Tag: musicals

Songs From Musicals – Recommendations

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I was having a conversation with someone about how much I love musicals and they told me that they’d never seen one or could even recall any song from a musical but agreed if I could do an hour long playlist of songs that I liked from musicals that would be good for someone with limited musical to knowledge that they’d give it a listen.

I’ve had a little break from blogging to give more of a platform for those voices who need to be heard more than mine right now but I thought sharing my song choices would be a great reintroduction to posting again because I’m just eager to write something now!

Without further ado here is the songs that I compiled. Would love to know what other songs / shows you think I should’ve included in the comments –

Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton

I’ve never seen Hamilton and truthfully bar a couple of songs I’m not a huge fan of the cast recording on the whole – though I am beyond excited to watch it when it lands on Disney+ next week. However, a few years ago Lin-Manuel Miranda challenged Broadway shows to sing a song from Hamilton for charity to help fundraise and Dear Evan Hansen did a song from the show. It was at this point that I realised that I should give Hamilton more of a chance and this song to this day is my favourite from the Hamilton.

I had to include Hamilton on my list as the songs from the show are just so different to what people associate with stereotypical musical theatre songs.

Defying Gravity – Wicked

Wicked will forever be one of my favourite musicals so I couldn’t put together a list of songs without including Wicked . It was the one that truly introduced me into the world of West End theatre and I think it’s such a magical show that will capture most peoples attention. I love the storyline, the sets and outfits are some of the best I’ve ever seen in a stage production and all the songs are so great.

Defying Gravity was the song from the musical I chose to include due to the fact that when you think Wicked you think Defying Gravity. It’s one of those iconic songs that even if you don’t know where the song comes from you’ve probably heard of it. For me, Defying Gravity has basically set the standard that all other musical songs have to compete with – it just never gets old and the song just gets even better if possible when you see it performed on stage.

Falling Slowly – Once The Musical

I completely forgot this musical existed until I went to David Hunter’s online concert at the start of lockdown and he did a cover of this song as he was in the musical. I’m so happy to have rediscovered this musical as this song in particular is so good and it really is one of my favourite songs from a musical which is why I chose it because I just love it.

I’ve never seen the musical, it’s one of those that I just never got around to seeing when it was in the West End so I can’t comment on the show itself (or even too much about what it’s about) but the music from it is wonderful. I believe that sung by the right popular singer, this song could be in the charts as it doesn’t overly sound like a musical song – in fact its the type of song that could even be in the John Lewis Christmas advert. I tried to pick some songs that weren’t stereotypically what you think of when you think musicals and Falling Slowly from Once absolutely fits in the bill.

Found / Tonight – Ben Platt / Lin-Manuel Miranda

I wasn’t entirely sure this would class as being from a musical as its a mash up of You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen and The Story Of Tonight from Hamilton. Two songs which listened to separately you wouldn’t think would work together but somehow it does.

Ben Platt and Lin-Manuel Miranda are two of the most popular performers and the fact they’ve done this song together for charity is fantastic. I love this song so much it’s one of my top played songs ever so I had to include this.

Freeze Your Brain – Heathers The Musical

Heathers is a beyond underrated musical and I saw this show with multiple people who aren’t the biggest musical fans and they all came out loving this show. I’m not sure if its one of those shows where you’ll enjoy the songs more once you’ve seen the show but I couldn’t chose songs without including one from Heathers. It was such a tough decision I love pretty much all the songs from this musical but whenever I get a song from the show stuck in my head 9 out of 10 times its Freeze Your Brain. This is also the entire reason why I had far too many Slurpees from a 7/11 on my last trip to America.

I chose the UK cast version as I saw this version of the show so I have the bias towards Jamie Muscato’s performance of this song as I felt his portrayal of JD was arguably the best performance on the West End in 2018.

Michael In The Bathroom – Be More Chill

I was so insanely torn about which song from Be More Chill to chose. It was narrowed down between Loser Geek Whatever (especially as Will Roland who sings this song was the entire reason I even started liking this show) and Michael In The Bathroom but ultimately I chose Michael In The Bathroom as its the first song from the show that I become obsessed with.

I chose the Broadway cast recording version of this song as even though both are sung by George Salazar I feel that the Broadway version is just that little bit more amazing. I think so many people can relate to this song and the biggest regret I have is not flying to America sooner so I could’ve seen this song performed on stage as it had closed by the time I arrived in New York.

One Day More – Les Miserables

Les Miserables is one of those iconic musicals so you just have to include a song from it. Les Miserables is 99.99% sung so I can appreciate that many people who aren’t overly keen on musicals will probably not enjoy it. One Day More is one of the more catchy songs from the show so I feel like its a good start for anyone whose not seen the show and you’ll absolutely have this song in your head for the foreseeable future after listening.

The Phantom Of The Opera – The Phantom Of The Opera

As with the above, can you really do a list of musical recommendations with including Phantom Of The Opera? Phantom Of The Opera was a show that had never been at the top of my list to see – what a mistake that was! The show is incredible and when you see the show the scene where The Phantom Of The Opera its mesmerizing.

She Used To Be Mine – Waitress

Waitress is a musical that I’d been saying for the longest time that I wanted to see but whenever I came to booking a show I always had something that I wanted to see more. Then fate played out and I got the show in my Broadway Roulette spin when I went to New York.

Jordin Sparks was the actress who I saw playing Jenna. She is simply sensational and honestly her singing this song was one my the best things I’ve ever seen on stage. It was a real wow moment. Her performance of this song was unreal and I feel Waitress is underrated so naturally I had to include this song.

Six – Six

Six is another show that I’ve not seen yet and Coronavirus had other plans about the two times that I had booked to see it this year. Six is the story of Henry VIII’s six wives sung by them from their perspective of the events. It’s such a genius idea for a musical and all I’ve repeatedly heard for years is great things about this show. Like Waitress, its a musical that I’ve been wanting to see but something else has always been out that I wanted to see more, but this show is absolutely straight at the top of the list to rebook when theatres reopen.

