It's been a while

Wow... it's been a while since I last wrote anything here. I've been so busy with work lately that I haven't really had the chance to really do anything else.

Let's see.. I haven't been running since I have no time. I've been taking my MCSE exams so whatever free time I have have been devoted to studying. Although it has paid off so far. I scored 100% on 2 exams already. I've been reading a bit -- yeah, all chick lit -- gotta love those steamy romance novels.

What else? Hmmm.... I've been to NY this month. That was my second trip of the year. Yes, I did go watch shows again. Duh! That's one thing I would not pass up.

So far I have seen 22 out of the 27 musicals that are currently running on Broadway. It's a lot easier for me to enumerate the ones I haven't seen. I'm at the bottom of my list now. Some of the shows, I'm just not too compelled to watch. Eh, maybe if I end up going to NY and no new shows are out then I'll go watch them.

Anyways, I got to see South Pacific, Gypsy, Passing Strange, The Little Mermaid (again), In the Heights and Chicago.

South Pacific
This was the show that had me almost in a panic. I was trying to find a single ticket and I could not believe I couldn't find a single ticket online during the duration of my trip. I was soooooo ready to get a ticket from a ticket broker because I really wanted to see it. Anyways, I tried the cancellation line and was able to get front row mezzanine seats. Wooohooo! The god seats!

I loved this show. The cast was just wonderful. This is definitely a must see. I wouldn't mind watching it again. If I had to pay more than face value for this show, it would've still been worth it. Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szolt, Matthew Morrison, Danny Burnstein were a joy to watch.

Gypsy
This was the other show that I really wanted to see during my trip. The story and the score were okay but what made this show wonderful for me was because of the cast. This was the first show I have seen that the audience gave a standing ovation before the curtain call. Patti Lupone just blew the top off the theatre with her performance of Rose's turn. It was amazing. The rest of the cast was pretty good too especially Laura Benanti. This was my 4th Sondheim musical.

The Little Mermaid
What can I say? This is my favorite Disney musical. I love the story and I also love the show. My friend, Karen and I went for standing room tickets. Not bad for $26.50. Since I have seen it up close from the 9th row (or maybe closer), I didn't mind seeing it from the back of the orchestra. I didn't mind standing the entire time too since time just flew. It was worth hearing Shere Rene Scott as Ursula and Sierra Boggess as Ariel sing.

Oh yeah, regarding the standing room tickets, you can get them when the show is sold out. Ask for the lower wall. ;)

Yup, I'll probably watch this again in the future.

Passing Strange
I wasn't too sure if I really wanted to watch this show. Anyways, for lack of other shows to watch, what the heck, I went to see it.

It was okay. I wasn't really blown away with it. It's more of a rock concert than a musical. The story is so so although it made for an enjoyable evening. The set was very simplistic. Daniel Beaker who played the lead role was pretty good.

I doubt it if I'll watch this again. It was worth watching at least once. Did I like it, well, it was okay. Did I love it? Nah... Not my type of musical

In the Heights
I still cannot understand the hype for this musical. A lot of people are saying that it's a shoo in to win the Best Musical at the Tonys this year.

I only went to see this because my friend and I won the lottery. I'll watch any musical for $26.50.

The book was so so. I really didn't see the point. My friend was saying that it's very local. There's a lot of references that I really didn't get because I didn't live in Washington Heights. The music was okay. I guess I'd call it forgettable. I cannot remember a hummable song from the show. The lead, Lin-Manuel Miranda is definitely very talented. He pretty much wrote the show.

It was worth watching it once just to see what the hype is all about. I don't think I'll be watching this again.

Chicago
Since I didn't have anymore shows to see, I had to go down to the bottom of my list. Anyways, I was able to get rush seats for Chicago and again for $26.50, I will go wand watch any musical.

I almost fell asleep during act I. It was boooooring! I almost walked out of the theatre during the intermission. I decided to be persistent and actually stay for the second act. Thank goodness I didn't. It started picking up during the second act so it wasn't a complete waste.

Will I watch it again? Absolutely not. I'd rather stick a needle in my eye! I think I'm seeing a pattern. It seem that Kander and Ebb musicals are just not my thing. I'm 0 for 2 on Kander and Ebb musicals. The last one I saw, Lovemusik, eww... I didn't like it at all.

So there ya go... my latest set of shows.

You might wonder what I haven't seen so here's my list. I refuse to pay full price for these. Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia, Grease, Cry Baby, A Catered Affair. Yeah, if you want to give me tickets for these, I'll go and watch them.

During my last trip, I decided that I should try to stay away from NYC for a few months. Well, tht was true until the other day when I read that Will Chase and Eden Espinosa are going to be in the final cast of Rent. I loved Will Chase in Miss Saigon. I've seen him several times in it with Lea Salonga. Well, for Eden, I'm a huge fan! I loooooved her in Wicked and I will watch any show that she's in. I gotta find a way to get my butt back to NYC before Rent closes for good in September.

