Sunday, March 22, 2009

A Very Great Lady

Due to some technical difficulties, I haven't been able to blog lately. I'm glad my laptop has finally decided to cooperate.As you all probably know by now, Natasha Richardson passed away on Wednesday. Coincidentally, that was the day Lenora and I went to see Guys and Dolls, which does not deserve all the negative reviews. That, however, is beside the point. The sad reality is that she is gone and she will be missed tremendously. Above is a picture of Natasha during her days as Sally Bowles (my absolute favorite musical theatre character) in the Roundabout's revival of Cabaret. It was a brilliant performance in a brilliant show. Below is a picture of her when she played Blanche DuBois (another one of my favorites) in the Roundabout's revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. It was a brilliant performance in a not-so-brilliant show.Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to see her play Desiree in a concert version of A Little Night Music. Instead, I saw August: Osage County. Let it never be said that I regret seeing August, but I do regret missing what was to be her final appearance on the New York stage. This is one shining star that left us far too soon. So I'm dedicating this post to the memory of a wonderful actress, and as Rhett Butler would say, "a very great lady."

And now for some pure, unnecessary ugliness. Sorry I couldn't make the pamphlet bigger. Actually, I 'm not sorry at all. The Westboro Baptist Church has decided to disrespect Ms. Richardson and her family and make utter fools of themselves by showing up at her funeral to picket. This flier would be hilarious if it weren't so utterly disgusting. My personal favorite part is "Thank God for the bunny slope of cursed Quebec, Canada!" Oh, beware the bunny slope, friends! Unspeakable horrors await ye there! I don't know about you guys, but I was not aware that God appointed the bunny slope to ensnare the simple sluts of doomed America. Now, I haven't read the Bible cover-to-cover, so I'm sure you guys will take this with a grain of salt, but somehow I'm fairly certain that there is no passage that states, "God hates fags and fag enablers!" I just hauled my Bible off the top shelf and looked up Romans 1:19-32 to see if it says that. And guess what, folks. It DOESN'T. Notice that it says that this will be an "educational religious picket." Oh, okay. That's different. For a second there I thought it would just be a congregation of loonies screaming about how incredibly screwed we all are. Where do these people get the nerve to say "NATASHA RICHARDSON IS IN HELL!"? So much for peace and love to everyone. Apparently, her greatest sin was supporting AIDS research. How DARE she?! Doesn't she know that AIDS is God's way of cleansing America of the "feces-eating fag beasts?" I have some bad news, friends. Last September I attended the flea market for BC/EFA, which raises money for AIDS research. I guess that seals it. I'm doomed. Do you think they have wireless internet connection in hell? Maybe I can blog and tell you guys what it's like. (Personally, I firmly believe that hell is a never-ending production of Rent. With Idina Menzel as Maureen. Oh, yes. I went there.) Anyway, people like Fred Phelps and his inbred congregation make me ashamed to be a Christian. I can assure you, we're not all like that. No Christian I know has ever shown up at the funeral of soldier killed in battle and praised God for killing him. No Christian I know thinks Virginia Tech was a blessing. No Christian I know runs a website called http://www.godhatesfags.com/. Well, Bible-thumping Nazis aside, I hope Ms. Richardson will rest in peace, and my heart goes out to her family during this difficult time.

On a trivial and unrelated note, an amusing little anecdote I heard last night. Peter Griffin: "Jeez, if you wanna do a bad show, why didn't we just do Rent?" I knew there was a reason I loved Family Guy so much. Just more evidence that Seth MacFarlane is the greatest stroke of genius since Stephen Sondheim.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Not Okay

I have several major issues to discuss with you folks today. First, I am ashamed to admit that I may possibly be a Katy Perry fan. Hot N Cold is a moderately catchy song. Second, I'd like to share this picture Lenora sent me.

It's an original flyer for a side show that featured Daisy and Violet Hilton, and it is glorious glorious glorious and creepy creepy creepy. That's Violet on the left, and Daisy on the right. This picture may give me nightmares, but it's a real gem. Look how grossly they were exploited. This was probably from around the time when they worked in San Antonio, when they were still young.


