A followup...

Not long ago, I had a post about the upcoming vampire musical, LESTAT (with music by Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin.) In the post, I worried that it might suck.

My worries were completely justified. It was a total Broadway train wreck.

Here are some sample review quotes...

"A promising new contender has arrived in a crowded pharmaceutical field. Joining the ranks of Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and other prescription lullaby drugs is "Lestat," the musical sleeping pill that opened last
night at the Palace Theater." Ben Brantley, The New York Times.

"What is very clear by the end—it probably took a few centuries, and certainly feels like it—is that vampires have very difficult and unhappy lives. You really don't want to be one. Especially if it involved music as loud and boring as poor old Lestat has to plow his way through. It's not a life fit for a dog, let alone a bat." Clive Barnes, The New York Post.

"Despite those Rice credentials, the homoerotic/Oedipal potential and a score by the still-golden duo of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, the show is dim, dumb and dreary. Considering that this is the Broadway debut for Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, the biggest shocker is how cheap it all looks." Linda Winer, Newsday

God bless critics.

I have six photos in my hand...

I may be a newbie to the cult of America's Next Top Model, but I am totally addicted to the drama of this show. The tension that builds when the models receive TyraMail. The concentration and drive it takes to fall from a platform and still look pretty. The sheer triumph of the spirit to SWIRL!

This show is so campy, it makes actual camp look like Greek tragedy.

But the show reached its beautiful apex last night when Jade (the biatch of the show) took one look at her crying picture, and started to cry about how much pain she kept inside, how much struggle she went through... and then Tyra called her out for being fake! Fabulous!

I'm surprised that time didn't end because of the massive mind-bending paradox that unfolded. Tyra Banks (who is faker than a Presbyterian woman's orgasm) called another bitch out for being fake? Oh, the irony! Oh, the drama! Oh, the serious whispering!

And they still found time to fix Joanie's snaggletooth.

What a show.

Do you take this woman and this woman and this woman...?

If you haven't gotten a chance to catch HBO's new series BIG LOVE, then you should rush to your TiVo and add it to your Season Pass Manager, or stay home next Sunday and watch it.

BIG LOVE is a terrific new series about the Hendricksons -- a polygamist family living in the suburbs. Husband Bill and wife Barb and wife Nikki and wife Margene and assorted kids all live together in three houses with an adjoining backyard, and they have all the dramas of regular families... times 3.

Just when you thought the quirky hour-long drama would disappear after Six Feet Under called it quits, here comes this excellent series. Really well-written and directed, and filled with a cast of unexpected but always spot-on actors: Bill Paxton, Chloe Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Harry Dean Stanton, Bruce Dern -- the list goes on and on. Even the smaller roles are unexpectedly cast. Melora Walters (the drug addict girl in Magnolia), the dumb one from Mean Girls who predicts rain with her boobs, and other otherwise underused actors pop up episode to episode. It's clever, funny, even-handed, and really engrossing. I was hooked from the pilot.

BIG LOVE has filled in the "juicy yet quirky soap opera drama with a tinge of mystery that actually works" gap left by a disappointing second season of Desperate Housewives.

Watch it. It's worth it.

...and as a side note, HBO is running the entire series of Six Feet Under on HBO2... they're just getting to season 3. A new episode every weekday. It's a great way to re-experience a truly wonderful series. I miss you, SixFeet Under!

Walk The Line

I know I'm probably far behind in finding this out, but I just finished watching the Johnny Cash film Walk The Line, and I loved it. Missed it when it was in theatres here, and just finally caught up with it.

Terrific movie. I don't usually enjoy biopics, but it had a fantastic screenplay, terrific direction, the musical sequences were really well done, and the performances...

Man, the PERFORMANCES! Joaquin Phoenix delivers the goods. BIG time. He's always great in everything he's in, but he really outdid himself. And Reese Witherspoon was equally compelling, and deserved her Oscar. (Although don't you think she should have gotten that Oscar for Election? She was knockout in that movie.)

Watching this movie also made me mad. When you think that this film, Brokeback Mountain, and Capote were all out in the same year, and CRASH wins the Best Picture Oscar... it makes you sad. Or at least, it makes me sad.

Walk the Line deserved a Best Picture nomination. If you haven't seen it, catch it. It's worth it.

An Easter 229...

My grandmother, God love her, is a terrific woman.

But today, she was wearing her shirt inside out for most of Easter.

That's a 229.

And Jesus rose from the dead for that?

(Grandma if you read this, I love you. :) )

Fat Revelation

So as you may know, I am trying to lose weight. And I have had a very successful week. I'm following the Weight Watchers Points thing, and it's been a piece of cake (without actually eating one!).

Last night, I went to a show with my friend Cara, and afterwards, we went to Chili's. Now I've been saving my weekly points allowance for a moment just like this one, so I said, "To hell with it. I get to splurge a little." So I had what I usually get a Chili's -- their delicious BBQ Ranch Burger with fries.

I get home, and look up the points and such for this delicious meal... and I thought I was going to throw up. The burger alone contained 1112 calories and 31 grams of fat.... THIRTY ONE! Jesus. I was horrified. In total, the burger and fries were 34 points -- more than I am allowed in a single day!

I had a fat revelation. It was disgusting what I was actually consuming on a daily basis.

Bye bye Chili's burgers. And fries. And everything else that's atrocious. It was fun while it lasted.

Up Past Bedtime on a Thursday Night

Last night, I got together with three very good friends of mine -- Cara (my best friend who I've known since high school), Katryn (who I've done theatre with around here for the past seven or so years), and John (who was my best buddy in college and probably the best guy friend I have and will ever have.) We're doing a public reading of a new play of mine called "Providence" in advance of a production we're doing this summer. And we got together to rehearse.

