I heard the people sing

I feel as though I failed all five (I flatter myself) of you who might actually be reading this. I know you have all been sitting, waiting anxiously to hear what I thought about the movie adaptation of Les Miserables. Well, wait no longer because I am here to let you know what I thought!

Contrary to what most theatre-fan type people are saying, I actually liked it. I mean, it definitely had it's faults, but . For one, Russell Crowe wasn't a the best choice for Javert. When the announcement was made that he would be playing this iconic part, I had my doubts. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but my doubts unfortunately were confirmed. His singing was...okay, and okay just isn't good enough when everyone else is great, and in some cases incredible. I felt as though his mediocre singing made him a less than effective villain.
Hugh Jackman was a wonderful Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway's Fantine was emotional and raw, Amanda Seyfried pulled her own as Cosette, and Eddie Redmayne didn't make me hate Marius, like, hardly at all. Samantha Barks was just as wonderful as Eponine on the big screen as she was in the 25th anniversary concert. However, I am still having a hard time with the placement of everyone's favorite song of unrequited love: On My Own. I just feel that without the scenes that surround the song in it's original context, Eponine's character was not portrayed in quite the same way. The film makes her seem less lovelorn, and more masochistic. Instead of dying because of her loyalty and devotion to Marius, she dies from a self-inflicted wound stemming from an ill-fated attempt to get Marius's attention. Tragic.
And then there's Aaron. Enjolras. My favorite. He was wonderful, of course. Perfect, really. He led those hipster school boys to, well, to their deaths...but his heart was in the right place, and when he dangled out that window, he dangled for freedom!
Les Mis is just such a touching story, told through beautiful music (which, if you haven't heard, was sung live on camera. By the actors. Which is apparently a big deal even though theatre actors do this for eight shows a week.)
By the end of the movie I was in tears, and judging by the amount of sniffling in the theatre, I wasn't the only one. But, in order to add a little light heartedness to what can be a pretty weighty and heavy story, I give you a bit of humor:

I've got a story I'd like to tell...

...so I never win things. Drawings, contests, raffles, etc

...but Aaron Tveit was just so convincing, I decided to give it a shot. After all...you're never going to win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. So...this video is my lottery ticket!!

So I am going to be shamelessly self-promoting for a moment and ask all 5 of my readers to 'like' this video!!

And you never really realize how much of a tongue-twister the phrase 'blue carpet excitement' is until you have to say it over and over and over again!

$47.14

...that's how much I just spent putting gas in my car.

The fact that this is not that much less than one of my student loan payments makes me slightly ill.

I can think of so many things I'd rather spend $47.14 on. Shoes come to mind. Or practical things, like groceries. But mostly all I can think of is the fact that I'm trying to save to go to New York, and I could almost buy a ticket to see Catch Me If You Can with that money.

I absolutely hate putting gas in my car, it's expensive and I know I'm just going to have to do it again. I realize I get to drive my car for a few weeks, and that's what I'm paying for...but I don't feel any gratification or reward for spending that money like I would if I spent it on shoes, groceries, theatre tickets or anything else that is more worthy of my money than gasoline.

I'm Alive!

Just got back from seeing next to normal in L.A. and I would love to be able to put into words the experience of this show, but I'd probably fail at it because I can't find apt words for how I felt while seeing this show. I'll just have to go with a few scattered musings instead.
First of all, I'm glad I brought tissues because I am not ashamed to say that I cried. A lot.
I knew going in from hearing the music that this show was going to be a roller coaster of emotions. Dealing with mental illness is never pretty. I thought since I knew the score of this show so well, I had a decent idea of what to expect. The songs tell the story, but seeing it adds a whole new dimension. The songs hold so much more meaning now that I can put stage direction and human emotion to them.
Alice Ripley NAILED it...I mean, the lady won a freaking Tony for playing Diana...but she isn't using her Tony to 'phone in' her part. She sounded a little hoarse, but for her character it worked. And she worked. Hard.
Asa Somers was terrific (and kinda dreamy) as Dan, and Emma Hunton KILLED as Natalie!!
Curt Hansen (and/or Perry Sherman) wasn't Aaron Tveit...but wasn't bad. I'm actually not sure who I saw tonight. There was no insert or announcement but based on the photo in the playbill and the view from J 33 it looked like Sherman who is actually the understudy (but it honestly could've just as easily been Hansen). Whoever he was he had the swoopy movement of Gabe down pretty well, but sorta kinda lacked Aaron's mad sexy pole dancing skillz!

