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rithmeres · 2 years

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hadestown thots (as requested):

first of all here’s a pic of the cast after curtain call sorry its only six pixels wide

also im pretty sure i was standing right next to one of the ensemble members (alex puette, tall guy standing behind orpheus in the picture) on the subway earlier that day

ok what is there to say about patrick page that hasnt already been said. i love it when he enters with ‘i missed ya’ and the people in the audience who aren’t familiar with the show are like wtf [nervous laughter]. the role was literally written for him so it’s no surprise that he just owns it but after seeing him my memory was wiped of the hades i saw on tour i genuinely cannot remember the other guy because patrick page is Thee Guy

eva noblezada STOLE. THE MF. SHOW. seeing her perform live changed me and changed fundamentally how i see the show. when i saw the tour in los angeles it felt like orpheus was the main character. but with eva’s eurydice it’s her world and we are just living in it. her eurydice wants so badly and it comes through brutally despite her insistence that she doesnt need anyone or anything and her fear to have anything lest it slip away. every note was exactly where it needed to be, the quality of her voice and technique is stupendous, even when she’s sobbing on her hands and knees her voice is clarion and pitch perfect. i saw her at the stage door after and SHE said thank you to US and i was like no no no no thank YOU.

jewelle blackman as persephone slayyyyed she��s kinda crazy and i love that for her, though i wish some of the vocals could have been altered to let her go into her super low range like she did when she played one of the fates

sayo oni was orpheus and i loved himmm. famously i am not a fan of reeve carney’s orpheus (sorry) so me n emma were elated to have a fresh voice in the mix. his voice was clear and sure and gorgeous and i had been kind of afraid that even if orpheus was really good he would b overshadowed by eva because she’s such a powerhouse, but they matched & blended well in skill and vocals and i had nothing to worry about. orpheus 2 me only works as a character if he’s naive and childlike and ya boy pulled it off so well.

malcolm armwood was a fantastic understudy hermes (pictured below at the stagedoor with his BEAUTIFUL family and/or friends), although i really REALLY wanted to see lillias white in the role just to see what flavors she would inject to hermes as a woman, mainly in her relationships w persephone and orpheus. but it was fun to have a young hermes bc most of the hermes that i’ve seen/heard have been like 40+ but armwood brought a youthful buoyancy to the role that contrasted with the aged hades+persephone but still seemed older and wiser and ageless next to sayo oni’s childlike orpheus

the fates were much more vindictive and close to villainous in this version. on tour they were a more neutral force

the tour didnt have the elevator in the middle of the turntable, instead there was a door that opened up to the back of the set with red lights that looked like the front of a train. (this was very cool and in some ways i liked it better bc the bway version just had the drum kit there instead). obv the elevator as the route to hell is unmatched when orpheus turns around at the end but my ideal production has both the train lights door AND the elevator for maximum effect so hades et al can exit/enter via the train or the immediate descent underground as the situation requires

#hadestown #in conclusion: on the thai food scale of 1 to 5 chili peppers emma gave it a 6

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galaxyzone · 3 months

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My top 6 favorite musicals

6. Next to Normal

This list was gonna be a top 5 but I couldn’t not include this musical. I’ve only seen one production of it and it was actually at my college but it was the best production I ever saw there. Really pulls at the heart strings and it has wonderful music.

5. Beetlejuice the Musical

I finally got to see this for the first time back in December and it was just really fun! Phenomenal set design and costume design and of course amazing performances. It even made me cry during one scene and I wasn’t expecting this one to make me cry! Also made me a bit nostalgic for the movie. Just so much fun and definitely a must-see for live theatre!

4. Fun Home

This musical absolutely breaks me every damn time. Even just listening to the soundtrack gets me crying, this musical destroyed me in the best way. I unfortunately have a bittersweet memory of it as it’s the last show that my ex and I worked on together right before we broke up (I was the SM & she was Medium Alison), so I haven’t been able to listen to it or even think about it since, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is such a fantastic and heartbreaking musical that resonated with me so well.

3. Hadestown

Oh my GOD this musical gives me chills. I’ve gotten to see it live twice and both times have just left me so awe-struck, I don’t know quite how to explain it. Everything is just phenomenal. The story telling, the set, the acting, the singing, the music, the choreography. Seeing this musical was one of those experiences that reminds you exactly why you’re pursuing what you’re pursuing. This musical made me fall in love with theatre all over again and reminded me why I want to do it.

2. Legally Blonde the Musical

I will always love this musical and it will always hold a special place in my heart, especially as a feminist. This is such a good musical for women and feminism in general. The way that Elle learns that she doesn’t have to change who she is in order to be successful is SUCH an important message for women and girls. Being feminine doesn’t make you any less serious and people shouldn’t think less of a woman simply for the way she chooses to live her life. Also, Elle and Emmett are just adorable and one of the cutest couples in musical theatre. I’ll always have a soft spot for this show.

1. Into the Woods

What I consider to be a theatrical masterpiece. This show will ALWAYS be my favorite. It’s the first musical I ever fell in love with and it’s never leaving my #1 spot. I just don’t see that happening. The storytelling is some of the most creative and genius storytelling I’ve seen in theatre. The music is obviously iconic and challenging as hell but SO good. There are so many clever themes and motifs, so much symbolism and parallels, I could go on about my analysis of each character and their respective character arc. I also just love the way they were able to tie multiple iconic fairytale stories together and they touch on what happens after “happily ever after” and I just love that. I remember when the movie came out and people thought it should’ve ended on the happy ending (which would be the end of act 1 in the stage version), and it just bugged me how those people so clearly missed the whole point of the second act. The show is telling us that life isn’t as simple as “happily ever after.” This musical is one of the few musicals that wasn’t afraid to touch on more taboo subjects and darker storylines, and I love it so much for all of that.

#this is a random post but it was on my mind lol #musicals #musical theatre #oh man the amount I wrote for Into the Woods compared to the others sjfbsjjdjsjs😅#I mean it IS my favorite so that’s kinda expected isn’t it lol

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griffle-musings · 4 months

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It's a nice evening to send random asks. Please tell me your top 5 songs from musicals I should try singing, before I got SIX The Musical soundtrack stuck in my head for good. Also do you like covers of musical songs in other languages? :>

Hello!

Getting SIX stuck in your head doesn't sound like a bad thing, in my opinion- lord knows I would prefer it over some of the songs that I get stuck in my head. 😅

For the latter part of the question: sure! I can't say I exactly go looking for the songs, to be completely truthful, but I really like what they did for a West Side Story revival and translated and sung half the songs into Spanish; "The Quartet" from that revival album is, to me, way more powerful having it sung in both Spanish and English, blending together beautifully.

For the former part of the question- here's my top 5 favorites- only English, alas:

1. Nonstop from Hamilton- a go to favorite for me; this is the song I play when I want to get shit done, when I need a boost, when you just want to reminder to go for your dreams and a fine example of Lin Manuela Miranda favorite style of blending chorus.

2. Masochist from Love Hate Nation- from "Be More Chill" Joe Iconis, this is from a later musical of his and a queer anthem bop; don't let the title fool you, in it the actress sings about how she "isn't no Masochist" and to be truthful of who you are. The song is also originally sung by wonderful trans actress Emerson Mae Smith, who brings power and soul into the voice of Kitty, who sings this queer pride ballad.

3. I'm Alive from Albert Cashier Musical- definitely a hidden favorite from a concept musical album, this is from a musical I hope to one day get a proper album and production; the musical is based on the story of Albert Cashier, a ex Union Civil War Soldier who went to trial as it was discovered, years later & after the war, that he was AFAB. It tells 2 stories; one where he's old and stuck in a hospital, and one when he's in the war. I saw a concert version performance at Greenwich Village and fell in love with the whole musical, which is a mix of folk-pop, and trans celebration. So far there's only 2 songs available on YouTube, and "I Gotta Try" is one you definitely need to listen to, but "I'm Alive" has such a good beat and a catchy chorus that I just love.

4. Paciencia y Fe from In the Heights (Original Broadway Version)- from the older hit musical of Manuel Miranda, Paciencia y Fe is a gorgeous song about past dreams and hopes, and Olga Merediz voice is *phenomenal* hands down. Honestly, I have a soft spot for the musical in general, as it was my first show I got to work on outside of academic (it was a regional production, nothing fancy, but still,) and truly, while I saw the movie and liked it well enough, the Original Broadway version is going to top that over the film in my heart. To be honest, I would love to have Merediz sing this is full Spanish- it would be 1000% *amazing*

And there's a lot of other favorites as well- Hadestown is a fantastic album, I enjoyed Dear Evan Hansen, I'm a sucker for La Vie Boheme from Rent- I'm old, lol.

