Parting Shot

Musical theatre geeks, will appreciate the picture tagline above made by Irnbruise of LJ. Happy New Year to everyone!

Auld Lang Syne

This was for a 1991 UNICEF gala to benefit Eastern European orphans, featuring soloists from 13 boys choirs throughout Europe. Happy New Year to all!

In case you missed it

Kristin Chenoweth was on The View earlier this month promoting her holiday album A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas.

Unsure

One can't resist having high expectations going to a movie like Doubt. With its powerhouse cast of Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and an unforgettable Viola Davis, it delivers its promise of seeing excellent thespians at work. But if you were fortunate enough to have seen the original stage version, then the film might leave you a little disappointed.

John Patrick Shanley's award-winning play is about a progressive priest suspected of sexual abuse in a Bronx Catholic school in the 1960s and the unyielding school principal intent to prove his guilt. I enjoyed watching Ms. Streep stomp around chewing up the scenery and do battle with Ms. Adams and Mr. Hoffman. I secretly wished though that Tony-nominated Brian F. O'Byrne had been cast as the embattled priest instead. (Some might say Meryl's authoritarian Sister Aloysius was over the top, but in the fourth grade, my homeroom teacher was a nun who actually pulled some of my misbehaving male classmates' hair or even push them down to the ground AS she pulled their hair. I guess that's why there are stereotypes.)

In the stage version, I truly vacillated and left the theatre still unsure about what happened. The playwright let the audience decide. I thought the movie was less ambiguous, diminishing the story's power. The play was one act, with four actors. Here in the film, you get to see the students and Father Flynn's interaction with them, so you immediately form an opinion about his guilt or innocence.

The scene with the boy's mother remains as heartrending as ever, a star turn for Ms. Davis. It is a mother willing to make dubious sacrifices to ensure that her son will go on to a better life. Another story of the downtrodden accepting their lot in life. Ms. Streep looked properly horrified, unwilling and unable to believe what she was hearing from this parent. Ms. Adams as Sister James was effectively timid and deferential to her school principal.

It was fascinating to see the battles of the sexes inside the Catholic Church, and there are some comedic moments courtesy of Sister Aloysius. One scene I found incongruous was when Fr. Flynn was talking about gossip, and Mr. Shanley (who wrote the screenplay and directed the film adaptation) made the choice to actually show the feathers flying all around representing the effects of gossip. That sermon was potent enough on its own. I didn't need the visuals.

Ask the Audience

I wanted to watch something light and uplifting on Christmas Day, so I put off watching Doubt and went to see Slumdog Millionaire instead. And it did not disappoint. Based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup, it is the story of Jamal Malik(Dev Patel), a boy who grew up in the slums of then-Bombay and became a contestant on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in hopes of reuniting with childhood friend-girl-of-his-dreams Latika (the beautiful Freida Pinto, who reminded me of Rosario Dawson at times). He does so well on the program that he gets hauled off to jail on suspicions of cheating, for he is after all, only an uneducated slumdog. So we get to see how he knows the answers as the story of his life unfolds in flashbacks. Some of it are overreaching and contrived, but I bought into the fairy tale. The supporting cast is marvelous: the always solid Irrfan Khan as the investigating police detective, Madhur Mittal as Jamal's brother Salim (you'll have a love-hate relationship with him), and Anil Kapoor as the slightly sinister and oily game show host. But the bigger stars were the children playing the main characters' younger selves. They gave completely natural and unself-conscious performances. (Cinematography note: I loved the visual images when Jamal was trying to get Salim to let Latika in out of the rain. Lots of other gorgeous shots.) The movie's Bollywood score by A.H. Rahman is so infectious, I might even want a copy of the soundtrack.

The movie is faintly reminiscent of City of God, with the same colors, energy and its depiction of abject poverty but not as graphic or violent. Although I grew up in the Philippines and familiar with the sight of mountains of trash, houses put together with scrap material, kids begging on the streets, women washing clothes in murky waters, it's still a harsh sight to behold. Seeing Mumbai after last month's tragedy was a bit jolting, especially the train station where the film's Bollywood ending occurs. I got a little teary-eyed at the end of this rags-to-riches underdog survival fairy tale love story. And it was the perfect, joyous movie to watch on Christmas Day. Some members of the audience obviously agreed: they applauded at the end.

