Ain't it a fine life?

If anything was going to get me blogging again, it was going to be this.

Last night I had a singularly fun experience. And fun is absolutely the word I would use.

I went to go see Disney's Newsies, on Broadway.

20 years ago (chilling) Disney released a little (ha!) movie entitled Newsies. It was a full fledged musical, with new songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who had just received an Oscar for another little movie they wrote some songs for called Beauty and The Beast...maybe you've heard about it. Newsies was directed by a fairly unknown choreographer named Kenny Ortega. It starred Robert Duvall, Anne Margaret, Bill Pullman, and an up and coming Welsh teenager named Christian Bale, as well as a full ensemble of singing, dancing, non threatening hunky teenage boys.

The movie flopped. But Ashman and Menken went on to write Aladdin and Menken several other Disney hits. Ortega later made the High School Musical and Christian Bale...well..

He did OK for himself in the end.

But Newsies never went away. It developed a massive cult following. Seriously, google it. And twenty years later Disney brought it back as a stage musical.

Newsies has lots of flaws. The film has massive horrific flaws. Doesn't make it less wonderful. I love that movie, not despite it's flaws, but because of them. It takes itself far too seriously, there are about seven too many plots, Robert Duvall is absolutely terrible as Joseph Pulitzer. Like, massively awfully terrible. Jack Kelly (Bale) has an awkward, shoehorned in romance with the older sister of his right hand David. Ann-Margaret's entire character, Medda seems to only exist because they wanted Ann-Margaret to be in the movie. Bill Pullman seems unable to stop being Bill Pullman.

They fixed some of these problems for the stage version. Medda becomes Jack's other employer. In addition to being a Newsie, he's an aspiring and very talented artist and he paints back drops for her theater. Sarah (the sister) is excised altogether, as is Brian Denton (Pullman) and both are replaced with Catherine, a plucky Jo March type female reporter who joins forces with the newsies. She's infinitely more compelling and streamlines the plot a little bit.

Now, it's still deeply flawed. A totally unnecessary Act II plot twist complicates Catherine and Jack's relationship, which given that she is clearly meant to be an educated upper class young lady, and he a street kid was probably already complicated enough. David's character is turned into a bit of a wimp, although that may have just been casting, and the supporting newsies, who in the film are colorful and each have distinct and loveable personalities, are pushed to the back to create a more intense interior monologue for Jack. Which translates into about twenty six (hyperbole) reprise's of Jack's character song (musical theatre term!) "Sante Fe."

Spot Conlon, Crutchy and Racetrack still make the cut (though Racetrack's name is shortened to simply "Race") but gone are Kid Blink, Boots, and my favorite Mush. Spot and the Brooklyn newsies do get their own song now though, entitled "Never Fear, Brooklyn's Here!"

There are several new songs, including a duet between Jack and Catherine that is pure beautiful Menken schmaltz. I smiled thinking how good he is at that Act II duet. "Suddenly Seymour," "A Whole New World," and "I See The Light," are perfect examples and "I Believe in You," isn't quite as good as those, but it's perfectly lovely. A new song for Medda is worlds better than her originals, and "The Bottom Line" performed by Pulitzer and is cronies isn't memorable but it does it's job.

The dancing is superb and the energy doesn't stop. And the guys are still totally hunky in that adorable boy bandy way. What impressed me the most is that the musical stands on it's own. Knowing the movie helps, but it's hardly necessary to enjoy the show.

I did wake up this morning and walk to work skipping and humming "Carrying The Banner," and I haven't stopped smiling since the curtain went down. So it definitely did it's job.

Everything in Life is Only for Now

I've talked a few times about my profound personal growth over the past year. And as a result of that growth, certain things have changed in my perception...Usually when that happens, at least as it relates to me and the pop culture that I enjoy, something that I previously loved, I realize that I don't, or something that I used to hate, I realize that I love. Rarely does this shift go from loving something to loving it even more.

But in the case of the musical Avenue Q, it definitely grew from love to well, absolute love.