I almost wasn't going to see n2n, because my original plan involved my friend who escaped to Tennessee before the show even landed in L.A. But then Monday I decided that even if I had to go alone I wasn't going to miss this opportunity since the show leaves after a Jan 2 performance. Since I got tickets so late, the seats left weren't the best...in fact, because of the multilevel-ness of the set, whenever an actor went upstage I couldn't see their head...but I still got to see it, and I'm so glad I did!! But after seeing such an emotionally charged show, I am spent.
What a way to prep for a new year!

Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen...

Day 12-An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times I'll spare the blah blah blah...any and every episode of Pushing Daisies...easily; also the episode of Ugly Betty that Aaron Tveit is in...because he's so gosh darn dreamy!!
Day 13-Favorite childhood show. Full House was the show to watch until I was 8, and it went off the air.
But man, that show taught me so much. I will never forget how to spell success because of Danny Tanner's mnemonic device (double the 'see', double the 'ess' and you will always have success!) I think somewhere, my parents still have the VHS we taped the series finale on. Y'know, when Michelle falls off her horse and gets amnesia? That was intense!
Since we did 12&13 today...I'd like to take a moment to talk a little bit about twelve and thirteen year olds. I am sick of the question 'who else will be there?' Although, I don't necessarily blame the kids here, since just as many parents ask me that question as my students. It's just really frustrating. There is an event coming up that I have to register for by this Friday and I'm still getting 'SoandSo will only go if whatsherface will be there.' I don't care who will be there, I just need to know how many will be there by this Friday...

How I will spend my Spring Break

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying:
Previews: February 26; Opens: March 27
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Directed and Choreographed by Rob Asford (Tony nominated for Promises, Promises)
Starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, Equus) as J. Pierpont Finch
Anything Goes:
Previews: March 10; Opens: April 7
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
Cole Porter. The End.
Starring Sutton Foster (Les Mis, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Drowsy Chaperon, Young Frankenstein, Shrek, all together awesome)as Reno Sweeny
Catch Me If You Can:
Previews: March 7; Opens: April 10
Nederlander Theatre
Music and Lyrics by Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman (The team that made Hairspray happen)
Starring: Norbert Leo Butz (Wicked) as Carl Hanratty and the man-god Aaron Tveit (Hairspray, Wicked, Next to Normal) as Frank Abagnale Jr.

I'm not going alone, so who's with me?

Career change...

...don't get me wrong, I really like my job, but I think I need a job that comes with a fat paycheck and a TON of time off.
A job that would allow me to spend my days at Disneyland and my nights at Broadway shows.
Or maybe, I can work during week days, go to Broadway shows in the evenings and Disneyland on the weekends.
Okay, I don't need to go to Disneyland EVERY weekend, or even a Broadway show EVERY night, but it'd be nice to have the option. Besides the fact that I lack both the money and the time to make that lifestyle possible, the geography of the United States and my inability to apperate negates the time/money argument entirely.

