Funny Girl, Legally Blonde, and Anne Frank

Woo- I had an amazing weekend: I caught the dress rehearsal of a local community theatre's version of Funny Girl, followed by the national tour of Legally Blonde, and then tonight Anne Frank that Phillip wrote about in the last post.

Funny Girl: I've seen the movie and own the Broadway soundtrack (which is often on repeat in my CD player), but never seen the show live. Funny Girl follows the story of Fanny Brice, a famous commedian, singer, and actress from the 20's and 30's. Barbara Streisand starred in the movie and Broadway versions of the show. The show I saw was very well put together: the singing was great, and the coreography was awesome. There were a few kinks to iron out line-wise, but hey- it was dress rehearsal. The best part about the show (besides seeing all my buddies in it) was the music. If you don't own the soundtrack, at least buy "Don't Rain on my Parade" on itunes or somewhere.

Legally Blonde: Legally Blonde the musical was adapted from the movie of the same name. It just closed on Broadway, but is currently touring across America. The first act dragged a bit plot-wise, and all the over the top-hyperness got a bit annoying. Becky Gulsvig, who starred as Elle, didn't impress me much in the first act, either. However, everything got better in the second act. Becky's voice warmed up and sounded amazing. Once the show got down to the more emotional parts and the actors and actresses actually acted instead of hyperactively jumping around, it got a lot better. Afterwards, my friend and I headed to the stage door where all the actors and actresses were happy to sign our playbills (and one for Philip!) and we got a picture with Becky (who came prepared with her OWN pink sharpie.) Overall, it was a fun night out.

Anne Frank: Wow. First of all: the set. The set designer, Shannon Robert, has worked on a myriad of Broadway shows including *Legally Blonde*, Jersey Boys, Hairspray, and The Pirate Queen (we have not yet discussed my adoration for this show, but as the opening of 9 to 5 draws near, you'll understand.) The set was amazing. Philip described it mostly in his last post. Obviously, there were no scene changes, seeing as the Franks stayed in the annex throughout the entire show. The acting was incredible. Anne, Margot, and Peter were all played by high school students who did a wonderful job and took their parts extremely seriously. There were funny moments and scary moments, but, in my opinion, the best staged was when the Franks were discovered and the Nazis came to capture them. They had just been delivered strawberries, which the children were eating in the attic. Epic music started as the Nazis burst in and seized the adults. The most heart wrenching part, though, was seeing the children, unaware, playing happily above. They were taken and then at the end, Otto Frank (Anne's father) came out and summed up what happened to each member who had lived in the annex. They appeared on stage as he mentioned them. He was the only to survive. Of course, all of my friends (pretty sure we brought half the school to see our friend Emiley as Anne) were sobbing at the end. It took awhile afterwards for us to all calm down. When Emiley came out to see everyone, she laughed, "Everyone is always crying afterwards! Don't cry!"

Sooo- tech week for The Music Man, as Philip mentioned, is starting tomato, so there will probably not be any updates for awhile. Not quite sure how you will go on, but you must try.

Till latah,

Jess

Andrew Lloyd Webber Strikes Again!

Love Never Dies will be first shown in London! This Andrew Lloyd Webber's much anticipated sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. I also know close to nothing about the show other than that it will be first shown in London. Break a leg, Webber!

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Review: The Diary of Anne Frank

The Diary of Anne Frank was recently opened at The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville. I saw it last night since the other shows this weekend were sold out and this was the last weekend, for it.