"Prom" has some great songs, and I like Be More Chill- "Michael in the Bathroom" c'mon- also "Last on Land" which is from Joe Iconis (from another musical of his that hasn't had a full performance yet) is a favorite that speaks to my soul and okay, I listen to this one pretty often but hell, I got to be truthful and say:

5. For Good From Wicked- Listen. Listen. Wicked was my first official Broadway tour, it was the first showtune album I listened to that wasn't from my parents' collection (I grew up listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber) and for one Christmas I got a playbill poster that has since been professionally framed. Wicked is near and dear to my heart. And as much as "Defying Gravity" and "Popular" are, well, *popular*, "For Good" is a great song, as it really shows the balance between Menzel's & Chenoweth's voices; you get it in the power ballad "Defying Gravity" but to a more subdued way that I appreciate; it's a goodbye, it's a thank you, it's I'm sorry, it's two women who aren't sure if they changed for the better, but fuck, they changed, and they changed because of their relationship. And they're still grateful that they had each other in their lives.

Hopefully this answers your question! Thanks for the ask!

#personal #the favorites: circa 2005 #musicals #ask #ask answered #theatre

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franki-lew-yo · 3 years

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The Romantic (2009, R, Gothic Fantasy/Horror), aka the most forgotten animated film in the world

What if I told you there was a movie under serious threat of becoming lost media with no clear reason as to WHY it's been lost other than no one has apparently watched it besides me and a few people on Reddit? What if I told you that movie wasn't half bad and would no doubt have some interest peeked if anyone DID know about it?

The name of that movie is The Romantic.

It was released in 2009 and it's Rated R for nudity and sex scenes [insert Robbie Rotten meme here], though none of it too graphic. It was a pet project created by animator Michael P. Heneghan, originally starting as a flash project for his animation class before he expanded it into a feature film. The film was inspired by movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, but what I see every time I look at it is a touch of Jhonen Vasquez, Tim Burton, and Roman Dirge- the guy behind Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl. It's flash animation especially remind me of the puppet-rigged toons of the 2000s (again like Salad Fingers or Lenore). It's not bad, it's just not inherently 'feature film' quality flash, nor is it exceptionally artistic like Sita Sings the Blues in it's simplicity. Like, really, if you happen to find this thing it's not the worst animated project at all it's just amateur for a professional production. I've seen worse flash movies. Heck, if The Romantic were released in separate parts on youtube or Newgrounds as a series (ala Homestuck) I'm sure it would have been really successful and totally in it's element. But it wasn't.

Because next to no one has seen it and I'm lucky to have not only ever seen it when it was available for free but have also found it recently (hush hush, I ain't telling you how) I'm going to actually give you all a plot synopsis under the cut. There will be some details I leave out and I think I've spelled some characters names wrong. It's a bit of a surrealist film as well, so you might need some things explained.

Spoilers ahead:

The Romantic is set in an autumnal, surrealist world inhabited by humans and monsters and ruled by three gods; Po the goddess of love; Pik the god of Hate; and Pjorrc the god of time though Pjorrc was made to live inside a pumpkin moon as everything he touched rabidly aged and died.

((Tapestry art featuring the main three gods of the film.))

A young man (called “Romance” or “The Romantic” by the other characters) performs a bull sacrifice in order to summon Abbledepopa, the unseen creator of the other gods and ‘storyteller’ of the world. The sacrifice does not conjure Abbledepopa but, when Romance spares a monster that was ready to eat him, the monster tells him of a profit named Patience. Patience is a foul-mouthed dwarf living alone with an army of babies who points Romance in the direction of Po.

((Romance outside of Patience's house.))

Romance wants the god’s help because he has fallen out of love with his girlfriend. Po grants him his desire and restores his love only for Romance to return home and find his girlfriend with another man. Blinded by heartache and rage, Romance kills her. He then swears vengeance on the gods for ‘making’ him do it. In the midst of this vow, a corrupt prophet called Fat Daddy kills the queen of Vauxhaul (Romance's home) and her guards, and forges a new body for his newborn son with their bodies. Fat Daddy rallies the townsfolk behind him in supposedly finding the Queen’s murder into follow a new religion called "The Poetic End".

((Romance (right) besides the monster he spared at the beginning of the movie.))

Patience accompanies Romance on his quest and tells him to take Po’s mask, which hides her true face, once he kills her. Romance buys Po’s trust by weaving her a tapestry that tells her story: in the dawn of time Po and Pjorrc were in love. However, Pjorrc gradually became distant and Po became resentful when their daughter, Love, earned Po's original title as the god of romance and love.

In the present day, Romance sleeps with Po for over a year before finally killing her and taking her mask. He and Patience return to his home of Vauxhul only to be chased out by Fat Daddy’s personal army. They flee to Marshallton, the town nearest to the god Pik.

((Romance's hometown of Vauxhul. ))

The king of Marshallton, King Crookie, tells Romance of a prophecy he, Patience, Fat Daddy and all the gods are a part of and that the world is soon to change. Romance then fights and successfully kills Pik when he shows the god of hate his reflection in a mirror King Crookie gave him, but not before losing his hand to Pik.

When Romance comes down the mountain he learns from Patience that nine years have passed since his fight with Pik began. Patience reveals to Romance what Pik saw in the mirror that allowed Romance to take the killing blow; after Love had grown up and married, Po asked Pik to tell her where her husband was always running off to. Pik reluctantly revealed Pjorrc was disguising himself as a human and married a mortal woman. Po found Pjorrc and his pregnant second wife, forcing Pjorrc to leave his human family behind, but not before asking his wife to name their son “Patience”. In retaliation for his treachery, Po proceeded to sleep with fifty men and produce the fifty bastard children in Patience’s house.

((Fat Daddy, the main villain.))

Marshallton and the entire rest of the world has fallen to the rule of Fat Daddy, who captures Romance and Patience. Fat Daddy tortures Patience into telling him how to get to Pjorrc but is unable to convince Romance to take part in his ‘new world’ or give him Po’s mask. Romance and Patience escape and leave the village to be torn apart by the fifty babies Po had, now transformed into veracious monsters after Patience didn’t feed them for the past ten years. Romance confronts Patience when he realizes the latter is Pjorrc’s son. Patience calls Romance out on his mantra of vengeance and points out that all his decisions are his own, not the gods, and instructs him to seek Love herself in Po’s basement. Patience then attempts to confront Pjorrc but is cornered and killed by Fat Daddy before he can do so.

In Po’s basement, Romance finds Love nailed to a wall, her face torn off and half eaten by her deformed husband. Love tells Romance that Po ripped off her daughter’s face in rage over Pjorrc’s infidelity and Pjorrc did not intervene fast enough. Po then threw Love into her basement, turned Love’s husband into a monster, and wore her daughter’s face as a mask - which Romance had broken into pieces moments ago after Patience had shown him his face in King Crookie’s mirror. Romance then finds Pjorrc hanging himself. As he dies, Pjorrc tells Romance to take the hand Fat Daddy had cut off and sew it onto himself, which will in turn help Romance defeat Abbledepopa.

Romance traverses the wasteland and does not find Abbledepopa, but instead a golden loom. Having seen all the destruction he and others had caused, Romance sits upon the loom and accepts his fate as the new ‘storyteller’ of the world, as he begins weaving a new one...

---

I mentioned before the animation quality of the film and why maybe that caused people to overlook it. The only other thing I could complain about on a technical level with The Romantic is it's sound design. Some of the voices and music is a little too quiet and so all these key details I had to go through the film a few times to really piece together. But that leads me to the thing I like about this movie and I'm sure others would to: the lore.

It's very hard to create a new fantasy world w it's own customs, religions, history and rules out of the blue as any YA Harry Potter/Hunger Games ripoff book could tell you. The Romantic is so unique in how it handles the pantheon and culture of these three gods and their kin; really only four or five characters throughout the entire story aren't connected to the gods or prophecy in some way, as there's the main three gods, Abbeldepappa, and the prophets Patience, Love and Fat Daddy, who make up your main cast besides Romance. There's a lot that's intentionally left unexplained and other info that must be explained, like Pjorrc and Po's marriage and Romance's feelings towards the gods, if we want to understand the former. The movie is paced pretty well and knows when to follow up on what, it's just that again some of those animation and editting shortcomings might make it hard to understand...but I don't think THAT hard. Look, if someone can enjoy Starchaser: The Legend of Orin or even better surrealist world-building films ((Fantastic Planet comes to mind)), then I say there's no reason The Romantic wouldn't have a following. There's no other way I can articulate why and what doesn't work about the story except just to recommend you watch it yourselves, but before I get into that I want to talk themes...because I love the themes and tone of The Romantic.

I revisited The Romantic a week before I made myself watch Centaurworld and The Owl House for the first time...and what a week that was~! The Romantic has the vibe of those kinds of shows along with Adventure Time and Infinity Train ((so I hear, I haven't watched the latter)). It's surreal and you'll only marvel at 'woooah wut an acid trip' for so long before you get into the vibe of the universe. It also reminded me substantially of the Broadway musical Hadestown and not just because this movie is also a self-contained, somewhat self aware fable about the relationships between humans and gods - it's very raw in how the characters talk. It's very emotional and blunt in how kind and how cruel they can be, and it doesn't make excuses or really worships any one of them. Romance himself is the world's most likable Incel: he murders a woman he thought he needed to love and blames his emotions on the gods of those passions...except the gods AREN'T the manifestations of love, time, and hate - they simply dictate and oversee it in the lives of men. It's a dynamic I really like in religious works where Gods are powerful but not all knowing or puppet masters to everyone's design- they have morality too and there is only so much you can blame and get from them.

