Scrappy Travels

  Last year on World Theatre Day , I went on (and on and on...) about what theatre meant to me. It was a lot of emotions all in one very long (some might say too long) post. All of those emotions are still so very true. Over the last few years, I've realized exactly what theatre has provided in my life. It's an outlet. It's a happy space that never fails to make me smile. Some friends adore concerts, while others love going to the movies. I on the other hand, can never turn down a day at the theatre.  And all of these days and nights at the theatre have taught me so many lessons over the years. We all know the saying - Everything I know in life I learned in Kindergarten. Well in my life, I feel some of the most important lessons have been taught seeing shows that are meaningful to me in some way. So instead of rehashing and gushing on my love for the theatre, I thought I'd share some of these lessons and hopefully hear some of your lessons too. Musical th...

One of the many fun things to come out of writing for BroadwayWorld is the discovery of all of the wonderful community theatres in Maryland. I had no idea there were so many small theatre companies in my state, let alone in my own backyard. Here are a few I was lucky to see this week: One community theatre company and one high school production. Both of which are shows I've never seen - how is this possible? A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Silhouette Stages First, I had no idea this small but fairly impressive theatre existed in Howard County. But here I was, excited to see the theatre and this show I've somehow never seen. I know most of the music, thanks to a healthy musical theatre love for Nathan Lane, but I had never had the chance to witness the ridiculousness first hand. And after seeing it, I'm in love with the show and the company. The production value of this show was visible as soon as the curtain rose. The stage - three intricate house ...

Stage door at RENT in 2002 - with Sebastian Arcelus (Roger) About 16 years ago, I discovered the music of Jonathan Larson. It wasn't my choice. I have a friend who adores  RENT . She had seen it multiple times already, and she was turning 21, so it only seemed right that her best friends take her to New York to see it on Broadway. I didn't want to go. RENT was to be nothing like Jesus Christ Superstar or Phantom of the Opera - the shows I adored. But I went anyway. "Forget regret, or life is yours to miss..." I sit in the theatre staring at the rough and messy set thinking that this is no where near as beautiful as a Paris Opera House. The orchestra starts, and I relax a bit. Two songs in, Angel - a cross dresser in a bright red Santa-themed dress - starts singing about how she played her drum and drove a dog crazy enough that he jumped off the roof. This is going exactly as I had assumed it would. I am told to "just go with it." So I do. A few so...

Kennedy Center Promotional Photo Last year I had the chance to catch Leslie Odom Jr. in concert as part of the Kennedy Center's Renee Fleming VOICES series. The evening was absolutely wonderful. As you can imagine, I had high hopes for the next concert in the series - Linda and Laura Benanti. I've missed this show so many times at 54 Below that I've begun to lose count. Luckily, the Kennedy Center is a slightly larger venue so tickets were an easy catch. I'm happy to say that the evening was wonderful yet again. Honestly, I can't gush enough about the shows and concerts KC is producing. It's definitely up there on the list of my very favorite venues - if only it could move a bit closer to Baltimore. Ninety-Four minutes in my car on a Friday is not an all together enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. But the Linda and Laura's performances made it all worth it. When we first arrived, I was surprised to find the concert was in a different venue than whe...

I've been fascinated by the very idea of Dim Sum since I first learned what it meant. The ability to try lots of different types of dumplings and small plates at one time? It sounded like a dream come true. And when I first had Dim Sum in a small place on 46th street in New York, it was pretty perfect. That particular place gives you a menu (not really what I had in mind, but quite helpful) with descriptions of each type of dumpling. You choose a few, gobble those up and then re-start the process.  However, when I went to Chinatown a few weeks ago and we found a classic Dim Sum restaurant, I found it wasn't as easy as it was at my standby on 46th. There's a lot to deal with, and I'm not so great at dealing with it. The classic Dim Sum is served on carts by servers wandering around. I knew that would be the case, but I had imagined it would be easier to determine what was on each cart. In our defense, we chose a pretty popular with locals spot - Jing Fong. Jing Fo...

Hiding my skepticism well, at the RV show After a long cold January, it's so nice to see the beginnings of Spring happening this month. There's sunshine, and blue skies and as I write this it's about 65 degrees outside. All I can say is it's about darn time! Though, it is supposed to be dreary again next week so I suppose we take what we can get for now and keep wishing for March 21. February Eats This may seem simple, but Lent started this month, which means no meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays until Easter. Of course, it also meant the absolute best bowl of French Onion Soup I've ever had, thanks to Chef Dad. So darn delicious! February Reads Origin by Dan Brown: I'm a sucker for a good mystery and Dan Brown is one of my favorite mystery writers. I ploughed through The DaVinci Code in a day. This one was a bit more dense, and it took a bit longer but it was fantastic. It succeeded in describing Spain so well, that I'm now dreaming of B...