hungryandfrozen

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:29:47 GMT

Tonys thoughts:

Loved Alice Ripley's speech. Do not understand the anger rising from the internet (but then that's why it pays NEVER to read/buy into youtube comments). I thought she was just...stunning, in every sense of the word. So gracious, so restrained yet so passionate. And then hilarious. Anyway, all that aside I'm so happy she won the award, the competition was so stiff it was rigid but still I felt fairly calm about her chances. (my opinion so counts since I saw it on youtube and all, right?) I kind of wish [tos] got best book. Who am I kidding, I wish they got best everything. They are best everything. Neil Patrick Harris, what a gorgeous guy inside and out. How is he not more famous? That said, I wanted to tell one of my friends about him but didn't want to feel as though it was a "you'll probably like this guy's work, he's gay too!" sort of thing. I loved his song-and-dance number. Question from a stupid person miles across the other side of the world: does anyone know if Julia Murney was at the Tonys? If so, must see a photo asap.

Just finished writing my food blog. I love my job and I love that I have a job, but I hate that it makes my blog so much more difficult. I'm tired and have no time in the evening - and i think the quality of the writing is pretty obvious when I've written late at night - and photographing food at night is beyond difficult without photoshop/better lighting. Ah well.

One final thing: I hate that I'm so messy. Every now and then my room will be clean and I'll think "this is it, I'm finally ready to be tidy" and now I'm back to having mountains of things everywhere and tripping over everything I own. Why can't I be a tidy person? Whyyyyy? Why won't complaining about it and refusing to accept the blame make my room tidier?

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:27:44 GMT

Just found this photo. It makes me happy.

Could they all be any more beautiful.

2. next to normal

Mon, 18 May 2009 10:52:43 GMT

Obviously there's a bit of buzz around next to normal (sic - their lower case) lately. So much so that there's already the "ugggaaaggh fangirls are ruining it" thing starting up a little. I have never really experienced this firsthand having never been to a Broadway show actually on Broadway (and the shows I saw on the West End, um, weren't Wicked) but I from stories I hear and from the barest of scans at, say, comments on youtube, it's easy to get an idea of why people might get frustrated. Anyway, I'm pretty late to the party with next to normal but feel that people can hardly hold this against me when I live in NEW ZEALAND. Where I guarantee I'm one of about 7 people who know who Alice Ripley is.

I found out about Feeling Electric/Next to Normal around October last year. If I remember rightly it was...through Wikipedia. Thanks, Wikipedia. You know that thing where you look something up and then forty minutes later have clicked on various other links that take you further and further within the world of Wikipedia and further away from what you originally set out to find? Anyway so I was shmoozing on Anthony Rapp's page for some reason and saw that he'd been involved in Feeling Electric. At this stage Wikipedia had this amazingly comprehensive page about Feeling Electric and Next to Normal and all the various casts and plotlines. So this was all very interesting to me, as well as the fact that I'd heard about Alice Ripley being all kick-ass and decided that I wanted to "get into" her and that this might be as good a way as any. I didn't actually read the plot for Feeling Electric apart from a basic summary, (I think I was so dazed by all the different versions and casts at that stage).

By the way when I say I wanted to get into Alice Ripley, I mean, like I said, I was very unlikely to find out about her on my own in NZ, and I'd noticed a few people on the SB board whose opinions seemed relatively discerning in matters of Broadway, who absolutely loved her. Not that I'm a sheep blindly following trends, but let's face it, sometimes it's just easier to have someone recommend you something rather than never actually stumble onto it yourself. So I thought, well, X and Y seem to know what they're talking about soooo...

I ended up acquiring/listening to the versions of FE/N2N in a kind of weird order.

Like this:

Feeling Electric 2005 (w/ Amy Spanger, Anthony Rapp, and Annaleigh Ashford, completing the alliteratively cast show)
An Evening with Tom Kitt (w/ Amy Spanger, Aaron Tveit, Alice Ripley, etc...this was actually my first "I Miss The Mountains")
Next to Normal Arena Stage (w/ Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jen Damiano, etc)
Feeling Electric 2002 Cutting Room reading (w/ Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott)
Next to Normal Broadway (w/ same cast as Arena Stage)
Next to Normal Off-Broadway (w/ Alice Ripley, Brian D'arcy James, Aaron Tveit, etc)

Whaaa? It was only like...barely a month ago that I actually had any clue as to what the plot was. And about the main thing that everyone puts spoiler tags on. I know, stupid, but the nice thing about listening to this show out-of-order meant that I got to enjoy the music in itself, as songs, as opposed to songs that further a particular story. Which of course it's possible to do anyway, but apart from a basic understanding that the mother had mental illness of some kind, a family and a weird doctor, I was pretty unencumbered by plot. Unfortunately the Wikipedia page disappeared pretty rapidly for some reason, meaning that piecing together the plot and tracking the changes was a bit of a mission. But whatevs. Now I know (and when I found out about, you know, the thing, it all made soooo much more sense.)

