A Very Merry Zohan Christmas!

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Belated Christmas! Hope your day was full of family, good cheer, and lots of random presents. Hopefully the Hanukkah-ites are keeping up with the lighting of the candles. We're not... the fact that we fess up to opening up presents on Christmas (no, we don't have a tree), pretty much explains the fact that we forget to light the candles.

Anyway, here's a Christmas BULLETin to fill you in our holidays.

• It very much was a very merry "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" Christmas in the Steingold household. We literally, in all, ended up with 2 DVDs of the classic and 2 Blu-Rays, as well as the soundtrack which hasn't even come out yet but Elyse downloaded all the songs for our mom because she was obsessed with all the Israeli songs in the movie. We love Adam Sandler and have a crush on him, which is why we're a little peeved at Chase Kniffen who told us he thinks our dad talks like Adam Sandler. We will not have a crush on our dad. Freud be damned.
• Of course there was a pretty large amount of musical theatre CDs received including the Jason Alexander Bye Bye Birdie, which we recently became obsessed with when we found the video cassette in our "random video cassetes" case. Elyse got her wisdom teeth out yesterday (ick) and was very, very doped up. So doped up in fact that as our dad held her hand to go to the bathroom, Elyse proceeded to do the "Put on a Happy Face" choreography.
• We know you're thinking, "Oh, how we wish we could have seen Elyse in this altered state." Well, do you believe in Christmas miracles? Because we have one. We videotaped Elyse on a doped-up rant and, in our opinion, it's pretty hilarious. Unfortunately, we didn't get footage of her walking around the house with a big foam hat, putting it on various people and "sorting" them into Gryffindor (Annie), Hufflepuff (Mom), and Slytherin (Chris Collins). However, we did get footage of her as a Tiki Post at Kings Dominion. Merry Christmas. Oh, and we apologize ahead of time for her lack of makeup and bird's nest hairdon't.

Annie and Elyse's Wild Christmas Blog

Big news: for the first time ever, both Steingold Sisters are in shows at the same time! Yay! It's really good because it eliminates any potential "acting notes" that turn into one of us in tears. Just kidding. We're really good at getting along... except when it comes to where to eat dinner. So everyone needs to look out for Annie in the ironically titled Annie, at Theatre IV. Elyse is in Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang at GW (road trip anyone?) which led us to going to see Mrs. Bob Cratchit's... Ridiculously Long Title. Firehouse was doing a staged reading, and since it's by Durang also, we figured it would be a good learning experience for Elyse. As well as entertaining.

The show is hilarious, and the audience was crazy! Seriously, as opposed to laughing, they just screamed at the stage. Looks like everyone has the Hanukkah Cheer! The standout of the show was a Mr. Cooper Timberline, who is probably one of the most adorable kids ever (not counting either of the Farley boys). Funny that our favorite actor in the staged reading was a boy who is too young to read. We think his mom, the eloquent Holly Timberline, drew pictograms or something over his lines. Actually, we're not sure how old he is or if he's literate or not (we're thinking yes), but we do know he never flubbed any of the lines that were right in front of his face. Just sayin'.

Robert Albertia as Ebenezer Scrooge was perfect, Jacqueline O'Connor played mean really well (she had some awesome one-liners), Scott Wichmann had people laughing simply in anticipation of his lines (no kidding), Richard Koch now has a secret admirer (Elyse), Jackie Jones was funny as always, and Katherine Louis just saying the word "Fezziwig" had us die laughing. BTW, how convenient is it for the Muppets that when they made A Muppet Christmas Carol, they literally already had a character named Fozzie? 

Congratulations to Billy Christopher Maupin and his really funny/witty "Director's Notes"- the audience was packed and the show was very well-received- huzzah! Oh, and by the way, we got to talk to Dave T. of the famed Richmond Theatre Blog at intermission. We kid you not, Elyse uttered about three words. We think they were, in no particular order, "dog", "Canada", and "dreidel". She would like to apologize publicly to Mr. T.  for her star-struckness. Star-struckedness? Strickidy-stardness? Yeah, that's it. 

Happy 2nd Night of Hanukkah! We forgot to light the candles already. Oy vey. 

Elf Yourself- Steingold Style!

Hmm. So Elyse is taking forever to write her White Christmas blog, so here is something to hold you over until she posts this literary masterpiece.

Have you ever been to ElfYourself.com? It's hilarious. Annie saw it last year but never took the time to find a picture cute enough of herself to put on it, so Mother Hen handled it for us this year. Elyse had literally never seen this site until our mom emailed it to us a few weeks ago. When we watched it, we literally had tears rolling down our face. Hope you get a kick out of it! Oh, and Happy Hanukkah, by the way!

It's Not Easy Being Green?

Last Wednesday night, Annie and Elyse actually split up and saw two different shows: Shrek the Musical and White Christmas. This is not the first time we've split up... one time Annie and Dad saw the classic Broadway musical Swing! while Elyse and Mom saw Jesus Christ Superstar. We don't know why Annie was so intent on seeing Swing!, but nevertheless, she dragged Dad to see the masterpiece itself. Anyway, it's time for Shrek the Musical to try to defend itself in the quest to find out if it's a white world or green world.

• New musicals are fun because it's a whole bunch of songs you've never heard before and proceed to obsessively watch on YouTube because the soundtrack isn't out yet. Plus 5. But Minus about 4.5 because only 3 of the songs were catchy; the rest was just filler music. Most of the songs are very, very funny (lots of Broadway culture references), so that's cool. Plus 20. 
• In one of the songs, which was entertaining but not all that melodic, Shrek and Fiona duke it out to find out who has had it worse, and also to find out who is the grosser being. They take turns burping and passing gas. Having the sense of humor of a 2-year old,  I, of course, found this number funny. It was basically "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" but with flatulence. I'm really making you all want to see this show, aren't I? Umm, for Annie, about Plus 30. For everyone else, Minus 10.
• Christopher Seiber on his knees doing intricate, hilarious choreography will most likely get him nominated for a Tony for his portrayal of Lord Farquaad. Seriously, he's hilarious. If only his songs had been a bit more catchy. Plus 6.
• Obviously with big ol' Dreamworks Theatricals backing up this show, you're in for a big spectacle. The costumes, sets, lighting- it's basically just watching bags of money up on the stage. Some of the technical elements were amazing, like the transformation of Fiona into an Ogre, but some parts fall a little flat, like when Shrek and Donkey are crossing the bridge over the lava. I think some kinks still need to get worked out. For example, at one point Shrek amazingly does a back handspring. Who knew Brian Duh-Arcy James was capable of that? Just kidding, I knew it was a Shrek double. However, I did not know that seconds later, I'd see both Shreks onstage at the same time, not on purpose obviously. So, Plus 10, Minus 8... Plus 2. 
• Tickets to Shrek the Musical: free, thanks to your friend Caroline. Hot chocolate from Europa before the show: about 30 bucks. Getting to see Sutton Foster as a green ogre? PRICELESS. And kind of amazing. Never again will you get the opportunity to say, "Thank goodness... FINALLY Sutton Foster has gained weight!" Plus 1,000.
  

I don't feel like doing the math, but I think that Shrek is definitely going to win this battle. Proving that maybe it IS easy being green?

Sweetest Holiday Commercial

Not counting the Coca Cola white polar bears holiday commercials (because those almost have a negative effect on our holiday cheer because of the fact that they are SO sad and make us cry), this is one of the most adorable Coke (/Wal-Mart) holiday commercials out there. Annie saw it in the movie theater before Twilight, and proceeded to obsessively check the Internet to find it.

And the day has come! It has been found! What is it these days with commercials with dorky-yet-because-they-can-sing-they're-attractive guys? First the Free-Credit-Report-Dot-Com-Guy, now this guy. Hope you enjoy it, though we know you won't enjoy it as much as Annie does. 

On a different note, we're in the process of writing about some NYC shows, including Shrek, White Christmas, and Pal Joey, which we think should be retitled Pal Stockard Channing is Amazing. 

Because You're Obviously Bored...

Hello friends! We have to start off by saying that after having written the title for this post, we literally sat staring at the computer screen for about seven minutes- the time it took us to finish the bag of chips we initially bought for our mom on the train. BTW, Eric Schaeffer's on the train with us, sleeping like a baby. We were going to take a picture of him asleep and realized everyone around him was not asleep.

