Archive for June, 2012

June 2012 Music

In lieu of Friday Favorites, as this is the last post for June, I proudly present to you…JUNE 2012 MUSIC!

This playlist is really made up of different songs that remind me of events that have happened over the past few months since I started this journey as a volunteer.

  1. California Gurls – Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
  2. New York, New York – Liza Minnelli
  3. Chicago – Frank Sinatra
  4. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
  5. New York, New York/I Love New York – Glee Cast
  6. Steal Your Rock ‘N’ Roll – Memphis Original Broadway Cast
  7. Phantom of the Opera – Andrew Lloyd Weber
  8. Footloose – Blake Shelton
  9. Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) – Scotty McCreery
  10. Drummer Boy – Justin Bieber feat. Busta Rhymes
  11. Everything – Michael Bublé
  12. Brotherhood of Man – Nick Jonas feat. Rob Bartlett & Ellen Harvey
  13. Seize the Day – Newsies Original Broadway Cast
  14. Party in the USA – Miley Cyrus
  15. Life is a Highway – Rascal Flatts
  16. Once and For All – Newsies Original Broadway Cast

Check out the music on iTunes HERE.

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June 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Newsies Softball June 28, 2012 — Doubleheader How to Succeed & Million Dollar Superstar

We had a mini Fansies meet-up in central park today. Caroline, Jordan, Adam and I were all hanging out at the Great Lawn to watch our Newsies play some killer softball.

This was the week for make up games, and everyone had two rainouts to make up for. Newsies played How to Succeed on GL Field 5 at 11:30. It was a tough game, and more Newsies slowly started to arrive for the second game as the innings passed. When Tommy Bracco showed up, he saw Bres’s cooler and asked “Who’s cooler is that? Can I throw a cannoli in there?” (Oh Italian boys…). Brendon Stimson showed up and proceeded to keep his backpack on before Evan Kasprzak came up to him and said, “Man, you’ve been here for an hour. You can take off your bag now.” Despite these respites of humor, the game was a nail biter, going to the 11th inning with Newsies lost at the last minute.

Their second game was on GL Field 4 against Million Dollar Superstar, a team consisting of folks from both Million Dollar Quartet and Jesus Christ Superstar. This game had a lot of runs happening, and at one point Jeremy Jordan hit a foul, and made it all the way home before anyone told him. Don’t worry. He got another homerun (on an error) in later after which Aaron Albano commented, “That was alright. I mean, it’s no Christian Bale…” Newsies won the second game.

All in all, it was a great day to watch some softball and cheer on the men and women who dance and sing and act their hearts out eight times a week.

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June 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Wednesday Wishes! (June 27, 2012)

This week, I didn’t know what to wish for. I’m actually really happy and content with what’s going on in my life, and I feel like things are pretty awesome. Then I realized that I’ve been wearing dresses whenever I leave the house. And I’ve worn most of my dresses many times this summer already. So new dresses sounded really exciting.

Image representing ModCloth as depicted in Cru...

So of course, I went to the Modcloth website, and lusted after some beautiful dresses. Here are some of the ones that I wish I had:

Bettie Page Drinks on Me Dress

Bettie Page Drinks on Me Dress

Good Luck Charming Dress

Good Luck Charming Dress

Alluring Acres Dress in Cheers

Alluring Acres Dress in Cheers

Bettie Page Basque in the Memories Dress

Bettie Page Basque in the Memories Dress

About the Artist Dress in Coral

About the Artist Dress in Coral

Those are my Modcloth dress wishes this week! What are you wishing for?

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June 27, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Newsies at Barnes and Noble

Friday, June 22, 2012 was amazing. June 22 was the Barnes & Noble Live event at Barnes & Noble on Lexington and 86th Street featuring some of my favorite people in the world.

Yep. Newsies. Performing at Barnes & Noble. Signing the CD. Harvey Fierstein and Jack Feldman and Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay and Ben Fankhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger.

So of course I got there super early and milled around until the line got a little longer. I bought 3 CDs (buy 2 get one free? Yes please.) to get one signed for my mommy (she thinks its pretty cool, and I know its awesome), and one for me, and one extra (maybe for a sister?).

When I wasn’t going to be the first person in line, I wandered over and got in line and hung out with other fansies and waited for the boys to show up.

Time passed, blah, blah, blah…and then the boys started to arrive. The Newsies are all absolutely amazing. I love every last one of them. They are so sweet and so kind and so adorable.

Anyway, they finally let us in to get seats and we got all settled. The staff told us we were getting three things. Three!

