Onto the Theatre!

The weekend before Thanksgiving was also another weekend of Theatre for me.  First, friends and I went to see a musical on Columbia's campus.  It was by Columbia's Musicals Society or something like that and they are basically a group on campus committed to putting on two really good musicals each semesters.  It was pretty much all undergrads from Columbia and Barnard in it but they were actually really good.  It was in a small black box theatre but they did a really good job at using the small amount of space they had, plus the actors had great voices and were very talented.  The musical they did was Urinetown, which is one of my all time favorites.  I originally saw it when it was on Broadway in 2002. It won three Tonys including best book and best original score and was nominated for best musical.

The basic plot is it takes place in sort of a futuristic world where there is a drought and so water consumption is so limited that private toilets have become a thing of the past and now everyone must use pay toilets and if they don't they are sent to the mythical Urinetown.  The story is very satirical and very very funny.  Here is a clip from the Tony Awards:




The next day, on Sunday, I went with a different friend to see the play A Life in the Theatre starring Patrick Stewart (From Star Trek X-Men) and T. R. Knight (From Grey's Anatomy).  They were in a word, Brilliant.  The show actually got mixed reviews and closed earlier than it was supposed to, which I think is unfortunate because I really enjoyed it.  It is kind of a backstage look at two actors so we see them in different situations such as just leaving the theatre, putting on and taking off their make up, during costume changes, and also a variety of scenes from the shows the actors are in (only from the back!).  It was also cool to see two famous actors live! 

It's a little hard to see, but this is the set from where we were sitting

If you watch the clip below it has several snippets from the show.  The boat scene around 1:20 was my favorite!



Oh, why can't every day be a day at the theatre?

I plan on seeing two more productions before the semester ends when my friend comes up from DC to visit. We're going to see Elf the musical and Avenue Q. I think those will be the only other shows I see as finals are fast approaching and the semester draws to a close. Only about three weeks left!