So You Think You Can Dance Week 8

1 Week til the finale!! So glad I don't have wait long for Season 6 to start. I am really hoping to go see the Tour at Verizon Wireless Arena on Sept 22nd but I do not know if budget will allow. I am praying that it will.

Top 6
bold= the ones who got my votes red= who I think is going home
1. Ade
2. Brandon
3. Evan
4. Jeanine
5. Kayla
6. Melissa

Top 4:    Brandon, Evan Jeanine  Kayla.     I have mixed reviews about tonight's results.  I am super happy that Brandon and Kayla made it but I feel that  Melissa and Ade got really shafted.  Jeanine has not really been a favorite of mine through out this season.. Kayla was never really in my top either to be honest.  Brandon blew me away  with every dance he did this season whether it was in couples or solos.  Melissa was amazing and  I was so sad to see her go home tonight. Her and Ade were my favorite couple all season long  my favorite dances from them being the Romeo and Juliet piece  and the Breast Cancer piece.  I feel that Ade really should have been in the  finale instead of Evan..  while both were really good I feel Ade was the stronger dancer of the two.   Out of the guys Brandon Evan and Ade were always in my top so  it was really hard to decide which one to vote for last night. The girls were easier because I actually really wanted  Jeanine to go home  because I thought Janette  did a lot better than her.

Group Dance  Scores   Girls 10   Guys 8

Total Ratings (combined couples dances and solos)

Melissa 26

Kayla 25

Evan 23

Brandon and Ade  (tie) 19

Jeanine 18

Individual Ratings

Solos

Ade  8

Brandon 10

Evan 5

Jeanine  7

Kayla 6

Melissa 8

This week's couples were: Jeanine and Ade, Evan and Melissa and Brandon and Kayla

Total Scores   Jeanine and Ade: 11  Evan and Melissa :  18   Kayla and Brandon  17

Genres

Melissa and Evan  Broadway and Quick Step

The  quick step allowed Melissa and Evan to break out of their comfort zones but to be honest it was not their best dance.  The  Broadway  number like previous Broadway numbers  was fun energetic and dynamic. Melissa broke out of  her comfort zone which is more classical. Evan was in his element.  Ratings 10/8  Total Score 18

Jeanine and  Ade  Samba and  Hip Hop

Samba I felt was  a  week point for Jeanine and Ade.  They could have  danced a lot better.  Of course most  Latin  numbers that have been done in previous weeks   were not my favorites.. it could just  be something about that genre.   Hip Hop I feel has been Jeanine's strong suit all season and the fact that she is so strong in that allowed Ade to break out of his comfort zone which like Melissa is more contemporary/classical.  Ratings  5/6  Total Score 11

Kayla and Brandon    Contemporary/Disco

All I have to say  is that they were dynamic and fluid in both  pieces. They were very well danced.  I think that Brandon has a good chance of making it into the finale. For the girls it's a toss up between Kayla and Melissa.

From the NLBP YouTube Video Vault

Every once in awhile  I  go on youtube  to look at  video clips from shows from my summer at the Barn Playhouse.  The following video is  Why Should I Wake Up from Cabaret as performed by Nic Rouleau and Caroline  Massagee   one of my ultimate faves.. makes me cry every time! 

Thought for the day

Years from now,
We'll remember and we'll come back,
Buy the rooftop and hang a plaque:
This is where we began,
Being what we can.
~Our Time from The Broadway Musical Merrily We Roll Along

So lost in ever so pensive thought during my lunch break at work at the Chamber of Commerce I once again finding myself thinking about the Barn Playhouse and the whole issue I had involving having a difficult time moving on from the summer I had there.
Depression is by any means not easy for anyone to deal with and it was really hard on me. The thing that was hardest that once we all left the Barn at the end of that AMAZING summer two years ago we all went our seperate ways to school and professional careers. Contact between me and some of my co-workers has fallen short and there were times when I was extensively worried that I was going to be forgotten about by people from my intern company.. especially those people in which contact has fallen by the wayside with ( Will Porter being a main person) I was ravaged by paranoia most of the time because I was fearful of being forgotten about by everyone I worked with that summer. Of course now I realize that I was being quite childish in my fear of being forgotten and that I kind of grew obsessed with that fear over an extended period of time which then would lead to driving certain people in my intern company crazy by flooding their email inboxes with so many apology emails. For the purpose of not being redundant I will not apologize again.. I've already done a lot of that over time and I've now realized that there is truly nothing to apologize for anymore.. nor was there ever really anything to apologize for in the first place.