  1. a performance by the cast of the Tony Award Winning Music
  2. a picture with the cast
  3. a chance to get our CDs signed.

Yeah. That’s right. A picture with the Newsies. Anyone remember my wish list from last Wednesday? (See here) Wish granted! Thanks Disney and Barnes & Noble!

The boys started performing, and Kara sang Watch What Happens and Jeremy joined her for Something to Believe In and I about died. It was amazing, flawless, beautiful.

Then we took pictures with the cast as we slipped into line to get our CDs signed. They were all amazing and it was nice to talk to them and say thank you for being amazing!

June 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Peter and the Starcatcher Review

As you have hopefully read by now, I recently saw Peter and the Starcatcher. It is an amazing play that really comes to life in the hands of the twelve stunning actors (and actress) who occupy the stage during the course of the two-hour show.

Adam Chanler-Berat plays “Boy,” a young nameless orphan who earns a name as the show. Molly, the young starcatcher who befriends the orphan boys, is played by the gorgeous Celia Keenan-Bolger. Christian Borle plays the infamous “Black Stache,” the precursor to Captain Hook.

Rick Elice has done a phenomenal job with transforming the book into a play. He has created so many funny and memorable moments.

The directors, Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, have really brought out the magic of the story with their vision and guidance for the actors.

Wayne Barker did an amazing job composing the few songs that populate this play, creating sounds that gently infiltrate your consciousness.

Donyale Werle, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play, definitely deserves the Tony. It is an absolutely stunning set that uses household items to really portray the scene changes. I could actually feel the scene changes in this show, and their main prop in the First Act is a length of rope.

I love the story line, and definitely want to go back and see the show. Every little bit of it is so amazing. I was laughing the entire show. It’s amazing!

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June 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Five Fabulous Friday Favorites! (June 22, 2012)

Here’s a list of some favorite things from the past week!

Favorite Acapella YouTube Video:

CLICK TO TWEET THIS VIDEO TO ELLEN: http://clicktotweet.com/SHR8M
CLICK TO POST THIS VIDEO TO FACEBOOK:http://tinyurl.com/sharedisneymedley

Favorite Musical:

Favorite Off-Broadway Show:

Favorite Play:

Favorite YouTube from a Friend:

Hope you enjoyed! Share your Friday Favorites in the comments below!!! Thanks all!

June 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

June 19-21, in a nutshell, with lotsa pictures!

I know. It’s awful. I slacked off. I didn’t post this on Thursday, and you’re probably reading this late.

I do have an excuse! I was really busy. It was my last days of my volunteer year, and I was trying really hard to live it up,

Tuesday June 19

This was my second to last day of work, and I got out super early…like before noon early. And there was no way I wanted to head straight home. So I walked. A lot. I went over to Broadway and walked from 6th Street to 39th Street, where I went to Lord & Taylor.

Br. Ed had given me a men’s sweater to return to Lord & Taylor, and told me to get something for myself. I spent almost 5 months trying to find the perfect purchase, and I finally found it. A bottle of Versace perfume that had elements of all my favorite perfumes from over the years. It literally smells like all the parts of perfumes that I have ever liked combined together, and it is AMAZING. The perfume came with a white Versace bag, and the sales clerk gave me two full-size samples of Versace lotion, and several handfuls of other perfume samples.

All in all, it was an amazing purchase, and I smile when I smell the perfume.

Wednesday June 20

A darling student gave Kenny and I tickets to go see Cirque du Soleil‘s Zarkana matinee performance for this day.

We were supposed to sit in the front row of the third mezzanine, but when we got there, the usher relocated us to the center of the first row of the second mezzanine. We had a stunning view of the stage, and were able to look down and see all the exciting things happening in the Orchestra level.

Zarkana is an acrobatic rock opera that blends circus arts with the surreal to create a world where physical virtuosity rubs shoulders with the strange.

The story follows Zark, a magician who has lost his powers – and the love of his life – in an abandoned theatre populated by a motley collection of off-the-wall characters and incomparable acrobats. He runs into the Mutants, four sirens as sinister as they are fabulous, who are determined to divert him from his quest.

Zarkana is a visual vortex set in a slightly twisted musical and acrobatic fantasy universe where, little by little, chaos and craziness give way to festivity and love regained.

This show is really well done. The music was amazing, and all the acrobatics were phenomenal. It was a lot to take in at once, though, and for most of the show, I felt overwhelmed and confused. I didn’t understand the storyline, and I didn’t know what they were singing about. I’m glad that I have at least seen a Cirque du Soleil show, though!