Second, sorry it’s been a while! We're on the train because we were in NYC. C, Elyse had a whole week between her classes ending and exams, time which her school allotted for studying. So we went to New York with our mom so Elyse could get her headshots done.

The same guy did Annie’s a year ago.

No but seriously, we both got them done by Matthew Cippaghila, who is wonderful, and we totally recommend him if you ever want to venture to NY to get your headshots done!

Anyway, we have some NYC shows to talk about! But for now, here are some online places to check out instead of doing work. First, this is kind of old news now, but check out "Prop 8- The Musical". It’s hilarious and boasts an awesome cast. We can’t tell you how many people have sent this to us to put on the blog. Very apPROPri8 for it! Thanks for sending the video to us- if you have anything else you want to see up here, we are now selling ad space. 

Here’s another very random website to check out. It’s called Stardoll.com, and it’s a totally awesome way to waste your time. Basically you get to pick a celebrity (and they have a ton) and dress them up, like a paper doll- and each celebrity has a different wardrobe. For those of you men who aren’t into this, the dolls are half-naked! And for those of you musical theatre fans, one of the celebrities is, kid you not, IDINA MENZEL. Here's the link for her doll. Way to go Idina! Clearly Enchanted was way more popular than we thought. Too bad the clothes in her online wardrobe kind of suck. A blue and gray leopard print leotard? Okay.

Life is Good

Today while Annie was at the gym, Varsity Fanclub's single "Future Love" played on the gym's radio. That would be enough motivation for me to run a marathon*. There's just something about Jayk's Purdy voice. Ha! Those of you hardcore Varsity Fanclub fans got that awesome pun. So... Annie... got that awesome pun.

*Actually, marathon is pushing it. Maybe just run a mile**.

**You know what? The mile never really worked out well for me. So we're gonna go with just some light aerobic activity. Maybe a nice, easy Dance Your Way Fit workout tape***.

***Yeah, let's just go with "That would be enough motivation for me to drive to Wendy's and get a #6 with only mayonnaise."

The Richmond Playas

Since the time is almost here for the Richmond Battle of the Altar Boyz (by the way, we will be seeing both shows considering we love boy bands... a little too much...), we figured it would be a good opportunity for us to announce the newest product in the boy band market- The Richmond Playas! And the members are....

1. Scott Wichmann: Scott provides the personality of the group. He is the one who does most of the talking and joking in between the songs. He's sort of the goofball of the group if you will, yet totally rocks out on the second verse of the ballad and girls swoon over his ability to be funsitive (funny and sensitive at the same time).
2. Brett Ambler: Brett is the lead singer of the group, sort of the "Geek in the Pink" if you will. He acts like he's a huge dork yet knows he's cool... and so do the ladies. Careful girls, he's engaged!
3. Chase Kniffen: Think of Chase as the Lance Bass of the group. He has the boy band looks and can dance, but we're not sure if he's actually singing or just lip-synching. Always the best-dressed member.
4. Landon Nagel: First of all, we know nothing about Landon Nagel other than the fact that he was the Heath Ledger look-alike in Guys and Dolls, and we kind of want to date him. So in this way, Landon is sort of like AJ from Backstreet Boys. All of the girls want to know more about this mystery man. And the girls also want him to grow out his hair long and curly and speak with an Australian accent.
5. Dave Timberline: This was too easy considering the very obvious Timberline/Timberlake comparison. And we're pretty sure their names aren't the only thing that's similar about them. Have you ever heard Dave T's rendition of "Sexyback?" We thought not.

So if any of you five guys, burgers and fries are reading this, please join us at our house for press pictures and crudites.

Bye bye bye.

Nice :)

Just last week, Annie called Elyse and said, "I just got the craziest email from Swift Creek Mill Theatre. We literally have to write a blog about it." But unfortunately, this was no bloggable matter. By the way, Blogspot.com is telling us that "bloggable" is not a real word. Seriously? WTF. And it's telling us that BLOGSPOT isn't a real word, either. 

Anyway, Jennifer Procise, Director of Development and Marketing at Swift Creek, sent out an email saying that their email system was compromised. That really sucks! Like, who knew that kind of thing still happened? But, we try to find humor in everything. So we'd like to leave you with our favorite snippet of the Swift Creek Mill's compromised email. For even more laughs, read it out loud. You won't regret it:

Step 4: waiting verify by administrator , after 1day you can have 200% money , ex : you fund 10$ , after 24hour you have 20$. That gif for you for place order with shop. Nice :).

We Love a Parade

Oh my goodness, have we been away for a while! No worries, though, we're here now. But we've changed. And, no, it's not just that Elyse's hair is shorter and Annie's is red. We no longer are immature school children, pulling each other's pigtails in the yard. We have discovered the meaning of true love. And the world is now seen through two pairs of rose-colored glasses. What has caused this change? Two words. Possibly three, or maybe a hyphenated two: Varsity Fanclub. Go here to watch their performance in the MTD Parade. Focus on the guy in the trucker hat- Jayk Purdy of Las Vegas, Nevada, 22-years-old, his mom was a Vegas performer. But honestly like, we know nothing about these guys. Insert winky-face here.

So! Did we all enjoy the rest of the parade? We, of course, have our thoughts. And no, we will not be commenting on the marching bands, Chris Collins. We don't care to watch the JMU Marching Whatevers. Wonder Twin bullets, activate!

• As we watched In the Heights perform, we realized that one guy in the chorus is incredibly out of place. He is wearing an orange polo. Watch it just so you can see this guy, fresh out of Godwin High School's Varsity football team dropped into a Broadway show. It's funny because it's literally In the HEIGHTS. Like, Washington Heights. Not Downtown Short Pump Heights. 
• Just for kicks, watch the ITH performance for another reason: Tell yourself that Abuela is not actually in the show, but instead a random lady who happened to wander into the televised area. And somehow, by coincidence, she randomly breaks out into song. Trust us, it's hilarious. And listen to how Matt Lauer pronounces Usnavi (Znavee).
• South Pacific's performance... way to go, Jerold Solomon! He was legitimately on TV for the majority of the song, with a solo and everything! Yeah, and did anyone else think that the lead guy in that number, Danny Burstein, looked like Gilbert Gottfried? Finally, a few of the sailors weren't fooling anybody. It was along the lines of Harvey Fierstein singing "A Girl Worth Fighting For" from Mulan.                                                    
• A few thoughts about  The Little Mermaid- um, why does a mermaid need a scarf? And why did the scarf not look mermaid-like? Ariel literally stole the scarf from the White Christmas cast. In speaking of the performance itself, in the eloquent words of our cousin, "This would be a lot more impressive if it were an actual crab singing and not Seal's brother." But seriously, though, we know he was lip-synching, but MAN! What a voice! Words can't even express how crazy-good his voice is. 
• There really wasn't anything else noteworthy to talk about. Truthfully, once we saw Varsity Fanclub, that was about it for us. We already know all the choreography. OH, and if any of you are ONLY interested in theatre and care not for boy bands, some of these boys in the "band" were once Broadway kids (see: Thomas Fiss). Speaking of boy bands, get ready to see who's in the Richmond theatre one!
• We thought about writing a post about Rosie Live. But we sort of thought it was boring and awkward. We love Jane Krakowski and no one in the audience got the Urinetown bit. Oh well. We understood it. 

Fin. 

Stay Tuned...

Swift Creek Mill's email system COMPROMISED.

Two different groups of Altar Boyz, ONE Richmond theatre boy band- who are the members?

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade serves us Broadway performances, Santa, and a new obsession for the Steingold sisters entitled: VARSITY FANCLUB. 

And much more.

STAY TUNED. Oh, yeah, and don't be surprised if we change the subject matter of this blog from theatre to Varsity Fanclub. We're not kidding. Who are these guys? They're amazing and we are determined to meet them.

See you soon!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year... Kind Of

THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! This is seriously one of our favorite events of the year - others include Christmas, when the Starbuck's cups turn red, Passover (for the food), and anytime we wake up before 10:30 and are able to get fast food breakfast. All of the performers were announced, and we're pretty darn excited. Elyse is kind of peeing her pants about White Christmas, Annie's peeing her pants about In the Heights, Mom's peeing her pants about South Pacific, and Dad is peeing her -er, his- pants about James Taylor. Just kidding, he's peeing his pants about The Little Mermaid. 

