9 to 5

Woooo! 9 to 5 picked up FIFTEEN Drama Desk Awards. Hmm... Looks like that beats Hair's 7? 8? Sorry, Philip!

Dolly is going to be on David Letterman tonight talking about it. Check it out.

Okay so blogging this weekend will be difficult with prom (yeah im just a lowly senior) but fun news which ill say now and explain later. Green day's acclaimed rock opera "American Idiot" is hitting the stage from the team who produced and directed "Spring Awakening". Yay!

[NEWS FLASH! I'll blog the rest later.]

TITLE OF SHOW IS HITTING REGIONAL THEATRE IN VIRGINIA AND ARIZONA!

[Title of Show] Show and Other Random Comments

A new eppisode of the [Title of Show] Show was uploaded today. This is a behind the scenes (yet hilariously scripted) look at Title of Show. It usually features a few big name Broadway star cameos and this one is no exception. At the very beginning, Cheyenne Jackson, and the three lovely 9 to 5 ladies appear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEjjVvDmWHs&feature=PlayList&p=7E2E5DD85F79BDB1&index=14

And we find out the REAL murderer of Mindy, the puppet that was shot at the end of the last season... I guess you just gotta watch it. The eppisode is all about the Tonys and how [Title of Show] could be nominated for several awards.

Not to be a downer, but I kinda doubt that [tos] will be nominated for much. It didn't run for very long, but it became the obsession of theatre dorks everywhere. I honestly don't get what everyone is so obsessed w/. I mean, wooo, it's a ballade for the underdog, but honestly- what show isn't? Wicked is a ballade for the underdog, Ok? I never saw it, but I've listened to the soundtrack a lot. There are some funny parts, but the music isn't amazing. The only thing, in my opinion, this show had going for it was its creative plot and the love of theatre snobs. I feel like I SHOULD be one of them- I'm working on writing my second musical- but I just don't connect w/ this show.

Alright, now you have two perspectives on [tos], on to other things.

Next to Normal: I am so in love with this show. Go. buy. it. now. That is all.

9 to 5: Who's excited? Opening night is the 30th!! The Outer Critics Circle nominated Andy Blankenbuehler (who also did In the Heights) for his coreography, Megan Hilty (Doralee) as "Outstanding Actress" and Kathy Fitzgerald (Roz) as "Oustanding Featured Actress." The Drama League has nominated the show for Distinguished production of a show and Distinguished Performance Awards for Megan and Allison Janney (Violet.)

I'm so happy Megan got two nominations because come Tony time, she's the one that IF IF IF she gets nominated, gets nominated for featured instead of leading. Her character has the least arc to travel personally and she doesn't have a huge chance to show off her voice or acting abilities.

Allison will be nominated for leading. Stephanie could go either way. I kinda hope she's nominated for featured because against Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) in leading? ...no.

Sounds like it's about time for Philip and me to be making our Tony guesses. Hmm... we should have a contest! Haha.

Alright, hopefully those will be coming shortly. Till latah,

Jess

Being nine people's favorite thing really paid off! More, please!

One of the greatest shows to hit Broadway, [title of show], is joining other B-Way stars and comedians for the R Family Vacations Summer Cruise! Amazing!

[title of show] is a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. I'll continue if you're not confused yet (if so...too bad). This is considered to be the "underdog musical" because of it's original content and fantastic storyline. The actors in the show say that they play more concentrated versions of themselves. This show is a recipient of three Obie Awards and the writiers of the book, music, and lyrics, Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen, both received GLADD media award nominations for the show. After moving to Broadway from its wildly successful performance Off-Broadway...it left B-Way. But after a few months, so it had a good run and made its mark as an original Broadway musical like the show intended to be. For more information about it, visit the show's site or check out their soundtrack, available off of Ghostlight Records.