Thursday June 21

Thursday means Broadway Show League! I broke out my brand-new awesome Newsies baseball cap to watch Newsies take on Warhorse, and come out victorious. MVP of the game was Mr. Ryan Breslin (aka the birthday boy)! Rumor has it he hit a full cycle, and he was catching everything that was hit his way. I was literally stunned by his playing. Whatever he had for breakfast was really working for him! See the end of the post for pictures!

After the game, I went to hang out with Madeleine, a new friend, and her sister before meeting up with Caroline (a fellow Fansie). We hit up Shake Shack and watched some Malcolm in the Middle.

Then I went out to Times Square to meet up with Caroline. We were going to try for Peter and the Starcatcher tickets via the lottery, and the show had sent us lotsa starstuff…because we won! Caroline’s name was the first one called! It was super exciting, and I couldn’t believe it!

We waited around the theatre until she bought the tickets, and then we walked down 8th Ave until we heard from her grandma and aunt about meeting them for dinner. So like the good Fansies we are, we walked past the Newsies theatre on 41st on our way back up to 47th. Only a fansie could walk from one corner on 47th to another corner on 47th and manage to pass the Nederlander Theatre.

After dinner, we headed to the show. Can I just say that, for me, Peter and the Starcatcher is to plays what Newsies is to musicals. It was fantastic. I loved the way they used basic household items to create these amazing places, and each actor was phenomenal in their roles. I truly felt transported to another time, and I can’t wait to try and lotto again.

I’m going to actually write a real review for this show, so I won’t reveal too much here, but the three “leads” were absolutely amazing, and really bring the magic to life. The show if phenomenal and everyone should go see it!

Pictures

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June 21, 2012 at 11:59 pm Leave a comment

Wednesday Wishes! June 20, 2012

This week’s wishes are people and groups I wish I could get a picture with… It’s short, sweet, and to the point, because it’s already over a day and a half late…My apologies all! I forgot to schedule this one, and just found it (June 22, 2012 at 12:30AM).

  1. Celia Keenan-Bolger
  2. Christian Borle
  3. The Delancey Bruddahs (Mike Faist and Brendon Stimson)
  4. Kyle Coffman
  5. Maggie Keenan-Bolger (a fabulous middle child)
  6. The Newsies
  7. The Oldsies

If these pictures ever happen, maybe I’ll insert them in later…thoughts?

June 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Peter and the Starcatcher: Barnes & Noble Live Event

Barnes and Noble does all sorts of really interesting events, and the ones in New York are by far the best! That’s why last Thursday, I had an AMAZING opportunity.

Peter and the Starcatcher (5-Time Tony Award Winner) had recently released its annotated script (which is simply stunning, by the way. I think there should be one for Newsies), and B&N was hosting an event for it. They invited Ridley Pearson (author of Peter and the Starcatchers with Dave Barry, and The Kingdom Keepers) to host the event, and they brought in Director Rick Elice, and the three of the lead stars from the show: Christian Borle, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Adam Chanler-Berat.

The format was pretty simple. Before the even started, twitter followers for @StarcatcherBway were invited to tweet in their questions. Ridley Pearson used those as a jumping block for questions to ask the cast, and he really only needed to ask three or so questions, because they were really good at telling the story of how the script came from a book, through La Jolla, to NY Theatre Workshop, to Broadway.

It was amazing seeing how connected they all are, and how they constantly give credit to each other for the show getting to where it is today. You can really see the camaraderie that defines their show come out in their interactions off stage.

After the question session, they all set up at a table and prepared to sign several copies of the script. They were all wonderful and were excited to hear what their fans had to say. They responded accordingly, and just had huge smiles on their faces the entire time. They are such a funny, warm, and welcoming group of people! It was amazing!

I was really excited to meet Ridley Pearson because he wrote the Kingdom Keepers, which is this awesome book series that my youngest sister and I just absolutely adore! It’s like mystery and adventure and excitement meet Disney.

Christian Borle is phenomenal, I’m surprised I was able to say thank you without stumbling over my words. I was so overwhelmed about being in the presence of such an amazing and impressive actor. I watch him on SMASH too, and I literally am stunned at how fabulous he is.

Celia Keenan-Bolger, big sister to Andrew Keenan-Bolger, is absolutely stunning. Girl has style, class, and an amazing voice. She can act the pants off of anyone. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: She could wear a paper bag and still look gorgeous. I definitely stumbled through my words to her, but man, she is so down to earth, and so kind to everyone.

