Hi there! I’ve come to the decision that this post will be my last post on this blog. I haven’t decided to stop blogging, I’ve just decided to start a new one! While I love writing about theater, I felt like there was more I wanted to write about and explore, like my love for healthy living and fitness. So, I’ve moved to a new link: collegiatebananas.wordpress.com. I’d love for you to check it out – there will still certainly be Broadway and theater posts, because, afterall, that is still my favorite thing to write about. Thanks!! Cheers, and happy blogging!
Category Archives: College Life
Broadway Show League
To whomever said theater and sports don’t mix, I’ve got some proof right here that they do indeed make a lovely pair.
This past Thursday, I attended the softball games of the Broadway Show League in Central Park. This is exactly what it sounds like: a bunch of Broadway actors playing each other in softball. Each show has a team, and let me warn you, it’s pretty legitimate. There’s uniforms, cheering, home runs, head-first slides into home plate, and even some summersaults and backflips (the Newsies cast won in that department).
I went to help my friend, Irene, cover the games for her website. She created and runs Theater4Teens, which provides advice for teens pursuing theater, interviews with lots of young Broadway cast members, and behind-the-scenes Broadway videos. She’s only a senior in high school, and it’s amazing what she’s done so far with her company! We made our way around all six games – Rock of Ages vs. Motown the Musical, Jekyll and Hyde vs. Annie, Hands on a Hardbody/Cinderella vs. Kinky Boots, Newsies vs. Matilda, and finally Once vs. Nice Work If You Can Get It. What cracked me up was how it was clear what shows were where simply because of the way the players looked or how they acted. The Newsies field was covered with summersaulting male dancers, the Once field was covered with hipster-y looking men with a generous amount of facial hair, and the Book of Mormon field (which I caught a glimpse of as I was leaving) was covered with clean-cut looking men with no facial hair.
Constantine Maroulis on deck, rockin’ his bandana. I didn’t realize how creepily close I was to him and their dugout until I looked at this picture…oops.
We were lucky enough to snag some quick interviews with Andy Richardson from Newsies, Heather Tepe and Clay Thomson from Matilda, and…wait for it…Jeremy Jordan from Newsies. That last one was a treat, and as a huge fan of SMASH, I will admit, I was slightly fangirling and trying not lose focus as I video-taped his interview. They were all super sweet and funny, and it was so kind of them to take the time to talk with us! They also all seemed to love playing in the softball league, and a couple of them mentioned that it’s just like playing with a bunch of friends because not only do the actors within each cast know each other well, but all the casts know each other. Irene made a short video with some of the interviews and clips from the games for her website – check it out!
I hope I get to see some more Broadway softball within the next few months! Playoffs are coming soon and the games were actually great games to watch – some of these actors must’ve played baseball or softball during their pre-Broadway days because they were darn impressive! To end, I must fangirl one last time and post a very adorable wedding picture from Jeremy Jordan and his now-wife-of-nine-months. Weddings are just so happy! Congrats to them!
[Stolen from Jeremy Jordan’s Instagram]
Musical Improv
I had only been briefly exposed to improv in high school, when I would watch the actors play improv games before rehearsal while I worked on stage crew. My first semester of college, I convinced a friend to come with me to see the school’s improv troupe, and, lo and behold, it was love at first…er…show(?) for the both of us. Two years later, we still attend nearly every show thirty minutes early – just to ensure we get a spot – and with no shame. While there are certainly days when the troupe is “off” and the laughs come slower, I can always rely on a good half hour of intense laughter when I step into that blackbox theater.
While the improv troupe on campus will always have my full loyalty, I could not pass up the offer when one of my best friends (and an even bigger theater geek than I am because it’s her major!) stopped by the city for the weekend and suggested we check out some professional improv. We had planned on seeing a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, which offers comedy shows every night and which I have heard great things about. However, due to some miscommunication and a subway mishap, which I and my pathetic still-lacking-subway-intuition will take responsibility for, we missed the UCB show and ended up at the Peoples Improv Theater (better known as the PIT), a theatre similar to UCB that offers a variety of comedy shows and classes. I apparently also need to work on my hosting skills because my friend, the guest, not only fixed my subway failure but also provided the backup plan.