Purrfectly at peace

Eartha Kitt died yesterday from colon cancer. I loved her best as Catwoman in the old Batman TV series and as Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove. This was my favorite quote because of Ms. Kitt's delivery:
Yzma:It is no concern of mine whether or not your family has... what was it again?
Peasant: Umm... food?
Yzma: Ha! You really should have thought of that before you became peasants!

R.I.P Ms. Kitt.

We are Family

Jon, Tom and Pinky had a road trip Q & A on a recent visit to Indy. One of the questions was, whose singing voice would you like to have? Via text message, I chose Little Edie herself, Christine Ebersole (and Shoshana Bean, just to cover all vocal ranges). Here is La Ebersole serenading a couple who fosters 11 children on the Today Show's Everyone has a Story series.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Stand up, Mr. Mulligan's Passing

I heard this on the radio the other day but forgot to post it with all the Christmas preparations. Robert Mulligan, director of one of my favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird, also passed away last Saturday. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his take on Harper Lee's Pulitzer-Prize winning book. Lynn has a shirt that says "Atticus Finch is my co-pilot." Gregory Peck, who won an Oscar Best Actor award for his performance, could have said the same thing about Mr. Mulligan.

Have a pint for Mr. Pinter

Harold Pinter, Nobel-prize winning playwright, was once quoted as saying "I could be a bit of a pain in the arse. Since I've come out of my cancer, I must say I intend to be even more of a pain in the arse." He certainly used his voice and influence to speak out against US foreign policy, the Iraq war, still-President Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Unfortunately, he lost his battle with cancer at age 78 on Christmas Eve. A Philippine production of The Birthday Party was the very first play I ever saw. God rest your soul.

Holy White Christmas Batman!

Every year, Jeffry Denman raps about his show, White Christmas and he does it as his show's character Phil Davis. Each year's theme is different but they're always hilarious. I've been following the installment for 3 years now and so far this is the best! Lani, you'll love this one.

So now, Phil Davis is back rapping but this time on Broadway. Watch out for the cast of White Christmas plus Broadway cameos of Mr. Denman's friends: Laura Benanti, Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen of [TOS], Marc Kudisch, Carolee Carmelo, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Julia Murney, Brian D' Arcy James and Patti Lupone.

If you're interested here are the other Phil Davis raps:

The Real Phil Davis

Lazy Tuesday

I hope you enjoy the videos and in the spirit of the season, Happy Christmas to everyone!

Happy Christmas!

Josh Groban singing my favorite Christmas song, "O Holy Night" at the 2002 Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony.



Peace on earth, goodwill to all men. Merry Christmas!

and then a hero comes along

Norm Lewis on the Today Show's Everyone has a Story feature.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ghost of Christmases Past

Charles Dickens faced financial troubles right before he wrote one of the most popular holiday classic stories. A new book by Les Standiford, The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued his Career and Revived our Holiday Spirit, has been selling well during these sad economic times.

This bit of information makes the book even more relevant, with its message of family harmony, hope, friendship, charity and the true meaning of Christmas.

As Tiny Tim says, "God bless us, everyone!"

(photo from Wikipedia)

The Chanukah Song

"Put on your yalmulka, here comes Hanukkah
Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah,"

HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Oh Hi!! (too)

Yes! STAUNCH Little Edie is back! On Dec. 23, 2008 10 pm ET, PBS will broadcast a new documentary "Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway". It's by original Grey Gardens filmaker Albert Maysles. And like the original film this also has reached cult status in film festivals.

The documentary film follows the journey of the original Maysles' film into it's creative transformation to a very moving Broadway musical. So we get to re-connect with the Beales as well as the award winning people who portrayed them, Christine Ebersole and Mary-Louise Wilson. The broadcast is part of PBS' Independent Lens Series. To learn more about it and for schedule listings please click the link above.

