Tag Archives: musical

Grease Live (or A Fun Night In With Friends)

Posted on February 4, 2016 | Comments Off

Since almost all of us use a DVR or watch tv online now, it’s so rare for me to watch something live. Unless it’s an awards show, I’m usually watching a recording of it. I know that most people also watch sports live, but I rarely watch sports (I do watch the Super Bowl for the commercials).

But when NBC started to do live musicals (even though they are taped delayed for the west coast), I got really excited to watch them. While I didn’t love The Sound Of Music or Peter Pan, it was still really excited to live-tweet along with others about what was happening and feel like I was a part of something special. And when The Wiz ended up being so great, I got really enthusiastic about live musicals on TV.

FOX did Grease Live this past weekend and for the first time I decided to have a viewing party at my house. I figured it could be really fun whether the musical was amazing or was a bit of a disappointment. So I invited a bunch of my friends and said that I would provide the drinks if they wanted to bring snacks.

My friends Rayshell, June, and Amanda (who I know from Orangetheory) came over to watch on Sunday. And even though none of my friends had met each before, it ended up being the perfect group (and all of them ended up bringing dessert treats to share!).

As soon as Grease Live started, I made a joke about how the green screen wasn’t that realistic looking. But as soon as the camera pulled away and I saw that they were acknowledging that this was a live event happening all over the Warner Bros. backlot, I knew that this was going to be something special. For all the other live musicals, they never really seemed to treat it any differently than having a play being taped. But Grease Live really did seem to want to show off all the hard work that they did.

After that initial joke about the green screen, there wasn’t much joking among the group. We did joke about funny moments and character choices, but it was all in a very positive way and more enjoyment than snark. I didn’t even end up live-tweeting because I was so enthralled by the show.

I loved seeing them all over the backlot (I know it well from working there as an actor and back in 2005 as a tour guide and being there for the SAG-AFTRA Gala) and shared fun facts about the backlot with my friends. And I loved seeing them use the tour guide golf carts to get from one stage to another (they even drove my favorite cart, #9)! I did have a moment where my heart felt like it would stop when the golf cart started to tip in the end of the show (I know how unstable those golf carts are), but fortunately the cart didn’t tip over.

It didn’t feel like a live production because of all the hard work the cast and crew had done over the past few weeks. They had everything perfectly choreographed and timed out so that the audience only saw what they wanted us to see and nothing was delayed. I mean, look at how perfectly the associate director did the camera moves for just part of a song! I know that every cast and crew of a live production work hard, but this one just took things to another level. And since the sets were full rooms (not just the set facing a wall of cameras) it felt so different from all the other live musicals (although I did say that in a way that made it feel less like a live production at times)

My friends all agreed with me that this was the best live musical that we’ve seen on TV. There was very little that we would have changed about the show and we all had a great time watching it. And I think that getting together to watch the live musicals will be a new tradition (another adventure with friends to add to my goals list!) and we are already planning on trying to be together for the one happening in March.

I really went into watching Grease Live thinking I wouldn’t love it, but I’m so happy that I was wrong and it ended up being such a fun thing to watch and experience with everyone.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, friends, musical, play, TV

Mamma Mia (or The Best Black Friday Deal Ever!)

Posted on January 28, 2016 | 3 comments

I loved having season tickets for the Pantages last year and getting to see a bunch of amazing musicals. It was the best thing I splurged on and it brought me so much happiness. But when the season for this year was announced, I couldn’t justify splurging on the full season when there were only a few shows I really wanted to see. So I figured that I’d try to catch a show or two if I found a good deal.

Then, right before Thanksgiving I got an email from Pantages saying that they were running a Black Friday deal! You could get tickets for 4 shows on Tuesdays for $99! That’s basically $25 a show (it’s usually about $100 per show on average). I emailed my friend Dani about it and asked if she wanted to get 4 shows. I’m so glad that not only did she say yes, but she said that she could do the ticket order (the deal started at midnight and I knew I’d be at a movie with my cousin then).

