Movies of 2010 The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Please note: These are my opinions and my opinons alone..other people's opinions may differ. Feel free to share yours. It may fare for good discussion.
*Theatre Viewing **Home Viewing




Rating:


As


*Toy Story 3


*Dispicable Me


*Sex and The City 2

** Broadway The American Musical

** Every Little Step

**Season 1 of Glee on DVD

A-

*Tangled

**Dreamgirls

*Eat Pray Love

*Precious

B

*Couples Retreat

*Grown Ups

B+

*Burlusque

**The Music Man

**Autism The Musical

*Red

B-

**Shrek The Third
**Running With Scissiors

C

**Throughly Modern Millie

*Date Night

C+

*The Social Network
* Twilight Saga Eclipse Out of the movies in this series the first is the best. Overall the Harry Potter franchise of movies is more interesting to watch.

**The Ring

D

^*Black Swan I just saw this today and personally felt it was way over-hyped by the critics. It did not live up to hype at all. Aside from Natalie Portman's stellar performance which I hope she wins the Oscar for was a disturbing and overall horrible movie.

*Hot Tub Time Machine
**Speak

^Black Swan is on the cusp between C- and D

Top Rated Itunes Songs 2010

Top Rated Itunes Songs for 2010

*Recently downloaded or acquired in some other fashion ~ seasonal

*~1. We Need A Little Christmas Glee Christmas Album

2. Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett

3. Friends Ween

*~4 Merry Christmas Darling Glee Christmas Album

5. Fireflies Owl City

6. They Both Reached For The Gun Chicago Broadway Cast Recording

7. December 1963 OH What A Night Jersey Boys

8. Soon A Little Night Music Revival Recording

9. Send In The Clowns A Little Night Music Original Cast Recording

10. DO Re MI Sound of Music

11. Me and Bobby McGee Crystal Bowersox (American Idol Studio Version)

12. The Steps of St Patrick's Jason Levassuer

13. Birthday Malaise Raining Jane

14. Tango Maureen RENT

15 Seasons of Love Rent

16. Let It Be The Beatles

17,Aquarius HAIR Revival Cast Recording

18. Razzle Dazzle Chicago ( like the movie version and the Broadway Cast version equally)

19. Grace Rebecca Loebe

20. Walkin After Midnight Patsy Cline

Auditon Songs and Princess K.I,.M

So after much thought I have decided it would be more sensible to sing a song from Music Man for the audition I have a week from today for the PTA play. I must admit I am very nervous about my audition. This is my first audition for a musical I've had since I auditoned for Tge Apple Tree sophomore year at NEC. I still have sheet music for Somewhere That's Green fron Little Shop but I'm sure that will come in handy for something else sonewhere down the line.


Today was the second meeting to discuss the Princess K.I.M play. Right now we are still in th early early stages of writing the script and developing the character. Andrew is already starting to brainstorm ideas for songs and I can't wait to hear them the next time we meet. :) This all so exciting. I haven't been so excited about something like this since I assitant directed Bravery Soup at NLBP 3 years ago. More on this as things develop. We don't even know exact show dates yet.. maybe next fall maybe spring of 2012 SO very exciting. Something to look contiously foward to throughout the new year

Happy New Year everyone!

Broadwaysecret of the week

Wish this picture was a bit bigger. I would have to say that I agree with 110% with the person who posted this secret on broadwaysecrets. The fact that so many people are getting injured in the Spiderman cast does not exactly make for good publicity especially when injuries suffered are as bad as the ones that this poor guy suffered. He's from Portsmouth so I saw a story about him on WMUR the other day. I hope his has a speedy recovery. As far as the show goes I like the poster who posted the secret don't wish ill will on any actors to lose their jobs but if so many people in the cast are getting hurt then I think the show should be shut down. Last I heard they were upping the saftey precautions but I wonder how much good that will do now since so many people have already gotten hurt.

Breaking down the Glee Christmas Album

I have listened to the Glee Christmas Album extensively because they are always playing it in my department at work. Though the Christmas Season is almost over I felt it was worth anyway to review the album song by song

Track 1: We Need A Little Christmas A wonderful rendition of the song from the musical Mame. (Which I need to rent if I can find a movie version of it does anyone know if this exists)
Rating out of 10. 9
Track 2: Deck The Rooftop A very interesting mashup of Deck The House and Up on The Rooftop. Not sure if I am the biggest fan of it.
Rating out out of 10: 7.5
Track 3 : Merry Christmas Darling A wonderful rendition of the song by The Carpenters
Rating out of 10: 8
Track 4: Baby It's Cold Outside Chris Colfer and Darren Criss did an amazing cover of this song. I could play it over and over and not get sick of it.
Rating out of 10: 8.5
Track 5: The Most Wonderful Day of The Year The episode could have really done without what I felt was a lackluster performance of the song from the classic children's holiday special Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Rating 5
Track 6: Last Christmas A modern day rendition of Wham's holiday classic
Rating 6.5
Tracks 7 8,9,11 and 12 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Oh Christmas Tree, Jingle Bells, Angels We Have Heard On High and Oh Holy Night Wonderful renditions of Christmas carols everyone is familiar with.
Rating for all 5 songs 10
Track 10 You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch Wasn't really a big fan about the whole Grinch aspcst of the episode or the version they did of this song
Rating 5.5

Overall grade for the whole Album B+

Merry Christmas Everyone!

If you could date any celebrity, who would it be?

Will Swenson from the revival cast of HAIR :)

Ask me anything

Top 10s of 2010

Time Magazine has a list of the top 10s in 2010 for movies, theatre, technology.books and music. I will share the list of movies and theatre. Feel free to share your top 10 lists as well.



Time's Top 10 Movies

*1. Toy Story 3 (also in my top 10)

2 Inside Job

3. Never Let Me Go

4.Life During War Time

5. The Social Network (This does not even make my top 10 list.. we'll get to that in a little bit)

6. Rabbit Hole

7. Wild Grass

8. Green Zone

9. Waiting For Superman

10. Four Lions



Time's Top 10 Theatre Shows of 2010

Don't have much of an opinion on any of these because I haven't seen any of them. If you have seen them feel free to weigh in with your opinions

1. When The Rain Drops Fall

2. Venice

3. The Little Foxes

4. La Cage Aux Folles

5. Women on The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown

6. A View From The Bridge

7. A True History of The Johnston Flood

8. Come Fly Away

9. Mistakes Were Made

10. The Scottsboro Boys

My Top 10 Movies of 2010

*Theatre Viewing **home viewing

*1. Toy Story 3

*2. Sex and The City 2

*3. Dispicable Me

*4. Precious

**5 Broadway The American Musical

**6. Every Little Step

*7. Tangled

*8 Red

*9. Eat Pray Love

**10. Autism The Musical



Other movies worth checking out

*Shrek The Third *Valentines Day *Dreamgirls *Running With Scissors

*Grownups *Burlusque

Movies you may want to avoid seeing (other people's opinions may differ)

*Speak * Hot Tub Time Machine *Twlight Saga Eclispe * The Social Network

Audition songs

Okay so I have been mullng over what song to sing for my Music Man Audition on Jan 4th. It has been a really tough decision. It has come down between two songs. Somewhere That's Green from Little Shop of Horrors and Roxie from Chicago. I have been singing along with both of them on my ipod and I think both of them would be good songs to use. Does anyone know if there are karaoke versions of these songs I can download so I can practice them without lyrics?

I am kind of more partial to singing Roxie because I want to sing something more upbeat. If I wanted to sing a snipit from each song would it be possible to do that? What do people think of that idea?


Update: I have decided not to sing Roxie anymore because there are few high notes in certain part of the song that I can't hit and I just can't make the song work. My back up is You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile from Annie. The best thing about using this song is that I do not need to order sheet music because I already have it.

My goal with this blog for 2011

I feel like this blog focusses too much on me and I want to make it more interesting for you the readers. Hopefully this is where my friends who I worked with at the Barn Playhouse three years ago will come in. I hope to profile some of them especially those who are currently on national tours. This will not only benefit you the readers but myself as well since I have largely lost touch with my co-workers from NLBP since I left the Barn three summers ago. Let's see how many results the email I sent last night will yield.

