Day 23-12/12/09

STILL MY BIRTHDAAAAYYY!

Show: Bare (2007 Official Recording)
Cast: Idk...The one with Matt Doyle :)
Date: 2007
Type: Audio, unfortunately.

Matt melts my heart from the very beginning in Epiphany. His voice is soooo sweet.
I love You and I. It makes me happy, and my heart gets all gooey.
Role of a Lifetime is pretty much just orgasmic. I seriously want to drift away.
I'm having too much fun to say anything more. But Matt's killing me here. and One just ended.
Matt absolutely slayed me in Absolution. Like seriously, call 911. I think I'm dead. Either that or they just found that I actually have a heart.

As I said in my facebook:

At the beginning of the CD I was in love, by the end I was dead. I'm like the main character!

Fun times!

Day 25-12/14/09

Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 5/30/09
Type: Audio
Cast: Krystina as Ilse.

To be honest, I kind of tuned a lot of this out. So I’ll just touch on some stuff starting with the usual.
-Christy was fine, so was Sarah
-Gabby and Kimiko both were weak as usual, but Kimiko was slightly better.
-Blake wasn’t good as usual.
-Andy and Ben didn’t live up to the hype, as usual.
-Matt Shingledecker will never be good until he actually riffs in Touch Me.
-Anthony Lee Medina was pretty good.
-As usual. Did not like Kyle

Specific Stuff
-Krystina kicked ass in DIKW. So refreshing in comparison to how weak Steffi usually is.
-Kyle was really weak in MBN, he cracked a little bit near the end.
-Christy sounded beautiful beginning TGO, Kyle was decent.
-Blake’s DDS is clearly a personal preference or something. It’s not like he’s not singing strong and he’s not cracking or anything, I just can’t stand the way he sings. Or speaks, I guess.
-Definitely liked Krystina’s Ilse in the woods. She has this sort of adventurous attitude, and excited by all her crazy times. Her “How about you…” was so bright and cheerful.
-And my gosh, her Blue Wind was so strong. The very first line was just gorgeous. It was really perfect in every part.
-But Blake brought Krystina down so much in the duet, he overpowered her and wasn’t as good as she was.
-I think I tuned out the suicide.
-Left Behind was decent, not much more.
-Song of Purple Summer: Um, I think we need Krystina full time Ilse. That was absolutely gorgeous.

Day 22-12/11/09

Show: Legally Blonde
Date: 9/6/07
Cast: Annaleigh Ashford as Elle.
Type: Audio

This will be brief: Annaleigh is sooooo good! What a beautiful voice, and her speaking quite reminded me of Reese. I loved it, she was awesome. Hearing her here, I can here a trace of Glinda-ness.

Day 23-12/12/09

It's my BIRRRTHDAAYYY!!!!!

Show: Across the Universe
Date: N/A
Type: Video
Cast: IDK; Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, and T. V. Carpio, and introduces Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy as actors. Cameo appearances are made by Bono, Eddie Izzard, Joe Cocker, Salma Hayek (Wikipedia!)

