Category Archives: Musical

Musical theatre is in my blood.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Logo)

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes after 146 years

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Source: https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAlSxkf?m=en-us As a passionate fan of Cy Coleman’s “Barnum” and the extraordinary life that Phineas Taylor lived, this saddens me. Although the sadness was slightly bolstered by listening to the finale of the show, “Join The Circus.” Reading through the article and talking about it with my wife, there were several curious nuggets that emerged from the discussion that I wanted to share. The article mentions shorter attention spans as one reason why circus attendance has declined and I wonder if maybe a Saturday morning cartoon where the circus has to solve mysteries or something might not have helped with that. I also wonder if it might even help people be less afraid of clowns playing detective. Despite winning a civil court battle regarding “allegations that circus employees mistreated elephants”, the circus continued to face negative pressure from animal rights groups and municipalities (in the form of local ordinance … Continue reading →

Scott Adams goes Inside Out and a Geographical Oddity

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Build a Habit-Robot in your Brain (from Scott Adams’ Blog) I find myself further and further fascinated with Scott’s musings, but this one was especially poignant given the number of “what’s going on inside their head” things that I’ve encountered this year (Disney Pixar’s Inside Out and Kristen Anderson-Lopez/Robert Lopez’ Up Here!).   Where the Palm Meets the Pine (from A Geographer’s Scrapbook) This was a fascinating article to read that was randomly posted in an internal work email and something I’ll have to remember to keep an eye out for next time I’m driving north!

I’m a Jim Dale Fan

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I loved Pete’s Dragon growing up, then come to find that Doc Terminus also portrayed Barnum in Cy Coleman’s musical biography of Phineas Taylor was almost too much. And then he goes and narrates Pushing Daisies (one of my favorite cancelled shows of all time)! And he’s the audio book reader for the Harry Potter books? Get out. Just get out! So when I stumbled across Scott Kurtz’ tribute to Pete’s Dragon, I couldn’t help but squeal. 🙂 Every Little Piece – PVPOnline by Scott Kurtz For further enjoyment, here’s the original song that Scott is referencing.

A Chorus Line (1985)

A Chorus Line (1985) – DVD

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IMDB entry for ‘A Chorus Line (1985)’ So last night we watched the filmed adaptation of A Chorus Line. It wasn’t horrible! 😉 That being said, it is VERY MUCH a product of it’s time. Directed by InGen founder John Hammond (aka Lord Richard Attenborough), right from the DVD menu (with so much synth, we almost started to cry) we could tell this wasn’t going to be very much like the stage production. And then the opening number started and we couldn’t help making comparisons to that Captain EO making of featurette that they play as you wait in line. I mean Mike (I Can Do That) was wearing parachute pants! In the film adaptation, Zach is portrayed by Michael Douglas and apparently either he or Attenborough felt that the movie would be MUCH better if this quintessential ensemble piece was focused very tightly on Zach and Cassie. And they … Continue reading →

Les Misérables (2012)

Les Misérables – AMC 12 DownTown Disney, Anaheim, CA

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Absolutely brilliant! Love how the performances are so raw and imperfectly perfect, and that they were allowed to make acting choices since they were all singing live to just a piano accompaniment. And how a lot of the final shots used in the film are like complete 2-3 minute takes. And you’re in their face, feeling the emotion pour out of them. Just…gah! Brilliant. Russel Crowe was just as imperfect as the rest of them, stop whinging about it! It’s been interesting to hear opinions/reflections from others though. Most interesting to consider that the film is more of a love letter to Les Miserables than amazing cinema. I mean definitely worth seeing once, but other than that, it’s kind of unadventurous as cinema. The cameras kind of just swallow the actors. Someone from The New Yorker offers up a sarcasm laden fest regarding why Les Mis isn’t any good. And … Continue reading →