In other news the holiday season is fast approching. 25 Days of Christmas is on ABC Family and the Chistmas Epsiode of Glee was on last night. I didn't like how the ripped off How The Grinch Stole Christmas one of my favorite Christmas movies. I also hate how my favorite couples are dissolving into nothingness. These couples are Finn and Rachel and Will and Emma. Emma got married to her dentist boyfriend Carl (John Stamos) at the end of last weeks epsiode and Rachel and Finn had a fall out because Finn cheated on Rachel with Santana at the end of the wedding episode.. this was discovered by Rachel at the beginning of last week's episode. I don't think Emma and Carl's relationship will last too long maybe that's because deep down I know that Emma and Will deserve to be together. In terms of Finn and Rachel I think Finn needs to wake up and treat Rachel better. He has been a jerk to her which Rachel doesn't really need because everyone else in Glee Club has a general dislike for her and tend to gang up on her. Hopefully everything is ironed out for Finn and Rachel by the beginning of the second half of the season or else I will be very disappointed. Artie and Brittany are a cute couple. I think they show tons of promise and if Rachel and Finn don't get back together I see good things happening for them. I thought it was cute that Birttany wished for Artie to be able to walk again and I almost cried at the end when Artie walked. Such a touching episode.


Memorable musical numbers of this season so far:
1. Time Warp
2. Baby It's Cold Outside
3. Merry Christmas Darling
4. Me Against The Music
5. NowADays/Hot Honey Rag
6. Marry You

Broadway Secrets of The Week

My Thoughts on these secrets

#1. I have only watched Big Bang Theory once or twice. I find it to be a pretty funny show. I think certain aspects of it would translate very well to a musical.

#2. Hairspray is one of my favorite musicals and one I wish I had seen on Broadway when it was playing. I saw the national tour in Boston in 2004 on a school field trip and got my program signed by one of the cast members. The only time I have gotten autographs at stage door.

#3. To this I say,..... YES PLEASE! Burlusque was one of the best movies of the year this year. I see it as a modern day version of Chicago minus the six merry murderesses of Cook County. It would make an amazing musical!

Get Into The Holiday Spirit with Miracle On 34th Street

Note 4/23/11

I would llke to apologize for falling so behind in posting my Cabinet articles to this blog I get so overwhelmed sometimes with posting other things that I sometimes forget that the original intention of this blog is which is share my Cabinet articles. I will do better about posting the articles as soon as I write them. My next article is about Riverbend Youth Company's production of Les Miserables so be on the look out for that.. in this blog and in the Cabinet. The article below is about the Riverbend Youth Company/Milford Area Production of Miracle on 34th Street which took place in early December.

Discover the true meaning of Christmas with Miracle on 34th St
By Janine Leffler

Get into the true Christmas spirit with the Milford Area Players/Riverbend Youth Company annual holiday production of the heartwarming holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street. The movie version of Miracle on 34th Street was released in 1947 and rereleased in 1994. The play is based off the original movie in which a man claiming to be Santa is institutionalized and a trial lawyer is assigned to bring him to justice. When it comes to comparing and contrasting the staged and film version Tom Partridge, who plays Al The Postman, Drunk Santa and Mr. Pierce, said “The main contrast is that the movie has sets. We have limited sets so we have to paint the picture for the audiences of the scenes in the movie such as the Macy’s Parade.”
When asked what the meaning behind the play is most cast members said that the true message behind the show is ‘to believe’. Believe in Santa, believe in yourself and fellow man, and believe in the spirit of the holidays.
Cast members have various methods for developing their characters . Dave Atkinson and Dan Pare have found their characters relatively easy to develop. Atkinson plays the judge in the courtroom scene and he said “I don’t do much to get into character. I just rule the scene.” As for playing his character of Kris Kringle Dan Pare, who in real life sports a white beard, said “I don’t do much to get into character. I just look deep inside myself and really believe I am Santa Claus. “Most cast members find it helpful to go over their lines with family and friends as a method of perfecting their line memorization. Dave Atkinson and Karen Ostrowski record their lines and listen to them on a CD while driving to work.
Each production has its share of challenges but equal share of fulfilling qualities. Director Vick Bennison says the biggest fulfillment of directing s show such as this is “Working with those cast members who are relatively new to acting. Some have danced and sung on stage before, but never had to deliver lines. Others have been very active backstage, designing sets, stage managing, etc., but have seldom if ever been on stage. Our Kris Kringle has performed as a Santa for years at Christmas-time, but has never had to memorize lines. He is also an experienced stage painter and set designer. We have a core of experienced actors, but the cast is large. So a number of people have been given their first opportunity to act. That's what community theatre is all about.”For Lucy Stover ,a fourth grader at Wilkins Elementary School in Amherst the biggest challenge is that her character of Susan Walker is her first big role. “Memorizing lines is the hardest thing because in the other shows I’ve been in I’ve been in the ensemble and haven’t had to memorize a lot of lines.” Dan Pare who is a technical theatre teacher at Goffstown High School makes his debut with this production as Kris Kringle. “This is the first show I have acted in. The experience has been a very eye opening one for me. “ While Pare has found memorizing the lines and blocking to be challenging his biggest fulfillment of working on this production has been “Just being in a room with people who are having so much fun and doing something nice.”


You won’t want to miss this delightful holiday show to help ease the stresses of the holiday season. Miracle on 34th Street runs from Dec 10-12 at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts in Milford. Evening performances are at 7:30pm and matinees are at 2pm. Tickets are #12 for adults and $8.00 for students and seniors.

Glee and Burlesque

My thoughts on Glee this week
* They should never ever do any Andrew Lloyd Webber songs ever. Don't Cry for Me Argentina was not completley butchered but it wasn't a great renditon
* WTF with Emma getting married? Honestly, Glee writers! Emma and Will should be together. I hope they end up together EVENTUALLY. Really beginning to lose hope of this
* Did not even know the second song that New Directions did was by Amy Winehouse til I saw the Gleewind on Fox.com
* Quinn and Mercedes are now my favorite female characters. Total 180% from last season when I hated Quinn and loved Rachel. Rachel is too much of an arrogant diva who is all about getting the solos.
*Darren Criss and Chris Colfer have great chemistry. I hope they become a couple.
* Finn and Rachel broke up :(
* I personally feel Artie and Tina should get back together. Arite and Brittany just don't go together at all.
* It is my hope that Kurt really conquers his fear of Karofsky and ends up back at McKinley. I feel he doesn't fit in with the Warbles. He looked so uncomfortable performing with them.


Season 2 overall really stinks. Three episodes have stood out to me all season. Auditions, Rocly Horry Glee Show and Never Been Kissed.


Also of note Sunday afternoon I went to the movies with Monica Boore to go see Burlusque. I would classify it as a modern day version of Chicago. Christina Augliera is amazing and I hope she gets nominated for an oscar for her performance. One of the best movies I've seen all year long.

Top 20 Favorite Cover Songs

Top 20 Favorite Cover Songs

1.Teenage Dream Darren Criss Original Artist Katy Perry
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water Glee cover Original artist: Simon and Garfunkel
3. Mad World Adam Lambert
4. Me and Bobby McGee Crystal Bowersox Original Artist Jamis Joplin (I think)
5. Come Togther Kris Allen and Crystal Bowersox Original Artist The Beatles
6. Big Yellow Taxi Counting Crows/Vanessa Carlton Origina Artist Joni Mitchell
7. Lean On Me Glee Cast Original Artist Bill Withers
8. Maybe This Time Lea Michele/Kristin Chenoweth Original Artist Liza Minelli
9. Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag Lea Michelle/Gweneth Paltrow Original Artist: Catherine Zeta Jones/ Renne Zwellenger
10 Stop In The Name of Love Glee cover Original Artisit The Supremes
11 Livin On A Prayer Glee Cast Original Artist Bon Jovi
12 Stayin Alive Matt Girard Original Artist The Begees
13 Let It Be Katie Stevens Original Artist The Beatles
14. Jesus Take The Wheel Danny Gokey Original Artist Carrie Underwood
15 My Funny Valentine Matt Girard Not sure of the original artist but it's from the musical Babes in Arms
16 Don't Want To Miss A Thing Allison Ireheta Original artist Aerosmith
17. Dream On Matthew Morrison and Neil Patrick Harris Original Artist Aerosmith
18 September Danny Gokey Original Artist Earth Wind and Fire
19 Crybaby Allison Ireheta Original Artist Janis Joplin
20 Jump Glee Cast Original Artist Van Halen

Video Picks of The Week

11/7/11 The clips from Glee have ben removed from this blog. They are no long avaialble on youtube due to copyright infringement issues and are no longer able to be viewed to the public.

Stephen Sondheim 8oth Birthday Concert. LOVE Bernadette Peters! She has been my Broadway Idol for many years.

A brief update

A brief update.

To wrap up my 2010 viewing schedule I will be seeing Miracle on 34h Street at the Amato Center for The Performing Arts on December 10th and A Christmas Carol at Peacock Players on December 16th. My ongoing goal is to see shows at different theatres. This year I revisted a theatre in Maine The Arundel Barn Playhouse and saw Shout The Mod Musical. I also saw a summer show at Wellslely College. As 2011 approaches I plan on furthur expanding my theatre viewing to Wellslely and other Boston colleges as I plan to close a chapter in my theatre viewing career as I will stop going to see shows at NEC after this years seniors graduate. My professsor Wally Pineault is also retiring so they are having a party for him after the staged reading of his play Hotel La Putts on April 2nd. I am looking foward to this because I will most likely get to see a lot of my NEC theatre friends who I haven't seen since I graduated or those who were in the years ahead that have moved out of state. I also hope to see a show at Seacoast Rep and Prescott Park Arts Feestival in Portsmouth as well as Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit Maine.

