Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hey, this is like the concert thread, but with THEATER! What have you seen lately?

On Saturday night I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch live for the first time and it was really, really amazing. I love the movie, but this is different in the best way. If you ever have an opportunity to see it live, do it!*

*If you're in or near Massachusetts, go check it out at the Turtle Lane Playhouse in Auburndale this Thursday, Friday or Saturday: http://www.turtlelane.org/showdetail.php?show=Hedwig

Woohoooo!!! My kind of thread!!! I post about my theatre experiences on BroadwayWorld forum but I'm very happy to talk to people I actually like (PPK!) about them. Broadway/professional theatre is my liiiiife (in addition to movies of course...and tv...k I have a lot of obsessions...well I guess they are all entertainment-related). I try to see everything before the Tonys and usually I'm successful. Not this year, since I have a job now. sighhhh.

So! The last thing I saw was Catch Me if You Can a few weeks ago. It was...okay. GREAT GREAT forking GREAT cast (my favorite person Norbert Leo Butz, plus my #1 candidate for future favorite person Aaron Tveit, plus the amazing Kerry Butler and Tom Wopat), but the story and music felt disjointed. It needs a lot of work and it could be amazing, because it has so much potential and a lot of great moments and songs, but there isn't enough time to get it together before it opens in a few weeks. Really disappointed about that, but it's still worth seeing for the performances alone. And it's very entertaining.

I just bought tickets to see Anything Goes with another sick asparagus cast (Sutton Foster! Laura Osnes! Jessica Walter! JOEL GREY!!!) in mid-May! So excited. And that same weekend hopefully my family will take me to see "The Book of Mormon" which is what I asked for for my birthday. (I tried going since previews started but it's been sold out! Totally amazing.)

And yes b.vicious how amazing is Hedwig! Supposedly a revival is coming to Broadway soon...or not a revival since it was originally off-Broadway...so I guess it's just coming to Broadway? Haha weird. Anyway!

Oh last week I saw "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play" here in Philly. So happy I finally got to see this show. It was good, lots of good laughs, but it either needed to be cut significantly (it dragged) or it needed sharper direction.

I haven't seen anything since august (West Side Story), which means I pretty much miss everything that's worth seeing. I really want to see Catch Me If You Can if only for Aaron Tveit (soo pretty, such a good voice sighhhh), as well as the Book of Mormon/everything there is to see. My problem has always been that whenever I have time I have no money, and if I have money, I have no time.

Not something I'm seeing, but I'm in a production of the Pajama Game (UWS woo!), which is fun, especially since I didn't know the show at all before.

Also, I'm gonna try and convince my mom to take me to see the Philharmonic Company as an extra early birthday present or something, but I'm sure it won't happen. Even if it's the most ridiculously wonderful cast possible.

Aw, this musical has a special place in my heart because I was in the stage crew of my high school production. And went on a couple dates with one of the sailors. <3

Those naughty sailors!

I'm a member of a musical company that will be performing Little Shop of Horrors this summer. I haven't auditioned because I never saw the musical/movie, but I'll be seeing it! Before that, we're performing Mozart's Requiem in early May.

I recently saw Burn the Floor. Waste of time. I won the tickets so I guess I can't complain too much, I just didn't enjoy the show as much as I thought I would.

I'm going to Spamalot soon and I'm stoked. I haven't seen any of it or really heard the music at all so it's going to be an experience!

!! Spamalot is so fun! The book is pretty much taken directly from Holy Grail, but even if you have that movie memorized it's still such a great show. Yay! Enjoy!

Also it has a song called "The Song That Goes Like This" - you KNOW that's gonna be good!

YES, HAVE I EVER!

In the past month I've seen two musicals. I was lucky enough to catch Billy Elliot in New York on my birthday. I was far more moved by it than I could have reasonably expected. I cried at three separate points. I couldn't really pick out anything to criticize except for one number that felt oddly placed (energetic, funny get-down song almost immediately after weepy one?) and could probably have been done away with, but other than that it was spectacular and perfect. My friend and I waited outside the stage door after the show and got Billy's autograph! Obviously I don't have to elaborate too much on how impressive it is a 12-year old kid can play such a demanding role with such obvious passion and (what seemed to me like) genuineness.

Just a few days ago I saw Next to Normal on tour. I was going to see it on Broadway, but it closed before I got the change, however, Alice Ripley (who won the Tony for Best Actress for her role) is still starring as Diana. With a cast of six it's less showy than your traditional Broadway musical, but the lighting was really innovative and punchy (and wouldn't have been out of place at a rock concert at points) along with the three-tiered stage which also housed the band. The music was wonderful, and the actors' voices took on the close harmonies and rock-inspired stylings beautifully. Listening to the soundtrack which was recorded in 2009 (I believe), I think Ripley has found the melancholy more in the vocals, and it's all the better for it. I'm astonished she can do something so emotionally draining so consistently.