Adam Chanler-Berat was adorable. Literally, I cannot explain him any other way. He’s funny, charming, and sweet. I was so impressed by how humble he is too! Everyone was trying to say that bringing him into the PATSC world brought the magic that was missing, and he was all bashful and shy about it, trying to credit them with the magic too. He is a winner in my eyes!

Meeting Rick Elice was almost too much for me to handle. By the time I got to him, I was already overwhelmed by all of the greatness and gratitude, and I feel like I made a fool of myself in front of him, stammering over words and sentences like none other.

Anyway, I also have some pictures from the event to share with you guys. Click on the images to make them larger!

June 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Ghost: The Musical

Ghost. Maybe you’ve heard of the 1990 Romantic Drama-Fantasy-Mystery movie starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Not ringing a bell? Whoopi Goldberg is also in it, as the Psychic Oda Mae Brown? Yeah. This one:

Classic movie right? Well it recently got turned into a musical (yes, a musical) and has been put on BROADWAY! Now, Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg are not in the musical version, but they have got some fantastic actors to replace them (in some cases, I think the stage actors might even be a little more believable than the movie, which is saying something!).

Now, I wouldn’t say this is the greatest show on Broadway, but I for one liked it a whole lot more than Once, and it is extremely good. Like, I-wish-I-could-go-back-and-see-it-again-and-again good. I would rate it just below Newsies, tied with How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

I was super skeptical about Ghost: The Musical. My initial thought when I heard about it was something along the lines of ”another movie to musical”? Really? I mean, I get Newsies: The Musical (It should have always been a stage production), but I think that made four NEW movies-to-stage shows on Broadway at the time. Which is a little crazy in my opinion. Especially since three of those new ones were from the early 90s. But whatever.

Then I started to hear some good things. And lots of people were disappointed that Ghost didn’t get more Tony nominations…and that’s when I knew I should see it.

Almost two weeks ago, I met that Crazy-Awesome girl (her name is Jamie, for future reference), and another awesome guy (John), in the lottery line for Newsies. John has seen Ghost so many times, I don’t know if he’s even sure how many times. He talked it up, and Jamie talked it up, and I knew that I needed to see this show.

So on my last day to hang out with Jamie before she jetted off to Florida (sad face), we went and tried our luck for the Ghost lottery. Jamie had already seen it multiple times this past week, but she wanted to give it another try, and against all odds, her name got called first.

I got to see Ghost. It was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the stage magic and the special effects that went in to creating the show. I don’t know if I can ever go back and watch the movie now. Caissie Levy and Richard Fleeshman seriously looked like they were truly, madly, deeply in love. And they were gorgeous together. Also, Richard is stunning. STUNNING, I tell you. And I find him WAAAAY more attractive that Patrick Swayze. Also, his stage voice is dreamy. I think I was falling for Sam while sitting in the audience, and I know I wasn’t the only one. I overheard one audience member say “I wish Willie stole Sam’s wallet AND shirt…Then he could spend most of the show shirtless.”

Da’Vine Joy Randolph is AMAZING as Oda Mae Brown. Girl has style, attitude, and a killer voice. I was blown away by how much sass she had on stage, and I’m a little confused about why she doesn’t have a Tony. Without her, Ghost would be NOTHING (literally…he’d still be a ghost). She plays her character so well. It was simply stunning! I wanted to hang out with Oda Mae.

Everyone did a great job nailing their character. The music isn’t the greatest, but its still good, and gets stuck in your head every so often.

The special effects MAKE the show. It is amazing…like a musical magic show at times. It’s great! And they do such a good job making it super convincing. The LED light backgrounds are super high-tech and fancy. They do a great job making you feel the scene changes. The only problem that I had with the lighting is that sometimes it felt like it was blinding my eyes (but this was literally only for a few seconds maybe three times during the show.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the dancing in the show, but I’ve been watching the choreography of Christopher Gattelli in Newsies so much, and they won the Tony for Best Choreography, so I had extremely high standards going in. The cool parts were definitely when Richard was getting beat up by the subway ghost…that took some skill. I definitely see where those abs of his come in handy…

All in all, Ghost was magical. It’s definitely worth seeing, and I would for sure go back again and again!

June 18, 2012 at 12:00 pm 2 comments

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6 Months of Newsies on Broadway!

Seeing the show to celebrate!September 28th, 2012
It's been SIX GLORIOUS MONTHS!!!! How about at least six more?
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