I don't know if I have talked about this in other entries but I am assiting my mother with work on a play based on her book Princess K.I.M And The Lie That Grew and it sequel Princess K,I.M. and Too Much Truth. We are meeting with Toby Tarnow on Monday to furthur discuss the play and what ideas we have for it. I think Andrew Cass and Joe Harris will be joining us too to discuss the music. I am very excited about the endeavor. :) The play will not be performed until 2012.

My sister came up with a spur on the moment idea to write a musical about the humorous things that have happened in my life. I do not exactly know about what will become of it but we were bouncing ideas off each other on Wednesday afternoon. She is thinking of calling it either Quirks or Social Cues. I personally like Social Cues better because it relates more to theate because the main storyline of the play is about how theatre has had an impact or influence on my life. An immediate idea that came to my mind was stuff that related to the Barn because a lot of humorous things came out of stuff that happened that summer. I can actually easily come up with songs for that if anything actually ever evovles out of that musical. At least my depression can pay off for something. :)

Fall Movie and TV Ratings

Fall 2010 Movie Ratings

*= theatre viewing **= home vieiwing

*Burlusque B+

**Dreamgirls A-

**Flashdance B

**Me and Orson Wells B

* Red B

** Speak D

*Tangled A-

** The Music Man A- (original version with Shirley Jones and Robert Preston, the remake with Matthew Broderick which I saw about 5 years ago got a B.)

**Thoroughly Modern Millie C

* The Social Network C+

Upcoming Movies I plan on Seeing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 1 of 2, Little Fockers, Morning Glory, Secretarist,Fame ( the next movie in my net flix queue), Legend of The Gaurdians Love and Other Drugs, Unstoppable,Black Swan

Fall Tv Ratings

Raising Hope A-

Modern Family B-

Glee C+

Mike and Molly B

How I Met Your Mother C+

Recently announced BWay Show Closings

There are sometimes when I really wish I had an unlimited budget so I could see more than one Broadway Show whenever I go to New York.

I have a feeling it's going to be another bleak January for Broadway

Jan 2nd:West Side Story, Fela, Promises Promises
January 9th:A Little Night Music and In The Heights
Jan 16 Next To Normal



My thoughts: Promises Promises didn't really appeal too much to me (aside from the awesome casting of Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes) and the reviews I heard about that show were mixed. The performance I saw on the Tony's from FELA looked petty cool and that probably would have been a fun show to see. I've heard Next To Normal was fabulous but the plot of the play doesn't really appeal to me too much so I guess I didn't miss out on it. If I had the opportunity to see more than one show in New York I would have chosen to see either ALNM or West Side Story in additon to Jersey Boys (which was awesome) Of course due to limited budget we could only see one show. There were certain things about ALNM that appealed to me (other than Ramona Mallory being in it) and things that didn't appeal to me. I hope to see the West Side Story tour when it comes to Boston in June but it won't be the same as seeing it with the Broadway cast. I'm sure it will still be awesome though.

Man Who Came To Dinner

Man Who Came To Dinner is over. The show went fabulous and was absoulutley hysterical. I was cracking up in the booth during every show. I really enjoyed doing sound and do not know why I didn't start doing it sooner. I really gives me a new prespective for seeing the show. I hope to do sound design more often for Riverbend Youth Company,Riverbend School of Theatre Arts or Milford Area Players


To the Cast: Darlings, you're wonderful!
To Toby and Bruce: Thank you for this awesome experience! Look foward to working you again.

The show was filled with many good lines. Here is one of my favorites
Lorraine Sheldon: I went to Pompeii , I cried all night. All those people all those llives. Where are they now?
Banjo: Who cares?

Top Rated show tunes and birthday wishes

First off happy birthday to my fellow thespians.... this goes back to August. I wished a majority of you a happy birthday on facebook on your actual birthday but I like to do shoutouts on my blog as well .. I have fallen a tad behind with my blogging.

August R 8/8 achel Kepnes, 8/20 Levi Morger, 8/20 Dashiel Morger, 8/22 Matt Forbes, 8/23 Christina Giordano

September 9/1 Jay Johnson, 9/4 Maggie Politi 9/13 Zach Shea

October 10/2 Vivivan Martinez, 10.5 Darren Mccarthy, 10/15 Rachael Harriman, 10/19 Alistair Spatz

November 11/12 Jackie McCann, 11/14 Elise Hinton, 11/12 Brinn Kinglsey, 11/27 Matt Rickard and also fellow blogger Anna ( Aria of An Amateur) don't know the exact date of your birthday but i know it's coming up soon

(and a little bit early for December but don't know when I'm going to update next time)

December 12/12 Jimmy Hawkes and Rachel Buck, 12/4 Lara Hayhurst Compton, 12/12 Jamie Kellendorfer 12/24 Jennie Leonard, 12/30 Ramona Mallory





Top Rated Showtunes on my ipod Sept/October

1. Roxie Chicago

2. December 1963 Oh What A Night Jersey Boys

3. Do Re Mi Sound of Music

4. Aquarius HAIR revival cast recording

5. Hapiness You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

6. My Boyfriend's Back Jersey Boys

7. There's No Business Like Show Business Annie Get Your Gun

8. You Are Not Real The Apple Tree

9. Seasons of Love RENT

10 Soon A Little Night Music

11.

:D)

Man Who Came To Dinner is going fantastic. The show is hillarious. I am so excited for opening night on Friday I really am enjoying desinging sound. It's very interesting and fun. I think it will be doing it more often instead of doing props.


Pictures to come soon if I can remember to take my camera to rehearsal.

My latest fan fiction

Amos… an I'm not sure if this is a "love story" story
A Roxie Hart oneshot inspired by the song Funny Honey

Disclaimer: I do not own rights to any Chicago characters. Kander and Ebb do.
Author's Note: This is my first Chicago fic. A majority of my fics have been about Little Shop of Horrors . I have moved on from that fandom for the most part aside from a few fics that need to be completed. Figured I would start my transition to writing other fics with a Chicago fic about Amos and Roxie's relationship. Enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome.


Sometimes I honestly don't know how I feel about Amos. One minute I'm madly in love with him and the next minute I despise him and want to end our marriage. When we first met I thought we'd have a nice life together and eventually have a family. Between the both of us we don't really make a lot of money. I don't know how we survive half the time honestly.
When my hours at work started getting busier.. later nights and he worked days that was hard because we barely saw each other except when we were sleeping. He works at the garage from 8:30-6 so he's out of the house before I get up.. I usually sleep in til 9:30 or 10:15. For some reason he is paranoid that I am going to cheat on him. What does he think I am a hooker? That really pisses me off. I never tell him that though because that's obviously something he doesn't feel comfortable talking about.
Things got even more difficult the night I shot Fred Casely. As I just said he has been paranoid that I am going to cheat on him. He is too moronic to realize that Fred followed me home from the bar in a drunken stupor. He walked in on us right before he was about to get into bed with me. That was awkward. He was like "Uh, hi Fred ." and left the room. Fred pretty much raped me and Amos pretty much did nothing about it. He just went in the garage to fix the broken carborater on the Mazda. I really wish he had called the police to report Fred was raping me because I was obviously too busy being man handled to reach for the phone.
After I shot Fred I felt good about myself. He's a loser anyway. I figured Amos would call the police to rat me out but he's too sweet to do that.
"Is he sleeping?" he asked
I rolled my eyes. "No,Amos. I shot him. If you had been paying attention more closely you would have seen he was trying to rape me."

Theatre related quote from Modern Family

This quote from Modern Family made me smile and think of the people from my Barn Playhouse intern company.
"You did one production of Godspell in a barn. You're Barn folk."


Godspell wasn't even in our season but that's really beside the point. Makes me wish I had done a far better job then I have been doing with keeping in touch with people. :)

Shameles Plugging

The Riverbend School of Theatre Arts Presents

The Man Who Came To Dinner

by Moss Hart and George Kauffman

Amato Center For The Perfoming Arts

56 Mt Vernon Street

Milford New Hampshire

Friday Nov 12th- Sunday Nov 14th

Evening Performances at 7:30pm

Matinees at 2pm

Tickets avaialble at Toadstool Bookshops, online via Ticket Leap or at the door

Adults $12 Students and Seniors $8

I sat through my first rehearsal last night and the show is hillarious. You won't want to miss it. I am making my sound design debut!

