In Review: "Oklahoma!"

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In Review: "Oklahoma!"

The first time I saw Oklahoma! live was at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada (in 2006?). I remember turning to my parents and saying:

“That was fantastic, and they really didn’t stray away from the dark part of the show. I don’t think I ever need to see this show again!”

All of this to say that, when the recent St. Ann’s Warehouse production of Oklahoma! first caused a stir at the Warehouse and then again in its move to Circle In The Square, I did not feel the need nor desire to run to see it. I had seen it onstage twice, plus the two filmed versions, and how different could it really be?

So I waited…until last weekend. The second-to-last performance. (How’s that for procrastination?!)

So, was it all that different?

Well, no. But yes? And also really no.

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In Review: "Slave Play"

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In Review: "Slave Play"

Fulfilling another of my promises for the second year of The Glamorous Life Blog, we begin my In Review series with Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris.

[*Quick note about In Review: I’m calling this series “In Review” and not an “actual” review because: I am not a paid theatre critic. I firmly believe that everyone has opinions and a voice and, therefore, has the ability to write a critical analysis if they so choose. However we should distinguish between paid critique and non. “In Review” is merely my take in looking back upon the work I have experienced, which I hope you will find interesting and informative!]

I had put off seeing Slave Play for as long as I could, which was in large part due to the inability of my peers to describe to me anything about the play without “giving it away” and this idea that “it just has to be experienced.”

That sort of vaguery is off-putting to me and, alas, I fell victim to my own stubbornness yet again, putting it off until last weekend. And I really really wish I hadn’t. (Slave Play closes this Sunday 1/19)

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

(And don’t worry, I’m not talking about the Christmas song.)

Sound is a very powerful thing. It surrounds us at all times, and yet how often are we paying specific attention to those sounds?

Sound can be music of course, but it can also be created by a billion other things:

  • Objects (doors closing, printers printing, squeaky floors, keyboard clicks, etc.)

  • People (unintelligible chatter, direct conversation, whispering, yelling, sneezing, etc.)

  • Actions (vehicles on the road, steam from a radiator, glass breaking, etc.)

  • Reactions (fires crackling, the frying of an egg, stomachs digesting food, etc.)

  • And more

And because of this pervasiveness of sound in our lives and its ability to recall in us specific thoughts, images, and emotions, sound is an excellent way to create an environment and to tell a story.

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What Have You Been Doing?

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What Have You Been Doing?

This is an excellent question, and one I’ve been getting a lot of lately.

And why?

  • Perhaps it’s because I have looked consistently tired over the past several weeks?

  • Perhaps it’s because I’ve not been very social this past month.

  • Or perhaps it’s because the rabid fans of my blog are craving the more in-depth content that I have not had the time to deliver much of this fall! (ehn?)

I’m sure all of these are correct, at least to a degree.

But it’s a good question, nonetheless.

What have I been doing? What’s been keeping me so busy?

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There Must Be More

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There Must Be More

“…than this Provincial life!”

Sorry, I just needed to have my Belle moment. That’s totally not what this post is about. I just adore that score.

Onward!

Over the past week I saw 3 shows - 2 Broadway and 1 Off-Broadway.

These shows were (in the order I saw them):

  • Scotland, PA

  • The Inheritance Part 1

  • Tootsie

Now, regardless of how I felt about each of these shows, or how much I did or did not enjoy them individually, they all had something in common per my experience in watching them.

At one point (at least) in every one of these shows I had the thought: “…But must we? This again? Isn’t there more out there? There must be more.”

Allow me to explain.

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Love Is Alive And Well On Broadway

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Love Is Alive And Well On Broadway

This past Monday night I was honored and overjoyed to attend the 4th annual Arts For Autism Broadway benefit concert!

For those of you who have not yet heard about this event, please allow me to tell you about the magic that is late June evening each year.

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Just The Perfect Blendship

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Just The Perfect Blendship

One of the absolute best parts of the theater that I feel people don’t talk about enough is the people - the community.

Sure, every June as we all get ready to sit down together in NYC and across the country to watch the Tony Awards, or are preparing for one of the major benefits like Broadway Bares, or even just during Pride Month in general, theatrical and non-theatrical publications will talk briefly about how Broadway is a community. And it is! It’s a fantastic community with the same pros and cons that any community might have.

But only “Broadway” is discussed as being the community itself.

And as soon as you call something the “Broadway” community, there is an innate elitism to that term - whether geographically or in terms of production budget - which gets thrown into everyone’s minds.

But what is this Broadway community? Is it just the thousands of people actively working in NYC’s largest theatrical houses? Just those who contribute to the city’s multi-billion dollar industry?

I don’t think so, no.

I think the Broadway community is far larger than that. Personally, I would consider the Broadway community to include anyone and everyone working in theatre across the entire country. I would even consider the Broadway community to include the multitude of theatre lovers - those who don’t necessarily work in the industry, but participate through other means by supporting those who do, or even just attending all productions they can and keeping tabs on what’s happening in the industry.

In my opinion, it is crucial to consider everyone involved in the theatre everywhere as part of the Broadway community.

“But why?”

Allow me to explain!

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"It's An Old Song" Yet Somehow New

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"It's An Old Song" Yet Somehow New

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Hadestown on Broadway, and there is so much I would like to say about the show and the experience.

Now, when I first began this blog I had promised that one of the things I would occasionally write is theatre reviews. However, I am not a reviewer or critic (well, everyone is a critic, aren’t they?) and I personally do not feel that the world needs another small-time reviewer to muddy the opinionated waters.

So what I am going to do is occasionally write about a show or theatrical experience that moved me, and then try to speak to why. What is it about this show? What in particular was enjoyable or exciting? What was new and/or different?

***This does mean there may be mild Hadestown spoilers today - but since I am including no pictures, video, or music, how spoiled could the experience really be? (Another question for another day?) Plus - well - the Orpheus story has also been around for a couple millennia, sooo… ;-)

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There's A Place For Us...

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There's A Place For Us...

I was at a networking event earlier this week and got into a conversation - one that I’ve had countless times with theatre professionals and audience members alike - where the central questions are:

“Should Broadway shows be about the art or the money?”

“Is there a place on Broadway for shows that are only light and feel-good? What about dark, depressing shows?”

“How do you expect to get new audiences if all shows look, feel, or sound alike?”

Now, I don’t find the mere asking of these questions to be problematic, but I do find the heart of this oft-had conversation to be problematic. Whichever side you fall on - and yes, there do ultimately seem to end up being two sides to this conversation - there is an insinuation that one type of theatre should exist on Broadway and another type should not.

But my big question is: Why?

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