We got the 4 shows we wanted and Dani said that she just chose to have the best seats available. When I took a look at our order, I realized that we were almost always exactly centered in the theater and only a few rows farther back than our season tickets had been! That’s pretty amazing and I know that we scored on that deal.

Our first show of 4 was this week and it was Mamma Mia. I’ve seen the movie before and had enjoyed the plot and the music. So I was pretty happy that we were going to see the musical. Two of our other friends, Sarah and Ali, got tickets for that show (they didn’t want to do the 4 show deal) so we all got a quick dinner at the W Hotel (across the street from the theater) before it was showtime.

I know that Sarah and Ali tried to get tickets near us, but it wasn’t possible. So we split up in the lobby (Ali and Sarah went to the balcony and Dani and I went to the orchestra), but it was ok with us that we weren’t sitting together. We were all just glad that we were getting to see the show!

Mamma Mia

I really enjoyed the show! It was similar to the movie, but there were a couple of songs that weren’t in the movie or were in different places in the play. It was fun and you could tell that the actors were having a great time performing! There was no way you couldn’t smile during the show (and in Dani’s case, there was no way not to sing and dance by the end of the show).

In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I told my parents about it and they decided to get tickets for when the show will be touring near them this summer! My parents don’t go to a lot of musicals, but they seem to have similar tastes for shows that I do. So I have a good feeling that they will love it (and I helped them find some really great seats!).

Of our 4 shows that we got in our Black Friday deal, the rest of them are in the summer so we’ve got a few months before the next one (although there is one show not in our deal that I might try to see if I can find a random deal for). But I’m ok waiting because I will have a lot of musicals to see this year and next year!

On Tuesday morning the Pantages announced their 2016-2017 season and it looks incredible! As soon as I saw it, I checked to see if Dani wanted to get season tickets. I knew I’d be seeing her that night for Mamma Mia, but I wanted to arrange our season tickets ASAP. She did, and same with a few other friends (including my Disneyland buddy June!). So yesterday we got our season tickets arranged for the season and we will be seeing 7 shows between November this year and August next year! We couldn’t get the exact seats that we wanted, but we got 6th and 7th row seats off to the side and we have the opportunity to move them in another month or two if we’d like.

It is another splurge and I’m taking money from what I’ve been saving to get a new computer to afford it. But it’s so worth it to me. I said that I want to go on more adventures with my friends, and going to shows are always adventures!

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged Broadway, friends, Hollywood, Los Angeles, musical, Pantages Theater, play

Broadway Sings Disney (or A Fun Adventure With An Awesome Friend)

Posted on January 12, 2016 | Comments Off

When I set my 2016 goals and said that I wanted to have more fun with my friends, I had no clue that I would start of the new year with a really awesome friend hangout. But that’s exactly what happened.

My friend Dani asked me if I wanted to join her for this random show that she found discount tickets for online. She didn’t tell me too much about the show, but I said yes right away! I figured that no matter what it was, it could be super awesome and the best idea ever or super weird and would still be a fun story to share. She sent me more information about it and it was Broadway Sings Disney at Rockwell Table and Stage. Even after learning more about the event, there wasn’t much information about it online. I knew it would be singers singing Disney songs and that there was dinner at the venue, but that’s pretty much all Dani and I knew before getting to the show. But we both went into the show very excited to see who would be performing and what the show would be like.

Once we arrived, we got seated at a table right next to the stage. It was pretty funny because I had looked at the seating chart online ahead of time and said that it would be really awesome if we sat right next to the stage. But I assumed that since we had discounted tickets we’d have bad seats. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t the case and loved being right next to the action (even though sometimes we were only seeing the profile or back of a performer).

Broadway Sings Disney

We were given menus and a song list of what would be sung that night and got some food ordered right away. We wanted to make sure that once the show started, we weren’t trying to flag down our waiter or trying to eat and watch the show at the same time.