Chicago: A Comparison

This weekend I went up to Ithaca College for Family Weekend. It was great to see my sister after not seeing her for two months and meet all her friends. Seems like a nice group of friends that she has. Her roommate is a sweetheart. Yesterday afternoon we went to a showcase of different campus performance arts troupes on campus 3 acapella groups, 3 dance troupes a circus troupe and a fife and drum group. Such a diverse amount of talent I was quite impressed. I definitley want to see if the Ithacaapella Acapella group has any tracks I can downloand from itunes. They were amazing. Then last night we saw the Ithaca College Theatre Department production of Chicago. It was quite impressive for a college produciton.. my mom thought it was even better then some Broadway productions she has seen but I wouldn't really compare it to something of that caliber. Instead I did a mental compare/contrast between this production and the production I saw at Summer Theatre In Meredith Village in July.

In both productions I found that the actresseses who played Roxie and Velma (Maggie Politii and Kelesy Cooke (STMV) and Megan Watt and Rebecca Futterman (IC) complimented each other quite well. My Own Best Friend and Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag were very well excuted numbers. Another well excuted role was that of Billy Flynn (Jared Trolio (STMV and Danny Lindgren (IC) Razzle Dazzle and We Both Reached For The Gun were very energetic numbers. Cell Block Tango was a standout musical number in both performances as were Roxie Mister Cellophane and Class. In the IC performance I found that the performances of Tim Quartier (Amos Hart) and Jessica Bennett (Matron Mama Morton) were moderate in comparison that that of their counterparts in the STMV show John Baker and Sheria Feurstein but they do show amazing talent.
Technically I couldn't find too much to compare.. all technical aspects of both shows were very good and highly impressive. The IC production had amazing sound and light design which I found to be very impressive for a college production.

Congrats to the cast of Chicago at Ithaca College on a great show :)

Random thought before bed

The Sound of Music Reuinon on Oprah today made me very happy. It was very interseting to learn about what the cast has done since the movie was filmed in the late 60s. Christopher Plummmer looks really good for 80. Julie Andrews remains one of my Broadway Idols.

Season 2 of Glee- General views and Rocky Horror

This morning I read an article in the Boston Globe entertainment section about Glee and how the plot lines in the episodes seem to be lacking any substance. I lean toward agreeing with the columnist. Last season there was drama and a reason to actually watch the show.. plot lines to keep the show interesting. This season it seems to be all about less than par karaoke versions of songs (which is what a majority of the musical numbers seem to be learning toward) and celebeirty cameos to promote new albums and such (According to the article that's why Britney Spears guest starred but I could have misread something.. i kind of quckly glanced the article over) The only episodes I have liked so far this season are the premiere and tonight's Rocky Horror Glee Show episode. Other than that none of the episodes or musical numbers have stood out to me.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of my favorite halloween movies so I was especially excited about tonight's episode. What made it even more great was the fact that John Stamos made a guest appearance as Emma's denstst boyfriend. He still looks good after all these years.. his Uncle Jesse charm has never left him though I have to say he's not that great of singer. His Glee performance was alright but he was recently on Broadway as Albert in the revival of Bye Bye Birdie and I heard he was pretty horrible. Despite the fact the music to music from Rocky Horror Picture Show is energetic and extremly likable I feel the content of this episode was wildly inapropriate toward the audience that Glee is supposed to be directed toward.

Overall Season Rating up to this point C+
Rating of Tonight's Episode B+

What Theatre Means

Catherine (Confessions of A Crazed Musical Theatre Geek) posed a question at the end of her recent post What does theatre mean? Interested to see what other people say. Here are my thoughts





I have been involved in theatre since I was a sophomore in high school... haven't stopped since. It's become a really big passion of mine. I have more tech credits to my name than acting credits but I hope to eventually build my acting resume.



I think of theatre in the aspect of three CS

Collaboration- Theatre is the true art of collaboration. It's a bunch of people working together to put on a show for an audience. That is the one thing I took away from any show that i've worked on no matter where I was at. To provide an example I will post an excerpt from my reflection paper from my New London Barn Playhouse internship 3 summers ago
On the theatrical side of things I not only got to help out with technical work but I also go experience with acting and directing. I was an ensemble member in Annie Get Your Gun. I found it very beneficial to work with the other actors. They were very supportive of me. It was also fun to be able to watch the play form from the first rehearsal to the final dress rehearsal and how everything came together especially the choreography for Annie Get Your Gun. By being a member of the cast I was able to see how stressful and intense the rehearsal process can be. During the early rehearsals of Annie Get Your Gun it would take a long time to work the scenes because there were younger kids in the group scenes and it was hard to keep them on task. Once things got a little bit more organized between scenes, the scenes ran a lot crisper and cleaner. <~ this also can fit under the third C Comraderie

Cliques (this is most relevant to high school theatre) : The biggest issue I had in high school was dealing with cliques. That seemed to go away when it came to theatre. For example take my high school's production of Cabaret my junior year. In that show the quarterback of the football team was cast as the lead role. Now when you think sports you automatically associate the word jock with it. Bear in mind that the years I was in high school there were a lot of talented theatre kids... some who went to college in New York to study acting.. others who I am not sure if they actually went to do anything with theatre but with the case of the lead role in this show who was played by Jeff Farrington (yes I still have my program) you'd be surpised at how talented he was at acting. I know I was. The whole mentality of cliques kind of disappated once I went to college.



Comraderie: The thing that makes theatre most important to me is the bonds I make with the people in each show I work with both in the cast and in the crew. With each show I've done since high school I have found I have an impeccable bond with the people I have been in shows with. Over the past 15 years I have worked on over 20 shows ..while each cast I've worked with was made of a different group of people I've found the friendships I've made with these people to be most beneficial. The memories of each show are great but it's the friendships I've made a long the way that have truly made the difference in my life. It comes in handy for networking too.

Broadway Secret of The Week

I am gettting really bored with Broadway Secrets to be honest. All the more reason to be happy that I am making the full transtion from Livejournal to blogspot in mid November



Between this week's and last week's entries this secret was the only one that stood out to me. I recently saw The Social Network and while it was good and well casted I would not rate it in my top favorite movies. I rated it a C slightly lower then what the reviewers in the newspaper gave it. I can not honestly see why they would make this movie in to a play and how it would very successful with the Broadway Audience. Some moives or books can translate very well to the broadway stage.. this will not be one of those cases. I feel the same way aboult Elf actually. I don't know if that has opened yet or how well it has done for reviews if it has opened.

Another theatre related update

I should really be going to bed soon because I have to get up early for work tomorrow but I felt the urge to update.. it's actually been awhile since I've updated. Marina (Eat Sleep Breathe Theatre) posted an entry in her blog that I agree with about missing shows and such. I share similar sentiments to hers so I'll start my update with that and then move in other stuff.

I should start by saying that I haven't acted in a play since the Barn Playhouse when I was in Annie Get Your Gun and Barefoot in the Park. I had an issue with moving on from that summer at the Barn and had an even bigger issue with accepting the fact that I had an issue with moving on but I got over that hump. Just took me awhile.. longer than it should have actually. I don't think there's anything wrong with ocassionally still missinb being in a show with out being to obsessed about it is there? That's how I felt about Annie Get Your Gun because it really helped me to break out of my shell as an actor. Before that point I was used to doing work backstage. This is why auditionig for the PTA Play is all the more exciting. I feel like I am in a void because I haven't acted in three years. I am hoping I get into Music Man because I think it will be really great show to work on. Please refer to my entries below about audtion songs as I am still struggling with deciding which song to sing.

Tech work wise I find it sometimes hard to balance choosing what shows to do tech for because of my work schedule.... or maybe it's just a fear of getting involved in too many shows at once (refer to my inital post about deciding weather or not to audition for the PTA Play) Right now I am doing tech work for the Riverbend School of Theatre Art's fall production of The Man Who Came To Dinner. Tech week begins the week after halloween and I am pumped. Especially since I will be doing sound desgin something totally new after that I willl be helping out with Guys and Dolls Jr in some capacity but I haven't decided what I am going to do quite yet.. it will largely depend on what they need me to help out with. I must say all the kids who are involved in Riverbend School of Theatre Arts shows are really talented Man Who Came To Dinner and Guys and Dolls Jr willl be my third and fourh shows repectively with the company. I am also debating helping out back stage with the Souhegan Musical.. plans to help out with Bye Bye Birdie fell through last year due to scheduling issues so I'm hoping I'll be able to contribute to the show this year in some way. They are doing Fiddler on The Roof this year one of my absolute favorite musicals.






