My Blog Has Abandonment Issues

Whoa.  Way to abandon a blog for two years sweetie!  That said, though I never stopped going to the theatre it has lessened due to a pesky thing called grad school sadly.  What happened then you may ask?  Well, new job for one which I've been in for about a year. AND occasionally gives me #jobperks such as tickets. 

I LOVE TICKETS.

So I'm wanting to get this going again, and we will have LOTS to talk about in 2016.  

First and foremost: Broadway in Chicago's 2016 Fall Season.  Oh hello.  I'm a subscriber again (or I will be on March 1st).  Yes, yes, Hamilton is on there BUT check out the rest of this line-up....

Photo from Broadway in Chicago

Hamilton

Aladdin

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Bodyguard

What do all these productions have in common?  To the best of my knowledge, they've never been to Chicago. Not to mention I think they're all relatively newer tours of shows. The whole reason I sadly left my perfectly picked out seats with BIC is the lack of rotation (or just plain dumb shows no one wanted to see).  But this? THIS is amazing and I could not be more excited. 

Hamilton - No-brainer. Can't get NYC tickets? Next best thing!

Aladdin - Disney musicals are either really good or really not-so-good. This one that I've heard so much about though I can't wait to see

Hedwig - Saw it with Neil Patrick Harris in NYC. AMAZING show. I can't wait to hear who the traveling Hedwig is. The best 90 minutes in theater.

Curious Incident of the Dog - Loved the book when it first came out and I was a Borders employee. The cast recording sounds great so I'm excited.

Bodyguard - The only one I'm skeptical about but in the end, it should be fun with good music.

What else is upcoming?  Well so far we're going to the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) Semifinals.  That's right.  Just like Pitch Perfect!

ScreenRant.com

Also, Matilda the Musical which I love that cast recording and am very much looking forward to that production.

Matilda the Musical

I'm sure there will be much, much more to come in 2016.  Anything else in the smaller theater world that you're seeing and keep staring longingly at the tickets on the fridge, wishing the day would get here sooner??

  

My quick thoughts on Sound of Music Live

Yes it has aired and re-aired by now, but I'm still mulling it over.  As are many people that are musical theater lovers that we know.  So because everything that there is to be said is said I'll bullet point my main points: 

• Carrie Underwood did fine.  Singing.  Acting?  Not so much.  It was obvious she wasn't comfortable.  Poor thing was outta he league except with The Lonely Goatherd, but she is a country singer.  I hope she's proud of herself though for stepping outside of her box and doing something new.  Before she does something like it again though, she needs Acting 101.  
• I feel bad for Stephen Moyer - all you can see is Bill from True Blood and him going "Sookie!"
• Audra McDonald.  I heart her.  Seemed to young to be the all knowing Mother Abbess, but at least she could sing.  
• Laura Benanti.  Show-stealer that one!  She was a treat from the Elsa in the movie that's for sure.  I loved the catty attitude.  
• From the very beginning I was confused, considering I read nothing about this beforehand.  Why was Audra singing "My Favorite Things" at the beginning?  Well thanks to the super helpful Playbill live tweeting, I quickly found out that it was  because this was based on the *stage* version.  Cue a much more interested household on our end!  
• I thoroughly enjoyed the song "No Way To Stop It" with Christian Borle and Laura Benanti - not in the movie and a "pleasant" surprise of a song despite the subject matter.
• There was ZERO love between Underwood and Moyer.  I did a "oh now I'm suppose to believe they fell in love.  Okay...".  

To sum up - I didn't hate it but I was far from loving it.  Not to mention I learned a lot about the stage production, which we're seeing later in 2014 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  It's never been a favorite musical of mine, but I appreciated it highly, and this production spent a lot of money, but they missed out on some casting opportunities.  

But in the end, my favorite Tweet of the night came from Lin-Manuel Miranda (of In The Heights and Bring It On):

This is what it boils down to in the end.  People watched a musical, and if they turned it on just for Underwood, then they saw their first musical production perhaps, and I like to think that we hooked a few new lovers to the theater!