What else? Oh yeah, I decided to start watching regional productions. I went to see Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein) in Walnut Creek last weekend. I took a friend's daughter with me when I went to see it and she enjoyed it a lot. It was okay for me. The main characters were okay - good singers. The lighting felt a little off and didn't accentuate the charater that was singing that much so when there are a lot of characters on the stage, it was hard to tell who was singing. My biggest complaint is that there were too many ensemble members on stage! It felt too cluttered and too crowded. The costumes were pretty good though. Anyways, yeah, I am a theater snob......

Until next time... whenever that may be....

Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George was the last show I watched on this trip.

The story is a fictionalized story of George Seurat, a painter and his painting called A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

The show is simply beautiful. I loved it. I'm familiar with the score since I picked up a copy of the London cast recording when I was going through my Sondheim phase sometime last year. It was a matter of me trying to fill in the blanks with what I know about the story based on listening to the recording. The songs are beautiful. This is actually my favorite out of all the Sondheim musicals.

The cast was very talented. The principal characters (Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell) were the ones who sang on the Original London Cast Recording so I was thrilled about it.

The show made extensive use of CGI animation for its set which I thought was pretty cool. It was tastefully done and worked very well.

Here's a video of It's Hot up Here (Act II). This is probably from the original production. This isn't from the Broadway revival that I saw.



I'm really pleased with the shows that I have seen on this trip. I really don't have anything else that I want to watch right now that I haven't seen yet on Broadway. I guess I will just have to wait until new shows open up before making my way back to New York. ;)

Wicked

Yes you read it right. Wicked. hehehehe.....

This was my Thursday show. My friend, Karen and I decided to do our usual Carmila is in town routine -- Wicked lottery and then if we don't win, we head to TKTS to get me a ticket to whatever is available and then we go out to dinner.

This time we skipped TKTS since we actually won the lottery! Woooohooooo!!!! After trying for the gazillionth time, my name finally got picked! We got front row seats for $26.25. Yay! I tell you once you have sat up close in the show, you don't want to sit elsewhere. I honestly cannot tell you how the show looks from a afar. The farthest I've sat on this show is the 14th row and I have no intentions of sitting further than that.

It's my 8th time watching Wicked. If you have not figured it out yet, let me spell it out to you. Yes, I am obsessed with Wicked. I am a member of the Wicked Addicts club and I have gone through the 12 step program but it never works. hehehe... I just love this show.

The Broadway production is in a pretty good shape right now. The cast is pretty good although my favorite duo is still Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty. It's the first time watching the show that I actually liked Glinda more than Elphaba. The actress playing Glinda (Annaleigh Ashford) was very young but she was pretty good. She added her own nuances to the character which I liked a lot.

Annaleigh's version of Popular:


In case you are wondering, yes I intend to watch the show again in the future. ;)

Young Frankenstein

Wednesday was a 2 show day for me. I had tickets to Young Frankenstein (oh excuse me.. Frahn-ken-steen) Wednesday night.

I don't recall ever seeing the movie so I didn't really know anything about the show. Its got mixed reviews but I really didn't care. I like forming my own opinions (well, most of the time).

The show was fun. Lots of jokes. Definitely has lost of talent. Roger Bart was great. It was a plus seeing Megan Mullally live -- she's Karen in Will & Grace. I had no idea that she could sing!

The songs were forgettable. Nothing really that struck my fancy and I'm not too compelled to get the cast recording for it although it was still worth seeing. I had lots of laughs during the show and I enjoyed the show and the performances which is what matters the most to me whenever I watch any of the shows.

The Little Mermaid

I had one heck of a travel day last Tuesday and when I was at the office on Wednesday, after a while, I was getting cross-eyed looking at the documents that I needed to go through so I asked my boss if I can leave early and he said yes.

I went to catch the matinée performance of The Little Mermaid. I just went to the box office and asked if they had any available tickets. I managed to get 9th row center orchestra seats. Yup, great seats! This is the reason why I love going to theater by myself. I get really good seats. Yeah, I know, I am spoiled. ;)

I loooooovvvvveee The Little Mermaid! It's now my favorite Disney musical. The set is spectacular. Lots of Disney magic. Definitely high production value. The cast is pretty good. Sierra Boggess is the little mermaid in the flesh! She looks like the little mermaid and her voice is amazing. I love the Broadway Cast Recording better than the animated movie soundtrack. I got suckered into buying the CD of the musical at the theater since I could not get enough of her singing and I could not wait for it to be released on iTunes.

Check out this video of "Part of Your World".



Definitely a must see. For me it's a must see again show. ;)

NYC Again

I'm back in NYC this week. I seriously cannot remember how many times I've been to NY this year alone.

Anyways, I'm hear for my Storage Area Networks class (yep, something geeky).

Weather's nice but the tourists are gone. Yay! shorter lines at TKTS -- where I go to get half priced theatre tickets on the day of performance. Almost all the shows, well, except for Wicked and Jersey Boys are up on the TKTS board so I've been able to watch the shows that I haven't seen before.

No running for me this week. I just don't have the time or feel like running when I'm traveling especially when I'm here in NY. Theatre comes first! ;) My miles on Nike+ this month are all going to be walking miles.