I was torn between Six an Ex-Wives but ultimately I chose the song Six because I think it captures what the musical is about well and I only had an hour worth of songs so it made sense to chose the shorter song too. I think Six a catchy song and it naturally seems the perfect choice to start when introducing someone to Six the musical.

Stick It To The Man – School Of Rock

School Of Rock is one of my favourite musicals of all time. I’ve wrote countless times on this blog how Alex Brightman playing Dewey in this musical cemented his as one of my favourite male performers. I feel the incredible performance by Alex Brightman even comes across on the cast recording.

School Of Rock is based on the film of the same name and the songs in the musical are not what you expect from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I think this show will appeal to a wider audience because of the film and this song is one of my favourites from the show.

Waving Through A Window – Dear Evan Hansen

I feel like I talk about Dear Evan Hansen and wear enough merchandise from the show for people to just roll their eyes when they see this song on the list.

I am beyond obsessed with this show and I relate to it more than any show that I’ve ever seen before. The cast recording has the likes of Ben Platt, Will Roland, Laura Dreyfuss, Michael Park etc, and every single song is amazing. It’s one of the few shows where every song is my favourite and where the cast recording truly captures just how emotional the show is.

My favourite song from the show rotates on a near daily basis but Waving Through A Window was the song that initially sparked my interest of the show and I feel its a good introduction to the show as a whole. For someone who hasn’t seen the show I think Waving Through A Window is a fantastic introduction to the musical which is why this song is on the list.

The Whole “Being Dead” Thing – Beetlejuice The Musical

When I went to New York last year I have to admit that the only reason I wanted to see this musical was because Alex Brightman was playing the title character. I’d not even seen the Beetlejuice movie which this musical is based on so I went into the show absolutely blind as to what it was about.

The Whole “Being Dead” Thing is one of the first songs sung in the musical and I think it captures the sheer amount of bonkers (in a good way!) that is this show. I think someone who has seen the movie would probably appreciate listening to a song sung by Beetlejuice more too which again influenced by decision to chose this particular song as the entire cast recording is fantastic so it was a tough choice!

Sadly Beetlejuice is no longer open on Broadway but I really hope this show comes back because it’s definitely one of my favourite shows.

Top Reasons To See Dear Evan Hansen

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

Its been a couple of weeks since I sat down and wrote a blog post, sadly I’ve just not felt up to writing. To bring me out of the slump I’m I thought I would write about why I love Dear Evan Hansen so much.

Dear Evan Hansen is a musical that I heard about a couple of years ago now. I instantly loved the songs and now that I’ve seen the show both on Broadway and the West End I’m more obsessed than ever. I have so many reasons why I love the show but here is some of my top reasons!

Songs

My number one reason to see Dear Evan Hansen has to be the songs. I wouldn’t be sat here today telling everyone why I think you should see the show if it wasn’t for the songs as they’re what got me truly hooked to the show. I actually heard Waving Through A Window and instantly loved it so then started to look at what show it came from and the rest is history. It’s one of the few cast recordings where you get a tiny idea of how emotional the show is and the lyrics are so relatable at times. Every single song is fantastic and I can guarantee that you’ll only enjoy it more once you’ve seen the show. I have listened to this cast recording probably more than any other album I own so I really recommend you listen more and its only proved how much I listen to it when Ben Platt was my artist of the decade on Spotify. Plus the cast recording is the original Broadway cast which includes now well known names such as Ben Platt, Will Roland and Laura Dreyfuss.

Relatability

I’ve said this time and time again but I relate so much with Evan and that is entirely why the show is so good. I think everyone watching will be able to draw parallels from characters to their own lives. You have a single parent mum working hard to do what she can to ensure her son has the best life she can give, a family suffering a loss of a loved one, a sister struggling to get to terms with the death of her brother, the dynamics of how a school reacts to the events of a suicide, a kid who so badly wants to fit in but every time he tries he worries about getting hurt…the list is endless. I’m sure every single person watch the show can relate to so many moments and that attachment is exactly what helps to make this show so good.

Important Messages

The show features so many important moments. For one, the show touches upon mental health in such a normal, believable way and I believe that it’s so important to have such a popular show that highlights these issues. Then you have moments such as You Will Be Found which reminds you that no matter what you’re not alone and Disappear which shows how no one should be forgotten no matter how insignificant you may feel you are.

Of course you have the popular quote, ‘Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why…’ I say that quote in my day to day life more often than I should admit, to the extent that people around me now start the day with that quote without even realising they’re actually quoting a musical. It’s crazy how one line in a show can really hit home to you and personally the last monologue with this in it is the final heartbreak moment in the show but it’s so wonderful.

Social Media

Social media is something that I’m sure most of us couldn’t imagine life without nowadays. Dear Evan Hansen is one of the few musicals that taps so heavily into social media. It launches a whole campaign on the internet / social media and you seen see the horrible side of it when the Murphy family are hit with the backlash from the Connor Project being online. So many of us use social media but Dear Evan Hansen portrays the positive and negative aspects of it so wonderfully. I feel that I don’t post horrible things aimed personally at people online but since seeing the show it’s certainly made me think about what I do share and post online.

I think with everything going on in the world today it’s fantastic that a show does feature something as relevant as social media and focusses on the negative aspects as well as the positives.

