I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING!
They said everything I would have said had I been able to put a coherent thought together last week….
11 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Broadway, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater
I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING!
They said everything I would have said had I been able to put a coherent thought together last week….
10 May 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Broadway, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater
I will never not share Hamilton thinkstuff. Everyone needs to make space in their brains for Hamilton thinkstuff.
03 May 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment Tags: Broadway, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater, nominations, Shuffle Along, Tony Awards
So the Tony nominations came out this morning….
I’ve been waiting for the last seven years, through every tweet, concert and staging, for this moment to arrive. And arrive it did–like gangbusters. Just like it burst onto the Great Wide Way, HAMILTON fired into Tony history with a record-breaking SIXTEEN nominations in every category imaginable. If they could have nominated the theater ushers and the #Ham4Ham shows I bet they’d have found a way.
I’m very excited, but I’m thoroughly torn. Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921, and All That Followed, the George C. Wolfe staged production of the Eubie Blake musical, is also nominated, head-to-head with HAMILTON in several categories. You see, the last bit of news I’d heard was that Shuffle Along was delaying their eligibility for consideration this year. All the powerhouse talent I adore–Billy Porter, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Joshua Allen, Savion Glover–is involved with this show. Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald is in this show. And Adrienne Warren (who ironically has Lin-Manuel ties from her role in Bring It On), is part of the Shuffle Along family as well.
I don’t even know how to feel right now. As far as musical talent and stellar humanity, Lin and Billy are my end-all, be-all. I LOVE them. That old saying about having to choose your favorite child is in full effect. As much as I’ve crowed endlessly about HAMILTON, it was the musical EUBIE! that was my very first exposure to a Broadway style production….so by extension, Shuffle Along birthed the love for musical theater that allowed me to fall ass over tea kettle in love with HAMILTON. Both of these shows are at the core of my being.
Tony Night will be bittersweet indeed as I wait to see how the votes tallied. The HAMILTON vs. Shuffle battle alone is tense enough (and I’m just going to ignore the Best Musical category altogether, as they just need to make five statues and hand them out NOW)…we have to choose WITHIN categories. There’s a three way scuffle between the Georges, Lafayette and Jefferson, as Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs and Jonathan Groff have all been nominated for the Best Featured Actor in a Musical award. I’m leaning most towards Chris because he’s long overdue, but how do you not look at the contrasting dual energies Daveed pours out or all of the emotions Jonathan wrings out of his nine minutes onstage? And in clearly what is someone’s idea of a twisted joke…Hamilton and Burr–in the guise of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom, Jr.–battle among themselves for Best Lead Actor. You savages.
This is a Tony year like no other. HAMILTON is my clear and biased choice for everything because I feel like it’s MY show…like I’m a part of its development. In a way, Lin lets us feel like we are, so I’ll be mentally standing on stage with the producers as they claim the trophy. But there are so many other variables and connections in play, and I feel like I’ll be happy if either of my loves wins, yet will also weep for the names not called. Even though HAMILTON is the Jacob to Shuffle‘s Esau in my mind, I can’t completely cast off my other child. Maybe I should contact Olivia and Archie Manning to see how they dealt with it……
Either way, whatever happens in the shuffle, come June 12, I’m raising a glass.
18 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Alexander Hamilton, Broadway, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater, Pulitzer Prize
I am not at all surprised, especially since I stopped doubting Lin’s vision on things. This is such a magnificent honor!
18 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Alexander Hamilton, Broadway, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater
These are all the things I try to say when I take about this show…when people commiserate about astronomical tickets prices and not seeing the original cast. The show is bigger than those little details–and yes, I guess those of us in the rarities air can say that without aching a little–it is, as Jefferson says about Hamilton, a host unto itself. It exists, and it’s beautiful in all of its forms. Embrace it however you are able.
http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2016/03/18/470897683/pop-culture-happy-hour-hamilton
22 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater
More to be proud of….
19 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater
Again, sharing because I have to….
19 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in Entertainment, Reposts Tags: Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda, musical, musical theater
Reblogging simply because I have to….and the analysis is so crazy on point.
#yayHamlet
American Shakespeare Center Blog
A few weeks ago, when I was participating in the “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” event at the Alden Theatre, the panel took a question from a man who complained that students today don’t understand Shakespeare because their language skills just aren’t up to the task, that they can’t process the complexities of vocabulary and syntax, and that modern English has degraded in quality and variety.
Now, while I have many problems with the state of modern education, I nonetheless felt compelled to stand up on behalf of my people, the young’uns (never mind that I’m on the verge of no longer sharing a generation with high schoolers). Modern English is no less complex than Shakespeare’s early modern English — in fact, in many ways it’s become more flexible and facile. Students are perfectly capable of using language in elaborate ways. They’re just not used to Shakespeare‘s elaborate ways.
How…
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