Thanksgiving morning, we always wake up to the smell of pancakes, and when we get downstairs and realize it's noon, we go through this horrible 1-minute period of panic that we missed the Parade. Then, we realize we taped it and proceed to fast-forward through every band, balloon, and helicopter tour (except when it was given by Bob Saget- remember? He was hilarious!), and we watch the Broadway performances obsessively. Have you realized by this point that we have obsessive personalities? We thought so. 

All we can say is we're very glad How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang AREN'T performing this year. Seriously, both of those performances kind of freaked us out. Unfortunately, Mary Poppins actually is performing again this year, which is annoying- their performance last year freaked us out. 

Finally, look out for the dueling Wicked women, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, each performing solos on different incredibly random floats- Idina on the "M&M's on Broadway float" and Kristin on the "Care Bears Winter Funderland" (seriously) float. Don't you like imagining the disputes they had over who got to perform on which float? 

Can't wait to see what everyone thought of the performances this year! And again, how have we not gotten better at ending our posts?

Watch More Television!

The world of theatre has crept its way into a new frontier - TV! You have to look out for two particular shows, because no one gets a kick out of theatre jokes as much as theatre people!

There is a new show on television called Summer Heights High that everyone has to watch. It comes on HBO, Sundays at 10:30 PM, but we're pretty sure every episode is on YouTube. It basically is a mockumentary about an Australian public high school, focusing on three characters: an exchange student, a bully, and a drama teacher. The catch? All three of them are played by the same guy, Australian comedian Chris Lilley. It is absolutely hi-larious. The show is basically Waiting for Guffman, if Christopher Guest had an Australian accent and also played Parker Posey and Eugene Levy's roles. Below we have a clip of Mr. G, the drama teacher.

We know South Park can be lewd and sometimes a little weird (and sometimes REALLY weird), but this past Wednesday, their episode called "Elementary School Musical" almost had us rolling on the ground laughing. Annie called Elyse at the first commercial break during the episode and literally said, "Isn't this killing you?!" You can watch the episode here; you just click "Full Episodes." You're going to love it and most likely agree with everything they're talking about.

Watch them- we promise they're worth it.

Where are You Taking Me?

So, this past Monday, Annie and Chase K. came up to DC so we could all go see "Where Are You Taking Me" at Georgetown University. Basically, it was this collaboration between Georgetown and Arena Stage, and they performed songs from work-in-progress musicals from around the country. The show was really cool, and we'll talk about that later, but the whole night was an experience that needs talking about.

Once we got past the incoherent parking attendant, we arrived on the Georgetown campus starving, so we stopped in the nearest snack shop called "Hoya Snaxa," which we found hilarious. After that point we had to add "-xa" to the end of anything we bought, which was really amusing to us, mainly because when you're walking around in the cold you giggle at everything. Apparently Elyse's Diet Coxa was refreshing. HA! 

At this point we had about an hour to spare, so we decided to find coffee. We figured since we were on a college campus there had to be at least 10 coffee shops near us. Wrong. So we had to ask someone. Well, by that time we were all attempting to talk in British accents and thought it would be funny to ask a student where the coffee was in said accent. So Annie stops a guy and asks him where the nearest coffee shop was. Kid you not, the guy was British. He literally was wearing a track jacket with the England flag on it. When he spoke, Elyse and Chase absolutely lost it. Elyse literally guffawed out loud, and left Annie alone, trying to keep herself together. We found coffee about 45 minutes later.

When we got to the theater, we went to the bathroom and Annie dropped her ticket in the toilet. When does that happen? The show itself was really good - Elyse liked every song pretty much - with songs from shows like Vanities (you know, the new one with Lauren Kennedy and the girl from That's So Raven?), Rooms, Giant, and Emma. But it sounded like some of the performers were sight-reading the songs as they went along... not cool. And some of the songs were just not all that catchy. But, it was neat seeing the producers and composers of the shows. We all now want to be friends with Michael Friedman, composer of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. On a more serious note, it really is interesting to think about the direction musicals are heading, and it's always interesting to look at the subjects discussed in the musical- Andrew Jackson? Really? 

After the show, we went to M Street for some Italian cuisine. Before we decided where to go, we were standing outside of a restaurant reading the menu when this crazy woman got out of a cab acting crazy; she was screaming at cabs and collapsing onto the hoods of cars, so we tried to stray away, taking a lap around the block. When we came back, we were looking at a different restaurant when she literally comes barreling towards Chase, missing him by about an inch. Once she was passed we practically ran into this Italian place that Chase highly recommended. The dinner was delicious, but the atmosphere sort of random. The decorations were ridiculous - it looked like a much, much tackier version of the reception of Tony and Tina's Wedding. While we were signing the check, Chase kind of jumped and told us he had just seen a mouse scurry across the floor. Again- really??

Suffice it to say, it was a very interesting evening. Tickets in toilets, mice, real British accents, and snaxas.... eureka! I think we just came up with the premise of a new musical! Georgetown and Arena, sign us up! 

Kitty Minky.

Yet another random story pertaining to a Day in the Life of a Steingold. As some of you might know, today Annie officially got all of her rubber bands taken out! These past weeks she was wearing temporary bands, but now, there are none at all! Hip hip....! .... ....

Hooray? Anybody? Nobody.

And another thing that some of you might know is that Annie has a cat named Kitty Minky. Minky is an adorable cat who slightly resembles Ivanka Trump (in the eyes), but sometimes, she can be a bit of a pain in the neck. She's very opinionated (Minky, not Ivanka; but come to think of it, Ivanka is also opinionated).

So, today being the first day that Annie could sing, she decided to let loose, alone in the comforts of her house. Now remember, she had not sung in about seven weeks. So she picked up Kitty Minky, cradling her, and started singing.

Kid you not, as soon as Annie started singing, Minky literally meowed so loudly that it might actually have been a shriek, scratched Annie on the shoulder, spastically jumped out of her arms, and glared up at her from the floor.

Thank you, Minky, for making Annie feel worthless. She will no longer sing while in your presence... not for another 6 weeks, at least. 

Free Twinkies!

First of all, we have to say that right now we are really, really pissed off at Annie's cat Kitty Minky. She literally stepped on our computer and somehow managed to CTRL-A, then delete everything we had written. And thanks to stupid "Auto Save", when we refreshed our blog, all we had was a backslash. We are literally having to rewrite this post. So basically Annie and her cat are no longer on speaking terms.

Friday night, we got the chance to see tick, tick... BOOM!, Stage 1 Theatre Company's Inaugural Production- so exciting! Chase Kniffen, in his Letter from the Director, stated that starting a theatre company during these economic times is perhaps "the craziest thing anyone has done... ever!" You're so right, Chase. What you did is SO ZANY and OUTRAGEOUS! No one in the history of the world has ever done anything that crazy.... ever! Except maybe when people bike to school when they could just drive? That's pretty insane.

Let's talk about the show, in our scattered, random, incoherent (quick, think of more synonyms for "scattered"!) way! Bullets, ignite.

• First of all, please don't forget to bring your Twinkie net to the show. Free Twinkies are literally thrown at the audience. We, personally, can't think of a better reason to see the show. 
• We realized, in a scientific discovery not unlike Einstein's Theory of Relativity, that tick, tick... BOOM! = Rent, minus lesbians and plus a gay Taye Diggs. Seriously. As a little experiment, Elyse sang the song "Rent" (from Rent) and Annie sang "No More" (from TTB) simultaneously. What we had was sheer Sondheim brilliance, a song very much like "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/ Love Will See Us Through" from Follies! If you got this joke, you're awesome.
• Brett Ambler as Johnny-Who-Can't-Decide has a really amazing voice and true charm. He told us himself that he is only offstage for about 12 seconds, enough time to put on an apron. The fact that he is able to hold our attention through an entire show is impressive. His cathartic number, "Why" was our favorite. This song is not to be confused with Annie Lennox's 80s power-ballad of the same name.
• Audra Honaker as Susan + Others is so much fun to watch on a stage- talk about someone with great comic timing! She's really awesome when it comes to taking on different personalities. As the businesswoman, her performance truly shined... almost as much as her wig. 
•  Durron Seymour Tyre (pronounced "tire" by Annie; apparently this is incorrect) as Michael + Others has such an awesome voice. We love watching people onstage whose pitch doesn't worry us. He's especially funny as the cashier in "Sugar", spontaneously breaking out into song. If we had a nickel for every 7-11 cashier we've had who's started randomly singing, we'd have 0 cents. If we had a nickel for every customer at 7-11 who's spontaneously broken out into song, well, that's another story.
• All the behind-the-scenes aspects of the show can't be ignored. With an intelligent set, a rocking band, and rolling lights, the show really was an intelligent rock and roll spectacular. But seriously, we applaud all the thought, time, and energy put into this show- it showed. Show. Show show show.