Sam Tutty

My final reason only sadly relates to the UK’s London production of Dear Evan Hansen and that is Sam Tutty who currently plays Evan. I’m embarrassed to admit that I judged him instantly when the cast list was announced as I felt he looked far too cool to play Evan, but boy I have never been happier to have been proven wrong. Sam Tutty was truly born to play the role of Evan Hansen and his performance absolutely emotionally destroyed me in the best possible way imaginable. Tears were uncontrollable pouring down my face at multiple points during the show due to the incredible acting from Sam Tutty. His acting skills are second to none and if you’re half familiar with the show already, be prepared for his Words Fail! I may be bias as I adore this show but personally I think his performance as Evan is the best thing you can see on the West End at the moment and if you’re in the area do try to get a ticket to catch him in Dear Evan Hansen. Obviously no matter who you see perform as Evan the show is incredible but personally Sam Tutty is my favourite that I’ve seen in the role.

Have you ever seen the show? If so I’d love to know if you liked it or didn’t and why!

2019 Favourites

by melissay1, posted in Other

I thought I would do a little wrap up on my favourite books / theatre shows / music of 2019. I think it’ll be nice for myself to look back on next year and see what my favourites are now in comparison to a years time. Plus I’ve really enjoyed reading other peoples 2019 favourite blog posts.

So without further ado, here is my top two favourite books, theatre shows and music of 2019!

Would love to hear what your favourites of the year have been in the comments!

Books

I decided to go off Goodreads for this one and pick out of the books that I’d given a five star rating too. Coincidentally I only rated two books as 5 stars this year and as even more of a coincidence they’re the last two books that I’ve read so typically my blog posts about them aren’t up yet so I don’t want to go into too much detail about them.

  • The Christmasaurus And The Winter Witch – Tom Fletcher

I love The Christmasaurus. I am completely out of the target audience for this series of books but they’re just full of Christmassy magic and has a dinosaur so what more do you want from a Christmas story.

The Christmasarus And The Winter Witch is book number two in the series. It’s sort of difficult to explain what happens without spoilers to parts of book one but all you need to know is that this book takes place a year after book one. William Trundle and his family gets invited to take a tour of the North Pole with Santa himself and discoverers the secret weapon to ensure all the children get their presents on Christmas Eve. But then everything goes wrong and the fate of all future Christmas Days rests in the hands of William!

If you’ve never heard of The Christmasaurus you must check out the first book first. It is even released as a musical edition where the songs are so catchy and fitting to the story. As its a children’s book you can expect the illustrations to be great and this book certainly has a great illustrator.

I purposely waited and read this book on Christmas Day and it provided that little bit of Christmas magic you need at this time of year. I find sequels tend to be not as good as book one, but The Christmasaurus And The Winter Witch is one of the few that is just as good.

  • Marriage On Madison Avenue – Lauren Layne

The irony that this book is in my best of 2019 list when it isn’t even out until 2020! However, I read this book this year so I feel that’s still fine for me to be classing it in this list. A blog post is coming up tomorrow about this book so I’ll edit this post to include the link once its up.

This story is about Audrey who doesn’t have the best luck in relationships. Her best friend Clarke is fed up of his mother trying to meddle in his dating life so tells her that he is engaged to Audrey. The pair are strictly best friends, always have been and always will be. They don’t feel any romantic connection to each other, that is until they start pretending to be engaged and the lines begin to blur.

This book is one of those stories that makes your heart happy and it’s genuinely one of the best romance novels that I’ve read in a long time. Your must read book for 2020!

Theatre

I saw a lot of shows this year. Although I can honestly say that I loved everything I saw this year (normally I see a few things that fell abit flat) but two shows are the real stand outs for me this year.

  • Beetlejuice

Whenever anyone gets me into a conversation about musicals, it doesn’t take me long to start talking about how much of an incredible performer I think Alex Brightman is. When I saw him in School Of Rock I left the theatre in awe of his performance so the minute I heard he was going to be staring in Beetlejuice I knew it would be amazing and I could only hope to get to America to see the show, which luckily I did.

Beetlejuice is an incredible show – end of. It’s hilarious with so many moments making you uncontrollably laugh, Alex Brightman’s lively portrayal of Beetlejuice didn’t disappoint in the slightest, the music is catchy and you’ll have it on repeat, the cast is insanely talented, visually the show is stunning and it even has a few special effects thrown in for good measure.

The show is shockingly being evicted from the Winter Garden Theatre next year so sadly as of the time of writing this it will be shutting very shortly so if you live near New York or have a holiday planned to go there, please get tickets to see Beetlejuice. I had never seen the film so knew very little about the plot but I absolutely loved the musical – it will not disappoint if you get tickets.

  • Dear Evan Hansen

If you’ve spent any time on this blog at all you’ll know Dear Evan Hansen was always going to be in my favourites list. I was lucky enough to see this show twice this year (Broadway and West End production) and words cannot describe how much I adore this show.

Dear Evan Hansen makes me uncontrollably cry more than anything I have ever seen but in a good way! This show really connects to so many people, myself included and I had to wait along time to see the show as it’s been a while since I was last in America and it wasn’t in London at the time but it was completely worthwhile. If you’ve not seen the show before I can only urge you to go and see it because its fantastic.

This show is a game changer in musicals for me. It’s such a simple story, the stage design is even simpler but it offers so much. The story is the real driving point, top that off with songs that you will listen to on loop for the foreseeable future and characters that everyone can relate to, it really cements itself as a musical that will stand the test of time.

I just can’t fully put into words how much I love this musical but if you get the chance to see it you really should take the opportunity to go!

Music

Like with the books I have got this from my Spotify wrap up and it looks like 2019 was truly the year of musicals.

  • Ben Platt

Number one on my list this year is Ben Platt. It’s not a surprise that Ben Platt ended up as number one as not only have I listened to his own album (Sing To Me Instead) on repeat, my listening of Dear Evan Hansen and The Politician is also classed as Ben Platt.

Ben Platt has quite a unique voice. I feel like you’ll absolutely love him or won’t like him at all. His voice for me truly gives you chills during some of his song – he is crazily talented. My favourite from his album is If I Dont Live Forever but I feel if you’ve not heard his music before a good place to start would be with the singles Bad Habit and Rain.