I'm back home on Saturday but flying to Las Vegas on Friday for 9 days to attend the SANS Security Conference there.

NY Trip 4 Show Quota

I was in NY last week and I went to see 4 shows. If a lot of the theatres weren't dark (no shows) on Monday's, I probably would've seen 5 shows. Oh well, I shouldn't be complaining when I got to see 4 shows right?

Tuesday (5/8/2007): Les Miserables

The only reason I actually went to see this show was because Lea Salonga is in it and currently playing the fole of Fantine. She's in it for something like 15 minutes in Act 1 then comes back in maybe the last 5 minutes of the show in Act 2.

This was the first time that I've actually seen Les Mis. I know most of the songs (Surprise! Surprise!) in the show. The cast was pretty good. I really don't understand all the hype and when people start raving about it and telling me that is is such a great show and it's their favorite show-- well, I've come into a conclusion that people say that because it is such a popular show and a lot of people have heard about it. It is such a depressing show about the French revolution and almost everyone dies in the end. Not really my type of show. Well, I guess you won't see me blogging about it again in the near future unless one of my favorites actresses/actors are in it and I'd watch it for the sake of seeing them perform. If ever I go watch it again and non of my favorite actors/actresses are in it, that means, I went to watch it while I'm on Vicodin or Valium.

Wednesday (5/9/2007): Wicked

Did you think I'd ever go to NY and not watch Wicked? Well, it depends... I didn't get to see it during my last trip. Anyways, one of our vendors gave me free tickets to the show. Who am I to refuse them? What can I say, I'm weak. ;)

Julia Murney is now playing the role of Elphaba. She's a really good actress. I love how she delivers her lines. Very good singer as well. I liked how she portrayed the role. However, I still prefer Eden's singing. Eden's a more powerful singer than Julia. Don't get me wrong. Julia's a good singer however when she pushes her voice like in the money song Defying Gravity, her voice starts cracking.

As for Glinda. It's currently played by Kendra Kassenbaum (sp?). I really didn't care much for her portrayal of Glinda. I thought it was weak. Well, I may be a little bit biased because I so love Megan Hilty as Glinda. I thought Kendra's delivery of her lines were kind of rushed and a lot of the humor in the best lines got lost.

I still think the show is worth seeing with the current cast. If it's your first time seeing the show, you'd still be wowed with it. I think the problem with me is I've seen it with a better cast so I would be comparing the cast with the ones that I've seen in the past.

Thursday: 110 in the Shade

This has got to be my favorite show on this trip. It's a limited engagement show and I really wanted to watch it since I wanted to see Audra McDonald perform.

It's not difficult to figure out why Audra has won 4 Tonys. She is just amazing. When she sings, she makes you feel what she feels. I love the sound of her voice. You could really hear in her style of singing that she's a classically trained singer. Her voice is so beautiful and so clear.

The show's story is about a spinster who is looking for companionship and love. It is based on an old movie. I think the movie is called The Rainmaker.

Friday: LoveMusik

I really should avoid musica revues. They're just not my thing. This show is more of a musical revue of the works of Kurt Weil (composer) and the relationship between him and his wife. The performers were wonderful however, the book was weak. In several areas, it just dragged on and on. This is the second time I've seen Michael Cerveris. The first time was in Sweeney Todd. In that show, he was talking with an English accent. I had a hard time understanding him. In this show, he was talking with a German accent and it was soooo hard to understand what he was saying. Note to self, only go watch Michael Cerveris if he is talking with an American accent.

The story was forgettable, the songs were also forgettable but I still don't regret watching it. The only thing I regretted is that my time was so limited that I should've gone and watched something else that I would've liked a lot better. But then again, the problem is, I've seen so many shows that I really am running out of shows to watch on Broadway. They don't make shows as fast as I am watching them! ;)

My Theatre Marathon Week/NY Trip

This week was just wonderful. I came to New York expecting to watch maybe 4 shows. Never did I expect myself to actually watch 7. Ok, what can I say, I got carried away. I love musical theatre and I packed in as much musicals as I could this week. I doubt if I can ever top this trip. This is a record for me. The most number of shows that I've seen in a week used to be 4.

I watched Spring Awakening, Monty Python's Spamalot, Mary Poppins, Hairspray, Grey Gardens, The Apple Tree and Company. That's pretty much a show each night. My reviews can be found below this entry if you're interested in knowing what I thought about the shows.

Out of the 7 shows, I only paid full price for 1 of them. I got 5 off TKTS (half priced) and won the lottery for 1 of them. All the shows I went to see were shows that I have never seen before. So, I actually did pretty well...

My favorite musical for this trip has got to be Spring Awakening. Mary Poppins is a close second although for the set, Mary Poppins beats every other show that I have seen-- EVER! The most beautiful theatre that I was in this week is the New Amsterdam Theatre on 44th street. It has been restored to its full glory by Disney and it's just so beautiful inside. The decor is very intricate.

Btw, if you click on the title of the blog for the musical, those are linked to the website of the show itself. In case you haven't figured that one out yet.