"You made your gods into excuses and your excuses into gods!"

-Patience. This here is a cool quote. I like this quote.

No matter what, The Romantic is not gonna be a film for everyone. We all have our tastes - I think I'm drawn to it and accepting because I've come to love these kind of worlds that used to keep me up at night - these trippy 70s inspired fantasy landscapes given a whole Avatar: The Last Airbender degree of worldbuilding and character worth. It also doesn't feel exploitive in it's violence, it's sexuality, it's grimmness - it doesn't feel like it's trying to hard or going over the top because it happens to be an adult animated film, something that I love in movies like 9 or Hair High but really turns me off in stuff like Sausage Party or Wizards. Whatever go watch The Romantic...

if you can.

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When I first saw this film in 2016 it was actually very accessible and was even uploaded to youtube by the creator himself. I don't know WHAT happened to Michael P. Heneghan, but simply put, the man's disappeared...like...REALLY disappeared.

Lookit his IMDB. He has The Romantic and a wapping two other projects to his name. His Twitter isn't very helpful either. He last updated in early 2020 and he says next to nothing about The Romantic. It's so odd that he would one day be happy with the film enough to host it on Vimeo and Youtube but then just cop out.

According to a Reddit user: "On Valentines Day 2011, Heneghan released the film for free online through all kinds of platforms including direct download, bittorrent, Vimeo, and even directly through Archive.org. He even joked about releasing a 300 gig uncompressed version.

I know I watched it on Vimeo probably as recently as 2016. Now I can't find it anywhere. The website is dead, the Vimeo video went private, even the archive.org version has been taken down. It really looks like he wanted to wipe it off the face of the internet. His newer website mentions it, but again, the Vimeo link is dead and even that website is closed for business."

It's weeeird. What happened Michael?

And yes, obviously, other people worked on the movie.

No - I can't find out anything about them either.

I'm betting on three theories at the moment: 1) this film is an SCP or some Candle Cove weirdness with only me and a handful of people ANYWHERE remembering it, 2) something weird is going on w Michael Heneghan and it involves too something about this film. It was a scam or a scheme or a hidden agenda weirdness, 3) Heneghan's doing okay he just doesn't like this film anymore and wants it hidden while he takes a break.

Look, I get it Michael! What was once our life's worth can become cringe as you improve as an artist - you're not the person making the stuff you were ten years ago...but you should still have the film kept alive somehow. Someway.

I'm seriously the only person to have ever made fan art of this movie on the internet. That just doesn't happen, and I don't think I like being in a fandom of one. The Romantic is a testament to the power of design and storytelling > animation quality itself. Too often I see people equate good animation with smooth animation, with a budget with squash and stretch. These animations are good but art is diverse and there's so many kinds of films out there, the value of the medium can't just be in one style/form. There's a lot of honestly wonderful pieces of art out there if you know where to look and you're willing to see where it leads you.

Don't let The Romantic be the most forgotten movie of all time. Reblog this post. Show it to your friends. PM the animation community reviewer people like Saberspark and someone who isn't Saberspark and smuggle them a copy.

Keep telling the story...

#Franki's Features #The Romantic #The Romantic Michael Heneghan #The Romantic 2009 #animation #animation community #underrated animation #lost media #horror animation

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sixcostumerefs · 3 years

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So we haven't done this in a while and I'm bored so. What are your five favorite musical theater costume designs outside of six?

Not in order: Hamilton (Obviously it's just really fantastic costume design, especially for the ensemble and the variations Tazewell designed for them)

Anastasia (more of your typical elaborate princess/historical fare, but the costumes are just so pretty)

Great Comet (does this really need an explanation)

Wicked (I wouldn't pick out many individual Wicked costumes as favorite theatre costumes ever, but collectively they all work very well for the settings/story. Hilferty used different fabrics and textures so effectively even for some of the costumes with fairly simple silhouettes like Elphaba's Act 2)

2017 Once On This Island revival and tour (this one might be surprising since it's different than most of the rest of my list, but I saw the tour live and loved it. There’s a mix of understated costumes like Ti Moune’s as well as more elaborate like Papa Ge’s but overall a lot of creativity in how they advance character/setting)

Lion King and Hadestown were the honorary mentions that I decided not to include: Lion King is more a mix of set/costumes/props rather than strictly costumes, and I prefer different costume designs from different Hadestown productions

#costume design #misc #not six

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equalseleventhirds · 4 years

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if you want to talk about hades town you can do so on this because i am very much interested in your thoughts about it!

fdsfjdskfds oh anon i am at Work and when i get out of work i will be Homework but......... listen. listen.

(ok a lot of this i’ve already rambled abt in my hadestown tag but. BUT). i got into hadestown pre-broadway, which means i listened to the original cast recording from 2017 a BUNCH. and while i adore both version, there were... changes. which i feel did orpheus a disservice, and the overarching plot a disservice, but in some ways treated eurydice better by filling her out more and making her more of a revolutionary.

anyway, i defos don’t have time for a full song-by-song comparison, and also some of the songs available for the broadway version never made it onto the release of the 2017 version, not bcos they weren’t in the show, just bcos.... idk they weren’t released? weren’t recorded? i do not pretend to know the inner workings of the music industry.

BUT of note: the major changes to epic ii. in the original, orpheus was mocking of hades (’king of a kingdom of dirt’ yo), while in the broadway version, orpheus is just singing abt hades and persephone’s history. epic iii also removes that like, ‘a king who loves everythign like a hammer loves the nail’ and ‘he comes down heavy and hard on us’, so it’s MUCH less about the workers’ resentment of hades and just. about hades and persephone.

btw fuckin miss me with that narrative abt orpheus solving global warming by reminding the ruling class that they’re in love with each other? like, i’m sure that’s more appealing to ur standard can-afford-broadway audience, and as a LOVE story it’s cool, but. just not a good lesson actually.

also ‘living it up on top’ completely cuts out his ‘why would a man of his own free will go to work all day in the mine and the mill’ which is, y’know, callous when considering the people (like, later, eurydice) driven to work for hades, but is TARGETED at hades, who for real does not NEED to work the way he does. miss that....

we also, throughout the broadway version, get a LOT of hermes speaking for orpheus. in the original, ‘come home with me’ is orpheus convincing eurydice, while the broadway version has hermes telling her that orpheus will make her feel alive. ‘living it up on top’ also changes from persephone speaking directly to orpheus and letting him take up the ‘bless this round’ bit, to having hermes volunteer him. blah blah ‘under my wing’ blah, but having a god (again, member of the ruling class, even if this one’s helpful) speak for him? when we have a version where he speaks for himself? come ON. i am not a fan of orpheus being made helpless! let him make his decisions! let his voice be one of persuasion even BEFORE he goes to the underworld!

(this also ties into my personal take that as a demigod, the son of a muse--and you know how those muses are--orpheus’ carelessness is what originally loses him eurydice. he does not care about eating through the winter, he’s never had to worry about that bcos hermes looks after him, while eurydice has had a harsh life and knows they DO need to worry. art is all well and good, but it is also important to care for the people in your life. it’s later, when orpheus loses eurydice and must venture into the harshness of the underworld, meets the workers/the wall and has to find SOLIDARITY with them in order to stand up to hades, that he finally recognizes the value of working with others to create a better life for all. in this essay i)

i also rly miss the original ‘promises’ bcos like, while orpheus & eurydice as always-in-love is sweet, i really enjoyed the fighty version where they are both resentful & angry abt broken promises, and both acknowledge that what they originally claimed to want from the other & give to one another was both unrealistic and not what they actually wanted, eventually coming to a conclusion that was more based on reality. like. communication resulting in a healthier relationship after dealing with unrealistic expectations.... we stan.

now that i’ve gone over how i think the original was better, i did still LIKE the broadway version, and there were some improvements! most notable, eurydice’s stronger role as like, an active revolutionary (or attempted one, anyway) rather than a more passive rescue.

i genuinely adored the change of ‘anyway the wind blows’ from an intro song by the fates to eurydice singing (with the fates backing her up/singing in her ear), bcos it sets up eurydice as an average sufferer of the world the gods made, and lets us hear it in her voice, her experience, and her opinions. she is the one to say weather ain’t the way it was before--and when we later get persephone telling us ‘some might say the weather ain’t the way it used to be’, she’s dismissing eurydice’s suffering (and the suffering of all humans), bcos she’s more concerned with her own issues with hades than with how she’s impacted the world.

