The Normal Heart

There is a lot I can say about The Normal Heart, but nothing accurately sum up the emotions of this show except for watching it.

The Normal Heart is about one man's fight to have AIDS recognized as an epidemic in New York in the early 1980's.

The play alone is devastating, a true story, humorous and touching.

The design of the production currently going on at the Golden Theater is simple but stunning. A shockingly white set with quotes from news articles. The media was one of the rare times that I felt it truly aided the story-- showing photos from the time and news articles, and names of people who had died of this mysterious disease at that point.

Each performer was powerful and passionate. Joe Mantello as the lead Ned Weeks is absolutely incredible to watch. I can say amazing things about each member of this company because it is clear that they have given this play their all, and it is not an easy play to give your all to.

I highly highly recommend this show. While parts of it are dated, the message still rings true about what this show is about and what is important to fight for. Go see this show before it closes, you will not regret it.

The People in the Picture

Tickets:

$40 from TDF. 2nd row mezzanine, a bit too far to the side

Why I Saw It:

I like Donna Murphy. my mother recommended it. also, I'm Jewish, which seemed to be a requirement to be in the audience of this show

Theater info:

Studio 54, 54th Street between Broadway & 8th

1 Sentence Plot:

A grandmother tells stories from growing up during World War II in Poland to her granddaughter 

Expanded Plot:

these stories that she tells are really complicated, such as how she was married to one guy but pregnant with the child of another. Mainly this show is about the grandmother reliving her stories during the holocaust and what it meant to be Jewish during that time, to her granddaughter, since the daughter was not interested in understanding her history.

Overall Performances:

Donna Murphy absolutely steals the show and is brilliant in her ability to switch between fragile grandma and her youthful 1940's version of herself. Performances from everyone are fully committed to this devastating story

Music:

while the music overall isn't very memorable, it captures the Jewish flavor and what I imagine the people alive at that time would want a musical about them to sound like

Choreography:

the musical contains little choreography, but the moments that are have Blankenbuehler's trademark, as thought he has swapped out the latin flavor of "Pacienca y Fe" from In the Heights with that of Jewish flavor for this show. It was satisfying, although owed credit to Jerome Robbins' iconic Fiddler moments.

Design:

as a whole the design was simple but clear. I loved the reoccurring theme of frames and boxes that hold memories. The projections at first were confusing to me and excessive, but soon fit better with the story and the plot about how the grandmother created movies in poland. 

Who I recommend this for:

my grandmother. Jewish people. 

Final Sentence:

Its very Jewish, and I kept telling myself before it that I was seeing a holocaust musical, but it wasn't Cabaret at Studio 54. The show dragged on at times, but overall was satisfying and an interesting idea for a story. 

Review: Baby It's You!

Baby It's You! 

Wednesday June 8, 8PM show

Tickets:

$65 at the TKTS booth in Time Square. Seats were great, third row, 2 from the aisle.

Why I Saw It:

My mother had seen it earlier this week and recommended it for the sake of seeing it. Having just arrived home from Florida (literally, brought my luggage into my apartment and headed to time square for Mormon lotto) I wanted something "light" and not too brainy. I also love Beth Leavel just because, and loveeeee Christina Sajous because not only was she in American Idiot and fierce as the original Extraordinary Girl, but she also went to PLAYWRIGHTS. not just tisch, playwrights.

Theater info:

The Broadhurst, 44th Street between 8th and Broadway

1 Sentence Plot:

All the music you know, and the story you didn't know behind the making of the Shirelles.

Expanded Plot:

Bored Jewish housewife Florence Greenberg takes interest in a black female singing group at her daughters high school and is determined to make these girls famous. This show tells the story of the band, the Shirelles, rise to fame and how Florence's previous life deteriorates because of it. Of course with points made about race. It also gives an interesting overview of the music industry in the late 50's and early 60's right before the new wave of rock and roll via the hippie generation occurred.

Overall Performances:

Beth Leavel is amazing it whatever she does. She has such a level of commitment to a role and a show that she could otherwise lack interest in. Since the show mainly centers around her, she truly carries the show, and knows how to carry a show. The 4 females who create the Shirelles have fantastic voices, and don't really get to showcase their acting skills because of the nature of the show. Christina Sajous is fierce. She just is. 

Music:

Like many musicals of today, this show is a jukebox musical containing no original music. Taking the style of Jersey Boys more so than Mamma Mia, the songs used relate to the music they were creating at the time, and are often them performing the shirelle songs in concert. I always say I don't like Jukebox musicals, but then I realize that I do like a few jukebox musicals in actuality. As far as the genre goes, this doesn't bother me on principle as much, since the songs utilized are not just for the sake of plot and story telling, but are literally the songs that were being sung at that moment. This does touch however on my overall issue with the show of why does this exist? why was this necessary for the broadway stage?