It's been a whirlwind week. I got to see some of my friends. A shocker, eh? You'd wonder where I found the time since I was working during the day and I was at the theatre at night. I was even able to go downtown on this trip to go eat at Hopkee with my friends. My normal route is usually bounded by 42nd Street to 54th Street and 2nd Avenue to 9th Avenue.

I'm so ready to go home. NY is just too cold for me. I always come here when the weather sucks -- it's either FREEZING or steaming hot. I'm done freezing my butt for this week (the temps at the beginnning of my trip was below 0 if you take the wind chill factor into consideration). I'm sooooooo tired and I miss Arvin and Jack. I'm at the airport waiting for my flight back to SF. Got my box of Dunkin Donuts (there's no DD in California and the boy wants them) and Junior's Cheesecake (the best cheesecake in NYC!).

Till next blog... Don't know when that's gonna happen. I seem to have more to write about when I travel...

Company

Day 7 of my musical theatre marathon... I really wanted to watch this show. I love Sondheim's music and wanted to add more of his work to the list of musicals that I've seen. This was also highly recommended by one of my friends who loves musical theatre like me.

I really didn't know much about this show. All I knew is Raul Esparza was in it and the show was directed by John Doyle -- the same guy who directed Sweeney Todd, another Sondheim musical that I saw last year.

I loved the story and the score. I'm looking forward to getting the cast album for this show. The orchestrations were wonderful. Sondheim's musicals are known to be very difficult to sing. Raul Esperza ripped through the score especially in the last song of the show entitled "Being Alive". I absolutely loved it. He has the markings of getting nominated or even possibly winning the Tonys this year.

As for the staging of the show, I'm not really too thrilled about it. I'm not a big fan of John Doyle's style which is having the performers double as the musicians. It's difficult to connect with the chracters when you see them marching around acting and holding instruments at the same time. Sure it's unique and some may call it revolutionary however, I still prefer the "traditional" staging wherein the performers act and sing and the playing of instruments are left to the orchestra. The set is minimalistic. No moving parts. The lighting is absolutely gorgeous. To get the best effect of the show, the mezzanine seats are actually the best seats for a John Doyle production.

I think this show is worth seeing. I enjoyed it.

The Apple Tree

Day six of my musical theatre marathon. I was supposed to meet up with a friend for dinner. We had to change our plans so I was left with no plans by 6 PM tonight. Off I went to TKTS. I was planning on watching Company however the only remaining seats were partial view seats so I decided on watching The Apple Tree instead.

I've heard mixed reviews about this show and didn't really know what to expect. At the beginning of my trip, I was thinking that the only reason why I would actually go and watch this show is to see Kristin Chenowith perform on stage. She's the original Glinda for Wicked and deemed as one of the musical theatre superstars of this generation.

They really should just rename the show as The Kristin Chenoweth show. She totally stole the show. She has one of the most amazing voices that I have heard in musical theatre. Very good actress and excellent comedic timing. Her co-performers were wonderful as well.

There's nothing sophosticated about the set. It was pretty plain. Nothing in the set really had the wow factor in it. So what really carried the show were the performances of the 3 leads. It's a funny show. Music is quite good. It's divided into 3 different parts -- different stories for each part. The first part was set in the Garden of Eden. The second part was about the justice system -- the lady or the lion and the 3rd part was about Passionella the Chimney sweep.

The show was at Studio 54 on 54th Street. The theatre looks a little bit run down now. It probably looked a lot better when it was a club.

Grey Gardens

Since my friends and I didn't win the Wicked lottery tonight, off I went to TKTS to just wing it and see what shows were available. Yes, I tried the lottery again. I've lost count of how many times I've tried and I have never won the Wicked lottery yet. One of these days, I will win! I can feel it! ;)

I decided to go watch Grey Gardens since I've heard people talk about Christine Ebersole's performance in the show. I had very little knowledge of the show and what it was all about. Anyways, I took the leap and decided to watch it tonight.

It's about the disfuctional relationship between a mother and a daughter living in Grey Gardens who were pretty much loons. The musical is based on a documentary of the same title.

The Act I was a little bit slow for me. A lot of the character building was happening in this part of the show so it kind of dragged a little bit. Act II was definitely so much better compared to Act I. I enjoyed Act II a lot more than the first act.

Christine Ebersole is magnificent in her role. I can see why people are saying that she is a front runner for the best actress award at the Tonys. Her acting and singing is wonderful. I definitely loved her performance.

The score is pretty decent however there are not a lot of hummable songs in the show. It's worth seeing at least once even just to see Christine Ebersole perform.

I sat right next to a very nice lady and was talking to her before the show and during intermission. She's also been trying to squeeze as much theatre as she could on her trip here in the Big Apple. I had several CD samplers that a friend of mine gave me so I gave her 2 of them and she was quite happy about it. Yep, I recommended that she watch Wicked.... hehehe....

Mary Poppins

I saw the most amazing set that I have ever seen on stage! It's in Mary Poppins the musical currently playing at the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street. It was just wonderful. All the set transformations were seamless regrdless of how big the set was. It's the most beautiful set that I have ever seen in a Broadway musical.

