Grizabella in the Revival of CATS

Okay so maybe this post is a bit misleading-I don't know of any plans for a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS-but if there are future plans for a revival then here is your Grizabella. I have always been a fan of Stephanie J Block and I am going to make a very bold statement about her. I have never heard any singer, Broadway singer or not, that belts with more power and clarity than Stephanie. This video is a performance from the MUNY in St Louis in the 2010 season. Just wait until the "touch me" verse...you will be blown away.

Barbie's Showtune(s) of the Day #7: A South Pacific Medley

In honor of my girl Kelli O'Hara's return to South Pacific, I've chosen a medley of songs from the gorgeous revival as performed at the 2008 TONY awards. Enjoy her glorious voice and the rest of the amazing cast of South Pacific.

Week Two Poll Results: CATS

Cats won the 2nd weekly poll by the slimmest of margins with 28% of the vote. Miss Saigon followed with 23% and Carousel received 19%. Godspell and Guys and Dolls each took 9%, Hello Dolly and Gypsy each took 4%, and Sweeney Todd finished last with zero votes.

Here are some of my casting ideas for this nonexistent upcoming revival of Cats...some are funny ideas but some are actually serious.

Old Deuteronomy-Harvey Fierstein (I just want to hear that voice singing those crazy lyrics)
Grizabella-Stephanie J Block (she recently played the role at the MUNY in St. Louis and was breathtaking)
The Rum Tum Tugger-Jonathan Groff (because he is a rock star and we love him from Glee)
Macavity-Aaron Tveit (we loved him in Next to Normal and he is just so cute)
Skimbleshanks-Wesley Taylor (we loved him in Rock of Ages and he is just precious)
Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer-My partner cartwheeling friend and myself

Annie Revival 2012

If we must have yet another revival of this show on Broadway, can we at least have a fierce cast? And by "fierce cast" I mean I want to choose the cast. Here goes...



Annie...Erin Whyland
She made her Broadway debut last year as Debbie in Billy Elliot: The Musical and she is hilarious. I think she can really shine in a starring role. She can even bring along all of her ballet class friends from Billy Elliot to play the rest of the orphans.

Miss Hannigan...Allison Janney
She is a complete scene stealer and the gruff, untrained quality in her voice will suit this orphanage matron very well, not to mention that fact that the woman's height is enough to intimidate any small child. She plays comedy in such a way that she walks the line between grounded humor and over-the-top but never crosses it.

Daddy Warbucks...Michael Cerveris
He has a tough outer shell that commands attention, but is really a big ball of love on the inside. Plus, his head is already shaved.

Grace Farrell...Kelli O'Hara
Nobody can play sweet and loving onstage like Ms. O'Hara and with a soprano like that, how could Annie and Warbucks help but fall in love with her?

Rooster...Raul Esparza
True, he usually plays a leading man, but I think this featured role could show off a different side of Esparza as he channels his inner con artist.

Lily St. Regis...Sutton Foster
I can just hear her singing Easy Street right now and it is over the top and campy, but it is Sutton Foster so some how it is fabulous at the same time.,

The Queens of Broadway Are Back!

No, I am not talking about La Cage Aux Folles, I am speaking of Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch opening the second company of the current revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. These two dames of the theatre are finally returning to the Great White Way after several years on hiatus to do concert work. I did not see the first cast with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury and I am so glad I waited (even though I love you Angie)! Tomorrow, July 13th, marks the Broadway debut of the Peters/Stritch tandem and I can only imagine it will be phenomenal. Bernadette will bring nuance, subtlety, and that glorious voice to the role of Desiree and Stritch will certainly perform a brassy, brazen rendition of the wheelchair-bound Madame Armfeldt. Based on video interviews, it appears that Stritch is most intrigued by the mother-daughter dynamic between the characters while Peters seems enamored with Sondheim's score and the way in which it gradually reveals its magic to the actors throughout the rehearsal process. Elaine Stritch's rendition of Liaisons will certainly be a highlight in the show and I am certain that Bernadette Peters' Send In the Clowns will be simply heartbreaking. This casting is the stuff of dreams, just ask any longtime theatre fan. It was wonderful that Catharine Zeta-Jones' starpower allowed this revival to make it to Broadway, and now that the production has had success, we can see it in the way it was truly meant to be performed, with two of the finest Sondheim interpreters of our time.

