Profile for hyperbole_and_a_half

I'm not entirely excited about a Shakespearean musical written by a brand new Contemporary Christian songwriter with two camp, gay stereotypes as leads and a cameo by Nostradamus' brother opening cold in New York without an out-of-town run. I mean, yikes. Are we this starved for new material? Sad face.

I'm not a fan of Lea Michele's new blonde look

LaChiusa's is often criticised for being over-the-top (I think my favorite criticism was that the evening felt like a bunch of screaming emotions prowling the stage in search of characters), but I don't think that's a bad thing when the subject is a debauched, gin-soaked Jazz Age orgy. Lippa's is more accessible, I guess. I've played in the pit for the LaChiusa version and played songs from the Lippa version at various auditions and functions and, in my opinion, LaChiusa's was more musically ...

It could be a success, but only if they completely rewrite all the music written for the main character (Ethan?)...I remember sitting in the theatre and everytime he opened his mouth it was some down-tempo piano groove so bland that it would put even Billy Joel to sleep. I remember the songs for the girls being better than the songs for the boys, too, which is not how JRB usually does things.

I agree with other people who were disappointed by Bierko. It wasn't that he was just making choices I disagree with, or that he was merely miscast... it's that he cannot perform the part as written. How many thousands of audience members are going to see his run and walk away with lackluster opinons about him, the Trunchbull, or the show? Paice is great, but a magnetizing Miss Honey and a lackluster Trunchbull makes for a weird new dynamic in Act 2, where the problems with this show's book s...

Thank Christ about this. Why didn't the producers just consult us re: Sophia Grace in the first place???

When I was swinging Forever Plaid and got called in for Jinx, inevitably my vocal warm-ups started out exactly like that "Psycho Girl" video.

I think the sound design is not good and it has some book problems late in Act 2, but I would recommend Matilda over Kinky Boots, for example, because Matilda has some genuinely brilliant lyrics and one of the best, artistically courageous songs on Broadway right now ("Quiet").

I don't know how anyone can read the description of what happened and not wince. The trap fully closed on dude's leg, and they had to break out a saw to cut a hole in the deck...that sounds very serious

I think the first act of Into the Woods is one of the best, funniest farces ever written for musical theatre. Who cares if the D23 synopsis is a bit chirpy? For ****'s sake, it's Disney, not the New Yorker.

Fergie actually has a pedigree in musicals going back to her pre-kindergarten days. That she did well in NINE was not a surprise to anyone who knew about her before the Black Eyed Peas hitched their wagon to her star. What credits does this Sophia Grace chick have? One horrible, auto-tuned YouTube video that has only gone viral because people like laughing at a slow-moving trainwreck, and a few talk show appearances where she bounced around with all the dignity and comportment of a roll of Me...

A cruise ship production of Steel Magnolias Victor/Victoria at Dollywood

Casting the English Honey Boo Boo ruins any excitement I had for this film :-/

If nobody's already called dibs, can I be next in line to have a meltdown in this thread, thx~

I was bored and decided to try to play the piano accompaniment along with her vocal. I've got good piano skills and it was still hard. Like level 9 of Tetris hard. I did appreciate her attempt to make Eponine sound Irish with some of those runs. The world needs more Irish Eponines.

Lobotomy! A New Musical

Omg. His face looks like one of those wax facial restorations the FBI puts out to identify the corpse of a Jon Doe. That picture is one wind machine short of being an advertisement for an Eastern European gay travel agency.

I wonder how/if Lea Michele will be able to continue on Glee, since they were a couple IRL. I obviously don't know their relationship, but how does she continue to work on the show where they met and fell in love, in a role so inextricably linked to his, and probably while being asked to relive the grief of his death in front of cameras for the next season? I know we haven't always been fans of Lea Michele as a person around here, but there is a crack forming for her on my three-sizes-too-sma...

"Off With Their Heads" started playing on my iPod as I was reading this thread. For those unfamiliar, it's a song for the Queen of Hearts, and I think it's meant to sound like a showstoppery Vegas character ballad. Instead, it sounds almost exactly like the theme song from a cheesy, syndicated sitcom from the 1980s (you know, the kind where the actors turn toward the camera and smile/fake laugh while their credit is displayed)-- you'd just need to replace the vocal line with an alto sax. And ...

Well, technically Smash was right: Erin Dilly is still on break from Thoroughly Modern Millie... I've never been less than impressed with Erin Dilly in any show she's done, and I can understand why her husband and friends might be a little upset about the context of her mention in Smash. Thing I want Erin and her fans to know: those who are in positions of power in the industry know the truth, and those who get their information from Smash are not in positions of power in the industry. Howeve...