I know it's not exactly a musical, but it's a movie-musical. And it's my birthday, so STFU.
It's been a long time since I've seen this movie, but recently I was seriously craving it. Badly.
Let's start with good news: I no longer have the hots for Jim Sturgess! Well, a little. But, about the same as Chase Crawford. (Props if you know why I compared the two ;) )
I'll be honest, this movie's more gone on me than even the first time I saw it. I've kind of lost the interest. I can't seem to laugh at some of the jokes. The actual story just seems a little lame to me. I do still like the songs, of course! But it seems like some of the scenes that I used to love, I'm just waiting until they're over and the song starts. One of the songs I still love is "I've Just Seen a Face", I remember I couldn't remember how the second verse started so I asked the guy across from me and he was like "it was outside my window" LOL! Unfortunately I was watching while walking so I missed the kiss at the end of "If I Fell", bummer! I really do think that some of this is SO reminiscent of Hair. I mean, just think about it. Not saying that Julie Taymor ripped off Hair (by the way, I think Julie Taymor and Diane Paulus look kind of alike!) because right now I'm reading the plot and a lot of the stuff pertains to songs or stuff from that period. But that shows you the parallels. You know the scene before "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite"? Well, according to Wikipedia, Dr. Geary is based off of Timothy Leary (Deary) Also, there's that scene where Max was burning the draft card letter. Seriously, "ain't got no draftcard, burned it, burned it"
This may be one of my favorite movie musicals because they actually performed a lot of the songs live. I think "Something" sounds really good in particular.
Did I mention that I don't like Evan Rachel Wood? Well, I am now. I don't like her voice. Yay
I used to love "Strawberry Fields Forever" but I really don't, I think it sounds kind of raspy. Although the graphics are really wonderful. It's powerful. Also, let it be written that this part will be very useful to include in my 3-5-0-0 video.
The little pervert in me will always laugh at "I got a job. As in we'll pay you to do it" This is what happens when you're writing down lines during FLE.
As great of a song as Revolution is, once it gets to this point in the movie I've gotten bored.
Although one thing about Revolution: This song always made me think of Cameron, this and Role of A Lifetime....you can see we had an odd relationship.
There's two recent covers of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" this one, and the one Alice Lee did at the Want the Change concert a year ago. They're both great. But I like this one most in the beginning when it sounds soft.
I feel like if you substituted the quiet orchestral part of Across the Universe with the acapella of Let the Sun Shine In, you'd have virtually the same result.
My sister and I will be the only ones to like "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" But I kind of think it has a similar function of Good Morning Starshine. It mitigates some of the sadness.
I love the "A Day in the Life" (My sister told me that was the song, not sure) part. It's kind of quietly powerful.
Blackbird sounds so pretty, really nice arrangement. But kinda boring.
Like Hey Jude alot! Although I do prefer the Spring Awakening version, this'll do!
I kind of think Don't Let Me Down is a little boring.
LOOOVE "All You Need is Love" so much! It's a nice arrangement.
MOVIE'S OVER.

Day 21-12/10/09

Show: Avenue Q
Date: 2/24/04
Cast: Chandra Wilson as Gary Coleman (Don't know the rest)
Type: Audio

Pretty good. I recognized Chandra as Gary immediately, her acting is great. I'm not sure of specific things to say, but it's pretty good. Not crazy about the Kate/Lucy's voice.
Not much else to say

Day 24-12/13/09

Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 11/19/09
Cast: Lucas Wells as Melchior, Justin Scott Brown as Georg
Type: Audio

Christy was alright in Mama Who Bore Me, weaker in Mama Who Bore Me Reprise. I kind of like the new adult man's voice. It works. I also like Lucas's voice. It's softer than Jake's and quite nice. I really really liked his All That's Known. Taylor sounds great in Bitch of Living, so does Justin. Taylor sounds much better than Blake, and Justin sounded better than Matt. In all it was rocking. Lucas sounded aweesome at the end. Taylor's tone is really good even just speaking. I kind of find Kimiko's Thea irritating. Still don't like Gabby's Anna. Not a huge fan of Sarah's singing in My Junk. Actually, all of the girls are kind of weak in My Junk and that scene. Not a big fan of Andy in My Junk (haven't I said this before) but Justin sounded good. Lucas was quite strong in the "shame" part, and when Taylor came in my first reaction was "OMG, Blake doesn't sound so whiny!" And then I realized it was Taylor and that made sense.
Lucas was great, as was Taylor. Ben F. was alright, so was Anthony. But wow, Justin killed Matt Shingledecker in this song. Now THOSE were some decent riffs.
Word of Your Body wasn't too bad, Lucas sounded nice and I could actually hear him.
Taylor's "passed" dance was really cute. He sounded all thunderously happy.
Dark I Know Well and that scene was fine.
Christy squeels more in the beating scene than I'm used to.
Some stuff....
Taylor very much impressed in DDS.
Steffi was weak in Blue Wind.
Andy was better in WOYBR than usual.
I would comment on Ben F's WOYBR, but at this time Vivian and I were discussing Matt Doyle's hotness and I sort of missed that part of the song.
I think for once there was an even matched TYK. Every one sounded good.
Song of Purple Summer wasn't terrible, but it could have been better.