Congratulations, Chase, on your first production in your new theatre! We loved, as you said, "sitting in your dream". We couldn't have asked for a better, more entertaining night, and we wouldn't be surprised if we went to see this show again... because we're that cool. Maybe "cool" isn't the right adjective?

Go see tick, tick... BOOM! For a really inexpensive ticket price, you're basically seeing two shows in one! Rent is the other show, in case you didn't get it before. 

Kenny's Lament: A Father's Response to His Daughters' Accusations

As the father of the Steingold sisters, I have made a special request to be a guest blogger on this esteemed website. I asked Annie and Pugsley to allow me to post for a couple of reasons. First, I believe that I have been portrayed unfavorably in a few of their witty anecdotes and wish to rebut. Secondly, I am trying to learn how to type, and I figured with their limited readership I could get away with many typos as I practice, and no one would really notice as I try to search for the semi-colon: actually, it is probably unfair to ridicule their readership numbers since a recent Internet research group reported that they have had 6003 hits to their website. Congratulations! In a weird coincidence, 6000 have come from one household on Horncastle Place, and... (thanks, Rachel, Erica, Mike). Anyway, in response to some of their quips:

First, the girls mentioned that I referenced the musical "Urinetown" when I really was forced to pay to use the facilities in Amsterdam. To set the record straight, I was at Swift Creek Mill Playhouse, but it was only for the dining experience. Seeing the musical was only an afterthought. The show actually was great, but as a 55 year old male with prostate problems, I became increasingly uncomfortable during the show; it was only by divine coincidence that I happened to have a self catheterization kit on me and saved myself serious embarrassment.

Second, they mentioned that one Hannukah/Christmas they gave me a Springsteen CD and a Dave Matthews CD, obviously thinking I was a lot cooler than I really am; they made fun of me, stating that I promptly returned them for two Broadway musical CDs. Not true-they were returned for the latest Megadeath and Black Sabbath CDs; or was it David Bowie and Marilyn Manson; no, it was the latest boxsets of Culture Club and Wham. Touche!

Finally, you ridiculed me when we were flipping channels and the movie "Titanic" was on. The ship was in port and I asked if this was the end of the movie. How was I supposed to know-I never saw that movie. However, I recently heard a rumor that Leo is in negotiations to star on Broadway in David Rabe's incendiary play, "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel." Looking forward to it.

So fearless reader, thanks for your indulgence, and I hope I haven't wasted too much of your time; although if you read the kids' blog you have ample amount of wastable time. So, I'm off to the gym (golf), to pump some iron (water aerobics class), while listening to AC/DC on my nano-pod (soundtrack from "Millie" on my Walkman), while watching Ultimate Fighting (season one, "Murder She Wrote").

Thanks,

Kenny Steingold

A Tale of Two Sisters

So remember when we wrote about winning the silent auction for tickets to A Tale of Two Cities and a backstage tour? Welp, turns out it's closing November 9th. So...two days from now. So...yeah. Looks like we won't be going. And we know that you all wanted to hear a report on it so badly. Instead we'll give you a report on tick, tick...Boom! soon.

In the meantime, here are some Magazine Muzings. Yet another new feature of the blog that will probably only happen once.

Teen Vogue had a blurb about kids on Broadway, for example, Billy Elliot and 13. It also talked about Equus and it basically talked about how it got so much hype because Daniel Radcliffe bares everything, "Hogwarts and all." So this is apparently really clever because "warts and all" is an expression. Which neither of us knew. Therefore we thought this was an incredibly nasty pun alluding to the fact that Daniel has an STD. Which would have been a shame.

So you know SkyMall catalogue on airplanes? Well, there was a note from the president of the catalogue on the first page telling the reader to enjoy all the many products. Kid you not, "Christina Aguilera" is said president. Which we find hilarious and incredibly random.

Third, we found out in Star magazine (such an honest source) that Ivanka Trump, Annie's hero, is converting to Judaism! We know this has nothing to do with theatre, musical theatre, Richmond, arts, or anything of the sort, but Annie would love to have Shabbas dinner with Ivanka. She would also love to know how to spell Shabbas.

We're not really sure how us talking about not seeing A Tale of Two Cities turned into us talking about Ivanka Trump. Check back for our thoughts about TTB. But for now, a "Daily" Download:

"Comfort and Joy" from Bat Boy

Daily Download

Today's Daily Download is:  "Promise Me" from I Sing!

Daily Download!

Hello folks! So we are starting a new aspect of the blog called the "Daily Download." It's basically like the "Daily Double" on Jeopardy except without a question, money, podiums, or a mustache. Basically everyday we're going to give you a song that we totally think you should download. Or you can listen to it on Rhapsody or something. Or you can just listen to the 30 second preview on iTunes and assume the rest of the song is just as good.

So our first Daily Download is: "Next Time/I Wouldn't Go Back" from Closer Than Ever

Enjoy, and if you have any suggestions for us, feel free to share!

A Day in the Life

Here is the transcript of our latest phone conversation:

Elyse: Have you ever heard of Virginia Beach Musical Theatre? It's pretty cool.

Annie: Yeah, I have. They're doing Aida. Or they already did Aida. I wanted to audition.

Elyse: Aw, man, they did Aida?! Okay, Aida is totally a role I'd love to play.

Annie: Really? I don't really like her songs that much. Amneris's are so much better.

Elyse: Eh, that's kind of true, but I could NEVER play Amneris.

...Whereas you DEFINITELY are eligible to play Aida, Elyse. You just need to get a little older. Maturity is key for that role. 

Oprah's Book Club...Kind of.

Now that the temperature is dropping, we all have ample time to sit in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book, right? Right. But of course you don't want to let your mind stray from the theatre world, right? Right. So we have a list of some awesome books that all encompass our favorite topic! And, no, they aren't all books about nachos. Commence the use of bullets...

• The Q Guide to Broadway by Seth Rudetsky - I think we've mentioned enough that we love Seth Rudetsky, but anyone who has any interest in Broadway should pick up this book (or borrow ours)! So, we think (actually, know) that the "Q" in the title stands for "queer," but, come on, just look at this blog for three seconds. We're pretty queer. But not in a Seth Rudetsky way, more like a The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe way. But not in like a metaphor for Jesus way, more in like a fancy British words way. You understand. Some of the info in this book is a little Drama 101, but you'll still really enjoy it.


• Broadway Nights by Seth Rudetsky - Sensing a trend? This is our last book by him. It's a great story about a guy who is basically him. Read it for his hilarious writing and juicy insider secrets. They also just made an audio version of it featuring Broadway greats like Kristen Chenoweth, Andrea Burns, Jonathan Groff, etc. Watch a behind-the-scenes look on his website, sethrudetsky.com


• How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater and the sequel, The Attack of the Theater People by Marc Acito - These books are ridiculous and far-fetched, but they are awesomely entertaining for those of us who can appreciate the drama. The musical theatre puns are absolutely amazing by the way. Truly, truly recommend this book!


• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: Okay, yeah, this book has nothing to do with theatre, but it's an amazing book that Annie wanted to include on the list. Literally one of the most beautifully written. She says that if she were a movie producer, she'd produce it. Thank you, Annie.

So grab that hot chocolate with whipped cream on top (no marshmallows, gross... yeah, we know we're weird, but seriously, they're gross), get the fire going, and read! And as a disclaimer, we really wish we had been able to do this post as a video a la the kids in Reading Rainbow who talk about their favorite books. Remember that? Annie always wanted to be one of those kids, but Elyse says she couldn't because she never was good at summarizing.

2 Sisters' Favorite Thing

[title of show] is amazing. This video is the impact of theatre right in front of our eyes. Or, in Elyse's case, right in front of her left eye, but about 10 degrees east of her slightly lazy right eye. Watch it and try to see how many familiar faces you can recognize. The creators are still chugging to keep their name and dream alive, so visit their blog to see what you can do to carry on their greatness! Both of us might have cried when we watched this... Annie when she saw Kenneth from 30 Rock (best show) and Elyse when she saw Seth holding a keyboard.... but we probably didn't. Youw pwobabwy wight (Homestar? Anyone?).

