It got me thinking about television commercials for Broadway. As anyone who has ever tried to record a live performance knows, it’s very difficult to capture that “once in a lifetime” experience on screen. The beauty of live theatre is that you, the audience member, are the camera. You can point your lens at wherever you want and look at whomever or whatever you want.
Therefore, I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite television commercials for Broadway.
Mother's Day happened, Arrested Development Season 4 is about to happen (!!!!!), and I'd just really like a cold beverage. By Alisha Giampola (Actor)
It's finally almost Memorial Day, and while I'm just as guilty as the next New Yorker of spending most of the summer defaulting to Blockheads, this city is full of absolutely fabulous places to get your drink on al fresco. Not the least of which, of course, is Central Park. Read this and learn how to not get caught while guzzling champagne out of a Whole Foods bag.
Or you could just go ahead and skip any unnecessary steps and have a sensible flight of beer IN a Whole Foods, like fellow Crazytowner and classy lady Erin Sjostrom and I are about to do in this picture.
Out of this fantastic selection, which place am I most excited about? Gallow Green, obvi. My obsession with Sleep No More knows literally no bounds. They also recommend a few places I personally have been and loved, including Berry Park, which makes some of the best Dark and Stormys on the planet. This list is also pretty thorough and because they also repeat-recommend both Gallow Green and Berry Park, I feel like we can trust it.
Outdoor drinking is one of the good things New Yorkers have to compensate them for having to live in the sixth circle of hell that is New York City during the summer. And by that, I mean that temperatures on the subway platform actually rival the sixth circle of hell.
Drinking inside in the summer is great too. That most sacred of New Yorker experiences, Brunch, is a great thing to enjoy in an air conditioned space, since you probably are going to have upwards of 5 beverages in front of you (coffee, juice, mimosa, water, bloody mary, tea, etc) and also possibly an omelette.
I used to really like this song. And then I waited tables for a while.
It's been many months since I last reported on all the fantastical web series about gay life gracing the interweb, and I've had a blast watching them all.... here are my new faves.
by David Davila (playwright/songwriter)
Last year I complained about the lack of a television show like Queer As Folk filled with tons of hot gay love scenes and melodrama. This year I feel about the same. SMASH, HAPPY ENDINGS, and THE NEW NORMAL were all canceled and we're left back where we started thirteen years ago before QAF graced our televisions with beautiful bums. Luckily there are a ton of great new shows popping up every day on the internet to keep us satisfied.
If you're as upset as me about the cancelation of SMASH, then look no further than Wesley Taylor's new web series, IT COULD BE WORSE, featuring the entire cast of SMASH (give or take a Jennifer Hudson). This show about the misadventures of a hot young gay (Taylor) who has the worst/most-awesome life ever, is pretty addictive. I watched most of it in one sitting... but now I have to wait for the final few episodes to air to get my "happy ending...?"
My absolute favorite new webseries is THE OUTS. You've probably already heard about it, because it's amazingly wonderful and should be picked up by network TV. It's such a delight and every cast member is a natural star. This show is legit, and I obsessively watched every episode last night when I should have been editing this article.
FABULOUS HIGH is a new web series created by Derek Villanueva (LONG HORNS) about the life of high school kids and teachers... It's your regular 90210 stuff... but with all the gay stuff you wished would happen when Dylan and Brandon were fighting over Kelly. In my version Dylan and Brandon blew off Kelly and made out instead.
Why a peak behind the curtain makes a better audience. By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer)
I had the pleasure to see the final dress rehearsal of On Your Toes at Encores! this week. It’s the final show of their season, and it was a great way to end a wonderful year.
While I have an undying love for Rodgers and Hart, I was not very familiar with On Your Toes. I knew nothing about the plot, and the only songs I knew from it were “Quiet Night” (which I knew from performing the TENOR part in concert in college) and “Glad To Be Unhappy” (which I knew from The Mamas & The Papas).
What’s really phenomenal about On Your Toes is the sheer amount of dancing in it. It opens with a vaudeville tap routine and there are TWO full on ballets in it. In fact, I’m pretty sure this was the first point where Richard Rodgers began composing ballet pieces for his musicals (see Oklahoma and Carousel in case you have no idea what I mean). And I’m talking PROPER ballet, people. George Balanchine choreographed “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” and they were actually able to get the original choreography for this production!
This isn't Balanchine's choreography. It's Gene Kelly's choreography. And it's Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly dancing in Words & Music. So... you're welcome.
