Broadway Con Recap - Day 3

The cast recording panel was fascinating.  They discussed that a cast album has competing needs that you have to find a balance for – it needs to satisfy the nostalgia for those who have seen the show, be comprehensible to those who have not seen it, and provide a historical record of sorts for future revivals.

There's also the competing demands because cast albums can often help drive ticket sales, but the piece is often still being reworked through previews and sometimes beyond, so you don't want to do that before it's solid and get people attached to something that changed, but if the show doesn't last long, then the money for the album is hard to get.

There was talk of live recordings and that they are often more expensive, because additional people are part of a live show who wouldn't be part of a recording, and that the recordings have specific pay scale rules that often drive how long you can have everyone there. 

The Obsessed Live panel featured the cast of upcoming show "Disaster".  Faith Prince had apparently been offered Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors" but couldn't get out of another contract to do it.  She said when "Little Shop" took off people were worried she would freak out, and she was fine, she figured, this was someone else's time and her time would come.  Seth Rodetsky asked her if that was her twenty years later response or if she'd always felt that way, and she said the name Faith wasn't a misnomer.  They did perform "Suddenly Seymour" for us though.

Rodetsky had great stories for each cast member, and then they did a little bit from the show that sounded wonderful.

Then Caroline Rhea interviewed the three leads from "Something Rotten!".  There were jokes (as you might expect when Rhea is involved) but she asked them about meeting presidents.  Brian D'Arcy mentioned that he had met Hillary Rodham Clinton way back when and then she and Bill had come to see "Something Rotten!" when it was in previews, and his wife had seen her standing alone in the green room so went over and introduced herself and told her about their prior meeting.  So, when D'Arcy came out he said, oh we've met before, and Clinton said, yes, it was back when you were just dating your now wife, and now you guys have a teenager and he was so thrilled, and then later discovered his wife had prepped Clinton. 

John Cariani said he had some guy on the street say, hey, great job and tell Brian that was great too, and he said thanks and the guy drove off and someone else watching said he looked confused, did he know who that was?  It was Nathan Lane.  D'Arcy was apparently surprised to hear this story. 

The creative team from "Waitress" came to talk about that process.  Diane Paulus and Sara Bareilles had not seen the movie, but it had come up in a discussion at ART as one of the properties that could be adapted and she watched it and thought, yes.  Jessie Nelson did know it, and in fact knew the family. She did say it was a learning curve, realizing that writing a musical meant a lot of the things from the script would get cut to become a song, since the processing happens in the songs.  As the panel wrapped up, some fans chanted, "Sing!" and Bareilles said, oh alright, and played one of the songs. 

Then there was a panel with snippets from upcoming shows, so they brought out a few folks, did some setup, sang a song and swapped in the next group.  There was "Tuck Everlasting", "Nerds", "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" (including a taped message from Josh Groban), and "Found". 

And then there was the goodbye.  Some of the lovely characters from the opening returned to discuss how wonderful things had been.  There was some singing.  And a singalong.  And another singalong.  And that was it. 

Broadway Con Day 2 Recap

I want to digress ever so slightly from programming to say that I met a woman who loved theater, but had gotten married to a controlling dude who did not share this love and also wouldn't give her money to go.  So she found a group of reviewers, who let her start reviewing plays so she would get press tickets to shows for free.  And that was a start of her reclaiming her life for herself.

Anyway, we started off the morning with Broadway Feud.  Jenn Colella hosted and made it clear that she was firmly in favor of a Richard Dawson-esque kissy kissy form of hosting.  There was a mix of con participants and Broadway actors on each team and let me tell you, the con folks were not playing.  Elizabeth, who said she was a kidlit editor by day, answered each question in song.  There were also some controversial answers, as always happens when you survey a hundred people.  The contestants shared some special skills, barking, talking with their mouths closed, and Jonathan Groff displayed an ability to manipulate the bones in his back in a way I had not seen before.

