Every theatre nerd knows how important the first Broadway musical you see is. For many of us – especially the younger ones – it is the only one we have seen. No matter which one you watch, it’s incredible: the theater, the stage, even without the performers, the feeling of watching a musical on Broadway is exhilarating (prep). My threshold musical is Kinky Boots – and let me say, it was a great one to be my first. The best part is that it was completely unplanned. Over the summer, my family went on an eight-day trip to New York and Rhode Island (I have cousins in the latter) (prep). I was actually questioning the trip before we left, fearing I would end up regretting it and wish I had stayed home (prep). Then, on August 8th, we were in the car and driving up, just after orientation (prep). Once we reached it, I hated New York itself – there were way too many people, and far too many of them were trying to sell me something. And every day, I would get very overloaded from all the walking and the people. But one thing that I loved was seeing all the signs for musicals. Even before Kinky Boots, I had some basic knowledge of musicals, and knew which ones I liked. On August 9th, the first full day we were in New York, I started to ask my parents if we could see a musical, and we bought tickets that …show more content…
Of course, we did not really trust them, but they were holding clipboards with lists of the currently showing musicals, and we got a picture of one. Later, we stopped at a Starbucks and I read a review of Anastasia, because I loved the animated movie and was considering the musical. Eventually, I narrowed my choices down to three, and my parents were both more interested in Kinky Boots than the others (my dad knew the movie and my mom liked the songs I had shown her). We checked ticketmaster.com for seat availability, and then walked to the theater and bought them
If you don't think this is romantic, consider that Jonathan Larson's sensational musical is inspired by Puccini's opera "La Boheme," in which the lovers Mimi and Rodolfo are tragically separated by her death from tuberculosis. Different age, different plague. Larson has updated Puccini's end-of-19th-century Left Bank bohemians to end-of-20th-century struggling artists in New York's East Village. His rousing, moving, scathingly funny show, performed by a cast of youthful unknowns with explosive talent and staggering energy, has brought a shocking jolt of creative juice to Broadway.
For my second cultural report I decided to go see a musical called “Wicked” in New York City with my girlfriend. I made this choice because I haven’t seen the famous Broadway Musical before but I was told by my girlfriend that it is a really good musical to do my report on. The musical was seen in New York City, New York on Broadway (March 31, 2017) at 8pm in Gershwin Theatre. Wicked is the musical story of The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West and Glenda the Good before Dorothy came. Wicked spotlights the untold stories of The Wizard of Oz’s most infamous characters, the Wicked Witch of the West and her unlikely friend, Glinda the Good. The show follows green-skinned star Elphaba from birth to college and through the events which eventually
The period between early 1940s to mid-1960s or so, alternatively, the period between when the musical Oklahoma! (1943) was produced till the time when Hair (1968) was produced, is usually referred to as the Golden Age of the American musical (Kantor, 2010). It is during this period, that most of the noted titles such as “Carousel”, “South Pacific” etc. were produced. 1940s and early 1950s were dominated thoroughly by MGM musicals, while the late 1950s and 1960s belonged to Broadway. Initially, the musicals of this era had simple plots, unchallenging themes, with romantic or comedic characters and lots of singing and dancing. But towards the end of it, the plots were sophisticated, serious with singing, dancing as well as dialogue. In this paper, I choose to elaborate more on the musical – Arthur Laurents’s West Side Story. In the first part of this paper, I discuss the plot, songs and other aspects of the musical such as the awards etc. Later on, I explain how this musical revolutionized the theatre and the cultural effects it had on Americans. Finally, I conclude in the end the historical importance of this musical piece.
On a Wednesday night I saw Texas State Theatre and Dance Department's performance of A Chorus Line. The main plot of the musical entails the audition of 17 dancers for several Broadway roles on the chorus line. However, during their auditions the director Zach asks for personal stories of each dancer's life. Though the plot of this musical is seemingly simple in its twist on the traditional audition, it explores themes that reveal the human experience, the search for individuality, and the sense of self.
I experienced Chicago, the Broadway musical, and because I had seen the movie many times before, I knew all the songs and dances by heart. I loved it, but it was actually the movie that influenced me to become a “Chicago fan.” The movie is based on the 1996 Chicago revival of the original musical version of 1975. It was thrilling knowing that the making of the musical into a mainstream production would increase its accessibility and widen its distribution into all the corners of the world; now there is no excuse for people not to experience Chicago, and though not everyone can go to Broadway to see it, just about anyone can indulge themselves in this dazzling movie in the comfort of their homes. In addition to a fantasy world of singing, dancing and Vaudeville, the film also provides a narrative that is explicitly presented through Roxie’s point of view, creating a counter-human side to Roxie’s fantasy world so that the audience can easily identify and engage.
