Earlier this month, we were already in the city, so Caitlin, Shane, and I decided we might as well go see a Broadway play!  We had been talking about it for a while, and decided to just go for it.  I love the spontaneity that can come along with being in New York City– everything is right at our fingertips.  So we hopped on a train and after a little bit of searching, we decided to go with Shane’s original suggestion: Memphis!

I honestly did not know what to expect; it was my first Broadway musical ever!  They had run out of student rush tickets, but $41.50 tickets were still available, so we took them!  They landed us in the highest seat in the entire theater, and I was unlucky enough to be seated behind a tall man who blocked my view throughout the entire show… Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience!

The musical, which takes place in the 1950’s, is more or less about a white man named Huey who seeks to make the voice of an African American woman, Felicia, known, by getting her on the radio.  From the beginning, he makes it quite obvious that he is attracted to her, and despite disagreements and struggles with the community around them, they begin a relationship.  Some things go awry, but in the end Felicia’s voice makes it big!

*Spoiler Alert*

By the end, Huey must chose between going to New York with the love of his life (where she feels she will have more freedom in her career) and staying in Memphis, his home.  Despite his undying love for Felicia, he chooses to stay in Memphis.  Call me girly, but I am an advocate for happy endings, so this definitely did not make me too happy.

At the end of the musical, Caitlin, Shane, and I discussed our thoughts and they actually made me realize something I never would have even thought of.  As Shane put it, Huey is very conceited and annoying.  I suppose I was blinded by my hope for a happy ending, but Shane was right.  At the end of the musical Huey kisses Felicia on live television.  He supposedly does it to show her how much he loves her, but in reality it is more for himself– he wants to make a statement to the public.  In the process he loses job opportunities and doesn’t even stay with the woman he loves.

The music was fabulous! My favorite songs were near the end of the musical after Felicia leaves Huey– here songs were full of passion and the voices were stronger than ever.  The excitement lasts throughout, and the music, like most Broadways, I assume, reflects the mood of the play perfectly.

I would definitely see this show again, but first I want to cross some others off my list!  You all should definitely go see it as well!

Given that we are going to see the Bald Soprano at City Center this evening, I thought this information might be of interest to us:

City Center, which was not originally meant to be a theater, is currently ongoing an extensive renovation and restoration process meant to address the imperfections of the building, as well as 88 years worth of wear and tear. $57 million of a $75 million capital campaign has been spent in the hope that people will now notice the building that they may have strolled past time and time again. A new glass marquee has been installed and shines lights on the exterior as well as one the sidewalk. Protruding signs are now visible from both Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue. New glass doors allow passers-by to look into the building at six large high-definition plasma screens. And these are just the changes made to the exterior. Inside, the architects have increased the slope of seating platforms and removed six rows of less desirable seats to improve sight lines. The new seats are about two inches wider, and the formerly threadbare red upholstery of the seats has been replaced by blue-green velour. The auditorium has also received an extensive paint job. The official reopening of the center is on October 25^th, and the gala that will take place on that night features Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as a guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic—an evocation of the first opening on December 11, 1943, when Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia conducted the New York Philharmonic in the national anthem.

For more information about the reopening, you can read this article from the arts section of the New York Times.

The New York Musical Theater Festival is currently in full swing and running through October 16^th at various Manhattan locations. The purpose of this festival is “to test-drive works in progress with an audience and assess their viability.” Essentially, it is test screening that is meant to work out the kinks of possible upcoming musicals and reveal which of these have the most promise; however, according to this article in today’s edition of the New York Times things are not looking up so far. During week one of the festival, several musicals that had potential were showcased, but due to decisions made by the respective creative teams, failed to be up to par. Among these were “Ghostlight,” “The Kid Who Would Be Pope,” and “This One Girl’s Story.” In comparison to these, David Rooney suggests the campy “Madame X” showed more promise.

According to the author, however, the adaptation that shows the most potential—despite the problems it must still work out—is “Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a Musical.” The adaptation is apparently “remarkably true to its source material” (if not vaguely reminiscent of the un-produced Gatsby) and shows a tremendous grasp “of character and narrative drive” that is missing in many of the other entries. It features the English novelist herself, acting as both a “puppet mistress and a captivated onlooker” as the story progresses. In the musical, she revisits “the manuscript she wrote 10 years earlier” and examines “the choices she made as a young woman writing about love without ever having experienced it.” Her mantra, and the lesson that she imparts upon the theatergoers and those individuals with aspiring new musicals being shown at the festival, becomes “Review. Examine. Consider.”

This three-step process is, in the eyes of the author, essentially the festival’s mission—as mentioned, to test-drive the works in progress—and proves the musical to be the epitome of what the festival is about. As someone who is not necessarily a die-hard austenite but who occasionally reads and enjoys Jane Austen’s books, I would definitely find an opportunity to see this musical adaptation if it did manage to work out its kinks and survive beyond the test-drive phase. I’m very curious to see how this musical, and the musicals that are yet to be showcased, will hold up.

On October 1st, I, along with Rosie and Shane, went to see, Memphis, winner of the 2010 Best Musical Tony Award, on Broadway. We originally did not have any idea what Broadway show we wanted to see. We just wanted to see one!

After much deliberation, we decided to head to Memphis to see if they had student rush tickets. They didn’t have them, but they did have relatively cheap tickets available. Once we bought our tickets, we all got really excited- I had seen the show once before and absolutely loved it and wanted to see it a second time, Shane had heard great things about the show (a lot from me) and really wanted to see it, and Rosie had never seen a Broadway show!

