead.

“Hi.” She mumbles back. There are tears in those eyes he sings about.

He kisses her again.

When they finally pull away, he doesn’t take his hand off her cheek. She’s beaming up at him, he couldn’t bear to. “That sounded really good.” She says, laughing a little.

“How did you get here?” Luke’s hand slides a little further down her back, now that he’s not so worried about her slipping out of his grasp.

“Ashton told me where to find you. A pipe burst at work, we can’t go into the building until next week. I flew here as soon as I found out. I wanted- I can find a hotel if you don’t have room, I just wanted to-”

“You think I’m letting you out of my sight?” Luke feels so fond his heart might burst. As if this wouldn’t be alright, as if he wasn’t going to squeeze her into his bunk tonight.

She licks her lips before she speaks, but he can’t get his eyes off the shine on her mouth. “I can only stay for four d-” Luke kisses her again, he won’t let her finish. He doesn’t care. This beautiful girl in his life is such an impossibility, he’s gonna take every moment she gives him.

It’s a long moment until they break apart, too.

Luke can’t get over the taste of her in his mouth. One of her hands is tangled in the collar of his shirt and he wants nothing more than to let her take it off, but they’re gonna be letting people in for soundcheck soon, and- shit, how’s he supposed to play a show when he isn’t planning on letting her out of his sight for the next four days?

“I love you so much.” He says. There are other things he needs to sort out, make sure she has a pass and somewhere to sit during the show, introduce her to the Aces, but this is what’s most important.

“I love you too.” She says, and Luke pulls her into his chest tight and rests his head on hers because that’s where she fits. Despite himself, he hopes Andy isn’t around to take a picture of this. This is only for him and her and the sparrows fluttering around the scaffolding.

He’s gonna get this right one day. He’ll find a way to make touring better for them and he’ll stop leaving dishes in the sink and he’s gonna write her the best fucking song of his life. For now, though, he’s gonna love her until she’s out of his reach again. Everything else is secondary when he’s got her in his arms.

#Anonymous #my writing #your song #luke hemmings blurb #luke hemmings imagine #lh blurb #requested

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tonguetiedmag · 5 years

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interview: as it is

Wrapping up The Great Depression Tour with only a handful of shows left , I caught up with Patty Walters from As It Is just before the group rocked out a set at The Hi-Dive in Denver to learn more about his favorite vegan eateries, rare studio-moments during the recording of the band’s latest release, and what it’s been like welcoming in a new permanent member.

What’s been your favorite part about this tour apart from other tours you’ve done?

“I think the camaraderie. We love the bands we brought out as bands, and as people. We didn’t know Point North or Hold Close as human beings before this tour, but we were fans of their music and their art, and we’ve gotten to know everybody over the course of however long it’s been, probably about a month now-- it’s bittersweet. Sharptooth were some of my closest friends on warped tour of last year, we’ve seen them on pretty much every day off as well. It’s just been one big happy family honestly this tour; I think that’s the bittersweet part, is you have such a good time when everyone’s here and that just makes saying goodbye a little more difficult. It’s been one of my favorite tours we’ve ever done over 6 or 7 years now.”

What’s been your favorite song from The Great Depression to play live?

“The Wounded World i s always going to be a standout because of the relentless energy of it--I’m just a big fan of songs that really go 100 miles an hour throughout the whole thing, it’s absolutely one of those songs. Equally, opening with The Reaper has been so much fun, and The Question, The Answer has been a nice intimate moment. We weren’t sure if we were going to be playing it out here; it’s been such a fun part of the set, it makes it so much more dynamic and intimate. So there’s a couple standouts, but I think The Wounded World is probably my favorite moment of the set, which is why it’s last in the set and it’s the biggest climax and finale that we possibly could have created.”

Is there any song you wanted to put on the setlist that didn’t make the cut?

“Yes-- and part of the nature and the reason behind is that Ronnie [Ish, lead guitar] is a very new member and only knows so many of our songs right now, so we were limited to songs that we were playing on our most recent EU and UK headline run, which is why this setlist bears so much similarity to that one. But equally, we put so much time and effort and thought into this set so that it does feel theatrical and ... special-- It’s a set that we have all crafted and believed in. Adding “Such Great Heights” [The Postal Service] t o the equation out here has been really fun, so there were a couple that we did manage to sneak in. I think we’re getting Ronnie there maybe one or two songs per tour, just learning the entire As It Is discography slowly.”

When did you guys know you wanted Ronnie to become a permanent member?

