Scrappy Travels

Variety Magazine Jesus Christ Superstar has always been one of my favorites. It was the first musical I ever saw, and has always had a special place in my heart. So when I heard that NBC would be doing a live version, I had mixed feelings.  On one hand, woohoo! There would be a new version to obsess over. On the other hand, NBC has had issues in the past with live musicals. I had high hopes that it would be more Grease Live than Peter Pan Live but I was worried. I'm happy to say that it was - in my book - it was a runaway success from the first chords. It was so completely fantastic! From the scale of the sets, to the performances of the cast, to the live band on stage - everything just worked! I was thrilled to see the inclusion of a live audience, which is exactly what gives Broadway shows their energy in the first place. It's about time that the powers that be realize that. Of course I wouldn't be a super fan, without a few minor nitpicks here and there, but for...

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...

The lovely set and the uber-talented orchestra at the Naval Academy Way, way back, many decades ago, I fell in love with a weird little musical called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . I'm not entirely sure how it happened. I don't even remember actually seeing it, until long after I had memorized the cast album. But there I was, singing these great (and strange) tunes at the top of my lungs most every day. I did finally see it a few years later, though I have no recollection of where I was. It was somewhere in Maryland and it was most definitely a community theatre production. What I do remember is taking my friend Jen with me. She is an English teacher, but not a lover of theatre, and she was convinced that this musical was going to have some redeeming quality. As if the presence of an underlying thematic quality would make the show somehow better. Other than the theme of destiny - which is inherent in the story, not just the musical - she realized what I had...

I've always thought that in musical theatre, there were two camps.  In the first camp, you have the Sondheim fans; the lovers of all things Into the Woods or A Little Night Music. And in the other, you have the Andrew Lloyd Webber fans; those that gravitate to "Jesus Christ Superstar" or Phantom of the Opera.  I have always been in the Andrew Lloyd Webber camp.   Jesus Christ Superstar was the first musical I ever saw, and Phantom was the first I saw live.  So you can say Lord Lloyd Webber has a special place in my heart. Sondheim, on the other hand, not so much.  Until recently (we're talking just last month) I'd never seen a single Sondheim show.  In my mind, he was too classic for me.  I like new and different, and I'm not such a fan of the high soprano.  However, as I wrote about here , I saw the marvelous production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street, and just fell head over heels for it.  So I decided that it might be time to...