Since there was a 2 item minimum for the show, Dani and I split 2 appetizers and we each got an entree. We split some truffle fries and veggies with dip and we each got a steak salad for dinner.

Food Dinner

The food was really good, but the venue was pretty dark so it was a bit weird to eat. When I was eating my steak salad, I never knew if I had a piece of steak or lettuce on my fork until I ate it. It made the meal a bit of a mystery. Everything had the same blue tint to it due to the lighting and nothing really looked anything other than blue. While that made it odd to eat, it didn’t affect the taste and I was glad that a venue that has a food or drink minimum didn’t have bad food.

The show was really fun! All the singers were really good and almost everyone sounded like they could have come out of a Disney cartoon or movie. I pretty much knew every song (the benefits of being a big Disney person!) and I enjoyed every performance that each singer did. Some performers kept things very simple and some performers made it seem like a scene out of a musical. But the thing they all shared was being so enthusiastic about getting to perform, and I loved that!

The show wasn’t very long, but that was a good thing because I had to be up early the next morning. There are 2 more Broadway Sings Disney shows, and each show is with different performers. I’m hoping that I can maybe make it out to one more, but if I can’t this time I’m hoping to make it the next time they do the series.

I’m so grateful that Dani invited me to come to this show with her. I doubt I would have discovered it on my own. I had never heard of this venue before this show and I already know that I want to go see some of the other shows they have coming up there. This was a great way to start of my 2016 adventures with my friends and I can’t wait to see what the next adventure will be!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged adventure, Broadway, dinner, Disney, friends, musical

An Epic Disneyland Day (or VIP Status and Mini High School Reunion)

Posted on December 10, 2015 | 2 comments

I’ve had some pretty awesome Disneyland adventures over the years, but I have to say that my Disneyland trip this past Sunday was pretty amazing! This Disneyland outing had been planned for a while because I knew my schedule was crazy, but I had no idea how great it was going to be until it was closer to the date.

I went with my friend June again (it’s very easy to plan a trip together since she lives 2 blocks from me). We had a couple of things we wanted to do because so many things will be closing either for a long time or permanently soon, but we actually didn’t end up doing most of them.

The first thing we wanted to do was see the Aladdin show again. I love this show and it will be closing permanently in the new year. We had known for a while that we would be seeing the show no matter what on Sunday, but I found out that my friend was playing Aladdin in the first show of the day! So we decided to do that first!

Because my friend was in the show, he was able to get us VIP seating. That meant that we could go into the theater first and get whatever seats we wanted. I typically like to sit toward the middle, but since my friend was Aladdin I wanted to be in the first row to be able to see him. When we sat down, I got to see the entire audience from the front and I never realized how huge it is in there!

Aladdin Theater

I’ve seen the Aladdin show dozens of times, but this was such a special experience. It was a bit weird seeing my friend in the show, but he was the perfect Aladdin!

Aladdin Aladdin with Jasmine Aladdin and Genie Aladdin Finale

At one point in the show, Aladdin comes by in an elephant. June and I tried to get a selfie with him as he was behind us, but it wasn’t the most successful photo.

Selfie with Aladdin

As my friend came right in front of us in the elephant, he winked at us so we knew that he knew we were there. When he winked, the girls sitting behind us thought it was for them and they were all so excited and giggly that Aladdin wanted them and thought they were cute.

After the show ended, my friend arranged for us to be able to be a part of the post-show meet and greet. We got a picture with a lot of the cast and I got a quick photo with my friend before he had to go backstage again to get ready for his next show.

Aladdin Cast With Aladdin

After Aladdin, June and I rode on Tower of Terror. We tried to do a pose inspired by my friend in Aladdin (doing a pose that he did when he was impressing Jasmine with the flying carpet), but the people in front of us kind of blocked us with their hands in the air.

Tower of Terror

After Tower of Terror, we headed over to the Disneyland park to ride some of the rides over there. Our first stop was the Haunted Mansion. We got stopped a couple of times in the ride, but it gave us a chance to look around and check out all the little details that they put into the ride.