Actually technically I don't really have much else to say. Went to see the NEC Open Door Theatre's production of As You Like It on September 18th. It was an interesting modern day spin on my favorite Shakespeare Play and it was amazing. Standout characters included Alex Picard, Jennie Leonard and Greg Stuart but everyone in the cast is equally talented. <3 to my NEC theatre friends. :) Tenatively I am seeing Cabaret at the Palace Theatre on November 5th with Matt.. these plans might change due to schedueling so we'll see. On November 19th I am going to see A Christmas Carol A Musical Ghost Story at Community Players of Concord with a few of my friends. A nice way to get into the holiday spirit. It willl be my first time seeing a show at Community Players of Concord. One of my co-workers from NLBP Joel Mercier directed it and wrote the music so I am excited to see his interperation of A Christmas Carol and see how well it works put to music.


Time for Bed.

Audition songs- Narrowing my options

Based on discussions I have been having with various people I have narrowed my choices for audition songs for Music Man down to the following. Please note we have the option of either singing a song from the show (in my case Wells Fargo Wagon, 76 Trombones or Goodnight My Someone) or picking any song we want to sing. My audition is not til after Christmas so I still have awhile to pick my song. However I want to pick a song as soon as possible so I have enough time to order sheet music and start practicing.
Range: Low Soprano/High Alto. I can't belt so that automatically ruled out Tomrrorow from Annie and Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl because those have really high notes at the end
Top 10 Choices
1. What I Did For Love A Chorus Line
2. Put on A Happy Face Bye Bye Biridie
2A My Favorite Things Sound of Music
3. I Got The Sun In The Morning Annie Get Your Gun
3A Do Re Mi Sound of Music
4. Roxie Chicago
5. You Can't Get A Man With A Gun Annie Get Your Gun
6. I Enjoy Being A Girl Flower Drum Song
7. Somewhere That's Green Little Shop of Horrors
8. Spanish Rose Bye Bye Birdie
9. Seasons of Love RENT ( this was not in my original list but I LOVE THIS SONG)
10 You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile Annie

I found a website where I could look up selections for potential audition songs Roxie Spanish Rose and You Can't Get A Man With A Gun came up. I take this as a sign. Life of The Party from Lippa's Wild Party , The Gentlemen Is A Dope from Allegro and If You're Good To Mama from Chicago also came up in my results

Excerpt from a Fan Fic I am working on

Excerpt from a fanfiction I am collaborating on with a fellow LSOH fan on fanfiction,net HermoineLennon. In it we are delving in to Audrey and Orin's relationship and how Audrey's overcomes the abuse. Let me just say that I am incredibly proud of this bc I have really been struggling with devloping Orin' s character... perhaps because I am not a huge fan of Orin but I think I captured his true essence. EPIC WIN :) Feedback appreciated

Orin was starting to get a little bit uncomfortable and suspicious. Why had Audrey invited him back to her.. they could have easily had dessert at the restaurant. He had a lot to do to get ready for a busy day at the office tomorrow. Why was Chiffon here? Orin wanted to be alone with Audrey. To him having Chiffon there was an invasion of privacy.
Dessert was eaten in uncomfortable silence.
After the dessert plates were cleared Audrey cleared her throat.
"Orin, we have to talk."
"Okay, then talk.. she has to leave though." = Orin said jerking his finger at Chiffon.
" No, sorry. I'm staying… for moral support." Chiffon said.
'What kind of moral support?' Orin thought to himself. Maybe he was better off not knowing.
"Orin, I wanted to talk to you… about us" Audrey said.
"What do you mean… talk about us?"
"Talk about our relationship… how certain things need to change."
"Like what?" Orin was starting to feel even more uncomfortable with Chiffon being in the room.
"Like the way you treat me."
"What do you mean? I treat you fine."
Chiffon snorted . "Hell, you do."
Orin shot a stony glance at her " Who's talkin to you?"
Chiffon had not meant to purposely interrupt Audrey's train of thought but she felt the need to throw in her two sense.
"Don't try to avoid the subject Orin. My friends and I can see how poorly you treat Audrey. Just look at her face."
"Yeah, what's wrong with it?"
"You see all those bruises on her cheek?"
"Yeah."
"You gave her those. You give her a new one every night when you beat her up."
"What's that got to do with anything?" Orin asked. He didn't appreciate how Chiffon was interfering.. Audrey could sense this.
"Chiffon I can take care of this from here. Feel free to stay if you want." She put her hand gently on her friend's shoulder. The last thing she wanted to happen was for Orin and Chiffon to get into a fight.
Chiffon went to sit in an easy chair in a corner that wasn't too far out of Audrey's view.
"Orin, I don't like the way you treat me."
"Really?"
"Yes really. I moved away from my house to get away from an abusive situation.. I never expected to get into another one when we started to date but look where things have ended up."
"So you don't want to be with me anymore?"
" I'm not really sure I can take the pain. Physically mentally or emotionally."
"Is there another guy?"
Audrey did not feel like mentioning the fact that she had feelings for Seymour. That would only make the situation worse. She couldn't even begin to picture what kind of terrible things he could do to Seymour.
"There's no other guy."
"You lyin to me?"
"No." she said meekly. She could sense Orin was about to hit her.
"You better not be lying to me you dirty slut."
Orin advanced toward her. Chiffon got up from her seat ready to pounce like a hungry cheetah.
His open hand was extended. It made a connection with her cheek.SLAP SLAP
"Orin, STOP!" Audrey screamed
"Hell, I will unless you tell me the truth." Orin said
SLAP SLAP
"Hey, didn't you hear her? She told you to stop." Chiffon said.
"What are you going to do about it Ms Nosy?" he asked.
Chiffon could see this was turning into a disaster.
"Audrey, I need to talk to Orin alone. Why don't you go into the bathroom and throw some cold water and cream on your face?"
Audrey sent a grateful look at her friend and left the room leaving Chiffon alone with the sadistic dentist. She looked him straight in the eye.
"Can't you see how scared she is of you?" she asked
"Do you think I care?" Orin sneered.
'Obviously you don't.' she thought to herself
"Orin, I think you need to back off from Audrey for awhile."
"She better not be cheating on me with that twerp Seymour. I'll bash his face in if she is."
"Please leave Seymour out of this. He has nothing to do with the way you treat Audrey. He's just as concerned about her as me and my two other friends are."


To read the complete chapter please go here: http://fanfiction.net/~showtunediva

Latest Milford Cabinet Article

Up Close and Personal With The Technical Staff of Our Town
By Janine Leffler



Have you ever sat in the audience during a play and wondered what goes on behind the scenes in order to make the show run smoothly? Of course the actors spend endless hours learning their lines and rehearsing , but those who work behind the scenes should not go unnoticed. They also deserve credit for bringing the shows we see to life.
Milford Area Players opens their fall main stage production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town on October 15th. I spoke to many people involved in the play to get their insights, inspirations and challenges.
When it came to choosing Our Town for their fall production Set Designer Deb Shaw said “Our Town" was a very logical choice for MAP. As an organization, we blend our seasons with various genres of theatre: light comedy, drama, mystery, "dramedy", farce, and classics. In 2004 we staged Wilder's "Skin of Our Teeth", which is a bit less accessible but also a classic and an award-winning play. "Our Town" has not been staged at the community theatre "level" in many years and with our location in the southwestern area of the state, it seemed a good fit for Milford Area Players. It is the only drama and only classic of our 2010 mainstage season, and has a much larger cast than our other productions this year, providing opportunities for more actors to work with MAP. Grovers Corner is Milford, NH for the purposes of this production, and we are excited to welcome the community to 'our town'.”
Vicky Sandin was excited to take on the role of director when the original director had to bow out. She stated “What I look forward to the most with each rehearsal is directing actors who are at the top of their game. I love actors and have a tremendous respect for their craft, because I know I could never do it. I have seen the work of most of the actors in Our Town, and I have also worked with many of them on separate projects, so I'm familiar with how meticulously they study their part and process their character. I love working with them to glean the best of what they have to offer, and in the process attempt to push them outside their comfort zone a bit, to stretch their actor muscles, as it were.: She went on to say “ I am glad I accepted the job to direct. It’s going to be a great show.”
When Set Designer Deb Shaw was asked about the technical aspects of the show she said “As far as the set, the most important part is creating a physical representation of the director's vision of the show. Vicky had a very clear idea of how she wanted the show staged, and it was my responsibility to find a way to express that and stay within the limits of a community theatre budget. I'm fortunate to have a husband who has built MANY sets in the southern NH theatre community, so I was able to hand my plans over to him knowing that the set pieces would be built with the precision and care that I needed. We looked at what dimensions and materials would give the look and feel of the show to every piece constructed and that the overall effect would be cohesive”

Stage Manager Mayer Lipman said that the biggest challenge for the show technically has been
Thornton Wilder left it up to the audience (and trusted them) to "fill in the gaps" with how the town looks, what the homes look like, where the scenery is, etc. It's up to our actors to help them out. With a little furniture, some lighting changes, and a few sound effects, the technical staff staff does the rest. We've chosen to use even less sound effects than Wilder allowed, trusting our audience and our actors even more. That said, we have to be very precise with what we have. Furniture has to placed in exactly the right spot. Sounds have to occur at precisely the right time” Lipman contimued by saying “In community theater, everyone has "their real job," either working, maintaining a household, or going to school. "Our Town" has a cast of almost 25, each with a schedule of when he or she can come to the theater and prior commitments he or she cannot ignore. I had the joy of watching this large cast of individuals work around these conflicts and transform themselves into the town of Grover's Corners. During rehearsals, I often had to fill in for one or more roles when an actor was unable to be there. It's a good feeling when you know you can do that in a way that doesn't distract the actors around you. It's also good to know you can pass on good blocking notes and other notes from the director to the absent actor such that the next time the scene is rehearsed you don't have to start all over again”


Weather on stage or behind the company of Our Town looks forward to putting on the show and hopes that patrons enjoy it. Our Town runs from Oct 15-24th at the Amato Center for The Performing Arts in Milford. Evening shows are at 7:30pm and matinee performances are at 2pm. Come out and support your local thespians.