Now, I love this show. The songs never get old, and the story still makes me laugh. Being an aspiring actor myself, its great to see something like this make Broadway. And though I don't necessarily want to be on B-way, I still find a great inspiration in the show as being something imperfect and not flashy, but something true to the heart of theatre. With this, I missed the entire run of the show, which makes me wonder. Will the show return a run? Will it tour like it deserves to? Or is this engagement on a cruise the last stand for this outstanding work of art? Questions, questions, questions, but I really am looking forward to seeing further information about the show.

http://www.titleofshow.com/ the website front page has just been re-done and is awesome!

http://www.sh-k-boom.com/ the site for Sh-K-Boom Records and Ghostlight Records.

http://www.rfamilyvacations.com/ for those who are lucky enough to take the cruise. It's a predominatly gay cruise-line but the purpose is to create a vacation for everyone. Hooray!

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First phoned blog post from PhilipLouis!

I can blog from my phone now! :)

Softball Results

Well, 9 to 5 didn't have enough people to play but they still did anyway.

So, even though HAIR won by default, they still played. And HAIR won!!!! A good day for the tribe. A suprisingly close score of 9 to 8 left 9 to 5 in the losers braket. And don't get me wrong I love the show BUT I love HAIR! Good job guys!

New News! and Old News!

Hello!

First off, this is the new layout. The old one was dumb, and this looks like a playbill anyway. Yay!

Second, I heard (via twitter) that 9 to 5 and HAIR are facing off in a softball game tomorrow. I think that this is hilarious since this these are Jess' and my favorite musicals currently on b-way (9 to 5 is Jess' and HAIR is mine). Will post who wins tomorrow!

www.broadwayshowleague.com

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9 to 5 Previews and Next to Normal

Happy Easter, everyone! I'm sitting here with my dove chocolate easter egg (be jealous) and I'm all ready to catch you up.

9 to 5
!!!!!!!!!! This show makes me soo excited. It's based on the 1980 movie "9 to 5" about three women in the work place that get fed up w/ being taken advantage of and end up kidnapping their boss and holding him hostage until they can prove that he's guilty of fraud. The movie is hilarious- it stars Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin. Go check it out if you haven't seen it. The musical is almost word for word the movie plus singing. It stars Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block (Wicked, The Pirate Queen, The Boy From Oz), and Megan Hilty (Wicked).

Two things really excite me about this show:
1) Dolly Parton wrote the music. You have to understand that I raised myself on country music. This is huuuuuge for me. The music is very upbeat and fun, but has depth. "Backwoods Barbie" is the title of her new CD and also a song for Doralee, Megan's character. You can really hear the country in that song, but I haven't listened to any of the others and gone, "Country." It's a really great score.

2) Stephanie J. Block. Nuff said. Actually, not really. Ok, so Stephanie is my absolute favorite Broadway actress. Her voice is incredible. If you haven't heard her sing, go to the 9 to 5 website and go to the page where you can listen to songs from the show. Listen to "Get Out and Stay Out." This is the point where Judy is kicking her ex-husband out of her house. This song give me chills. Also, go check out her Defying Gravity on youtube (and there's an As Long As You're Mine posted of her and her husband, Sebastian Arcelus (Now starring off-broadway w/ Hunter Foster in "Happiness"), from when they were in the show together, and it's the sweetest thing evvver. <3)

9 to 5 opens the 30th (it's currently in previews.) Go see it!!

Next to Normal
I just bought the soundtrack to this last night. It has an awesome score. It's very modern and interesting. The show stars Alice Ripley as a mental mother who is convinced her dead son is still around and favors him to her living daughter. There's mucho tony tony tony talk for Alice. Guess we'll have to see. It's scheduled to open the 15th.

Jess

Photo of the Arts 2

It is officially Monday as of a few minutes ago. Poo. In a belated note, Happy Easter! Thought I'd give some sort of Easter related theatre photo.

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"The Fantastic Life of a Boy Named Gary Gray"

Just thought I'd make my mark about the show on here. It's a short show about a kid whose going through a tough time with a new school/something-else-that-you-don't-really-know-about-until-the-end. The show has a general sense that keeps the audience without letting their minds wander. I like it. AAAAAnnnnndddddddddd...we're in rehearsals! Sort of, since they start on Tuesday. Break a leg!