Day 20-12/9/09

Show: 9 to 5
Date: 4/11/09
Cast: Allison Janney (Violet Newstead), Stephanie J. Block (Judy Bernly), Megan Hilty (Doralee Rhodes), Mark Kudisch (Franklin Hart, Jr.), Ann Harada (Kathy), Kathy Fitzgerald (Roz), Andy Karl (Joe)
Type: Video

So I had thought that I'd seen a 9to5 video before, but apparently the first half hour hadn't converted, so I was missing a huge chunk.
The opening song is fine, but I think the choreography is a little odd. I'm not in love, but the singing is good. Around Here is a pretty good song. I think I like Megan Hilty most out of the three, but the fake accent bothered me at first. I mean, why does she have to sound just like Dolly? Marc Kudisch is good, sometimes he's funny, but as he said; a lot of times his parts are not funny. I really liked Backwards Barbie, and the scene where Doralee threatens Hart. The three songs that they do while smoking pot I'm not crazy about. They're fine, just not that great.
There are some parts where I'm more interested in the story than the music, and the songs just slow it down. For instance, I was really interested in the story when Hart was going to trick the girls and make them think he's been poisoned. But then the song Hart to Heart, or Heart to Heart, or Heart to Hart, or whatever came up and I was so irritated because I just wanted the damn show to continue and to see what would happen next. I kind of felt the same way about 5 to 9.
I didn't know that Shine Like The Sun was the end of the first act. I thought it would have been the last of the show, but I guess not. One of the Boys was fine. Didn't care much for it, but it was okay. Always a Woman was good too. Change It seemed a little too preachy for me. There were some funny lines through the show like when they're talking about how the type-writers are state of the art with margin alignment. Also when they find out Hart was stealing, Judy says "Who would imagine a head of a company stealing money and lying to stockholders?"
Also, there was a Broadway Secret about how its annoying when people laugh/clap/cheer when Stephanie says "No good dead goes unpunished." but I thought it was sort of cute that she was the one who got that line.
Let Love Grow was really sweet. Get Out And Stay Out started good. It got better. But it never got quite to the fierce level that I was hoping it would. But it was very great at the last chorus. Everything in the end was super cute.

See you tomorrow. Not sure what with yet!

Day 19-12/8/09

Show: The Addams Family
Date: 11/24/09
Cast: Nathan Lane (Gomez Addams), Bebe Neuwirth (Morticia Addams), Kevin Chamberlin (Uncle Fester), Jackie Hoffman (Grandma), Krysta Rodriguez (Wednesday Addams), Adam Riegler (Pugsley Addams), Zachary James (Lurch), Terrence Mann (Malcolm Beineke), Carolee Carmello (Alice Beineke), Wesley Taylor (Lucas Beineke)

So I kind of like this show. It was really really funny. Every time Bebe sang or spoke it made me think of Chicago, and I thought she was really good in it. She has a lot of really funny, relevant lines like when Alice says “Something everyone needs but very few has”
Her character asks “healthcare?”
“No, love!”
And later Pugsley asks her to do this little piggy and one of them was “this little piggy got swine flu”
The grandma was hilarious. Pretty much that’s all I think of. She uses this wonderful hilarious voice and has some truly great lines.
Pugsley was really good, definitely reminded me of Max. I can imagine he would be totally amazing in that role, opposite Lita :D (I think I’m now mentally casting my family for this show) Especially in What If?
Krysta was just so great. It’s so wonderful to see her in fairly large role when I first knew her as an ensemble in Spring Awakening. Her voice is great and her acting is really good. She sounded reallllly great in Pulled. I liked that song. A lot of people are saying she deserves a Tony nomination, I completely agree. It would be so cool to see her and Jenn, both former ensemble-rs, get Tony noms in consecutive years.
Wesley was really good, I didn’t realize I liked his voice so much. Even not-German. It’s not much of a role, but it was good, and in Crazier Than You he and Krysta sounded quite nice.
Nathan Lane was really good, very very funny.
Alice and whatever her husband’s name was were alright.
I wouldn’t say the music is FANTASTIC. But it does a decent job at moving the plot, and a cast recording would be cool
Um. Not sure what else to say again.

