Miranda Marches Into March

In honor of going to see Miranda Sings in concert tomorrow I'm pulling out a piece that I wrote last year for something non-blog related about Miranda's concert last March! So enjoy and go watch a Miranda video or better yet-go see her live!

Hysterical YouTube sensation Miranda Sings returned to the acclaimed Birdland jazz club this past week. The crooked smiled beauty performed her new club act. Miranda Marches into March to three sold out audiences, which included special guests Frankie Grande, Colleen Ballinger and Kory DeSoto. The event, which was filmed live for later viewing on a site to be announced featured a night of all genres of music, stories and in true Miranda fashion, a free voice lesson.

            Miranda Sings is the alter ego of singer Colleen Ballinger who began the character Miranda as a joke to mirror the hoards of YouTube videos that feature young girls singing acapella poorly in their rooms with cocky attitudes. What began as a joke skyrocketed to a YouTube phenomenon when Miranda’s free voice lesson video, which boasts over 770,000 views, was posted four years ago. “She’s a gem” says Colleen Ballinger of her alter-ego just before her onstage transformation into the well-known internet personality which includes a baggy collared shirt tucked into a pair of navy blue lounge pants that are pulled up high and her signature red lipstick smeared all around her lips.

            Miranda’s performances which are always filled with comedic stories, songs, skits and vocal lessons always bring her fans known affectionately as “Mirfandas” to their feet and this new club act does not disappoint following the others with just as much comedy and music packed into a eighty minute performance. She told the story of Easter with some revisions, challenged an audience member to a chubby bunny challenge face-off, and debuted her new skill as a writer with an original comedic scene about her first heartbreak. “I was crying the entire time!” says concertgoer Anthony  “I can’t even verbalize it. I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time.”

Miranda seems to have that affect on the audience as as of Wednesday night according to Colleen Ballinger, Miranda has performed 17 times at Birdland over the past four years. “She is funny and people can relate to her.” says Dale Anderson, manager at Birdland. “We have a series here called Broadway at Birdland and she just fit in well.”

Casting agent Jim Caruso agrees. He was the first one to ever book Miranda after seeing her free voice lesson video. “I saw the video and I emailed her asking her to come to my open mic show here at Birdland called ‘Cast Party With Jim Caruso’. I didn’t know if she was real or not but she emailed me back telling me that Miranda was a character and when she came to open mic night and performed with Daniel Reichard from Jersey Boys people who didn’t even know her went wild.” After seeing Miranda perform Jim reached out to Colleen again telling her that if she ever wanted to come and do a show at Birdland to let him know. “She emailed me back and told me that she would love to do it. She said she didn’t know what her show was but that she would figure it out.”

Once she started performing, the younger demographic started coming, wanting to translate the entertainment of Miranda, from the computer screen to a live performance experience lasting longer than just those few minute videos. “People asked me before I came tonight, ‘Why did you pay money to see her sing badly?’ It’s just so beautifully entertaining.” Said longtime Miranda fan Alexandra who along with Anthony mentioned above have both been following Miranda since the beginning, about four years. It is very clear that the younger, technology driven generation make up the majority of Miranda and for that mater, Colleen’s fanbase. Birdland, on a Wednesday night in early March where school is session the next day is packed with eager and excitable school-aged girls and their parents who throughout the course of the event scream like they are at a rock concert and yell famous Miranda lines. One young girl was so excited that during the show she began to cry into her hands after Miranda said she loved her!

Miranda’s audience tonight as stated earlier is made up primarily of young people. Miranda brings in money, press and attention from a younger demographic into a classy and typically more adult-oriented venue. “She’s a shot in the arm for jazz clubs.” Says Caruso. It’s an intimate venue that works well for the event as everyone gets a good view and the chance to interact with Miranda throughout the performance. At tonight’s performance she pulled an eager fan up onstage to do a Chubby Bunny Challenge face off with her where the fan gets the large marshmallows and Miranda gets the smaller ones guaranteeing her an instant win but to the fans it is pure comedy gold. They eat it up and most of the crowd is doubled-over in laughter as she takes the fans marshmallows fresh out her mouth and takes a bite, something that only Miranda can get away with. She dances awkwardly and with a stiffness (and on this night barefoot), something that would normally be a point of mockery gets Miranda cheers and applause.