(also the changes made had some Interesting Implications abt persephone’s complicity in that whole ‘keep your head low’ thing, that i think is p cool, actually? like afaik the 2017 version didn’t have ‘no spring/no fall’ going on, so the fact that the broadway one DOES and yet keeps her having spring flowers & autumn leaves only to the ppl in the underworld when she arrives.... inch resting. something something the ruling class provides ‘charity’ of resources people should already have as a reward for ‘good behavior’ something.)

eurydice at the beginning is isolated. she falls in love with orpheus and decides to stay with him, but even them being together does not mean he understands her, or values the same things she does. this is evident in both versions, but in the broadway version, when eurydice goes to the underworld, she does something interesting; she tries to introduce herself to the other workers. now, i never saw the 2017 version in full, only heard the album, but in the album she signs the papers and is rejoicing that she’s ‘free’ and has to be told that she isn’t. she doesn’t really speak to the other workers, beyond this exchange about ‘freedom’. in the broadway version, she’s dejected--she did what she had to do. she knows that’s what the other workers did. and she goes to talk to them about it, bcos in spite of where they are, she wants to create a connection with her fellow workers (building solidarity! my girl!!) (also interesting: at the start of the show. she’s alone. she’s always been alone. she sings about how people always turn on you and she’s better off alone before she meets orpheus, but even after she has to leave him, she tries to make a connection with other people. oh...... character development, we love it.) she doesn’t SUCCEED, but she TRIES. which may be important in why they choose to follow HER later.

now we come to chant (reprise), wait for me (reprise), and doubt comes in, the BEST revolutionary eurydice songs in the ENTIRE show. in the 2017 version these were mostly orpheus-focused (and altho i miss the ‘he said he’s shelter us/he said he’d harbor me’ parallels from the 2017 version of chant ii, the company singing with eurydice & orpheus about ‘if i raise my voice, if i raise my head’ fucks SO HARD). eurydice sings with the workers as they’re revolting, and when they walk out of hadestown, the workers follow her. (they don’t follow orpheus, even tho that’s who eurydice is following; ‘if she can do it so can we’. she’s one of them. she’s the one they’re following. can you BELIEVE). eurydice also gets to echo (louder, stronger, and using our instead of my) orpheus’s fantastic fucking ‘i hear the walls repeating the falling of my feet and it sounds like drumming’ bit, with the workers giving her backup. god. so fucking good.

and then, again, i never saw the 2017 version, but ‘doubt comes in’ in that one is still melancholy even on eurydice’s parts; she’s hopeful, but she’s alone, entirely relying on orpheus to lead her. i did get to see the broadway version (and bro.... the production value on that.... the LIGHTS first of all, the LIGHTING, and this song in particular? all dark when orpheus sings so you can’t see eurydice, and then cut to eurydice in lights with the workers following? MY DUDE.) and eurydice’s bits in this song are triumphant. she is sure they will get out, she is dancing and turning back to the workers as she sings she is right behind him (they sing back: we are right behind you). she is following him and sure of him, and she is with the workers and they are with her.

which is part of why ‘sing it again’ does so little for me, actually? like, orpheus had his chance, and he fucked it up, and yes it’s a beautiful story and we want to think he’d do it right, but this is nothing like the end, and singing it again leaves no way to move forward. eurydice led the workers! she gave them her name, she made them care, she was their beacon of hope and what they could become (compare to their previous beacon of hope, persephone, who shows up once a year and sells them remnants of their former lives and does not try to lead them out bcos she’s too caught up in her own anger). eurydice did not make it out with orpheus, but i HAVE to imagine that she and the workers got that taste of freedom, that taste of memory, that taste of solidarity, and would not just forget it again. it becomes more than a love story, it becomes about eurydice’s position of solidarity with the other mortals (something orpheus almost gets, but fails due to insecurity and inexperience and being the outside-savior rather than one of them). and obvs that doesn’t work with the original orpheus and eurydice myth, but listen...... let them bother hades after the end. let them fucking unionize. pls it would be so GOOD i am just! i am just!!

#fdsakjflds i said i didn't have time but HERE WE FUCKING ARE #welp. gonna put this in my tag bcos........ well.#i will first ramble in tags to try adn avoid global tags bcos holy shit this is a long essay #oh also #long post #in case the read more doesn't work #anyway........ hadestown is abt love but more than THAT it SHOULD be about revolution.#hadestown

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beebleboosuwu · 4 years

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Alright.

There are a lot of conflicting emotions about having The Music Man kicking out Beetlejuice from the Winter Garden. Although I am bitter that one of my favourite musicals is being replaced in favour of money and two big names is just.. not sitting right, but I am open to everything and trying to look at everything with open eyes and an unbiased opinion.

Did Will Blum’s influence this a little? Yes.

Was the post a little unsound and unprofessional? I think so but it brought up some great points.

Yes, I agree. The fact that you are selling a name instead of a GREAT show is disrespect to the source material. Hugh Jackman is an awesome guy and his tenure as the Boy From Oz is forever embedded into Broadway his(her)story as being a stepping stone for Hugh’s career. Also you have Broadway star, Sutton Foster, another big name who, if you are a theatre lover, can’t help but fawn and scream in excitement.

We all know and love Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine/James Howlett/ Logan, that’s what people associate him as such. Fun fact he played that role from 2000-2018. Wolverine is known to be big, all muscle and raw strength, but in the theatre world we know him as a musical theatre actor. Jackman first claim to international's fame was in 1999 when he played the leading man, Curly McLain, in the film adaptation of Oklahoma! He played the titular character Peter Allen in Boy from Oz in 2004 which he won a Tony for and Jean Valjean in the film adaptation of Les Miserables in 2012 while that wasn't the best adaptation of that musical, they did include Broadway and West End actors which was awesome! And lastly the most recent entry musical/film role was P.T Barnum in The Greatest Showman, Jackman went on tour last year singing songs from The Greatest Showman and some other songs from other musicals he previously worked in. He is an amazing vocalist, actor and dancer. His performance in Boy From Oz says as such in a review by Charles Isherwood: praising Jackman but panned the show: "Jackman is giving a vital and engaging performance in this pitifully flimsy musical almost in spite of the material he’s been handed. It’s a sad waste of an exciting talent." I’m pumped.

Sutton Foster is a Broadway actress that is well known for her two-time Tony award winning performance as Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She has also roles from other shows such as: Chess, Funny Girl, Les Miserables, Anything Goes, Grease and MANY more. I knew her best as Reno Sweeney from Anything Goes, her vocals are nothing but extraordinary and her acting is nothing to sleep on, she is an excellent dancer and I cannot help to try and recreate in my bedroom when I’m alone. You can say all you want about her, but she is one of the Broadway actresses I know from the top of my head, alongside Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess and Liza Minelli. She is also the younger sister of Hunter Foster of Little Shop of Horrors and Urinetown fame. Foster is going to be amazing as Jackman's partner in the upcoming production and honestly as a fan, I am so excited!

They are both triple threats but.. no one knows a lot about the Music Man. It is a classic and has been around since the late 50′s.

Broadway, coming into the new decade of 2020, is becoming more MODERN. All these new musicals that have come out during this past decade might not have made it to Broadway but they are more aligned with the changing times and modern settings. Though there are musicals based on films from the 80′s that reach out to that generation and reintroduce them into that mind space they were in back in the day.

American Idiot, great musical, angsty music but has that throwback niche to that rebellious stage some, or not most, of us went through in the 2000′s.

Elf, that also starred Will Blum at one point, is fan service to those who love the holiday season and those who loved the film that came out in 2003. I haven't listened to it yet BUT I WILL EVENTUALLY.

Heathers, we all love the Heathers. Also Winona Ryder, who played Lydia Deetz in the 1988 Beetlejuice film, starred as Veronica Sawyer. Like Elf, IT BRINGS INTEREST TO THAT GENERATION SO THEY COULD BUY TICKETS TO THIS SHOW THAT WAS BASED ON A FILM THEY WATCHED AS TEENS. Also can we just forget about the horrible rendition of Candy Store done by the cast of Riverdale? That never happened. NEVER. HAPPENED.

Beetlejuice, Come From Away, Ghost, Once, Book of Mormon, Finding Neverland, Newsies, Kinky Boots, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Big Fish, 21 Chump Street, Amélie, Be More Chill, Hamilton, Head Over Heels, Lazarus, School of Rock, Something Rotten!, Tuck Everlasting, Waitress, Anastasia, Hadestown, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Prom, Ain’t Too Proud, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Frozen, Mean Girls, Six, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, The Lightning Thief, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, The Cher Show, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, & Juliet, Mrs. Doubtfire.

These are SOME of the MANY shows that came out this decade!

Some musicals are entirely satirical so that was a niche for audiences who love the weird and messed up humour, some musicals are named after the films or shows they were based off of. So old audiences can take interest into coming to Broadway, okay I get that because again, nostalgia, some are entirely original or had little to no source material! Some are based around history, some about civil rights issues and some of them are jukebox musicals that appeal to people who like those artists.

Broadway has always been conservative and prefers to play it safe when it comes to opening a new productions and the dominant audiences have been older and more traditional. So that stereotypical Broadway show people think of is just that, the lead character getting their “want song” in, a lot of dancing, internal or external conflict that ultimately gets resolved with cheerful songs and set pieces. Although newer audiences want those boundary pushing shows so CAN get introduced to musicals like the Music Man, it means nothing if they were never introduced to the strange and unusual first. Everyone wants to advance to find that next big thing but they can’t do that when it is all safe but we did get some of them with Cats, Beetlejuice, Carrie, Matilda The Addams Family and more.

