Dames at Sea

Last night I saw a new musical in previews called Dames at Sea!  This is the show's Broadway debut, though it was off-off Broadway and then off-Broadway a while ago.  Bernadette Peters was actually in one of the original productions.

The show was very strange and didn't have a great plot, but the tap dancing was terrific!  It's kind of about a girl from Utah who wants to be on Broadway and ends up in a Broadway show but then there are sailors and they end up doing the show on the deck of the battleship in the second act.  No, it doesn't make much more sense when you see it.

It's not a show I'll likely see again and I doubt it will last long on the great white way, but I had an enjoyable evening and laughed and like seeing the tap dancing.

Here's one of the tap numbers from the show! Though they aren't in costume and the costumes were also fun.

Allegiance

Sunday night I was able to see a new musical, Allegiance.  Inspired by true events, and starring such greats as George Takei, Lea Salonga, and Telly Leung it is about Japanese internment camps in the US during WWII.

It was a really beautifully done musical with a strong story.  They also did really cool things with projections like at the end where they project the cloud from the atomic bomb onto the bodies of the cast members standing on stage.  It's only the first week of previews, though, so hopefully they'll still do some tightening up of the show before it opens.

There isn't a very good clips video online, but here's Lea Salonga singing a song from the show.  Her voice is gorgeous!



After the show we did the stage door.  Everyone in the cast was so nice! George Takei really took the time to walk around, sign every playbill, take pictures, and talk to everyone.  He seemed to be genuinely pleased at the turnout, which makes sense since this is really a labor of love for him.

My signed playbill

George Takei

Telly Leung

Lea Salonga

Hamilton!

Yesterday Kari and I thought we'd try out the Hamilton lottery.  Generally 200-300 people show up for this lottery so we went in going our names wouldn't be called and figured we could do something fun afterwards.

Against crazy odds, my name was actually called!  So Kari and I got to see Hamilton for $10 in the front row.

We're so excited!

I also got a wrist band so later at the show I could prove
I had won. I guess to cut down on scalping.

I had already seen the show once when it was Off-Broadway, but nothing can compare to seeing it again, on Broadway, and from that close to the stage.  It was so much fun!  Plus it's a wonderful show and I felt like there was so much to see that I'm glad I saw it again.

Spring Awakening

Last night Kari and I saw the new Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. This was an amazing performance first done in LA by the Deaf West theatre group.  The entire production uses both spoken English and American Sign Language.  It's really hard to explain, but the way in which the sign language was used in the show just heightened the experience.

There were both deaf and hearing actors including several that I already knew.  Ali Stroker I knew from The Glee Project and she also was on an episode of Glee.  A fun fact I learned last night is that she is also the first performer in a wheelchair to ever be on Broadway!  Marlee Matlin is a very famous deaf actress, so that was fun to see.  Andy Mientus has been on the TV show The Flash (as well as being in Les Miserables on Broadway). And Krysta Rodriguez I saw a couple years ago in the Broadway musical First Date.

I'm so glad I had a chance to see this limited run of an amazingly put together show!

Here's a trailer for the show:



And then here's some of the rehearsal:

Elsie Fest

On Sunday I had the most amazing day!  First, was the Broadway Flea Market (my most favorite time of the year) and secondly was Elsie Fest (my new favorite activity because this was the first year).

I had some good finds at the flea market including a couple Hedwig and the Angry Inch t-shirts, a Newsies bobble-head, and some other assorted Broadway themed items.

Then, after running around the flea market, Kari and I headed over to Elsie Fest. Elsie Fest is a brand new Broadway music festival. It went from 2pm-9pm and had many many brilliant Broadway performers! They had food trucks you could check out in between sets but after eating, mostly we sat in our seats and watched the show!  It was such an amazing group and there wasn't a single performer I didn't enjoy.

First, a quick rundown of the performers and then pictures!

Lea Salonga - known for being the voice of Jasmine and Mulan in the Disney movies. She also starred on Broadway in Miss Saigon and is currently in the new Broadway musical Allegiance (with George Takei)

Starkid - Darren Criss got his start with this theatre company that is made up of mostly friends from the University of Michigan. They do mostly musical parodies that they then put on YouTube including one about Harry Potter called A Very Potter Musical.

Seth Rudetsky - This guy seems to be everywhere. I'm not 100% sure what he does, but he hosts a show on Sirius radio. At Elsie Fest he did a fun bit where he talked about what makes a good singer and the proper use of vibrato. He was highly entertaining!

Laura Osnes - She was in the Broadway revival of Grease, but more importantly, she was the original Cinderella in the most recent Broadway production!

Aaron Tveit - He's been in a bunch of Broadway shows and was in the movie of Les Miserables. He also has a show on USA called Graceland.

Leslie Odom Jr. - Apparently he's done quite a bit of theatre, but I know him from the current Broadway musical Hamilton.

Darren Criss - The boy wonder himself. I most recently saw him in my stint of seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch but is also known for being on a little TV show called Glee.

So it's a little hard to see but I'm just to the right of the guy on the right
in a denim jacket and teal shirt (3rd row)

Lea Salonga

Darren Criss and Lea Salonga

Darren Criss and Starkid

Starkid

More Starkid

You guessed it - still Starkid

Seth Rudetsky

Laura Osnes

Laura Osnes and Aaron Tveit

Aaron Tveit

Laura Osnes and Aaron Tveit doing another fun duet

Aaron Tveit

Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr. and Aaron Tveit

Hanging out between performers

Darren Criss

Darren Criss and the band Neon Trees

Darren Criss

Darren Criss and the band A Great Big World

Darren Criss

Darren Criss and Starkid

Darren Criss and Starkid

A view of the stage from across the water

A Hedwig Retrospective

5 Hedwigs, 2 Yitzhaks, 14 performances.

As you may be aware, I got vaguely obscessed with the show Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Yes, I saw it 14 times.  I saw it with 5 different actors playing Hedwig and 2 different actresses playing Yitzhak.  Most importantly, I have no regrets!

It's such a fun show in that it's a little different every show. So much of the show has to do with the interaction with the audience, plus the jokes were re-written with each new Hedwig actor.  I also found myself noticing different parts of the show with each watch. It really is a rich show to see and I'm very sad that it just closed!

Of the 6 actors who played Hedwig, I saw 5 of them (sorry Michael C. Hall! It's nothing personal!)

Neil Patrick Harris (1)
Andrew Rannells (1)
John Cameron Mitchell (1)
Darren Criss (8)
Taye Diggs (3)

My favorite Hedwig was probably John Cameron Mitchell, as he was definitely the funniest and put on an amazing show.  My favorite actor to play the character is, of course, Darren Criss, but I really enjoyed the different spin that each new person brought to the role.

Anyway, here goes: a Hedwig Retrospective...in pictures!

Fun fact about this picture: I didn't take it, but you can see
me in the 3rd row if you look carefully

The previous pictures are all specifically related to the show. But let's see how Hedwig ended up infiltrating my life in other ways.

First - the cake that Kari made me for my birthday

2nd - Going to see Tits of Clay, the real life band made up of the band
members of The Angry Inch, the band in Hedwig. Lots of special guests
showed up!

3rd - The one woman version of Hedwig I put on for
Kari's birthday. It had high production values.

Now I need a new show to obsess over.  Any ideas?