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.