It exemplifies how musicals often glamourized the time period, or even created parodies of political and social dilemmas, at hand. The episode speaks of the film, The Cradle Will Rock - our most recent assignment. This film is just one example of how political, economic, and social crises were depicted. Shows such as Porgy and Bess, directed by George Gershwin came upon us, truly identifying with the American stereotype. This episode not only highlighted material we have reviewed in class, but elaborated on how and why it was
A hip-hop musical about a forgotten Founding Father – though not by my history teacher – seemed like a far-fetched idea. After seeing the performance of “Alexander Hamilton” at the Grammy’s, however, I was blown away and immediately started searching for the rest of the music. Thankfully, by the time Hamilton reached me the cast album had already been released. I devoured the album and listened to the whole thing in one sitting. I was motivated by “My Shot,” empowered by “The Schuyler Sisters,” I fell in love with Alexander alongside Eliza in “Helpless,” and I wanted to raise a glass to freedom after hearing “Yorktown.” Similar feelings followed throughout the rest of the album, although ones of love were replaced by deep hatred toward Alexander once I realized what was happening in “Say No to This.” By the end of “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” I was a puddle of tears, but I immediately started the whole process over again, slowly learning every lyric and trying to sing every part in every song, not an easy feat in “Non Stop” (it usually just comes out
When my mom asked if I wanted to see this year’s Lakeside musical, I honestly was a bit unwilling. It’s not that I didn’t want to support my two or three friends up on stage and in the crew; I just don’t have a very good track record with high school performances. I’m a critic: I have always been very critical of myself, and very critical of others. I unwittingly judge the actors onstage, and end up feeling guilty because I probably could have done no better. On top of this warped superiority/inferiority was the nature of the musical they were performing; all throughout third grade I had been obsessed with the movie-musical Hairspray. I knew all the songs, most of the lines, and wasn’t sure if anyone could top Queen Latifah. But I was mistaken.
Because I came a little bit earlier around 7:25,so I went in the waiting room where I started to scan the program notes just to get an idea what was going to be performed and when the time has come for us to get in.The room looks okay and the decoration was simple. The theater stage design was uncomplicated. The large size of the words: Forbidden Broadway was written in a part of the curtain. The only thing that made me feel weird, but not uncomfortable is that because I was the only black around all of these white people and this feeling of weirdness went away when I saw only three other back people in the room, so in total we were only four black
I attended a performance of the hit Broadway musical, Kinky Boots, in Rudder Auditorium on Texas A&M campus on the night of Wednesday, September 27, 2017. The show ran from 7:30pm to about 10:30pm, including a twenty-minute intermission between two acts. This was a unique opportunity, given that the production was done by the current professional touring cast of the musical, who usually only comes to major cities like Dallas, Austin, or Houston during a national tour. As stated in the program distributed to audience members, many of the cast members have previously performed on Broadway itself, as well as have been a part of touring productions of other Broadway shows. When Kinky Boots was still on Broadway, it was nominated for an impressive thirteen TONY awards, of which it won six, including the coveted Best Musical award.
Performance Report In March 2015 I attended a performance of the popular musical Wicked, written by Winnie Holzman with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, directed by Joe Mantello, and starring Jennifer DiNoia as Elphaba and Chandra Lee Schwartz as Glinda. The play was performed on a proscenium stage at The Hollywood Pantages Theatre, a large indoor theatre built in the 1930s. The size and vintage style of the theatre created an atmosphere of elegance that fostered an air of anticipation amongst the audience before the performance began.
Ever since I was a small child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the
Musicals, in all its glorious shapes, are very much living forms of art. Despite its developments over the years, musicals have stood the test of time. This is apparent in an episode of the 2017 ‘superhero’ television series The Flash, in which musicals were incorporated. The main character, Barry Allen attributes this to musicals capacity of being utopian. Kinky Boots, the musical is based on the book written by Harvey Fierstein and it has been adapted from the film with the same name.
As an actor, I venerate authentic storytelling. I love being transported completely into the world of a show, emerging at the end with an understanding of the characters and the events to which I feel personally connected. One time when I felt this way after seeing a show was seeing the musical Here Lies Love at the ACT Theatre in Seattle. It’s strange for me to refer to this production as a musical, though it is almost entirely sung-through, because it felt more like an experience.
Every since I can remember I have liked to watch movies, I would never watch a scary