Next was something pretty cool. I saw on Facebook that a girl I went to high school with, Amy, was going to be at Disneyland with her family that day. I hadn’t seen her since I graduated high school in 2001, but it worked out pretty well to meet up! So June and I met up with Amy, her husband, and her kid for the last couple of rides of the day.

First as a group was Small World. I love seeing it at the holidays and they make the inside so beautiful (and the songs are better too).

Small World

After Small World we headed to Tomorrowland to go on Space Mountain. The ride is themed for Star Wars as Hyperspace Mountain and I hadn’t had a chance to check out the themed ride yet.

Since Amy’s son is too small to ride, we did the child swap for the ride. So June and I both got to ride twice (Amy and her husband each got to ride once).

Space Mountain Space Mountain Photo

Again, we tried to go with Aladdin themed poses, but it wasn’t the biggest success.

Hyperspace Mountain was pretty incredible! I’m not always a fan of ride overlays, but this one was so great and I’m so grateful that I got to ride it twice! The projections and lasers that they added to the ride made it super exciting and the music fit perfectly! I know that the next time I’m in the parks I’ll be riding it again and hopefully will get a chance to ride it several more times before they change it back to regular Space Mountain.

After those two rides on Hyperspace Mountain, we got some dinner at the Plaza Inn. Even though they are famous for their fried chicken, I’m not a huge fried chicken fan. So I got pot roast and it was very yummy.

Disneyland Dinner

By that time, Amy and her family needed to get over to Fantasmic because they had Fastpasses for the show and June and I were ready to head back to LA. I had to get one more photo with Amy before saying goodbye.

With Amy

I didn’t go to my high school reunion and I’m rarely at my parents’ house, so it’s pretty rare for me to see people from high school. I seem to always see people from high school at Disneyland and I’m happy to keep up that tradition.

Even though this wasn’t a day full of rides, it was a day full of amazing experiences and is definitely one of my favorite Disneyland days ever! I might be back in the parks next week and for sure one more time before so many rides and experiences close down in the new year. I love that Disneyland keeps getting better and better, but I’m also getting sad to say goodbye to so many things I love in the parks.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged California Adventure, Disneyland, friends, musical, rides, theme park

The End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom)

Posted on July 21, 2015 | 1 comment

This past Sunday was the final show in my season at The Pantages. I’m sad that I can’t afford to get season tickets for the upcoming season, but since I don’t care to see all of the shows that are going to be playing, I’m happy that I can pick and choose what I want to pay for (and since I’m only going to see select shows I might be able to get better seats).

The final show of our season was “Phantom Of The Opera”. To be totally honest, I wasn’t too excited about this show. I’ve seen it many many times and haven’t really enjoyed it. Almost every time I saw it it was because someone decided that we would go and I didn’t have a say in it. I also saw it once in middle or high school where we were sitting so high up that I got very light-headed and thought I would faint. So the show has never been something I’ve been enthused to see.

Even with not loving the show, there was no way I was going to miss the last show of the season. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the theater. We had no idea that the train that we usually take in wasn’t going all the way to the station we needed to transfer at. So we took a train, a bus, and then another train. Fortunately we gave ourselves plenty of time so we weren’t late at all.

We originally were supposed to see the show about a month ago, but we changed the dates on our tickets. And by doing that, we ended up sitting a couple of rows ahead of where we usually were (at The Pantages your season tickets are for the same seats for each show). I tried to have an open mind about the show and was feeling a bit excited when the lights went down.

I’m glad I tried to have an open mind. This production was really great. Yes, I knew everything that was going to happen and all of the songs. But honestly the set was the most incredible thing. It opened and closed and folded in on itself throughout the show and really became its own character. And when it’s a show like “Phantom Of The Opera” where the opera house is so important, the set being a character really helps to draw you in.