“For a while, it’s been a long time coming. Ron was in the studio when we were writing and recording The Great Depression, but Ronnie has been family for a long time--we met Ronnie in 2015 on the Vans Warped Tour, he was living on our bus. He, in the interim period, served as every different touring crew member...you could imagine, as tour manager, guitar tech, driver, and merch. The thing about it--and I think it’s often a thing that gets viewed from one perspective-- is it’s not only ‘Did we want Ronnie to join?’ (which of course we did), it’s ‘Does Ronnie want to commit to these four people, this lifestyle where he doesn’t get to see his friends and family very often, where he doesn’t get paid as much as he probably could back home. For that reason I think we’re really flattered and humbled that he wants to commit the next however many years of his life to this band and us as people. The first real trial period of tour was warped tour of last year. That was Ronnie’s first time playing onstage with us, but we just kind of knew it in the back of our minds, and the back of his, that this was what we were meant to do together.”

Has the dynamic changed at all?

“Oh massively. Ronnie has the biggest personality of anyone I’ve ever met, for better or for worse; some days you’re not in the mood to be surrounded by such a loud presence. He’s one of a kind and he brings so much more energy and sincerity to what we do to our live performance, and engaging and interacting with our fans on and off stage, before and after the set.”

What’s a favorite memory you’ve made with another band on this tour?

“That’s a great question! Doing Disney world with every band on this tour was really fun, that was a really nice moment. We did an escape room with Sharptooth and Doll Skin in Arizona, that was really fun-- I had never done an escape room before, I don’t think most of us had. We were divided into four, which became two teams due to the nature of the escape room-- it was tons of fun.”

With the stark difference sound-wise between Okay and The Great Depression, how have you seen the dynamic of your fanbase change, if at all?

“Well, that’s one of the most interesting, kind of humbling things is that, we were uncertain as to who was still going to relate to this sound, enjoy this sound. One of the most humbling things is that so many fans from all around the world, that have been with us for upwards of five years since we’ve been touring internationally are still coming out to shows-- and it’s like nothing has changed, even though so much has changed. I think it speaks to the authenticity of the art that people can totally really love what we do and really believe in what we do. Yes, we’ve embraced a much more aggressive, darker sound, but it was the only natural evolution for our sound as a band for sure.”

Whatever you guys release next, are you gonna take it slow? Do you have ideas?

“I have ideas. Although, it was a conscious decision to be more present and engaged during the release of The Great Depression. We started writing The Great Depression three weeks before Okay was released, so when everyone got to really appreciate and consume okay, we were busy creatively, consciously invested in this next album. We didn’t get to live in the moment of Okay as much, and I was very aware that it would be a mistake to do that again. We all have ideas for the next record, but we haven’t started writing just yet. Equally, there are exciting expansions of The Great Depression that people are gonna get to enjoy pretty soon--we’re really making this one last.”

What motivates you to get up and keep going every day?

“Honestly, I’ve just made more of a conscious effort to live every day for me, as selfish as that sounds. Being as painfully introverted as I am, the most minute interaction often claims a big piece of myself and my energy. So I very selfishly at times hide myself away in my bunk, or in a cafe or something like that. We’re just working on so many exciting things right now that I don’t really have the time or the opportunity to slow down-- speeding away on a million different As It Is related projects, that’s pretty exciting.”

With you spending a lot of time in cafe’s and such, what’s your favorite place when you’re traveling to stop and eat, a place you look forward to?

“I wasn’t familiar with, but loved Arlo’s in Austin, Texas. Although, the thing about seeking out vegan restaurants on tour is that they’re not always healthy, and I’ve made a more conscious, mature decision to be healthier on tour for everyone’s well being, because I feel like trash if I just eat fake meat and cheese all day. Some of my favorites... I wanna say it’s called ‘Blackbird’s Cafe’ o r something, but it’s in Philadelphia. They do an amazing vegan philly cheesesteak, vegan wings-- they have these root beer barbecue wings. That was a rare, indulgent, ‘eat the trash, feel like trash’ moment, but it was worth it.”

How do you personally fight against writers block?