After killing some time at Times Square’s famous ToysRUs and buying over-priced candy in order to avoid buying some at the theater, we walked back to the theater. Once we were seated, we started analyzing the theater’s ornate decorations. The consistent gold paint and grandiose chandeliers were the characteristics that gave the theater its old and beautiful charm.

The show began about 30 minutes after we were seated and it started with a rush of amazing choreography and music. Although I knew how the show would end the entire time, I was still completely entranced in what I was seeing and listening to. It was hilarious and I found myself still chuckling minutes after a joke. The music was so catchy that I found myself singing the songs during intermission and after the show. The leads were absolutely amazing and I was in awe of their talent.

When I saw the show the first time, an understudy was playing the part of the male lead, Huey. He was good, but I found his acting abilities better than his vocal ones. And again, the second time I saw the show, an understudy played the role of Huey. However, this understudy was different and had an extraordinary voice. So, I was pleasantly surprised and found this experience to be better than my last (there were also technical difficulties that caused the show to be stopped when I saw it the first time).

I don’t like to give summaries of plots because I, myself, prefer not to know the plot of a broadway show before I see one. But, let’s just say that it’s set in the 50s in Memphis, Tennessee where there before segregation was abolished. The two main characters, Huey and Felicia, who are white and black, respectively, fall in love as they struggle to make their way to success while dealing with social pressures and conflicting dreams and aspirations. Most people would assume that by the end they both become super famous and live “happily ever after.” In fact, it doesn’t end that way which is sort of depressing and refreshing at the same time; you want it to be sappy and predictable, but end up being intrigued when it doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would. That’s all I’m willing to expose.

While watching Memphis!, I couldn’t help but think about the present and how there still is racism and prejudice against races. It was sad to think about, but hopeful too. I think about how far we’ve come since then and I can feel a bit of pride. I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if their still was segregation or if my parents would not have been able to in an interracial marriage (my mother is Dominican, and my stepfather is Polish and Swedish). I don’t want to imagine it, actually.

On a good note, I LOVED Memphis! I recommend it to everyone! The characters are interestingly complex, especially my favorite character, Huey. Shane didn’t like the character so much, so I guess you either love him or hate him. 😀 Either way, the show was great, it’s a must-see, and… HONKEY DO (Huey’s signature saying which had no actual meaning)!!

A scene from the play “Invasion!” This photo belongs to the New York Times.

“The true genius shudders at incompleteness – and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.” –Edgar Allan Poe

Words sometimes appear as just letters rearranged in many different orders, while other times, they can have a powerful, unexpected, rippling effect.
Although ten years have passed since the notorious day of September 11, 2001, it is still hard to come up with the proper words when speaking about the horrors that affected our whole nation on that solemn day. No matter what one tries to conceive, as a proper reaction to the day, there will never be a word that can explain, truly, the emotions felt, even ten years down the line. Sometimes that awareness of helplessness is best just to be embraced. Richard Nelson’s “Sweet and Sad” tells the story of a small family gathering on September 11, 2011. The family meeting is met with moments of uncertainty, and dubious attempts at conversation, as the topic of the day is the event that happened ten years prior. The overlapping of personal family losses with the never-ending dismay of 9/11, steals the words of each family member. Not one person is able to thoroughly express himself, resulting in cumbersome conversations and outbursts of emotions that are then blanketed with the usual ho-hum banal riposte to the troubling topics. The play is filled with beautiful awkward moments that fills the gaps of incomplete thoughts, letting only the true emotions be expressed.  Although the words don’t last long, the feelings of 9/11 are forever.

The Second play, “Invasion!” written by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, showcases the multifaceted use that a word can attain, without ever being created for its use purpose. A word throughout the play attracted to itself many different meanings. To a group of high school students the word, Abulkasem, meant something that was awesome. Yet, we learn the name is also the name of an Osama-bin-Laden like terrorist. Throughout the play the words mutates into different meanings and proper uses.

I find it quite interesting how language can be found to be useful in its two extremes; both its omnipotent ability to take form to the meaning needed at the moment, and the impotency it contains for being just a random order of sketches called letters.  Sometimes language is able to encompass all, and fully explain what one is thinking, at other times, only the silence is one’s loudest voice. The contrast of these two new plays I think shows a beautiful balance in the way art can be expressed; two people can take the same medium of communication and use its polar opposite abilities to create works of art. Although everything may not be able to be fully  expressed, all is definitely understood.

If you want to see these two plays, you can find “Sweet and Sad” at the Public Theatre until Sunday, and “Invasion!” at the Flea Theatre through October 1st.

The full article can be read here.

There are many small instances when words fail us. Sometimes a public event so momentous and so horrifying occurs that it leaves everyone tong-tied. For an entire decade playwrights have been trying to capture the feelings inspired by the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. According to this article in the New York Times, there are two individuals who have managed to finally pull it off. The first is Richard Nelson, whose play “Sweet and Sad” is running at the Public Theater through Sunday. The second is Jonas Hassen Khemiri, whose work has the slightly more jarring title “Invasion!” and is running at the Flea Theater through October 1^st. The two plays are very different—one is described by the author of the article as “courtly, humble and almost shy” while the other is defined as “less like match-light than fireworks”—but both “embrace the problems and perils of trying to find words to name the unnamable” and succeed where playwrights have been failing for the last ten years. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Khemiri are said to “celebrate language even as [they] consider its limitation.” Their plays are proof that even when events like those of September 11^th happen and words fail us, the words remain “valiant, elastic, unstoppable.” The two plays are testaments to the use of spoken words in theater and an inspiration to all of us who still cannot find quite the right words to describe the tragedy that occurred on that fateful day ten years ago.