The show had a lot of magic in it. The effects that they have done in the show were very impressive. The endless bag was present. Mary Poppins took out a lot of stuff from her bag! She slid up the banister. Bert walked up one wall on stage, dancing upside down on the ceiling and down the other wall in Steps in Time. Mary Poppins flew several times during the show which was wonderful to see but the best part for me was seeing Mary Poppins flying away at the end of the show. It was just amazing!!! I've never seen anything like it on live theatre.

Wonderful performances tonight by the cast. The "Banks" kids were very cute. The best perfomance for me was by Gavin Lee who played the part of Bert. He's brilliant in the role. Each time he was on stage, you just can't help but focus on him. Ashley Brown was wonderful as Mary Poppins. She sounded great, good onstage presence and she's a good actress. Although, I felt that there was something missing in her performance. I can't put my finger on what's missing. I knew that she was playing the role of Mary Poppins however, it did not feel like she was Mary Poppins for me. I kind of had a hard time connecting with her character. Nonetheless, I still thought she did pretty well.

A co-worker of mine went with me tonight. Our seats were wonderful! We were on the 10th row of the orchestra, right at the center. The sight lines were great from where we were sitting. This is the only show so far this trip that I actually paid full price. I wished it was at TKTS however, I don't see it happening for a while.

Mary Poppins is definitely worth watching. It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Just a spoonful of sugar... ;)

Hairspray

I've been feeling tired and sleepy almost all day today. I was telling a friend that if I went and watched Les Miserables tonight, I would be sleeping in the theater and probably even snoring. I needed to go watch an upbeat musical. Yeah, I could've probably gone back to my hotel room and went to bed but that's no fun and I'm in New York city. So, off I went to the Neil Simon Theatre on 52nd Street.

Hairspray has a lottery on the day of performance. The start taking names 3 hours before the curtain rises and pick the winners 30 minutes later. I got to the Neil Simon 5 minutes before they drew out the names. Luckily enough, there were enough tickets for everyone who put their names in the lottery so we all won!

I was at the front row. Sight lines weren't that great because the stage is kind of high so you're pretty much looking up most of the time however, can't beat getting front row seats for $25!

The music was quite good. Not that memorable but there were definitely hummable songs. The performers were wonderful. It was a cutesy feel good musical and it kept me awake.

The big plus for me was seeing Diana DeGarmo from American Idol. She didn't really have any big solo numbers in the show but when she sang, she CAN sing! She definitely hit a lot of money notes tonight.

Monty Python's Spamalot

Tonight's show was Monty Python's Spamalot. I wasn't really planning on watching this show on this trip. However, it was at TKTS when I went there after work. This is a popular show on Broadway and in my past trips, tickets for this show has been kind of hard to come by so when I saw it on the TKTS board at 50% off, naturally, I decided to watch it.

I had a wonderful seat. It was dead center on the first row of the Mezzanine. There were no heads blocking my view at all. I would call them god seats! The stage was close enough to see the facial expression of the performers. Gotta love going to shows alone. I always, always manage to get really good seats (yeah, I forgot to mention that at SA last night, I was sitting on the 4th row. Close enough to see the facial expressions and far enough to not have spit landing on me but yeah, I was seeing spit flying all over the place!).

Spamalot is an enjoyable show. Lots of laughs -- lots of good jokes. It is a silly show. I was laughing during the show. However, after the show, I kind of felt a little bit disappointed and wished that I had picked something else. The performers were good. However, I love musicals that have good musical scores. Spamalot came up short in this area for me. I don't really feel compelled to go buy the soundtrack. There was one hummable song in the entire score -- Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. I thought it had more of a variety show feel to it than theatre. They're opening up in Las Vegas and I can see that it probably would appeal to people visiting there.

Well, at least I know what it's all about. If I had to rank it on the list of musicals that I've seen, it'll be towards the bottom. Not really my type of musical and seeing it once is enough for me. It left me wanting more -- a LOT more than it could offer.

Spring Awakening

I love Spring Awakening!

I went to watch it last night. I had very high expectations for this show since I'm familiar with the songs and love the sound track (I bought the soundtrack when it came out since it had good reviews plus I wasn't too sure if I could make a trip to NY before it closes). It was very interesting hearing the songs in the context of the story. I really knew nothing about the story.

The show did not disappoint. From the moment Lea Michele stepped on stage, the show had my attention. The cast was wonderful -- especially Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher and Lea Michele. The cast in this show is very young but very talented and each of them deserved to be on Broadway.

The set was very minimalistic. Pretty much there was no special effects that would distract your attention from the story. The story kind of lacked some type of cohesiveness. There were several concurrent tracks based on the characters of the show. It pretty much was about teen angst and growing up in an era where free thinking was being frowned upon. SA was very different from the typical musicals wherein the characters would be having a conversation and then all of a sudden, they would bust out into a song and a dance. The songs were more of the inner monologues of the characters and what they thought about the situation at hand. It had a little bit of similarity with Dead Poets Society. Notable songs for me were the following: B*itch of a Living, My Junk, Totally F*ucked, Left Behind.