I totally get the interest of bringing back a musical that hasn’t been on Broadway for 20 years (last performance was in 2000) and it is a great way to reintroduce an old piece back into the world again, but it was at the expense of new artists making their Broadway dream a reality. The decision to evict, not close, evict Beetlejuice from the Winter Garden was a big mistake by the Schubert Organization. The Schubert Organization is one of the biggest landlord of theatres in New York, they at least own 17 Broadway theatres. Here’s the reason why they’re so successful:

They don’t keep shows that don't bring the cold hard cash. It’s show business, it has always been about the business and never about the show. As much as we could scream and shout to keep Beetlejuice in the Winter Garden all we want, it is unfortunately their decision to keep them or boot them out. We all know that productions have to be approved by a theatre organization so that production can be leant one of their many theatres, they show also had to keep up a total of sales from tickets above that number per week. As all of you know, that’s what happened with Beetlejuice. Ticket sales dried up and fell way below the amount. There was talk around the theatre community that a production of the Music Man was in the works with Hugh Jackman as the lead. So... they saw Beetlejuice as dead weight and sought out to cash in on Hugh Jackman’s name and fame.

There was a lot of problems from the show but most of their problems came from the critics. Mixed reviews was all the show got but the biggest blows came from the New York Times and Ben Brantley saying that the show never came to that same conclusion of home and belonging like other Broadway shows. This killed their ticket sales cause everyone goes through those reviews before they see a show. However that’s the thing, Beetlejuice never wanted that. The entire creative team and the cast knew that what they had was entirely unconventional, like it was their way sticking of the middle finger at the word conventional.

There's no doubt that the Music Man, Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster and the cast and creative team will be amazing at the Winter Garden and it is highly unfortunate that the eviction of Beetlejuice was done for the sake of financial greed. I’m glad they were only evicted and not closed, the show IS still on and the public demand for the show is high. I know a lot of us hate the decision but what could you do? It’s all about the business aspect of Broadway and never the show.

Even though Beetlejuice had its problems with its opening following the Harvey Weinstein controversy, having the Music Man revival during this time of political conflict is a little awkward. Let’s trade a sexual, murderous demon for a eulogized conman.. that seems right.

I’m sure the show will be fantastic but the circumstances leading up to the opening is shady and not shining a good light for the Schubert Organization but lets not hate the actors and the creative team of the Music Man, they didn't do anything wrong. Instead, point that dislike to corporate greed, but is okay. The show is not closed and is only evicted from the theatre. Eventually they will find a new theatre on or off Broadway for everyone’s enjoyment again! Also that National Tour is coming up in Fall 2021 I believe, I personally can’t just fly to New York but I will be watching the National Tour if it does roll by where I live.

Keep safe my friends 💚🤍🖤

#savebeetlejuice #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice broadway #Beetlejuice musical #Beetlejuice bway #opinions #music man 2020 #im sad #really sad #like #the marquee #is so ugly #why #uhhhh #I am being bitter

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ink-or-blood · 3 years

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Musicals Ranked On What Percent of the Cast Album is On My Spotify Top 100

So fun fact about me: I pretty much only listen to musicals. And as a result, my entire Spotify Top 100 is musicals. I also tend to listen to musicals on repeat, so there are only 13 shows on this list. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to see how much of each show was on my playlist, so I compared the number of songs from each show on the list and compared it against the number of songs on the cast albums, then I found the percent. Here’s the results.

13. Matilda (1/26, 4%)

I’m kind of shocked that there aren’t more Matilda songs on this playlist, considering that I would have been in it in April. And yet, only one song ended up on my playlist.

12. Something Rotten (1/18, 6%)

I love Something Rotten a lot, but I don’t listen to it all that often. I actually have a poster signed by the touring cast hanging up in my room at my mom’s house.

11. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1/14, 7%)

This is one that people on Tumblr might not have heard of as much. It’s an absolutely fantastic show that’s staged as a concert and it’s incredible and I love it. Shockingly, my favorite song from this show was not on this playlist.

10. Frankenstein (2/26, 8%)

I think most people don’t know that there’s a Frankenstein musical. This one is shockingly accurate to the book, which I loved. Something you may not know about me is that I really love the book, it’s just so interesting. This musical even included the letters, which was super cool to see.

9. Groundhog Day (2/19, 21%)

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite shows that ended too soon. It closed on Broadway too early, and then the national tour was cancelled. Even without the pandemic, I don’t think you’d be able to find a production of Groundhog Day that you could watch live.

8. The Lightning Thief (5/24, 21%)

I actually only listened to this for the first time a few months ago, but I think Spotify might put more weight on the later months. I’m pretty surprised that so many songs ended up on here, considering I only listened to the full album a few times.

7. Billy Elliot (4/15, 27%)

I watched the proshot of this back in April or May, and I did not expect to like it as much as I did. When I saw Angry Dance I knew that I had to see this in person at some point. Obviously, I haven’t gotten a chance to see it yet, but hopefully one day I can. Anyway, every time I listen to Once We Were Kings I tear up a bit.

6. Trail to Oregon (5/17, 29%)

And here’s Starkid everybody! I haven’t actually listen to TtO in awhile, but for a while I would listen to it as I fell asleep. I didn’t listen to the full soundtrack during that time, I actually made a playlist with only the songs that I enjoyed listening to.

5. Starship (4/9, 44%)

Okay, so maybe this show is so high on the list because there’s only nine songs, but I still really like this show. I wish there was sheet music for it because I’d love to learn how to sing Life or Status Quo.

4. Apocalyptour (13/22, 59%)

Okay, so technically not a musical. But, it is entirely composed of musical songs, so I say that it counts. I really like listening to the medleys on this album, and it’s fun to hear some different people sing Starkid songs.

3. Hadestown (28/40, 70%)

Yeah. Over 25% of the playlist was Hadestown. All five of my top songs were from Hadestown. My five top artists were all people from Hadestown. According to Spotify I listened to this for a total of 933 minutes. No, I don’t know how I did that. I guess I listened to it on repeat a lot.

2. Tuck Everlasting (18/24, 75%)

Another show that closed far too soon. It’s so good, and I love it, and it’s extremely underrated and underappreciated. I love the album so much. I listen to Time and I cry. I listen to Time Quartet and I cry. I listen to The Wheel and I cry.

1. Moulin Rouge (16/19, 84%)

So I know this one can be kind of controversial because some people thought that it got too modern when they put it on stage. I, however, love it. Shut Up and Raise Your Glass slaps. Crazy Rolling also slaps. I love Come What May so much. Plus, Karen Olivo is Satine, and she’s my favorite actress, so I was doomed to fall in love with this show.

So I also wanted to share exactly what songs are on the playlist, so I’m putting it under the cut. Get ready for a lot of Hadestown. For everyone who doesn’t know Starkid, I apologize for the titles of the songs in Apocalyptour. I did not name them.

Moulin Rouge:

Come What May

El Tango De Roxanne

Welcome To The Moulin Rouge!

The Sparkling Diamond

Nature Boy

Truth Beauty Freedom Love

Finale (Come What May)

Elephant Love Medley

Crazy Rolling

Backstage Romance

Chandelier

Your Song

Only Girl In A Material World

Firework

Shut Up And Raise Your Glass

Your Song (reprise)

Tuck Everlasting:

Live Like This

Hugo’s First Case - Pt. 1

The Wheel

Hugo’s First Case - Pt. 2

Good Girl Winnie Foster

Good Girl Winnie Foster (reprise)

Top of the World

My Most Beautiful Day

Partner in Crime

The Story of the Tucks

Seventeen

Prologue

Join the Parade

Time

You Can’t Trust a Man

Everything’s Golden

Everlasting

The Story of the Man in the Yellow Suit

Hadestown:

Livin’ it Up on Top

Road to Hell

Any Way the Wind Blows

All I’ve Ever Known

Wedding Song

Wait for Me

Gone, I’m Gone

Epic I

Epic II

Come Home with Me

All I’ve Ever Known (Intro)

Chant

Chant (reprise)

Promises

A Gathering Storm

Wait for Me (Intro)

Papers - Instrumental

Nothing Changes

We Raise Our Cups

Epic III

Our Lady of the Underground

If it’s True

Flowers

Hey, Little Songbird

When the Chips Are Down

Word to the Wise

Come Home with Me (reprise)

Wait for Me (reprise)

Apocalyptour:

Not Alone

Guys Like Potter

Me and My Dick/Ready to Go

Rogues Medley

This Is Where the Trolley Ends

Going Back to Heaven During Those Days of Hogwarts On Earth

This Really Sucks for Me

Dark, Sad, Lonely Knight

Little White Lie Medley

The Way I Do

Listen to Your Heart

Sami/Harry

Granger Danger

Starship:

Kick It Up A Notch

Life

I Wanna Be

Get Back Up

Trail to Oregon:

Lost Without You

Wagon on Fire

When the World’s at Stake

Speedrun

When the World’s at Stake (reprise)

Billy Elliot:

The Stars Look Down

Shine

Solidarity

Grandma’s Song

The Lightning Thief:

Prologue / The Day I Got Expelled

Lost!

