Just Came home from NYC

So I just came back from my week-long NY trip and just thought I'd share some thoughts on the shows I saw....

SPELLING BEE: I walk into the theatre on Tuesday night to buy tickets and I see the sign saying that "At this performance Leaf will be played by BARRETT FOA" I flipped out! I was about to see Barrett's first performance!! (Little did I know, I was going to be IN IT TOO!!) It was a really fun show! (I'm just a little partial because I had the best seat in the house!: right between Jose and Barrett

JERSEY BOYS: Standing room for Wednesday's matinee! Woot! I was blessed to have a full cast in. The show was great! High energy and fast paced. Really moving as well.

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS: What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful show. Everyone in again. Some crack ups here and there.. but this show was really the highlight of the trip (I didn't have ANY expectations)

TARZAN: Did NOT deserve as horrible reviews as it had gotten. It was Disney... nothing more, nothing less. The cast was rediculously talented though!

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE: Loved it. If I were a Tony voter I would have had a very hard decision to make regarding best musical this year.... They both deserved it... this was cuter.

THE WEDDING SINGER: I rushed this so my neck hurt a little... Entire cast was in, AND it was Laura's Birthday!! She seems to have totally found herself in this role and was nothing like what others have said. This show was so great and so much fun!!!

HAIRSPRAY: I needed another show to see because I had the time... It was at TKTS... Hairspray is fun. But after the extramly fast paced Wedding Singer it was like watching paint dry at some points...

Well that was basically my week in New York! It was a blast! Didn't want to bore anyone w/ too many details...

Ahhh do tell us about your Spelling Bee experience! Between Jose and Barett... *is insanely jealous and is huge Jose Llana fan*

You have to go to see The Wedding Singer for once!!!

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Haha -- so it's late and I'm tired, but I'll post some details some at a time!

So Spelling Bee... I get to the theatre at about 6:35 and meandered down to the lobby by 6:40... I see the people w/ the clipboards talking to people about being in the show, asking questions, etc. We make eye contact and she comes over to me... we talk, asks for my name, where I'm from, what I do - my answer: Student. Student of what?, she asks. Uh oh. Theatre. I respond. (After I said that I was like "theyre never gonna want to pick me now!") Anyway, I go over to another table and they say that I was the last one to be interviewed, they leave to go make their decisions. The 40 of us or so wait to see who they pick and lo and behold, my name is the last one called!! They bring the 4 of us to the stage managers booth to brief us... They also gave us buttons that say "Finalist at the 25th Annual...Spelling Bee" (Not Sold Anywhere :-p --- they mentioned that) So I go to my seat and wait to be "called" upon. Then it began. Actors are assigned to grab certain numbers (depending on which number you wear) and (being such a fan of Barrett's I crossed my fingers) It was like magic when he walked up to me and said "Hi, I'm Leaf" sticking out his hand, I put mine in his and responded "Jason" -- then he brought be over to sit w/ him and Jose on the top bench... My first word was "Mexican" -- but I didnt go for a while... so I was onstage for a lot. I got that word right so I was on stage for things like Pandemonium... THAT was cool! We danced around and everything -- actors whispering choreography in your ears as you go... it's thrilling! "Leaf" offered me a piece of his sandwhich, which I declined. I didn't want Peanut Butter breath during my "Broadway Debut!" hehe. Anyway, I got out on "Abouli" -- I was ready to go and watch from my seat anyway. Mitch gave me three hugs, my apple juice, and then I was on my way back to my seat! It was so cool later because people from the audience were congradulating me and such, and even the actors, meeting them afterward they felt like they knew me 'cause we shared a stage for 35 minutes -- it was cool and really fun!! They were so in character the whole time on stage! It was great... they'd whisper little things to each other like "Ugh, he rides the short bus I'm sure!"

Anyway, to trace back, after the briefing the people kept me there to tell me not to "act". They told us they really liked our "natural personalities" and that's why they chose us. So my first note in my broadway debut was "don't act" ---



As for TARZAN: I went in there with low low low low loooooow expectations... I really like the music and the story is cute. I like Disney, it's magical. I took it for what it was. I tapped in to my inner child and really appreciated the little things -- it made me feel good that I was enjoying what I had speant so much money on. Also, my seats were 5th row, dead center... so I felt like I was a part of the show! Jenn was out, but her understudy BLEW me away! Her voice (in my opinion) was better than Jenn's (from what I've heard from the CD) -- she really rocked in that role! I just kept an open mind and that made it easy to enjoy.


The Wedding Singer they didn't do anything special for her b-day, but Stephen made a Bachlorette party announcement - and after that he said "and happy birthday laura!" it was cute. she was so sweet too!!

Anything else you guys wanna know?

I'm not 100% sure if it was "Abouli" or not... it was something a lot like it because I spelled the word "ool" instead of "oul" -- I don't remember exactly. They also told you that if your not really sure to just guess and let the show go on w/ it's pace... so I didn't want to hold anything up. It was kind of annoying because the other guy they picked was trying to "ham it up" at the mic... and you can tell the actors were getting a little frustrated. I even heard Jose mumble under his breath "what is he doing??" --- cause he got "cow" and was like "cow... hmmm... that's hard.." etc. It was still fun though!