I was lucky enough to catch Ben Platt’s Radio City show which is going to be on Netflix in the new year and I can confirm he is vocally as incredible in real life as on CD. If you like Ben Platt in the slightest I can’t recommend seeing him live enough.

If you’ve never heard of him, check out his album or wait for the Netflix concert!

  • Will Roland

Will Roland being second in my top artists of the year really surprised me. This has obviously come from my obsessive listening of the Be More Chill cast recording (with probably abit if Dear Evan Hansen thrown in for good measure) as I was so excited to see the show on Broadway…then it shut early!

Will Roland is someone who I am desperate to see perform live. He has such an expressive voice and I can only imagine how fantastic he must be actually in a show.

The Be More Chill Broadway Cast Recording is one of my favourites. I’ve mentioned this before on my blog but I actually prefer the Broadway cast to the original recording. For me, Will Roland has the perfect voice for Jeremy and I think the songs sound even better when he sings them.

The whole album is good from start to finish and you can see how the whole thing went viral and brought the show back to Broadway.

I’m sure Will Roland will feature highly in my Spotify list in 2020 too as Be More Chill comes to London so you already know the obsessive listening is going to return!

  • Taylor Swift

I know I said I was only going to be doing two options for each but I feel like Taylor Swift needs a special mention. I know based on last.fm that I’ve listened to Taylor a lot this year but a lot of the ways that I listen to her won’t have been counted online. I play her music so much on vinyl and on my iPod which is so old it isn’t Spotify compatible.

Taylor Swift is one of those go to artists that you can chose any of her albums, play from start to finish and love every single song that’s on it.

I already know she’ll feature very highly next year as I get to see her headline Glastonbury which I already know is going to be one of the highlights of my year.

Dear Evan Hansen

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I’ve been waiting to see Dear Evan Hansen for so long. I absolutely adore every single song, I love the book and story, I just have never seen the musical on stage as it was only open in America. Sadly the last time I went to America it wasn’t open yet and currently (though not for much longer) it isn’t in the UK. Well, during my recent trip to New York I finally got to see the show! It completely and utterly met my high expectations that I had in my head for the show so naturally I have to write a post about it.

If you’ve never heard of Dear Evan Hansen, it revolves around a seventeen year old called Evan. Evan has really bad anxiety and in order to try and combat that, his doctor suggests writing letters to himself, hence the name Dear Evan Hansen! One day, Evan’s letter is discovered by his classmate and before he knows it he gets tangled up a web of lies that he just can’t get out of.

People seem to have a difference in opinion of Evan when you read reviews of this show. However, I really like the character as I feel like if I was in Evan’s position I would’ve done the exact same thing and I think that we can all relate to Evan’s longing to be accepted. For me personally, I find that the relatability of Evan gives me far too much of an emotional attachment to this show as at so many points I can imagine myself as Evan. However, the other point of view is that Evan is entirely at fault for lying so they struggle to feel sorry for him.

I have to admit that now Dear Evan Hansen is coming to London this month (and I do have tickets for it) that part of the reason I saw the show in New York instead of waiting a few weeks for my London show, was to see Andrew Barth Feldman playing Evan. Andrew Feldman is scarily exactly like how I imagined Evan to look like so I really wanted to see him do the role. However, the show I saw actually had one of the understudies, Josh Strobl playing Evan. Thankfully, my brief disappointment of missing Andrew Feldman was quickly forgotten! Josh Strobl was an unbelievable Evan and I do believe it was his Evan Broadway debut! I felt that he really captured Evan well and I felt so moved by his performance. If you live in the States and can catch one of Josh Strobl’s Evan shows I would highly recommend his performance! My show also had another understudy, Kaitlyn Santa Juana playing Zoe. Again, she was incredible for the role and I particularly enjoyed her version of Requiem. I felt like Josh Strobl and Kaitlyn Santa Juana had good on stage chemistry and I just can’t believe they’re both the understudies as I would never have known they weren’t the main cast actors.

I knew I would get emotional but I was not prepared for just how much I did. I had a few (and by a few I mean alot…) weepy moments throughout but my throat felt like it was burning as I tried to hold back the tears during You Will Be Found before I completely just broke down in uncontrollable crying. You Will Be Found comes across so strongly on stage. For me, that song on stage is one of my favourite end of act 1 scenes in any musical I’ve seen. That moment came as such a heartbreaking surprise for me as I hoped I would make it to Act 2 without having an emotional breakdown in a theatre but when you see the whole of act 1 on stage and this is the moment that even despite his lies Evan started to make a real difference and some of the words and performance just really affected me.

Dear Evan Hansen is such a simple concept for a musical but it provides so many story elements people can relate to which is why personally I get so attached to Evan. The waiting to be accepted, Evan’s longing to have friends, his need to help make people happy when given the opportunity, Evan’s dad leaving him and his mum working so hard to make a good life for Evan, Zoe’s reluctance to accept her brother was anything but a monster, a grieving family…I think every single person in the audience will manage to connect with at least one part of this story which is what I feel helps contribute to its success.

The set is quite interesting too. On the one hand it’s very basic, at the most you might just have a bed or table on stage. However, the screens permanently on stage play a massive part of the show frequently showing social media messages on them. The so heavy inclusion of social media is quite unique still in shows and I think Dear Evan Hansen uses it effectively. I think the heavy inclusion of social media completely makes it relevant to today’s society and it’s interesting to see how it can be used both for positive reasons and then flip for negative in the same breath. I’m sure everyone has had some degree of experience in the good / bad effects of social media and that really helps to connect the show to the audience.

Dear Evan Hansen is the first show that I’ve seen where I’ve been completely obsessed with everything around it but have never seen the show, normally I’ll know the odd thing or have casually listened to a couple of the songs then see the show and become obsessed that way. I’m so thrilled that it was every bit as good as I imagined it to be. Now, listening to the songs gives a whole new element of enjoyment as I can imagine them being performed on stage. I can completely see why Dear Evan Hansen gets all the hype as despite getting so upset watching it (and I wasn’t the only one as I certainly heard other people crying!) I enjoyed every single second and would see it again tomorrow in a heartbeat.

