Saturn returned to bite me in the ass.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
For The Musical Theater Crowd: On Romney’s Plans for Our Nation
But don’t let anybody see these plans except for you!
They are only for you to see… even if people ask you to show the plans to them, DON’T.
Just summarize them into a TINY number of bullet points, even though this might make them question if the plans are real or not.
This is sort of what Mitt is going for.
We all watch the Newsroom waiting for Jim to break out in “The Bitch of Living,” right?
It would totally be in character. He may be less nervous that Moritz, but I believe they’re equally frustrated.
Affirmative.
Actual Content of an Email I Just Sent The Feller
i hope you slept okay. i slept like a rock. and then i had this dream in the morning that i was seriously considering buying a $15,000 cow. really. like I had shopped for it and picked it out and it had been washed for me. and then i realized I DON’T HAVE $15,000, and i tried to back out. somehow someone I knew was getting a $900 cow and I was so confused, and then possibly my possible cow drowned? obviously i lived in india with my parents in this dream. and we had a big marble jacuzzi like at Amer Fort, only it was a POT FOR BOILING PASTA, which was great, and I sat next to it and read an entire book while the pasta cooked, and when i finished my book, i realized WHOA, IT’S PROBABLY TIME TO TURN THAT OFF. so I drained the jacuzzi (which was black marble, fyi), and all of the pasta drained with it. and it had cooked for so long that I felt TERRIBLE, but my mom was like, ha, yeah, that happens (not something my mom has ever said). anyway, this corner of my subconscious brought to you by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat.
This is going viral. Other people have tumblred it without credit. You are going to see it.
You need to know that it was 100% created by me, @mdseeley, and our colleague Shawna. We love being nerds, we love Elaine. That is all.
I Am Dying Because Of How Funny Parts Of This Are (Not All Of It. There Are Major Problems. Like Fiyero. And That Photo Not Being Adam Pascal.)
“Oh shiiit, you didn’t think we forgot President Sexypants, now did you?! Of course not. We’re just saving the best for last. And clearly, he’s the best. Because there was an enormous ass on the billboard. And the tagline was “History Just Got All Sexypants.” And Mr. Jackson (if you’re nasty) gave a lapdance to one lucky audience member every night of the week. And even blood-soaked and whining like a bitch he was so hot you wanted to peel his tight, tight jeans off with your teeth and go to town. It is literally impossible to make this list without him.”
Start Watching These Now
I will be watching them all very soon. I remember SO MANY of these. Being a nerd is so great, y’all.
I would be watching them now, but I don’t think crying at work is appropriate in this case.
In all the hubbub of yesterday, I missed that Arthur Laurents died.
What a life.
Sneak peak of the filmed version of the New York Philharmonic production of Company. (This was my favorite number in the show!)
I think there’s a special pleasure center of my brain that’s only activated when I get to watch Stephen Colbert singing and dancing.
Also: PUT ALL OF THIS IN MY EYES IMMEDIATELY
Potentially saving this week from utter collapse.
25 Songs in 25 Years: Day 24!
Day 24: A song that you have danced to with your best friend
You know, seeing as how I did a whole post of songs that reminded me of Kathleen, it seems a little silly to come back and figure out one that we’ve danced to.
But then I remembered that whole thing where dancing together was a major part of our lives. You know, right around ages 6 to 11.
So this post gets two entries, because I would like to show you the range of what little girls in Atlanta were dancing to in their “Jazz” classes in the late 80s and early 90s.
First, there was this:
Who doesn’t want to see a bunch of 8-year-old white girls dressed as homeless people doing jazz squares to a hip-hop classic? Also yes, we obviously all learned ALL THE WORDS over the course of learning the dance for our recital, which has come in handy on a somewhat annual basis since then. So, thank you, The Studio Atlanta Dance, for that knowledge.
What else did we learn in that jazz class? Why, the original choreography to “One,” from A Chorus Line. Yes, we went from ripped flannel shirts with “Mr. Wendal” to shiny gold hotpants, WHAT OF IT? Sadly, I cannot find a very good video showing the whole number and the right choreography (though if you want to sit through the “I Hope I Get It” segment of the cast performance at the 2007 Tony Awards, they do get to the right choreo eventually), so here is some old, old goodness:
Interestingly, though I know all the WORDS to “Mr. Wendal,” I don’t know any of the dance anymore. But somehow, Kathleen and I (a grammatical construction I have forced myself to use only in recent years, because the word I casually invented as a 5-year-old, “meandkathleen,” does not fly) remember almost ALL of this choreography. You give me a hat, or something that looks vaguely like a hat, and I will do this dance. You give me shiny gold hotpants, or something that looks vaguely like shiny gold hotpants, and I will do this dance. My kicks do not look as good as theirs, but step-flick-step-kick-step-ONE is it ingrained in my memory like nobody’s business.
Jesus, we were the strangest children.
Day 24: “Mr. Wendal,” by Arrested Development and “One,” from A Chorus Line
Aw, I Was There!
I love it when the non-Broadway Internet finds out about things a little later. Also I basically couldn’t have been any farther away from the stage, but let me tell you—Hendricks in a slip reads all the way to the back of Avery Fisher Hall.
Preliminary Thoughts on Company at the NY Philharmonic
- Katie Finneran, I want to be you when I grow up.
- …on the days I am not being NPH. But seriously, when can I karaoke “Getting Married Today?”
- Seriously, why the fuck was the lighting design based on Jolly Ranchers colors? That was nauseating.
- Avery Fisher Hall, as the people behind us noted loudly and repeatedly, is not built for spoken word or sung lyrics. The sound was a shitshow, and most of the (tv) actors onstage sounded unsure or off-beat a lot of the time.
- Somehow, I had forgotten about “Marry Me A Little.” Which maybe allowed me to really enjoy NPH’s delivery of it. I was very pleased.
- PATTI PATTI PATTI PATTI PATTI PATTI PATTI, especially doing the straight-arms-straight-legs-run-in-place dance move in “What Would We Do Without You.” Hilarious.
- I thought NPH was a little shaky in the first act. I was worried about his voice. And then he knocked Act 2 out of the park!
- Anyway, all told, I was thrilled with the show. It was a TREAT.
- I cried a little.
- I cannot make anymore thoughts. Because I have not had breakfast or coffee, and I am hongry. To brunch!
25 Songs in Like Four Months: Day 23!
Day 23: A song that you cannot stand to listen to.
I dislike this song so much that I’m not even going to link to it. Let’s start there. When I was a teenager, I used to say that the musical Annie gave me hives. This was never actually the case, you’ll be unsurprised to learn, and it really isn’t the case for the whole show. For instance, I love the song “Maybe.” I love “Easy Street.” Hell, I even like, “Hard Knock Life.” These songs are kind of thoughtful, and clever and catchy, and I hum all three of them on a relatively regular basis even though I never ever ever listen to Annie or even own the cast recording. Why don’t I own it? Because no amount of musical theater love can make me want to listen to “Tomorrow.” Ever. I think it’s stupid and boring and anything but easy on the ears, even sung by the best Annies in the history of Annie. So that is that. The show has its highlights, but yuck, “Tomorrow” is awful.
Day 23: “Tomorrow,” from Annie