Challenge

So I am currently going through my itunes music trying to pick a song for my Music Man audition in January. Somewhere That's Green from Little Shop of Horrors was my original choice but I feel like in order to better showcase my range I might want to pick a more up tempo number. I am not totally going to rule out Somewhere That's Green though. If nothing else works out I'll stick with that. Have quite a bit time of decide. Feedback would be appreciated. Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl is out of the running just because I think there are quite a few high notes in that song I wouldn't be able to hit.

It's too bad that pop songs typically don't tend to work for musical auditions if that wasn't the case then Let It Be by the Beatles or Imagine by John Lennon would be a #1 selection.

Aside from Somewhere That's Green my original list included:
Roxie from Chicago
Maybe This Time from Cabaret ( I may use the Glee cast version instead of the original)
There Are Worse Things I Could Do from Grease
How Lovely To Be A Woman from Bye Bye Birdie
Hopelessly Devoted To You from Grease

Songs I'm considering looking into are (Range: Low Soprano/High Alto)
At The Ballet from A Chrous Line
Beauty and The Beast from Beauty and The Beast
My New Philosphy You're A Good Man Charlie Brown
Put on A Happy Face from Bye Bye Birdie
You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile from Annie


Someone on livejournal also reccommended I Enjoy Being A Girl from Flower Drum Song. I'm not familar with that musical but I've heard of the song. If all else fails I could always pick a song from the show. My options include 76 Trombones, Goodnight My Someone and Wells Fargo Wagon. Which song out of those three would best fit my range?

Thoughts and furthur suggestions welcome

"God speaks to us in mysterious ways but not through sandwiches"

Tonight's Glee episode did not sit well with me at all. So far the only episode that has impressed me was the premeire. I missed last week's episode because I am not a fan of Britney Spears. All of her current songs do not interest me. I heard the episode really sucked. Based on the two episodes of Glee I have seen so far this season I can say that I like Merecedes and Quinn better than I did last season and I start to like Kurt and Rachel less and less. The reason why tonight's episode did not sit well with me is because I feel it focussed far too much on religion and faith. I have nothing against religion but on a more personal note religion has kind of confused me for the past couple years. I'll get back to this later. At the beginning of the episode Finn sees an vision of god in a grilled cheese sandwhich. Seriously.... that's the strangest thing ever. He went on to blame certain things that happened to him in the episode (ie regaining the quarterback position on the footbal team) based on the vision of god he sees in the sandwhich. The writers clearly need to come up with better srory lines. This episode was very depressing as it mostly focusses on the fact that Kurt's dad having a heart attack and Kirt dealing with his dad's medical condition. Losts of very moving musical numbers in this episode. I Wanna Hold Your Hand really stood out and so did Bridge Over Troubled Water.

While I don't listen to a lot of gospel music I feel like the issue of religion was way too weighted for a show like Glee. I know the whole point of the show is to deal with issues that affect all people but I feel there is a time and place for everything. Maybe why this episode didn't sit well with me was because I've been confused about my own religion for awhile. I was born and raised Catholic but after the sex abuse scandel five years ago I've been considering changing religions. I beleive in god definitley I just haven't know what religion I want to switch to if I end up changing religions at all.


Hopefully next week's episode is better. I want season 2 of Glee to exceed my expectations so far only the first episode has done that.

Pick 1 thing you like best about me and one thing about me you would change.

Pick 1 thing you like best about me and one thing about me you would change.

Answer here

BroadwaySecrets of The Week

My thoughts on this weeks selected broadway secrets
1. 100 x yes! Newsies definitley should be on Broadway
2. Judging from the post I saw on Broadwayspace I kno3 put of 4 of these closing announcements are legit. Have any followers of this blog seen anything about Next To Normal closing and know when it's planning to close? I am not planning a trip to NYC anytime soon I am just curious. All other three shows listed in the secret are closing in January and I saw a secret two weeks ago that In The Heights was closing in December not sure how legit that is either. My thoughts on all theses shows closing... when it comes to WSS and ITH I wish I could have seen more than one show when I was in New York because those two shows were at the top of my list after Jersey Boys. I have heard mixed reviews about Promises Promises and quite honeslty only wanted to see it bc I am huge Kristin Chenoweth fan. From the snipit I saw on the Tony's of FELA it looked pretty good. Haven't really read very many reviews about it though so I don't know how well it's been doing.
3. Elf is one of my favorite holiday movies. I am not too sure about how well it translate to the Broadway stage though.

Decisions Decisions

So I have a few options for what I could do in the spring as far as tech work goes. I don't know if I should do more than one show or just stick with one. I also want to audition for my town community theatre's production of The Music Man. I worry about overcommitting myself and spreading myself too thin

List of possible shows I want to do tech for
Riverbend Youth Company Guys and Dolls Jr
Amherst PTA The Music Man (if I don't get cast I figured I might help out backstage in some way shape or form or help with PR)
SHS Fiddler on The Roof
AMS Dear Edwina

Guys and Dolls JR shouldn't really be an issue because that's in January but the other three are all in March and April and some rehearsal schedules may conflict.


I am actually really nervous about auditioning for Music Man. I haven't even made up my mind about auditioning yet but I think it would be fun to audtion but I haven't auditioned for a musical since my sophomore year at NEC when I auditioned for the Apple Tree. I don't even know what song i 'm going to sing yet or what the requirements are for singing a song for the auditon ( if you have to sing a song from the show or if you can pick any song you want to sing) Can anyone reccommend a good song selction for an alto?

FanFiction Update

I haven't really posted much fan fiction on here lately. My computer recently crashed and I lost a majority of the recent stuff I have been working on. Luckily I have most of it on back up disk except for the Little Shop one shot fic Abuse Reactions... that's actually the one I'd really like some comments on and help with... especially for the chapter about Orin. Will try to post something later this week.

The New York Trip Revieew Post

No awesome backstage tours to report about this time unfourtunately but nonetheless any awesome trip to New York. Whenever the next time I go back to the city will be I may see A Litttle Night Music if it's still playing. Sam Burrow is working backstage on In The Heights but that's closing December 5th (unless the Broadwaysecrets post I saw last week is inaccurate.) I haven't talked to her in awhile so I don't know what other shows she is working on.

So my travels began at 4:30 am last Friday morning.. that's what time we left Matt's house to go to the train station. The Amtrak train was a lot less hassle free then taking the Peter Pan bus and having to transfer. We arrived into the city at 11:30 am, checeked into our to hotel and went out to lunch at Fuel a resturant down the street from our hotel that has really good sandwhices wraps and shakes. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn Marriot from which we had a nice view of the Empire State Building from our 8th floor hotel room. We then went to the Mueusem of Modern Art.. I found the photography exhibit to be the most interesting and then went to the Empire State Builiding where we took a ride to 86th Floor Observatory which has beautiful views of the City Skyline. Here are some pictures

After that excursion we went out to dinner at Tony Dinapoli's in Times Square (the same resturant I had the Barn Reunion at when I was in New York for Spring Break senior year at NEC) We met up with Melissa Parelli and Leanna Pizer. I had not seen Melissa in 7 years so it was so great to see her again and catch up. Delicious Itlaian food. Matt wasn't feeling well after dinner to Melissa Leanna and I hit the streets and explored Times Square. We went to Toys R US and some other souveneir stands then we went out for dessert at Europa Cafe.