My Grand Plan

Drive

Good Kid

Groundhog Day:

Day One

There Will Be Sun

Frankenstein:

Birth to My Creation

The Hands of Time

Hedwig and the Angry Inch:

Sugar Daddy

Something Rotten:

God, I Hate Shakespeare

Matilda:

Revolting Children

#spotify #spotify top 100 #musical ranking #moulin rouge #tuck everlasting #hadestown #apocalyptour #starship #trail to oregon #billy elliot #the lightning thief #groundhog day #frankenstein the musical #hedwig and the angry inch #something rotten #matilda

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hilli98215 · 4 years

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15, 16, 19, 24 for musical theatre asks

Thanks a lot for the asks! I love musicals so this was a lot of fun to do!

15. Broadway actor, you’re proud of This might be an odd pick, but I’m proud of Reeve Carney from Hadestown. When I heard the cast recording and saw his face during press tours, I was like ‘where have I seen him before?’ And to my surprise, he was the one who originated the role of Peter Parker in the failed musical production Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. I was so happy that he was given another chance for Hadestown and he is an amazing performer!

16. Broadway actor who deserves more recognition I’m not sure. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about the actors. I’m the type of person who listens to cast recordings constantly. But I can tell you the original cast of Six and Something Rotten deserve so much more than people say about them.

19. two contrasting styles/genres you love The historical meets modern genre/style. Two examples include Six and Hamilton. I also love shows that are full of satire and aren’t supposed to make sense. Or rather they don’t make sense on paper. I think Rocky Horror fits into that category and (of course) Something Rotten. And I love some musical adaptations of musicals that take the original concept and add music. Fantastic examples include Beetlejuice and School of Rock. Both weren’t movie musicals but somehow work as a musical. 24. show that shouldn’t have been revived Don’t hate me. But I don’t think The Music Man should be revived for the next season. I mean as much as I love The Music Man, I think it’s a bit outdated and the only people who would want to see it are those who like classic musicals or musicals from a period that doesn't apply to today. I was in The Music Man in middle school (I was an extra) and I’ve watched both film versions. When I heard it was being revived, I didn’t care. But when I heard it was going to replace Beetlejuice, I got irritated. Yea. I’m sorry but I don’t think this musical should be revived. It’s outdated and it’s difficult to make it relevant to a modern audience.

#thanks for the ask #this was fun #musicals #musical asks

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popblank · 4 years

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Year-end roundup of theater I saw in 2019. Felt pretty lucky to be able to see a lot of good shows.

Musicals

My Fair Lady

A show where it would be hard to pick a favorite moment because it seemed so strong throughout. Also really liked the set.

The Band’s Visit

I’m almost worried about seeing the tour because I don’t know if it can capture the dreamlike quality. We’ll see.

The Prom

A really good surprise. I enjoy characters who are sympathetic and sincere and ridiculous (which is what I liked about Glee in its early seasons). Looking forward to the movie.

Frozen

Again. Not tired of it yet.

Head Over Heels

Have never been to a theater performance like that in my life (granted I have never been to a closing night before). A great experience and a fun show.

Hello, Dolly! (tour)

More absurd than what I had expected. Well-executed but more old-fashioned than what I typically choose to see.

1776

Regional production; didn’t realize James Barbour was in the show (as Rutledge) until I saw the program. Wonder if anyone in the audience knew his history. FWIW, “Molasses to Rum” was powerful and resonant.

Witness Uganda

Very strong performances, and an interesting story.

Particularly memorable: Ledisi, Amber Iman, and I think Jai’len Josey had a brief solo toward the end that stuck with me

The more pop-sounding songs were not really my thing; sounded like Dear Evan Hansen with a dash of Rent, with a tendency toward the anthemic (which dilutes the effectiveness). I felt the songs captured emotional states well but did not necessarily move the story along.

Some of the plot stakes & character motivations were unclear to me.

Cats

Basically exactly what I expected. I think the woman seated to my right was high. (She left at intermission.) Still can’t decide if I want to pay money to see the movie.

Falsettos

It was fine. I am befuddled by the internet fandom.

Mamma Mia!

Not bad, felt a little bit long.

Fiddler on the Roof

Saw the tour from a pretty far away balcony seat; sound was remarkably good but I think the staging lost something from that distance.

Into the Woods

Lots of fun (I admit having food and wine helped).

Oklahoma!

This was great, wish I could see it again before it closes.

Hadestown

The most expensive single show ticket I have bought in my entire life (not counting the two-parters). It was a very good production but that sort of thing does color my expectations.

Amber Gray was fantastic. Persephone and Hades are the most interesting characters.

Story framing reminded me very much of Once on This Island.

Anastasia

Liked it more than I expected.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Enjoyable but uneven.

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Didn’t really care for it, but I was definitely not the target audience.

Frozen (tour)

Still not tired of it. Will see it at least once more before it leaves LA.

Plays/Other Non-Musicals (10)

Man of God

Liked the structure. A lot of yelling but it was used to good effect.

Rotterdam

First show I’ve seen from this company, should probably see what else they do.

Othello

Included an audience talkback after the show. Was very surprised that no one in the discussion and in only one of the reviews that I read mentioned toxic masculinity, which seemed like one of the most obvious themes along with racism. Also surprised at how many people had real trouble reconciling the modern-ish setting with Shakespearean language. I thought this was a common staging approach?

Indecent (x3)

In a year with a lot of good shows, this was my favorite.

Skintight

I think the people around me liked it better than I did. Not always fun to watch a story about a dysfunctional family of deeply annoying people, even with a strong cast.

Latin History for Morons

Won the lottery. Not my style of comedy but I liked the throughline and would like to dig into the reading list.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2

Entertaining, but not sure I’d find it memorable enough on its own without the weight of the franchise behind it. Then again, maybe I would have liked it better on its own without my expectations of the franchise overshadowing it.

The New One

More my type of humor than Latin History for Morons but felt less substantial overall.

Cambodian Rock Band

Enjoyed it, hope it does well in NY.

Jitney

A good show to end the year on. I liked that the characters worked to build and maintain a community and sort through their personal conflicts in spite of internal and external pressures.

#lists #theatre

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belizedeservesbetter · 5 years

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Oklahoma! Holy Shit!

You know what, I’ll say it. This is a perfect revival.

Oh wow.

This is definitely one of those “run don’t walk to see it” kind of shows. I mean it. I’m honestly thinking of how I’m gonna see it again even though I just got home. Who would’a thought I’d love Oklahoma! so much?

I honestly and truly think this is a perfect revival. Daniel Fish took the text and the show and did something entirely new and entirely different with it, but it was still in theme with the show and worked. Like he didn’t just do a stripped down and thematically amped up Oklahoma! for the hell of it. He did it for a reason, he didn’t do anything so dramatically left field, like, for instance, staging Oklahoma! in space or something equally absurd, but instead made it more immersive and in tune with actual Oklahoma. He also made it incredibly relevant, or maybe Oklahoma! was relevant all along and we didn’t realize that with Hugh Jackman at the helm.

I guess there’s some spoilers in here, but not really cause it’s Oklahoma! and it’s been around for, well, a while.

I’m so tired of revivals that basically do the original production all over again. This is the most unpopular opinion to ever unpopular opinion but while Hello, Dolly! was a great time (Gavin Creel is an all time fav of mine), I wasn’t totally in love with it. It didn’t take a single risk. And that’s a revival at its best! And at its worst - I’m looking at you, Carousel - if it’s not a good lavish traditional revival and it doesn’t do anything with the material, then I’m not a fan.

Oklahoma! is one of the oldest and most well known musicals. I believe I read somewhere that it’s the first ever show to fully combine a story (or book scenes, I guess), songs and dance all together. I could be wrong, but my point is that Oklahoma! has essentially become a “school” musical. Every school has done it, even the fancy arts high school I went to that prides itself on doing “good” musicals. This could have gone very wrong very fast.

Instead, it was marvelous.

There are so many images in this show that are going to stick with me for a long, long time. This production was filled with so many powerful moments that I’d never ever expect.

I love what Daniel Fish has done with this show, or more like what Daniel Fish has brought out of this show that was already there. What I saw was a show about small town isolation and small town traditions that hurt everyone except the few who benefit and how dangerous and scary the male gaze can be. What I saw was a show about “us vs. them” and moral grey areas of group conviction. This was all there before Daniel Fish directed this show, but I never saw it.

This was actually a super frightening show. I felt on edge and super tense the entire time. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way during a show before but the tension is hot in this show and everything about it feels dangerous, partly due to performances and partly due to lighting, which I’ll address separately.

The show itself takes place at a potluck in Oklahoma and it feels very modern and very fresh and very inviting. Much like how I feel during Sleep No More, I felt like I wasn’t in New York. I was at this potluck with these people and all the audience.