The cast was amazing and there were some fun pyrotechnics as well. Overall, I really had a great time at the show and I think my friends enjoyed it too. Even though I won’t probably get to see as many shows in the next year as I did this year, getting to have season tickets this past year really helped me to get to know some great girls. I knew them a bit before we got tickets together, but now I can really call them my friends. And I know that in the future if there is a season that has some great shows we will probably get season tickets again as a group.

In the meantime, I’m on the lookout for some good musicals that I want to see. And now that my brother and sister-in-law live in Santa Barbara, my sister-in-law can join me for some shows too!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged Los Angeles, musical, Pantages Theater, theater

A Bonus Musical (or Having Two Sets Of Seats For Matilda)

Posted on July 10, 2015 | Comments Off

I’ve really been enjoying my season tickets to the Pantages. I’ve still got one more show to go there, but since I didn’t renew my tickets I know that I won’t be seeing as many musicals as I have in the past year. I’m hoping that even without season tickets, I’ll still get tickets to one or two shows in the next season.

And I’m also trying to get to more theaters than just the Pantages. So when I saw that Matilda the Musical was going to be at the Ahmanson in downtown LA, I knew I wanted to see it again. I loved seeing it in New York last year and I was curious to see how the touring show would differ from the Broadway show.

The run of Matilda is coming up to a close so I was worried that I wouldn’t get a chance to see it again (I’m not bold enough yet to go to a musical alone but I’m working on it). I got an email that they were doing a promo for 4 balcony seats for $99. So I posted it on Facebook and my friend Erin said that she’d love to come with me!

Erin thought her daughter would love the show and then also invited one of her daughter’s friends, so that was a group of 4. I bought the tickets online and managed to find some pretty centered seats in the middle of the balcony.

We went to the show this past Tuesday (while I was working on getting over my cold). Sadly, Erin’s daughter’s friend ended up having a fever and couldn’t come to the show. We couldn’t find someone to come with us at the last-minute, so we were just a group of 3.

Our seats were pretty much at the top of the theater (there’s the orchestra level, then the mezzanine, then the balcony). But since the seats were similar to stadium seating, we had a pretty great view of the stage.

The show was just as great as I remembered it from New York! And it was so impressive how much they were able to do unchanged from the Broadway show. I really thought more of the sets would be changed (and the sets were one of my favorite things in the show), but it was pretty close to what they did in New York.

While the show was great, some of the audience was pretty horrendous. There were 3 people in front of us who spent a good majority of the first half of the show on their phones. Erin had asked one of them if they could put their phone away, but he ignored her. I don’t know if they were in a group together or not, but they all were doing the same thing. They were constantly texting, checking Facebook, or commenting on Instagram. One person was also taking photos, but that was actually less annoying because the screen wasn’t as bright.

At intermission, Erin asked again if they could please not use their phones during the show. One of them said that it was business and he had to take care of it. That’s just ridiculous to me! If you can’t go an hour without checking your phone, maybe you shouldn’t go to a show. Or if you do, sit in the back corner so you can turn away from everyone. Or maybe watch from the lobby.

Erin decided enough was enough and went to go find an usher. Then she came back to get me and her daughter and said that the usher was moving us to new seats. Sadly, their policy isn’t to talk to the people breaking the theater rules because of fear of confrontation. But at least we were getting out of that situation so we could enjoy the second half of the show.

Funny enough, a few days after this happened to us, there was an article about Patti LuPone taking away an audience member’s phone because they were texting during a show. I wish she was in the audience with us!

The usher moved us to the last row of the mezzanine. So we were a bit farther back, but not nearly as high up.

The second half was much better since we didn’t have the glaring cell phone screens right in front of us. The only issue was since the show was so late, Erin’s daughter was getting pretty sleepy at the end (it was way past her bedtime).

