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This is a quick post because I'm in the middle of an exhausting work week, but I wanted to note how pleased I am with the Tony nominations, especially but not only the recognition for Hadestown and The Prom. Excited for the awards!
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Pros of being An Adult and working An Adult Job: bought season tickets to the local Broadway touring house, so will be seeing The Band's Visit, Fiddler On The Roof, Waitress, The Play That Goes Wrong, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, and (finally) Hamilton next winter. Yes, that's still a long way away, but it's so nice to have something to look forward to. ♥ Also trying to get Miss Niki to go see a regional production of Chess with me in a couple of months.

Yay, theatre!
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I had to work tonight and therefore missed a good chunk of the Tonys, but here are a few highlights from what I did see:

▪ The Parkland tribute ♡
▪ John Tiffany getting everyone to sing Happy Birthday to his boyfriend
▪ That arrangement of For Forever was gorgeous and moving. If mildly inappropriate, given the original context of the song.
▪ The Once On This Island performance was fabulous.
▪ Literally everything to do with The Band's Visit, I love that show so much. Katrina Lenk, omg. And Best Musical. Obviously
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: o: hug)
Today I went to see the second national tour of Once.

cut for length and gushing )

It's almost 9PM, I attended the matinee, I'm still very emotional about this show right now, okay.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: o: hug)
So my copy of the Hamiltome arrived yesterday; I got it after work and promptly sat down and started reading. I read it cover-to-cover in two sittings.

First of all, the book as a physical object is gorgeous. It's substantially lighter than you'd expect a book that size to be, beautifully printed, and full of photos both black-and-white and full-color -- a mix of shots that everyone in Hamilton fandom has probably seen (though I'm always up for seeing that picture of Lin in full costume sitting at his laptop during a tech rehearsal!) and new photos (special love to all the dressing room shots).

The content is a mix of things: the full libretto (extensively annotated by Lin), a few cut songs/lyrics (the full Adams Administration takedown, the Cabinet battle over slavery), and essays about the cast, the development of the show, the influence and work of various people (the chapter before Hurricane is primarily about the lighting design and it's fantastic), Lin's writing process, and the impact of the show, with a particularly moving section on the student matinees.

Some things that particularly hit me: Lin's description of Leslie and why he's perfect for the role of Burr ("He is cool, his blood runs cool, he is elegant. It sounds like I'm reverse-describing myself as feral monster. Anyway he's my opposite."); every single description of Phillipa Soo (Pippa and her performance of Eliza means everything to me); Vanessa Nadal-Miranda's favorite line in the show is "I'm a trust fund, baby, you can trust me"; everything about the description of recording the cast album; there is quite a bit of confusion over when Lin-Manuel actually got the idea for a hip-hop musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton; in early workshops Lin sold Chernow on the idea that he had Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan meeting in 1776 out of dramatic necessity, but admits that he actually just forgot they hadn't met yet (lol).

And as for the essay immediately preceeding It's Quiet Uptown and the fact that it's the only song in the book completely unannotated . . . I needed to take a breather after that part, let's put it that way.

Another quote: "Keep it in mind the next time you go to the theater: Some gifted men and women have built a community in that room, and the immigrant is you."

Five stars out of five. I'd rank it higher if it wouldn't break the ranking system.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: o: logo)
Just bought tickets to see Once when the national tour comes near me next spring!

This is the one good thing about the new job, because the tickets were expensive but TOTALLY WORTH IT. For once in my life I am going to be sitting front center orchestra and not way up in the back of the dress circle. For one of my top three favorite shows.

It's months away but I'm SUPER EXCITED NOW.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: c: merano is dead)
In other news, I'm spending the evening tracking old Chess audios, and it's reminding me how much I still want that fic where a couple years after the events of the show, all the main characters meet up in a bar but they each come from a different script. And confusion and grudges that don't make sense in context ensue.

I suspect eventually I'm going to have to actually write it.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (a: re: sexier than you)
"Petrified", as sung by Raúl Esparza, from the 2003 Broadway production of Taboo.

Hate the way you look at me
But I can see the terror in your eyes
Your eyes
You pull the trigger
Your smile is sweet
But I don't care if we never meet
That's fine
It's alright

This is the performance that got Raúl Esparza the first of four well-deserved Tony nominations.

Taboo is a show that I've been aware of and owned recordings of for a long time without ever quite paying it much attention. Basically the Raúl connection was enough to get me to try it out, and I liked it well enough and promptly didn't think much about it again. Until late last year, when I suddenly and randomly fell deeply in love, particularly with this song and "Il Adore".