The "Fiddler on the Roof" panel talked a lot about the history and tradition (Tradition!) in the play.  Michael C. Bernardi's dad was in "Fiddler" and so his mom had pulled out the boots his dad had worn in the show for him to wear.  He had to take them to a cobbler since the sizing needed adjustment and when he came back the cobbler asked him about them, and he explained.  The cobbler said that his dad had done the shoes for "Fiddler".  The whole cast felt very connected to the show, it was a thing they had all done parts of growing up.  And they also mentioned that the idea of people being forced to leave their homes and make a new life in a new place had a lot of relevance to today.

Then there was the "Fun Home" panel.  Lisa Kron talked about how it's one thing to turn something else into a painting or a sculpture, but when you're creating theater, you're creating a shared experience. Emily Skeggs said the story was full of people talking around the truth, not saying what they really want to say, which was a really fascinating thing to dig into as an actor. 

Kron said with Bruce, he wasn't necessarily likable, you meet him yelling at the kids about stuff, but that it was clear that he loved beauty and beautiful things so much, that as an audience you got it.  You understood what motivated him.  She also said with theater, it takes years to get a production going, so you can't plan to hit a cultural moment.  But, "Fun Home" was fortunate to hit at a point where the audience felt it was well-timed, that this was the time for a story about a women struggling her sexual identity and recognizing that this was something her father had been struggling with too. 

Judy Kuhn said a lot of people would say to her, my dad isn't gay, but this is just like my family.  Or I'm not a lesbian, but this is just like my family.  Kron mentioned people saying to her that it was bigger than a lesbian story and that she got what they meant so didn't tell them it was actually just the right size for a lesbian story. 

Michael Cerveris talked about the controversy when College of Charleston had gotten pushback for putting the novel on their syllabus, and that going down there to perform near the university had reminded him that theater changing people's lives wasn't just a thing we say, it was a true thing.

Joe Perez arrived late to the panel, dressed as Medium Allison, which was just amazing.

I took a quick break as the snow and wind had picked up in earnest.  I ran across the street to the coffee shop and got some tea and some food for lunch and dinner.  (The hotel quick bites were getting overrun and the lines (and the prices) were something I wanted to minimize my contact with, although certainly, the iced tea in hand was better than none.)

This turned out to be well-timed since not too long after that they decided the roads were being shut down in NYC at 2:30, which meant, no cars, no taxis, and since they didn't want to encourage people to be outside for any reason, no Broadway.

(I felt very grateful I had decided to stay in the site hotel, although the underground subway lines did stay running.)

I was discussing the cancelling of Broadway with a fellow con goer, who generously offered up an extra pass to the Susan Blackwell signing.  I got in line and then realized, I had spilled water in my bag that morning and had emptied out my Playbills and other extraneous paper, and um, what was I going to have her sign.  A generous con-goer behind me gave me a piece of paper from her notebook.  So basically, the kindness of fellow con-goers was amazing.

I then followed Susan Blackwell to the Funny Girls panel which also featured Ann Harada and Lesli Margherita. Harada grew up in Kaneohe (chee-hoo!) and had no idea that there were so many other theater geeks out there.  Blackwell has always had corporate jobs alongside her creative ones, and really likes using all the parts of her brain.  Margherita did shows with the cows growing up. 

They talked about Carol Burnett and "The Muppets" all being big early influences, and, as it turned out, since Harada worked on "Avenue Q" good training.

They were asked about issues being seen as funny since they were female and they pivoted the question and talked about the biggest thing was pushing in to get to do you, or what you could be, and that part of that was figuring out your place, and part of that was accepting that being a different age, or shape, or race, than people might have thought they were looking for was all tied up with gender, it was getting them to accept your whole package.

The choreography panel talked about how theater was different than competition, you had to not only be able to do a move, but do it eight times a week.  Competition teams could go all out for an hour and rest for six days.  Christopher Gattelli said that the "Newsies" cast had included amazing moves, but that was because he had dancers who had amazing things already in their repertoire. They also talked about how different directors would look for a different level of collaboration. 

Then there was fan karaoke, and I confess, I had concerns, but these folks were amazing.  Amazing. 

