Poetry and Shakespeare

This weekend was pretty busy in that I went to a couple of performances.

Saturday night my roommates and I went to see a Poetry Slam by a poet named Carlos Andrés Gómez. Monica knew who he was because she's seem him perform before and he went to the same high school she did (though not at the same time).  He was performing and she convinced us to go.

I was actually pleasantly surprised.  I'm not usually one for poetry like that but he told little stories that went along with his poems and was a very captivating speaker in general.  It was different and not something I probably want to do all the time but it was a cool experience.

Then on Sunday, Kari and I used our awesome waiting in line skills to wait for tickets to see Shakespeare in the Park.  We woke up at 5am, were in line at 6am, and got tickets at noon.  The wait seemed to go much faster this year, though that could have to do with the fact that it wasn't pouring rain all morning.  The weather held up and we got our tickets!

Front of the line from where we were

So excited! (and tired)

We were around 12th in line so we ended up getting amazing seats (2nd row!).  The show was Comedy of Errors and had Jessie Tyler Ferguson (from Modern Family) in it and also another actor who I had seen perform in a play called Seminar a while ago.

Everyone was amazing and the show was a lot of fun!  One of the most surprising and fun parts was that during all of the scene changers there were swing dancers who came out to change the scenery.  They were so much fun to watch and did all kinds of tricks and fun dance moves.

picture from the show's website

The Tonys!

Since, as you know, I'm a huge theatre fan, what better night is there than the Tony Awards?  I feel like this was a really good year for the Tonys with a lot of good performances and NPH was just as grand as ever.  Monica, Kari and I came up with our predictions ahead of time so those are below.  We initialed our picks and then the winners are in bold.  Kari definitely seems to know what the Tony voters want as she got the most correct picks with 15.  I came in second with 9 and Monica had 6, but she didn't know most of the shows anyway.  I think my issue is that I sometimes picked who I wanted to win, not necessarily who I thought would probably win.

BEST PLAY

The Assembled Parties Author: Richard Greenberg

MC Lucky Guy Author: Nora Ephron

The Testament of Mary Author: Colm Tóibín

KB AM Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Author: Christopher Durang

BEST MUSICAL

Bring It On: The Musical

A Christmas Story The Musical

KB Kinky Boots

MC AM Matilda The Musical

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL

A Christmas Story, The Musical: Joseph Robinette

KB AM MC Kinky Boots: Harvey Fierstein

Matilda The Musical: Dennis Kelly

Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella: Douglas Carter Beane

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE

A Christmas Story, The Musical: Music and Lyrics: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Hands on a Hardbody: Music: Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green Lyrics: Amanda Green

KB AM MC Kinky Boots: Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper

Matilda The Musical: Music & Lyrics: Tim Minchin

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

Golden Boy

Orphans

KB AM MC The Trip to Bountiful

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

Annie

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

KB AM Pippin

MC Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY

Tom Hanks: Lucky Guy

KB AM MC Nathan Lane: The Nance

Tracy Letts: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

David Hyde Pierce: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Tom Sturridge: Orphans

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY

MC Laurie Metcalf: The Other Place

Amy Morton: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

AM Kristine Nielsen: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Holland Taylor: Ann

KB Cicely Tyson: The Trip to Bountiful

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

AM Bertie Carvel: Matilda The Musical

Santino Fontana: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Rob McClure: Chaplin

MC KB Billy Porter: Kinky Boots

Stark Sands: Kinky Boots

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

AM Stephanie J. Block: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Carolee Carmello: Scandalous

Valisia LeKae: Motown The Musical

KB Patina Miller: Pippin

MC Laura Osnes: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY

Danny Burstein: Golden Boy

MC Richard Kind: The Big Knife

AM KB Billy Magnussen: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Tony Shalhoub: Golden Boy

Courtney B. Vance: Lucky Guy

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY

Carrie Coon: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Shalita Grant: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Judith Ivey: The Heiress

KB Judith Light: The Assembled Parties

AM MC Condola Rashad: The Trip to Bountiful

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL

Charl Brown: Motown The Musical

MC Keith Carradine: Hands on a Hardbody

Will Chase: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Gabriel Ebert: Matilda The Musical

AM KB Terrence Mann: Pippin

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL

Annaleigh Ashford: Kinky Boots

KB AM MC Victoria Clark: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Andrea Martin: Pippin

Keala Settle: Hands on a Hardbody

Lauren Ward: Matilda The Musical

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Pam MacKinnon: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