Erin and her daughter loved the show and we had a great girls night out! I’m hoping that we can go to another show together soon, but maybe we’ll make it a weekend matinée.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged girls night out, Los Angeles, musical

Watching Musicals At Home (or Getting Antsy To Get Back To NYC)

Posted on June 9, 2015 | Comments Off

This past Sunday was the Tony Awards. While I’ve dreamed of winning pretty much every type of acting award, I’ve never dreamed of winning a Tony. I know that they have acting awards for plays, but in my head the Tonys are for musicals. And since I’m tone-deaf, I’m never going to win an award that involves singing.

But I love watching the Tony Awards. Prior to my NYC trip last year and getting this season’s tickets for Pantages, the Tonys were almost my only exposure to musicals. I love watching the presentations that each of the best musical nominees do on the show. And I’d always chose which shows I’d want to see when they came to LA (even though I never went to see them).

This year, I watched the Tonys at home alone. There were some funny moments (like this matchy-matchy dress moment).

And with any awards show, I loved watching the speeches. Especially from people who won for the very first time (some of whom won on their Broadway debut).

And of course, I watched (and re-watched) the performances several times.

I texted my sister-in-law to joke that I was watching the Tonys to pick out what musicals we should see when we get back to New York. But even though I said that as a joke, now I’m really hoping that we can make that a reality soon.

My brother and sister-in-law are moving soon. And my sister-in-law hasn’t really been able to job hunt from a different city. So she has no idea what her job situation will be like in the near future. We really can’t trip plan without knowing that.

And with my jobs now, I’m not too sure about my availability to go out of town. For my newest job, I’m sure it would be fine. I could probably even get work done on vacation without too many issues. But for my box office job, I have no idea how I can take a trip. I’d probably just have to take time off without pay (and hope that my boss is ok with that). I never asked about that when I interviewed for the job since my focus was on getting a job more than anything. But they have been flexible with me taking occasional time off for auditions as well as having time off for spending time with my family after my grandpa’s death. So I’m sure I could figure out how to take a trip.

I haven’t really thought about how I’d take a trip with my jobs, but now that I’ve watched the Tonys and have seen performances from several musicals that I really want to see; I really want to get back to New York at some point this year.

Hopefully I can figure out how to save up the money and get the time off (without losing too much of my paycheck) in the near future so my sister-in-law and I can start planning this! We said that we wanted to make our NYC trip an annual tradition and we’ve got until December to make that a reality.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged awards, Broadway, musical, New York

Almost The End Of The Musical Season (or Watching An Audience Fall In Love With An Actor)

Posted on May 12, 2015 | Comments Off

I had my second to last show of the season at the Pantages this past weekend. The group that I have gone with this season has looked at the offerings next season and we’ve decided not to buy the entire season for 2015-2016. There are a couple of shows that I’d like to see, but it will be more cost-effective for me to just get the few I want instead of all 7.

I am sad that this season is wrapping up and I won’t have as many shows to see this coming season, but I’m also super grateful that I splurged and did a season this year. It was totally worth it and I’ve had a great time.

The show this past weekend was “Motown”. I knew a bit about the show and that it was going to be filled with musical numbers. So when we got to the theater, I was pretty excited.

I know that some of the reviews for this show aren’t too great. The guy who it is about wrote the musical, so it really does portray him in the best light possible (even if that might not be the truth). And there’s not a ton of plot in the story.

But the songs were worth it! There were a handful of songs that were written for the musical, but there were over 40 songs that were songs that were done by Motown Records and even I knew pretty much all of them.

The audience was singing along most of the time (and there were a couple of people who were a bit obnoxious about it but I think that they might have been drunk). The show was more of a concert feel than a musical to me.

But the most magical moment came in the second act. There’s one young actor who plays Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson as a kid. In the first act he played Berry Gordy and Stevie Wonder. And while he was cute and a good actor, it was nothing compared to the second act.

That’s when he played young Michael Jackson and his true talent shined. This kid (Nathaniel Cullors) was magnificent! When he started to sing as Michael Jackson, you could hear almost the entire audience gasp in wonder at the voice he had. A few moments into the song everyone was rooting for him as a performer and ready to give him a standing ovation.