Sit Down, Annie and Elyse

All right, maybe all of y'all have already discovered this website, but for those of you who haven't, this is amazing! Bluegobo.com literally has video clips of so many lost Broadway treasures! When YouTube first got popular, we kept trying to look up videos of 1776 because we're obsessed with it (like we can sing every lyric to every song and recite every rant Mr. Feeney - er, John Adams - goes on), but literally couldn't find anything. But this site has stuff! So check it out for yourself! And we like this site because it caters specifically to musicals.

Thought we'd share a funny story with you while we're here, talking about 1776. This previous summer we had a big family reunion- dubbed "The Grand Slam" by our aunt- in Boca. We rented out one of the rooms in the Yacht and Racquet Club for a dinner and a sing-along. Yes, a sing-along. Our grandparents love that kind of thing. One of their grandkids, our cousin Marissa, is a professional singer who lives in LA (funny sidenote, in the movie Raise Your Voice starring Hilary Duff, Marissa was Hilary's SINGING double... way to go Hil, with your singing career). So Marissa was fine with indulging our grandparents, playing and singing a wide range of things. We weren't. Correction: Elyse wasn't. But long-story-short, there was a lot of fuss, so Annie, Elyse, and their mom ended up standing in front of everybody, and what song did we choose to sing? "Sit Down, John" from 1776. A Cappella. With three-part harmony. Classic.

You'll What What Now?

In honor of Thoroughly Modern Millie this summer, we have a link to a hilarious compressed script from BroadwayAbridged.com. If you haven't been to the site, GO! Annie discovered it last year and it hasn't ceased to crack us up. Anyone want to join us in actually staging this? Could be funny? Eh? Eh? No? Okay.

Once you read it, you kind of have to agree with it. Don't get us wrong, we LOVED Millie when we saw it, we know literally every word to the soundtrack, and I'm pretty sure we learned the "Forget About the Boy" choreography from the Tony's. Minus the desks with taps on the bottom. How cool is that number? And when we used to take dance classes, Amy Farley, our teacher, taught us the. Coolest. Dance to the "Nuttycracker Suite." Long story short, we're fans. But you can't disagree with the script. 

While you're there, read some of the other abridged scripts - they're hi-larious! The Legally Blonde one is pretty amazing. We especially love when Richard Blake goes, "Why have I become the go-to ASSHOLE of the Broadway Musical? "

So true, BroadwayAbridged.com. So true.

Pu Pu Platter... Or, My Life

Hi, just Elyse here. All right, so one of Annie's Last Suppers before only blenderized cuisine was at Yen Ching. We used to go there all the time as a family, especially on Christmas Eve. You literally see everyone in the Jewish community at Christmas Eve Chinese dinner. It's basically like a Yom Kippur service, except no one is scared, hungry, or blowing a ram's horn... usually.

The people at Yen Ching basically know us because we used to spend so much time there, but then we stopped going when I decided I didn't like Chinese food except during Christmastime. So when Annie, Mom, and Dad went to Yen Ching, the owner came over to the table and excitedly greeted them. Here is basically the conversation (as it was relayed to me):

Yen Ching Man: Hello! Welcome back! We haven't seen you in a while!

Dad: Yeah, I know we haven't been here lately!

Yen Ching Man: Hey, aren't you missing someone, a son?

Great. Story of my life.

Jesus's Tattoo

On a very overdue note, Annie and her parents went to see the Equality Virginia Benefit last week. We definitely wanted to mention it here, because it was quite an entertaining evening. One quick disclaimer: there were no programs, so we might inadvertently leave out the names of the some of the performers or misspell one. Sorry!

Highlights of the night included a wonderful monologue from Search for Signs... performed by Julie Fulcher (love!), a very moving dance piece, "Crushed," performed by Melanie Cash, as well as great musical numbers performed by the likes of Katrinah Lewis, Debra Wagoner, BC Maupin, Chris Hester (who performed about 10 songs), and more.... three acclaimed Richmond theatre men dressed as penguins performed "Heart." Don't know what else to say about that particular performance. There were also skits and standup comedy sketches, and the host of the evening, Kim Jones Clark, was really adorable. Don't know her at all, but she seems like a very nice woman!

One of Annie's personal favorites of the night was "Repent," performed by Jackie Jones. Oh my gosh, what an entertaining performer! She really does a wonderful job of connecting with the audience- they ate her up! So yes, it was a really fun, enjoyable evening, and we're happy we went. Plus, talk about giving money to a worthwhile organization!

On a side note, Annie kept thinking that Chris Hester looked familiar. Yes, she had seen him in the reading of Dead Man's Cell Phone, but she knew he had been in something else in Richmond (Weird, right? Seeing the same person in more than one show here?). Then she saw his tattoo! And realized she was watching Jesus! Yes, the Jesus Christ... from Reefer Madness at the Firehouse Theatre. Who would think that we'd ever utter the words, "Once we saw his shoulder-blade tattoo, we KNEW it was Jesus!" Such are the joys of theatre.

More to come. MUCH more to come..... muwaahahahahahhh, muwaahahahahaAHHH, MUWAHHAHAHAHAHHH!!!!

Come on, it's close to Halloween. Indulge us...

Although...we're so awkward at ending posts that we would use the evil laugh closer in the middle of April if need be.

Bloggers Can't be Choosers

So, we know we just wrote a post about the ridiculousness of the new Broadway musical A Tale of Two Cities. BUT, this past weekend was Parents (and Annie) Weekend at GDub, and there was a silent auction that had all the typical silent auction stuff, like homemade jewelry, vacation packages, hand-knit scarves, and books autographed by Joe Lieberman? But, who knew there would also be two tickets to A Tale of Two Cities on Broadway with backstage passes?!?! We didn't. But when we saw that it was, in fact, there, we laughed for a while. And then proceeded to furiously scribble our name down and hope that no one bid higher than us- which they didn't!

So... yeah... apparently sometime soon we shall be seeing ATOTC (Atottsee). Speaking of abbrevs, have you gotten a chance to see the winners of the Ritcocks yet? Very exciting. We'd like to give a personal shout-out congrats to Mr. Brandon Becker, one of the nicest, funniest guys we know, as well as a congrats to Bat Boy. Of course, congratulations to everyone else, too! Treasure your cock. Your Ritcock.

Welcome Our First Bloguest, Rachel B.

Hey, so I wanted a chance to be a guest blogger, and I did, after all, make Annie and Elyse recording artists, so they better give me a post on their blog! (See iTunes> The Receipt movie soundtrack> "In Any Way I Can" or www.thereceiptmovie.com)

Unfortunately, I am a rogue Richmond theatre fan who is now located in Boston, MA. That's about 240 miles north of NYC, folks. And a little background: since early July I've been working at the American Repertory Theatre, but I will be frank with you here, I'm just a telemarketer that sells season tickets (pathetic, I know, but someone has to do it!).

The first show of the season was Let Me Down Easy, written by and starring Anna Deavere Smith. Yes, Anna Deavere Smith. Anna Deavere Smith. She is best known in the theatre world for her one-woman shows, and that is precisely what Let Me Down Easy is- her latest solo show. Now, I will be the first to admit that I always have and always will shy away from one-person shows. Even with my extreme attention-span problems, when one person switches between people at the drop of a hat (sometimes literally at the drop of a hat because that's changing characters...), I get confused and want to throw a hissy fit.

But Anna Deavere Smith... now it really helped that each time she shifted between characters, they projected the name of the person and their info onto a screen over the stage (i.e. Reverend James Cone: Theologian and then a title for the monologue like "Amazing Grace"). Maybe that last parenthesis seemed a little stereotypical, I apologize, but that's actually how it was; the whole piece was about grace in the world today. And really it wasn't so much the words or the visuals or the ill-fitting pants suit she had to wear so she could look like 5 different characters by switching between ties and hats and shoes, but it was the sheer performance of the material she captured in interviews. It really changed my life. She brought people from Rwanda to the stage and doctors and rabbis and ministers and jockeys, and it was really remarkable that she could remember all of it. I mean, you know you're watching a brilliant actor when you can't tell whether they're messing up and not remembering their lines or actually acting out the way people talk and how they often mess up words and repeat things over again. I mean, to remember 28 different people's accents and the number of times they said "like" or "you know" or skipped around in their thought pattern- wow.

