Billy Elliot, the Musical

Last week we went to see Billy Elliot, the Musical in San Francisco.  The partner and I LOVE musicals but we are also very judgmental about them.  This was one that fell into the category of not so great, sadly.  We knew that they were doing rush tickets for $40 each (which is a lot for rush), so I was there early enough to grab some of those.  We also heard that the show was closing a month early and canceling the rest of its national tour.  Even after hearing all of this we decided we still had to see it, it won the Tony for Best Musical two years ago so there must be something good about it, right?

Well there wasn't much.  There weren't very many good singing numbers and besides Billy and a few other select leads the dancing wasn't even that good (wasn't this suppose to be all about the dancing?).  The overall show didn't really go anywhere either.  It wasn't really a drama and it wasn't quite funny enough to be a comedy, which just left us feeling very blah.  The accents were awful and some of the characters were pointless.  But none of these were the worst part.

The worst part was that this musical beat out Next to Normal for best musical that year.  I saw Next to Normal a few months ago (see here).  And it was one of the best musicals I've seen in a while, not to mention one of the few original musicals* to come out in the past few years and has some really great music.  Now that I've seen both musicals I feel like I can sufficiently judge them and confidently say that Next to Normal was by far the superior musical and definitely got snubbed at the awards.

Ok done complaining. I don't recommend spending the money to see Billy Elliot (even if its $40 rush), there are much better musicals out there and I will happily recommend one if you ask :)

And now my crappy TV shows are over and I've finished drinking the rest of the wine out of the bottle (classy, I know) so that's all for tonight!

*I really wanted to link this to the song "Original Musical" from title of show, but couldn't find it on youtube so here's a great montage from that show.

World Cup Fever!

Women's World Cup that is...

For those of you who continue to ignore women's soccer, you are missing out! First, you should read this.

Yes, those are on my wall...I am obsessed!

Team USA has made it to the finals for the first time since they won it all in 1999.  I remember that world cup very well since I attended some of the games.  I was lucky enough to see the USA play in a semi-final against Brazil and it was one of the most amazing live sporting events I had ever been to.  USA won that game en route to an epic final against China.  I remember having a family reunion the day of the final so we taped it (yes, on VHS) and didn't turn on the radio or look at any billboards the whole way back to my grandparent's house.  The first half hour of the game was cut off because of some car race (really, espn?) but luckily we picked up in the 30th minute.  The game went to penalty kicks and USA won 5-4.  It was a thrilling finish to a beautiful match that I enjoyed watching with my family!

Back to World Cup 2011, team USA has had quite a journey to the finals.  The quarter final match with Brazil was AMAZING!  Wambach's header in the 122 minute was perfect and at that point I knew the USA would win in penalty kicks.  Of course Hope Solo had a beautiful save on the third kick and that was enough to send USA to the semis.  The Semi-final game against France was a really great game to watch, both teams played really well.  With some great defending from the US and some quick breaks for our offense we were able to pull ahead (with a Wambach header, of course) and ensure the win with a goal from Morgan.

Now to Sunday where USA will face a great Japanese team.  It should be another great game and a great showcase for women's soccer.  Women's soccer has come a long way and it is a fun game to watch.  You don't get the individual skill like in the men's game but you do get great team play and even better sportsmanship.  I encourage everyone to watch the game and cheer for you home team.

We will be watching the game on a big screen in civic center plaza, outside of city hall in San Francisco. Please join us, if you are interested!  USA USA USA!

Are You Ready to Rock?

A few weeks ago we went to see Rock of Ages, the musical.  This was the second part of a groupon a couple friends and I had bought (the first part was Next to Normal, here).  I was pretty excited for this show, my parents and sister had seen it in New York and loved it, and all the music sounded fun (all 80s rock).  Headlining the tour was Constantine Maroulis, American Idol reject and star of the original Broadway production.  This was also exciting because he seemed to be a perfect fit for the show.

Sadly, the musical didn't live up to my expectations and the whole group I went with felt the same way (we are a bunch of theater junkies, we have good taste).  The music was fun and loud, but it was very hard to understand the lyrics.  The storyline was kinda blah and felt forced to fit the music.  It just didn't seem like a real musical, which I guess it isn't, really it's more of a musical revue.  Anyway, the singers/actors/dancers were great but the musical itself left much to be desired.  Maybe it would've been more fun if we had dressed up like the guy who turned around to the whole balcony and yelled "Are you ready to rock?" and then stood up to sing and dance to the songs, maybe next time!

Beach Blanket Babylon

Love love love love LOVE this show.  This was my third (or maybe fourth) time seeing it and I think it was the best so far.  We decided last minute to attend and bought tickets about an hour and a half before the show started and then waited in line.  Since it is all open seating within the section you purchase, it's a good idea to get in line early so we ended up with pretty good seats in our section. 

The actors were amazing, as always, but the content was quite different from the last time I saw it.  Of course all the political stuff was still there and Meg Whitman (played by a man) was probably one of my favorites.  They did a big thing about the Giants and their World Series Championship, which got a great reaction from the crowd.  All the current pop starts got their due, Katie Perry, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, even the cast of gLee!  Towards the end they did a spin off on Les Miserables to represent the current state of our country.  I found this very amusing, but I guess the average person doesn't know the music/story from Les Miserables as well as I do :)  Luckily, the bf liked the show and thought it lived up to all my hype (this is rare, since I always tend to hype things up too much).

Avenue Q

It sucks to be me! (ok, not really, at least I don't have a B.A. in English)

Wish I could've gotten a better picture, but the bf was tired and didn't want to wait...

A few friends and I got $50 tickets to see Avenue Q in SF.  It was my second time seeing it so I knew most of the jokes and punch lines already, but I still really enjoyed it.  There are so many great and inappropriate things about that show.  The boyfriend seemed to get a little sentimental during this line "the more you love someone the you want to kill them" and kept looking my way, I wonder if he was hinting at something...

I love this line "being on an elevator when somebody shouts "hold the door",  No!  Schadenfreude, fuck you lady that's what stairs are for!" because every time I'm on an elevator and a door shuts in someone's face I feel like singing out that line.  I also love the song "I Wish I Could go Back to College" because it is so very true.

The actors were great, especially the guy who played Princeton/Rod (David Corris).  We had an understudy for the female lead, but you never would've known because she was great too.  All around I forgot how good of a show this was and it kept me laughing and entertained the whole time!

Next to Normal

Last week I went to see Next to Normal in SF.  It was an amazing show! 

Alice Ripley won the Tony for Best Actress in this part and she was staring in the tour.  Love or hate her voice, she is perfect for the part.  I knew the music and the basic idea of the story, but seeing it live made it all come together and made it an even more moving show.  The set, lighting, and music were really great.  The actors were all very talented, but the one character I really wanted to like was probably my least favorite.  I don’t want to give too much away, but I didn’t love Gabe as much as I though I would.  At first I thought I didn’t like the actor (mostly because I LOVE the original actor, Aaron Tveit) but I later reconsidered that maybe I just wasn’t crazy about that character.  Here’s their performance from the 2009 Tonys:

After being blown away by this show, I’m a little surprised it didn’t win best musical in 2009.  Billy Elliott won best musical that year and I will be seeing it this summer, in my mind it has a lot to live up to, to convince me that it was the best musical that year.