After his first song, I thought that maybe that was the end of seeing young Michael Jackson, but we got to see (and hear) him again. And again, the audience ate it up.

As an audience member, it was such a fun moment to watch. But as an actor, it was truly breathtaking and special to watch an entire audience fall in love with an actor. You could feel the energy in the room and it was giving me goosebumps.

That’s a moment that as an actor you dream to have happen to you. To witness it happen for another actor was almost better.

After the show ended, we all agreed in the group that that kid really stole the show and was one of the most talented performers in the show. And the cast in general was the most talent cast vocally of any of the shows that we have seen. So many cast members played 3 or 4 incredible real people and none of them seemed to be pretending to be them, they just were them.

I highly recommend everyone going to see “Motown”. I don’t believe that it got the praise it deserved on Broadway because it is not really a traditional musical. But as an entertaining show, it was one of the best I’ve seen.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, Broadway, Los Angeles, musical, Pantages Theater

Getting “Wicked” (or Santa, A Sunset, And A Perfect Show)

Posted on December 24, 2014 | Comments Off

This past Sunday was the next show in my season at The Pantages. I was finally seeing “Wicked”!

“Wicked” had been in LA several times before, and sometimes for very long runs. I always wanted to go and see it, but there was always an issue. Tickets were pretty expensive so I wanted to enter the ticket lottery. But there never seemed to be a good day to do it. And when my sister-in-law and I went to NYC, I already knew that “Wicked” was part of my Pantages season so we didn’t see it there.

The group of us going to the show decided to go early to meet up for dinner first. On my drive, there was a ton of traffic. I couldn’t figure out why until I pulled up next to this vehicle.

Santa and one of his elves were riding on the back of a truck blasting Christmas music! It was pretty crazy to see but made my drive entertaining.

I got to dinner a bit early so I hung out outside the restaurant waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. While waiting, we had another epic LA sunset.

When we finally went inside to eat, I ran into someone who grew up down the street from me! I hadn’t seen her since I moved to LA and while we each knew the other lived in LA, we hadn’t seen each other. It was so crazy to see her and great to catch up!

After our quick dinner, my group walked over to The Pantages for our show. I’m loving having season tickets since our seats are in the same place for every show.

We are pretty close to the stage and even though we are off to the side we don’t miss too much of what is on stage.

I know the story of “Wicked” and I’ve heard most if not all of the songs in the show. But even knowing as much as I did I was super impressed by it! The actors were all so amazing and the show was really really good! I’m even considering trying to go see the show another time while they are still in LA (they are here for a couple of months) if someone wants to go with me..

After the show when I got home, I went through my Kindle and found my e-book of Wicked. I bought it a while ago but never felt motivated to read it. But now that’s I’ve seen the show, I want to read the book that the show is based on.

I’m so happy that I’ve seen “Wicked” now. And it’s probably better that it took me this long to see it. If I had seen it before, I probably would have gone to see it at least once every time it was in town. That’s a lot of money on tickets or a lot of lottery attempts.

Since “Wicked” has a longer LA run, my next show at The Pantages isn’t until April. That’s a while to wait for another musical but I’m super excited for the next few shows in the season!

Comments Off on Getting “Wicked” (or Santa, A Sunset, And A Perfect Show)

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged christmas, Los Angeles, musical, Pantages Theater, sunset

“Into The Woods” (or Christmas Came Early For Me This Year)

Posted on December 4, 2014 | Comments Off

On Monday evening, I got an email from Women In Film letting me know that people who are a part of the mentoring circles have been invited to an advanced screening of “Into The Woods”.

“Into The Woods” is one of my favorite musicals. I saw it for the first time at a small production in Santa Barbara and have owned a DVD of the musical for a long time (and watch it pretty frequently).

When I first heard that the musical was being turned into a film, I was pretty nervous. Historically, the movies haven’t been my favorites and they seem to miss a lot of what I feel makes the musicals special. But even though I was scared I would hate the movie, it was one that I had been looking forward to seeing. And since it was opening on Christmas, my plan was to see it that morning.

