Crazytown

IF THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE...

Apparently I've missed having TV in my life, especially HBO and Showtime.
By Jen Littlefield (Librettist/Choreographer) 

A few weeks ago, I moved to the Upper East Side to live with my best friend, whom I've known since junior high school, and whom I lived with in Brooklyn for six years. One amazing and time-consuming part of our relationship was watching fantastic TV series together. He has a huge collection of DVDs, and we would systematically watch shows that had long been cancelled, in addition to the new ones we DVRed and became obsessed with together. Some of my favorites included Gilmore Girls, Felicity (Team Ben or Team Noel, screw Edward and Jacob), Six Feet Under, Arrested Development, and Weeds. I mean come on, awkward Alexis Bledel, confused and searching Kerri Russel, the tragic Fishers and the ridiculous Bluthes, and Nancy f*cking Botwin. 

What a better way to bond? These were our stories and we watched them together religiously.

Cut to last week in our new apartment for two, and an added subscription to Showtime complete with OnDemand. Let's talk about this for a second - are you guys as obsessed with the shows on this network as we are? I've been out of the TV loop for a while, but I circled right back in as my roomie caught up on the last seasons of SO MANY AMAZING SHOWS. Seriously - Nurse Jackie, Californication, Shameless, Homeland, and I haven't even started the Borgias, which I hear is pretty great too. 

And then I got to thinking, if you could only have one premium channel EVER, which one would you choose? We chose Showtime because we both have friends' subscriptions to HBO Go. BUT WHAT IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE ONE? Which one is better? Showtime? HBO? (Sorry Skinemax, you don't factor into this discussion) And how do you compare current shows against past shows? Do you pick greatness now, or go for the promise of potential based on past brilliance? Let's break it down:
(for length, I'm only dealing in scripted shows on a weekly basis, no movies or mini-series)

REQUIEM FOR “SMASH”

Or: More TV Shows About Live Theatre, Please.
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist)

Well folks, it has happened. The long expected announcement has come: Smash is no more.

I have long been vocal in my support of the show. But I guess it simply couldn’t recover from its troubled first season. And whatever you may have thought about the show, it was employing a lot of artists in my industry who would not otherwise be employed, and for that I’m truly sad.

 

It got so much better this second season. I enjoyed the Hit List tunes as standalone pop songs. And The “Opening Night” episode for Bombshell was truly a thrill. Had the whole series been like that episode, I think they would have had something more lasting. The fact that the episode focused on real workplace drama -- for example, the real issues that arise between two musical theatre writing collaborators while working on a piece of theatre -- rather than love triangles or adoptions and the like was amazing. I really feel there’s an episodic television show in the business that we call show that Smash attempted to deliver on in its better moments.

If Happy Endings isn't picked up by USA I'm gonna hurt someone. I can't have another one of my stories cancelled this season.

So farewell to my beloved Smash. It was a brave experiment. I hope that our little industry of sweet lady theatre garners the eye of television again, and sometime soon.

GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer. His musical Save The Date: A New Musical Wedding Comedy will premiere in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. www.gregjr.com
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PLEASE WATCH HAPPY ENDINGS

The best show on television needs fans to save it. 

By Jaye Hunt (Happy Endings Promotional Team)

Happy Endings, one of my top 5 favorite TV shows of all time, has been cancelled. We all knew it was coming, but it's still some of the saddest news I've recieved in 2013. But there is still hope! USA has said that they may pick it up for another season, so I'm trying to convert as many people as possible to the cult that is this brilliant show so it will have a huge fanbase to keep it alive when it comes back. 

But Jaye, why should I watch Happy Endings?

Thanks for asking! 

COMMERCIAL BROADWAY

How do you sell live entertainment to a digital obsessed world?
By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer) 

My roommate and I were watching TV the other night when the following commercial popped up:

 

We both had rather baffled looks on our face when it ended.  I saw this show in London last spring and absolutely loved it.  While I recognized certain scenes from the show, and I could hear “Revolting Children” playing in the background, it definitely did not convey the joy and heartbreak that makes Matilda so special (and a shoo-in for a bajillion Tony Awards).  And as my roommate said: “It looks like Spring Awakening and Wonderland had a baby.”

Totally Fucked

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.

MINDY KALING IS BAD BITCH

Why Mindy Kaling is a wonderful role model and everyone should want to be like her when they grow up.
By Annissa Omran (Writer/College Student)

This is the second installment in the "Bad Bitch" series I started in March with an ode to the wonderful Angela Lansbury. This series puts the spotlight on women with great talent you might have forgotten about or overlooked. 

(This woman is my spirit animal ^[source])

If you, like me, are a fan of the show The Mindy Project, you might be wondering how Mindy Kaling meets the "forgotten or overlooked" criteria. On the show she's plays a sassy partner in a gynecological practice dealing with the highs and lows of love and life in New York city. And while her character might be navigating daily ups and downs, you as the viewer will always be left sideways. On the couch. Laughing hysterically while concerned friends and family members in other rooms yell at you to remember to breathe.