"Petrified" particularly gets me because it comes hard on the heels of a chaotic, high-energy scene -- which is suddenly stripped down to just Philip Sallon (Raúl Esparza) in this very quiet, intimate, heartfelt moment. It's gorgeous and heartwrenching.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: ttb: not too fast)
"People Like Us", as sung by Kendra Kassebaum and Jessica Phillips, from the 2012 Broadway musical Leap Of Faith, and as a bonus an earlier version of the song, sung by Kendra Kassebaum, from the original demo recording.

People like us are lucky
People like us are tough
Like it or not, we're all that we've got
And that's got to be enough
People like us have no one
No one but us, that's who
People like us have to stick to each other like glue
And that's what we do


Leap Of Faith is the story of a con man who calls himself Jonas Nightingale; he goes from town to town as a tent revival preacher and fleeces the locals for all he can get before moving on to the next one, with the help of his sister Sam and his choir of Angels. When the revival's bus breaks down in Sweetwater, KS, Jonas attempts to pull the same con once again, but finds complications in the form of local woman Marla and her son Jake.

Leap Of Faith is also a show that, like Wonderland, I have complicated feelings about. It flopped on Broadway, and not undeservedly; while the cast was insanely great (Raúl Esparza! Kendra Kassebaum! Jessica Phillips! Kecia Lewis-Evans! Leslie Odom, Jr.!), the book was a mess. Leap Of Faith had previously had a run at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre with a completely different book, and while opinions are mixed on that production, I think it was a better one. (Though Jessica Phillips is a better Marla than Brooke Shields. Sorry, Brooke.) It's a show that had a lot of potential, and sadly most of that potential wasn't utilized in New York.

"People Like Us" was a number in both the Ahmanson and Broadway productions, and though it had markedly different lyrics in each production, it served the same plot purpose: Sam (Kassebaum) explains to Marla (Phillips) why she and Jonas are the people they are, and the two women find some common ground at last.

(I've offered both versions because they offer substantially different backstories for Jonas and Sam, and I like them both.)
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Hey, remember when I was super enthusiastic about this project and was sure I was going to post regularly? Yeah, gonna try to get back to that.

Anyway.

"Where Did We Go Right?", as sung by Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, from the 2001 Broadway musical The Producers.

How could this happen?
The show was lousy and long
We did everything wrong
Where did we go right?


The Producers is one of those circular-history shows; first it was a movie, then the movie was adapted into a musical, then the musical was adapted into a movie. Don't you love when that happens?

The show tells the story of failed Broadway producer Max Bialystock and neurotic accountant Leo Bloom, who concoct a scheme to make a fortune: they'll oversell shares in a musical, then put on a show so bad it'll close on opening night, meaning they get to keep the money they raised rather than having to pay back the various investments. This all goes terribly awry when their show is hailed as a satiric masterpiece and becomes Broadway's newest smash hit.

"Where Did We Go Right?" is Max and Leo's lament as they realize they're not going to get away with it. As Leo falls deeper into despair with every positive review, Max replays every step of their path, trying to puzzle out exactly where they failed to put on a flop.

It's the end of our careers
It'll run for twenty years
Tell us where did we go right?
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (b: ng: cruel joke)
This is another in a string of "I'm not dead, just deprived of time and dependable Internet" posts. I'm sorry for that.

And yesterday I dealt with one of the most terrifying things in the universe -- a group of opera singers waving around lit torches on a mostly-wooden set. I swear I kept thinking "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE BEFORE THIS SHOW CLOSES". So that might happen.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: [tos]: nine people's favorite thing)
Confession: I continue to have zero interest in Les Miserables. Sorry. Sometimes this makes me feel like a bad theatre fan but then I realize that faking interest would make a worse theatre fan.

Have a 100 Things entry:

"That'll Never Be Me", as sung by Susan Blackwell (and narrated by Heidi Blickenstaff), from the 2012 Off-Broadway production of Now. Here. This., and as a bonus, an earlier version of the song sung by Jeff Bowen, listed as a composer demo on the OCR.

How'd they get there?
Where's that road
That could lead me out of this nowhere town tonight?
But golden tickets don't get mailed
To this one-horse-town zip code
So there ain't no use in me waiting for an invite


Now. Here. This. is the followup project from the creative team of [title of show], and essentially comprises of a collection of autobigraphical sketches from the four castmates' lives.

In early workshops of the show, "That'll Never Be Me" was a Jeff song about his insecurities as a teenager; in the final version of the show, it became a Heidi moment about her relationship with her father. Both versions resolve the conflict in the same way, with the realization that the only person you can truly be happy being is yourself, and standing back wishing doesn't change things.

You have to build your own future.