Have you seen the show? Would love to know what you thought!

Broadway Roulette

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I’ve had a bit of a small blogging hiatus as I’ve been on holiday! Now I’m sat on the way home it seems like the best time to start my posts of exciting things I’ve done in New York this week. This first is something I did called Broadway Roulette.

Broadway Roulette is a really interesting concept and from the minute I read about it I knew I had to do it. You basically pick a day you want to see a show, chose if you want to see a musical, play or both, then rule out, if any, a couple of shows that you don’t want to see, pay the fee (which is extremely reasonable for a Broadway show) of either $49 or $59 depending on date, and then you’ll get a text and email on the day of your show telling you what show you’ve spun on the wheel!

I have seen a lot of Broadway / West End shows so for me putting control onto someone else to decide what I would be seeing was a great idea! I was completely open to seeing anything the roulette spun for me even if I’d seen it prior and I think if you chose to take part you have to be like this. If you have your heart set on seeing a particular show I don’t really think Broadway Roulette is for you.

As advised I got an email and a text in the morning telling me what show that I’d won and the ticket pick up instructions. Being overseas meant that I had very limited use of my phone unless I was connected to the WiFi so I was very apprehensive about pick up particularly as it stated if I had any issues to ring a number which obviously I couldn’t do without it costing me my phone bill twice over. However, the Broadway Roulette representative was waiting in the prearranged location as planned and he was very friendly and helpful in guiding us the best way to get to the theatre which added to the experience of the roulette.

The show that the roulette spun for me was Waitress! I was absolutely thrilled to get that show! I’ve been meaning to go see the show in London but every time I go to book it I see something else that I really want to see and book that instead. Getting the show on my Broadway Roulette spin meant that I finally had the excuse I needed to see this show.

To be perfectly honest I wasn’t expecting anything too great from Broadway Roulette when it came to the seats as the price was so cheap! I figured I’d just end up being back row so I was pleasantly surprised with how good the seats were! The seats were around half way back in the mezzanine and smack in the centre, I really couldn’t have asked for any better seats and if I was booking the seats myself I would’ve probably chosen those myself which proves how good the roulette service is.

Waitress Seats From Broadway Roulette

Now onto the show! Waitress is about Jenna who lives to make pies and she’s pretty good at making them too! She is stuck in an awkward situation at home and in order to escape to a new life she enters a pie making competition but of course things never work out as smoothly as people plan.

I enjoyed every single second and the songs were great (and I was actually surprised at how many of them I actually did know), the performers were fantastic especially given the amount of understudies that were on and they served amazing pie in the interval – my recommendation is the Cookies and Cream, delicious! It was also a nice added bonus to see Jordin Sparks staring as Jenna too. I’m so glad that Broadway Roulette gave me the opportunity to see the show as I really enjoyed it and I don’t think that I would’ve ever got around to seeing it myself.

I really wished Broadway Roulette existed in England as it is such a fantastic service. I love going to see Broadway shows but the element of not actually knowing what show you’re going to see until the morning of the day you’re seeing the show adds a whole new level of excitement. As mentioned earlier, if you really have your heart on seeing a particular show maybe don’t go for Broadway Roulette as it’s highly unlikely the show you want will be spun. However, if you’re open to seeing anything the roulette may throw at you then I would absolutely recommend Broadway Roulette. The price was incredible for a Broadway show, the seats gave a perfect, unrestricted view and I cant fault the service from start to finish! I know for my next trip to America I will definitely be spinning again!

Musical Influenced Tour Of New York

by melissay1, posted in Theatre, travel

I’m pretty sure I get subconsciously influenced by things more than the average person. The episode of Hannah Montana where Billy Ray is typing gr8ted cheese, I ran to Tesco to get grated cheese for about a month after that, in Keeping Up With The Kardashian’s they had bowls full of Nerds out the entire series…yep you guessed it I became addicted to them for a little while when I was binging Kardashian episodes. So it’s no surprise when at the moment I have songs from musicals playing on repeat and I’m watching too many YouTube videos of the cast performing them that I’ve started to build up quite a weird itinerary of things to do when I visit New York based on things I’ve heard in musical theatre songs. So without further ado, here is my musical influenced itinerary so far!

7/11

Freeze Your Brain – Heathers The Musical

More Than Survive – Be More Chill

I have to visit a 7/11 and get a slurpee. I’ve heard that 7/11’s aren’t the nicest of places in America but when JD In Heathers sings an entire song about having a Slurpee in 7/11 and Be More Chill’s Michael mentions going too – I have to go. Slurpee’s look like a Slush Puppy or a Tango Ice Blast but times hundred and I’m so insanely excited to try one. They look huge! To top off my 7/11 experience I need to have a Red Vine and hope that a guy dressed head to toe in black is wondering the aisles singing whilst drinking a Slurpee…

A La Mode

For Forever – Dear Evan Hansen

For the longest of time I thought that A La Mode was a place and it was put into Dear Evan Hansen is contextualise it and I just didn’t get the place reference because I’m British. I recently googled it and couldn’t believe it was an actual ice cream shop and New York has one! I’ll definitely be going to grab a scoop at A La Mode! I’m already eyeing up the pink sprinkle flavour.

JonnyPops

Jared Kleinman – Dear Evan Hansen

Jared Kleinman wears a JonnyPops shirt in Dear Evan Hansen and for that reason alone I need to have something JonnyPops when I’m in America.