Next up in the revamped blizzard programming were some quick chats. They started with board member Anthony Rapp (who, you know, was in "Rent" and stuff too).  Lesli Margherita told a hilarious tale (tail) that is probably not nearly as funny in written form.  But essentially, she was in a Disney show as Esmeralda but desperately wanted to be Ariel, because Ariel had the sparkly tail.  And then one day Ariel got sick last minute and they had to use her as the sub but the dresser was freaking out, because, as the dresser said, they were sea shells, not D shells.  So, they put her in the outfit, and yes, the sea shells, were a bit more revealing on her. But she sang "Part of That World" and when she got to the lyric, "what's that word?" a drunk frat bro yelled, "Tits!"  You might recall that lyric occurs a few times, and drunk frat bro did that each time (sometimes saying, "Boobs!").  And well, that was the only time she got to play Ariel. My memory falls down at this point I know they also talked to Andrew Keenan-Bolger from "Newsies" and someone else I have a lovely picture of and they were wonderful.)

Then a group gathered to discuss the process being the opening number.

Then they did a thing, that I confess sounds a little ridiculous, and maybe it was the snow fumes, but it ended up being fun.  As you might expect, with flights cancelled, and travel mostly halted, a number of planned guests could not make it.  So, they put couches on the stage, and Anthony Rapp, Melissa Anelli, Blake Ross, and some other folks began video chatting and calling folks who had missed out on the fun.  Darren Criss, Idina Menzel (flights cancelled also meant Anthony's flight back to join the "If/Then" cast had been cancelled), Norm Lewis, Betty Buckley, Laura Benanti (who mentioned her song about being a theater kid), Audra McDonald, Ana Gasteyer, Harvey Fierstein, Lena Hall (who conferenced in Stephen Trask), Patti Lupone (who had some thoughts about London casts and American casts and the rules about such things), Joel Grey, Shaneice Williams, and Jeremy Jordan. Jeremy Jordan was on video so we also got to see his dog,

After that was cabaret night, which, due to snow was Krysta Rodriguez, and some intrepid musicians.  She has an amazing voice and did the song from "In the Heights" and was thrilled when the audience supplied the ensemble vocals. (She actually tweeted it to Lin Manuel Miranda.) It was wonderful and crazy and fun, and overwhelmingly, so many of the actors throughout the day were so thrilled to see this many people who loved theater this much. They all mentioned how they were kids who loved theater, so it was great to see that the upcoming generation had it well in hand.

As a note, I was not the only fan who intends to remain just a fan there, and I was not the only adult there who hadn't been dragged by kids, but not surprisingly given Mischief Management's other cons, there were a lot of teens, a lot of college kids, a lot of folks in their early twenties. 

After that, exhausted people went to bed. 

Broadway Con Day 1 Recap

So, those of you who follow my twitter have already had a taste of what I was up to for the last few days, but I shall attempt to capture it a little more thoroughly here.  I can't even remember where I heard about BroadwayCon, but it was after the first two ticket batches had already sold out.  But I adore Broadway, even if my budget and other competing realities often means I do this through repeated listens to cast albums.  And a con, in New York, with fellow theater geeks, and a chance to breathe the same air as some amazing folks who make theater happen, well, I had to at least try.  And so, when the final ticket batch was released I scooped one up.  And then realized I had to figure out things like time off work and travel and oh, who cares I was going to BroadwayCon!

It was a first time event, and I confess, as much as I love big group events, they can bring out my inner backseat event planner (especially when I'm tired, or hungry, or on day three of soooo much excitement.) So, I had geared myself up.  I know that the people at Mischief Management are not new  to cons, but new con, new space, new people helping, there were bound to be things.  And then it turned out a blizzard was going to hit in the middle of their con.  I'm sure it wasn't easy, and there were bumps, but really, I have very little to complain about.  It was great. 

I arrived early and went to see "Allegiance".  I am still figuring out how best to talk about it. Some of my friends had seen it and they all said it was good, but you didn't leave the theater wanting to sing any of the songs, which I think is fair.  Lea Salonga remains a treasure.  Quite honestly, World War II stories about Asian families are really firmly in my wheelhouse, so I liked it.  It also reminded me a lot of Kristina McMorris' Bridge of Scarlet Leaves.  I cried when they sang "Gaman" and I also thought it did a great job of showing that just because the same thing was happening to the Japanese Americans, they still had differing responses to it. 

