Purrfect Play

"Cat I'm a Kitty Cat and I dance, dance, dance, and I dance, dance, dance, " and sing!

Beauty and the Beast is More Beautiful on Broadway

The first show I ever saw on Broadway was when I was in Kindergarten in New York City with my Dad and Grama. I was so amazed. It all seemed so magical to me. The lights, the music, the sets, and the costumes. I was in awe over everything that was going on on stage, and Belle was so pretty. I wanted to be her. She was so lucky, dancing up there on stage, singing along, and falling in love. I had seen the Disney movie when I was little, so the play just seemed bigger and better to me. Yes somethings were different, but looking back at it now, they had to change to be able to entice the theatergoers.

In adapting the film to the stage, Linda Woolverton (also one of the film's
writers) instituted a number of key changes: Just about every character was
given more depth (the Beast is more threatening and sympathetic; Belle, the
beauty of the title who strays into his clutches, is more determined and
headstrong), and, perhaps most importantly, the story's panoply of talking
knick-knacks were no longer servants who had been enchanted into teapots,
armoires, clocks, and so on as the result of an enchantress's spell - now, they
were gradually becoming these things.

Although I have dissed other Disney movies that have become plays. This one is different. I am a little biased because this was the first play I had ever seen, and then obviously the first Disney movie to play that I had seen. I felt that back when this play came out in 1991 the producers were a little more careful not to have the movie and the play exactly the same. I also felt that they took more time to look into developing characters, which is something that is very important for plays.

You're Roar For More

Broadway is about to "Crank Dat Lion King".

Bush On Broadway

Making fun of people can be fun, especially when almost the entire nation makes fun of the same person. I am referring to George W. Bush. After 8 years of being president, it seems like he has gotten the most shit from the country. He has books written about him, websites, and a movie, and none of them have particularly anything nice to say about him.
And now the stupidness (haha) of W. Bush have reached Broadway. George W. Bush was not good enough to play himself for the production, so instead Will Ferrell will take the lead. "You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush" is a "show picks up after the 43rd President has lifted off from the White House lawn. Director Adam McKay ("Step Brothers") and Ferrell fashion that into a brilliant entrance for Dubya, who recalls his life at Yale, Crawford, Tex., and in the Oval Office." I would love to see this play and laugh along as Ferrell and the rest of the cast totally humiliate Bush.
"The stage is mostly bare, with just a few props and video screens where images of places, faces and ruder body parts help set the scene. If some sequences run out of steam, another laugh is looming just around the bend." Yes at some point in the play you will get the opportunity to see Bush's penis (of course it's not truly his) which has caused some not so happy theatergoers to leave before the play is over.
I have loved Will Ferrell in pretty much every film he has been in, from "Elf" to "Old School".
"Ferrell has Dubya down pat - the stance, butt head chuckle, constant squint and tumbleweed twang, which sparks one of the shows best jokes."
I really want to see this play. Anything making fun of "Dubya" has to be great.

Good Witch, Bad Witch Beginning

"Wicked", the side of the "Wizard of Oz" that was not told.

Offensive Is Funny

With lyrics like, "all these guys unzip their flys for porn, porn, porn" and "the Jews have all the money and the whites have all the power. And I'm always in taxi-cab with driver who no shower!", you would think that theatergoers would find "Avenue Q" extremely offensive and disgusting, but instead people find it absolutely hilarious. The play is done with actors and puppets.

An interesting thing about the presentation of the show is that you can see the
puppeteers at all times. You could easily watch this show twice once
watching the puppets, and once watching the puppeteers who are easily as
animated as the "actors" they control.

It's very interesting because even though they are puppets, as a audience member you watch them and connect with them as if they were real.
One reason I think everyone really enjoys this play is because they connect with it. Everyone finds that certain "actor"/puppet to feel for and everyone understands and connects with the different topics and songs. Many of the things discussed in "Avenue Q" are topics that people agree with 100% but it's "not right" to talk about it in public.
The funny thing is, is that the theatergoer can see that this play is based on "Sesame Street", but instead of centering it around children it's for adults that can handle topics involving racism, sex, porn, etc.

Subtly but essentially, Moore has transformed a "Sesame Street" episode
self-consciously seen through a glass darkly, into more of the genuine article.
Rather than receive a watering-down, the show is stronger for his labors. Both
humans and puppets are so ingenuous, so wide-eyed and naive in an authentically
Children's Television Workshop way, that all the R-rated material becomes
paralyzingly funny, and the dicier the topic the funnier it gets: the sex
between needy Princeton and woeful Kate Monster (Kelli Sawyer) is pushed to the
limit, but the human actors' who-me? openness renders it utterly
unobjectionable.

Chicago Will Blow Your Mind

I have never seen the play Chicago, but have always wanted to and hopefully someday will. I've seen the movie (which I loved) so I obviously know the whole summary of it. It is a very dark, fosse production that makes you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. While I have never seen the play, I have performed different numbers from it for high school theater competitions. I absolutely love the type of dance in this play. Fosse is unlike anything else. It is very rigid while also being sexy. It's very hard to describe, but you should take a look. Chicago is very easy to sing (and dance) along to. With songs like "All That Jazz", "When You're Good to Mama", and "We Both Reached for the Gun" there's always something to look forward to. After reading a review, I got a real inside look into what caused such a spark with revival of Chicago compared to it's not so praised about first production.

"the original production had the misfortune to appear in the wake of
Watergate and Vietnam when dark and cynical were out of vogue. “Chicago” also
appeared the same year as “A Chorus Line,” a more upbeat and optimistic dance
show that ultimately had far more appeal for critics and audiences"

"What spawned the revival of “Chicago” in the mid-1990s was former football star O.J. Simpson going on trial for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. After assembling a “Dream Team” of celebrity lawyers, Simpson was ultimately acquitted of murder charges and parallels between Simpson’s circus-like criminal trial and the characters in “Chicago” were immediately drawn by entertainment pundits and became the catalyst for the “Encore!” revival. Even today and despite the fact that “Chicago” is based on actual events from the 1920s, the memory of the O.J. trial—and other celebrity trials since, including Phil Spector and R. Kelly—keeps “Chicago” plausible and entertaining."