Xanadu

This entry is way overdue, but I saw this musical in June and was delighted.

My favorite segment was the choreography with the phone booth. It was done cleverly and without error.

I really loved Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman (they're on each side of Kerry Butler). Wonderful comic geniuses. I adored every bit of them.

Overall I was not impress by the choreography and the staging could have been better. It was still a lot of fun to see in the orchestra pit!

A Year of Magical Thinking

If you want to see a REAL actor at work go this is the show to see. Vanessa Redgrave is nothing short of amazing. At first, her dramatic pauses annoyed me. Then, somehow they made sense while she was telling Joan Didion’s story and I didn’t notice them anymore. Her delivery is so smooth with the extremely complicated writings of Didion. She goes from happy memories to sad memories in different years of time to the present without jolting the audience. Come prepared, it is a story about grief and loss. One way or another she will get to a part that will strike a chord with you. If that doesn’t do it, the light sniffles of the audience will.

The simple transitions of the staging are well designed. However I wish the background had a little bit more of a purpose. Because of the vagueness, it became a bit of a distraction for me. I kept trying to figure out the meaning of each of the backdrops.

The lighting and direction was great. They also play a little bit with the sound which integrates lovely with the story.

I highly recommend seeing this piece not only for it’s work of art but to remind yourself that we are all humans and in no way perfect.

www.magicalthinkingonbroadway.com

Legally Blonde – the Musical

Even surrounded by droves of teenies I loved this musical. It took the heart of the movie and got to the meat from the very first song. They kept the basic story line and structure of the movie and really focused on the fun moments. The stereotyped roles are written classic wit and humor that even a straight man would laugh. Nell Benjamin & Laurence O'Keefe wrote the songs that will easily get stuck in your head. My favorite song was “Is he gay or European.”

The set changes with great fluidity, that doesn’t make you nauseous. There was only one time where the cast reunites in an empty space, which made it seem like a weird transition for me since they had a set for every single scene.

Laura Bell Bundy is the best Elle Woods ever. She even matched Reese’s voice pitch from the movie. Laura is a triple threat. She kept up with all of the choreography without blinking out of her character or missing a note. I’m the jealous girl that wants to be her. I’ll work with Jerry Mitchell (director/choreographer) any day.

You will be surprised that this does not suck.
You might not be surrounded by teens either. My friend went the other night and she was surrounded by “old money.” Yeah. This musical touches all kinds of hearts.
Go see it! It’s very very funny.
I think they still have $40 balcony seats.

www.legallyblondethemusical.com

Another Donation

Yes Danika girrrl! I did donate to your NYCmarathon fund: Team For Kids. I still have your balloon when you ran for me cause I was all broken.

I just made another donation for my friend Risa. She's raising funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She needs to raise $1000 in order to participate. Help her meet her limit and beyond!
Make a donation now at:
http://www.theovernight.org/fundraising/thatrisa

Stay tuned for my next write up on the musical LEGALLY BLONDE. It was actually really really good!!!!

I’m giving back.

So I read this book “Smart Women Finish Rich” in January. I unintentionally gave myself a New Years Resolution. I am going to make my dream happen and money has a lot to do with making my dream a reality. The book talks about savings accounts, Mutual Funds, goals, lists, but what surprised me was the donation section. For every amount you save, you should try to match at least half that amount in donations. Each month I’ve picked a charity to donate. It’s actually been easier to find causes to help than I had thought. It’s primarily because a lot of my friends; I donated in memory of my friend’s father, for my friends that run marathons and other events that my friends contribute.

I’ve just recently made my largest donation. I was crying the whole time I was typing in my name, address, amount, and credit card. This money will go to someone who is in so much more need than I am. This person will get help from an invisible force and they will have the opportunity to live and dream longer than they had thought they would. Most importantly, these people will feel a little bit safer at night.

Making my dream come true is making someone else’s dream come true. That’s really crazy to me. It makes me even more motivated and driven to do what I want to do in life. Life doesn’t exist to waste. I’m not going to waste my life, and while I’m living mine I can help someone else. That’s huge. That’s good. That’s what life is about. Living.

Where I’ve donated
(and you can too)

www.runningformymom.com/
www.active.com/donate/tntnyc/Rachaelstntpage
www.accion.org
www.stjude.org
www.unicefusa.org
www.idolaid.com/
www.cpefund.org
www.gildasclubnyc.org/

The Real Blog

Alrighty blog world. I’m getting serious now. I am out of myspace and into serious blog central. I currently don’t have a “hook” for my blog, I hope I’ll just find my hook along the way.

I will tell you that I am opinionated and am not afraid to voice it. I also love telling stories, so you might get a post about my in-depth day spending time with my cat Lillian (I probably won’t. I think that would bore most people, including myself).

Let the serious blogs BEGIN!

Decisions

Let's figure this out peeps. Or should I just say JODI! I've posted on Friendster, MySpace, and now this. I have my own website: www.skeris.com
Let's get that linked up to this. Yeah. That sounds like a good one. Let's do that.

I'm glad we had this chat.