So, then there was the con.

I made a friend in line to check in.  We decided that we wanted to check out the Broadway tattoo meetup because we wanted to know what tattoos people had.  But we peeked in and it looked, not social.  Just like a room full of people waiting for someone to start the conversation.  So we went to the solo (aka people at the con without a buddy) meetup.  People, even or especially the solo people had come from all over the country. Some it was their first con ever. 

Then we moved on the to Hamilfans meetup.  (The Hamilfans meetup was at the same time as the Rentheads.  It was a difficult choice.) The Hamilfans quickly exceeded their assigned room, so the organizers opened up a larger room and moved us over.  There was a ridiculous amount of singing.  Lots of people cosplaying as the Schuyler sisters, and a Hamilton.  (Later I spotted a King George.)

The panel with the folks Deaf West production of "Spring Awakening" was packed but great.  They discussed how interesting it was to have a cast with deaf and hearing folks, and a cast member with a wheelchair.  There wasn't an existing ASL translation of "Spring Awakening" so they worked a lot with the cast members and their ASL expert.  Given ASL is more conceptual language, they had many options for translation, and worked through a lot of possibilities to see what worked best with the choreography.

They also said working on this had made them more aware of accessibility issues, whether it was the number of buildings that aren't wheelchair accessible, or that deaf people can't currently spontaneously go to a show and expect that it will be captioned or interpreted. 

The panel on being out in the theater featured folks with a fascinating range of experience.  Ariana Debose has played things like the Main Player in "Pippin" and is now part of the ensemble in "Hamilton" and really likes playing roles that are both masculine and feminine but found that after she did an interview with her girlfriend for "Playbill" she was getting called for a lot more lesbian roles. Fredi Walker-Browne was being called for earth mother type stuff, until she did "Rent" and then suddenly, it was urban lesbians.  Roberta Colindrez said as a Latina, she got called for a lot of hookers and cops.  Maggie Keenan-Bolger talked about the youth theater she had founded and how being outside the traditional broadway structure allowed them to cast differently, to tell different stories.

And audience member, who was Lebanese, asked if they had suggestions for how to handle or possibly avoid being typecast as an Arabic girl.  The panel as one, said, oh, it will happen.  They also said figure out what you need to do to pay your bills, what you are willing to put up with, and also figure out where and when are you going to push back.  If a casting director asks you to be more ethnic, or more something, you can live with it, or you can push back.  Figure out what you will do.

Then it was time for the opening ceremonies.  The room was packed to capacity.  (I understand they were simulcasting for the folks who couldn't even get in. 

There was a whole mini-play with Dani, our intrepid heroine, who tried to convince her drama club to put on a BroadwayCon.  There were songs, there were oodles of references.  It was amazing.  I lost track of the people I recognized and I'm sure I missed a ton. 

Ben Vereen walked across the stage and waved.  Ben.  Vereen. 

We went up to the balcony for the panel with the cast of "Hamilton".  Yeah.  That's right.  I breathed the same air as Ben Vereen and Lin Manuel Miranda in the same day. 

LMM (it's cool, I just call him that now) said there were so many fascinating things about Hamilton's life, and for as many things that they did cover, there were so many more that he still kind wished he could have squeezed in.  For example, Hamilton thought it was Monroe who started the rumors about Maria Reynolds and Hamilton was ready to challenge him to a duel and Burr intervened.  Also the tidbit about Burr being Maria Reynolds' divorce lawyer.

Daveed Diggs did a lot of reading about Jefferson (and I assume Lafayette) but found that Jefferson's life had such immense privilege, being carried around as a baby on a pillow by slaves, but that this freed (no pun intended) him up to think about very lofty things, like how best to design a newfangled government. 

Renee Elise Goldsberry was recognized on the subway by someone who only knew her from the BET cypher so assumed she was some kind of rapper, which made her day.

They talked Philippa Soo into beatboxing so the LMM could freestyle a little rap about BroadwayCon.  This is available online.  As a note, the panel was being closed-captioned.  There were screens up on either side of the stage, and one facing the stage.  At one point, a crucial p was dropped from the word rapping, which led to the audience making a noise, which led to the panel looking out to see what we were making noise, and well, it all got back on track, but there is a reference to that in the rap. 