Ok, that might just be my personal experience.

But even so, The Mindy Project is some seriously underrated TV. I place series creator Mindy Kaling in the "forgotten or overlooked" category simply because I don't hear people talking about her and I think they SHOULD.

 I know that some people aren't sure how they feel about her humor. I was originally one of those people. But then I actually paid attention to her work and now I'm definitely a Kaling-convert. 

THE GAYS HAVE GONE VIRAL: Part 2

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.

 

BROADWAY ALL STARS

By Rob Shapiro (musical theatre writer)

 With awards season in full swing, I’ve been thinking how Broadway is represented on the national level. Musicals have been getting more attention in the past few years in television (Glee and Smash) and film (Les Miserables, and the upcoming Into the Woods and The Last Five Years) and Hollywood continues to make adaptations of plays (Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Rabbit Hole and God of Carnage). However, Broadway stage productions only have the Tony Awards - one 3-hour block of time on the major networks in which to cram in a season's worth of entertainment, highlights and honors. 

I love the Tony Awards.  But the Tony Awards only captures a small segment of the Broadway season (not to mention off-Broadway). There are many events throughout the year that celebrates Broadway - Broadway on Broadway, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Easter Bonnet Competition and other Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids events.  Here's a great example of what Broadway can do: 

How awesome was that?!  Why can't we have more of that?

ANIMATION CEL BLOCK TANGO

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.

 

(Hint: the answer is "yes.")

KEEP CALM AND BE SUPER EVIL

In which I admit that I like bad guys. And girls.
By Alisha Giampola (Actor) 

When I was about ten I spent every Tuesday and Thursday from June to August in a summer children's theatre group doing kid-friendly acting games, wearing really basic costumes that fit over my regular clothes, and taking regular breaks for snacks. The course culminated in a short play that we presented for our parents, the kids who took the Monday/Wednesday class, and probably a lot of press and important critcs and maybe some talent agents. All I knew was that I was super excited for that show- it was an updated, "hip" kids' version of Cinderella, and I already had my costume all planned out. When it came time to cast, the really sweet middle school drama teacher who had been directing us all summer asked me if I wanted to play Cinderella. I wasn't even a little bit flattered. "No thank you," I replied. "I would really prefer to be the evil stepmother." 

I wish I had a picture of that production to show you, but suffice to say that I played the Stepmother as a cross between Norma Desmond and Paris Hilton. Finally a childhood spent studying the subtle body language of Ursula and the minute eyebrow gestures of Jafar had paid off. Villains were interesting. Their motives are simple expressions of unadaulterated selfishness and I loved watching their intricate plans crumble. 

Recently Daniel and I have been marathoning old James Bond movies. We began at the beginning; Dr. No is the first Bond film, and one of only two (Goldfinger being the other) that is named for its villain. Immediately audiences were introduced to the idea that the bad guys in these movies were going to be the reason for watching. 007 might look fantastic drinking a cold martini, but no one but a Bond villain can pull off a full beige futuristic pants suit or steel teeth. Bond villains are the ultimate villain's villain. I started keeping track of their motivations for my own entertainment. Most of the first films are haunted by the incredibly complicated evil group of superevil, SPECTRE (the SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Besides having patented the most awesome company name ever, these guys specialize in creating crazy expensive elaborate plots to do relatively simple, or even vaguely unnecessary things. 

REAL SONGS FROM FAKE MUSICALS

The shows might not be real, but that doesn't mean that they can't create real great songs.
By Kimberly Lew (Playwright/Blogger)

They say if you introduce a loaded gun in the first act it should be fired in a subsequent act. Well, I say if one of your characters announces they are going to be in/writing/directing/seeing a friend in a new musical, there better be a big original musical number. The zanier, more outlandish, and dramatic, the better. Here are some of my favorite musical numbers from not-real musicals in TV, movies, etc.:

 
"Dr. Zaius" from Planet of the Apes: The Musical in The Simpsons

The Simpsons has a ton of great musical parodies, including Streetcar: The Musical! and a Betty Ford Musical. But, in the words of Bart Simpson, Planet of the Apes: The Musical has it all-- from singing monkeys to a big reveal in the grand finale.

 
"Don't Forget Me" from Bombshell in Smash

Bombshell finally opened, y'all! And while I have to admit that I haven't been exactly keeping up with the show, save for Rachel Shukert's brilliant recaps, I did see this last episode, and I found myself strangely misty-eyed at seeing the show finally on its feet. There are a lot of great moments and songs from drafts upon drafts of Bombshell, and perhaps in the not-so-distant future, this Marilyn Monroe musical will be a real Broadway production. But for now, I'm giving Ivy Lynn some credit for hitting it out of the park this week. Get it, girl.