Othello: The Remix

My favorite daily browsing of BuzzFeed reminded me of my favorite show that we saw this summer, which was Othello: The Remix.  I heard about it from a coworker and the next day the show popped up super cheap in my daily Goldstar newsletter.  So why not?  

Now I am a fan of Shakespeare, while my wife is definitely not (not even David Tennant in the BBC's version of Hamlet could keep her interested while I'm laughing like crazy).  She's not a fan of having to decipher what the actors are actually talking about.  And she loved this show as well.

To be short and sweet about it, it's a rap version of Othello.  And not in the way I thought it would be either.  I expected four guys on stage rapping the words of Othello.  But no!  They actually rewrote the entire story with more modern words and set it to rap and hip hop.  These four guys (and one DJ who was more involved than just changing music on a laptop) ran around in overalls playing all the characters in the play - sometimes by changing something slightly such as a hat and other times going full drag in a slip over the head dress and a wig while going falsetto!  They were amazingly talented and I've never laughed so hard at a Shakespeare before - and I love Shakespeare!

The show has left the Chicago Shakespeare Theater but apparently has recently hit the news by performing for inmates, which I think is fantastic.  Inside a place where people have either committed a crime against others or on the flip side, in there for what someone else did to them, the play speaks to those inmates I should hope.  

This has been continuously traveling throughout the world, and I would pay to see it again if it came back through and have made a permanent mental note that if I see the The Q Brothers have started a new show to go immediately!

Les Miserable (for the second and last time)

When Val and I first started dating, she treated me to Les Miserables at the Hobby Center for Performing Arts in Houston, Texas.  I was ecstatic.  This was a show I dreamed of seeing for ever and now I finally get to see it and how this moving circle thing with people walking on it works....


I also didn't know and/or realize this would be the beginning of a long, long list of shows that Val and I would end up seeing in our lives together.  


Now back in Houston I left feeling, in a word, "meh" about the whole experience.  But then again, I've hated the acoustics in that theater (don't get me started about the 2nd time I saw Rent and couldn't even hear the first act) so I wasn't surprised.  


So when we heard that Les Mis was coming to Chicago, we bought the season ticket package and were off!  It was the first show of the new season!

this was taken leaving Wicked 2 months before

So we were off with some high hopes of seeing this epic show in a new light.  I read about how it's been redone for the 25th Anniversary.  The turning center of the stage is gone.  There's new stage scenery and some new technology?  I'm interested!


Unfortunately though, we left with the same "meh" feeling once more.  I think that was the last chance I'm giving Les Miserables on stage.  Though the music continues to move me.  I think we just haven't seen any strong individuals in this show.  No one's voice is carrying the way that they use to in the Les Mis shows of old (and on CDs) so our expectations are high.  As an ensemble though the weight that the songs have is amazing.  

Luckily we knew the lyrics because some of them ended up getting lost for whatever reason.  Muffled sounds.  So weird in such a great theater!  Valjean was just a loud singer.  Nothing to write home about.  Fantine made me cringe at times.  Éponine was actually one of my favorites. And then later on the train ride home we had a laugh about how the auditions must be for Young Cossette.  The child's voice almost sounds recorded because no matter what production you're seeing 'Castle on a Cloud' sounds *exactly* the same!  


The changes I happened to like while Val did not.  The lack of the moving stage didn't bother me too much.  Now there's a screen behind them showing a road (or sewer etc) and the perception of it makes it seem like they're actually moving.  The sewer scene made me slightly nauseous even with how it made my sense feel like I was watching a movie!  Also, *SPOILER ALERT* for the death of Javier, that was much better than the actor jumping off the "bridge" and down the stage hole below.  He is now hoisted and hovers flailing his arms and legs while the scene moves behind him quickly giving the illusion of falling down.  It was beautiful (I guess as suicide can be?) and that image has still stuck with me.  


Also of course, the epic battle scene (or as I like to call it "EVERYONE DIES!!!").  They really make you feel like you're behind the barricade with them.  Feel every loud gun shot and feel for every fallen solider.  