What a terrific time I'm having. I spend most of my creative time these days working with my students. And while that's always a fulfilling thing, getting the chance to sit in a room with three terrific actors that I know and trust and just dig into a script and experiment and play --- it's just freakin' phenomenal. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be to work on a scene with someone who loves the process of making theatre as much as I do.

And it's the first time that John and I have acted together since our first show in college. So it's great fun.

Isn't it nice to rediscover what originally attracted you to an art form? Once you get in the muck, and it really becomes "a job," you can forget the thing that made it seem incredible and magical in the first place.

It felt like college all over again. Fun night.

Hey kid, want some candy...?

I'm craving Easter candy. Seriously. One of my favorite things about Easter (other than ressurrection of the Lord who gave his life to forgive our sins) is Cadbury Eggs.

Now I like the standard fare Cadbury Egg a lot. Even though it's tres tres rich. But ever since they came out with the Caramel Egg and the Chocolate Creme Egg, I'm a serious devotee of that Cadbury Bunny.

But now that I'm trying to drop the pounds, I have to turn away from the Eggs I love so much.

Damn chocolate for being so tasty! Damn Cadbury for making such deliciousness! And Damn Jesus for coming back from the dead and causing all this celebration to begin with!

Wonder Showzen

This show is damn funny. DAMN FUNNY!!

It's on MTV2. It's rather rude, and if South Park bothers you, definitely don't watch this show. But, I find it incredibly funny. It's a rude, offensive, and sometimes vulgar show that's made to look like a cheap children's show (a la Sesame Street). There are puppets, and cartoons, and actual kids saying wildly inappropriate things... and there's a cartoon where a girl's first period takes her on a tour of her own vagina.

Yeah.

Check it out if you can. It's second season is playing now.

A Broadway Musical 229...

...VAMPIRES WHO SING.

Okay, so if you follow musical theatre any, you'll know that Elton John and Bernie Taupin have written a big, splashy Broadway musical based on the Lestat books by Anne Rice called... Lestat (no exclamation point at the end, sadly. Wouldn't it be fun to go and see ... Lestat! -- he sings!, he dances!, he vants to suck your blood!) It opens soon, and is one of the big musical entries this season.

This isn't the first attempt to make those bloodsuckers sing. A few seasons back, there was this musical gem:

DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES. That hairy fellow in the middle who looks like Teen Wolf in a drag contest is Michael Crawford.... yes, THAT Michael Crawford. This show closed really quick.

And Frank Wildhorn brought us Dracula, the musical!

Here's a scene from it. Doesn't it look... cheesy? Those three up there are clawing their way to an audition for a replacement role in MAMMA MIA!

Vampires belting bad pop opera... a definite 229.

43 Things

So there's this very cool website called "43 Things" that I discovered while goofing off online.

The premise of "43 Things" is simple -- you create a list of 43 things that you want to accomplish in your life. It can be anything at all, from something simple like "not bite my fingernails" to "find a cure for cancer." And you post your list on this site.

Now, the site will see if anyone else with a list matches any of your goals. If someone else shares one of your 43 things, you end up in a little group with them, where you can post messages about how you're doing with your goals.

It's a neat little way to keep your mind focused on some of your life goals -- even if they're far off. And it's incredibly interesting to see how many people share your goals, and also how many people have wierd goals to begin with.

I only have 34 things right now. Still more to go on my list. But it's a cool website, and you should check it out.

A 229...

So, when my brother and I were growing up, we created lots of little "in jokes" -- one of them being The 229.

A 229 was our fictional police code for a fashion violation. Any time we saw something incredibly tacky being worn by an otherwise well-meaning person, we'd point them out and say, "Look. A 229." My brother, (who is quite hilarious more often than not) also concocted the entire "Fashion Miranda Rights."

Have I mentioned we're both gay? I didn't think it would be necessary.

So, part of my blogging time will be spent writing about the 229s all around us. And I live in South Louisiana, so you can rest assured that I have PLENTY to write about. Now, I'm not just talking fashion -- but general tackiness that surrounds us on a daily basis.

And if you come across any 229s you think I might appreciate, let me know.

See What I Wanna See

So, I'm a huge musical theatre fanatic. And one of the musical theatre's younger composers (even though he's now in his 40s, I think. ) had a new cast recording released recently. Michael John LaChuisa's SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE.

The musical is actually three smaller pieces, all revolving around the flexibility and unreliability of the truth. As is standard with one of his shows, the music is dark, the lyrics are poetic (sometimes to the point of being absurd) and the piece as a whole doesn't really land any significant emotional moments.

But I'm a fan of the postmodern musical, so I enjoyed it. For those folks who love Idina Menzel, she's a major performer on the disc. Also, if you're more a musical theatre freak, Mary Testa is also terrific in it.

I was a little sorry the original production of this show wasn't recorded. Idina Menzel's role was originally performed by Audra McDonald. And when you listen to it, you can just imagine how fantastic she must have sounded in the role.

Birthday Countdown!

In a little over a month, I turn 30.

30!!!!

It's an odd feeling, because when you're younger, you always assume that people who are 30 have their shit together, and are, for all intents and purposes, ADULTS.

Me... not so much.

But it will be an interesting birthday. My theatre students are performing their spring production (which serves as their final) on the big day, so I'll get to jump into a new decade with a bunch of bright, creative, and very funny teenagers.

At least I won't be weeping with my other friends nearing their 30th.

I am making one significant resolution on turning 30. I'm going to lose some weight. I'm a bit round about the middle, and a few weeks ago, when a student led a Suzuki workshop, I only got halfway through it. YIKES! So, bye bye candy. Hello wheat bread.