(photo fr PBS.org)

What Can You See...On The Horizon

It's Annie Lenox from 2004 Academy Awards singing the Oscar winning song Into The West from Lord of the Rings Return of The King. Love this song and Lani just gave me a copy today! :)

Legally Mad

Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth goes from Pushing Daisies to a new legal drama from David E. Kelley. Variety reports that the NBC show entitled Legally Mad will have Ms. Chenoweth playing Skippy Pylon, "a cheerful and brilliant attorney who nonetheless exhibits flashes of psychosis — and enjoys being mistaken for a teenager."

If the shoe fits

For the Thai people, the Asian tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which kicked off 29 July at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, should provide much-needed entertainment after recent political battles. Olivier and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga plays the title role .

From Bangkok, the tour continues on to Singapore from 02 Jan. 2009 to the 22nd, at the Esplanade; Malaysia from 30 Jan. to 08 Feb. at the Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur; and later Japan and Korea.

Diva of All Divas

Here's a interview with Patti Lupone from Broadway.com where she candidly answers fan questions.

(photo from Broadway.com)

Murney Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas so check out Julia Murney singing Winter Wonderland at the Broadway Sings for Tots Benefit (12.14.08 NYC):



And here she is singing the hilarious 12 Days After Christmas at the Upper Canada Chorus Concert in Toronto the day before (12.13.08):

Put A Ring On It

Oh, Oh, Oh.........Just because......it's quite catchy. It's been our music in tap class and it's great to tap to! Here's Beyonce's Single Ladies featuring Paul Rudd and Justin Timberlake as back-up dancer! Lyrics can be found here.

The official video:

Who wants to be a Super-Villain?

The wait will soon be over, fellow Whedon-verse fans. If you missed the webisodes, the DVD of Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog will be released this Friday 19 December! It is Joss Whedon at his best: weaving a story that's full of wit, silly fun and enough pathos that will leave you just a bit devastated by the end. The songs are catchy and the acting is superb, led by the great NPH himself.

He Sings So Awesome

The amazing...and cutie.....Gavin Creel (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mary Poppins) singing the Miranda Rights, an Ikea assembly guide and Dr. Z's ad from the subway. This is from Don't Quit Your Night Job's You Sing So Awesome segment.

Gangsta!

After conquering Avenue Q......they try gangsta-rap!

I See Real People

It's again quite amusing to find out that a great actress (and certainly one of my favorites) such as Mary-Louise Parker fangirls Broadway people (take note of minute -7:16)! In this vlog, Cat On The Prowl, by her good friend Cat Davis, the actress attends the Emery Awards and is honored by the Hetrick-Martin Institute for her work with the LGTB community. Great acceptance speech! Cheyenne Jackson, accompanied by Seth Rudetsky, croons and sweeps her off her feet! I love her reaction "I just want to take him shopping!" LOL! But make sure you watch the last 5 minutes never before seen episode when she's in the video helping her gal pal, Cat, pick up the ladies......It's hilarious!!!! And it's the episode that inspired the whole Cat On The Prowl Vlog

(photo from AfterEllen.com)

Ernie, I am Trying To Read!

Well, Ernie and Bert joins the cast of Avenue Q! It all comes full circle!

Oz-cars!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi! It was announced today that the boy from Oz Hugh Jackman will be hosting the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.

We all know that this year's sexiest man alive is a great actor, dancer and singer. He can also brag about his well-received Tony Awards' emceeing stints. Mr. Jackman even took home a 2005 Emmy for hosting the 2004 Tony Awards, when he also won Best Actor for the musical based on Peter Allen's life, "The Boy from Oz".

Maybe he'll do for the Oscars what he did for the Tonys. Good luck Hugh!

Diva Talk Holiday Special

Andrew Gans did a mini-interview of the ladies of Broadway as part of his DIVA Talk column in Playbill.com. First part of the series includes interviews with Susan Blackwell (Title of Show), Donna Lynne Champlin (Sweeney Todd), Alison Fraser (Gypsy), Lea Michele (Spring Awakening), Beth Fowler (Boy from Oz) and Julia Murney (Wicked). Read about their plans for the holidays, resolutions and what they'll be up to in the coming year in the link above.