Saturday morning after a leisurly brunch we took a walk in Central Park which was lovely. I espesically liked the views of the river. We then went to the subway station to catch the train for Jersey Boys.. the train ended up being delayed 10-15 minutes and by that time it was 1:20 so we ended up hightailing to the theatre so we could get there before the 2pm matinee. Jersey Boys was one of the best musicals I have seen in a long time. It's a biographical musical about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Such a good play. If you are looking to see a play by all means go see that one. We then got on the subway to head to South Street Seaport where we met Colleen Fee for dinner. It was nice to see her again since I hadn't seen her since March when I saw her in Junie B. Jones Got an update on all the people from my intern company that I have fallen out of touch with and glad to hear everyone is doing well. Sunday wemet up with my best friend Tiffany from high school and her boyfriend Brett and went out for dinnner at Jackson Hole a diner that is located near the Natual Musueem of American History. Good food. The museem was interesting though there wasn't a particular exhibit that stood out to me as a favorite. We then took a cab to 1st Ave around 6:30pm where we ate dinner at a Middle Eastern Resturant which was quite delicious. We then went to see a comedy show at Dangerfield's Comedy Club which was awesome. I have never laughed so hard in my life.

Great weekend. I am sad that this vacation is over. I think it will be quite awhile before I go back to the city again. Who know when the next time I will go back will be?

Amen for NYC!

Top Favorite Musicals I've Seen On Broadway

Top 5 Fave Musicals I've Seen on Broadway
1. Jersey Boys- I just saw this show this afternoon and it's amazing. I have never enjoyed myself so much at a musical. If you're looking for a musical to see go see this one.
2. HAIR
3. RENT
4. The Producers
5. Beauty and The Beast

If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would they be?

If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would they be?

Answer here

If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would they be?

dog, scrapbook, ipod

Ask me anything

Broadway Secrets of The Week

Sadly I am really addicted to this Broadway Secrets forum on livejournal. I don't know what is so interesting about it really. All of it is mostly rumors and immature highschoolers bickering with each other anyways. Sometimes there are particular secrets that catch my attention. This week there are three.

#1: Wanda Sykes as Miss Hannigan. I love Wanda Sykes but I don't know how well she'd do at playing Miss Hannigan. That might be an interesting casting choice.

#2. I was happy when I saw this secret about Ramona. There have been a few secrets about other people in the cast but not very many about her. As for the secret itself I can't really comment much on it. I haven't seen A Little Night Music and I can't give a comment on Ramona's characterization though I have read somewhat mixed reviews about her performance. I have listened to the soundtrack quite a bit and she's pretty amazing. I wish I knew who posted this secret . The poster claims to be friends with Ramona . I don't know if this is true because a majority of the age demographic of people who use livejournal are high schoolers and not very many people in the 25 and over age demographic is. Maybe it's possible maybe it's not IDK. The people who post the secrets remain anonymous. No matter what people say though Ramona is amazing .:)

#3 Was not suprised when I saw this secret at all. When I first heard Vanessa Hudgens was cast as Mimi in RENT at The Hollywood Bowl I wanted to cry. Of course I never saw the show but judging from this secret she must have really butchered the role.

Summer loving had me a blast

Okay so this summer has been very much consumed by work and I haven't had much time to blog. That's why I am so behind on my commentary. I shall reflect while I watch the Red Sox and the 11:00 news

These are the shows I have seen this summer

• Trip To Bountiful Wellsely College Summer Theatre June 29th
• Dick Tracy Andy's Summer Playhouse July 8th

• The Pursuit of Happiness Milford Area Players July 25th

• Chicago Summer Theatre In Meredith Village July 31st

• Almost Maine Peacock Players August 6th

• Shout The Mod Musical Arundel Barn Playhouse Aug 14 (which I just returned from)

A mixture of the familar and something new. My theatre travels first took me to Wellsley College. My boyfriend recently moved to Welllsely and we decided to take advantage of the summer theatre offerings. Trip To Bountiful took place in Texas and was about an older woman who was struggling with moving on from her hometown and trying to escape from her son and daughter in law to return to Bountiful. It was a very powerful story with a good message behind it and one that especially resonated with me because of my struggles to move on from NLBP. July 8th I went to Andy's Summer Playhouse in Wilton with my sister to see Dick Tracy. The kid she babysits was in the show. It was my first time seeing a show at Andy's and I was very impressed with how talented all the kids were. For a review please scroll a few entries down. On July 25th I went to see The Pursuit of Happiness at Milford Area Players. This had a good mixture of drama and comedy in it. It was about a girl who is preparing to go to college but she is realizing in the process that going to college is not for her. It's a battle of wits between Annie (Kathy McKay) and Jodi (Grace Stover) I was laughing the whole time. A scene that I thought was particularly humourous was the scene that takes place between Annie and Skip in the mall food court.

July 31st my travels led me to Meredith where I saw Chicago at Summer Theatre in Meredith Villlage. This was my first time seeing a stage production of Chicago and I loved it. Maggie Politi played Roxie Hart and she did amazing. My favorite musical numbers were Razzle Dazzle. My Own Best Friend and Roxie. For a full review of the play and a letter to editor I have submitted to the Weirs Times in regards to the show please see previous entries I have posted.

Last weekend I saw Almost Maine at Peacock Players. Typically I am more of a fan of musical then I am of straight plays but this one was really good. It was directed and performed by the Peacock Players Young Company which is the youth theatre troupe at Peacock Players. It's a romantic comedy which is a seires of short vingettes of the various stages of love. Favorite scenes were They Fell, Getting It Back and Story of Hope. I was really impressed with the versatility and talent of the cast which is consisted of high schoolers from Nashua and surrounding towns.
and finally tonight Matt and I went to see Shout the Mod Musical at The Arundel Barn Playhouse. It was my first time back to Arundel after being there several summers ago when my family used to rent a vacation home in Wells... back then we saw I Love Your Perfect Now Change (which I believe was in 2003) and Nunsense (which I believe was in 2005) Shout The Mod Musical was a musical revue of songs from the 1960s. I had heard of a few songs by hearing my parents talk about them but had never seen them performed. There were times when I wanted to get up and dance along and sing along too. Overall a very enjoyable time. I will definitley go back to Arundel next summer.


Now as summer winds down the only two upcoming shows that remain are my trip to New York this weekend during which I willl be seeing Jersey Boys and September 18th where I will go up to NEC to see the Open Door Performance of As You Like It. After that however I will be on hiatus until the spring when I go to see the Mainstage Theatre production of Hotel Laputts in April. After NYC I have start saving money up for an apartment bc I hope to move out of my house in the next year or so.

So You Think You Can Dance Finale Summary

So You Think You Dance Season 7 Finale Summary

Battaling out: Kent Lauren and Robert

Who got my vote Kent

Winner: Lauren

Ratings

Kent Routine 1: 8 Routine 2: 5.5 Routine 3: 9 Routine 4: 7 Solo:8 Total : 36

Lauren: *Routine 1: 5 Routines 2 &3 9 Routine 4 6.5 Solo: 7 Total: 31.5

* did not see whole routine Score based on portion I saw at the end of the show when they showed the phone #s

Robert: Routines 1&2: 9 Routine 3:6.5 Routine 4: 7 Solo 5 Total:34.5

Summary broken down by Genre

Bollywood This was Kent's first routine of the evening. Bollywood has never been one of my top favorite genres but I must admit it has grown on me in the past couple season. The thing I like best about this particular genre is the high energy. Kent and all star Lauren had good chemistry.

Broadway Once again Robert was paired up with all star Kathryn. They danced to Cool from West Side Story. Robert and Kathryn are very evenly matched pair. The story behind the dance was that Robert was being interrogated and the sexy police officer Kathryn is sent in to question him Loved the story line. Didn't care much for the dance. While it did do Jerome Robbins good justice it was not one of my favorite Broadway routines I've seen on the show.

Cha Cha Lauren has been known for her sultry and sexy performances all season. This one was no differet then the rest. Not one of my favorite performances by her. Her contemporary piece with Robert on the other hand is definitley in my list of top performances she has done this season.

Contemporary The dances in this genre never cease to amaze me.. the two performances

tonight were no differet. In the first one Robert and Lauren were paired up. They were phenominal together in my honest opinon. I don't know if they were paired up in previous episodes but if they haven't been the producers certainly know how to save the best for last. They showed the rawest emotion I think I've ever seen. Kent was paired up with all star Allison for the second piece. The story behind it was a couple in a turbulrant relationship trying to work things through. Truly amazing. I have a feeling Kent is going to win. If he doesn't I will be incredibly surprised and amazingly disappointed. While all three contestants have grown significantly since the start of this season Kent has shown the most energy, gutso, grace and maturity.

Jazz Two high energy performances that took watchers on a flashback to the 80s. For the first piece Robert was paired up with all star Marc and they danced to Whip It by Devo. Very interesting take on the song and an overall entertaining performance. In the second routine Kent and Lauren danced to Hip To Be Square by Huey Lewis and News. I was not as impressed with this routine as I was with Whip It . While I felt this routine was a tad cheesy for my taste Lauren and Kent have really good chemistry.