“Something that I’ve found only more recently--over the last year or so-- is that I hold some of my biggest influences to such a high standard, I put them on the tallest of pedestals. Some of my favorite writers/lyricists are Adam Young from Owl City, Lights, Motion City Soundtrack, Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service. Something I’ve done more recently is--yes, these artists have written some of my favorite songs--some of which I believe to be the greatest songs ever written-they have also written songs that I just don’t enjoy. I seek out those songs to remind myself that everybody is human, everybody falls shorts at least in my standards [when it comes to] music that I enjoy, and remind myself that just because these people are my biggest influences in the world, doesn’t mean that they write perfect songs every time. I love starting songs, and hate finishing songs. I start a lot more projects than I finish; partly because the potential of an idea becomes very romanticized in my head, and a lot of the time the actuality of finishing that idea isn’t as great as the potential that I see in it-- and that is a very difficult battle to win some days. What I do is remind myself that every great songwriter is human, and falls short, and doesn’t write 10/10 songs every day of every year.”

Who did you guys pull inspiration from when writing The Great Depression?

“So, we very consciously paid homage to post hardcore and emo bands, such as Armor for Sleep, Underoath..But equally, being a band from the UK, and having lived in the UK since i was five years old, I listened to so many british post hardcore bands that never got the international recognition that this band is fortunate enough to have recieved. We paid homage to bands like Hero for a Friend, Hell is for Heroes, Hundred Reasons-- the third track on The Great Depression, The Fire, The Dark is co-written with Larry Hibbitt of Hundred Reasons. If you’re from the UK, and you grew up in the 90s and 2000s there was no way to not know about this band. They were on mainstream radio, playing festival mainstages, a giant in UK rock music--but I guarantee none of our fans ever hear of that band, and getting to write one of our songs alongside one of the acts that we were paying tribute to was very cool, very surreal.”

The Great Depression also features a lot of smooth, instrumental transitions between sings--what was your favorite one of those to create?

“I think my favorite to create was the transition between The Reaper and The Two Tongues (Screaming Salvation). I don’t know if anyone knows this, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this, and I don’t know if you can even tell--but in the buildup into The Two Tongues there’s a sample of a song called The Prisoner’s Song, and I don’t even remember who its by, but it was written in like 1925. There’s all this guitar feedback and eerie soundscapes, and our mad scientist of a producer, Machine, had the idea of screaming into the guitar pickups-- because screaming “salvation”, it made sense. [There’s] this never seen, never released video of Machine screaming “salvation” into the guitar. You probably can’t hear it- I can hear it ‘cause I was there: right before the song kicks in , there’s this very distorted sound. It’s a guitar, but you can hear that Machine is screaming “sal-va-tion” into the guitar, and maybe if you really listen closely you’ll hear it now. It’s one of my favorite moments, because i feel like modern music--not even just modern rock music--modern music isn’t as indulgent as it used to be. I used to read about all these incredibly indulgent studio stories that I just feel like don’t exist anymore, ‘cause no one has the time nor the budget to be as indulgent as some of the greats used to be. Getting to play around with silly things that ultimately don’t matter, but equally fulfill you; that’s why they matter.”

If you could spend one day jamming with a favorite musician dead or alive who would it be, and why?

“For me it would be Adam Young in Owl City. Just my biggest influence of all time, somebody that I just respect so endlessly. I think he’s just an expert in sound just as much as he is in songwriting, I just love everything he’s ever done.”

What’s a song--either on the setlist or not--just a song of yours that you hold a lot of personal meaning to?

“Hey Rachel. Just hearing audiences from every end and hemisphere of the world sing your sisters’ name is always going to be hugely sentimental and personal, and it’s a very personal moment of every set we play.”

What is a song you can rage to no matter what, something that gets you hype every time?

“Clever Girl by Sharptooth. Anytime [when] we were on warped tour of last year I would seek out the Sharptooth set and just get a little more fired up, and a little bit more pissed off at the state of the world, and get a little more inspired-- it’s something that I’ve tried to catch as many times as I could on this tour, cause it makes me so much more excited for my set--it’s such a great song.”

If you had to describe your music to someone who doesn’t hear, how would you describe it?

“Where optimism and pessimism come to kick the shit out of each other.”

If you want to catch the group on their upcoming “The Intimate Depression” run, or see when they’ll be playing near you next Check them out Online:

https://asitisofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/asitisofficial/

http://www.fearlessrecords.com/artists/as-it-is/

https://twitter.com/ASITISofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Interview by: Liz Holland

#music #as it is #liz holland #interview #patty walters #patty walters interview #as it is interview #live music #denver #colorado #hi dive

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standuphippy · 5 years

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2018 Favorite Shows

This year I continued my effort to catch a few bands that I’ve liked for years but never got around to seeing and it was very rewarding. These shows included Saint Etienne, Protomartyr, Agnes Obel, The Love Language, Erasure, Johnny Marr, The The, and The Dickies.