We ended up at a 9:00 PM show featuring two improv troupes, Kosmos and HELLO, performing as part of the NYC Improv Festival. At the front of the PIT is a bar, apparently called the “Love Bar” and appropriately covered in red, which led to a 1950s-esque hallway that serves as the theater’s lobby. The theater, called the Striker Mainstage Theater, is a generously-sized blackbox.
Nothing could have prepared me for the improv show I was about to witness. While, as I had said, I had seen many improv shows before this one, I had never seen musical improv. To say I was pretty darn impressed is an understatement; this wow-ed me. Each troupe began with a suggestion from the audience, and from there, the rest was completely made up on the spot. Both groups had a single pianist, who offered music when he or she deemed appropriate, while the performers provided their own lyrics and harmonies. That night, I saw two extremely amusing, original, never-before-seen and will-never-be-seen-again musicals, one about a gay communist and the other about two lovers on an airplane, both of whose sex is unknown (try to tell me that’s not interesting). Not only do I love laughing until I cry, but I love the creative aspect of improv. It’s cool to see how the performers interact with one another and to see what path the plot takes, because it always ends up somewhere the audience would never have guessed.
Did I mention that all this fun cost only $10? I’ll take it!
Law & Order for the Broadway Soul
Long time no see, eh? I am not at all proud to say that it has been exactly 54 days since my last post. Upon starting this blog, I promised myself that no matter what life threw my way and no matter how busy I got, I would take the time to write a blog post at least once a week. What’s one less hour of sleep a week, anyway? With that logic and a self-made contract on my side, the blog went great the first few months. Then the inevitable happened and things got crazy, between school and interning and school and (attempts at) catching up on sleep and school. It feels great to be writing again, though, and I hope that I can dedicate time once again to the blog! Minus the self-made contract this time, because evidently that idea failed.
Lots has happened in the theatre world over the past month, from Tony nominations to the cancellation of Smash to Wicked‘s welcoming of Lindsay Mendez and Derek Klena (anyone else see this amazing pair in Dogfight?). Yet I will dedicate this post to something that has been around for over a decade.
Instead of unpacking the suitcases and boxes from school or going for a run – clearly I have my priorities straight – I opted to spend some quality time on Netflix with a quick episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. My excitement only grows each time a Broadway actor shows up in an episode, and sure enough, Karen Olivo graced the screen tonight as a distraught (hence the face below) mother.
Olivo is joined by other Broadway big-names, from Aaron Tveit to Bernadette Peters to Jesse L. Martin to John Gallagher Jr…and the list goes on to include other Broadway stars as well as ensemble and swing members of every show. In a special panel of cast members and producers, called “Law & Order: 20 Years and Counting,” held at the Paley Center for Media in California in 2009, series creator Dick Wolf pretty much summed it up when he said: “If you go to the theater and you’re in New York and you read the Playbill and an actor doesn’t have a Law & Order credit, he’s either just gotten here or he’s really bad.” The panel also mentioned Law & Order’s “contribution to the theatre” by providing many actors with jobs, and how the pool of actors working on Broadway has helped the television show in return. You can watch the two-minute video here.
So, in a celebration of the 23-year relationship between Law & Order and Broadway, please stop reading and treat yourself with some Netflix!
Gettin’ My Art On
Whip out that Elmer’s glue and smock ’cause we’re going back to Kindergarten – it’s arts and crafts time!