The house lights stayed on for the majority of the show, which made the moments when it was dark (and when it was dark it was really dark) more poignant. Brightness is akin to openness in this world and darkness is isolation and loneliness and things that can’t be said otherwise can be said here. Light is also used as feelings and emotion and the rich green light during “The Surrey with the Fringe” and that deep orange during “People Will Say We’re In Love” very much so showed just how in lust Laurey and Curly. Lust, not love. To be clear.

I never got the sense that Laurey was really in love with Curly, more that she was super attracted to him physically and he was the safer option in this town in Oklahoma where she’s going to have to marry somebody and she’s gonna have to be a farmer’s wife because that’s how things are and always will be there so it might as well be Curly. That’s what I got from Rebecca Naomi Jones’ phenomenal performance. Her Laurey is smart but also anxious and unhappy but sensible but also very, very scared. Her Laurey knew what her lot in life was before the show started but finally accepted it at the end of it. This is, by far, Jones’ best performance to date.

Curly, on the other hand, is doing what he’s doing because he can and because the town knows and loves him. And it’s so easy to love Curly, because Damon Daunno is Damon Daunno. He’s fantastic. He’s got such an interesting voice too. Someone at intermission said he reminded them of a peacock and I think I agree. His Curly was at ease when he was loved but desperate when he wasn’t.

Him and Rebecca Naomi Jones give really different performances of these two characters so it was really interesting to see that paired with Ali Stroker’s very classic very to the book performance as Ado Annie. Ali Stroker is and always will be wonderful in everything she’s in. Her performance paired really well with the others, by that I mean her very classic comedic Ado Annie was a good match for the more serious and intense moments of the show. What I’m saying is she’s great! She’s wonderful!

Mary Testa is a force to be reckoned with. I know Amber Gray is amazing in Hadestown (which I’m looking forward to see but not looking forward for that 5am rush line) but I’m ready to hand deliver Mary Testa a Tony Award for this performance. She commands the stage. She’s the moral authority and the backbone of the show. She’s hyperaware of everything and knows exactly how to fix things. Testa gave me the impression that she’s seen this all before. She gives off the impression that this is how it’s always been and always will be. She was hilarious but intense, all at once.

The person who really walked away with this show for me though was Patrick Vaill as Jud Fry. His was such a sensitive and quiet Jud who was also terrifying and left me pretty shaken at intermission. He spends a lot of Act One sitting in a chair in a corner looking absolutely devastated, which is gonna stick with me for a while. The look on his face was heartbreaking. And no one would look at him at all. Even his big Act One scene (which I’ll discuss later because I loved it) took place almost entirely in the dark. What Vaill does with Jud is pretty amazing because he’s created a sympathetic Jud but a Jud who is still a scary person. I felt for him but felt scared whenever he spoke. You could feel this profound pain about him that I wasn’t expecting at all.

And Jud Fry is where Daniel Fish really makes things interesting. A lot of the show becomes about how isolated Jud is from everyone and how literally no one in the town likes him. He’s incredibly lonely and the town very purposely wants him to fail.

But that doesn’t excuse his actions. He’s still Like That and he’s still scary and there’s a reason Laurey doesn’t feel safe around him. Fish makes you feel for Jud but he never ever excuses his actions. Likewise, Vaill makes Jud human and I get where he’s coming from but at the same time he’s let his circumstances make him a monster.

How Fish and Vaill interpreted Jud really stuck with me for a lot of reasons. The first and biggest being that I knew going in that Jud is the quote unquote villain of the show so seeing him in Act One during his song really put me in a weird headspace because I know that guy. I know a Jud and he has a name and a face I’ll never forget. Not to get too personal on a theatre review but a good friend of mine was killed by someone like Jud just last year. Someone who was isolated and often separate from any and all groups but he was only separate because he was mean and scary and loved guns. So seeing that person on stage and seeing the surrounding world really resonated with me. But I was able to distance the Jud Who Reminded Me Of A Boy I Knew In High School and Vaill’s very sensitive portrayal of Jud on stage, which led me to think more about how Jud is a bad guy, but so is Curly.

SPOILER but two scenes that really stuck with me are the Jud and Curly scene in Act One and the ending of the show.

The scene with Jud and Curly in the smokehouse talking about how people would like Jud more if he was dead was super interestingly staged. The two sit together and the lights go completely out and for a while we just hear them talk while sitting in the dark. But then we get this close up live video of Jud’s face projected onto the screen and he’s weeping just about the entire time and I thought this was so heartbreaking to watch. The scene itself is fascinating because it’s basically Curly telling Jud to kill himself - and with this staging it’s very much Curly’s dark side coming out and Jud’s human side becoming more apparent. This is the first time in the show we ever really hear about Jud from Jud himself, so the fact that we either don’t see him at all or see a very up close and personal live video of him (I think it’s nice that the actor who plays Will Parker is holding the camera in the two camera moments in the show. It made it seem like he picked up a camera during his time in Kansas City) is very intimate. Then afterwards with his song was really terrifying but expertly acted.

Then there’s that finale. Oh wow. That will stick with me for years to come. Watching Rebecca Naomi Jones scream the lyrics to Oklahoma while covered in blood is a gut wrenching image that shook me to my core. An even more blood covered Damon Daunno howling the lyrics while stamping his boots on the floor was something else entirely. The whole kangaroo court of it all with a steely Mary Testa doing what she has to do made my stomach churn. Just that whole cast screaming the song at the end was incredible to watch. The sheer rawness of it all and how primal and angry and scared it was. It felt relevant. I hate when people say a piece of theatre is “important” but this felt very important. I felt that anger and fear. I knew that anger and fear.

Has Oklahoma! always had such good book scenes? I feel like I haven’t seen a good book musical in ages and seeing this reminded me how good musicals can be for the person who loves plays. This whole production was completely haunting from start to finish, from the decades old material to the brand new direction.

Oh yeah, and the chili was delicious.

#oh geez this got reaaaallly long #damon daunno #Rebecca Naomi Jones #ali stroker #review #broadway #oklahoma!#voice

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fourteenacross · 5 years

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hadestown - 5/26/19, 3pm

We also saw Hadestown while we were in the city for Octet!

Sooooo, as I mentioned before, I saw Hadestown off-broadway at the NYTW in the spring of 2016. I had previously been familiar with the album, as Orpheus and Eurydice is a particular favorite myth of mine. I can't 100% remember, but I think that someone told me to listen to it when I was writing my X-Men Orpheus&Eurydice story? Either way, when we found out it was going to be playing while @pearlo was in town, we got tickets, along with @littledust and @anachronistique. And it was great!! I truly enjoyed it! I've been listening to bits of it regularly ever since! (Ish. There was like, a good eight months where all I listened to was podcasts, books, and Ghost Quartet.)

I'm saying all of this because this review is...pretty critical? And I want to make it clear that I do love this music and enjoy this show and I had a good time and I would recommend it, probably! But I wasn't as in love with the production as I was with the NYTW production for a few reasons that I'll get into below the cut.

So, usually I go song by song, but I feel like the things I have to say are largely broader than that, so I guess I'm just going to jump right in.

The cast is largely excellent. Patrick Page and Amber Gray could murder me and I'd be okay with it, tee bee aitch. Patrick Page does a thing with his face that just makes me cry, I don't know how he does it. Sorcery, probably. And Amber Gray is an actual goddess, for reals, how is she even real?

I loved Eva Noblezada's take on Eurydice! She had this sharp, broken energy to her that was truly incredible. She was like...spunky. And it was excellent.

I loved Andre De Shields' energy. His movement was unreal. His voice didn't work for me in places, but that could have just been the sound design of the show--there were bits where it was really hard for me to make out what he was singing.

Jewelle Blackman is AMAZING, as are Yvette Gonzales-Nacer and Kay Trinidad. They've really turned the Fates into a more menacing presence, and while I ADORE Lulu Fall and Shaina Taub and missed seeing them, I didn't MISS them, if that makes sense.

Reeve Carney. Oh. My dude. You are certainly a white boy with a guitar.

And here's where it really starts to break down for me. I have two major issues with the show, and the first one is that I find absolutely nothing exceptional in Reeve Carney. I cannot understand why this cagey, feisty girl who's been hurt before would throw everything in with this weirdo, IMMEDIATELY POSSESSIVE kid who's singing her a song? Lisa framed it as, "She's nineteen and she's literally never met a nice man before," and I can kind of see it through that lens, but I also don't think that's the lens that the show wants me to see it through. It wants me to frame this as a beautiful, epic love story, but I don't buy that she's in love with him. Maybe I'm too gay for it or maybe it's the writing or maybe it's the acting, but it doesn't connect for me, and once that connection is broken, the whole show sort of falls apart.

I don't recall having this problem with the NYTW version. It could be that since that version started with the two of them already in love, it was easier to wave it off as some off-stage wooing that already happened and accept that there were reasons they were together. It could have been that Nabiyah Be's Eurydice was a little softer and more naive. It could have been that I empathized more with Damon Daunno's Orpheus. Whatever it was, I found it much easier to accept that they were in love, which made Orpheus' neglect feel so much more painful and Eurydice's choice so much more desperate and all that followed so much more heartbreaking.