The final routine was a new type of Latin Dance which was performed by Robert and Kent. I can't remember the exact name of it but I wish they'd introduced sooner than finale because I thought it was awesome... not to mention wicked intensse

Overall this season of So You Think You Can Dance has not really all been desirable for me. I found myself bored a majority of the time. Imjury plagued the dances and took my three favorites out of the compettion too early. Though Billy made it to the double elimination round. All dances seemed to be the same to me and very few stood out to me as outstanding. I was really rooting for Kent to win but I guess you really can't be choosy. Kent Lauren and Robert will all have really great careers and Billy and Alex definitley will too. Not sure about the rest of them.

Goals Update

So this entry is mostly for myself. I like to keep up to date on New Years Resolutions and goals and how I do with acheiving them. All non-theatre related new years resolutions are pretty typical excercise more and the like here are the theatre related goals

1. Add new showtunes to my library in order to add varietry to what I listen too.
A Little Night Music Soundtrack and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head.
2. Get a job at a summer stock theatre this summer. This did not end up working out unfourtately. I have to get on my feet financially before I can get involved in working for a theatre again. Right now I am going to focus on the job training program that starts at St Joe's Hospital in a few weeks
3. Go to NYC in March to see A Little Night Music. Decided A Little Night Music did not really interest me very much. 15 ddays til NY and seeing Jersey Boys
4. Write more fan fiction. REfer to a few entries down for a recent fanfiction I wrote which was inspired by the performance of Chicago I saw last weekend.
5. Get more technical expereince besides props. My next technical endevaor is doing publicity and sound design for the Riverbend School of Theatre Arts 's fall performance of The Man Who Came To Dinner. Please stay tuned to my professional website blog for more updates on this show www.theatretechdiva.weebly.com

6. See shows at other theatre venues in NH.
1. Majestic Theatre
2. Stockbridge Theatre At Pinkerton Academy
3. Andy's Summer Playhouse
7. See more shows at more summer theatres in NH. Budget had a huge impact on the shows I went to see this summer and after New York I will be cutting back on going to see so many shows because it is strating to really affect my wallet. I wrote an article on summer stock theatre in NH which resulted in me getting complimentary tickets to a few shows.. that was helpful in a huge way. Other than that though I need to start financing my money better so I can save for an apartment next year so going out to plays and dinner so often will have to be scaled back.

In regards to Chicago

Letter to the editor recently submitted to the Weirs Times about the recent performance of Chicago. I am not sure when this is going to be published or if it already was.

To The Editor:

I recently saw Chicago at Summer Theatre In Meredith Village and I found this show to be one of the most amazing shows I have seen at STMV to date. The amount of talent amongst members of the cast was versatile and very impressive. People that particularly stood out were Maggie Politi, Jared Trolio and Kelsey Cooke. At this point I would like to congratulate Maggie, Jared, Kelsey and the rest of the cast and crew on an outstanding performance.

Since the theatre opened two years ago I have seen several shows at STMV some of which include Carousel, Grease and Oklahoma. I have found every production I have seen to be wonderful. I worked with Nancy Barry three years ago at the New London Barn Playhouse and she does an amazing job with running the theatre and putting on wonderful productions for audiences to enjoy.


I encourage people to support the Summer Theatre in their two shows that remain Camelot and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as well as the last performance for the youth theatre Winnie The Pooh. You won’t want to miss them.


Sincerely,


Janine Leffler
Amherst, NH

My most recent fanfiction

I was inspired to write this fan fiction after seeing Chicago at Summer Theatre in Meredith Village on Saturday. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

The Audition
A Cabaret and Chicago Crossover

Disclaimer: I do not own rights to Roxie Hart or Sally Bowles. Kander and Ebb do
Notes: This takes place in Boston after the events of both musicals.


It was a bright morning in mid fall and the sun was just rising over Boston Common. Roxie Hart groaned and stretched as she looked at her alarm clock that blared the time in her face 6:45. She wanted to sleep in but she had to catch a train downtown to a 10:45 audition. She only had an hour to shower and get ready and go over what she thought she’d say at her audition one last time. Since moving out of Cooke County and quitting vaudeville she would have to get used to new theatrical experiences and she figured she’d start with television.

She grabbed a small latte and a bagel from Starbucks and jumped on the train. It was crowded with commuters and sleepy eyed college students who had 8:30 am classes. She was surprised she even found a seat. She didn’t expect someone else who was auditioning would be on the train but as luck would have it and girl with thick black hair got on the train at the next stop.

“Is this seat taken?” whispered someone with a light German accent.
Roxie looked up from the magazine she was reading. “No, go ahead and take it before someone else does.”
“Are you on your way to the audition?” the stranger asked.
“As a matter of fact I am. I’m pretty new to metro Boston, just moved here from Chicago.”
“I’m new to Boston too… actually more so new to America.. I just moved here a month ago from Berlin. I live on Boylston Street with my boyfriend Cliff.”
“What made you move all the way from Berlin?”
“The night club I sang at was doing poorly and I was pretty much out of a job. What did you do before moving here?”
“Well, I was in jail.”
Sally raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You were? What for?”
“ I was accused of killing someone but I was innocent. They let me go. I’m here in Boston to turn over a new leaf.”
“Are you nervous about the audition?”
“Sort of, are you?”
“Oh yes, this first time auditioning for anything I’m only used to singing in the night club.”
Roxie was glad she wasn’t the only person who was nervous about the audition.

When they arrived at the TV studio the line was almost pouring out the door. “There must be about 200 people here.” Sally said, she looked nervous as she summed the amount of American competition she had.
Roxie was equally as intimidated by the long line of people. “Yeah I guess lots of people must have seen the audition notice in The Herald. They said it was open call.”

As soon as check in ended the auditioners were split up into two different rooms. There was a total of 250 people so Sally was not too far off with her estimation.. Sally and Roxie were into two different audition groups. Everything seemed to go slowly at first and then Roxie finally went. She was #17 in her group. She tried to be as suave as possible because this was certainly different from vaudeville. They had her to a blind reading with a script and a partner scene. It wasn’t as bad as she had thought it would be.

When she was done, Roxie went back into the hallway to look for Sally she was still waiting in line outside her room. “Really slow process, isn’t it? Roxie asked her.
“Yeah, I’m #45 and they’re only on 7. How did you do?”

“Pretty good I think. I just hope they call me back. I’ll hang out and wait for you if you want.”
“That would be great.”
Roxie looked at her watch it was 11:45. She figured Sally would be out of the audition room by 2:30.”

The casting studio was on the third floor. Roxie went down to the first floor and went into the bookstore that was in the lobby. She needed to get information about this place she would be calling home from now on. She want to the travel section immediately and got immersed in travel guide after travel guide about Boston and even decided to buy a few of them. Maybe she and Sally would do some sightseeing if there was enough time left in the day after the audition or maybe later that week. She looked at her watch. It was 2:35. Sally had to be done with her audition by now. She dashed up to the third floor. Sally was standing outside the audition room looking distraught.

“What’s the matter?”

”I don’t think I did very well. The director didn’t seem to understand half of what I was saying because of my accent and I was pretty nervous too.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you did fine. They’re going to do callbacks tomorrow. Let’s go get something to eat.”
“Okay.”

Roxie smiled. She was happy she had met a new friend. She just hoped that they would both get a part in the commercial.

Razzle Dazzle rocks my soul

"Tell Bob Fosse that Chicago in the late 1920s is not Berlin." Hal Prince in a letter to Kander and Ebb about the similarities between Chicago and Cabaret

I have some issues with this quote mostly because I can't really see how Chicago and Cabaret are that similar. I guess one similarity is that both shows are about a certain aspect of show business but other than that that I can't see how the story lines for both shows connect to eachother.


Last night I went with Matt and Sonya to see Chicago at Summer Theatre in Meredith Village. It was my first time seeing Chicago performed... before hand I had only seen the movie with Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere and Renne Zwellenger and it has always been one of my favorite movie musicals.

Chicago was directed and choregraphed by Brian Feehan who has also directed High School Musical, Grease, Carosuel, Buddy Holly Story and Sound of Music at STMV. For those who have never seen the show or the moive the story is set in Chicago in the 1920s and most focusses on show girls Velma Kelly (Kelsey Cooke) and Roxie Hart (Maggie Politi) Roxie has recently been thrown in jail accused of a crime she didn't commit and hires lawyer Billy Flynn (Jared Trolio) to cover her case and bring her to justice. To me Chicago is well known for it's sound track i'm not sure what else it would be well known for besides that. Favorite musical numbers included All I Care About, Mr. Cellophane, Cell Block Tango and Razzle Dazzle. This show is an emotional roller coaster as Roxie deals with her trial and Velma deals with her jealousy of Roxie taking her place in the spotlight. Things end up happy for them in the end.

Congrats to the cast and crew of Chicago on a great show.