These Are a Few of My Favorite Things from 2013

It’s hard to believe that 2013 is coming to a close! Wasn’t it just yesterday we were all having major theatre nerd moments over Les Mis? So sit back and enjoy the end of the 525,600 minutes of the 2013 as I share my favorite shows of 2013!

Kinky Boots

Wonderful, uplifting show with the message of love and acceptance intertwined with some awesome Cyndi Lauper written tunes and Jerry Mitchell directing and choreography. The world saw the star in Annaleigh Ashford, some of those Angels can dance better in heels than me and Billy Porter is amazing ‘nuff said. Plus, I kinda love that finale wig that he wears that Annaleigh calls “Beyoncé magic hair!”

Bare

Yes, I know this show opened in 2012(that’s when I saw it) but it ran into 2013 and I feel like I should talk about it. This was one of the few shows that has really moved me. With a powerful message that is prevalent in todays society, this translated so well for people of all ages while making us more aware, open and loving of others all while realizing that we are all still a million miles from heaven! You can read my review of the show here.

Hands on a Hardbody

This show while incredibly short-lived really resonated with me. I loved everything about it-the music, the characters-it was all done in such a new and unique way that the theatre hadn’t seen before. And just so you all know-Keala Settle is gonna be a STAR! You can read about my experience at the show here.

The Last 5 Years

I love Jason Robert Brown. That’s all there is to it. I felt so many different emotions throughout the 90 minutes and by the end I was a blubbering idiot! Seriously cannot wait for the film version!

Matilda

How can I put this show into words? I don’t know how because it’s just that incredible. The music was fresh, the cast impeccable, the book was great and really honored the original, and the set, choreography gah it was all just phenomenal. All the kids blew my mind, Bertie is amazing and Gabe, Lesli and Taylor had me laughing I kid you not the entire show! It made me really think back and reflect on growing up as you can read in my post about the show here.

Pippin

All I have to say about it is just GO NOW! RUN DON’T WALK! Magic to Do is worth the ticket in and of itself-it left me completely entranced and amazed! Patina or Pa-tony as she’s called completely earned that sucker! It’s enchanting, entrancing, beautiful and any other positive adjective that you can think of. Also, I might have fangirled a little bit over Terrence Mann cause you know not only was he the original Javert in Les Mis BUT he was also the original Beast in Beauty and the Beast and I must have listened to that cast album on repeat hundreds of times as a little girl on my cassette player!

Big Fish

How to describe this show? I think soul feeding is the perfect term to use. I am completely devastated that this show has just closed. It was so bright and beautiful with an amazing cast. It made me feel all the feels that I was openly sobbing like I do when I cut onions by the end! It made me fall in love with theatre all over again while feeding the soul. I can’t wait for the cast album to come out next year so I can listen to this show all over again. You can read my review about it here.

The Glass Menagerie

Okay, so somebody needs to give Cherry Jones and Celia Kennan-Bolger their Tony’s NOW! This is my favorite play and I’ll tell you it does not disappoint. It was absolutely stunning and heartbreaking and just so beautiful all around! Cherry Jones is perfect as overbearing mother Amanda and Celia Keenan-Bolger’s performance as her painfully shy daughter Laura is just so heart-wrenching and brilliant that you need to see it for yourself. I thought Celia would win the Tony 2 years ago for Peter and the Starcatcher and I’m pegging this year to be her year! Also, Bernadette Peters was at the show when I was there-she walked out right next to me ahh!

There it is my top shows from 2013- stay tuned for my to see bucket list for 2014! Have a healthy and happy new year everyone!

XOXO

-Bwaygirl828

Motown, Janis and Carole Oh My!

Walking down the streets of New York City aka the mecca that is the theatre district you can’t help but notice that a number of the bright shining marquees have the names of some of the most well known artists and music genres with the word “musical” attached to it blaring right in front of you. From Janis Joplin to Carole King to the Motown music period it seems as if Broadway is now the hot spot for musicals based off of music icons.

            This isn’t the first time that a popular trend like this has hit the great white way. Back in the late nineties and early 2000’s Disney was the king of New York-no pun intended churning out massive hit after hit from Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Aida. A few years ago it seemed like every new musical was based off a movie from Legally Blonde, to Shrek to The Addams Family all opening in the later years of the last decade and two years ago Broadway was getting religious with revivals of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar and new musical Leap of Faith all opening. Now the hot trend is musicals telling the stories of iconic artists.

This is not the only time that this type of show has taken a bow on Broadway.  The Tony-winning hit Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons opened in 2005 but that was eight years ago why is musical type so popular now? Theatre historian and producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper says that there are a few reasons. “First of all, while there have been many musicals in the past that use an icon’s music to tell their story, Jersey Boys, in 2005, made the genre successful in a new way. After every juggernaut musical come many musicals that play on the same trend in order to try to find the same success. Secondly, one of the reasons people go to musicals is to hear music they love. A lot of the time they don’t trust that they will love music they are hearing for the first time, so it’s an incentive when ticket buyers know they will hear the songbook of a writer they already like.”

            While these shows are interesting to producers and creative team members as it gives them the ability to form and shape the story they want to tell around a certain artists or genre of music and how the music fits in as Tepper points out “working on a show like Beautiful or A Night With Janis Joplin requires research into real-life events and a concept for how to integrate those with the artist’s music.”  However, they are also incredibly popular with audiences. Jersey Boys has broken many ticket sale records and it’s almost impossible to get a ticket to Motown. But why do people want to come see these shows if they can just listen to artists music on their Macs and watch vintage performances on YouTube or an E! True Hollywood Story? Tepper says, “audience members want to learn more about people who really existed, when they already know that they enjoy their music.”  

            It seems as if that this particular jukebox musical subgenre has become one of the most attempted but one of the most growing and popular forms of musical. Tepper says that this subgenre “has come to be interpreted by many as the most genuine, artistically ambitious one. Jukebox musicals have become so popular because more and more audiences want to hear songs they already know at the theatre.”

            Currently on Broadway, besides Jersey Boys there are three new jukebox musicals playing, You can go back to the time of Berry Gordy and the creation of Motown music in Motown, the 60’s with Beautiful: The Carole King Musical or with Janis in A Night With Janis Joplin. They all tell compelling true stories through music that make you wanna get up and dance which is where the heart and soul lies in this new wave of musicals that are taking Broadway by storm.