Pinkberry

Sync Up – Be More Chill

I hope it’s warm when I go to America because this is the 4th frozen item that I’ve decided that I need to have when I’m there. Be More Chill mentions Pinkberry a couple of times but my favourite is in Sync Up. I will be going to Pinkberry and I will be that loser saying Jeremy’s exact line and asking how was Pinkberry and if no one answers with Brooke’s reply I’ll be very disappointed…at the moment they have a special Be More Chill based one to buy too so if they would like to extend that to when I go that would be fantastic.

Mountain Dew

Be More Chill

The short version of this is that in Be More Chill, Jeremy gets a pill which controls his mind and Mountain Dew activates it and Mountain Dew Red deactivates it. So naturally I need to have Mountain Dew. The musical also says Mountain Dew Red was discontinued in the nineties and I’m not sure if it just doesn’t exist in England or if it is actually discontinued but either way I need to have some kind of Mountain Dew whilst in America.

Corn Nuts

Heathers

Although lots of food is mentioned in Heathers, Corn Nuts are the ones that stick in my head the most – after the Slurpee of course! Probably due to the fact Heather yells the word repeatedly! I’m pretty sure I wont even like Corn Nuts but I’m dying to try them

Does anyone have anymore suggestions of musical related food places I need to try whilst in America? Let me know in the comments!

Theatre Stage Doors

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I’ve been wanting to write my thoughts of going to stage door at a theatre for a while. Now I’ve started blogging on a Wednesday, I’ve finally got the perfect excuse I need to write this post.

I think stage door after a theatre performance is a lot like marmite, you either love it or hate it / don’t care about going. I for one, love it. I really enjoy seeing a show, loving the performance then heading to stage door to get my program signed by people whose performance I’ve just watched and enjoyed. My wall is full of framed signed programmes / posters from my favourite shows that I got signed at stage door after the show, for me it’s just the ultimate souvenir you can get from a show, and it’s nice to say hi to the cast and say how much you enjoyed the show. However, stage door has been increasingly making the news / social media sites over the past year and as someone who loves stage dooring that is why I wanted to talk about it.

Hands up – I have probably committed every single stage door sin in the past. Yes, I’ve waited at the stage door at a day that I haven’t seen the show (in my defence I had seen the show the day before and it was to try meet Daniel Radcliffe. People queued to get the prime spot to meet him hours before the play that day had even started!) and I’ve got photos with cast members when it was broadcast online that photos weren’t not allowed – but again I wasn’t aware of this until a few weeks after I saw this particular production, and I did ask the cast if it was ok, I didn’t just shove a camera in their face. I really feel that from both an actor and fans point of view that it would be easier if every single stage door followed the same rules and procedures so actors and fans alike know where they stood. For example, if the show that said no photos had signs up saying that or security shouting no photos (like on Broadway) then both actors and fans would know where they stood, whereas in that situation the actors must’ve known about no photos but fans didn’t.

Genuinely with the West End, unless someone relatively well known is in the show, I’ve found stage doors are a very casual affair. No barriers, no security, just a handful of people waiting to get autographs / photos after the show. But then when you go and see a show with a bigger name star in it, the stage door just turns into chaos. If perhaps every show did the same stage door people would know what to do. For example, at Daniel Radcliffe’s most recent play, if you saw the play and had a valid ticket for that days performance you were able to queue up outside after the show and were led inside in small groups to meet Daniel Radcliffe. Really, Daniel Radcliffe did not have to commit to do this at all (I was near the back of the queue and it took a good two hours to get to me meeting him and to this day I’m still shocked they didn’t just do the first handful of people in the queue) but if a performer is happy with it, it was such a great way to do a stage door and the theatre staff organised the queue very effectively. It eliminated people who hadn’t actually seen the show camping out at the stage door barrier and it was just the most calm, relaxed experience. In my opinion it was the best stage door experience I’ve had and I think all big name stars should considering doing stage door like this if they’re ok with committing all that time after the show.

Then at the recent production of Heathers, security had fans line up down the street at the front of the theatre instead of by stage door and the cast made there way up and down the line. I thought that worked well too as if cast members weren’t feeling up for stage door that day they would walk out the theatres stage door and go home, whereas if they felt up for stage door they made the decision to commit to it and walk front of house to sign programmes. It was giving the actors the choice and it kept fans happy and they knew that the actors who came to the front of the building would make the way up the entirety of the line.

Everything so far has been in relation to the West End now let’s move onto the horror that is Broadway stage doors. To be perfectly honest I don’t know too many Broadway actors (and the locations of stage doors in New York seem to be so confusing to find!) so I have only stage doored Broadway just the once so I have very limited experience but from that experience alone I would have to really want to meet the cast to attempt it again. Obviously as I’ve only done it once I’m not sure if it was just a particularly bad experience or if that is Broadway shows in general but I have seen photos of other stage doors and they all look just as hectic!

The stage door experience I had was at School Of Rock, I love Sierra Boggess and really wanted to try and get my copy of her album signed, plus I wanted to try and see Alex Brightman who became an instant favourite performer after I watched the show – no joke it’s been 3 years and I still tell people how much of an incredible performer he is! I ran out of the theatre after the show, my exit was the one bang next to stage door, I must’ve been at stage door all of 20 seconds after the show ended and yet I was still about 4 rows of people back – is it standard for people to wait at Broadway stage doors before the show has even finished or are people just insanely quick? The door was completely surrounded by barriers and if you weren’t at the front you had very little chance of getting anything signed particularly as I’ve never been in such a pushy situation when the actors started to filter out. People were literally whacking playbills, posters, vinyls around my head in the hope to get an actor to sign them – I wasn’t even anywhere near the front! Security were shouting as the pushing began and people were just uncontrollably screaming the actors names, it was just crazy and quite a different stage door experience to what I’m used to! As it happened, the cast had guests in that night and both Sierra Boggess and Alex Brightman came out quite late after the show had finished and only a half a dozen or so people remained meaning the barriers had gone down and the security had left for the night. Despite the hectic pushy environment earlier, when these two cast members came out it was extremely chilled. Alex Brightman in particular was truly one of the nicest people I’ve met at a stage door, he spent so much time individually talking and taking photos with every single person who was waiting.