Leslie Odom, Jr. said it's fascinating to take over an existing role, because the prior performers have left something in the theater, it seeps into the wood of the stage and you can feel it as you walk across it.  But that it's also amazing to know that you have started something that other people will come in an do, and they will feel bits of you in what they try to do.

LMM also said he found the fact that we're still debating so many of the same topics today somewhat hopeful, that it meant these issues and arguments were baked into the foundation of our country.

Renee Elise Goldsberry was also asked to comment on that, since she'd been part of the closing cast of "Rent" and they were going to be there later, and she had an adorable moment of awe, touching her chair, wondering which "Rent" cast member would sit in it.

The "Rent" panel included Cynthia O'Neal, who founded Friends In Deed a support group.  Jonathan Larson had told her he wanted to hang out there for a thing he was working on, but she said the workshop was in the middle of winter, and it was the other side of town, and it was snowy, and she almost didn't go, and her husband said go.  So she went, and she cried when she saw the support group scene, and she was so glad she had gone to see this amazing thing.   Walker-Browne had taken another job, but when she got offered "Rent" it was the same time commitment, same money, but a better commute, so she took "Rent". 

Wilson Jermaine Heredia, liked singing and acting, but hadn't really thought of himself as a musical theater person, because the music didn't sound like him.  (They then reminded the young folks, that a rock opera was a newish thing back then.)  But he listened to some sample tracks, and wanted in.

Marlies Yearby is a choreographer and she talked about meeting all these cast members with information in their bodies.  (Choreographers clearly view us very differently.)

Daphne Rubin-Vega was convinced she'd blown the audition.  There was discussion of how Jesse L. Martin kept missing rehearsals because he had a play and they had to drag him down and get him to sit through enough that he was hooked.  Rubin-Vega then pulled out her phone and video chatted Martin, showing him the panel (adorably, he was all, hi everyone, oh this looks so great, Wilson!  Hi, Wilson!) and then the audience.  We then sang happy birthday to him. 

Clothes Ruts

A while ago I realized I had a few simultaneous things going on with my clothes.
I had too many.  I had taken my have enough clothes and things to go a while without doing laundry, to a place where, now I could do laundry, well, let's just say I could spend a good day just doing laundry and still find some things out and about that probably should have been in those loads, and I don't generally dedicate a whole day to laundry. 

I didn't really know, as a result what I really had.

And that meant I was hanging on to things that were okay, because I couldn't remember if I had anything else like it.  When one can only locate one plan skirt that fits okay but not great, one still probably occasionally needs a skirt. 

So, and inventory and a purge and some serious laundering were in order.  I realized this and carried on as before, doing a load here and there, but not really making a big dent and sighing as I passed though my closet. 

And then I decided to try one of the subscription clothes boxes things.  (I used Stitch Fix.  I know people who've used others successfully.  There are pros, cons, and personal taste involved in all of them.)  I figured part of the problem was that when I would realize that I needed long sleeve shirts or non-patterned skirts, I would go look, get discouraged, buy something cheap that also wasn't quite right, and then often that would fall apart quickly. 

So, the deal I made with myself, was that for every box, I had to get rid of a whole bag of clothes.  (I had theoretically been operating on a one in one out rule for a while, but more drastic measures were needed.)  And if I kept all the pieces, two bags.  So, the closet is still a pit that needs addressing, but I can see signs of improvement, and fortunately, I've really likes some of the pieces I've been sent, so it makes it easier to look around and say, okay, let's get rid of some of this.  So hopefully as we get further into the year, the closet will continue to become a little less ridiculous.

Three Interesting Things

1. My brother was of just the right age to become obsessed with POGs.  The fact that it took this retrospective for me to make the connection between the caps and the juice (which I love) show the truth of it.

2. This piece about the gay best friend stereotype is great.

3. And I was pointed to this video that addresses several myths about how the hymen works.

7 Things: The Labyrinth Edition

I know David Bowie is know for many things.  But even though I didn't see "Labyrinth" until I was a teen and some kids I babysat for insisted I watch it when they discovered I had this pop culture gap, I adore it.  And, so, on hearing of Mr. Bowie's passing, I watched it again last night and remembered so many things I love about this story.  So, seven things from this movie.