Anyway speaking of NLBP in a few weeks I will be heading up there to go see Anything Goes. Last year my depression kind of kept me at bay from going back to the Barn to see any mainstage shows. I did go there to see the Junior Intern Production of Tea For Three which was based on my mother's childrren's book What A Pest. That production was awesome and very good. I am really excited about seeing Anything Goes and seeing the talent of this years intern company. It should be a really good show.
However, after I see this show I do not think I will go see any shows at the Barn in future seasons. Down the line my plans might change but one key aspect of my depression was that I had issues dealing with the management changes that the Barn has undergone since my intern company's departure from there at the end of summer 2007. A lot of the changes the theatre has gone through are things that really upset me snd at a time I thought I could change them by being outspoken about it. AKA: Creating a facebook group about the Junior Intern Fee and writing a letter to the editor of New London newspapers which I later decided not to send. That did not go over too well with someone I used to work with who still works at the Barn.. that is my biggest regret of last year to be honest. Later I realized I was beeing quite silly in thinking I could change what was going on at NLBP when I had not worked there for a year.

*end rant*

"Tell me quick about Hugo and Kim."

Join the cast of touring show of the hit musical Bye Bye Birdie as they travel around the country. I found this to be very interesting and insightful as to what goes on the national touring production of a musical. Kudos to my coworker from NLBP Will Porter on his awesome editing skills. Great work! My personal favorite is Episode 5 The West Favorite Quote being " Crestfallen actually it wasn't actually cresting."
Favorite Installment of The Series


For the rest of the installments of this series go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/tourtherealtour


Upcoming Performances
August 2nd Oaklahoma Summer Theatre in Meredith Village
August 15th Anything Goes New London Barn Playhouse

So You Think You Can Dance Week 7

It's getting down to the finish!!!
Group dance rating: 9
Top 8
* Bolded- Who i voted for Red= Who i think is going home
1. Ade
2. Brandon
3 Evan
4. Jason
5. Janette
6. Jeanine
7. Kayla
8. Melissa

Bottom 4 (Red- the ones who went home)

1. Kayla

2. Janette

3. Brandon

4. Jason

Reaction to tonight's results:  I'm pretty livid right now to be honest. America must have slept through a majority of last night's performance show because Brandon and Kayla  SHOULDN"T   have been in the  bottom  four.  I was actually hoping that Evan and Jeanine would end up there because their performances were not at all up to par with those of previous weeks.  Janette has been pretty solid through pretty much every single show this season and next to Melissa she has been my  favorite girl performer.  Jason was never a favorite of mine and  I am really happy he finally went home tonight.

Combined Scores of 2 couples numbers and solo
Ade and Brandon 25
Melissa 24
Kayla 23
Janette 21
Jason Jeanine and Evan 20
Ratings for solos:
Ade Brandon and Kayla 9
Melissa 8
Jason 6
Janette 5
Evan and Jeanine 4

