So I've been in an unproductive mood today so I thought, 'Why shouldn't I post two posts today?' So I will!
Shrek The Musical landed on Broadway back in 2008 and lasted a little more than a year until it closed, maintaining the majority of its Seattle cast (one of the production's biggest roles, Donkey, changed actors in the transition to Broadway). The show (which follows the plot of the 2001 film Shrek) tells the story of an ogre named Shrek as he embarks on a journey with a faithful Donkey to obtain his swamp back from the other fairy tale characters by rescuing Princess Fiona, who is the bride of Lord Farquaad (he also originally moved the other fairy tale creatures onto Shrek's swamp). The show discusses themes of self-acceptance and finding true love in the most unlikely of people.
Why do I have the tendency to post once a month―actually, around the same time every month? It's rather odd.
Anyway, Happy Black Friday! (Even though it started while it was still Thanksgiving but who cares anymore, right? It's all about making money and how early to start sales!
Anyway, recently I fell in love with a musical that opened on Off-Broadway in March 2014 and closed back in August. Well, at least I did with the music―the directing kinda sucked after watching it (I've only seen the first act but I thought it was okay).
So among my busy and hectic schedule for the next few weeks or so, I have also been kept up-to-date on some musicals, and I will be posting about the musical Dogfight, based on the 1991 film Dogfight starring Lili Taylor and River Phoenix.
The plot of this show involves a Marine named Eddie (nicknamed Birdlace) and a shy girl named Rose. It takes place in San Francisco in the '60s--actually the day before JFK was assassinated--where Birdlace and a few of his Marine friends are docked for the night before shipping off to Vietnam the next day and plan on attending a "dogfight". A "dogfight" is a party where, unbeknowst to the dates, Marines compete to bring the ugliest date. After a few failed attempts to pick up some girls, Eddie finds Rose in a coffee shop and asks her to the party, to which she initially is suspicious but then decides to go.
After arriving at the party, Eddie has second thoughts and tries to talk Rose out of going in but ends up being hoodwinked by another Marine and his date. The alcohol and dancing ends up making Rose sick and runs to the bathroom; there she runs into the winner of the "dogfight", a prostitute named Marcie brought by one of Eddie's friends Berstein, where Rose discovers the true nature of the party through Marcie. Rose slaps Eddie and runs back home, upset as to how she could be fooled so easily.
Eddie and his friends leave the party and go to an arcade, where they find a prostitute there. Feeling guilty and remorseful as to what he did to Rose, he leaves his friends and goes to her house. There Eddie tries to persuade Rose that he is truly sorry as to what he did--at first Rose is hesistant but then realizes he is being genuine.
The two goes to a fancy restaurant where Rose begins picking at Eddie's tough exterior and tries to see the nice guy he is underneath and the two begin growing closer through understanding each other. They go to the Golden gate Bridge late at night where Rose reveals that although the dogfight was unpleasant, it gave her a new understanding of herself and more self-confidence. She then nervously invites him to her house, where the two share an awkward and romantic sexual experience.
The next day, Eddie returns to his friends and get ready to ship out to Vietnam. There, Eddie sees his friends Boland and Berstein killed in front of him in action, the memories that have plagued him as he returns home to San Francisco three years later broken, confused, and lost. Eddie makes his way and finds an older and wiser Rose, who welcomes him back with compassion.
This musical actually sounds more intense than I originally thought, and I like it! The show premiered on Off-Broadway in 2012 starring Derek Klena [who played Tommy Ross in Carrie Off-Broadway] as Eddie Birdlace and Lindsay Mendez [Everyday Rapture and Godspell] as Rose Fenny. My college is going to have auditions for it in late-February and I'm excited to try and audition for it! Of course I'd like to be Rose but one can only hope!
My favorite song from the show has to be "Pretty Funny" because it's a song I can personally relate to and it's a really powerful song for understanding the character Rose Fenny. My second favorite is a tie between "Dogfight" (I love listening to Rose and Marcie's harmonies) and "Come Back" (the song is Birdlace's "aha!" song that is wicked powerful to listen to).
[Plus, I find it pretty funny that I try to put up a new entry a month and two days after my last one!]
Before I talk about The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, I just want to remind people that tonight is the big night for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!
Here is a little tip before you are auditioning for anything, whether it be for a musical or play or an a Capella group or comedy group or anything else, know well in advance what time to show up.
I'll use what just happened to me as an example. So I'm auditioning for a comedy group on campus tonight and all of the flyers said that the tryouts started at 7. I end up running late, showing up exactly at 7. Well, I see the members of this group all sitting in there and no one else so I'm thinking, "Am I the first one here?" I knock on the door and ask if the auditions had started yet. One of the members then told me that it started at 8 and that the flyers were misprinted. Well great.
Hello whoever has patiently waited for me to post for a month now--I know apologizing is pointless. It has just been a crazy....month getting everything ready for college! (Yes I am in college.) I'm actually in the college library now and I am here for two reasons; one, to print out a monologue I have to relearn for an audition for a straight play on Thursday and two, it's nice to get out of my insanely warm dorm room and into some AC.
I'm not kidding--I have been dressing sloppy for like two days because the temperature has been in the high '80s and very humid.
Anyway, I don't have a specific musical to play for you guys (I literally have had no time) but I have Les Miserables bloopers for you to enjoy until I am able to have a decent post ready for you!
Well, a lot of things have been happening in the past two weeks! First off, Into the Woods Jr. went excellent--I still miss that show. Now I am getting ready to audition for Chicago in a few weeks--it is the first show my college is putting on for the school year and the audition is during the first week of classes! I hope I can make the Ensemble--it is not my favorite show but I like to be involved in various kinds of musicals.
Now I want to address the death of a particular comedian who committed suicide this past Monday; Robin Williams.