Not everyone comes to Los Angeles on a regular basis so I was thrilled to finally catch Young Galaxy, Dawn Landes, Retirement Party, Samantha Crain, and Sidney Gish.

It’s also worth mentioning that I saw a lot of great openers this year: bands I checked out because they happened to be on the bill and they turned out to be great. Weaves, Thin Lips, Petal, And the Kids, Jess Cornelius, Ed Harcourt (never miss the opening act at an Afghan Whigs show!), and awakebutstillinbed all belong in this category. But the following list is of the shows that were really special to me, in no particular order after The Jesus Lizard.

The Jesus Lizard, Sept. 29, Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR “Happy Birthday, Sabina.” Seeing The Jesus Lizard has always been an incredible experience but the reunion shows they’ve played over the past year were excellent even by their standards. The crowds came with high expectations: you could feel the excitement in the air before the band set foot on stage. (I’ve never had so many strangers strike up a conversation the way they do at TJL shows.) I’ve loved this band from the moment I heard them (thanks, Dad). I saw them play many times when I was in college. They were a standard by which I measured any other rock band. I’ve seen a lot of live music in the 25 years since I first saw them. They are still the standard. They never disappoint. It’s hard for me to articulate my feelings without hyperbole because it’s hard for me to believe that I’ve found a band that’s so consistently rewarding. In Portland, there was a profound synchronicity between the audience and the band. They delivered an epic set that included both “One Evening” and “Lady Shoes,” while the audience did the Dudley dance for half the duration of its namesake song, then staged a clap-a-long during “Fly on the Wall.” They keep getting better and no one else comes close.

Fever Ray, May 25, Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA One of the great debts I’ll always owe Pitchfork is that they introduced me to The Knife. Not only the band's music, but in 2006 they clued me in to the band’s 4-show U.S. tour with a front page exclaiming “THE KNIFE IS COMING”. On that tour, and the first Fever Ray tour three years later, Karin Dreijer hid in the shadows, obscured by darkness and makeup. The Knife had changed their approach by the time they hit the road in 2014, and it was a wild technicolor spectacle for people who wanted more aerobics in their dance party. There were so many performers onstage that it wasn’t always clear who was singing. Dreijer was never more out in front than on this Fever Ray tour, supporting the excellent 2017 release, Plunge. Flanked by backup performers, she seemed jubilant throughout the entire performance. Remarkably, all of the tracks from Fever Ray’s subdued 2009 debut fit neatly next to the new material. The version of the band that was onstage made everything in the catalog uniquely their own. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last. Dreijer cancelled the second half of the tour citing “general anxiety and panic attacks.” It’s a shame because this Fever Ray show was her best yet. Few artists reinvent their art the way Dreijer does. hopefully she’ll be ready to hit the road again in the future.

Let’s Eat Grandma, Sept. 4, Moroccan Lounge, Los Angeles, CA Every once in a while there’s a show where everyone knows something truly remarkable is happening. The audience is ecstatic and the band shares these glances where you know it’s special for them too. This was one of those shows. Let’s Eat Grandma released one of the best records of the year and delivered a performance to match.

The Dickies, Sept. 8, Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, CA I finally saw them after 30 years of fandom and they lived up to my high hopes. They played most of their greatest hits circa 1989′s “Great Dictations”. No “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” or “If Stuart Could Talk,” but a great set nonetheless. Their cover of “Paranoid” is a steamroller live and was definitely a highlight until the woman next to me was knocked down by an errant mosher and one of her pinwheeling arms hit me right in the balls.

I saw them again a few days ago on a bill with Mac Sabbath, PPL MVR, and Captured! By Robots and they played “If Stuart Could Talk”. I guess if you’re on bill with that many high-concept acts it’s time to break out the arms-length penis puppet.

Poster Children, Sept. 18, Hotel Café, Los Angeles, CA Poster Children should be huge. Their first three records, Flower Plower, Daisychain Reaction, and Tool of the Man, are classics, and their latest, Grand Bargain!, was one of my favorite records of the year. Their Los Angeles tour stop was at Hotel Café, a small club known for lighter fare. Upon seeing the tables in front of the stage, Rose asked, “You guys know what kind of music we play, right?” The set was a mix of classics and cuts from Grand Bargain! and I lost my mind when they played “Dangerous Life” in the encore set.