And let me tell you, after two disastrous shows this summer- seeing Noel Coward's Hay Fever, with poor British accents in a random park; or the high school student production of Beauty and the Beast at the Boston Center for the Arts in which Belle's hair got caught in the Beast's icky fake fur paw during the last scene and was therefore lying on top of him during the final song, seeing Let Me Down Easy was a breath of fresh theatre air.

Broadway Talk

There's some pretty interesting happenings in the Broadway world that are worth talking about, so here goes... and by the way, apparently we love the newly-discovered bullet feature on blogspot.com.

• Zac Efron is considering the role of Alan Strang in Equus on Broadway! So. Exciting. I guess he's doing it because he wants to catch up to his girlfriend's naked-views count. Although it's going to be much harder coming up with cute nicknames for his magic wand. We get to see Troy's Sharpay? Yeah, that works.
• The cast of Family Guy is going to perform Family Guy Sings! at Carnegie Hall. Amazing. That literally combines our family's two favorite things: musicals and Family Guy.
• We all know that Wicked is coming to the big screen, but now there are rumors that Spring Awakening and In the Heights could be making their way there, too. Apparently J.Lo really wants to help ITH become a movie. A chance to rewind and replay every move Lin-Manuel makes? We'll take it.
• Bailey Hanks is going to play Sharpay in Paper Mill's production of HSM. There's really nothing to say here that's witty. That actually sounds pretty perfect.
• Telsey + Co. is casting the new Addams Family musical or whatever. That is so weird. But Bebe Neuwirth is going to play Morticia! We have watched her and Karen Ziemba's performance on Broadway's Leading Ladies about 4,000 times. We love her. And the Addams family is kind of close to our hearts...there was a phase in there where Dad called Elyse "Pugsley." His reasoning was literally because he thought she was acting like Wednesday. Why didn't he just call her Wednesday? We will never know. Probably because he killed two birds with one stone by calling her Pugsley.

Wheeeeee!

Hi guys! Sorry it's been a while since we've been on here. And we're especially sorry that "Muppdate" is what you had to see when you refreshed our page. Anyway, we've been pretty busy. Elyse has been stage managing a college production, and Annie has been in a state of mild depression. Ha, just kidding. Elyse is just the assistant stage manager.

Because there aren't enough blogs out there about Ragtime, we're going to talk about it here! Elyse didn't get to see it, but Annie did. Phew. Since neither of us are coherent enough to write a full post, here are some musings...

• "What a Game" is totally the "Master of the House" of Ragtime. Everything is so depressing and intense and emotional and FINALLY there is some levity and the whole audience is always like HAHAHAHAHAHA THANK YOU FOR LETTING US LAUGH.
• We don't really think there was enough emphasis in all the blogs about how unbelievable Jerold Solomon was. He. Was. Incredible. Or in Annie's eloquent words, "He just stood there and it was like, wow." Can't argue with that.
• Our aunt thought Brett Ambler was Chase but with a different accent. Hilarious.
• Annie loved when the performers would close their binder. When Coalhouse got shot and he shut the binder and walked offstage, Annie peed a little. And drooled. But the drooling didn't have anything to do with the show...she just has no feeling below her nose. And when Debra Wagoner closed her binder in "Back to Before"... very powerful. Isn't it cool how just closing a binder can do that?
  
• One of the bloggers expressed how proud they were to see Chase on that stage, giving his introduction speech. They remember Chase when he was 11, painting their fingernails backstage at a show they were both in. Ha! Yeah, Chase, you may be Mr. Artistic Director now, but you used to love yourself some Sally Hansen Amazing Amethyst.
  
• Sherri Matthews did an amazing job (of course)! She has the Midas Touch when it comes to musical direction so there was no question the show would sound great.

Overall, it was a very successful and exciting night for Stage 1, and we want to give a big congratulations to everyone involved! Dan, Annie wishes she could have eaten your desserts, and Elyse wishes she could have been there to eat your desserts. And a big congratulations to Chase and Peggy! Peggy, please don't use that shock pen on us again. And Chase, please don't steal our blackjack money.

Can't wait for tick, tick... Boom! Great show, great music... see you there!

Funny.

Again, this has nothing to do with theatre, but it is totally worth it. 

My family visited me last weekend because Annie needed to get out of the house, and we were all sitting around in my dorm room not really doing anything. So I turned on the TV and was clicking through the channels, and Titanic was playing on one of them. It was the really pretty scene when the ship is in the port and it pans across and you see the ship and all the people on the harbor, etc. you know? And then Dad proceeds to ask, "Oh, Titanic - is this the beginning of the movie or the end?" 

Hilarious.

...Too soon?

Muppet Update... Muppdate!

We have a confession to make. We are obsessed with the Muppets. As in, are in love with them, literally. On our way to preschool, our mom would talk in various cartoon and puppet voices (her claim-to-fame was her Elmo impression), and on special days, she would talk like Gonzo to Annie. And Annie literally would get nervous, her cheeks would turn red, and she, in her three year-old voice, would respond, "Oh, Gonzo!" So yeah, we're obsessed.

So, are we allowed to talk about the Muppets on a theatre/Richmond theatre/musical theatre/what is-this-blog-exactly blog? Um, YES. And if you want to fight us on this one, bring. It. On.

There's really only one point we can make to defend the fact that a Muppdate deserves to be on this blog. Four words: A Muppet Christmas Carol. This holiday gem- or year-round, if you're us- seriously has one of the best scores ever. Okay, well maybe not ever, but it seriously has a great soundtrack. "One More Sleep 'Til Christmas," "It Feels Like Christmas", and "Thankful Heart" get us every time. And who could forget the time the Steingolds printed out the lyrics to the song, "Bless Us All", and had every family member take turns reading the lyrics at the Thanksgiving table? In short, if you haven't seen this movie, please do, just for the music.

The main reason we're writing this blog is to show a really awesome and interesting article that was in the New York Times a few weeks ago. Basically, the Muppets are BACK! One point we found really interesting is that there will be a feature film coming out somewhat soon (the first since 1999!) and it will be written by Jason Segel, who was the star and writer of the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Cool, huh? We're so excited.

Yet another random post, but it's definitely an article worth reading. And on a completely different note, we'd like to bring up a question that's asked of us a lot, which is whether or not we see plays. And the answer is yes! In fact, just last night Annie and her mom went to see the reading of Dead Man's Cell Phone in the B-dale's lobby. Thoughts on that later. But we do admit that we need to see plays more often and not constantly resort to singing and dancing. Musical theatre will always be our first love, but we will definitely make an effort to see plays (by the way, don't you totally turn into snob mode when people call "musicals" "plays"?). Annie is still waiting for her mouth to be un-shut, so until then, she's doing a lot of things that involve not talking- a.k.a. watching shows. So if there's any play in particular that you think she should see, let us know. She's up for anything.

Read the Muppet article. Oh, and who can forget "Rainbow Connection", perhaps one of the best songs ever written? "Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me."

Great, now we're crying.

Bedtime Story

This is just a funny story that explains how two sisters came to love theatre.

Once upon a time, there were two sisters who needed to get their father a Christmas present. Sure, they were Jewish, but they preferred opening their presents on Christmas morning because it was exciting. So, they searched and searched and finally settled upon 2 wonderful gifts: a Dave Matthew's Band CD and a Bruce Springsteen CD. So Christmas morning came and the sisters excitedly watched him open his presents. He looked at them and exuberantly thanked them for the gift. He then added to the end of his thank-you speech, "You two wouldn't mind if I traded these for a couple others would you?" "Of course not, Daddy," they replied. The next day, their father came home with the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Hair and Phantom of the Opera. And they all lived happily, and theatrically, ever after...

...To be continued. Just kidding. We aren't the narrator in Into the Woods. 

You're welcome. 

Exciting New Banner!

Annie and Elyse are excited to announce that tomorrow will be the debut of their completely new banner! We mean business, folks. Now that we're gettin' an official/professional/adorable new look, you won't be gettin' rid of us for quite some time! Although you will be gettin' rid of most of the g's at the ends of words. Just sayin'. 

Sporadic Obsession

Hey guys, so I know the blog's been a little weird. Our situations aren't optimal for writing compelling posts about Richmond theatre. One of us isn't in Richmond at all and the other one has her mouth wired shut. Which leads me to today's Sporadic Obsession: Camp.