Am I the only one that finds cutting paper or using a gluestick therapeutic? I’m not sure if it’s the actual hand motion or how it takes me back in time to the days of recess and goldfish (okay, the goldfish days are still happening…). I find mindless collaging or painting a great way to de-stress, though unfortunately it’s often hard to find the time to do so. This week I have been off from school for spring break, and I made it a point to take time for myself and get my “art” on. While I chose “me” time this week over an English reading and Theology paper, both which have yet to be completed, I feel my mind is refreshed and ready to take on some Daniel Defoe and Augustine! I bet even those guys made sure to take some “me” time!
This week I tackled a collaged frame that can hold tickets or photos:
I had fun with it and was surprised at how easy and quick it took. Even better, my tickets no longer lay in a heap on my dresser! A friend actually did something similar for a project in a Visual Arts class, in which she had painted and then collaged over an old picture frame, creating a spiderweb of string where a photo would be. I wish I had a photo of it, because it looked amazing and much better than my finished product. Her frame looked like a perfect contraption to hold tickets or photos, so I thought I would attempt to make one of my own! Unfortunately, however, this project has a serious side effect: I have a new obsession with paper maché and yearn to paper maché anything I can get my hands on. My poor roommate might just wake up one morning with the entire room covered in collage…
1. The materials needed for this project are mainly around the house items:
– A frame
– Scissors
– Tape (the stronger, the better)
– Newspapers, magazines, or anything you want to cover the frame with (I contemplated using old Playbills that I’ve kept from shows to make the frame as Broadway-legitimate as possible, but couldn’t bring myself to cut them up.)
– Small bowl
– String
– Elmer’s Glue
– Newspaper to put under the frame while collaging to protect the table
– Tickets or photos
– Broadway tunes for some background music!
2. I tore up newspapers (sorry, Mom – now you know where the newspaper that you left open on the kitchen table disappeared to…) and old magazines into small pieces. I made more than enough pieces to avoid running out while in the middle of paper maché-ing!
3. Since there was not much surface to cover with a frame, I only needed a minimal amount of paper maché goo. While I’ve read countless ways to make this goo and have probably tried most of them in past years of teaching summer camp, the one I used with half water and half Elmer’s glue worked just fine.
4. Time to get messy! A.K.A. the best six minutes of this project. I dipped each torn up piece of paper individually into the goo and pressed it onto the frame, making sure to cover every last inch. When the frame was somewhat dry – I let my excitement get the best of me and failed to wait until the frame completely dried – I painted one thin layer of Elmer’s glue over the collage to hold it all in place.
5. Now, the tricky part! A.K.A. the worst six minutes of this project. I don’t know how my friend got the strings pulled across her frame so tight, though I assume some kind of pins (I guess I was too enthralled by the front of the frame to even think of looking at the back), but with a plastic frame I had no choice but to use some heavy duty tape. I estimated the length of the string and taped one end to one side of the frame, and the other end to another side, criss-crossing and creating diagonals as I added more string.
6. Viola! While I would rather not end on a low note, I must end with a confession. I cheated. Unfortunately, the tickets did not stay within the string, which was not pulled tight enough to hold them in place. If this project had gone as planned and ended up as 100% successful, then the tickets obviously would not have needed help from a little bit of tape stuck to their back. But hey, I got my “me” time, and that, my friends, is 1000% success.
The Liebster Award
About a week ago I found a lovely surprise in the comments section of my blog – one of my followers (whom I am very thankful for) nominated me for the Liebster Award! Her blog is called Steph in the Screentime – check it out – and it’s great because there are several posts on “The Mindy Project” and “New Girl,” which are awesome TV shows! As a newbie blogger, I had never heard of this award, so I did some research to find out more. From what I understand, it is a blogger-to-blogger award in which one blogger nominates other bloggers who have under 200 followers and who he or she believes deserves some recognition for their blog. Those who are nominated and choose to participate must post 11 facts about themselves, answer the 11 questions from the nominator, create their own set of 11 questions for their nominations, and then choose 11 blogs to nominate. I think it’s great that this award gives bloggers the chance to support and encourage each other. And now a German lesson for you – “liebster” means “dearest” in German.