1. Even Goblin Kings have trouble getting babies to stop crying.
2. Sometimes how you ask is as important as what you ask.
3. The way forward is sometimes the way back.
4. Things are not always as they seem. (Nor are they always fair.)
5. People will often try to distract you from your goals. They may even be false alarms, which mean you are on the right track.
6. The journey is better with friends.  Even if you don't need them for any reason. ("Should you need us, for any reason at all...")
7. "My will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me."

Gone Astray

Recently I ordered some things from a website.  (If we understand that by recently we mean in this particular incident, because the nice lady with the key to the package room in my building doesn't even ask my apartment number anymore.) It came in two large envelopes.  I know this now, because I got a call from an unfamiliar number telling me a package had arrived for me at my building.  The neighbor, whose apartment shares two of the four indicators in my apartment number (so, closeish), had received the package. Had opened the package.  (It's not clear to me if the opening was to determine more info about me, because apparently the receipt contained my phone number, or that was the point at which she realized, oh, I did not order knitting needles.  I'm not concerned either way. Spoiler, I have all my things now.)  As a result of the call, we arranged for a time for me to come to her apartment and pick up my things.  Now, she did mention that she was already in her robe, if I didn't mind, which I mention, not because I minded, but because that may have influenced for choice of resolution.  Because to me, playing phone tag, when my apartment number was clearly displayed on the package, seemed a little like more work.  But as I was pondering this, going through choices, ranging from hand delivering package to my door, giving the package to the residential office to redistribute, talking to our mail carrier, I remembered two things.  The person with the thing, gets to decide the solution that works best for them.  And this is what's fascinating about the world.  That we all have very different approaches to resolving the same things.  Often the rules, at school, or work, or, in law for that matter, tread a tricky balance of trying to create the most consistent results, but not stifling the many routes we all use to get to solutions. 

Three Interesting Things

1. Patrick Ness, whose latest book, I finally read and enjoyed, talks here about both the book and the fundraiser for refugees.

2. NPR has a discussion of why Gene Luen Yang's selection as literary ambassador is so great. 

3. I cannot explain my joy in watching Kathie Lee topple a supposedly un-tippable travel mug.  Except to say it is large.  (Link contains video.)

Pitch Slapped

Just a note that it did not escape my notice that the latest in the a cappella reality shows started last night.  I found it...really highly packaged, and while I'm in it for the eight weeks of competition we will get to see, I may leave the recapping to folks like this nice person over at EW - http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/05/pitch-slapped-lifetime-premiere-recap. 

7 Things About "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

I am not going to get super spoilery, but I am going to discuss the movie and so...there will be thoughts about the movie.

1. The cast is amazing, both the faces you will see and the ones you won't.

2. In many ways, it hits a lot of beats that the original "Star Wars" does.  Some of the podcasts I've been listening to, talked about how George Lucas was buddies with Joseph Campbell, so this story that pretty much hits all the beats in Campbell's heroes journey is not accidental.

3. All of this is to say, it's great source material.  And I think it does some important things.  It says, hey, there, longtime Star Wars fan, it's cool.  We get it.  We're back on track now.

4. It says, hey there, new fan who has never watched these things, we'll catch you up on what you need to know.  We got you. 

5. And it says, here's how you take the backbone of a story many people know, and make it similar, but not.  What there was a, oh wait, I said no spoilers. 

6. I saw this with a friend at the Air and Space Museum's IMAX theater, which is sort of a joy.  I also figured the people who would choose to see this movie at the Air and Space museum would be excited fans.  I think the vibe of a theater audience can be important, and it always helps to be surrounded by people determined to have a great time.  (Unless you hate it.  Then it's hard.)

7. You can say diversity is fan service.  (I would argue it makes just as much sense as a rebel fighter pilot with a Scottish accent.) But seeing more females (I resent the implication that Leia wasn't there all along.) More visible people of color.  (And yes, I have not forgotten Lando Calrissian.) It is good stuff.