I know we've mentioned it before in the blog, but seriously, everyone MUST see this movie if they haven't already. Even if you didn't go the a performing arts camp (I totally thought I was sweet when I first saw the movie and I was obnoxiously like "Hey, hey guys. Hey, hey listen to me, you know what's funny? Is this is EXACTLY how it is! Like, you know totally that's how it is at performing arts camps! Like. I know that. Because I just got back from French Woods. So like I understand every joke and have lived it."), it's still hi-larious and totally relevant for anyone who loves theatre. 

"Turkey Lurkey Time" is totally our favorite part of the movie. And, yes, Annie and I have learned the choreography and would be happy to perform it for you upon request. 

So one of the character's mouths is wired shut and at one point someone asks her what she was drinking and she says "chicken broth" but it comes out sounding like "chicken brush." And tonight when I asked Annie what she was eating she totally said "chicken brush." It was hilarious for me. I just hope that when her mouth is finally un-wired she will soulfully belt out "Here's Where I Stand" with my mom in tears nodding at her encouragingly with a closed-mouth smile. And I'll be the way-too-into-it piano player. 

Bernie Telsey STILL Wearing Big Glasses

Yes, folks, there are more "Legally Brown" episodes. Thank goodness. And can we just talk for one second about how much I freaking love Allison Janney? Remember that Tom Hanks speech I talked about composing while I was recovering from my surgery? Well, next time I go under the knife, guess who I'm writing about? If you don't know what I'm talking about, read all the comments and see if you can find it. And while you're at it, go ahead and leave a comment yourself, as well! No one answered Annie's question about (ironically) the name Annie. I could only think of two.

R.I.P. Broadway Greats

It's been a sad couple of weeks on Broadway. It's ridiculous how many shows have announced their closing dates. Xanadu just closed (Shocker? Not really, but still sad because we heart Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson), Legally Blonde will close October 19th, [title of show] will close October 12th, and Hairspray is closing in January. So. Sad.

But everyone should go see the Legally Blonde tour at the Kennedy Center on December 16th because that's when the Steingold's are seeing it! And you know that ought to be fun. Loads of it. Loads of fun. 

Annie Alert

Ladies and gentlemen, I made a mistake in the last post. While sitting at the kitchen table being fed Gerber sweet potatoes through a syringe, I had my parents try to guess the four "Annie" characters in musicals- and guess what? They thought of a fifth Annie! Cool, huh, that my parents are that "in tune" (HA!) with musical theatre? Cool and kind of... well, come up with your own adjective.

Anyway, there are now FIVE musicals which have a character named Annie in them. Figure it out and win a ticket to Ragtime! Complements of Chase, although he doesn't know it, so don't hold me to it.

Thoughts from a Closed Mouth

Hello everyone! It's just me, Annie. I thought I'd give a little report on how I'm doing, and also to report on some thoughts I've had as I've laid around for about a week. Finally I am back to walking around and going out in public. Yes, I scare everyone around me due to the fact that the bottom half of my face looks like a pumpkin, but I figure, hey! It's almost Halloween time, it fits, right?

Anyway. Here are some Amusing Musings that I've had while recovering. First of all, I've come to realize that Jane Lynch is one of my favorite actresses ever. She's hilarious and another person whose best friend I want to become. Speaking of... I'm still not best friends with Robyn and Angie... hmm, I need to work some more on that. Hopefully they won't be scared of my pumpkin face.

Has anyone been watching the new season of Dancing with the Stars? I'm not going to say who I want to win the whole thing- it's too early to tell- but I have to say, I am loving me some Cloris Leachman. She is just too much. If you haven't been watching the show, watch it just for Cloris Leachman.

My mom got me a 750-piece puzzle to do, and guess what it's of? TIMES SQUARE! It's so totally cool, and has pictures from tons of Broadway shows, ranging from Tommy to Steel Pier, to Millie to Joseph, as well as Contact, Seussical, Rocky Horror, and many more! How often when playing puzzles do you get to say, "Hand me The Full Monty piece!" I'm having way too much fun with this.

There's a Facebook video up of Stage One's Ragtime rehearsal that you should check out.... insert something funny here? Hopefully I'll be able to check it out, I'm sure it's going to be awesome. That music, AH. Oh, and Chase if you're reading this, can you please put up a video of the rehearsal for "Journey On"? That is my favorite song in the entire show, and my boyfriend (or was it Elyse's boyfriend?) Michael Hawke is in it- YES!

Finally, in honor of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (which is today- Happy New Year!), here is an absolutely incredible sermon which my mom sent me that you have to read. Cheesy, I know. But seriously, it's really good and it involves A MUSICAL! WICKED! How awesome is that? I've never been to temple and heard a sermon that involves a musical. Seriously, you should read this, even if you're not Jewish. Yes, it's kind of funny picturing the Rabbi standing up on the pulpit, seriously quoting lyrics that Idina belted out, but it's still worth reading.

These musings were not so amusing, but we'll be coming back full force soon enough. And here's a little trivia question that I thought of while playing Play-Doh a few days ago: There are FOUR musicals (maybe more than that!) which have characters with the name ANNIE in them! Can you think of the four musicals? The winner gets the Times Square puzzle.... HA, yeah right, in your dreams. But seriously, see if you can figure it out.

"Bare" With Me

Hello folks! Sorry things are so slow around here ... we're down to just one person again. And that one person happens to be 2 weeks away from mid-terms. Yikes. And, naturally, Annie is out of commission for at least another week or so until she visits me here, when I'll be lucky enough to give up my bed and prepare a list of the best soup/milkshake/smoothie/blender stores Foggy Bottom has to offer!

So Daily Obsession time! Maybe we should just go ahead and change the title to "Sporadic Obsession." And raise your hand if you only know that word because of Clueless. That's what I thought. Let's not kid ourselves. Anyway, student theatre is really huge here, and one of the shows they're doing this semester is bare: a pop opera. I don't know how many of you have heard it or even heard of it, but I would highly recommend it! They have the whole show on Youtube, and the antagonist from Sabrina the Teenage Witch is in it. So...if any of you were...wonderin' what happened to her...there ya go. But even if you don't choose to watch the whole entire show on your computer instead of read your archaeology book, you can always listen to the soundtrack which is amazing. They're even doing a production in Buenos Aires! So stand back, Buenos Aires! Because you wanna know whatcha gonna get in me just a little touch of, just a little touch of, just a little touch of star qualityyyyyyy...

I'm never good at ending my posts. 

Bernie. Telsey. Wearing. Big. Glasses.

This video is wonderful for so many reasons. It literally integrates EVERYTHING we love about Broadway right now. Test yourself and see if you can find them all!! But don't circle them, kid in the waiting room of the doctor's office who thinks the Highlights magazine only belongs to him and decides to use his mother's PEN to circle the hidden pictures which then leaves the rest of us with no activity to do while we're waiting for our college immunizations. 

Dispute

Ok, we know this is completely unrelated to musical theatre but we have a dispute that needs to be cleared up. As some of you may know, Annie is getting jaw surgery Monday, and her mouth will have to be wired shut for 6 weeks. Therefore, all of her food will have to be liquidized. She was given a cookbook with a bunch of recipes. One of them is for a PB&J. Here's what it says:

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY "SANDWICH"

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1-2 tablespoons jelly

2 slices wonderbread

9 oz. glass of milk

Put in Blender and blend

And then off to the side it says in handwriting: "try without bread"

All right, so what is funnier? The fact that "sandwich" is in quotes, or the fact that in the margin it says "try without bread"?

Speak Parseltongue?

If you're above the age of 18, you can check out Harry's Potter! His Magic Wand! His Chamber of Secrets! His Sorceror's Stones! I mean, we haven't looked at the pictures, but they're here. And they look a little funny and slightly blurry. But seriously, though, we haven't looked at them...more than 12 times.

...And in the Mornin', I'm Makin' Bloggles!

Okay, that is the most pathetic title ever, but props to you if you actually know what we spoofed. This is our first official Shrek: The Musical post. Our friend sent us this link to a slideshow with some really interesting pictures of what will soon be coming to Broadway. We have some thoughts on this. First of all, Shrek (the movie) is a freaking amazing movie. It makes us laugh so hard we cry, and it makes us cry so hard we laugh...at each other crying over Dragon missing Donkey.

Our first request for the show: Please tell us the overture to the Broadway production is simply Smash Mouth's "All Star." Shrek really cannot start without this song. We wish you knew how much we actually think this. Some more requests...

Please let the Ginger Bread's voice be as amazing as the one in the movie. "Don't tell him anything!" could quite possibly be the funniest line in the movie simply because his voice is hilarious.