Eleven Facts:
1. I played the flute for five years.
2. I don’t have my driver’s license (I’m workin’ on it!).
3. I love cheese and I wish I could eat it all day, every day.
4. I love kids!
5. I want to run in a half marathon or – I’m getting ambitious now – a marathon before I die.
6. I am eating stir fry and drinking a smoothie as I write this.
7. I’m rather tall.
8. I really don’t like snakes, or anything that slithers for that matter.
9. I love rain.
10. I would rather the weather be too hot than too cold.
11. I’ve had to get stitches in the same spot on my chin twice.
Answers to questions from Steph In The Screentime:
1. What is your favorite thing to do? Attend the theater, of course! But my all-time favorite thing to do is to attend the theater with friends and family. 🙂
2. What is your favorite movie? Tough question! Either “Godspell” or “Titanic” – I could watch either of them over and over and never get sick of it! I love 80s teen movies, too, like “The Breakfast Club” or “16 Candles” (so, basically anything featuring a teenaged Molly Ringwald).
3. What is your favorite tv show? Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, hands down!
4. Have you ever been out of your home country? Only once, on a middle school field trip to Quebec, which was absolutely beautiful and an experience I will never forget.
5. Where do you go on your vacation? A beach!
6. What’s your profession? Student.
7. What’s your favorite word? “Bubba.” So fun to say out loud. A friend also recently introduced me to another fun one – “brouhaha,” which means a noisy or enthusiastic reaction to something. I challenge you to use that word three times today.
8. What’s your least favorite word? “Onomatopoeia,” because I can never spell it (and yes, I had to look it up to write it here).
9. What’s your favorite sound? To go along with fact #9, I would have to say the pitter-patter of heavy rain. So soothing!
10. Do you have any pets? What are they? Unfortunately, no pets. I would love a golden retriever, though!
11. Do you cook? What is your specialty? I wish! The extent of my specialties is mac & cheese. My sister seems to be the one with the cooking genes in the family…
Questions for my nominee:
1. If you could travel to one place right this instant (teleportation style), where would it be?
2. What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
3. Biggest pet peeve?
4. If you could nominate one celebrity to be president, who would it be?
5. Favorite book?
6. Is there anything that you wish you knew how to do?
7. Nickname(s)?
8. Favorite pizza topping?
9. Favorite Broadway (or movie) soundtrack?
10. What fruits would your perfect smoothie include?
11. When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Blogs I nominate:
3. Haylie Hoang
4. Marama Whyte
Good Enough To Eat
So this blog post isn’t exactly related to theatre, but it has to do with food, which is just as satisfying!
Two of my good friends celebrated their birthdays this past week, so the only appropriate thing to do was to gather everyone up for some real, delicious non-cafeteria city food. The extremely thoughtful roommate of one of the birthday girls planned the dinner, including picking the place, making the reservation, etc. Props to her for finding a place that would deal with twenty loud college students celebrating not only one, but two birthdays. The original plan was to dine at Alice’s Teacup, a really tiny and fairy-tale-like restaurant (okay, I’ve never actually been there, but check out it’s website and tell me it doesn’t look magical), but because we needed a place that would accomodate a large group of people, we decided on Good Enough To Eat (or rather than “we,” I should say “my friend,” because she did all the work and all “we” had to do was show up and eat food), located on Amsterdam Ave and 83rd Street.
The name of the restaurant is more than appropriate, but I would suggest something more like “Good Enough Not Only To Eat But To Also Thoroughly Enjoy and Go Back Again Very Soon.” The place itself was beautiful and cozy, the food was tasty, and the service was great. It was very homey and looked like a kitchen of a barn house, with tiled floors and lots of cow decorations – my favorite a sign on the wall that read “The Girls” with a group of cows carved beneath it. A mini white picket fence not only greeted us outside at the door, but sat inside around a few of the tables as well. I also loved the beautiful masquerade masks that covered the walls.