Day 18-12/7/09

Show: 13 The Musical
Date: October 2008
Type: Audio
Cast: Graham Phillips, Aaron Simon Gross, Allie Trimm, Delaney Moro, Elizabeth Egan Gillies, Eric Nelsen, Ariana Grande, Malik Hammond, Eamon Foley, Joey LaVarco, Brynn Wiilliams, Al Calderon, Caitlin Gann

One good thing about this show is that it is short. I'd say the acting didn't SUCK, but it was not fantastic. Also, aren't audios supposed to be audible? It was pretty hard to hear, kind of muffled or something. I don’t know what else to say that’s not totally redundant of everything else I’ve said in the review of the video. Performances were the same, plot was the same, and songs were the same. What more do you want from me?

Day 17-12/6/09

Show: Addams Family
Date: First Preview
Type: Audio
Cast:

Overture's kind of cool. Actually, the quality's not so great. I'm choosing something else.

Show: Caroline or Change
Date: 5/20/06
Type: Audio
Cast:

Julia Nixon has a great voice. And I'm loving Max.
...
I'm just not getting into this. I'm totally lost. I'm switching

Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 8/8/08
Type: Audio
Cast: Matt Doyle (u/s Melchior), Eryn Murman (u/s Wendla), Gerard Canonico (Moritz), Emma Hunton (Ilse), Andrew Durand (Georg), Amanda Castanos (Martha), Jesse Swenson (u/s Hanschen), Morgan Karr (u/s Ernst), Gabe Violett (Otto), Emily Kinney (Anna), Caitlin Kinnunen (Thea), Christine Estabrook (Adult Women), Glenn Fleschler (Adult Men)

(Just a note: All of the following was written on my cell phone, in 160 character chunks that were texted to my email and then compiled)
Not a huuuge fan of Eryn's voice, although she does sound fine. She's very strong in MWBMR, I definitely hear her there.
I prefer Gerard so much to Blake. And Matt's wonderful, his ATK was really good. Bitch of Living was awesome too.
It would probably take a lot of suckery for me to dislike BOL. I quite prefer Eryn in the girl’s scene over Socha. Emily is wonderfully cute.
It really surprises me how she was one of the oldest because she plays Anna quite well. Amanda was fine, but not much else. Caitlin wasn't so great. It sounds like she's constipated because it's like she's literally forcing the lines out. Not a fan of Jesse's Hanschen. It's his voice maybe. He says everything either like he's TOO serious or TOO not. Andrew was fine, Touch Me was good. The woods scene was okay Matt sounds just like Melchior should, IMO. His voice could fit in with Juniors at my school. But in WOYB Eryn completely drowns him out. I don't mind straining to hear him. But I really had to, anyone else might not have been able to. But I could at least pick out his voice because I’ve trained myself to (Yes, I just said that.) Amanda's DIKW is nice, but too mature. Emma's part sounds too sexy. But they were good together. I hate the beating scene. Matt works with it SO well. Until the actual beating part. His acting does not seem to want to hurt her, then the "you bitch..." part just seems random. ATTWN was rocking. Mirror Blue Night was good, so was I Believe. Pretty normal. TGO might be my favorite song to hear Matt in, because I love how his voice is soft and sounds great. But Eryn messed up twice near the end. With Blake’s Moritz, I never understood why he was shouting “ENOUGH!” but with Gerard’s I totally understood, it really made sense what Moritz was thinking and feeling during Don’t Do Sadness. Emma's speaking was too happy and her singing was too sexy. The suicide was perfection. As was Left Behind. Matt does it best out of all the Melchiors I’ve heard. Which is all of them. So, ha. What I love about Matt's TF is instead of funny it sounds truly exasperated. Like the way he felt during ATK hit the breaking point and he’s just had it. Morgan's Ernst really works great, but Jesse doesn't play off it quite right. But he's better than he was in My Junk. WOYBR was decent. Jesse's singing is better than his acting for sure, although not great. Morgan sounds great. I'm interested in how Morgan would sound with Matt. I'm never a fan of Whispering, but it was fine. Emma, reading the letter from Melchior, sounded really weird. Her voice didn’t match what she was saying. Matt sounds really horrified about Wendla being dead. But I've never heard the "no!" sound truly realistic. But Groff and Jake were worse. Those You’ve Known was pretty good. Gerard was good, Matt was awesome, Eryn was fine. I think her high voice was a little irritating here. In general I think although Eryn looks the right age for the role if not older, her voice sounds so much younger.
Song of Purple Summer was not bad. But it wasn’t great. I guess I just don’t like Emma’s voice.