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Live, from New York!
Apr. 23rd, 2006 10:22 amWell, I'm not in New York now, but I just got back. I'm so tired-- sleeping on tour buses is just not fun. At any rate, NY is pretty cool. But...I dunno, it's just another city. Nothing spectacular, I suppose, other than all the marquees and cool buildings. The shows and workshops were AWESOME. (Other than the vocal workshop... nothing like, "oh, hey, professional audition!" when you don't even know what's going on.) We did an improv workshop and a stage fighing workshop, both of which were excellent.
Phantom was pretty amazing. I am going to rant a little now, so beware. Lara and I are snobby bitches, but we've been listening to and studying Phantom of the Opera for the last 6-8 months, I'd say, so deal. We know fairly well what we're talking about, so we're gonna complain. Hah. At any rate, I'll just rattle off the not-so-good stuff first. The music was waaay too fast, Carlotta was not showy enough, Christine was too showy and operatic, Raoul was just...yuck (I hate Raoul anyway), and Meg had the worst vibrato I've ever heard. Mostly it was annoying because the music was too fast. Oh, and Raoul/Christine's kisses were HORRIBLE. They were the funniest things ever. "Here let me stage-kiss you and then SWING YOU AROUND IN CIRCLES FOR TOO LONG WHEEE!" Oh, the the vocals were horribly over-balanced with the pit, who wasn't loud enough, and the LYRIC CHANGES WERE SO ANNOYING. Now on to the good stuff. The scenery was GORGEOUS and the special effects were AMAZING. The guy who did all the special effects (and there are SO MANY) is a genius. I'm not going to say too much because it would ruin it all if you ever see it. Costumes were pretty sweet, too. A lot of stuff you wouldn't catch unless you read the original novel (or Susan Kay's because I think hers is faithful to the original), but having done so makes it so much more AMAZING. (Oh, and my nerd-jewelery came out really well. For those who don't know, I made a necklace and earring set modelled after the chandelier. Crystal with the correct number of beads and drops, etc. I was happy, yay.) The "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" scene was A KAJILLION times better staged than either the movie or the craptacular music video. Just for reference. And the Phantom's voice was okay... kind of over-vibrato-ed, I think, but just because the music was so rushed, or at least that's how I felt. (So the whole time afterwards Lara and I were slaphappy going around "we're snobby bitches!" and I think we really pissed off Walker and Rachel, but that's okay.)
And Lion King... GO. SEE IT. The added music (both original songs and dances in the middle of the movie numbers) aren't anything particularly memorable but OHMYGODTHECOSTUMES. I really didn't know you could use so many trap doors and special effects in one show, either. It was FANTASTIC. The costumes were just...WHOA. You absolutely HAVE to see it. The only bad part was all the little kids (talking and laughing and crying...NOT fun, thankyouverymuch) and all the times the cast comes through the audience that we didn't get because we're up on the balcony. Sux0rs. Aaaaaanyway.
So, let's see, a quick run-down of everything else. We toured Radio City Music Hall (pretty sweet), went up to the top of the Empire State building, saw Rockefeller Center (or something, I'm too tired to remember the name exactly), walked through Central Park (where a high-school band was playing in the band shell and was seriously taking as long to tune as we take for concert band class...seriously. They TUNED for about 15 minutes. WTF.)... umm... and we walked through Times Square which is basically an advertising attack on your eyes. I dunno... I'm not horribly impressed with New York in any particularly good or bad way. It's just...a city with a lot of good musicals, for me. So, overall... I had a fun time at the shows, not so much on the bus.
Also, have you seen the new Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley? yeah, Katy and I were two of about only 10 people awake at 1 AM last night watching it and here's what we learned.
Mr. Darcy= David Saliba TO A T. Go watch the movie and see for yourself, it's creepy as all getout. =^n.n^=
Also, I was kind of sad that more people didn't have the heavy accent. *pout*
Phantom was pretty amazing. I am going to rant a little now, so beware. Lara and I are snobby bitches, but we've been listening to and studying Phantom of the Opera for the last 6-8 months, I'd say, so deal. We know fairly well what we're talking about, so we're gonna complain. Hah. At any rate, I'll just rattle off the not-so-good stuff first. The music was waaay too fast, Carlotta was not showy enough, Christine was too showy and operatic, Raoul was just...yuck (I hate Raoul anyway), and Meg had the worst vibrato I've ever heard. Mostly it was annoying because the music was too fast. Oh, and Raoul/Christine's kisses were HORRIBLE. They were the funniest things ever. "Here let me stage-kiss you and then SWING YOU AROUND IN CIRCLES FOR TOO LONG WHEEE!" Oh, the the vocals were horribly over-balanced with the pit, who wasn't loud enough, and the LYRIC CHANGES WERE SO ANNOYING. Now on to the good stuff. The scenery was GORGEOUS and the special effects were AMAZING. The guy who did all the special effects (and there are SO MANY) is a genius. I'm not going to say too much because it would ruin it all if you ever see it. Costumes were pretty sweet, too. A lot of stuff you wouldn't catch unless you read the original novel (or Susan Kay's because I think hers is faithful to the original), but having done so makes it so much more AMAZING. (Oh, and my nerd-jewelery came out really well. For those who don't know, I made a necklace and earring set modelled after the chandelier. Crystal with the correct number of beads and drops, etc. I was happy, yay.) The "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" scene was A KAJILLION times better staged than either the movie or the craptacular music video. Just for reference. And the Phantom's voice was okay... kind of over-vibrato-ed, I think, but just because the music was so rushed, or at least that's how I felt. (So the whole time afterwards Lara and I were slaphappy going around "we're snobby bitches!" and I think we really pissed off Walker and Rachel, but that's okay.)
And Lion King... GO. SEE IT. The added music (both original songs and dances in the middle of the movie numbers) aren't anything particularly memorable but OHMYGODTHECOSTUMES. I really didn't know you could use so many trap doors and special effects in one show, either. It was FANTASTIC. The costumes were just...WHOA. You absolutely HAVE to see it. The only bad part was all the little kids (talking and laughing and crying...NOT fun, thankyouverymuch) and all the times the cast comes through the audience that we didn't get because we're up on the balcony. Sux0rs. Aaaaaanyway.
So, let's see, a quick run-down of everything else. We toured Radio City Music Hall (pretty sweet), went up to the top of the Empire State building, saw Rockefeller Center (or something, I'm too tired to remember the name exactly), walked through Central Park (where a high-school band was playing in the band shell and was seriously taking as long to tune as we take for concert band class...seriously. They TUNED for about 15 minutes. WTF.)... umm... and we walked through Times Square which is basically an advertising attack on your eyes. I dunno... I'm not horribly impressed with New York in any particularly good or bad way. It's just...a city with a lot of good musicals, for me. So, overall... I had a fun time at the shows, not so much on the bus.
Also, have you seen the new Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley? yeah, Katy and I were two of about only 10 people awake at 1 AM last night watching it and here's what we learned.
Mr. Darcy= David Saliba TO A T. Go watch the movie and see for yourself, it's creepy as all getout. =^n.n^=
Also, I was kind of sad that more people didn't have the heavy accent. *pout*