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Techies are Better than Actors: Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man."

Ok, so I'm pretty sure that working backstage crew doesn't make you a "techie", but it's the word Philip used. I helped build the set (sooo much fun- I love building things), and paint the set (ewwwww), and run scene changes. Ya, they were pretty awful. The orchestra had to vamp forever b/c it was very unorganized backstage. There were a lot of people in the way, and no one really knew what they were gonna be moving until they grabbed something. I still have a lot of time and a lot of shows before I leave, though, so I'll make sure they get better.

Ok, so the show- not one of my favs. It's a classic you kinda have to do, though, so I'm glad we got it out of the way my freshman year. Some of the music is good, (it gets stuck in your head, that's for sure) the plot is pretty eh... Especially the ending. And the whole show was definitely not up to par for our theatre department (no offense, Philip.) At least, that's how anyone in it saw it. The only thing I heard from people who came to see it was it was the best show we've done in a long time. False. But if they liked it, good for them.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, though. I've discovered being crew is really cool and chill. You don't have to worry about hair or make up or screwing up onstage, you just hang out backstage and watch the show (as much of it as you can see, anyway.) We sang and danced backstage to all the production numbers (76 Trombones, Wells Fargo Wagon, Shipoopi, Ya Got Trouble) and that was a ton of fun. Oh, and on the last show, all of the seniors in the theatre department that weren't in it (just working crew), got costumes on and ran onstage. They definitely fought each other with a fake cat and a fake plant.... on stage... <3 Lol.

So, it was a good experience. Gearing up for Summerstock now and helping out with the theatre camp at school for the little ones. Oh, and I'm in two other shows right now. (Little ones, but don't tell me that.) One is a play (like 10 mins long) that a couple of us wrote about Cleopatra that is moving from the regional to the state competition of National History Day, and the other is a play called, "The Fantastic Life of a Boy Named Gary Gray." Philip is in that one, too. It's a play one of our friends wrote that we're performing at a talent show. :)

AND AND AND --> I don't have time to write about it now, but 9 to 5 started previews on the 7th!!!! More later. <3

Jess

Actors Are Better Than Techies Part 1: Meredith Willson's The Music Man

Ah! I haven't blogged in a while! But that's okay because I have a good reason...sort of. This is because I just recently was in a musical at my school which closed this past weekend. Meredith Willson's The Music Man closed last Sunday, and I may have recently gotten over my Post-Show-Depression-Syndrome...ok not really. MWMM had a very good run with talks from some audience members saying that this is one of the best shows at St. Joe's (my high school) in a long time. As an actor (and being Harold Hill in the show which meant that was on stage for most of the time) I can see shows that have been better and those shows for a little closer than a long time. But, I understand if I did a good job (no ego intended...sorry!).
As a whole, the show came together very well with spot-on performances by the ensemble in Rock Island (very impressive guys!) and the dancers in Marian the Librarian. The minor flaw was the set changes (could've worked on them a little more, but maybe actors got in the way a little) and one of my costume changes which sucked as it took FOREVER. AND IT WAS JUST A VEST! That was a whole lot of dumb on my part, but the vest did look nice.
The show also had many laughable parts to it with the audience chuckling to the end. And finally, the show was rounded out enough with the laughs in contrast to the more touching scenes between Harold and Marian.
Okay, now to burst my ego. Out of the three shows, my Saturday performance sucked. I forgot choreography and lines and a prop. Of course, I did go on stage in a scene I wasn't supposed to. Wow, I was dumb (in retrospect I'm laughing about everything though since I covered well...I hope). It was interesting to notice everyone's reactions on stage when different improv movements were done (just another talent from the lovable actor). And finally, the show entertained the masses and I couldnt ask for a better cast family to enjoy my last show at St. Joe's with.

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