KB AM MC Nicholas Martin: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Bartlett Sher: Golden Boy

George C. Wolfe: Lucky Guy

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Scott Ellis: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Jerry Mitchell: Kinky Boots

KB AM Diane Paulus: Pippin

MC Matthew Warchus: Matilda The Musical

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

AM Andy Blankenbuehler: Bring It On: The Musical

Peter Darling: Matilda The Musical

KB Jerry Mitchell: Kinky Boots

MC Chet Walker: Pippin

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS

Chris Nightingale: Matilda The Musical

Stephen Oremus: Kinky Boots

Ethan Popp & Bryan Crook: Motown The Musical

KB AM MC Danny Troob: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY

KB AM MC John Lee Beatty: The Nance

Santo Loquasto: The Assembled Parties

David Rockwell: Lucky Guy

Michael Yeargan: Golden Boy

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

KB AM MC Rob Howell: Matilda The Musical

Anna Louizos: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Scott Pask: Pippin

David Rockwell: Kinky Boots

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

MC Soutra Gilmour: Cyrano de Bergerac

AM Ann Roth: The Nance

KB Albert Wolsky: The Heiress

Catherine Zuber: Golden Boy

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Gregg Barnes: Kinky Boots

Rob Howell: Matilda The Musical

Dominique Lemieux: Pippin

KB AM MC William Ivey Long: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY

Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer: Lucky Guy

Donald Holder: Golden Boy

KB AM MC Jennifer Tipton: The Testament of Mary

Japhy Weideman: The Nance

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Kenneth Posner: Kinky Boots

KB Kenneth Posner: Pippin

AM Kenneth Posner: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

MC Hugh Vanstone: Matilda The Musical

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY

John Gromada: The Trip to Bountiful

Mel Mercier: The Testament of Mary

AM KB Leon Rothenberg: The Nance

MC Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg: Golden Boy

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Jonathan Deans & Garth Helm: Pippin

MC Peter Hylenski: Motown The Musical

KB John Shivers: Kinky Boots
AM Nevin Steinberg: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Catch Up

I am so far behind in my blogging!  I know, kind of a ridiculous statement but I've been wanting to write about all of this for a while!

So let's begin, shall we?

My birthday was on May 18th!  I love my birthday, its always such a happy time :)  My coworkers were so sweet and surprised me on the Friday with cupcakes and a card and then we all went out for drinks afterwards.  Then on Saturday I went to Karaoke with friends and then we had cake and my apartment.  And man, was this some incredible cake!  Kari made me a cake that looks like hogwarts!

Birthday Festivities!

Roses from Seth :)

I couldn't help it, I wanted to be a birthday princess!

My Birthday Dalek now has a place of honor on my desk at work

The week after my birthday I had a visitor in the form of Tanya, a friend of mine from Willamette.  She was down in the city because her senior thesis film (she just graduated from film school) was being showcased in a gallery.  So I had a lot of fun hanging out and visiting with her and then we got to go to the opening reception of the gallery!  It was definitely fun to see Tanya's films (we were also treated to an exclusive Q and A later on) but I think several of the other artists works made me realize just how much I don't understand art.  Especially when it's contemporary art.  But oh well. It was fun to see everything.

Yay Tanya!

One of the art pieces I did not understand

Roommates being classy

Long Day

Me with the artist!

Also the week after my birthday I had jury duty for the first time.  It wasn't all that terrible actually.  I got quite a bit of reading done and it was pretty fascinating to see the judicial system is action.  I didn't get called for any cases but I got to watch the jurys being picked for 2 cases.  One even settled halfway through picking jurors!

The fog made the skyline look really cool

This is where I had lunch.  Fitting, right?

Seth and I spent an enjoyable afternoon walking around Central Park.  And discovered some crazy things deep in the heart of it!

There was a face etched onto the rock!

Seth also invited me to the wedding reception of some childhood friends of his.  I had met them a couple of times and they are so nice!  So it was fun to celebrate with them.  The reception was at this fancy country club in Westchester.  The food was great, I got to hang out with Seth and meet a bunch of interesting people.

My roommates and I also had bought tickets to see Annie because Jane Lynch (of Glee and other fame) is currently playing the role of Miss Hannigan.  I had already seen Annie a few months ago, but it's such a fun one I was happy to see it again, especially to see such a talented actress in the role.  It was so much fun and I even was able to get her to sign my playbill at the stage door afterwards!

Phew! I think I'm finally caught up with the past couple of weeks!