I’ve booked to see Be More Chill on Broadway (even just writing that makes me want to scream with excitement that I’m actually seeing the show!) later in the year. I have been a fan of Will Roland, who stars in the show, for years now, I’ve watched an embarrassing amount of interviews he’s done and listened way too much to the cast albums he appears on – plus I’m sure most people have seen him singing the song about cookies and maybe yet not made the connection about who it is. Although my seats are pretty terrible, I never thought I’d get the opportunity to see him on stage so it’s safe to say that I just absolutely cannot wait to finally get to the chance to see him perform in a show. However, I’ve heard very mixed reviews about him at stage door as he apparently goes down the line very quickly signing after the show whereas I’ve heard other members of the cast spend a long time signing everything and taking photos. Honestly for me, I don’t know why people complain at that. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’d love to get a photo or get a few moments to say what an incredible performer I think he is but frankly he’s the lead in Be More Chill and I can imagine that’s completely and utterly exhausting. The fact he even comes out of stage door at all is great and people should be ok with that rather than complaining how he rushes through it. I know after I had a tiring day at work and you just want to get home that I’d be leaving by a back exit to avoid having to do that! I know it’s an argument that’s goes around a lot at the moment but it is so true, you’re only paying to see a show and anything else is a bonus. It’s just sad when you hear multiple bad reports about performers not doing stage door when in reality if you put yourself in that situation you probably wouldn’t do it either.

As a fan of meeting theatre performers I love stage door. It gives me the opportunity to say how much I enjoyed watching them on stage and also getting something signed is such a great souvenir. Some of my favourite things are my (now framed and on the wall) signed posters from shows. Ultimately I think as long as the actors are willing and happy to participate in stage door and fans are respectful of the actors choices to do or not do it and of other fans around them then it shouldn’t be a problem. I think the problem starts when people start complaining about performers being too quick at stage door or even choosing not to do it at all, at the end of the day if people are respectful and considerate then I personally see no problem with stage door signings continuing. I know that I’ll still be trying to get my programme signed at the next show I attend.

I know this has been the biggest load of waffle but I’d love to know other people’s opinions, do you like / dislike stage door? Have you ever had a really good experience meeting someone there? I definitely look at tagged photos of shows on Instagram way too often to read people’s experiences at shows so I’d love to hear any stories!

The Musical Theatre Tag

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

Whenever anyone I know goes to see a theatre show I’m usually near the top of the list of people they ask if its any good. I’ve had this drafted for a while but I haven’t had the opportunity to fit it in my weekly posting so I thought for my first Whatever Wednesday post I’d finally tackle the musical theatre blog tag!

I had a google search many months ago and saved these questions on my phone in case I ever got round to answering them one day so I really can’t remember which blog I got these questions from – I’m so sorry if this is your tag! Obviously if anyone knows whose tag it is I’ll edit this!

Now without further ado…

1. What was the first musical you ever saw?

I’m not going to count pantomimes, Disney movies or the countless times I watched the likes of Mary Poppins, Sounds Of Music etc for this one. The first musical I saw in the West End was Wicked – because lets face it who doesn’t love Wicked and if you haven’t seen a musical before I think Wicked is a really good place to start. It is good for all ages, the songs are incredible and the sets are so wonderful.

Lamely, my interest in Wicked came from Tom from McFly (though this probably won’t come as a surprise to people who know me) who seemed to constantly wear a Wicked jumper in every photo you saw of him from around that time and upon googling the show and listening to the songs I desperately wanted to see it. Then on a family trip to London when I was young we booked a last minute ticket to see Wicked that evening! The seats were pretty much back row of the upper circle but I absolutely loved the show.

Wicked was every bit of amazing as I expected it to be and since then it sparked off my interest in seeing shows. I’d never seen a show before that had such phenomenal set changes and I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing on that stage was actually happening. Since then I try and keep an eye on shows that are on West End / Broadway and see as many of the ones that I like the sound of as I can. Though I think I’ll always go back to Wicked and I’ve seen it a crazy amount of times now…I just love that show!

2. What was your favourite musical growing up?

My answer is 100%, Wicked. I’ve pretty much explained this in the last question but I became obsessed with Wicked, the magical sets, the incredible costumes, the wonderful story and the catchy songs! How can Wicked not become an instant favourite? Wicked was the show I saw again and again so it definitely sparked my interest off in seeing other shows. I just can’t imagine anyone going to see Wicked and walking out and not loving it.

3. Were you ever in a musical?

Musicals were definitely something that I would never, ever be involved in. I can’t sing or dance or act so its definitely not for me! I’d love to maybe have a behind the scenes job role one day though.

4. What was the first musical you saw on Broadway?

The first show I saw on Broadway was Mary Poppins which I suppose is a bizarre one as Mary Poppins is about as British as it comes! I’ve been to New York a lot and every time I go I spend way too much time seeing Broadway shows. Yes, London has the magical, historical theatres but Broadway has a certain glitz and glamour that you just don’t get on the West End. I think it’s probably just solely because I’m on holiday but Broadway just has that additional exciting element.

5. If you could be any female character in any musical who would you be and why?

I have a list of female characters I’d love to play but really if I had to pick just one, it wouldn’t take much thought. It would have to be Glinda in Wicked! Wicked was the first musical I loved and to this day I still would love to travel by bubble. I also think it would just be the most fun to sing and dance around on stage to Popular every single night. Plus I also adore Glinda’s costumes!

However, when I saw Heathers last year, Heather Chandler looks like she’d be an absolutely fantastic character to play. You get to experience the world of being the head Heather and be mean at the beginning, then playing dead Heather looks like it’s the most fun in the world.