The pictures make this show seem really dark, don't you think? Let's brighten it up a bit. Also, what's up with Christopher Sieber's costume? Cool idea, but...it's very clear that Lord Farquaad is merely leaning back on some man in a black cloak, right? And what happens when he walks? Do his legs move, or do they just bend under and get caught in the black cloak? This is just so perplexing.

Take a look at the pictures, seriously. Make your own judgments. And please note that we are most definitely seeing this show - these are just our curiosities. Come on, one of our daily obsessions is Grease 2.

Most Hilarious TV Show

Ladies and Gentlemen, we present the funniest show on television: Hole in the Wall. We don't want to explain the premise of this game show to you. Just watch this clip from the Australian version of the show and be sure to tune in to Fox Thursdays at either 8 or 8:30 PM. We don't really know for sure. And don't feel like looking it up.

What the Freak Do We Know About Reviewing?

So, the sisters have united once again! And the blog is back in full swing! No more of Annie on her own. Pretending he's beside her. It's time to keep talkin' about things, and what better to talk about than a freak show. And no, we don't mean a day in the Steingold household. We mean Side Show, you silly readers you. Reader.

Let's get talking! This time with a "g" on the end! Sadly, Elyse didn't get to see the show, but Annie and Mother Hen did. So Elyse is going to interview Annie about the show. 

E: So, Annie, I'm so jealous you got to see the show. Overall, how was it?

A: I tell ya, Elyse, this was a Richmond theatre show I'm really sad you missed.

E: Thanks, Annie. Thanks. How were the twins?

A: Absolutely wonderful! I literally had tears in my eyes during "Who Will Love Me as I Am?" Robyn O'Neill and Angie Shipley were really great to watch, and I want to be their new best friend.

E: I'm sure they feel the same way about you.

A: Brett Ambler was adorable, as always. What a voice. And Michael Hawke really surprised me with his high belt.

E: How was his singing voice?

A: Not as high as his belt (Ha!). No, but seriously, he sounded awesome. I have a crush on him, and I'm sure you would, too. Just call me Daisy. And you'll be Violet. And get Brett.

E: Okay!

A: Back to the show. Brandon Becker did an awesome job choreographing. Can't be easy choreographing for 1.8 person. "We Share Everything" was a ton of fun to watch, and I really think he did a great job.

E: Any last words?

A: Great work, Tom Width, great work!

E: Anything else?

A: This was the least legit theatre review ever?

E: Indeed.

So, to sum it up, everyone should go see Side Show at Swift Creek Mill Playhouse. You "won't won't" to miss a moment...

It's FREAK-ing Late!

I, Annie, had the pleasure of seeing Side Show at "the Mill" this past Saturday night. Join Elyse and me (and by that I mean, come back and read our post) as we discuss this production... via instant messaging.

See you soon, and sorry we are late with this!

Daily Obsession: Capital Style

Greetings from the computer lab! My laptop hasn't returned from Pentagon City yet, and I must say it isn't great. I'm not kidding when I say it is roughly 98 degrees in here, and I'm sitting next to a 50-year old man, who apparently is enrolled here, who is trying to get into as many Women's Studies classes as possible. Creepy. Almost as creepy as the fact that I am sooo not discreetly looking at his computer screen.

In case any of you were wondering, my Murphy's Law curse has continued...yesterday I dropped my phone in the toilet. No, apparently that kind of stuff doesn't just happen in Ben-Stiller-yeah-it's-kinda-funny-but-after-a-while-it-just-gets-old-and-painful-to-watch-like-Meet-the-Parents-type movies. And my life movie doesn't have Owen Wilson in it. Bummer.

So my daily obsession is a soundtrack. I'm trying to get back at my next door neighbor for leaving his alarm clock buzzing while he was at his 8 AM class by playing my music really loudly. And flicking off his door everytime I walk by it. Both work. Anyway, I'm sure my next door neighbor would agree with me on my obsession with the I Love You, Because soundtrack. It's a new-ish, now closed, Off-Broadway show. Yeah, a lot of the songs sound the same, but it's cute and entertaining and not Spring Awakening.

Or, if you're not into that show, you could buy the I Sing! soundtrack. It's a new-ish, now closed, Off-Broadway show. Yeah, a lot of the songs sound the same, but it's cute and entertaining and not Spring Awakening.

So start collecting your Coke caps, rack up some iTunes bank, and broaden your soundtrack horizons!

Yikes. I'm almost positive I'm the less funny sister.

Broadway at West Beverly

Why hello! We told you that the Daily Obsession thing wouldn't quite pan out the way we had hoped. Right now, things are a tad crazy. First of all, only one of us is writing this right now- the less funny sister. Now, did your mind immediately snap to, "Aw man, just Annie's writing"? Because if so, you are correct, my friend. And also, how dare you call me the less funny sister!

Anyway, Elyse has moved to college and is now in D.C. Being without her is killing me softly. However, we plan on keeping the blog going- I mean come on, we've only been around for two months, you can't get rid of us that fast! Plus, it's cool because Elyse will be able to talk about shows in D.C. So yeah, we totally had plans to email back and forth, video chat on iChat, etc., and come up with more "funny" posts for the blog. However, Elyse's computer broke her second day as a college student . Her bag of Cheetos also got stuck in the vending machine her second day as a college student. So basically, her second day as a college student sucked. I think the Cheetos fiasco threw her over the edge. Anyway, until she gets her computer back from the "geniuses" at the Apple store on Thursday, there shall be no theatre musings.

However... while I'm here... did anyone watch 90210 on the CW tonight? NO no, don't click the close button on your screen! I promise I'm going somewhere with this. I have a few comments first, though. Oh, how I missed this gem. I had a huge crush on Dylan McKay- and I was like, 6 years old. Now, this show is a spin-off of Beverly Hills, 90210, but come on, it's basically the same thing. Twins move to the big city from out of town, the Peach Pit's the cool place to be, and the writing is still as good as ever. My favorite lines of the night? "You're breaking up with me?".... "I'm breaking up with us." LOVE it. Two main reasons you should watch the show. 1, Aunt Becky has a pretty big role. And 2, Shannen Doherty's BACK! YES!! And boy oh boy, is she milking this part for all it's worth. We're talkin' wayyyy over the top.

So where am I going with this, you ask? Well, in tonight's episode, we see that West Beverly High is putting on a musical. And that musical is... SPRING AWAKENING. I literally spat out my drink when they said that. Actually, I didn't spit out my drink, but I wish I had. It looks so fun when people in the movies do that- and do you notice how their drink always lands right on the nerd's face? But yeah, their musical is Spring Awakening. They literally rehearsed "Mama Who Bore Me," microphones, stomping feet and all. I mean, I knew Beverly Hills was rich, but I wondered how even THEY could afford the rights! Insert laugh here.

Okay, that's it for now. We will BOTH be back by the end of this week, I promise. And Elyse, sorry if you found this post not funny at all.

Back in the Habit

Aha! We made it in time for the Daily Obsession. Today it's the classic film, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. How amazing is that title? We love it! Argh, this movie is just so good. The final number in the movie, "Joyful, Joyful", is genius. That's one of our dream musical numbers to be in (another on the list: "Turkey Lurkey Time" from Promises, Promises). And how amazing is the cast? Lauryn Hill, Whoopi (who we happened to LIKE as the Tony Awards host, as opposed to everyone else who apparently hated her), and J-Love Hewitt!

Now we leave you with a fine quote from this wonderful movie:

"I got the flow, you all gotta go, so pick up your bags so we can go, ho-ho, ohhh, ohh, oh, oh... NOW."

Daily Obsession

Welcome to another new feature of the blog, Daily Obsession. This could easily turn into Weekly Obsessions... or Monthly. But for now, we think we'll be able to obsess about something every day.

We watched Grease 2 last night. Best and worst movie ever. One of our daily obsessions. First, the fact that Shooter McGavin is one of the T-Birds is pretty amazing. Second, Elyse realized that she has a full-blown crush on Adrian Zmed. Remember when he was Danny on the Grease tour and it came through Richmond? Elyse doesn't- she would have been there. Third, we love the ridiculous amount of voice-overs that happen in this movie. Finally, the movie could have one song- "Reproduction"- and we'd be pleased. Talk about one of the best/weirdest numbers in musical theatre history- oh, you hardcore MT fans are so mad that we're clumping this movie into musical theatre history!

This movie is amazing. See you tonight at Mamma Mia, the SINGALONG!