Can I just mention.....Julia Murney playing Mrs. Walker in The Who's Tommy! Whoo! But in Oklahoma!? Do I have friends over there? Hhmm......And yay for another concert in March.....perfect for your birthday month Lani!

(photos from Playbill.com)

Interview With The Billies

In Greg Jbara's video blog he interviews the 3 Billies: David Alvarez, Kiril Kulish and Trent Kowalik. The video can be seen here.

Edit: check out the opening night video with the 3 Billies hoofing together at the curtain call.

(photo from Broadway.com)

Awards Season begins

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association 2008 Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning. Repeat offenders and usual suspects? Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Thompson, 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, Heath Ledger. I was pleasantly surprised to see silly comedies get recognized: James Franco nominated for Pineapple Express, Tom Cruise and Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder, In Bruges for Best Picture. (Brendan Gleeson also for Best Actor...yeah!!!)

Broadway connections? Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry got nominated for The Reader, Frost/Nixon for Best Picture and Doubt for Best Screenplay.

Jon, True Blood and Jonathan Rhys Meyers from The Tudors got nods. Pinky, Mary Louise Parker and Weeds got recognized again. Neil Patrick Harris is also in the running for Best Supporting Actor.

For the full list, click here. The ceremony will be telecast on NBC, 11 January 2009 at 8 PM.

Cutthroat business

Actor Daniel Hoevels sliced his own throat during his character's suicide scene from Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots. He used what he thought was a stage-prop knife. The incident occurred in Vienna's Burg Theater this past weekend. Austrian police are investigating if it was an accident or a genuine attempt on his life.

Mr. Hoevels is doing fine, and in true 'the show must go on' fashion, returned the following night.

Meep Meep Meep Meep

One of my favorites, Beaker from the Muppets sings........well, meeps Beethoven's Ode To Joy! Make sure you watch the whole thing up to the end!

I'm Home

Follow the story of Nicholas Dayton who's 10 years old and a fan of In The Heights. He started posting videos of himself singing songs from the musical on youtube. Eventually this would reach the Richard Rodgers Theatre and the show's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda himself. Upon seeing the posted videos, Mr. Miranda would comment on the site and give encouragement to Nicholas to keep following his dream. Well, here just listen to Mr. Miranda tell the story himself in this video:

When Lin-Manuel Met Nicholas

Here is a print interview of Nicholas and his mom on their trip to New York.

And finally here is Nicholas performing the finale with the whole In The Heights cast on the Richard Rodgers stage. Dreams do come true!

It's Me, Princess Fiona.....umm, x 3

Part 2 of Shrek on the Today show brings the 3 Princess Fionas featuring Sutton Foster, Marissa O'Donnell and Leah Greenhaus. The song is "I Know It's Today".

An Ogre on the Today Show

Monday, 12.8.08, The Today Show did a behind the scenes look at Shrek The Musical which will open Dec. 14. Meredith Vieira met with Brian D' Arcy James (Shrek), John Tartaglia and director Jason Moore.

DVR alert for today 12.9.08 as the cast of Shrek will be back on the program to sing "I Know it's Today" live.

Heaven's smiling down upon us

Venus on the top left, Jupiter on the top right and a crescent moon looking down upon the Philippines on 01 December 2008. The rare planetary conjunction was seen all across Asia.

(Photo from AP)

The Amazing Spanglers

Congratulations to Nick Spangler and his sister Starr for winning the $1 million prize on CBS's The Amazing Race Season 13! Nick currently plays Matt in off-Broadway's The Fantasticks. His sister Starr was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader for the past 3 seasons.

The extremely competitive brother-sister team was the strongest one from the start, placing first in 6 of 9 legs. In one of the episodes, Nick used his NYC street smarts to navigate Moscow's complex subway system.

Congratulations again to the new millionaires. It's fantastic!

State of the Heart

Love this song! Adam Pascal and Julia Murney perform State of the Heart from Jeremy Schonfeld's DRIFT Benefit concert at BB Kings last November 3, 2008

JK the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was a pivotal plot device in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Author JK Rowling originally wrote it to thank 6 people who were involved with the HP series. Thank goodness she decided to share it with the rest of us Muggles.

