Friday, June 29, 2007
Cool site with archived video performances
got an email from esteemed Foothill Music Theatre artistic director and all-around theatre guru Jay Manley. asked me if I knew a site called BlueGobo. I was chagrined to admit that I, the online diva, had no idea of BlueGobo's existence!
BlueGobo is: "an archive of musical theatre performances on video. Browse the archive categorized by show title and discover clips from the 1950s to today."
I'm sure you can imagine that you could spend hours browsing its archives.
In this case he sent me a video of Lisa Kirk singing "The Gentleman is a Dope" from Allegro on the Ed Sullivan Show. That's the role I played and the song I sung when Jay directed me in Allegro, now over ten years ago...yikes!
Check it out:
BlueGobo is: "an archive of musical theatre performances on video. Browse the archive categorized by show title and discover clips from the 1950s to today."
I'm sure you can imagine that you could spend hours browsing its archives.
In this case he sent me a video of Lisa Kirk singing "The Gentleman is a Dope" from Allegro on the Ed Sullivan Show. That's the role I played and the song I sung when Jay directed me in Allegro, now over ten years ago...yikes!
Check it out:
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Have you seen the cast for Young Frankenstein?!
Wow.
OK, maybe no one can substitue for Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr and Peter Boyle, but check out the casting for the impending Broadway musical version of the mel Brooks movie Young Frankenstein.
Roger Bart, Meghan Mullally, Sutton Foster and Andrea Martin are nothing to sneeze at, eh?.
And I believe there's a local-guy-made-good in the ensemble, Craig Waletzko.
Will lightning strike twice for Mel Brooks on Broadway? Seems likely.
OK, maybe no one can substitue for Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr and Peter Boyle, but check out the casting for the impending Broadway musical version of the mel Brooks movie Young Frankenstein.
Roger Bart, Meghan Mullally, Sutton Foster and Andrea Martin are nothing to sneeze at, eh?.
And I believe there's a local-guy-made-good in the ensemble, Craig Waletzko.
Will lightning strike twice for Mel Brooks on Broadway? Seems likely.
Labels: Broadway
Monday, June 11, 2007
Did you watch the Tony's?
As you can imagine, I was somewhat pleased by Spring Awakening's dominance at the Tony Awards last night! But poor Jonathan Groff...was he the only nominated SA person who didn't win?
The Spring Awakening cast was live blogging the entire Tony's experience, albeit with whatever awkward non-bloggy platform their site uses. Complete with blurry cell phone pictures. Gotta love modern technology :)
Other random thoughts:
-Did anyone else find the naked-fig-leaf-statue-guy dancing with the little boy in the Mary Poppins number kind of creepy?
-And did anyone else wonder why chimney sweeps would have sparkly clothing?
-They stuck those poor presenters with college lectures about theatre arts, didn't they? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
-Fantasia? She is just amazing, isn't she? She really was the only part of last night that hit me emotionally. She has so much passion when she sings, and so much connection. I have no idea if she can act during the book scenes, but I know she must act the hell out of every moment she's singing.
-Has David Hyde Pierce always been out? I mean actually out, not everyone just assuming he's out. He gave a charming speech, I must say. But Curtains looked a bit dreary to me.
-Why did Karen Ziemba never become a big, huge Broadway star? I have always loved her, but I don't think she's gotten the roles she deserves.
-Billy Crudup....rowwwrrrr
-There was something kind of mean about John Mahoney and Jane Krakowski mocking those ATWW folks, wasn't there? I didn't really find it too funny, considering the real folks were behind the chandelier listening to everyone laughing at a parody of them.
-Is this Audra McDonald's first Tony loss? I think she may have been four for four before last night. She's a fantastic star...
-Having a host would be way better than having those weird pre-commercial "teasers."
All in all I thought the show was one of the worst-produced Tony Awards I had seen in a while. The presenter "banter" was so very tedious and patronizing.
What did y'all think?
The Spring Awakening cast was live blogging the entire Tony's experience, albeit with whatever awkward non-bloggy platform their site uses. Complete with blurry cell phone pictures. Gotta love modern technology :)
Other random thoughts:
-Did anyone else find the naked-fig-leaf-statue-guy dancing with the little boy in the Mary Poppins number kind of creepy?
-And did anyone else wonder why chimney sweeps would have sparkly clothing?
-They stuck those poor presenters with college lectures about theatre arts, didn't they? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
-Fantasia? She is just amazing, isn't she? She really was the only part of last night that hit me emotionally. She has so much passion when she sings, and so much connection. I have no idea if she can act during the book scenes, but I know she must act the hell out of every moment she's singing.
-Has David Hyde Pierce always been out? I mean actually out, not everyone just assuming he's out. He gave a charming speech, I must say. But Curtains looked a bit dreary to me.
-Why did Karen Ziemba never become a big, huge Broadway star? I have always loved her, but I don't think she's gotten the roles she deserves.
-Billy Crudup....rowwwrrrr
-There was something kind of mean about John Mahoney and Jane Krakowski mocking those ATWW folks, wasn't there? I didn't really find it too funny, considering the real folks were behind the chandelier listening to everyone laughing at a parody of them.
-Is this Audra McDonald's first Tony loss? I think she may have been four for four before last night. She's a fantastic star...
-Having a host would be way better than having those weird pre-commercial "teasers."
All in all I thought the show was one of the worst-produced Tony Awards I had seen in a while. The presenter "banter" was so very tedious and patronizing.
What did y'all think?
Labels: Tony Awards
Thursday, June 07, 2007
The NY Times makes Tony predictions
You know the Tony Awards are on this Sunday evening right?
Well, they are, and the NY Times is making their predictions.
Among them: that Spring Awakening is practically a lock for Best Musical and a slew of other awards. Of course, that makes me nervous. It's a little more fun to have low expectations (like I did for Avenue Q's chances) that get exceeded, than to have high expectations that get dashed.
Christine Ebersole is also supposedly a lock for her performance in Grey Gardens. If she wins I swear it is for a 30-second silent moment she has 5 minutes before the end of the show. The rest of it is pretty typical Broadway pizzaz.
And that is all the commentary I can really offer. I'm really looking forward to the show, so I can see scenes from more shows and musicals.
Well, they are, and the NY Times is making their predictions.
Among them: that Spring Awakening is practically a lock for Best Musical and a slew of other awards. Of course, that makes me nervous. It's a little more fun to have low expectations (like I did for Avenue Q's chances) that get exceeded, than to have high expectations that get dashed.
Christine Ebersole is also supposedly a lock for her performance in Grey Gardens. If she wins I swear it is for a 30-second silent moment she has 5 minutes before the end of the show. The rest of it is pretty typical Broadway pizzaz.
And that is all the commentary I can really offer. I'm really looking forward to the show, so I can see scenes from more shows and musicals.