6. Which male character?

The male character is a tough question for me as I love so many male characters. I’ve thought about it and I think that I would be Dewey from School Of Rock. It looks an absolutely exhausting role but it looks insanely fun! The entire soundtrack from School Of Rock is incredible so I think you’d have the best time jumping around and singing these songs every night.

7. Favourite musical song to sing in the shower?

Sorry to disappoint you all but I’m the most boring person in the world and don’t actually sing in the shower.

8. Who is your favourite theatre actress?

Carrie Hope Fletcher. Carrie is one unbelievable singer and she seems to do all the roles in my favourite musicals. Basically if Carrie is in a musical I will go and see it, I think she’s incredible and everything you see her in she somehow just keeps getting better and better.

I also love Savannah Stevenson. I have seen a lot of productions of Wicked and I just can’t tell you how much I adore her Glinda. I’ve never seen her in anything else but for Glinda alone she deserves a mention here.

9. Actor?

For the male actors I’ve had two experiences where I’ve walked into a theatre not knowing who they were and walked out not being able to shut up about what an unbelievable performance I’ve just seen.

The first is Alex Brightman who played the original cast Dewey in School Of Rock in New York. I have seen Dewey played by multiple actors now and I just can’t explain how insanely amazing Alex Brightman is in that role. I’m desperate to head across the pond and see him in Beetlejuice.

Jamie Muscato who played JD in the West End cast of Heathers. I have never seen a performer as good as Jamie Muscato. I don’t know how he physically manages to make you love him in one scene then make his face completely change in the next so you’re sat terrified of him. I’m excited to see what he does next as I’m very intrigued to go watch him in a different role.

10. Favourite film adaptation of a musical?

Though the movies did come first and the musical was based on them, it has got to be School Of Rock or Heathers! Both are these films are so good and some of my favourites.

11. What do you think is the most underrated musical?

I’m not sure if really classes as underrated as it is on Broadway but Be More Chill. I read the book not so long back and although the book wasn’t one of my favourites, the idea of a squip fascinates me. Plus the fact that Will Roland plays the main guy was enough to get my attention to look more at the musical.

Since then I’ve obsessively pretty much only listened to the cast recording. Be More Chill deserves so much more hype than it gets because the songs are absolutely amazing. I’m just going to throw it out there but I think Michael In The Bathroom is one of the best songs from a musical…ever.

If you have a search on Be More Chill YouTube channel, you can see a video of the Broadway cast rehearsing More Than Survive and it looks so good. Assuming it’s still on Broadway the next time I’m in New York, Be More Chill is so high up my need to watch list.

12. Overrated musical?

I thought long and hard about this but I’m sadly going to have to say Matilda. I really love the movie but I just didn’t particularly like the stage show. I’m not even sure why! I mean the staging was great and I loved the songs but in my opinion it just didn’t live up to the hype surrounding it. For me, the movie was just so much better than the musical and I found myself constantly comparing the two throughout. The musical just lacked something for me, I’m not sure what but in my opinion it’s just so overrated.

13. What musical made you cry?

I’m not entirely sure I should admit this but The Christmasaurus! When the dinosaur flies and Tom sings Afraid Of Heights I just cried my eyes out. I don’t know if it’s because he’d learnt to fly or the staging for that particular scene or what but it made me sit in the theatre with tears streaming down my face.

In a more serious musical, I’ve never seen it but I can already tell you Dear Evan Hansen is going to make me need tissues. I’ve mentioned this before but I think Evan is the nearest I’m ever going to get to seeing a version of myself portrayed on stage. The songs affect me more than any musical songs I’ve ever heard and the book made me cry. Even just the first few lines (although they’re more jokey) still make me emotional, so lets be honest the musical is going to be a full blown crying fest. I’m seeing the show in London on my own in November and I’m already feeling sorry for the unlucky people sat either side of me whilst I’m going through a box of Kleenex.

14. What musical made you laugh?

Heathers! Although it’s about a high school kid wanting (and succeeding) to murder half of the school it has some absolutely hilarious moments.

The whole popular scene in Wicked when Glinda is doing her hair toss will never not make me laugh too.

15. Are there any musicals you saw and hated?

Cats. Who doesn’t love the song Memory from Cats and in my head Cats is one of those iconic musicals but when I saw the show I hated it. It was just too much dancing around and less action for my liking. Plus when the cats all spoke together as a group it was so difficult to understand what they were saying. I left just as confused by the show as I was when I went into the theatre. It very sadly just wasn’t for me.

16. What musical do you want to see as a film?

Wicked – though this is apparently happening so that’s very exciting! I’d also love to see Dear Evan Hansen and The Christmasaurus.

17. Which musicals are you dying to see?

Dear Evan Hansen is firmly at the top of this list. It’s coming to London this year so I will finally see the show and I can’t wait for the day I’m sat in the theatre watching it. Though, if I won the lottery I’d be straight over to New York to see Andrew Barth Feldman in the show, it’s scary how he is literally exactly how I imagined Evan to look like and if you watch the covers he’s done on YouTube I’m already sure that his version of Words Fail would completely and utterly, emotionally destroy me more than any other Evan.

As mentioned earlier, I’m also really wanting to go and see Alex Brightman in Beetlejuice but sadly I just don’t think I’ll get the money for a New York trip this year – Broadway is just too expensive!

I would also love to see Be More Chill. I’m obsessed with this songs right now and I’m very interested to see how they play this story on stage. Plus getting the opportunity to see Will Roland perform would be incredible too. I’m hoping its popularity in America might mean it’ll make it to the UK one day.

18. Any movie or book you think should be turned into a musical?

I’m not too sure. The first thing that comes to mind is Clueless. Its the same kind of thing as Heathers and Mean Girls are they’re both musicals now so why not Clueless?

19. What is your all-time favourite musical?

I suppose it’s got to be Wicked. However, my top favourite musicals are getting closer over the years. So special mention for School Of Rock, Heathers and Dear Evan Hansen!