Yip Up the Sun: A Tribute to the Broadway Revival of HAiR

For five weeks straight in the summer of 2009 I played the ticket lottery for the Broadway revival of Hair almost everyday. It seemed that I would never win the ticket lottery, oddly enough I rarely lose Broadway ticket lotteries, so I heard about the standing room tickets and decided to go that route. Now I would never recommend standing for a Broadway show because I feel that it takes you out of the performance but for this show, it does the exact opposite. Because the cast members, or the tribe, frequently enter the audience and perform in the aisles, I felt like I was truly part of the performance. As I stood behind the last row of the orchestra, Alison Case (Crissy) gave me a flower and an invitation to a "be-in," Will Swenson (Berger) dove over me to get to the last row of the orchestra, and Darius Nichols (Hud) picked me up and carried me around when he made his Act II entrance.

I really didn't know what to expect when I saw the show for the first time, even though I had heard nothing but positive reactions and I really enjoyed the TONY awards performance. Because Hair is more of a concept musical than a traditional plot-driven show, I must admit that I had a bit of trouble following the story the first time I saw the show and it did not strike me the way I expected it would as I could not find a way to relate to the 1960s characters. Nevertheless I had a great time and loved the energy of the performance, especially when I got to go onstage during the finale dance party.

In the days following the performance, I could not get Hair out of me head and could not stop listening to the soundtrack. Then it hit me that Hair was not just about the 1960s, but rather it was about the power that young people can have when they are united as one. I have never really considered myself an activist but the message of this show, "Letting the Sun Shine In" seemed to relate so closely to many of the issues facing our nation today and I felt so compelled to do something with the passion I felt for this show.

The second time I saw the show on Broadway I was completely invested in everything the cast was doing and the composers were trying to say and I really "got it". When Gavin Creel, Hair's original Claude, began to promote the national march for equality in Washington DC within the Broadway community, I knew I had to be there. Going to the march on the national mall on October 11th, 2009 with all of my theatre friends was one of the most elating experiences of my entire life and it was on that day that I learned what it really meant to "Let the Sun Shine In".

During this time I was also working on my own creative project as a tribute to the youth movement portrayed so artfully in Hair. I was inspired to choreograph Levitating The Pentagon for my Fall Dance Works 2009 piece based on my research of the youth culture of the 1960s. While my piece was not meant to be a direct representation of what I saw and felt from Hair, I wanted to capture the show's community and self-empowerment themes in a different medium: postmodern dance.

I saw the Broadway production of Hair for a third time recently with a new cast that was so much different than the original tribe while still maintaining the youthful energy and feeling of community. I was so happy to be back in the Al Hirschfeld theatre where I had been so inspired six months earlier, not only to create my own art, but to join a social movement. Seeing Hair with two friends who were new to the show was a particularly special experience as I again realized how magical this piece of art really is.

The Broadway production received its closing notice a few weeks ago and played its final performance last night on Sunday June 27th, 2010. While I, along with thousands of others, was so sad to see it go, I know that as this production embarks on its national tour it will continue to inspire new generations of starshines to become the change they want to see in their own world, whether that is in regard to politics, the environment, equality, or any other issue that they feel passion for. It begins in Washington, DC on October 26th, 2011 and I will be there to see the love continue.

When the original production of Hair premiered on Broadway in April of 1968, it was revolutionary and when this revival opened in March of 2009, it compelled an entirely new generation of hippies to stand up for their beliefs the same way that their grandparents did in the 1960s. So I would like to thank James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot for having the courage to write a musical that challenged the status quo and Joe Papp and the Public Theatre for believing that theatre could inspire social change. You have taught us all that our differences make us beautiful and that we all possess, within ourselves, the power to change the world around us.