Couples:
SOOO HAPPY THAT MELISSA AND ADE WERE PAIRED UP AGAIN TONIGHT!!
Clearly I'm gonna talk about them first. They're that awesome.
I was not all that crazy about their Cha Cha piece I do not think that style did them any good. The contemporary piece was phenominal and incredibly moving. It was one of the best pieces they have done.. the Romeo and Juliet piece they did a few weeks ago follows suit.
Composite Score 16 (Individual Cha Cha 6 Contemp 10)
Evan and Janette
Evan has been one of my favorites since beginning of this season. My ratings for him went down this week. I just don't think either of the genres selected complimented how talented he really is. Clearly it's going to be tough for me to choose between Janette, Melissa and Kayla because I think they are all good. Jeanine has had her strong points but she has not been one of my favorite dancers this season despite the fact we share the same name. The two pieces that were done by Janette and Evan were Jazz and Rumba. I guess I am not a big fan of the Latin style of dancing because the Rumba did very little for me except show that Evan has a very sexy side when he dances that has not come out in previous weeks. Props to the jazz piece though I thought that was really good.
Composite Score 16 ( Individual Jazz 9 Rumba 7)
Jeanine and Brandon
Brandon and Ade are my top two favorite guys this season. Phillip was my other favorite unfourtnatley he got the boot last week. I highly disagreed with some of the judges' comments about the waltz. I thought it was astoundingly beautiful and that Jeanine and Brandon complimented eachother quite well. Wasn't a huge fan of the pop jazz routine.
Composite Score 16 (Individual Waltz 8 Pop/Jazz 8)
Kayla and Jason
Jason hasn't been one of my favorite guys all season while on the contrary Kayla has been one of my favorite girls.. an interesting pair. Suprisingly they complimented each other really welll on the Broadway piece... better then they  I thought they would do. I wasn't a huge fan of the hip hop piece though. I predict out of the guys either Evan or Jason will go home this week. Jeanine will most likely go home for the girls.
Composite Score 14 ( Individual BWAY 7.5 Hip Hop 6.5)

So You Think You Can Dance Week 6 Summary

Different pairings chemistrys stays the same for the most of them.
The top 10 (if name is in bold I voted for them)
Girls
1.Kayla
2. Jannette
3. Jeanine
4. Randi
5. Melissa
Guys
1. Ade
2. Brandon
3. Kupono
4. Evan
5. Jason

Results:  Kupono and Randi got voted off.

Top 8  Kayla, Jeanette, Jeanine, Melissa   Evan, Jason,Brandon,Ade  

Next week should be fabulous

The girls were clealry easier to narrow down than the guys were. Evan, Ade and Brandon are the most talented guys in my opinion so it was hard to chose between them. Clearly Melissa is my favorite of the girls. She has been since the beginning.

Solos (some of the scores had to be reconsidered due to the fact that they were really close to each other and there some solos I liked more than others)
Guys
Ade 10
Brandon 10
Evan 8
Jason 5
Kupono 5
Girls
Jannette 6
Jeanine 7
Kayla 9
Melissa 10

Group Numbers
Girls Bollywood Rating 10 Comments AMAZING better then Caitlin and Jason's performance earlier in the season.
Guys African Rating 8 Comments: Something new I have never seen on SYTYCD!! Same thing went for the Russian Folk Dance last week but this dance beats Russian Folk by a mile.

Couples
1. Ade & Jeannette Genre Hip Hop Rating 8 A fun and entertaining piece. I miss Melissa and Ade being a couple but Jennette definitley brings a new flair to the partnership
2. Evan and Kayla Genre Waltz Rating 7 Elegant despite the difference in height
3. Jeanine and Jason Genre Contemporary Rating 8 Beautifully cherographed. They compliment each other well.
4 Randi and Kupono Genre Pasa Doble 5 Did not care too much for this dance at all. It was not a strong genre for either of them. I think Kupono will go home this week. Can't really predict which girl will go home at this point.
5. Brandon and Melissa Genre Broadway Rating 10. UMMM they danced to Aquarius from HAIR how could I possibly not like it? They did AMAZING!!!





Upcoming Performances
Definite
August 7th Oaklahoma Summer Theatre in Meredith Village
August 15th Anything Goes New London Barn Playhouse
October The Foriegner Milford Area Plays Stay tuned for a three part series of Milford Cabinet Articles about this show Part 1: Auditon Process Part 2: Mid-show recap Part 3: Review of the show
MORE SHOWS TO BE ANNOUNCED

Pending

August 22nd High School Musical   New London Barn Playhouse  Junior Interns
September 22nd So You Think You Can Dance Tour Verizon Wireless Arena Manchester

Also happy birthday today to some awesome fellow thespians of mine

Caroline Massagee

Nate Atkinson

Erik  Duchesne

Jon Weinstien

Hand Jive back to the Past with Grease at Summer Theatre in Meredith Village

Posing after the show with members of the cast and other friends

L TO R: Janine Leffler, Sonya Walcott, Lara Hayhurst Compton (Sandy), Brandon Santoro, Matt Smith, Nancy Barry,Wendy Sisto,

Brady Lynch (Betty Rizzo), Eliza Hayes Mahar (Patty Simcox) and Matt Densky( Teen Angel)

So it's 12:27 am and I just got home from seeing Grease at Summer Theatre in Meredith Village. I wanted to post an entry about it while every aspect of the show from the singing to the dancing to the set design is fresh in my mind. When I get back from the beach later on in the afternoon today things will not be so fresh.

Grease was one of the first movie musicals other than Sound of Music that introduced me to musical theatre. I have seen Grease at a few other New Hampshire theatres but last night's performance definitley topped all the other ones I've seen... by a lot.

The play was directed and chereographed by Brian Feehan who directed me in Annie Get Your Gun at the Barn Playhouse two summers ago. He continues to do amazing work with chereography everything he does just blows me away. Honestly everytime I watch the dvd of Annie Get Your Gun I am as wowed by I Got The Sun In The Morning and There's No Business Like Show Business as I was when I watched them being rehearsed by my lovely co-workers at the Barn who I adore and greatly admire respect and miss. He also directed Carosuel and High School Musical @ STMV last year and naturally both of those shows were amazing. The show featured a very talented cast including Lara Hayhurst Compton (Sandy), Brady Lynch (Rizzo) Eliza Hayes Maher (Patty Simcox who also did amazing last summer in Carosuel as Louise) Amanda Tannerillo (Frenchy) and Matt Densky (Teen Angel) just to name a few. I had to resist tempation to sing along with certain songs which I found incredibly hard to do at some points especially during Greased Lightning, Beauty School Dropout and We Go Together. Best dance number was probably Greased Lightning follwed immediately by Born to Hand Jive.
A favorite song of mine from this show has always been Hopelessly Devoted To You and Lara Hayhurst Comptom did amazing with it.
Aestheically the show was as pleasing as it was musically. The best part of the set design for me was the hubcaps that hung from the ceiling during the Greased Lighthening scene.

Congrats to everyone in Grease on an awesome performance!

So You Think You Can Dance Week Five Summary

After this week some of the most dyanmic couples in So You Think You Can Dance history will be separated. On the plus side it's always good to mix things up. Each couple danced two numbers. The couples in bold print are the ones I voted for.
1. Melissa and Ade
They have really complimented each other well each week and I will truly miss them being a pair.
Genres: Disco/Waltz
Rating Total: 16 ( Individual ratings: Disco 8 Waltz 8)
The Disco number was really fun to watch. I think it was the most fun genre they've ever done. The waltz was completley and totally beautiful.
2. Kayla and Kupono
Genres: Contemporary/Broadway
Rating Total 14 (Individual Rating Contemp 7.5. BWay 6.5)
Comments: The contemporary piece was by far the most emotional piece I've seen them do. For the Broadway number they did Dance From The Gym from West Side Story. IT was definitley one of my favorite pieces they have done.. I could be biased because WSS is one of my favorite musicals of all time.
3. Caitlin and Jason
Genres Foxtrot/ Lyrical Jazz
Overall Rating 15 ( Break Down Foxtrot 7 Lyrical Jazz 8)
Both dances were far better than last week's performance. The Lyrical Jazz piece definitley showed their strength.
4. Jeanine and Phillip Hate to admit it but I think they will most likely go home this week.
Genres: Russian Folk and Jive
A very interesting combination of genres for the two of them. Hip Hop has definitley been their strongest genre by far. I didn't care much for the Russian Folk dance at all but I thougt they did fabulous with the jive
Rating Total 11 ( Individual R Folk 5 Jive 6
5. Randi and Evan They have been my favorites all along but Brandon and Jeanette replace their spot in my top 2 by a mile.
Genres Hip Hop/Samba
Rating Total 14 ( Individual HH 8 Samba 6)
Like previous dances they have done the hip hop piece was amazing. Very powerful and sensual. Randi was really strong in the Samba but Evan wasn't... at all.
6 Brandon and Janette
They are in top contention with Melissa and Ade and Randi and Evan but I think this week proves that they will go all the way.
Genres Argentinian Tango/Jazz
Rating:11.5 ( A Tango 5.5 Jazz 6)
Aregentian Tango was definitley the most passionate dance they have ever done as a couple. Their jazz routine was very funny and creative.

Top: Melissa and Ade, Brandon and Jennette
Middle: Randi and Evan, Kayla and Kupono
Bottom: Jeanine and Phillip, Caitlin and Jason

Results: Bottom 3: Melissa and Ade (Shocker) Caitlin and Jason, Jeanine and Phillip
Phillip and Caitiln went home but they have swing dance roles spots on the tour which by the way comes to NH in September. I must find out when because I would really like to go to it if finances allow.

Upcoming Performances
TOMMORROW: Grease at Summer Theatre in Meredith Village
August 15th: Anything Goes New London Barn Playhouse
On August 22nd I will be going with a few friends to see a play @ Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth for my birthday.

Pending: CATS Summer Theatre in Meredith Village YAY MAGGIE AND LOUIE!

2 points for nostalgia

  

I think there are appropriate times in which for me to be nostalgic about the Barn Playhouse without being too overly obsessed about it.. right now would be  a good time It only seems right anyway.

At this time two years ago  I was  well in to performances of Annie Get Your Gun.  For the record  I  have never had so much fun working on a show as I did when I worked on that show. It is my most fondest memory of that whole  entire summer at the Barn and will continue to be.    I miss it every once in awhile especially right now.    Even though I had an ensemble role and was only on stage for three scenes throughout  the  whole show I felt like I was part of  a family.   I do not think a lot of my friends from NLBP ever really  realized how much Annie Get Your Gun really meant to me,but it did.  It really truly did mean a lot.    It was really on of the best experiences I've ever had  working on a play because working with everyone else involved really taught me a lot about what it takes to put on a show ( a new perspective i never learned because i mostly did tech work and  did not have a lot of acting experience before coming to the Barn)  and most of it it was an opportunity for me to grow into myself as a performer. I really truly admire everyone who was in that show with me because they really helped me to challenge myself as a performer. 

NLBP 07 I LOVE YOU GUYS so so so much!!!

Love  Janine

I would just like to add  that I think it is incredibly really eerie how  I  hit the nail  on the head with predicting that people  from my intern company would be doing amazing things since we left the Barn Playhouse.  I watched the Our Time video from Just Desserts Cabaret the other day and that song epitomizes how talented I thought everyone in my intern company was and how I thought  they would be going places... potentially broadway shows or the like after the Barn. While some people may not be on Broadway yet   I  have been in touch with a few of them recently and have found out that  they are in either off broadway or touring  shows. :)

Week 4- So You Think You Can Dance

So watching So You Think You Can Dance had to skip a week of viewership due to academic reasons. Last week Auska and Jonathan went home. The two couples I voted for this week were Randi and Evan and Melissa and Ade.
Top
1. Brandon and Jeanette
Genere Cha Cha
Rating 8
Comments Completley flawless and amazing
2. Melissa and Ade
Rating 10
Comments Melissa was truly in her element tonight. This dance was passionate and totally beautiful. Horray for Romeo and Juliet!
3. Randi and Evan
Genre Broadway
Rating 10
Comments :Three words can describe this dance throughly. Fun. Flawless. Dynamic. They truly have great chemistry.
Middle
1. Kayla and Kupono
Genre: Contemporary
Rating 7.5
Comments: Not my favorite performance by them but it was still very good. They will both easily be in the top 3 couples
2. Jeanine and Phillip
Genre; Hip Hop
Rating 6
Comments: The chreographer had a great idea but their performance the week before last was a whole lot better.
3. Vitolio and Karla
Genre: Quick Step
Rating 5
Comments Very entertaining
Bottom
1. Caitlin and Jason
Genre Pop
Rating 4
Comment: Another great idea on the part of chreographer however it did not sit too well with me

Based on this weeks performance my predictions for the top 3 couples are
1 Randi and Evan
2. Melissa and Ade
3. Kayla and Kupono

RESULTS: Karla and Kupono went home


SO EXCITED ABOUT SEEING GREASE AT INTERLAKES THEATRE NEXT FRIDAY!