Where am I going with this? Not very far. I just like to ramble. And what is there to say about a musical that I've never seen (in any sense of the word?) There are so many songs in this musical that are beautiful and affecting and fucking well written. I can see why they cut "Feeling Electric" but as it was one of the initial songs I heard (and because the start reminds me a little of Sweet Home Alabama) I have a definite fondness for it, at least when it's sung by Anthony Rapp. Alice Ripley - oh my gosh. That woman seems to be able to pour so much restrained emotion into her words. I'm Alive? Wtf? That chorus is incredible, and there's little snippets of lyrics that jump out at me - "I'll hurt you, I'll heal you" - and I can't think of anything else now because I Don't Know What To Do With Myself by White Stripes has come on shuffle on iTunes and it's all my brain can deal with. Superboy and The Invisible Girl, it's weird, when I first listened to it I had no idea what was going on - really, the words made no sense, like they'd been translated on some Google application from a foreign language - yet it somehow resonated with me (maybe because I'm an enormous geek or something) I think the imagery in it is beautiful - "son of steel and daughter of air" - gorgeous! Anyway there's lots more I could say.

Can you imagine who could take over when Alice eventually leaves? It will be interesting, because obviously there have been some pretty well-known women who have had a go at the role before. I don't feel qualified to venture any names, other than I would love to hear Julia Murney sing ~~the~~ ~~phonebook~~ I Miss The Mountains. I hope this continues to do well, anyway, especially with the Tony buzz around it.

Fiiiinally, I like Alice Ripley's I Miss The Mountains best, but there's something really cool that Sherie Rene Scott does on "spending all my time" where she sort of goes "taaaaaaaaaime" and kind of swells it out a little. I've heard her do it on a couple of other songs (maybe something on L5Y?) I'm no Seth Rudetsky, so does anyone know if that particular thing has a name?

Apropos of nothing, I'm getting graduated tomorrow and my parents are here. Oh my I hope everything goes well and they don't get all awkward with each other and it's not too stressful and everything. Oh and that I don't set fire to anything like I did at my high school leavers ceremony (well, that's what you get for giving us candles and dried flowers. Even though it happened in 2004, apparently people still talk about it as the most entertaining leavers' ceremony in the history of the school.)

PS Feel free to add me on twitter, yo. http://twitter.com/HungryandFrozen

#1 Julia Murney

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:31:13 GMT

I've never really used my journal yet, it has been more of a platform to enable access to amazing bootlegs. Plus the fact that I already have a blog (http://www.hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com) where I discuss my kitchen shenanigans...anyway I've finally come round to the idea of nattering away on here and thought I might use this as a way to blaaaaah on about my favourite Broadway ladies in a way that I can't do in real life because it causes numerous eye-rolls and...yeah, eye rolls.

Today I'm going to talk about Julia Murney. I'm not saying i'll talk about a different person each time, because I'd hate to limit myself that way. But for today, it's Julia.

I guess fans of Julia tend to divide into two clear camps - those that became fans of hers because of The Wild Party, and those that became fans of hers because of Wicked. I live in New Zealand which makes it ridiculously difficult to find out about things like Wicked and The Wild Party but I'm fortunate enough to fall into the category that first heard Julia as Queenie, due to some bizarre circumstances - in 2005 I was working in a school that put on a (somewhat sanitised) production of The Wild Party, which piqued my curiousity. It was also my introduction to Idina Menzel but that's a whole other story.

I guess Julia is one of those people who doesn't hand it to you on a plate. You have to come to her. While she's clearly a talented lady, she's not necessarily as accessible as more mainstream singers. She instantly appealed to me though - that gorgeously rich, vibraty voice and the undeniable acting skills that practically pour out of the speakers as you listen to her sing. She is just as touching when she does quiet, understated songs as when she does crazy belting tunes. And when you actually see her on screen - whether in Wicked or Chess or Evita or whatever - she has this incredible ability to create tiny, quiet moments in the character where she will do something little - sigh, look down, appear hopeful, I don't know - which creates depth of character to devastating effect. If that makes sense.

I have to admit, I adore her Elphaba. Her acting is incredible - she really brings to mind the Elphaba of Gregory Maguire's book (for me at least) and I love the onstage chemistry she had with the adorable Kendra Kassebaum. She really acts the hell out of any song she sings, and I say this as someone who's never actually seen her live, just listened to her - her committment to whatever she's doing really comes across in her voice. And she was in that birdwatching video which makes my life.

My own personal Julia story - I actually wrote her a fan letter last year, the first fan letter I've ever written. And she wrote back. The day it arrived in the mail I swear, I nearly fainted. My flatmate at the time was moving out and the movers arrived at the door and I could barely talk to them. To say I was flailing would be an understatement. Once again, I reiterate that I live in NEW ZEALAND and have never actually seen her live and here in the mail is a signed photo with a personal message on the back.

Basically she comes across as gorgeous, generous, amazing and comitted and I'm sure she is. One day I'll see her live! Till then I am eternally envious of those of you who have had the opportunity. Idina Menzel is truly the woman who makes my heart beat, but Julia Murney would be a close second. In fact the two of them kind of go together in my mind because I admire them both so much.

Next time: I don't know...there are so many talented women to talk about.