Check out the "Bitch of a Living" video below from the show.



More clips and sample music on the SA myspace page.

It might not be the kind of musical that you would take a prude to. There is onstage nudity however it was done very tastefully and pretty much in the context of the story.

First Trip of the Year

I'm at the San Francisco International Airport waiting for my flight. It's my first trip of the year and who knows how many more trips I'll be taking again this year. Last year was pretty crazy for me.

I'm off to the Big Apple for 9 days. I'm pretty excited since there are a lot of shows that have recently opened. My mom was asking me last night if I was going to go see any shows. I told her it's a given. I never go to New York without watching any show. I'll probably watch 4-5 shows. I haven't decided which ones to see. I'm probably going to skip Wicked during this trip (shocking, eh?) since I have tickets to see it on my birthday in LA with Arvin anyways.

So ready to go home...

I am so ready to go home now. I fly out on Wednesday night. I really cannot wait. I'm feeling homesick. I miss Arvin (my hubby) and I miss my furbaby Jack. I miss seeing my saltwater aquarium as well. I just hope that everything is okay with it. I am really going to cry if my tank is dead because I've been away for so long.

I am sooooooooooooo tired. I usually don't sleep well when I travel and not being able to sleep well for a week is catching up on me. Eastern time sucks for me. I have trouble adjusting to the time whenever I go East.

In as much as I love coming to New York City, I don't think I can ever work/live here again. It's just too stressful for me. It's too crowded and people are always in a hurry. Sure, I miss going to Broadway shows since San Francisco is not much of a theatre town. But then again, I seem to be coming to NY a lot lately.

36 hours, 30 minutes and counting and I am flying out of here...

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Babe I miss you, you know

--Michael Buble, Home

Musicals (On this trip)

It's not a perfect show but it does what a musical is supposed to do. It takes you to another world and it gives you a little tune to carry along in your head for when you're feeling blue. --Man in Chair, The Drowsy Chaperone

Every time I am in NYC, I always, always make it a point to watch a musical. It’s something that I always do. I don’t think I have been to NYC and didn’t watch a show at all. It’s always on my to do list. I love going to a show. Watching a musical takes me to my happy place.

For this trip I went to 4 shows. I know, I know, I’m still here so it’s still possible for me to go to 1 more show but I doubt it since I have plans tomorrow and on Tuesday. Anyways, I went to watch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wicked, Altar Boyz and 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I really enjoyed these 4 shows.


Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (8/15/2006)

I flew in on Tuesday and got into the city at around 5:30PM. Checked into the hotel and ran to TKTS since I wanted to squeeze in a show that night. DRS was on the board and at 50% off so I got a ticket for it. My seats were pretty good. 3rd row stage left. There was an overhang that blocked some parts of the scenery but it wasn’t that bad.

I love, love, love, love Sherie Rene Scott! I didn’t even know she was still in the show. It was a very nice surprise. I’ve never seen her live but I keep on listening to the cast recording of The Last 5 Years where she sings the part of Kathy. I love, love, love her voice! It has this distinct sound and is so full of emotion. I’m so happy that I actually got to see her perform live!

The show started a little bit slow for me. I had a hard time understanding some of the characters in the beginning because of the accent they used (British and French). After a while you get used to it. When Sherie Rene Scott came out, I was blown away by her voice!

It was a fun show. I really liked it. Lots of catchy tunes and it was pretty funny. I was laughing throughout the entire show. Too bad it’s closing in 2 weeks.

It was a ball… It was a blast…


Wicked (8/18/2006)

Umm… need I say more? I blogged and entire blog just for this. Scroll down below. ;) Yes you can do it.... Keep pressing the arrow key down. You'll eventually get there!


Altar Boyz (8/19/2006)

I got my ticket off TKTS for this one. I actually passed by the box office to see if they still had the rush seats for the matinee performance. They didn’t but TKTS had it for 50% off as well. My seat was on the second row, stage left.
This show was HILARIOUS! It was like a boy band rock concert. I was laughing my ass off during the entire show.

Jason Celaya is a hottie! :D

I normally don’t go watch Off Broadway shows. Since I seem to be running out of shows to watch, I’m slowly venturing towards Off Broadway shows.



25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (8/20/2006)

I didn’t have anything better to do today. I decided to go try my luck at the Wicked lottery. I can’t remember how many times I’ve tried the Wicked lottery and so far I have not won. (Anyways, last Friday is probably the last time I’ll watch Wicked for a while unless I can get my butt back to NYC to see Eden’s last show in October.) The Spelling Bee’s lottery happens right after the Wicked lottery so I put my name in. I was thinking that if I still didn’t win, I’d head to the Drowsy Chaperone lottery and try my luck there. So they picked out the names and my name was the last one that got picked! So I got front row seats.

I’ve seen the San Francisco production of the show a while back and I liked it. I’m familiar with the songs. It was nice to actually see this show on Broadway. No offense to the SF cast but I liked the Broadway cast a lot better. I really enjoyed the show. The big plus for me was I got to see Barrett Foa again! He’s such a cutie! :D I saw him in Avenue Q when I went to see it 2 months ago.