The service also impressed me. We were a group of twenty people, and not only was the table ready when we got there, but the waiters and waitresses were extremely patient with us. We probably dropped a total of 4 or 5 utensils on the floor throughout the evening, which our waitress happily replaced. We asked annoying questions like what the space used to be (“a barbershop”) and what tahini was (“a very sweet and delicious sauce made from ground sesame seeds”). We also took forever to get our money sorted out when the check came and were probably obnoxiously loud. Large groups in restaurants are tough, and I would absolutely understand if we were a bother to our waiter (or rather waiters, because as a needy bunch we needed the attention of all of them at some point or another). Still, the staff gave us nothing but warmth, patience, and a wonderful evening!
Now, I realize I failed at this restaurant blog entry because I did not include the most important thing – a photo of the food. I ordered the Vegetable Burger, which came in a pita pocket with a side of tahini and a mustard-vinaigrette covered salad. I wish I had taken a photo, because my plate looked as delicious as it tasted – I blame its yummy flavor for distracting me and consequently causing me to forget to snap a photo. The burger was a generous size and while it tasted somewhat bland without the tahini, it was perfect dipped in the sweet sauce. The prices were not cheap, though moderate compared to the much higher city prices one can find elsewhere. Definitely worth the price, and once my college wallet heals a little, I will surely be back again!
I mean, just look at that picket fence and Valentine’s Day window!
“Aca-scuse me?”
I may or may not have watched the movie Pitch Perfect four times within the last two weeks. I may or may not know every lyric to every song in the movie. And I may or may not be about to write a blog entry on why this movie is aca-awesome.
If you haven’t seen the movie, watch it. You won’t be blown away and you probably won’t feel the need to watch it more than once like my friends and I have seemed to, but this film has got some good things going. It tells the story of Beca (Anna Kendrick), a spunky freshman at Barden University who brings a much needed makeover to the ancient competition set list of the university’s all-female a capella group, the Barden Bellas. So it doesn’t deserve an Oscar nod by any means, but unless you hate music or have no sense of humor, it’s worth sitting through at least once. Then again, that is coming from someone who loves the movie enough listen to the soundtrack everyday, so take it lightly.
As an advocate of lists, I figured this format would be the best to convey the greatness of this movie:
1. Funny and Super Quotable Lines That You Can Apply to Daily Life
“I will stop at nothing to take those dinglings down.” I used this during a debate in my English class the other day and it did indeed empower me to take my opponents, or “dinglings,” down.
“Aca-scuse me?” Warning: Don’t put “aca” in front of anything unless surrounded by people who have seen the film or at an a capella group rehearsal.
“Everybody be cool, it’s just a normal day.”
“Seriously, I am nude.” Hopefully this is not something that comes up daily, but hey, you never know when you might need it.
“Crushed it.” You just aced that test or audition and you need something to say afterward to express how awesome you just did. Here it is. Say it with a British accent, Rebel Wilson-style, and it will sound ten times better.
“Dixie-chick serious.” The only viable response to “Are you serious?”
“I’m gonna finish him like a cheesecake!” Ex-boyfriends and annoying little brothers, watch out, because we girls love cheesecake.
“Hard pass, hard pass.” The famous “I’ll pass” was just taken to the next level.
“I sometimes have a feeling I could do crystal meth, but then I think, mm, better not.” Words of wisdom that are not only perfect when trying to get out of any situation, but also because doing crystal meth is not exactly the best idea. Also, Rebel Wilson’s delivery with this, and all her lines, is spot-on (and I know several people who would justifiably argue that her facial expressions and dance moves make the film).