There are a ton of things that don't thrill me about living in Southern California, and of course proximity to Disneyland isn't one of them. In fact, I visited the Happiest Place on Earth just this weekend, and as an annual passholder, I appreciate that it only takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get there. One of my biggest beefs with my SoCal location though, is lack of proximity to the Great White Way and the theatrical options New York provides. Not just Broadway, but off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway. Theatres upon theatres upon theatres filled with acting and singing and dancing. L.A. does the movie thing, I get that. There are a couple theatres in Hollywood that get Broadway tours (like the Ahmanson where I'm going to see Next to Normal in December-ish). But only mega-shows get the tours, and the tours don't necessarily get the new shows, or the revivals, or the names, (although Alice Ripley will be Diana in N2N, and I saw Eden Espinossa and Megan Hilty in Wicked in LA and Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp in Rent in SF) Also never appearing LA? The shows you only want to see because the actor made famous for playing the wizard formally known as 'the boy who lived' will be starring in a musical.
So, I'm trying to figure out a plan of attack for the revival of Anything Goes with Sutton Foster as Reno, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe as J. Pierpont Finch (if I do see this expect a full report on Harry Potter vs Ferris Bueller), and the show that has me constantly watching clips on YouTube: Catch Me If You Can with Norbert Leo Butz as Carl Hanratty and...wait for it...wait for it...
AARON TVEIT as Leonardo DiCaprio Frank Abagnale Jr.
Now for a bombardment of video clips so you can be excited as I am about this:

And if Aaron's voice isn't the most perfect most beautiful most sexiest thing you've ever heard in your life...you're lacking a pulse.

Fall-ing in love

and not just with imaginary boyfriend Aaron Tveit, as last night's insomnia induced swoon-fest might imply.
No, I am falling in love with Fall. Or Autumn, whichever. (Although, Autumn-ing in love isn't a pun.)
It is only the first day of September, and it's technically summer for the next 20 days. But this weather implies other wise. See, I have a special talent. It's not necessarily unique. It wouldn't place in a talent show. When I say it it's going to make me sound like some kind of 'let me cleanse your aura-esque' freak. But I can feel the seasons. I can smell them too. It's like weather ESP, I guess. And it feels like fall outside. It has for the past week here in Simi. I don't know how I came into this gift, but I think it's kinda hereditary, cause my mom says she feels seasons too. This isn't a physical feeling of 85 degree weather on my skin. I can feel a difference between a 75 degree day in Spring, and a 75 degree day in Autumn. I can't describe the feeling, but it's there. I am so glad.
Autumn is BY FAR my favorite season of the four. I feel it is also the most elusive, though. I grew up in a part of California where there were two seasons: Hot and Foggy. Maybe a day or two in between of nice weather, but despite the temperature outside the feeling of the season was still there. The feeling of summer winding down, and the excitement of winter. I don't know. It's tingly. In a good way.

I am such a freak. I know.

"Along the Way"

Yes, it is a quarter to 1. In the A M. No, I don't have tomorrow off from work. What I DO have however, (besides insomnia) is a new imaginary boyfriend.
Dear reader(s), I would like to introduce you to Aaron Tveit!!

Seriously...I can't stop watching this.
He is way too adorable. And I realize I am gushing like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert.
It started about a year ago as a 'voice-crush'. I get these quite often, because I listen to a lot of Broadway Cast albums. I was voice-crushing hardcore listening to the Next to Normal soundtrack without ever having seen his face. That's the beauty of the voice-crush. Faces are unnecessary.
But wait...there's more!
I was watching an episode of Ugly Betty and there was this totally adorable (in a nerdy, hipster way) playwright character. I was in face-crush mode with out knowing the name of said hipster playwright. Roll credits. Seriously. That voice belongs to that face.
Voice-crush + face-crush = yes, I am that shallow.
Then I came across this video today. I am past face-crush mode. I am past voice-crush mode. Enter imaginary boyfriend mode.
And as it turns out, Aaron has a pretty impressive theatrical resume. In addition to originating the role of Gabe in Next to Normal, he as also been a dreamy Link Larkin, a super yummy Fiyero, previewed the role of Frank Abagnale Jr.* (charmingly, of course), and recently rocked out as Roger in the Hollywood Bowl adaptation of Rent. (Alliteration alert on that last one.)
That being said, can you really blame me? How many straight 27-year-olds are there on Broadway? Especially with voices and faces like that?
(I know my sister will totally criticize me for this. She's always on my case about my delusional celebrity boy-crushes. But real boys kinda suck)

*Catch Me If You Can, The Musical workshopped/previewed in Seattle summer 2009. It is currently being nipped, tucked and tweaked for a planned Broadway opening for Spring 2011. Aaron has already signed on to reprise his role. I am already looking at plane tickets to get me there.