Samantha Crain, Dec. 13, The Echo, Los Angeles, CA An artist I’ve waited a (relatively) long time to see and she was worth the wait. I loved last year’s “You Had Me at Goodbye” and it turns out she has a deep and excellent catalog as well. The Echo wasn’t crowded and there was no one else in my line of sight so it felt very intimate. My only complaint was that she was opening for another act; I would have loved a set that was twice as long.

Basia Bulat, Feb. 23, Bootleg Bar, Los Angeles, CA I’ve loved her music for 10 years and I’ve tried to see every show she’s played in Los Angeles. It’s a quest that’s included venues such as Old Style Guitar Shop, It’s a School Night at Bardot, and even a Bob Odenkirk comedy revue at Largo. I’ve seen her at Hotel Cafe, The Echo, and The Bootleg (3 times). I’m trying to show you what my commitment level is so you can fully understand how embarrassing the following story is to me: The show last February was a gig that she performed while she was in town recording her new album. She effortlessly translated her work for a solo performance where she alternated between guitar and piano. As always, she sounded amazing. The piano was pushed up against the stage, so when she played it, she was only a few feet away from where I was standing. She asked if anyone had heard her most recent record, “Good Advice.” We had. The audience seemed very enthusiastic: before the show I overheard people recounting other shows of hers that they’d attended, one couple had opened for her many years ago, etc. “Well, sing along!” she enthused. “Good Advice” has a bridge where there is a back and forth vocal. The lines are repeated and slightly offset, so that if one person was singing, she’d have to clip the outgoing line to get to the next one, and there are about six of these call and response couplets in that part of the song. I knew this is the part of the song she was talking about. When she got there, I was feeling pretty confident that we were all gonna nail this and it was going to be a fucking magical communion between us, her longtime fans. She hit the first one, and sang “Any sense I had at all is gone,” and I, anticipating being part of a chorus, sang the echo line. Over the course of the five seconds it took to recite the line, I realized that I was the only one singing and everyone was listening. I could feel people turning towards me. Basia Bulat was saying, “Yes, yes, yes!” and smiling as she played. I was shaken and missed the next cue. Now the pressure was on and there was no way I was going to be able to rejoin and not mess up, so I stayed silent. I stood next to her in shame, knowing that every line I didn’t jump in on made the situation increasingly awkward. Basia Bulat shrugged and did the rest of the lines herself.

I humiliated myself in front of an artist that I’ve long admired, but it was still one of my favorite shows of the year, because she’s brilliant. The reason I go to every show I can is that she always seems like she’s about to have some greater degree of success. If there are any casual observers in the audience when she starts, there are only fans when she walks off the stage. I still believe that it’s only a matter of time before she’s playing in a theater or a place with a greater separation between the artist and the crowd, so I'm going to continue to catch all the shows that I can. I’ll just try to do a better job of reading the room.

The Breeders, April 7, Observatory, Santa Ana, CA The last time I saw The Breeders they sucked but they put out such a great album (All Nerve is easily one of the year’s best) that I had to see this show. I’m glad I went because they was amazing. They have so many great songs that a live set is an embarrassment of riches. They even played “Gigantic.” There was a woman standing next to me for the duration of the show and we chatted while The Breeders were setting up. Once they started playing, she would turn to me and say something I couldn’t hear and I would smile and nod and she would issue this crazy laugh. So The Breeders were great but after every song I looked into this mass that was all eyes and teeth and hair in blue light. She looked like Sheryl Lee in Fire Walk With Me and it was terrifying.

Kyle Craft, March 4, Moroccan Lounge, Los Angeles, CA

I have bad luck seeing Kyle Craft in that he’s played here fairly frequently and it rarely works out that I can attend. I’ve seen him twice, once a few years ago when he was on tour for his debut album Dolls of Highland and then this year when he was supporting his follow up, Full Circle Nightmare. Both shows were excellent. He’s got a great band and they’ll give you a full on rock show. Craft is one of those artists that you should see when you can, not only because he’s a great performer, but because his muse moves quickly. His first release was a double album; he played it almost in it’s entirety the first time I saw him. When he came back for this show, he played one song from it.

Lydia Loveless, June 10, Casbah, San Diego, CA Lydia Loveless, June 11, Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA

My daughter had a dance recital on the 10th and when it was over I dropped her and my wife off and tried to break the land speed record to get to San Diego in time to see Lydia Loveless. I arrived just as she started her first song. Forty minutes later, I jumped in the car and drove back to Los Angeles, as I had to work early the next day. It was worth it because although Lydia Loveless has recorded many exceptional cover songs, I’ve never heard her play one live, and at this show she performed her cover of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry.” These shows were solo acoustic performances, and she was opening for Justin Townes Earle. She doesn’t play on the West Coast very often, so I always try to catch whatever I can. I love her records and she’s fantastic live. These shows were excellent but shows with her band are unbelievable.