Basically, most of the stakes stop being so high if you don't buy into their love, which I just...did not.

My other major issue, to get that out of the way up front, is the pacing is still not great. Although I didn't write up notes after Hadestown in 2016 (I saw it literally hours before I saw Hamilton for the first time), I remember talking with my friends about how the beginning is very tight and the middle-to-end are kind of a mess and bloated. I didn't follow the show closely while it was out of town and I guess I kind of hoped that it would have been tightened up more, but no. It was not. It still feels very over-full and there's now this number where Orpheus gets beat up by the Hadestown workers that's like...comically over the top. In my heart, I really feel like this could be a one act show, or at least a two act show with much shorter acts. "Wait for Me" is SUCH a good act one finale, but you lose some of that energy moving to "Why We Build the Wall," which I think would work just as well as an opening to act two, as much as I love the way "Our Lady of the Underground" is staged.

Anyway, all that being said, I still enjoyed it and still cried, so what do I know, right?

Road to Hell: I liked this as an introduction overall, and loved the little intros for all of the characters. It really sold me on Andre De Shields, too, esp because I loved Chris Sullivan so much.

Any Way the Wind Blows: This is such a great song and god, I loved the way Eva played Eurydice. The candle thing was a nice touch.

Come Home With Me: I can't believe I'm supposed to care about this kid.

Wedding Song: I liked the new twist on this, although I think I like it better a more earnest song. Still, Eurydice using this to sort of mock Orpheus about being a broke artist was a cool twist and Eva sold it.

Epic I: This was fine. It's explained either here or earlier that spring and fall have more-or-less disappeared because Persephone is being forced to spend more time in the Underworld and is being brought back down sooner. The implication, as we get further along in the story, is that Hades doesn't know how to connect to Persephone any longer and is keeping her around more both a) as a show of power and b) because he doesn't know how else to express himself to her.

Livin’ It Up On Top: I would absolutely kill for Amber Gray. This version of Persephone is drinking to cope. A LOT. It paints this sad, lovely picture of what she's been feeling.

All I've Ever Known: I just do not buy that they're in love, sorry.

Way Down Hadestown: The staging and set of the show are fantastic. There's a panel at the center of the stage that rises and lowers as needed and the visual of Persephone and Hades, stony faced both, sinking back into the underworld is perfect.

A Gathering Storm: The through line about the weather mostly works for me, but honestly, I was so distracted by how annoyed I was at Orpheus during this number that I was pulled out of the moment.

Hey, Little Songbird: Skipping ahead a little, Patrick Page is perfect, in case you were wondering. I tweeted something like that after NYTW and he clearly found it in a vanity search and replied very humbly, which I find quite charming. But yes, I adore him.

When the Chips are Down: This is one of my favorite songs in this show and the Fates kill it here. Their slightly more sinister characterization makes it more haunting than taunting and I'm into it.

Wait For Me: The lighting in this number deserves a Tony all on its own. Jesus Christ, that's art. The set is also incredible. As Orpheus moves down into Hadestown, the stage splits apart from an intimate cafe into a larger, more industrial space. Very cool.

Why We Build the Wall: Again, Patrick Page is excellent. This works really well to pull Eurydice in, as well. We see her slowly starting to accept this way of thinking as she listens to Hades. And, of course, Persephone's act-ending line is perfect.

Our Lady of the Underground: Amber! Gray! Is! Wonderful!

Flowers: My actual favorite song in this show. Eva nails it, it was beautiful and poignant, on the heels of her slow realization that this isn't what Hades said it would be at all, that she's forgetting her name and who she is as she slowly is sucked into the capitalist machine.

Then in here is some more Orpheus stuff, including the ridiculous fight scene where he’s beat up by the workers?

There’s also this subplot that the workers think that if Orpheus can get out, they can get out too, so he’s leading like, a whole little revolution? Except that isn’t really expanded on at all and kind of falls away. It also, imo, takes these weird steps towards turning it into a different story than it is. If you’re pushing that it’s a love story, a love song, so much and then at the last minute paste on this “also a revolution is happening????” and then drop it for the emotional climax like...what are you doing, why is this here?

But also, there's this bit where Hades says "Have a drink!" to Persephone and she says something like "I'm done with that" and it is a real (pun not intended) sobering moment for the two of them. Ugh, I just really love them and the complexities of their relationship.

Epic: Patrick Page's face is very good at acting. The rest of him, too, I guess, but even from the cheap seats, I got SO worked up over Hades' quiet slip into acknowledging the despair that he feels over his inability to connect with Persephone. The guy on Naomi's other side was full on crying, even more than me. It was honestly glorious.

(I have a lot of thoughts about Hades and Persephone, and, to be honest, they’re my main draw to this show. I’m fascinated by their relationship here and the way it’s broken in a way they’re not quite sure how to fix. Against all odds, I’m rooting for them, I want it to work for them, if only because they both seem to remember this time when they were in love and nothing else mattered. I think that’s part of why the parts of this incarnation that don’t work for me...don’t work for me. I’m already more invested in Hades and Persephone than Orpheus and Eurydice, so when I have to work ten times harder to feel for their relationship, it just doesn’t seem worth it, especially next to one that I’m sucked into almost against my will.)

Doubt Comes In: I will give Reeve Carney this--despite knowing how this story was going to end, I still felt the creeping tension and dread in those moments leading up to him turning around. A woman behind Lisa said, "Oh no!" out loud, even.

Road to Hell (Reprise): And this is the other place where I cried, of all things! This number ends up being about how we know that this is a sad story and we know how it ends, but we keep telling it anyway, because that's what stories are there to do. I got weepy, who knows!

I Raise My Cup: So they moved this to after the curtain call??? I....don't know if it works like that, tee bee aitch.

ANYWAY, those are my thoughts, mostly I'm tired of typing this and the deadlines that I started writing it to avoid are looming, SO. I enjoyed it a lot, despite the things that bothered me, but I would probably not spend $150 to see it again. Rush tickets, maybe.

#show notes #tag two #tag three #tag four #tag five #hadestown

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susandsnell · 5 years

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hey, you said you were excited for the Tony awards right? i’m way out of the loop and i saw you tagged the prom and hadestown. can you tell me about those?

Sure thing, friend! Thanks for reaching out.

So, not to go full hipster here, but I totally did like Hadestown before it was cool. It started out as a 2010 folk opera concept album by Anais Mitchell, who I’ve been a fan of for ages, and I first heard it in 2012, I think, because I stumbled on it online. It was in development hell for a few years, but through various concert performances and a steady fanbase got 2016 and 2017 tryout staging and is now making it to Broadway after a bunch of full 2018 productions! Essentially, it’s a sung-through jazz/folk/bluegrass retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in a kind of magical, kind of steampunky version of the Depression-era South. If you know the myth, you know the plot, but between the mesmerizing score, the diverse cast, and the setting changes, it’s really something else. Hades is a wealthy impresario who seduces Eurydice to her ‘death’ and runs ‘Hadestown’, basically, the underworld is a sweatshop for the dead, Persephone is a snazzy former flapper who runs a speakeasy for the dead where instead of bootlegging them alcohol, she bootlegs them things they miss from the world of the living, Hermes is a vagabond, the Fates are a radio jazz trio...it’s fantastic. Eurydice and Orpheus have a truly believable and sweet romance, most of the mythical figures are cast as POC, the music and setting is unique and enthralling.

My favourite part is the handling of Persephone and Hades; they’re both incredibly grey-morality characters rather than being outright vilified or romanticized in this. Their relationship is also unique in its depiction as they’re shown as having reached a point of dysfunction and yet, as they still love each other, they have to work through some marital issues. instead of your typical portrayal of them as either incredibly abusive/toxic or some bland bad YA-novel-esque brooding white bad boy falls for peppy, also white flower girl and is brought to his knees by her so it’s totes okay if he acts violent or bad, ohohohoho, actually him kidnapping her was feminist~, and I really appreciate this unique and mature approach to one of my favourite mythical couples.

I only discovered The Prom this summer, and I didn’t fall for it as hard as I did both Hadestown and Be More Chill, but it’s still incredibly cute!! Basically, it’s a more contemporary piece about a butch girl for whom the local beautiful overachiever develops feelings, but because they live in a conservative town in Indiana, their school won’t let them attend the prom as a lesbian couple. They enlist the help of a wacky gang of aging has-been former Broadway stars (many of whom are gay themselves), who have their own need to jump on a publicized cause to re-ignite their careers, and hijinks ensue as they try to bring attention to the fight for these girls’ love. It’s adorable, it’s sweet, and while it’s not quite the lesbian musical of my dreams, it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of the otherwise incredible dearth of quality wlw musicals (sorry Fun Home’s boring and RENT, while a classic and important for the time it came out, is incredibly biphobic, the wlw in Rocky Horror are great but quite secondary) all while being a love-letter to Broadway itself.

Hope you get the chance to listen to/experience both, friend! Thanks for the much-needed distraction.

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