hipster theatre pictures

Don’t judge me, but I absolutely love this site.

http://hipstertheatrepictures.tumblr.com/

Inspirational quotes, hipster photography, theatre... what’s not to love?

These are some of my favorites:

Ok, fine, judge me. You’re probably right anyway.

now playing

One of my first posts on this blog was a response to all the Broadway shows that closed in January. "At least 20 shows are confirmed to open within the next few weeks/months," I said. "Those numbers aren't so bad, right?"


Right. In fact, they're overwhelming. The past few weeks have been nonstop with the amount of opening nights we've had and will have in the very near future. 


So to help keep up with these changes, here's a list of all the Broadway shows now playing. (As a fun fact, I crossed off the one's I've already seen. Not gonna lie, that number is slacking.) 


NOW PLAYING:

Anything Goes

The Best Man

*The Book of Mormon
Anthing Goes

Chicago

*Clybourne Park

The Columnist

*Death of a Salesman

Don’t Dress For Dinner

End of the Rainbow

Evita

*The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Ghost the Musical

*Godspell

Harvey

*How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

*Jersey Boys

*Jesus Christ Superstar

*Leap of Faith

*The Lion King

The Lyons

Magic/Bird

*Mamma Mia!

*Mary Poppins

Memphis

*Newsies

*Nice Work If You Can Get It

Once

One Man, Two Guvnors

*Other Desert Cities

*Peter and the Starcatcher

*The Phantom of the Opera

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Rock of Ages

*Seminar

Sister Act

Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark

A Streetcar Named Desire

Venus in Fur

*War Horse

*Wicked

*The shows with stars next to them are the ones that the company I'm working with, Serino/Coyne, represents. I thank my lucky *s each night. 

shout out to jeremy lin!

By now you should know that I don't follow sports, so this post has little to do with Jeremy Lin.

I do, however, follow multi-cultural issues. Last night I attended a round-table panel at Fordham entitled "RepresentAsian: The Changing Face of Theatre". It was moderated by playwright David Henry Hwang and featured a slew of recognizable names such as Oskar Eustis, Douglas Carter Beane, Tara Rubin, and Bartlett Sher. 

The conversation lasted about three hours, and surprisingly, it never got boring. I wanted so badly to raise my hand and ask a question (or text/tweet a question- they embrace technology in 2012!), but I was finding it difficult to formulate my comments into reasonable prompts. 

What I really wanted to bring up was my own sense of mis-representation in the theatre. Statistically, I fit into the 2% of Latinos seen on stage. However, because of the fairness of my skin, it would be difficult to feel as if my "race" were something I were being discriminated for. Without getting too detailed, I've always felt this way- trapped between two worlds.

Incidentally (and completely unrelated-ly) I met Andréa Burns this weekend. I've always been a huge fan of hers for two reasons. Firstly, because we share the same name, except she is brave/smart enough to put an accent on her name to make sure people don't try to mis-pronounce it. I would do that now, but I do too much of my work on the computer, and always having to put in that accent character would be more frustrating than helpful.

The second reason why I love Andréa Burns is because of how easily she can slip in and out of her Latina-ness. I remember having once seen an ah-mah-zing video where she sang "I'm Not Afraid of Anything" (from Songs for a New World) and "No Me Diga" (from In The Heights) back to back to show the contrast between her accented voice and her very straight musical theatre tone. I looked for it online now and couldn't find it anywhere, so you'll have to remain content with watching her sing a song from Beauty and the Beast in that princess style of hers.

Anyway, given that long tangent, the point of my story is this: race and culture do not define a person. It's the talent that actually matters. On stage, on the basketball court, in the science lab.. it's a universal principle that matters. So NBA, don't overlook a talent like Jeremy Lin. Casting directors, don't ignore the Asian population. And world, don't ignore me.


(To apologize for this slightly-longer-than-usual post, I will include a picture of Jeremy Lin doing something that looks hard. So you can't say I tricked you with this title.)

theatre... or theater...?

You may have noticed that I like to use the word "theatre". As in "-re". No, I'm not British. I'm not even Canadian! But for some reason, this form of the spelling has sunk into my vernacular and I can't escape it.

Here's a quote I found on Grammarist.com that I like. And since I just discovered how to Print Screen on a Mac, I will include a photo of it here.

Some people are very much against the spelling of "theatre". They think it's pretentious or exotic. I don't think we need to over-think it that much. Just go with the flow. If someone uses "theatre", respond with "theatre". If they say "theater", then the answer is "theater". There ya have it. A lesson in vocabulary AND social etiquette.
The Eleven O'Clock Number: getting the bang for your buck, one theatre post at a time.

blacklight theatre

I was going to write an entry about this form of theatre that I experienced in Prague, but I really don't know what to say. I know critics should state their opinions truthfully, whether they thought the production was good or bad, but I'm not even sure I know how I felt about it.

And also, if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. So mums the word on this one.

high on a hill lived a lonely goatherd

One of the things I was most excited to see in Prague was the puppet theatre. To me, it was quintessential. I'd heard about it my entire life and read all I could in travel books before arriving to the city. When we got to the national theatre box office, we had a nice long chat about Czech theatre. My disappointment came, abruptly, when I asked about puppet theatre and the box office attendant scoffed. He informed me that it was merely for tourists and gift shops to make money off. I didn't want to believe him, but as I walked around the city, I quickly realized that 1) we saw no puppet theatres and 2) none of the puppet store owners knew anything about theatre.

I guess I'll have to trek over to the Alps on my next visit.

a penny? a nickel? a dime?!

When was the last time you payed for something with a single coin? I think the last time I did was in the elementary school cafeteria, where a pretzel rod cost a dime.

I never in my life thought I could pay with a COIN to see a Mozart opera in the opera house where Mozart himself conducted.

But I did. In Prague. It was beautiful. My seat was less than spectacular, but hey, you get what you pay for. And considering the amazing experience that it was - it was a bargain.