I really can’t wait for the new theatre season to start. I’m running out of shows to watch. Well, there are still shows I haven’t watched but for the reason that I just do not have the desire to watch them. Oh please… I don’t need jukebox musicals or musicals that have been adopted from movies (ok, DRS was from a movie but I never saw the movie).

NYC Again...Wicked Again...

I just realized that it has been 2 months since I last blogged. It is such a coincidence that the last entry on my blog was about my last trip to New York City. Yeah, I am back in the big apple again for work. I was actually supposed to go home tomorrow (well, technically today since it's already 4 in the morning) however, I needed to extend to finish a bunch of things in the office. The problem is I didn’t bring enough clothes with me.

You might be wondering what the heck I am doing still up in the wee hours of the morning. I had too much sugar so I am fully wired. Thanks to a HUGE serving of Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 and the adrenalin that has been pumping through my system almost all day long in anticipation to watching Wicked from "god" seats that I scored for free. :D

Yes my friends, I did go to watch Wicked again for the 4th time. My seat was amazing! I was seated at Row C Seat Number 106. Yup, about 2 seats off dead center on 7th row. Awesome sight lines -- well, they should be for premium seats (re: EXPENSIVE!) at the Gershwin theatre. Close enough to see facial expressions but far enough to not see spit flying out. I felt like the actresses and actors were singing directly to me which in itself was an awesome experience. Think Elphaba looking down straight at you while flying off on her cherry picker holding a broom and singing Defying Gravity.

Here's my mini review of tonight's performances by the different actresses/actors in the show (8/18 uummmm... last night?).

Eden Espinosa (Elphaba)

She's amazing as always. She gets better and better each time I see her perform in Wicked. I've seen her in Wicked 4 times. She has definitely grown into the role. She plays this role with so much heart and soul that when she's on stage, she IS Elphaba. That's something that I actually love about her performance. I thought I've seen almost all the nuance that she could possibly bring into the role. However, each time I go and watch the show, I never fail to find something new that she brings into the show. Hand gestures, riffs and how she stings her notes together. I absolutely love listening to Eden sing live. She has such a broad range in her voice and she is such an unbelievable belter. It feels like she’s trying to blow the top off the Gershwin Theatre when she belts. You know what they say about being able to find everything on the Internet. Sure, there are clips of her singing songs from Wicked however, there's nothing like listening to Eden sing live on stage. I know when I'm listening to a very good singer (at least in my opinion) when I get goose bumps and the hair behind my neck starts standing up. There are a few singers that have that kind of effect on me and Eden is definitely one of them. I just love the sound of her voice.

You're probably wondering how many more times I would be watching Wicked before I get sick and tired of it. Ummm... well, I can still count on one hand the number of times that I've watched it. Then again, wanting to hear Eden sing live has really been the driving factor on why I keep on coming back to watch the show. In as much as I love the show itself, there are parts of it that I don't really care about anymore (It starts to become fluff after the 3rd time). I would still be willing to pay premium seat price just to listen to Eden sing "The Wizard and I", "I'm Not That Girl", "Defying Gravity" and "No Good Deed". Hehehe... I just realized that it comes out to around $75 per song if you’re in a premium seat. LOL! The other parts of the show is pretty much added bonuses at this point. I heard she's leaving in October. Will I still be watching Wicked once she leaves? Well, it really depends on who's replacing her. I would probably go and watch the replacement at least once just to see how well she performs.

I met her at the stage door after the show and I finally have a picture with her to prove it! Yay! I'll post it when I get a chance... Hopefully it won't take 2 months before I get to do it.


Kate Reinders (Glinda)

Kate has definitely gotten better. The first time I saw her, I wasn't really impressed but tonight (last night?) I really enjoyed her performance. Her rendition of Popular was hilarious! I absolutely loved it. She portrayed the role in a very ditsy manner -- having to risk being un-PC, she portrayed it as the typical blonde in the blonde jokes that you hear everywhere. She and Eden have great chemistry.

Looking back the first time I saw her, I may have been a little bit biased and was really comparing her performance with Megan Hilty's performance which really wasn't fair since when I saw Megan, she had been in her role for quite some time and when I first saw Kate, she was in her role for only about 2 weeks. I'm actually glad to see that she's growing into the role.


Carol Kane (Madame Morrible)

This was the 3rd time I've seen Carol Kane in this role. The first 2 times that I saw her, I had a hard time understanding what she was saying because of the weird accent that she was using. It doesn’t bother me now. This time, I wasn't really concentrating much on the story anymore (I was looking for small details that I never noticed the first 3 times) since I pretty much know it by heart and most of the lines are familiar (no, I can't memorize them). I enjoyed her performance a lot more tonight.


David Garrison (The Wizard)

This is the 2nd time I've seen David Garrison. I've always enjoyed his portrayal of the wizard of Oz. Whatever little material he's got, he played it really well. I don't really care much for the songs sang by the Wizard.


