A Chorus Line

I went to see A Chorus Line last night. It was really quite good. There were a few things I had some problems with, but overall it was wonderful.

The thing that really bothered me is that a lot of the people really couldn't sing. Diana and Maggie could sing, but Cassie, who has the biggest solo, couldn't. It was really annoying, because the song was right over her voice break, and at the beginning, she wasn't belting, so it would just switch between her chest voice and her head voice, which was really bad in the first place, and it sounded terrible. And then when she started to belt, it was really grating and even more nasal than belts usually are.

One of the great things was that everyone could dance, and I mean really dance. Some of the best dancers were Paul, Cassie, and basically everyone.

My favorite people in it were Diana (Moralis), because she could sing, dance, act, and she was spunky and fun. We saw an understudy, but she was still amazing. She was really great. Paul was also amazing. He couldn't really sing, but he could really act and boy could he DANCE. He was an amazing dancer and it was really great just to watch him. Sheila was also hilarious and had a great stage presence.

I like how they did the set, completely bare except for a line on the floor, and sometimes with mirrors on the walls, because it felt like a real dance studio.

Overall, it was a really fun show, and I would definitely suggest seeing it if you get the chance.

Happy Holidays

so, it's Christmas. I'm leaving in about 15 minutes for Southboro, Massachusetts, where my cousins live, and I'll be back tomorrow, so that's cool. I love Southboro. I'm Jewish, technically, but my dad's not, so it's Christmastide and I'm listening to my christmas playlist, which consists of parts of Handel's Messiah, Now That's What I Call Christmas, Christmas Bells from Rent, some Simon & Garfunkel, and some silly JoCo Christmas songs. It's fun. I'm on the Rent right now, which is fun and a nice break from all this Jesus shit. I got two Moleskine notebooks, a sketchbook and a ruled notebook, and a check from my grandparents, and gorgeous ruby earrings from my parents because they're my birthstone. And then I'll get more in Southboro. But I dunno, I love presents, but I'm not crazy like I was when I was little. They're fun, though. I should probably go now, but happy holidays everyone, and see you after break!

Sweeney

I listen to Sweeney Todd way too much. Whenever I'm mad or sad or whatever, I listen to Sweeney, which is probably not a good thing, considering the subject of Sweeney. I don't know...it just says so many true things about human nature and revenge. I love Epiphany, because I just think it says so many terrible things about humanity and society and et cetera.

I think that's part of the reason I love Sondheim. Unlike all of the shitty Webber-esque/Disney happily-ever-after musicals, Sondheim isn't afraid to tell stories with real people who do things with consequences. Every time I see Sondheim, I feel that he's just unclothed human nature and laid in bare and naked and ugly, but true, for all the world to see.

That's what really annoys me about Disney movies and (god forbid) musicals. They're so deceiving. We all have our residue from the fairytales of our childhood. We all want our own little happily ever after. But whenever I see a musical or read a book or see a movie where everything ends happy, I feel deceived and lied to. That's not how real life works, so why should we dream of it? No one is always happy, even if they have a good life and money and healthy relationships. No one lives happily ever after. No one lives ever after, after all, whether it's happy or not.

Life

So I got a blog. Yeah, I know, I'll probably never post to it, but i felt like it. I like Blogger as a template, and I can import it into facebook which is cool. I'm on break right now, which is awesome. Christmas is tomorrow and I go up to Massachusetts. I dunno, I'm not that happy right now, just because I'm kind of bored and emo-ish about life right now. Things aren't that great, I guess...I don't know. But Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...I don't know, the title is kind of bullshit, but I'm way excited. I'm not particularly inspired right now so I'm going to go.