Choreography:

The beginning choreography was a mess for bigger numbers. In the smaller numbers that were just the girls, it stuck to the general pattern, a la The Four Seasons, of the simple gestures while singing. While its nothing new and not inventive, it also suits the show and is not overly choreographed.

Design overall (yup, decided to conglomerate them. sue me):

The design relied heavily on media. oh media. yes, I am a media designer (or someone who has designed projections for a handful of student shows...) but I truly think it is a lazy way of getting a message across. The media did however make the show have a scrapbook feeling of nostalgia and looking back as a story telling device. the set was minimal, and the blanks were filled in via projection-- projected fridge and new york city landscapes.

 I love that the band was on stage, it gave the show less of a plastic fake feeling with the real music being played in my plain sight. 

Who I recommend this for:

my mother. people who grew up with the music. I was by far the youngest in the audience (which side note, hasn't happened in a while. but back when I was little my parents took my brother and I to shows with relatively mature content, which caused audience members to question my parents parenting skills. I turned out fine. I swear). The entire audience was fighting the urge to sing along and squealing with each new song that they recognized and was a trip down memory lane. For me, a 21 year old who knew a decent amount of the songs from oldies radio stations and choir, did not feel as sentimental about the show  

Final Thoughts: I'm not quite sure why this musical was created and brought to the stage. While the story is interesting and worth telling, I am not sure Broadway was the way to tell it. This story serves this new broadway obsession with creating musicals for people my mothers age that takes out the issue of knowing the songs or liking the music. During intermission the person behind me said "the music is good" and i wanted to look at her and say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Baby It's You is not a terrible show, as the show progressed I found myself invested in the story and really caring about the characters and the outcome. Even so, I couldn't quite shut up the voice inside my head saying "this is on broadway, but brilliant creative shows close in less than a year?"

My big question, whats opening on broadway for me. my age bracket. a show that doesn't rely heavily on nostalgia.

I'm not the only 21 year old out there seeing musicals, am I?

The Tonys: Predictions, Bitchings, Etc.

IT'S TONY SEASON! Actually, the Tony Awards are Sunday. I know, I know, Tony Awards are bullshit and a money scam for producers and celebrities and blah blah blah. Sure, thats true, but it is also the one award show a year that I get to care about. For one night, the rest of america cares about broadway and to me, a girl who has alway felt like a broadway loving freak, thats a huge deal

Now comes the time to make predictions, and bitch about who wasn't nominated that should have been

Since many of the shows did not open until late in the season this year, I have not seen many of them and will be making some predictions based on critics and generally word of mouth.

These are the shows I HAVE seen that opened this season on Broadway:

Scotsboro Boys, Women in the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Arcadia, Catch Me if You Can, Jerusalem, Wonderland (poor wonderland.....),How to Succeed, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Baby It's You and Spiderman (oh wait, thats still not open).

Getting tickets to Book of Mormon currently costs about 1 months rent for an NYC apartment, and their lotto is the craziest lotto I have ever witnessed (and god knows I've witnessed enough lotto) so I'm a bit clueless about their categories and refuse to listen to the cast recording before seeing it for fear of ruining the jokes.

Also, I've decided to omit plays, even though I saw plays this year (all two of 'em!) Mainly because I don't care enough about plays, but also because I still don't "get" plays and feel unable to judge them and say which of them are best.

So here's what I'm gonna do, go through each category, note my pick of what I would want to win in dream land, note what I think is going to win in the real world, and comment if there are shows that deserved to be nominated and weren't. yeah?

Best Musical

**My pick & think will win** The Book of Mormon

Catch Me If You Can

The Scottsboro Boys

Sister Act

Best Book of a Musical

(secretly my pick, because i love bloody bloody)

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Alex Timbers

**my pick and think will win** The Book of Mormon

Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

The Scottsboro Boys

David Thompson

Sister Act

Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner and Douglas Carter Beane

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

**my pick and I think will win** The Book of Mormon

Music & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

The Scottsboro Boys

Music & Lyrics: John Kander & Fred Ebb

Sister Act

Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Glenn Slater

(by the way, I kinda love the music for this show. for realz. Listen to it, its better than the show was) 

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

**SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. [Populism, yea yea? COME ONNNN, best new stuff I've heard recently]

Best Revival of a Musical

*will win* Anything Goes 

*my pick* How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me If You Can
*i think will win* Josh Gad, The Book of Mormon
*my pick* Joshua Henry, The Scottsboro Boys
Andrew Rannells, The Book of Mormon
Tony Sheldon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert

**Should have been nominated: BENJAMIN WALKER. Bloody Bloody Andrew fucking Jackson.

Aaron Tveit, Catch Me If You Can

Daniel Radcliffe, How to Succeed 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

*my pick, will win* Sutton Foster, Anything Goes
Beth Leavel, Baby It's You!
Patina Miller, Sister Act
Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture

*Should have been nominated: Janet Dacal, Wonderland. Out of pure pity

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Colman Domingo, The Scottsboro Boys
Adam Godley, Anything Goes
* My pick* John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Forrest McClendon, The Scottsboro Boys
*Will Win* Rory O'Malley, The Book of Mormon

*Should have been nominated: Will Swenson, Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

*My pick, should win* Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Tammy Blanchard, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Victoria Clark, Sister Act
Nikki M. James, The Book of Mormon
Patti LuPone, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

*should have been nominated: Kerry Butler, Catch Me If You Can

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Beowulf Boritt, The Scottsboro Boys
Derek McLane, Anything Goes
*might win?* Scott Pask, The Book of Mormon
*my pick* Donyale Werle, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

*Should have been Nominated: Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Best Costume Design of a Musical

*my pick and will win* Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Martin Pakledinaz, Anything Goes
Ann Roth, The Book of Mormon
Catherine Zuber, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

*my pick, will win?* Ken Billington, The Scottsboro Boys
Howell Binkley, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Peter Kaczorowski, Anything Goes
Brian MacDevitt, The Book of Mormon

**Should have been nominated: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Best Sound Design of a Musical

*my pick* Peter Hylenski, The Scottsboro Boys
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Catch Me If You Can
Brian Ronan, Anything Goes
* will win* Brian Ronan, The Book of Mormon

Best Direction of a Musical

Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes
*my pick, will win* Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys

Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
* will win* Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes
Casey Nicholaw, The Book of Mormon
* my pick* Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys

Best Orchestrations

* my pick* Doug Besterman, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Larry Hochman, The Scottsboro Boys

*will win* Larry Hochman & Stephen Oremus, The Book of Mormon
Marc Shaiman & Larry Blank, Catch Me If You Can

My overall opinion is that Book of Mormon is going to take a whole lotta awards home. Overall I think this year has been a bit disappointing until Mormon became the late spring power house. I wish Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson had received more recognition for its originality, because it was honestly the best new piece I saw all year, and the piece that challenged theater and the rules the most.

I have discussed with my brother on many occasions why a certain show wins best musical. Years when my faith in the tony awards have been proven such as when Avenue Q beat Wicked I remember waiting up in my room crying with joy that the underdog won. Seeing In the Heights go from this amazing off-broadway show I raved about to wining quite a few tony awards still gives me the chills. I believe to some extent the voters DO think about originality, and what hasn't been done, however last year seeing both Fela and American Idiot slaughtered by a cookie cutter musical that is a rehashing of ever 60's musical, Memphis, is disturbing. How two shows, Fela and Idiot that challenge and broke so many rules and provoked emotions in me as an audience member in a way I have never felt, did not receive more praise and recognition by the Tonys disgusts me.

Do Tony Awards really matter? no. In the Heights still closed, even though it had a decent run. God knows Mamma Mia is still kickin' it at the Winter Garden, and Wicked's ticket sales don't seem to have been altered by their lack of best musical tony. Eh. We'll see what happens sunday. I'm still excited, its freaken Neil Patrick Harris afterall. And if Mormon is what its cracked up to be via every person I've talked to that has actually seen it, it deserves to sweep.

"I'm Just a Broadway Baby"

This is my "relaunch" of my previous theater blog, http://thislifelikedream.blogspot.com/
On that page you will find my "reviews" of the shows I've seen this past year (which are a lot).

I decided to "relaunch" for a few reasons, number one so my gmail account could be attached to this, and so I could start writing more organized/coherent reviews... not to mention getting away from my American Idiot obsession. Now seems to be the time to start with a clean slate with the Tonys happening on Sunday, Idiot being closed and my schedule of seeing shows will be a little less crazy compared to when I'm cramming them in during the school year.

So, a little about me. I'm Kayla. I grew up an hour away from New York City in Northern Westchester going to see Broadway shows quite often with my family since I was 5. My passion for theater lies mainly in musicals, and of the over 100 Broadway shows I've seen since I was 5, most of them have been musicals. Now that I'm supposed to be mature, and go to theater school I try to see plays, and I sometimes even enjoy them and don't fall asleep.

This fall I will be a senior at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts majoring in drama. Specifically, I will be studying Musical Theater at Playwright's Horizons Theater School. My three years of college have had many focuses: the first two years of school a sprinkling of acting, directing and designing, a brief moment my third year when I created a major in musical theater, music therapy and circus, and finally creating a dance piece at the end of junior year. I am beyond excited to finally be studying musical theater in a structured program.

Besides musical theater, I am obsessed with the circus, particularly flying trapeze, and am a frequent flyer at Trapeze School New York in Chelsea.

I will update this blog about the shows I see, mainly Broadway, sometimes off-broadway, and I rarely feel comfortable reviewing downtown theater I see. I also do not believe it is my place to critique the work of my peers at school on the internet.
In addition I will discuss broadway cast recordings that have been released, my favorites that have been out forever, broadway news/ gossip, and other random things relating to New York City and the broadway world.

Alrighty, thats all. Let the musical theater queening out begin.