Derrick Williams (Fiyero)

This is the 4th time I've seen Derrick Williams in this role. I'm not really a fan of him. There's just that something’s not right about his performance. Something's missing. He's not a bad actor at all. He has a nice butt and arms. I'm just not impressed by his singing voice. I guess it's because I absolutely love Norbert Leo Butz's voice in the Original Broadway Cast Recording for Wicked (I love his work period). After seeing him for the first time, whenever I go back and watch the show, I keep on wishing that an understudy or standby would be playing Fiyero’s role during that performance. Sorry Derrick if you happen to stumble upon this. Although tonight (last night?) he actually sounded better. I guess the acoustics at the Gershwin is better when you're sitting at the premium seats. :)


Logan Lipton (Boq)

I miss Robb Sapp! I really didn't care about Logan Lipton's portrayal of Boq. I was not impressed at all -- acting wise and voice quality wise. I should really give him the benefit of the doubt since he's new. Hopefully he'll grow into the role as well.


Jenna Leigh Green (Nessarose)

This is the second time I've seen her in Wicked. Great voice and good actress as well. I loved her portrayal of Nessarose. I wish she had a lot more stage time (is there such a thing?) and she had more songs to sing.

Ok, this blog is long and I need to go to bed since I don't want to sleep through the weekend in New York city. I did get to watch the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels -- I'll write a separate entry for it. Promise.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*** I wrote this early this morning however I was having problems posting it on blogger. So it’s a little bit behind.

NYC Trip

I was in New York City all of last week. I have been meaning to blog something about my trip but my schedule was really hectic when I was there. The main purpose of my visit was for a training class. Class pretty much took up my time during the day. My nights were dedicated to Broadway shows.

Speaking of Broadway shows, I had a 4 show quota I wanted to meet for that week. That pretty much meant a show each night except for Monday night when most of the theatres were dark. Well, there were some shows that were playing on Monday night but I didn't have the desire to see them.

Tuesday (6/13/06):

A friend and I tried to get tickets for Wicked however we struck out on both the lottery and the cancellation line. It's almost impossible to get tickets for Wicked at this time of the year when tourists start flocking to New York city. We met up with 2 other friends from JMBB (Judith McNaught message board) and they suggested that we try The Drowsy Chaperone lottery. I won us 2 tickets to TDC! We got front row center orchestra seats for TDC. Not bad for $25.

I didn't know anything about the show. It pretty much started off with the theatre completely pitch black and you hear someone saying: "I hate theatre!". After that line, I knew I was going to enjoy that show. I loved The Drowsy Chaperone! I saw a lot of myself in the Man in the Chair character in the show. Bob Martin rocks! It was pretty hilarious. I was laughing throughout the show. The music wasn't that great however, the cast was wonderful and the story was original and very unique.

Wednesday (6/14/06):

I had tickets for Avenue Q. I liked this show. It's pretty much an adult Sesame street. I wish I didn't listen to the soundtrack beforehand. I think I would've been a lot more shocked that they used certain kind of language and showed "adult" scenes. It's very humorous and un-PC. So if you're a prude, this isn't the show for you. Barrett Foa is such a hottie!

Thursday (6/15/06):

I was pretty much undecided on what to watch for this night. I decided to try the Wicked lottery (again!) and struck out (again!). There were around 300 people who tried out for the lottery that night.

I headed off to the TKTS booth to get half priced ticket for either the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Sweeney Todd. My first choice was DRS since I was not too sure if I really wanted to watch Sweeney Todd since the story is kind of dark and gruesome. By the time I got to TKTS, there were no more tickets for DRS so I bought tickets for Sweeney Todd.

I am so glad that I actually got to see Sweeney Todd with the current cast. The show was amazing! The cast was so talented. It just blew me away. I felt so lucky that I got to see Patti Lupone, Michael Cerveris and Manoel Felciano on stage. Michael was freaky as Sweeney Todd. He actually looked scary when he was on stage. The staging was quite interesting. The cast doubled as the orchestra. At times, it was kind of distracting that they were acting and had musical instruments with them.

Friday (6/16/06):

Did you think that I would visit New York City and not watch Wicked? My co-workers and I managed to get tickets for Wicked. They were second row left orchestra seats. The seats were alright. There were times that the ensemble would be blocking some of the scenes but it wasn't too bad. The big plus sitting this close was actually seeing Eden Espinosa's facial expressions. She has wonderful facial expressions! She's just so full of emotion whenever she's on stage. This is the third time I've seen Eden perform in Wicked. She just gets better and better each time I see her. She totally blew me away with her performance. Magnificent voice! Such a wonderful singer and actress. This was the first time I saw Kate Reinders as Glinda. she was great in her role. She played Glinda a little bit more ditzier than Megan Hilty. Kate has great vocal control and she was pretty funny. I still liked Megan Hilty as Glinda although my co-workers who saw Wicked for the first time liked Kate's performance.

My week just flew too fast. After the last show for that week, I just wanted to go back to the hotel, pack my clothes and I was ready to go back home to the Bay Area.