 But why for Miranda, what do people like about her that keep them coming back to these shows at Birdland (I overheard someone say that they had come earlier in the week as well) and watching her videos over and over again? “Everyone knows someone that is like Miranda and everyone has a little bit of Miranda in them.” Says Ballinger outside after the show. Miranda is clearly a mockery of people and in a day and age where you can post anything online and be discovered in a Justin Bieber-esque way many have taken to what Miranda does except they take it seriously and truly believe that they are next big thing to hit the entertainment industry. They find Miranda and her act tonight funny as they all have seen those bad YouTube’s and American Idol audition clips as well as people in their everyday lives that mirror Miranda and posses the Miranda qualities that make her laughable. Maybe she’ll come back in the summer to another sold out crowd with her questionable methods (she says that scatting is what you do when you forget the words) and tell the crowd when they applaud “Obviously I’m really good, I deserve it!”

-XOXO

Bwaygirl828

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.

Live, Love and Dream Bigger

            Live, love and dream bigger is the tagline for the new Broadway musical Big Fish based off the film and book of the same name now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre. The show proves to be just as inspirational and comforting as its tagline for any adult that is pining for a show that leaves you with a warm feeling inside.

            The feel-good musical tells the story of Edward Bloom (Norbert Leo Butz) a traveling salesman on the verge of death who always tells tall tales in a way to makeup for many years of family neglect and lousy parenting. The show boasts a starry creative team who are no strangers to the theatre. Susan Stroman directs and choreographs the imaginative and dreamy piece, book writer John August adapts his screenplay from the film to the stage with the perfect balance of romance and seriousness and Andrew Lippa provides the upbeat music and lyrics that will have everyone singing on the way to a post-show dessert at Juniors.

            Norbert Leo Butz once again plays a character whose moral flaws are outwardly present and wins over the audience by solving their problems and fixing the flaws with an awakening Ebenezer Scrooge style While the role of Edward Bloom appears to be similar to that of Butz’s Tony Award winning performances in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Catch Me If You Can, it is evident that these are the roles the Butz was meant to create. His brilliant voice and performance is as bright as the countless daffodils that cover the stage at the end of Act 1. He makes you laugh, cry and cheer for him as he and the rest of characters discover his inner-goodness through his series of mythical flashbacks. Kate Baldwin, who plays his loving wife Sandra compliments Mr.Butzs’ performance nicely while still getting her moment in the sun with the heartbreaking number “I Don’t Need a Roof” as she says goodbye to her husband on his deathbed. Rising Broadway star Bobby Steggert does his absolute best in the only major flaw in the show in the under developed role of Will, Edwards only child who even in adulthood refuses to play into his fathers far-fetched world of stories.

            While the storyline is fun and emotion filled-seriously get your Kleenexes ready, it is one that you are going to have to invest the two and a half hours in to watch and listen. It is not like The Lion King where you can tune out for a little bit and easily find your way back into the story. It is more like a Wicked or Rent in which you cannot leave the story as it can be tough to find your way back in, but once you get sucked in after the introductory twenty minute hump you can barely look away and your heart sinks to your stomach once the final curtain goes down cause you don’t want it to end.

            While the show is an invest in time-it brings on onion-chopping induced tears, it proves to be endearing for adults and bright and easy enough for the kiddies to sit through while loosely grasping the plotline. However, it is the stories effect that is lasting. As Edward Bloom says to young Will “When you teach a man to fish you feed them for the rest of their life, but you teach a man the Alabama stomp you feed their soul.” That is what Big Fish does-it feeds the soul.