The best part about seeing the final dress rehearsal is that it’s just that... a rehearsal. And between creation, rehearsing, and final presentation, rehearsal is definitely the most fun part. Most of the time when you are invited to a final dress rehearsal, it is a performance. It’s a chance for the creative team to perform the show for an audience, take notes, and tweak anything that needs to be tweaked before the paying customers begin attending. Before the show begins, the director, producer, or someone of similar prestige comes out to welcome everyone and remind them that this is, in fact, a rehearsal. And because it is a rehearsal, there is a possibility that they may have to stop. But usually that’s just a formality and show goes on. Possibly there are a few hiccups, but nothing that will stop the show.
That didn’t happen here. I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but they had to stop the show just as the dance break for the titular song was getting into full swing. It is a dance off between the hoofers at the University and the corps de ballet at the Russian Ballet. And when they paused and swept up the stage and we heard “We’ll take it from the dance break”, the dancers reset, the music began, and the audience erupted into applause. Once they finished the number, the applause went on so long that the next scene had to hold a full minute to let the applause die down.
Nina Conti's revisionist documentary about a puppet pilgrimage is strange, deceptively simple, and ultimately devastating as it reveals the madness behind art, life, and love. By Kimberly Lew (Playwright/Blogger)
As I've probably mentioned before, one of my favorite discussions of art and creation on Crazytown was B.T. Ryback's rumination on writing based on "what the author knows" and whether or not autobiography is where an artist should draw inspiration. While I certainly believe that as creators that we need to continue to push ourselves and reach outside of our experiences for new, compelling stories, I also have to admit that I personally have a fondness and fascination with artists who are not only willing to dig deep into their well of personal experiences for inspiration, but are also willing to attach their name to the final product. Going beyond simple storytelling, a lot of amazing artists have elevated their experiences to art, bringing into question what it means too retell history and how people can transform their experiences for the sake of an audience.
A particularly potent example of art-as-autobiography that I had the pleasure of experiencing recently was ventriloquist Nina Conti's docu-mockumentary, Her Master's Voice. An accomplished performer usually accompanied by Monkey, her crude counterpart, Nina Conti herself is an affable woman who will be the first to admit that ventriloquism is not everyone's idea of a good time. However, through her accomplished mentor and once-lover, Ken Campbell, Nina found ways of elevating puppetry and ventriloquism to an art form, one she executes quite entertainingly, as you can see from the following clip:
Spring has been a slutty tease this year... taking off her shirt, then putting on her coat. This girl is playing hard to get and I've had it!!!!!
I've had it!!!!
In other words, I think it's time we said F-U to Spring, and skipped on over to Summer. I mean honestly, Summer just can't come quick enough. I'm dreaming of those long days at the beach laying in the sand and sipping IPAs from the cooler your gurlfriend's new girlfriend brought.
(Lesbians are just so good at planning.)
So I thought I'd share with y'all some of the most amazing things I literally CAN'T WAIT for...
5. SUMMER TRAVELS & PRIDE - With the advent of GRINDR you can go just about anywhere and meet a fun new group of friends who are willing to show you around the town. It doesn't matter who you are or where you go. You MUST leave the city (your city, whichever one that may be) for at least a few days during the summer. Head up to Maine, or over to Washington DC. Heck, just get on Expedia and look for the cheapest ticket you can find(they have some for $49 dollars)and GO! It literally doesn't matter where you go, just go! Every place is some place new, with new faces and torso shots, and just about every place in June or July is celebrating Pride!
It was my birthday yesterday. It was a big one. And here's why I did nothing. By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer)
I have to tip my hat to fellow Crazytown citizen, Melissa. She had a great post on birthdays that just so happened to publish on my birthday. She had a lot of great tips, and I especially love the idea of doing whatever you want. But here's the thing: I hate birthdays.
Well, not all birthdays - just mine. Maybe it started in high school when all my friends hung out on my birthday without me. Or when I got into a fight with my best friend on my 25th birthday that ended our friendship. Whatever it is, bad things seem to happen on the day of my birth. And I usually end the night feeling like Martha Plimpton's character, Monica, at the beginning of 200 Cigarettes.
I will try to not work on my birthday, but then I just feel this overwhelming pressure to be happy. As if because it is this one day, suddenly glee should be omnipresent. Because it is a day that's "all about me" I should be doing things I like. But I'm far too much of a people pleaser to actually relax into the joy. And I seem to spend the whole day trying to make the happy happen. In the end, I'm exhausted and I just want to be done with it.