Belly, August 9, Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA

I had written Belly off as a live band, I was disappointed with a show that I’d seen two years previous. I liked their new album, Dove, and since I had the night off I figured I should check this show out. I’m glad that I did because it was the best Belly show I’ve ever seen (twice in 1993 and once in 2016).

Loma, April 8, Bootleg Bar, Los Angeles, CA

Silence is respect in Los Angeles, and Loma got a lot of it. Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski (both of Cross Record) crafted this delicate record and as captivating as it is, I feel as though I didn’t truly appreciate it until I saw this show. Who knows if the three of them will ever make another record together. See what you can when you can.

#the jesus lizard #fever ray #the breeders #lydia loveless #loma #kyle craft #belly #the dickies #basia bulat #samantha crain #let's eat grandma

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merinathropp · 6 years

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Tanz der Vampire - Vienna 2018: Detailed Breakdown

Guys, this was such an amazing experience, I have a real mixed bag of opinions (both good and bad) and a lot of emotions. I feel so lucky to have seen this production. Now, to get all my thoughts down on paper!

First night - from middle stalls front row Second night - from middle stalls seventh row

Graf von Krolock - Drew Sarich (second night) Graf von Krolock - Florian Fetterle (first night) Alfred - Raphael Gross Professor - Sebastian Brandmeir Sarah - Diana Schnier Herbert - Charles Kreische Magda - Anja Backus

THE GOOD STUFF

ALFRED - Hello yes first off I would like to marry thank Mr. Raphael Gross for his powerful, heartfelt portrayal of one of my all-time favourite characters. He was everything I could ever want in an Alfred: sweet and devoted, full of energy and expression, and completely freaking adorable. He scurried around the stage like a frightened hedgehog, but I mean that in the best way possible. He was a ray of (very anxious) sunshine, you couldn’t help but love him and want him to win against all the odds.

- Für Sarah was An Experience, in the best way possible. Raphi’s Alfred started off very soft and uncertain, sort of pep-talking himself into summoning up the courage to keep going, but as the song went on, he seemed to sort of...grow and strengthen in front of your eyes? Like he was channelling all his love for Sarah into fighting against his fears, and by the end of the song, he had defeated them completely. He was practically punching the air and thrusting the bag all over the place with passion and determination. It was sweet and stunning and perfect, and the audience rightfully cheered at the end :’)

- Loved this detail: when the Professor was demonstrating to Rebecca how he was going to stage Chagal, Raphi turned his head away and cringed and closed his eyes for the actual moment of staking. Such good foreshadowing, setting up how frightened Alfred is by the whole staking process, so early on!

- When the Professor gestured in Ein Guter Tag for a bowl of gruel, he leapt up and charged around the bed at such a speed, he completely forgot where he was going :’) because he headed straight for the Professor’s clothes instead of the trolley! He had to skid on his heel and go charging back to fetch a bowl of gruel instead. It was the most Alfred-y thing to do (being in such a desperate hurry to please the Professor, he forgets what the Professor actually asked him to do) - I loved it.

- When the Professor is chiding him for stepping on the creaky floorboard at the end of Act 1 (even though it’s actually the Professor himself), Raphi’s Alfred stood there with this expression of half-bewilderment, half-hurt on his face, kind of like: “But Professor I’m not...doing anything...” and it was both hilarious and sad all at the same time. Then when Alfred himself passed the creaky floorboard, he walked very carefully to make sure it didn’t creak again, which is the most Alfred-y thing and I loved it.

- Okay, this made me laugh so much at the time, even though I always feel so bad for Alfred: when the Professor does his “Hast du ihn provoziert oder was?!” line and tries to investigate his trousers, Raphi’s Alfred went into a complete panic and struck this ridiculous wobbly pose where he tried to turn his legs in and cross his knees, he looked completely silly and like he was about to fall over at any moment :) poor Alfred, it’s just the icing on the cake in that scene...

- The bite was 10x more traumatic than it needed to be, because inbetween the usual screams of pain, Raphi’s Alfred cried out Sarah’s name, and that pretty much broke me. I don’t know whether he was begging her to stop or just crying out in horror, but either way, it was gut-wrenching.

- He undid four of his shirt buttons in the bathroom scene??? revealing a lot of bare chest to the audience??? I think this is the most scandalous thing I’ve ever seen an Alfred do??? (not exactly complaining, it was just...unexpected)

- Raphi lost his red coat somewhere over the course of his dance with Herbert and it was the greatest thing I have ever witnessed in a rendition of Wenn Liebe. Literally, it was hanging off his shoulder, and he couldn’t pull it back up because of the mirror-reflection. This + drenched in sweat + his hair looking like he’d come through a hedge backwards = I felt bad for laughing, but it was hilarious and adorable in equal amounts, just the icing on the cake in that scene.

KROLOCK (DREW SARICH) - I was not prepared.

- Seriously, nothing could have prepared me.

- Nothing, I tell you.

- Don’t get me wrong, I’d seen this guy on YouTube before and always thought he was a perfectly decent Krolock. But seeing him live...oh boy, seeing him live was an experience I will never forget. I finally understand all the hype for Drewlock and it is so. freaking. justified. I’m now going to fangirl for a couple of paragraphs and probably say 19023 things that all his fangirls have been analysing for decades, but what can I say? I’m a shiny new fan!

- I think the best way to describe Drew’s performance is hypnotic, charismatic and animalistic. There was something so intimate about his portrayal, you hung on every single word he spoke. Each line was given purpose and meaning, every gesture controlled and planned, every tiny inflection mattered. He was magnetic to watch, sending this incredible hush over the audience whenever he spoke or sang. When he was onstage, it was like the entire world and all the other characters revolved around him, and each time he left the stage, I found myself wishing (for the first time) that there was more Krolock in the show.

- He glided around with this incredible predatory grace. His hands were constantly moving and arching and flexing, like a cat with its claws. He’d snarl, hiss, bare his teeth, twitch his lips, lick his fangs etc. in a way that somehow always came off incredibly chilling, never silly or pantomimic. During his numbers, I kept noticing my heart literally pounding in my chest, or having to to lean back in my seat and let out my breath in a gush because I’d been holding it...ridiculous, but true, and completely awesome.

- His personality for Krolock was full of charisma, pathos, wit, genuine menace, and humour. Proper humour, that was what surprised me the most, e.g. his sarcasm with the Professor and mocking reaction to Alfred’s candlestick charge both made me laugh out loud.

- His dynamic with Alfred was...full-on seduction? Vor Dem Schloss was surprisingly intense! I’m not a Krolfred shipper, but I can see where the inspiration comes from now, and understand why this ship has climbed in popularity recently. Drew’s Krolock approached Alfred and moved his fingers in front of his face, like he was casting a spell, and Raphi went all dopey and wide-eyed, like he’d slipped into a trance (much more interesting than Alfred looking mildly scared and awkward through the whole scene). Then during the ‘Ich lehr dich, was es heißt zu lieben’ line, when Alfred was gazing sleepily out into the audience, he tucked a finger under Alfred’s chin, guided it around and upwards to look at him, then begin to draw them together (literally, I thought a kiss was coming and was ready to throw a riot) - before breaking off at the last second and sweeping away. I was like: “This. This right here, is when the ship was born. I’m holding you personally responsible, Mr. Sarich.”

- In fairness though, I like that Drew’s Krolock kept his interest in Alfred consistent throughout the show and made a proper ‘arc’ of it: during the He Ho Reprise, when speaking directly to Alfred (who had hunched in on himself and turned away, like he was hiding), he reached out a hand over the battlements and beckoned with one finger, and Raphi’s Alfred slowly looked up to meet his gaze, and started to shuffle towards him across the stage, like he was falling back into a trance again. Tom’s Alfred did something similar when I saw him in Hamburg, but this was much more obvious and a nice throwback to Act 1.

PROFESSOR - This guy was perfect. Hilarious, frustrating, easy to love, fond of Alfred. Ticked all the boxes and an amazing voice to boot. What a great performance.

- Once Alfred had helped him undress in Eine Schoner Tochter, he reached out and held his hand to Alfred’s cheek and gave him this proud grandfather smile like “Thank you my boy, another good day’s work done :)))” and I cried a lot on the inside...these two will be the death of me I swear...

- During the He Ho Reprise, he brandished his umbrella threateningly at Krolock, and then when Krolock spoke directly to Alfred, he encouraged Alfred to take his umbrella instead, so he could brandish it at the Evil Vampire Overlord too and presumably protect himself more effectively :’)

HERBERT - Why, oh why is no one talking about Charles?! This guy is sheer perfection as Herbert! Hands down one of my all-time favourites. He reminded me strongly of Kirill Gordeev from the Russian production, but with his own personal flair. Very much a graceful, charming, vain, ‘spoiled princeling’ Herbert with the perfect amount of underlying menace. He felt very fresh, and there were so many little details to his performance that stood out. Best of all, he never played for laughs or threw Alfred around like a sack of potatoes to get an audience reaction.