There are 5 stories in the JKR-illustrated book, with commentaries by Albus Dumbledore. The tales, though laden with valuable lessons about friendship, love and self-determination, are very dark and grim. I had nightmares the night I read it, so young readers beware!

All proceeds go to the Children's High Level Group.

Philippines vs. Mexico

I find weigh-ins and stare-downs amusing (usually for their homo-erotic undertones). I don't like boxing, but it's one of the few sports that Filipinos seem to have a talent for. Perhaps because training doesn't require a whole lot of money and high-tech gadgetry, which our poverty-stricken nation doesn't have. So when an athlete like Manny "Pacman" Pacquaio steps into the ring and the world stage, the whole country stops to watch and cheer. This folk hero carries the hopes of his people, at times the one bright spot in their lives.

Tonight is the Oscar dela Hoya-Manny Pacquiao "Dream Match" non-title bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Mexican comedian George Lopez hosted the weigh-in, commenting that this is one of the greatest fights in boxing so“If you’re white, don’t forget to get this fight on pay-per-view. If you’re Latino, you can just, you know, connect the cables or whatever,”.

Filipina singer-actress Karylle (Zsa-Zsa Padilla's daughter) will sing the Philippine national anthem. Her grandfather Sonny Padilla, refereed the Thrilla in Manila between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Secretary of State Visits Billy

Incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea visited Billy Elliot last Nov. 29. Check out the behind the scenes video because it's quite amusing to see the whole cast turn into fangirls/guys. See how everyone was gushing!

(Photo from Broadway.com)

Prop 8 - The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

I've seen this all over but just in case.....

Created by Hairspray's Marc Shaiman, Prop 8 - The Musical features an all star cast: Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Neil Patrick Harris, Maya Rudolph, Margaret Cho, Kathy Najimi, Sarah Chalke, Barret Foa and many others. Check it out. Just in case the video above doesn't work click here.

Bushed

I actually felt sorry for the guy when I saw this video. The soldiers clearly didn't want to have their Commander-in-Chief next to them.

O Christmas Tree

Tonight's Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony will be co-hosted by 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski and feature Broadway Kids, an arts education program founded by comedienne Rosie O'Donnell. Other performers include Harry Connick, Jr., Tony Bennett, Faith Hill and Rascal Flatts. NBC's coverage will start at 8 PM, with the official lighting at 9 PM. If you're in NYC, WNBC has an additional hour of the special starting at 7 PM.

(photo from About.com)

Billy - Take Two

We (Lani, Mike and I) had a second viewing of Billy Elliot last Sunday 11/23 courtesy of the goodwill of Stephen Daldry (read about our previous viewing here). This time our Billy was the wonderful David Alvarez while David Bologna played Michael, Billy's friend.

It's refreshing to see a different boy play the title role because they do have a different "take" on the role as well as dance skills. Mr. Alvarez' Billy is more timid, shy and unsure making him more torn during the scenes of conflict. It is when he starts dancing when he is released and just blooms. Mr. Kulish who we have previously seen, has more confidence. Even his stance is confident during the book scenes. He radiates this beaming aura during the show even more so in the dance sequences. I am not saying that I prefer one over the other but I do appreciate how different they were. Hopefully I will get a chance to see Mr. Kowalik too.

Billy's story, the dancing and the talented boys make it such a moving experience but there is a line in the show that always reverberates for me. It's during the scene when Billy and Mrs. Wilkinson are trying to figure our Billy's audition dance. She tells him that "dancing is much about discovering something about yourself as much as it is discovering something about dance itself". I love that.

Of course the rest of the cast were great and I truly enjoyed the show (this time with no technical issues!). And it's so much fun to see the megamix at the end as the curtain call. I know not a lot of people like it but this student of tap does!

Here are some photos from that day:


David Alvarez


He said he just started learing tap about 5 months ago!


Casey Whyland - one of the ballet girls


David Bologna who played Michael


Erin Whyland who played Debbie


And the very cute Matthew Mindler as the small boy. It was his birthday that day and the cast gave him $ for his present. Check out the stash he had!


It was our 2nd time to see him as the small boy