The lastest episode of our podcast where we discuss a new piece of theatre over a slice of cheesecake. By Kimberly Lew (Playwright/Blogger) with Erin Salvi
Yes, we have a new podcast for you guys to check out. But first things first: are you aware that Barbra Streisand has a mall in the basement of her dream mansion?? Like a whole street of Victorian shops of antiques, sweets, costumes, and ribbons on display-- all owned by the Funny Girl herself, but displayed as though it were a fancy promenade. If your mind is as blown as mine was when I found out this information, you'll need photographic evidence, and have no fear for there is a lot of it.
And as much as I wish I was bringing up Babs's mini mall just for funsies, it is also the genesis of the play we covered for our latest podcast. Buyer & Cellar, currently playing at The Rattlestick, imagines how things would shake out if our favorite Yentl hired someone to man her private playground through a one-man show starring the talented and wonderfully coiffed Michael Urie. We holed up at Bosie Tea Parlor to discuss this intriguing and hilarious play (and eat free pastries)! Click on the player above to find out more about Buyer & Cellar, our takes on Barbra, and whether or not the mall has a frozen yogurt station. We know inquiring minds want to know! (Warning: this podcast will contain spoilers)
*Also, since this recording, the run of this show has been extended until May 12-- get on it!
KIMBERLY LEWis a playwright with two published one-act plays for high schools, as well as full-length Searching for Candi (co-written with Gabriella Miyares), which debuted at Mt. Holyoke college. Her latest play, Other People's Children, was recently featured as a part of The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective's new works reading series and was a semi-finalist for the 2012 O'Neill Playwrights Conference. She also created/manages the Emerging Musical Theatre blog. www.kimberlylew.com EMAIL HER | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR
ERIN SALVIis a Brooklyn-based writer who enjoys theater, drinking
copious amounts of coffee, rocking out to David Bowie, and thinking
about the space-time continuum. Her writing has been featured in The
Expeditioner and My Dog Ate My Blog. EMAIL HER | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR
Your favorite toe-tappers from an unlikely source... By Ali Gordon
Today's post is dedicated to unexpected and, ahem, unsung musical heroes... great music found in animated TV shows! And no, Disney movies and any sort of full-length film don't count. I'm talking 20 minute, animated, made-for-tv episodes with music that nails it.
Strangely enough, "adult" cartoons like Family Guy have embraced the big-orchestra, full-chorus, pull-out-all-the-stops musical number as a means of humor and entertainment (think not just the Fat Man Anthem but also Shipoopi) but it's just not cutting it with "kids" cartoons anymore. Even the Arthur theme song is somehow superior to say, anything ever on Dora the Explorer.
Why is that? Everyone loves music, and it's been proven that children learn better when lists and facts are set to music. Yet, somehow, the 90s were a time for killer music in animated shows. And many of them are underrated, still.
This may not count, because the song isn't found "in" the TV show, but Disney's PepperAnn had one of the best theme songs ever.
I'm sorry, but if this song didn't introduce all you soon-to-be musical theatre nerds to the notion of "screlting" I don't know what you were doing in your childhood. (P.S. It's freaking me out that this video was found on "retrojunk.com" because if this is 'retro' I'm offically old and going to jump off a bridge.)
And does this song stand the test of time? Let this cover answer that question for you.
Finding the funny when it's needed the most. By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer)
It's been a weird week, folks. In between the super busy post-opening, pre-Tony buzz at work and celebrating a bigbirthday next week, I'm pooped.
Plus, as one of the many people "of Boston", I am still figuring out how to comprehend the events that occurred on Marathon Monday. Going to Emerson College and walking down Boylston Street every day for four years, it was pretty surreal to see these streets I knew so well look utterly decimated. Not only was it terrible to see the explosions on the news over and over again, but to see the streets of Back Bay desolate in the aftermath was quite eerie.
Greg wrote about this quite eloquently last week, both in song and prose. We could all use another listen.
Which brings me to the below video. I don't know what else to say or do, but this video made me cry and laugh. It reminded me how finding the positive, while corny and cliched, is of the utmost importance.
Like many other victims of the bombings, there is a website set up for Celeste and Sydney to help with their medical funds. I can't wait to see Celeste run in the marathon next year.
What else is there to do except pick up, live life, laugh often, and sing a song for Boston?
For Boston, for Boston, we sing our proud refrain...
RACHEL JAMESis a native New Yorker and theatre baby. Her plays have been produced by The 52nd Street Project and Starfish Theatreworks. She currently makes a living as a Broadway treasurer. EMAIL HER | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR
