The Year in Review

Welcome back, suckers. So, 2008 is drawing to a close. I never really understood why people make such a big deal out of New Year's Eve. So you lived through another year. It takes a special kind of person to do that. Drawing up some more Cabaret wisdom for you all: "It'll all go on if we're here or not, so who cares? So what?" Of course, that line is sung by one of the bitterest characters in musical theatre history, Fraulein Scheneider. (Notice how I said MUSICAL theatre. As far as bitter characters in straight plays go, Violet Weston makes Fraulein Schneider look like Dainty June.)


So let's look back on the year, shall we. I'm gonna make lots of lists. I love lists.

Things I Learned in 2008:
1. Blogs are fun.
2. Understudies are people, too.
3. Ushers are the unsung heroes of the theatre world.
4. Not everyone appreciates it when you play your piano at three in the morning.


Shows I Decided I Loved in 2008:
1. SIDE SHOW
2. Cabaret
3. Parade (Thanks for that one, Lenora.)
4. Company
5. August: Osage County
6. A Streetcar Named Desire
7. Speech and Debate
8. In the Heights


Shows I Decided I Hated in 2008:
1. Rent
2. Rent
3. Rent
4. Rent
5. Miss Saigon


The Best Days of 2008
1. May 18
2. March 20
3. July 19
4. August 13
5. January 5
6. July 17


The Worst Days of 2008:
1. June 19
2. October 23
3. June 15, aka the day Jenna Russell got robbed by Patti LuPone


Shows I Saw in 2008:
1. Speech and Debate (A++)
2. Next to Normal (B+)
3. Spring Awakening (A+)
4. Gypsy (B-)
5. Spring Awakening (A+)
7. In the Heights (A)
8. Gypsy (A)


My Favorite People of 2008:
1. Barack Obama
2. Sarah Palin
3. Stewie Griffin
4. Whoever took the picture of Kristen Stewart that now adorns my sidebar
5. the homeless guy I saw in the subway singing Sweet Molly Malone


That's enough lists for now, don't you think. Well, it's Christmas Eve Eve. Are we all super duper excited? I've been a very good girl all year, so maybe Santa will bring me some new sheet music so I can play something other than Cabaret and Together Wherever We Go. Maybe if the entire country is very good next year Santa will bring us a new economy. But, as Violet Weston tells her daughter in August: Osage County, "I'm sure you'd like to believe that Santy Claus brings you presents on Christmas, but it just ain't so." And as Peter Griffin says, "Merry Christmas to all and to all shut the hell up."