- On the line: “Was macht dich so blass? Bist du krank?” he said the last part as if it were a dry witty joke, and then giggled and swept his hand like “I’m so funny!” and it made Alfred’s nonplussed reaction twice as hilarious :)

- When the minuet began in Tanzaal, he swept off his cloak and tossed it over Koukol like he was a hatstand, it was priceless. And 110% Herbert. Somebody write that into the official blocking for this character, please.

- Throughout Carpe Noctem, he was very much embodying the ‘MC’ role and pulling all the strings. Lots of elegant gestures to pull dancers on and offstage, that kind of thing. At the end of the song, he focussed his attention completely on Alfred, watching him sleep with this :) expression whilst all the other dancers exited the stage. Then he clambered off the bed, and started to exit the stage...before pausing, and turning back to look at Alfred again (kind of like a kid sneaking a last glance at something special, it was unexpectedly sweet?) with this little smile on his face like “Awww look at my human! :3” and finally slinking offstage after that. Definitely stealing that for a fanfic someday...

KENTAUR SETS & COSTUMES - Are stunning and beautiful. ‘Nuff said. The vampire outfits in particular are exquisitely detailed and lovely to watch, all that sweeping velvet and heavy embroidery. The rotating set in Act 2 is also super neat! I think the projections are best seen from middle of the stalls, rather than front row though.

ORCHESTRA - Sounds like a dream, y’all were right, it’s a thousand times better than the German touring version. Full and luscious and gorgeous. Loved it so much.

THE BAD STUFF

SARAH - Oh boy, time to brace myself for the hate mail. I really, really didn’t like Diana’s Sarah. I found her belt shouty and downright painful at times, and her acting choices very confusing and inconsistent. I don’t want to turn this into an unnecessarily negative post, so I will just say: she’s clearly a wonderful talented young person, I just personally didn’t like her performance for Sarah at all.

KROLOCK (FLORIAN FETTERLE) - Again, didn’t care for this guy’s performance. Very sedate, bored-by-his-eternal-life Krolock that came off...downright dull, for me. I felt as though he had no stage presence. He didn’t seem to want to give Krolock any real menace or personality in general, though I understand that this might be part of his take on the character as a vampire with ‘deadened’ emotions. Full respect to the guy as a performer, I just personally really, really wasn’t a fan of his Krolock.

DANCING - Went wrong in multiple places, both times I saw it, which absolutely broke my heart. The cast I saw in Hamburg were flawless, not a foot out of place, but this was a whole different story. During Red Boots Ballet, Sarah didn’t even hit her splits on both performances I saw, and Krolock’s dance-double let one of her legs drop on that amazing ‘spinning’ lift at the end, which must have thrown him off balance, he was staggering around all over the place. Carpe Noctem was equally messy, with some really nice moments and some really “huh?” moments as well. White Vampire/Sarah seemed to lose their marks halfway through and face the bed instead of the audience, several moves felt like they were being ‘marked’ rather than fully danced, or left unfinished in aid of keeping up with the music. I spoke to two other fans who warned me that the Vienna dancing could be sloppy sometimes, but I genuinely didn’t think it would be this noticeable. I know we’re spoiled with all the Moscow/St. Petersburg bootlegs of insanely polished Russian dancers, but still...

BLOCKING ETC. - During my first performance, it seemed as though bits of blocking were being lost or accidentally messed up, e.g. when the Professor pushes his bag off the table using Chagal’s body and Alfred has to catch it...well, the bag was positioned wrong, so Alfred just picked up the bag and the joke was lost. The ensemble also managed to get out of time with the orchestra during Vor Dem Schloss, which was funny at first and then just frustrating. I’m going to put this down to the heat of the day, because it was pretty stuffy in the theatre and maybe the cast were just finding it hard to concentrate...?

I’ve now seen Tanz four times in total, and continue to love this show more every day. Time to start saving for a trip to Russia, that’s the production next on my bucket list! Unless someone attempts a heavily, heavily revised Broadway revival before then...I mean, a girl can dream, right? :)

#tanz der vampire #dance of the vampires #tanzblr #bal vampirov #musicals #merina rambles #save

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