I'm seeing The 39 Steps with my theater class in about a week, so I guess I'll post about that too!

February: I saw Chekhov's Three Sisters at BU's School of Theatre. IT WAS AWFUL. Even though I saw the show for free, I was still pissed the whole second act. In retrospect, I feel kind of bad for the actors because they were all the same kind of terrible, and they're all pursuing degrees in theatre.

March: The Drowsy Chaperone at Salem College (also free). I loved it! It accomplished everything it set out to do; it was funny, cute, sad, and definitely sucked me in. I was especially impressed by the male characters. Since it's a female school, there weren't any actual males. My student hostess knew all of the actors and it seems like the most feminine and bubbly were put in the serious male roles as a challenge. I can't wait to be a part of their theatre program.

Billy Elliot on Broadway. Not free, but affordable and part of a class trip. I wish I wasn't so tired and depressed because it was a truly amazing play. I laughed. I cried. I wanted more.

Edit: I see Quinn mentioned it in the post above mine. And he's right; putting energetic numbers after tender, tear-jerking scenes creates quite the jolt.

TAP - Next to Normal is my biggest Bway obsession of the past decade, and I'm not exaggerating. I've seen it many, many times (not yet on tour though, but I already have tickets for 2 nights when it's in Philly!) and I just LOVE it. If you ever want to talk about it, ask me :) Alice is just...amazing. Her voice has gotten kind of shot in the past year (her final few months on Broadway were rough) but she so fully embodies Diana that she makes the vocal challenges work for the character. It's just such a fantastic show. It's really interesting to focus on a different character upon repeat viewings, because the story really could be any of the character's. UGH I love it and I'm so glad you did.

Yeah, RandiJM, I found a lot to identify with in a few of the characters. Some of the lyrics (especially Everything Else, I Miss the Mountains and You Don't Know) just blindside you and stay with you for days. That explains some of her vocal idiosyncrasies to know that her voice has been "shot" as you put it, but I thought she was so impressive vocally nonetheless.

And how sad and beautiful is the line in the final song 'Light' (my favorite line), oh my god it just kills me inside while simultaneously making me somehow feel better: "The price of love is loss. But still we pay...we love anyway." sighhh.

This is one of my favorites!

Well, it's not Broadway but I saw the local Shakespeare Company perform The Importance of Being Earnest a couple weeks ago. Old as it may be, it was pretty funny.

I'll probably be seeing these guys do Antony and Cleopatra with the GF in a couple weeks. Could be fun. And tix are cheap!

I work with a local community theater. Last month I was stage manager on "Eurydice" and it was really good. A few months ago they did "The Fantasticks" which I had never seen before. The cast was absolutely wonderful, but I wasn't too keen on the show itself.

Yeah I get that The Fantasticks is old and 'a classic', but the rape song? (and most other songs aside from 'Try to Remember'?) Ridiculous.

ALSO!!! For those of you who, like me, missed Colin Quinn's 'Longg Storyy Shortt' on Broadway, it is going to be on HBO Saturday night at 10pm!!!!

edited to try to get through the stupid filter!

Just finished my "graduating" show for University (technically I won't be done till Decemeber, though, since I skipped a semester to do a professional production of Metamorphoses adapted by Mary Zimmerman) which was Normand Chaurette's The Queens.

I've recently seen Seanna McKenna do Shakespeare's Will, which was pretty amazing (I wasn't crazy about the whole show but Seanna was amazing). I had a workshop with Seanna and she was completely intimidating to me. Hopefully I'll make it to Stratford this summer to see her in Richard III.

Tomorrow I am going to see Copenhagen by Michael Frayn.

Haha, at first I thought the premise of his show was to make fun of the kidsss who typpeee likee thisssssssssssssssssss.

^ haha when I saw the filtered version I was so confused! I didn't know that one!

This is by far my new favorite thread. I love it.

I saw the Vagina Monologues last month! Twas amazing.

And it wasn't lately but I think the best thing I ever saw in my life was The Rocky Horror Show.

I saw the INCREDIBLE Sleep No More in New York Last month. I...don't even know how to describe it, so here are some links.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/ ... n-chelsea/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/theat ... ouses.html

holy crepe it was amazing. and has totally invaded my subconscious. I keep having Sleep No More-influenced dreams.