Les Miserable – Segerstrom Center For The Arts (OCPAC), Costa Mesa, CA

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An all around decent production. Nice to see it on the big stage again. Biggest problem? The pace. Now it’s Les Mis, so I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong! 😉 The pace wasn’t too slow, but too fast! When we got to intermission, we felt like we were both out of breathe and that we had just run a marathon! Fantine was not impressive. How did a white baby Eponine grow into a black adult Eponine? A reverse Michael Jackson??? And why did she have to try and turn her one song into a pop ballad? No turntable. Instead they had a giant projection screen for a cyclorama. Didn’t really notice it as an awesome effect until Valjean drags Marius from the barricades to the sewer….it was AMAZING!! Speaking of the barricades…meh.. My first major encounter with Les Miserable had the barricades being formed by massive rotating robots … Continue reading →

Million Dollar Quartet – Segerstrom Center For The Arts (OCPAC), Costa Mesa, CA

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A delightful romp that, unlike the fanciful show Tin Pan Alley that theorized a meeting between the legendary Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin, details an actual event where four legends of rock and roll met under the same roof. On December 4th, 1956, Sam Phillips – creator of Sun Records, has coerced and cajoled Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley to “come home” and visit the place where they all got started (or in Lewis’ case where he was about to get started). So aside from having an evening of chart-topping rock-and-roll hits, you’re also treated to a bit of a history lesson regarding rock ‘n’ roll and how it came about. My knowledge of the events were sketchy at best and influenced mostly by Scot Bruce’s speech about Sun Records during his show and the Johnny Cash biopic Ring Of Fire. But it was absolutely … Continue reading →

White Christmas – OCPAC

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Alright, that was cute. A very nice adaptation with some interesting and eyebrow-raisingchanges. Thank you Sarah for pointing out that the dancing/choreography is amazing – we agree. And yes, the tempo’s are all a bit too fast (even “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me”), but we’ve decided that that is because they added so much content they needed to race through all the songs in order to be done at a decent hour. 😉 Laura very much liked the formation changes – they were very dynamic and effective. I guess at the end of the day, they have to make a bunch of broad changes and the audience gets to pick and choose their favorites. Me, I liked the General and Martha and all of the new songs were VERY well done. The only original songs cut were Mandy/Minstrel Show and Choreography which makes perfect sense as they are … Continue reading →

October Theatre (The Importance Of Being Ernest, The Wedding Singer, The Woman In Black)

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The Importance Of Being Ernest – Golden West College Tony Graham, Angele Lathrop, Merci Hase, Sara from Seven Brides, Gina from Breaking Up, … Really liked Algernon…he played the character really well and gave Rupert Everett a definite run for his money. The Wedding Singer – California State University Fullerton Katie Del Vecchio, Amanda Shay, Millie from Torrance’s “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and the always amazing Cindy Shields. It was nice to see it on a big stage (loved the use of Thriller for “Casualty of Love” as well…) as the only other time I’ve seen it was when David Green produced it at OCPAC’s Founder’s Stage. This production was excellent and highly enjoyable. The music is awesome and fun to rock out to and even though this production was tracked, everyone did a really good job (I don’t remember any major slips or delays while waiting for the … Continue reading →

A Very Cultured Saturday (Tim Burton Exhibition At LACMA & Encore Entertainment’s Production Of The Drowsy Chaperone)

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What fun! Went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (AKA LACMA) for the first time with our friends Jeff and Wendy to check out the Tim Burton Exhibition (closes Oct 31) and various other exhibits there. Then Laura and I went to West High in Torrance to see a student production of The Drowsy Chaperone which was a lot of fun! Tim Burton Special Exhibition (Resnick Pavilion): to see so much Burton goodness in such concentrated form was amazing. The exhibit features remnants from his interment in Burbank (winning contest entries, doodlings on newspapers, poetry referencing classmates), props and costumes from his numerous film projects and replication maquettes from Nightmare and Corpse Bride, but what’s really amazing is to see how much of Burton’s genius is captured in his sketches. It is his preferred medium of communication, and his prose is stunning. The rooms of the exhibit are … Continue reading →