But when I got the invitation to see it this week, I jumped at the chance. I emailed my RSVP quickly and hoped that I would get it. And wouldn’t you know it, I did!

The screening was held at CAA. If you aren’t in the entertainment industry, you might not know about CAA. They are the biggest agency in town representing the biggest and most famous actors out there. Pretty much, they are the top of the top of the agency game.

The invitation said that there was valet parking provided (since there really isn’t any street parking near CAA), and since it was raining I tried to get there early. But even with being there on the very early side, the line to valet park was a little crazy.

Once I got out of my car, there was almost no line to check in. I grabbed a program and followed a CAA employee to the front desk to have my parking validated. Then she led me and 2 other ladies into the screening room.

She told us that we could sit anywhere that it said reserved, and I chose to stick with the 2 ladies who walked in with me. The 3 of us found seats pretty much in the exact center of the room.

The screening room was amazing and very nice! I had previously seen the screening room at UTA (another agency) when I had one of my mentoring meetings. But this might have been a little nicer.

I started to talk with the ladies I sat next to and found out that one of them is a member of the Academy (as in the Academy Awards). This screening was an Academy screening so the members could view the film and decide if they would like to nominate it for any Oscars!

I believe a majority of the audience was Academy members and I felt very lucky and honored to be invited to such a cool event.

Jane Lynch (from “Glee”) was one of the people responsible for the screening, so prior to the movie starting she said a few words about how much she was looking forward to the movie.

Then, it was time for the movie to start.

For those of you who know the musical, you will not be disappointed. It stays very true to the original material and in some cases, I think the format of it being in a movie actually improves it. I was smiling pretty much the entire time that I was watching it. The performances were incredible and I think that the costumes and makeup were impeccable. I would be shocked if this didn’t get a ton of nominations for various awards.

The highlight of the movie for me was the song “Agony”. I think this is the funniest I’ve ever seen it done. And Chris Pine did a great job singing (I didn’t realize he was a singer).

Overall, this was so much fun to watch and I highly recommend it for everyone! I can’t wait until it comes out (or I get a screener for it) so I can watch it over and over again!

After the screening, there was a reception upstairs. I followed my seat mates (and new friends) to check out the reception (I wasn’t planning on staying, but how many times will I get this chance?).

The reception was held on the top floor of the building, and I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the building was!

I didn’t eat or drink anything at the reception (the lines were long), but I got to chat with some very nice people and even had the chance to thank Jane Lynch for putting on this event. She was very gracious and when I was saying goodbye I said my usual thing I say to industry people (pretty much along the lines of “I’m sure we will see each other again in the future”) and she said something that rally made my day. She said that she was sure that we would see each other again because our careers are following the same path. That meant so much to me.

I left the reception on cloud 9 after that!

Sometimes, I really have to stop and pinch myself because I never could have imagined that this would be my life. I have so many amazing opportunities and I really do see my career taking steps forward. If I couldn’t imagine this a few years ago, I can’t wait to see what my life will have in store for me in the next few years!

Comments Off on “Into The Woods” (or Christmas Came Early For Me This Year)

Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged Academy Awards, acting, christmas, movies, musical

Tag Archives: musical

Grease Live (or A Fun Night In With Friends)

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Mamma Mia (or The Best Black Friday Deal Ever!)

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Broadway Sings Disney (or A Fun Adventure With An Awesome Friend)

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An Epic Disneyland Day (or VIP Status and Mini High School Reunion)

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The End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom)

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A Bonus Musical (or Having Two Sets Of Seats For Matilda)

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Watching Musicals At Home (or Getting Antsy To Get Back To NYC)

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Almost The End Of The Musical Season (or Watching An Audience Fall In Love With An Actor)

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Getting “Wicked” (or Santa, A Sunset, And A Perfect Show)

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“Into The Woods” (or Christmas Came Early For Me This Year)

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