I came across Avenue Q at first when I was 16, it opened on Broadway, won the Tony for Best New Musical, (Something I considered a grave injustice at the time, I full to the brim with Wicked love) and my parents took us kids to see it.

I found the show hilarious. If you don't know the premise, the idea was to create an "Adult Sesame Street," that is to use a mixture of puppets and real people to deal with difficult issues facing young adults, like lack of direction, romantic relationships, sexual identity, etc. The show features hilarious songs including, "It Sucks To Me," "The Internet is For Porn," "If You Were Gay," and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." It also has a few more contemplative pieces, like "There's a Fine, Fine Line," "What Do You Do With a BA in English?", and the finale, "For Now."

A few months ago I listened to the Avenue Q Original Cast Album again, and I was kind of amazed by a few things. All of a sudden, the stuff they were talking about wasn't just funny...it was real. It was exactly what I was going through. When Princeton muses that he "can't pay the bills yet, cuz I have no skills yet," I realized, dear God, when they hand me my diploma, that'll be me. Kate Monster reaches desperately for affection, only to realize there's more to love than that.

And especially the finale, "For Now," hits me differently now than it did then. At 16, the thought just made me sad. The friends, feelings and well, life, that was around me was going to fade? That somehow seemed, wrong, and terrible. Now though, the thought that every situation is only "for now" is comforting. Crappy entry level jobs, depressing poorly lit college apartments, the lonely single girl thing....this is all temporary. It will give way to a different stage of life. Who knows what that will be, that's not the point. As the song says, "Maybe you'll never find your purpose, lots of people don't..." but that doesn't mean that we're alone.

I am the Starlight...

"What's scary about Starlight Express isn't that Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote it. He is insane. We knew this. What's scary to think about is that there were men in suits in an office somewhere that gave him money to do it." - Allison Andresini, 2004-ish

Ollie: You do know that this is a singing play right? Because one time, Daddy went to go see a singing play and then everybody was on roller skates.
Gertie: Cool!
Ollie: Daddy didn't think so.
-Jersey Girl

"It's just like Joseph but on roller skates. And instead of characters from the Bible, they're all trains. But other than that, it's like exactly the same." - Mike Nayden, anytime he tries to explain it to people who don't know what it is beyond that sketch on Family Guy

"I had this dream, that instead of doing Annie Get Your Gun, Mike convinced us to do an outdoor version of Starlight Express...I'm not sure what that means." - Katie Wiegl, Summer 2009

"Well, I don't know if I can take a whole night of ABBA and it doesn't sound like that subject is appropriate for my 9 year old. This is Andrew Lloyd Weber! The kids liked Cats, they'll like this too." - Irene Nayden, Summer 1999, London, England, Justifying her decision to take her children to see Starlight Express instead of Mamma Mia! (Good Call Mom!)

So, my earlier post today, about Joseph got me thinking about what may be my ultimate guilty pleasure...the musical Starlight Express. If you're unfamiliar (most people are) it's a post Cats pre Phantom of The Opera Andrew Lloyd Weber musical about trains.

Yes, you heard me right. Trains. And all of the characters are on roller skates. Does it sound bizarre? That's because it is. It's also fantastic.

And when I say I love Starlight, I don't mean it in an ironic, it's so kitschy, isn't that funny kind of way.

See, it all started in the summer of 1999. My family took a trip to Ireland and drove around the country for two weeks in a van. Lots of stories there. We ended the trip with four days in London. I was 11, I was in a foreign country for the first time. I was naive. My parents decided to indulge their burgeoning theater geek children by taking them to see a show on The West End, London's answer to Broadway.

Everyone was talking about this revolutionary new show, that took the music of an already established band and built the musical around it. Apparently, this show was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately the band it was built around was ABBA, and my parents believe that disco came from Satan. Plus it was about a girl with 3 possible father's and my mom thought it would be inappropriate. So that was out. (In the future, I would often grumble about how I didn't get to see Mammy Mia like four years before anyone in the US had even heard of it)

Instead they got tickets to some show that my dad saw in the 80s and remembered vaguely enjoying and that the concierge at our hotel assured them, "the children would enjoy."

