concrete jungle. part deux.

Hey y'all. READY FOR MORE FAB NEW YORK DEETS? I'm interested. (That will make sense if you have heard Book of Mormon. "So the Bible is really a trilogy, and the Book of Mormon is Return of the Jedi?! I'm interested!" I love Josh Gad.)

Priscilla Queen of the Desert:

Such a flashy show. A little too glitzy and fluffy for my taste. I liked the storyline and I really wanna see the movie that it's based on. 

Unfortunately, my seat for the first act was in the last row of the orchestra and the top half of the stage was blocked by the balcony, but I moved up to an empty seat for the second act. 

Will Swenson can rock a flip-flop dress. Tony Sheldon is a gorgeous, classy woman. Look at Nick Adam's thigh. Not fair.

The costumes were UNBELIEVABLE. There were at least 600, I think. And they were ALL fabulous and divalicious. Will Swenson is a god. I love him so much. He was Berger in the Hair revival that I saw on Broadway in 2010 with my sister. I love how free and open he is with his body. He obviously doesn't care what people think. In Hair, he walks around in a loincloth for a good majority of the time and theres a full frontal nudity scene. In Priscilla he is a full-out drag queen and he rocks it like no other. I hope to be as comfortable in my skin as he is one day.  

This little guy played Will Swenson's son. He was so adorable signing autographs with all the adults.

Will Swenson is one of my idols.

Stomp:

This was the only play I saw with other people. I went with my sister, her mom, my ex-step-dad, and his fiancee. (My family is complicated.) The show was unreal. It's a bunch of drummer/percussionist/dancer people doing their fabulous thang the whole show. They make beautiful music out of everyday objects like lighters, brooms, and trash cans. Without saying any words, they are moving, clever, hilarious, sweet, and badass all at the same time. It is a fantastic production and I recommend everyone try to see some version of it if they can. 

Normal Heart:

I don't even know where to begin. This is my favorite straight play I have ever seen. It was indescribably moving, tear-jerking, funny, sweet, and gut-wrenching. It's about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in New York. I don't want to give the plot away, because I think it is better to experience it plain. I had no idea what it was about when I went in on a whim, and I have never made such a good decision. I have never felt so strongly when I said, GO SEE/READ THIS PLAY. It will change you. It is unreal. Every moment was perfection and the actors are gods. Unfortunately it just closed in New York, but try to find a way to experience it.

Larry Kramer is a god-send. He wrote about such a controversial subject at such a controversial time and yet he made it timeless. It is still remarkably relevant in today's political climate. Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe did some true directing magic on that stage. I have literally never cried harder for a piece of entertainment. I was bawling my eyeballs out. It was embarrassing. Without giving away the plot, I will tell you one of the things that completely ripped me to shreds. The stage is all white, and in the very beginning, they project the names of the few people who have died from AIDS. As the show progresses, the list gets longer and longer and by the end, they are up to current day and the list literally covers the ENTIRE stage and all of the side walls of the theater and basically every surface possible. It was too much for me. I walked out of there a complete and utter mess. 

Ellen Barkin is amazing. She won the Tony for this role and she wholeheartedly deserved it. John Benjamin Hickey also won the Tony. He was so moving. His character is sort of like Angel from Rent. I LOVE LUKE MACFARLANE. Scotty was my favorite character on Brothers & Sisters. He had a super intense scene in the beginning where his first ensemble role has a seizure and dies. So sad right from the get-go. Joe Mantello is a gift from God. The show would have been great without him, but WITH HIM it's just unreal. Mind-boggling. Jim Parsons is adorable. I never watched Big Bang Theory, but I bet he is hilarious. It won Best Revival of a Play at the Tony's and I am so glad. 

Daniel Plimpton was sitting right in front of me!! He was Ernst in the most recent National tour of Spring Awakening. He was super sweet.

Luke Macfarlane.

Jim Parsons is adorbz.

Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark:

I was excited to see the infamous Spider-man musical. It was still in previews after its hiatus when I saw it. I had a sort of obstructed view from the side, but I was really close to the stage which was cool. I enjoyed the music, because it wasn't traditional at all. It had a rock feel, sort of like Spring Awakening, but not as good. They had this weird costume and set thing where they tried to make everything look like a comic. The colors were bright and the edges and creases were drawn on in thick black. It was a cool idea, but kinda looked weird.

Whatever the complaints may be, the stunts were unimaginable. They had twelve different Spider-mans so that one could fly to one spot and come out another. He literally flew across the entire audience and around and around. I have never seen anything like it. It's definitely setting the bar for future visual effects shows.

I had a great time at the show, even if I had some problems with it. It was awesome to see T.V. Carpio (the Asian lesbian in Across the Universe) and Jennifer Damiano. T.V. signed her name as a little TV set with Carpio written after. I love Jennifer Damiano so much. She was the original Natalie in Next to Normal and she has such a wonderful voice. I saw the understudy for Spider-man, and he is SO cute! Plus he was British with a fake American accent which is so much sexier than an American trying to do a British accent.

Look how awesome she is. Like who walks out of the stage door looking fan-fricking-tastic? T.V. Carpio, that's who.

Cutie Patootie.

This girl. Angel voice.

Look at T.V. Carpio's autograph. AWESOME WOMAN.

Tune in soon for part tres of my New York saga!

xoxoleah

Comments

[Michela]

Hi, I'm Michela, the webmaster of the site Ultimate Macfarlane (http://lukemacfarlane.fan-sites.org) a fansite dedicated to Luke Macfarlane. I've just seen your photo and autograph: could i post them in my site? Logically I will post your credits. Let me know, thanks

[leah]

Of course! Sounds awesome! Gotta love me some Luke Macfarlane. :D

[Michela]

Thank you so much. Your photo is on the site :)
And i read you are a Luke's fan... so i hope you will become one of our visitors :)
http://lukemacfarlane.fan-sites.org/

[Louboutin Plat Femmes]

We can all choose freedom over a job?
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By yzi10