Third issue. Yesterday, I fell off the wagon and had two bottles of blue Powerade. God is disappointed. God has decided to smite me by casting Phylicia Rashad as Violet Weston.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Little Women

Welcome back, suckers. Notice the date. It is a red-letter date. If I knew how to change the color of the post titles I would make today's red, to highlight the fact that today is a red-letter date. Today is, in fact, the four-year-anniversary of my first encounter with the show that was, up until a year and a half ago, my favorite: Little Women. Even though it's been a while, this one's still pretty close to my heart. Four years ago tonight, on Friday, March 4, 2005, I sat in the first seat of the right section of the first row of the mezzanine at the wonderfully orange Virgina Theatre, which is now called the August Wilson. It was my first show in nine years. I can honestly say, with no exaggeration, that it changed my life. The show itself was really not that good, as I realized a year or so later, but it opened up the entire world of theatre to me. I saw that show five times, three times on Broadway and twice on tour. I actually saw it twice in one day, as ashamed as I am to admit that. Like most of my favorite shows, this was a no-holds-barred flop. But just because a show flops, it doesn't mean it's bad. Ragtime flopped, and that was a brilliant show. The original Sweeney Todd flopped. Grey Gardens flopped. SIDE SHOW was the third biggest flop in history. (I actually just got down on my knees under the piano and went through all my sheet music to list these shows. You're welcome.) And, inevitably, Next to Normal will flop. None of these shows were actually bad, with the exception of SIDE SHOW'S terminally weak lyrics. Anyway, I just posted today in order to pay homage to the show that sparked my interest in theatre.

With spring coming up, it's bringing a lot of important anniversaries and special days with it. I'm not gonna dedicate an individual post to every single one, so I'll just lump them together in this one:

March 4, 2005 - discovered Little Women
March 8, 2008 - discovered SIDE SHOW by accidentally downloading the entire CD
March 9, 2008 - discovered Next to Normal, hated it
March 15, 2007 - discovered Sweeney Todd
March 20, 2008 - Spring Awakening at Good Morning America
April 2, 2005 - second time seeing Little Women
April 29, 2007 - last visit to Hairspray
May 18 -2008 -third and favorite visit to Spring Awakening

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Day Off

Hello, darlings! I am sitting here watching the tree in the backyard sag under the weight of a late-winter snowstorm. It's March. It's not supposed to snow in March. Shows about Siamese twins are not supposed to do well and it's not supposed to snow in March. But this particular blizzard has garnered me a day off tomorrow. I'm wearing my excited face. I plan to spend the day reading, writing, and watching old movies. (I sat through Fired Up last night and will need some classics to dull the pain.) I'm thinking some Gypsy, Streetcar, possibly some Grey Gardens. I may get really wild and watch Hamlet 2. I am fully aware of the fact that that movie is horrible, but I love it. A movie about how insanely awry theatre productions can go. Two Spring Awakening cast members. I am genetically programmed to love this movie.

Anyway, I have found the most brilliant website. Feeling dejected? Depressed? Unloved? Discouraged? Like laughing at other people's pain? There are places for people like you. http://www.fmylife.com/ This site is the most hilarious thing I have encountered in a long, long time. My two personal favorite stories are:


"Today, I was stepping out of the shower while home alone. I heard voices coming from the living room. I grabbed a bat to defend my self and ran into the living room. I slipped on my tile floor and smashed my TV with the bat. No one was in my house but I left my radio turned on. FML"


"Today, I typed an essay on my friend's computer, so she forwarded it to me in a email and she made the subject "here bitch" as a joke. I then went to email the essay to my teacher. I forwarded it thinking nothing of it only to realize that I didn't change the subject name. FML"

And it keeps getting better. Have fun, children. You're welcome


P.S. - I would like to point out that I have yet to take a single sip of Blue Powerade since Lent started.

Edit- A word to the wise: It has come to my attention that www.fmylife.com is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. Do not hit the link if you don't have massive amounts of time to burn.