And enjoy it we did. This show had everything! Singing, dancing, roller skates, laser lights, power ballads, spelled out curse words in a a country song, a flimsy plot about a train race, a rap song, a convoluted and illogical love story, jokes about Sylvester Stallone movies...I think you get the point.

And we continued to enjoy it for years. We bought the CD and listened to it over and over and over again. Then high school hit and we got realllllllyyy into theater, and it turned out that this show which we loved, was actually considered a joke. A big stinking turd of a joke. I had many conversations with people who tried to convince me to change my mind, and my response usually went something like this:

"But, but, but, roller skates! And lasers! And...OK, yes, the trains are stupid, but it's for kids! Who cares?"

OK, so before writing this post, I read the Wikipedia article for Starlight Express. Um, it's turns out it wasn't supposed to be for kids. The original plot was way darker, and totally weirder. And then it got edited and changed around and became family friendly. Also apparently, Electra, the electric train, (Nobody sprained any muscles naming these characters, Rusty is an old steam engine, Dinah a dining car etc.) is supposed to be bisexual. Which is what his first song "AC/DC" is about. My 11 year old brain did not process that.

Also, although Americans think that Starlight is a big turd, Europeans love it! It's like the longest running show in German history, and it ran for 7,000 performances or something on the West End. So there.

I did listen to the CD again before writing this too. And I still think a lot of the songs are really good. But yeah, most of it is pretty awful.

Plus when you're just listening, you can't see the lasers.

And almost 10 years later, when we went to go see Mamma Mia! my mom totally loved it.

Any Dream Will Do

It's funny how the simplest offhand comment can set your mind going...

Yesterday, my horoscope was about dreams, and how great leaders often looked to dream interpreters as the wisest, and honored them...

Which prompted my mother to comment, that my horoscope recounted the story of Joseph, from the Bible. Or um, if you're me and my mother, (who both love the Bible, don't misinterpret!) from Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice's Pop Opera Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

My CD copy of the 1993 Canadian Cast Recording, featuring Donny Osmond as Joseph (Don't let the words, "Canadian" and "Osmond" automatically put you off, it's widely regarded as the best version) went missing ages ago, and I can't find any downloads of it, legal or otherwise. Which means I'm probably going to have to place an Amazon order for a new hard copy, since I doubt I'll be able to find it out in the real world either, so I've had to rely on Youtube clips to assuage my craving.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with the show, get yourself familiar. It's easily some of Weber's best music (written while he was still in school, I believe) and Tim Rice's lyrics are as always flawless. Even at my snobbiest theater geek levels, I remained a staunch Weber apologist. Sure, he can you know, go astray. (*cough* Starlight Express *cough* whichialsokindoflovebutthatsanentirelydifferentstory *cough*) and the show has some pure camp moments that can get kind of cringy...but it has two of his best ballads, "Any Dream Will Do" and "Close Every Door" as well as the camptastic but awesome "Benjamin Calypso" and "Song of The King" where an Elvis impersonating Pharoah tells Joseph his dreams.

Just a little slice of life and thought that I've been having...

Being a part of something special makes you special...right?

Last night Fox aired a special director's cut of Glee. While the new scenes didn't really add anything to the show, which I loved anyway, there was one thing that actually made me cry (in the good way)

After Will Schuster announces that he's leaving his teaching post to become an accountant there was a lovely montage, with Matthew Morrison, who plats Will, singing Bob Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane." It was insanely gorgeous. Morrison is an amazingly accomplished singer, he originated the role of Link Larkin in Hairspray. (A role perfected by this guy: That's Constantine Rousouli. He closed the role on Broadway, we hung out in high school, but I digress)

My one big beef with the original pilot was that Morrison didn't sing. Now he does. I can't wait for the show to start up regularly next week!