2. A Capella Mash-Ups
Pitch Perfect is the only time when Pitbull and Simple Minds can be played at the same time and sound harmonious. The a capella mashups that come usually when the groups perform live onstage, but occasionally on a bus or in an empty pool, sound auto-tuned but still present pretty fun songs, from Madonna to Miley Cyrus to Foreigner. They’re fun and I sing along every time (and they also work great on my Showtune Pump-Up Playlist!). Props to Anna Kendrick, too, who not only has a beautiful voice but who makes me want to learn how to make music with a plastic cup after watching her version of Lulu and the Lampshades’ “When I’m Gone.” She impressed me once again when she did the whole thing live on David Letterman.
3. Skylar Astin
From Broadway to the big screen, this stage veteran got his start in Spring Awakening as Georg, an adolescent with sausage curls who fantasizes about his piano teacher. Whenever a Broadway actor or actress shows up in a movie or TV show, I often feel like a proud parent or someone watching her old friend do great things (not to say that Broadway actors who do not end up on screen are not doing great things, too). What’s even more fun, though, is being able to exclaim “I saw them on stage! I met them!” (and, of course, failing to mention that “seeing them on stage” meant from the very last row in the theater and “meeting them” meant simply getting their autograph and muttering a quick, nervous thank you at the stage door). I also enjoyed Astin’s character, Jesse – a playful, likeable guy who I often felt sorry for when Beca gave him some unnecessary, Dixie-chick serious attitude.
4. The Mystery Machine and the Guy Who Falls Off His Bike
Just watch it.
Exercise for a Musical Theater Junkie
One of the hardest things about going back to school for me is having to figure out a new exercise routine. At home, I normally do not have a million things to do and therefore can usually find at least an hour to do some kind of workout. However, at school, between running from class to class during the day to club meetings in the afternoon to homework at night, finding the time to hit the gym or go for a run is a challenge. And, when I finally have a free hour to myself, sometimes the last thing I want to do is jump on a treadmill (and the first thing I want to do is plop myself in front of the television or a good book…or even better, plop myself onto my bed and take a nap).
When the motivation runs low, it’s amazing what Broadway can do for me. It’s no secret that music can make a workout much more fun, especially when the playlist is hardcore pump-up music or something I actually want to listen to. A lot of the time, I will run longer or do more lunges because I want to keep listening to the music…and yes (inner theater geek emerging…), it’s showtunes.
I’m proud to present my Showtune Pump-Up Playlist:
Man Up – The Book of Mormon – Could the lyrics be any better? MAN UP!
Life in Living Color – Catch Me If You Can
Little Shop of Horrors Prologue – Little Shop of Horrors – Really energizing!
Under the Sea – The Little Mermaid
Seize the Day – Newsies – Starts off slow, but then gets fast!
The North Strand – Once
I’m Free/Heaven Helps The Man – Footloose – a.k.a. Heaven help me finish this run…
Footloose – Footloose
We Beseech Thee – Godspell 2011 Revival – In which the cast got a workout themselves jumping on trampolines while singing this number.
Greased Lightning – Grease – GGGGOOOOOO! Greased lightning GOOOO!
I Got Life – Hair
Ladies’ Choice – Hairspray The Movie
Zero to Hero – Hercules – Okay, so not Broadway, but any Disney song deserves a spot on this list.
One Day More – Les Miserables – a.k.a. One step more…
I Just Can’t Wait To Be King – The Lion King
Voulez Vous – Mamma Mia! – SUCH A FUN SONG!
Make Me Stronger – Memphis – Again, perfect title, perfect lyrics.
Rent – Rent
The B**** of Living – Spring Awakening
Cortinas/La Vela – Fuerza Bruta – The drums and beats in this song are super fast! This song also taught me a very valuable lesson: Do not attempt to dance to it unless I am in stretchy workout clothing. I tried to without stretchy workout clothing, and as soon as I busted a move, this happened:
My impromptu dance workout failed, and now I am down one pair of jeans.
And with that, Happy Broadway Exercising!
Theater Lovin' 