(How is it possible that 2012 is almost over?)
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: [tos]: cast)
Got the chance to listen to the "Now. Here. This." CR in its entirety today, and it's fantastic. Everybody sounds great, the production quality is high, and seriously, I love the music from this show; "Golden Palace" made me cry a little.

I'm also super glad they decided to include the Jeff version of "That'll Never Be Me"; that might be my favorite track.
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chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (m: sok: aisling & pangur ban)
I am a bit in love with the Leap Of Faith cast recording.

Is this something I should be ashamed to admit or do the combined powers of Raul Esparza, Kendra Kassebaum, Jessica Phillips, Kecia Lewis Evans, and Leslie Odom, Jr., provide enough legitimacy?
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"One More Opponent / You & I", from the 2001 Danish tour of Chess, as sung by Stig Rossen and Emma Kershaw.

Each day we get through
Means one less mistake
Left for the making

Admit it, you were waiting to see how long it would take me to get around to a song from Chess.

Chess is my favorite musical, period, end of sentence, no qualifiers. Through all the rewrites and all the changes and all the flaws no one's quite managed to fix, I love it. Every version has something to recommend it, even the bizarre Australian and Off-Broadway rewrites.

The 2001 Danish Tour is my favorite cast recording, and "You & I" is one of the greatest love songs in musical theatre canon.

Florence (Kershaw) and Anatoly (Rossen) deal with a number of external factors that threaten their relationship, key among them the stress of the upcoming chess match and the arrival of Anatoly's wife, Svetlana. And as they do, they also confront the fact that they already know how their relationship is going to play out; it's the same story they've already gone through in previous relationships. But they can't stop trying to convince each other and themselves that this time the ending will be different; this time, things will work out.

You and I, we've seen it all
Been down this road before
Yet we go on believing...
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Conclusion of the day: I really, really don't like the new revamp of bare.

(no, really. why did they do that.)
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (mus: tfl: yoshimi versus the pink robots)
Can I just tell you how happy it makes me that the Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots musical is actually happening? So happy.

These rehearsal pictures are glorious.
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"Sheila Franklin/I Believe In Love", from the 1967 musical HAiR, as sung by Shoshana Bean and the cast of the 2005 AFA Benefit.

I believe that now is the time
For all good men
To believe in love

Sheila's introduction to the audience, and a pretty awesome introduction, as they go. It's not quite an I Am song, and it's not quite an I Want song, but it manages to present information from both genres (I am: someone who believes in the power of love; I want: peace/freedom). (Also I am: Sheila Franklin, second semester, NYU).

On top of that, what a fun song to sing as loud as you can. Try it out.
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"Rosamund's Dream", from the 1976 Broadway musical The Robber Bridegroom, as sung by Rhonda Coullet.

Then a finer king on a finer horse
Will come the selfsame day
And he will bring his crown, of course
To tempt my love away
Rosamund, Rosamund, he will say
Rosamund, Rosamund, Rosamund, come away


"Rosamund's Dream" is a very simple song that does a fantastic job at character definition. It takes up very little space -- under two minutes long, with two short verses and a two-line chorus repeated twice -- and the orchestration is very basic, very stripped-down, and it makes use of every inch of what it's got to define Rosamund.

She's a dreamer. She's naive. She believes in fairytales, and love, and that one day her prince will come. And she's got a very naive, childish, endearing kind of self-centeredness. And all that is established in this less-than-two-minute song, whether you've got any of the context of the rest of the show or not.

And it's just a really pretty lullaby. That, too.
chicafrom3: photo of the TARDIS (t: so'c: unrehearsed)
"I'm Not That Smart", from the 2005 Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as sung by Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

I have a gentle personality
Which you'll all agree
Is anathema to my more aggressive family
Everyone keeps swotting "Dumb kid"
Everyone keeps shouting "Dumb kid!"
How could a flea such as me
Think he'd be good at spelling?


Leaf Coneybear continually breaks my heart.

This fact is actually true for most of the spelling bee contestants, but Leaf is the relevant one right now.

Spelling Bee is, as the title suggests, the story of a regional spelling bee and its elementary-school-student contestants, each of whom is strange and damaged in their own way. Leaf is a home-schooled kid from a big, hippieish family, and makes it into the regionals on a technicality; while he placed third in the qualifying bee, neither of the two kids who beat him were able to attend.

Each of the contestants gets an I Am song, and "I'm Not That Smart" is Leaf's. When he gets a word he doesn't know how to spell, he goes off into his own world, thinking about his family and his self-image and how the two influence each other, and it's really pretty heartbreaking. Yeah, even with the deliberate comedic relief of the "I like my hair" verse. Still heartbreaking.

"I'm Not That Smart" gets a reprise later in the show which I have marked down to discuss further down the line in my 100things project, so we will be revisiting Leaf eventually.

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