All-in-all I'm very happy we tried again.  Oddly enough though the new Les Miserables in Concert was on WTTW when we got home off the train and we ended up watching most of that for the rest of the evening.  Now THAT is what the singing in our show should have sounded like!!  Besides Nick Jonas that is.  Talk about one of these things is not like the other.  His voice does NOT carry with the power in everyone else's.  Kinda feel for the guy.....


What are your experiences with Les Miserables?  Have you seen the updated version?  Like it or loathe it? 

Wicked for Christmas Eve 2010

Back in 2006 when we first moved to Chicago, Wicked was in the middle of it's three year run at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts or as I call it shortly, the Oriental Theatre.  It was amazing having that downtown on State and Randolph.  The green lights all under the marquee were a sight that could not be missed while walking down State.  

And we splurged once in our 'days of poor' after first moving from small town Texas to a large city.  We got the cheapest tickets waaay in the back of the theater.  And it was worth eating cruddier food for the week!  The show was amazing and magical just as I had hoped.  After promising ourselves we had to go back again, with better seats, it kept falling behind other shows that appeared and then *poof* Wicked had left Chicago.  


But one magical Christmas season, it decided to come back for a limited holiday engagement!  And here's where we really dorked out....we already need Rock of Ages tickets as it was, and now these, so Val went the morning the tickets went on sale!  They gave away promo t-shirts to the first 50 purchasers and we scored one - which is a neat shirt since it's specifically says "Chicago" on it and it's not just the generic Wicked shirt.  Plus it's bright green and awesome.


So Christmas Eve we were finally off to see the show - and like it usually does for Christmas in Chicago, the snow started falling and it was gorgeous.  

Outside the Cadillac Palace Theater

This time Wicked was in the Cadillac Palace Theater, which we had only been in once to see Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neeley. It's yet another great venue in the Chicago Theater District.

As we do every show, we partook in our usually pre-show cocktails.  Although it is odd that you can bring food and drink inside theaters now. The set was about the same as it was in the Oriental Theatre, but a tad smaller.

Inside the Cadillac Palace 

With it being Christmas Eve there were loads of children and tourists in the theater.  But for this show I didn't mind.  Throughout the show there were two dressed up little girls who kept sitting up out of their chairs, but you know...we've seen this show before.  And it's Christmas.  Let them bob up and down out of excitement!


Wicked is a show I can listen to over and over again on my iPod and never get tired of it.  I have emotional attachment to a lot of the songs and it gets me either choked up or giddy listening to them.  Either way they're quite powerful.

Me outside Wicked with my free shirt!

'Defying Gravity' of course is the first act's ending song.  And it's amazing.  The first time we saw it Val said she wanted to play Elphaba just for that song (and still does).  'As Long As Your Mine' is one that makes me think of the love for my wife.  'I'm Not That Girl' takes me back to my lonely days in high school and college where I couldn't ever seem to get a date (not that I'm complaining now!  Looking back that saved me a lot of heart ache I'm sure!).  And then there's 'For Good' which was the first song I heard from Wicked and it was unfortunately sung at a friend's funeral.  She's the one I give credit too for introducing me to Broadway musicals and it was a perfect song for her at her funeral.  Now though, I don't see it quite as somber but in fact uplifting and a mature song as two friends discover they must part their separate ways.

Val with the witch hat drawing box

One thing that definitely made me smile was listening to a mother tell her son and daughter what the play was showing.  She proceeded during the intermission to talk to them about how Elphaba really isn't Wicked but that's just how people perceive her.  And then went into how we shouldn't treat someone differently just based on the way that they look.  And that most people have a huge heart and are kind.  Awwww......this was a great thing to hear at a show and during the holiday season!


All-in-all, the show wasn't *as* amazing as I recall from 2007(ish) but it was still pretty darn awesome.  I cried.  I admit it.  The songs that Stephen Schwartz did are just fantastic.  And I was a fan of the book before this came out so we've been connected for a long time!  


And now there's going to be a TV show about the book.  A series of Wicked!?  Yes please and thank you (if done well that is!)


The only way I think Wicked could possibly be better for me is if Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth reprised their roles in it.  I would buy those tickets in a heartbeat.  


But this probably won't happen....or it could.  I thought the same thing about Rent once and then this happened:

See kids?  Dreams do come true if you wait long enough!