Scrappy Travels

Few performers exhibit the sheer joy of performing, and basking in the air of doing what they love, like Gavin Creel. Each time he steps on the stage, you can see his love for the arts and his desire to share it with the audience. That was no different when he joined Mary Mitchell Campbell at the Kennedy Center on Thursday as part of the Renee Fleming Voices series. Gavin is undeniably talented, and unabashedly himself, and the audience (and I) loved every moment of it! For those who may not know him, Gavin is best known for his work in the theater starring in Thoroughly Modern Millie , She Loves Me , and The Book of Mormon (in London), and later winning a Tony for his role as Cornelius Hackle in 2017's gorgeous production of Hello Dolly!   Throughout this time, he's been writing music, sharing his favorites in concert, and just being an all around wonderful performer and champion of the arts.  I first saw him in She Loves Me , and though he didn't win a Tony for t...

One of the joys of living in the area of DC, Maryland, and Virginia is the access we have to all types of magnificent theatre. From small independents to large equity houses, the DMV positively overflows with great productions. Though, the overabundance of houses makes it difficult to plan a season. Because if you're a theatre lover like me, you just want to see every show produced, which at this rate, would put you in a theatre almost every evening. While that sounds awesome, my wallet thinks it may be a bit much.  That being said, there are some definite shows to be seen this season. Shows that if I haven't already purchased tickets to, I've marked the dates those tickets go on sale in my calendar so I can be online at 10:00 am that day to purchase. It may be a mild obsession, but hey, it could be worse! Without further ado here are the shows I'm most excited about this season in the DMV. * Murder on the Orient Express at Everyman Theatre: I've been to...

It all started with Beauty and the Beast. I had already fallen in love with theatre by the time I saw the touring production of this Disney classic. A night at the theatre was my favorite past time (as it is now). But Beauty and the Beast tested me in ways I hadn't guessed it would. What I saw on the stage were costumes that looked very similar to the ones walking around Disney World. These weren't graceful and gorgeous dresses and tuxedos. These were giant outfits, made to cover most of the actors.  How could this be considered fabulous by pretty much everyone I had ever spoken to? I just didn't get it. And quite honestly, I still don't. It was the movie (which I LOVED), come to life - and not in a good way. There and then, I swore off Disney theatricals. I made an exception for Mary Poppins , and Disney still let me down. That's why I still haven't seen The Lion King ! Contrary to its title, the ice thawed a bit when I saw Frozen . Now that's bri...

Aside from Lin, my very favorite member of the original Hamilton cast is Chris Jackson. And tonight I finally had the chance to see him in concert. I just love his personality and of course that gorgeous voice of his, so I was very excited to see him in a more informal setting. Obviously, he knocked it out of the park. His concert was seemingly off the cuff. He would sing a bit, then chat about a singer he liked or anecdotes about his family or Broadway. He's so sincere, and seemed to be blown away by the fact that he was performing at the Kennedy Center. It was sweet to see him get as excited as we were to see him. He chose a wide variety of songs to sing, such as classics by Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Harry Belafonte. Those were most of the ones I knew. He sang quite a few others that I'd never heard before, but they were no less fun. He even ended the show with a snappy version of "Happy" by Pharrel Williams. All in all, I liked his choices and they wo...

June Reads As is most of the summer, June was a very good month for books! All by Myself, Alone by Mary Higgins Clark: I'm a year behind on her books because I refuse to buy them in hardback anymore, yet I still get sucked into each and every one. They're all pretty much the same, but they're the perfect summer fare. The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro: This is the second in a series of Young Adult - focused Sherlock Holmes stories. Each book is sort of like the original but with a modern twist. The series is fantastic! Winterhouse by Ben Guterson: I wanted it to be as good as "Greenglass House", but it just wasn't. It was however, pretty entertaining. The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan: Colgan is my very favorite British author and I hope she continues to write for years and years to come. I get so engrossed in her stories of England, that my heart starts to yearn for Great Britain. This book was no different. I'm now secret...

All the veggies at Reading Terminal Market In a lot of ways, April seems like it lasted for about 60 days. It was by far the longest and busiest month I've had in a very, very long time. In the span of 30 days, I celebrated Easter, 4 birthdays and an anniversary, had a mid-life crisis about my own birthday, traveled to 2 different cities, saw 10 shows (and reviewed 9 of them), saw and wrote about the Kennedy Center's new season and totaled my car (so I bought a new one).  In all of this time I was also working full time and attempting to have a life as well. Many, many parts of the month were fun, but stress creeps in after a while. And let's just say I'm very much looking forward to a more laid-back May (fingers crossed...) Birthday fun at Reading Terminal Market April Reads Oslo by JT Rogers : I loved this play!  I wanted very much to see it at Lincoln Center last season, but never got around to it. I have high hopes that some small theatre in Maryland wil...

  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...

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...

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...

Chess is just one of those shows in the theatre community. Everyone has an opinion on it, but not many people have actually seen it. It has this reputation for having a fabulous score and a crazy mixed up mess of a story line. I've learned the writers have basically been tweaking the story line for the last 20 years, and are still no closer to cracking it than they were when it was first written. As you can imagine, based on these issues, it's not revived very often. But for this same reason, it's the perfect inaugural show for the Broadway CenterStage series - Kennedy Center's answer to New York's City Center Series. Their plan is to revive shows that aren't revived often and give them a concert staging for one short week. It's a win-win for us here in the DMV - Broadway caliber talent, without having to make the trek to NYC (not that I mind doing that at all...) So how exactly was Chess then? I absolutely loved it, even though I'm not entirely su...