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

The story is one that everyone knows, a Jewish girl named Anne Frank was in hiding during the holocaust until she was found. And also, everyone knows that she had kept a diary which she wrote down her story of hiding in strong detail. but what makes the play so amazing is because it's a play. Because of the theatre, this story can be presented in many different ways to show Anne's story again and again, a story that needs to be known.
At the Warehouse, the set was designed the fully see the secret annex from one point-of-view. The set designer did a great job paying attention to detail showing all of what the Franks and the Van Danns had. Along with this top notch set, was the top notch acting and directing. Paul Savas directed this show for the third time, and did the best with this performance. And his cast couldn't have been better. The cast brought the story to life making you feel you were the two families experiencing every laugh, tear, and heart-pounding message of Hitler's invasions. Through the first act, you felt save knowing this was only the first half of the show, nothing terribly bad could happen. Though these presumptions were correct, things change at the end of the second act during the capture. A moment you knew would happen, and a moment you were waiting for, but at the end, you couldn't turn away. The scene was directed beautifully by Savas. He staged the children being in the attic of the annex with the adults in the main room. The nazis invaded the annex as the children were unaware of what was going on until the one nazi went to the attic and took the children. The scene built up with a song from the 3rd symphony of this Polish composer (not knowing his name right now is killing me softly) which swells as the nazis attack. This scene ended the play before Otto Frank came in at the end to tell of how each Frank and Van Daan died.
Overall, I can't say enough about this production but that everyone who has seen it are lucky. This show is one that when performed to its peak, it takes your breath away. And this specific theatre deserves to take a bow.
I was told to be expected to cry in the show, and...let's say I was still shaking when I gave a hug to my friend, Emiley, who played Anne Frank. I thanked her, and I thank the Warehouse Theatre for telling a story that has to be told.

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Photo of the Arts 1

Finally, I have started putting in photos for this blog since I kind have wanted to do that since the beginning...though, I didn't take this picture.

My sister did.

She doesn't necessarily have a blog, but she might as well, since she is a good photographer.

This photo was taken by her, and I love it. It's a great way to kick off the photo segment of this blog. Cheers, Jess! Cheers to our blog!

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Carnage of the Gods!!!!! From London!!!!!

A famous Olivier-winning play from London hits the Broadway stage. Yasmina Reza's, God of Carnage opens today at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre.

The play is from Tony nominated director Matthew Warchus, who also directed the production in London. There, the play received critical reviews. With an all-star cast, God of Carnage will really make you laugh as you see the friendships of two couples unfold from 0 to 60 (and this is all from the small fight betwen their respective sons). This play looks great! Go see it!

And now, I'm tired. So I will stop writing and sleep. Getting close to tech week in the show I'm in, Meredith Willson's The Music Man, so life becomes tiring around this time, at least more than usual. Funny, right?

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West Side Story Opens "Tonight"

Whew- it has been craaaazy and there has been no time to write. Alrighty- main news article for tonight is that West Side Story opened at the Palace Theatre. The music for WSS is by Leonard Bernstain with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (his b-way debut.) The book is by Arthur Laurents. The story is based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"- only replacing the warring families are two different gangs (the Puertorican "Sharks" and American "Jets") from which Tony (a Jet) and Maria (the sister of the leader of the Sharks) fall in love.

This updated revival features many of the songs that the Sharks sing now in Spanish (translated by Lin Manuel Miranda who wrote and starred in "In the Heights.") The new production features Matt Cavenaugh (A Catered Affair, Grey Gardens) as Tony, Karen Olivo (In the Heights) as Anita, Maria's sister-in-law, and Josefina Scaglione, a 21 year old Argentinian actress making her b-way debut as Maria.

From what I've heard talking to people, Karen's Anita is incredible and there's mucho talk of a Tony for her.

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Also:

March 26-29 City Center Encores! is presenting "Finian's Rainbow" with Jim Norton, Kate Baldwin, and (get out of here) Cheyenne Jackson. Lol.

The "Shrek" cast album will be played on BroadwayWorld.com's radio again tommorrow and then the 24th at specified times (check the website.) It officially goes on sale the 24th.

Jess

Shrek on BroadwayWorld.com

Hey, guys, what's up? I'm Jessica, the other contributer for this blog. I have no aspirations of going into theatre (acting-wise), but I love it!

I don't have very long to write now, but I thought I'd let everybody know that BroadwayWorld.com is previewing the cast recording of Shrek today. It goes on sale March 24, but you can catch it for free on BWW's radio station.

Shrek the musical is... a musicalized version of Shrek the movie. Haha. It has been expanded a lot, giving more backstory. It sounds interesting, and it's FULL of references to other shows (A Chorus Line, Wicked, Into the Woods, etc.) The musical stars Sutton Foster as princess Fiona (who's CD "Wish" just came out) and Brian D'Arcy James as the big man himself.

Go check it out!

Jess