New York <3 Richmond

This might be old news for some, but for others it's so cool! Thanks to our friend Lauren Edelstein, who has a hilarious and fashion-filled blog you should check out (sorry Lauren, hilarious and fashion-filled were literally the two best adjectives we could come up with at this point in time), we found this article! It was in Travel section of The New York Times on October 18, and is a "36 Hours in Richmond, Va" feature. They literally say, "Richond is strutting with confidence, moving beyond its Civil War legacy and emerging as a new player on the Southern art and culinary scene."

SO COOL!

They also bring up the new and exciting Richmond CenterStage, Need Supply Company, which we've tried on many-a-dress at (unfortunately, downtown hipsters wear dresses that go up your butt... and we Steingolds are no downtown hipsters), and Legend Brewery (woo!).

Fin. Gosh it's still so hard to end blog posts.

Legally Whaaaaaa??

Oh, hi! Didn't you see you sneak up on us. Yes, we're still HERE. Good times and bum times, we've seen all and, my dear, we're still here. Hyuk! Anyway, we've missed writing on here. See, we'd have things to write about it, but we're uber-perfectionists and if a post wasn't awesome to our standards, we just wouldn't put it up. But now, we've decided to not always give you the most wonderful, witty, and whimsical posts you deserved. Sometimes they might be W-T-F. It's a roll of Sky Masterson's loaded dice.

To ease us back onto this, here is a video Elyse found on Broadway.com. Legally Blonde is heading to the West End, so they made this music video to promote it. Broadway.com calls the video "fun." We call it HILARIOUS. Those Brits have quite the sense of humor. And quite an interesting view of what makes a musical advertisement enticing. This is literally one of the funniest things we've ever seen, for so many reasons. One of those reasons? The almost R-rated kiss. Another reason? What Elle does when she holds the long note at the end of the song. Watch it.

And some exciting news! We're pretty sure that both Steingold sisters will be in town for the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards! The Arties! Or the Artsies? Not sure. Annie will be home for Fall Break- hit her up, yo! And Elyse will be home for the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards! Oh, and doesn't have rehearsal that night. So look out for us with a microphone in hand and video camera, asking you who you're wearing and what you did to prepare for the day. Perhaps a mani-pedi at Atir?

Check back to hear thoughts about Bye Bye Birdie, After Miss Julie, and Superior Donuts. YES! Two plays! Can you believe it? Aren't you proud?

Center Stage Opening! A Guest Blog by the Parents Steingold

Since Annie and Elyse could not attend the CenterStage Grand Opening last night, they asked us to write a guest blog to share our thoughts and impressions.

First, let’s talk about the physical structure: having grown up in Richmond and attended many movies at the Lowe’s and subsequent concerts and ballets at the “Carpenter Center,” I (Nikki) can tell you that they did everything RIGHT! Kudos to the person who said, “let’s keep the amazing theatre looking just like it always has, but let’s add about 25 more bathrooms!” The Lowe’s/CarpenterCenter/Carpenter Theater is and has always been one of Richmond’s treasures. How nice to see it shining once again!

Actually, Kenny had to miss a huge football game (Southern Cal vs. Ohio State) which he was counting on to reverse the effects of his breakout performance in the “Summer of ‘42” music video. In fact, our good friend, Glynn Baker, called after viewing the video stating that Kenny needed a heavy dose of beer, red meat, and football. Instead, he got culture … and considering that “Barney on Ice” and an accidental poetry reading at Barnes and Noble while waiting to see “The Hangover” were his other two artsy endeavors, he needed it.

Now, on to the show:

Can we just say that the Richmond Symphony is AMAZING and we loved “Festive Overture.” Listen to it on YouTube, it’s inspiring! Maybe if "Glory Days" had opened with this song, things would have worked out differently. Bravo to Erin Freeman, Associate Conductor, whose talents were evident in every twist of the baton.

Hosts Venus Flytrap and Aunt Viv (Tim and Daphne Maxwell-Reid) added so much to the evening – their comments were both interesting and personable. We’re very fortunate to have them active in the Virginia Arts Community.

The Richmond Jazz Society and African American Repertory Theatre both gave excellent performances, with “Generations of Jazz” and the works of Langston Hughes respectively. Ah, then on to the Virginia Opera’s selections from “La Boheme.” Need we even mention how amazing these voices were? We just can’t understand how they failed their audition for “High School Musical” (that’s some tough casting!). Not only were the voices outstanding, but they brought along an entire set that was so authentic I had to put on my sweater. While the opera was in Italian, they were kind enough to project the translation on a screen. Little did we know those beautiful Italian words translated into, “My enchanted love, please pass the Cheese-Whiz.” We loved the choice of songs, but our only regret was that they left out the scene where Angel dances on the table.

The Barksdale/Theatre IV-Empire Theater/HanoverTavern presented scenes from “High School Musical,” “Boleros for the Disenchanted,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and “The Sound of Music.” As usual, the “HSM” cast was highly energetic and we rooted for Troy and Gabriella. But we wonder if Gabriella’s mother knows that the Wildcats apparently traded Troy Bolton for Dennis Rodman (nice tat!)

Loved “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and agreed with the audience’s spontaneous applause following Carolyn Meade’s tap solo!

And what a pleasant surprise to see our friend Ana Ines Barragan King of the Latin Ballet of Virginia performing in the bolero “Besame Mucho.” Ana is a delight to watch and the Latin Ballet of Virginia is a treat that ALL Richmonders should see.

TB/TIV-ET/HT ended with “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” performed by the Mother Superior and her backup singers. We thought it strange when they segued into the “My Guy/I Will Follow Him” medley and were a little freaked when Rolf came out singing “Springtime for Hitler.”

Act Two’s performances by Elegba Folklore Society and Richmond Shakespeare clearly proved the diversity in the Richmond talent and creative pools. Elegba wowed the audience with their dancing, rhythm, and amazing performance by Amadou Kouyate. Richmond Shakespeare showed their versatility in speech, song, and dance.

SPARC was great. The leads, Jason Marks, Chris Adams, Ali Thibodeau, Drew Seigla, Michael Hawke and “Eponine” (so sorry we don’t know your name!) were outstanding. From the “Castle on a Cloud” opening through “One Day More,” SPARC gave an excellent representation of their mission and accomplishments.

The Richmond Ballet’s performance of the final section from “Windows” was the enchanted ending to a magical evening. We loved seeing Phillip Skaggs, Valerie Tellmann, and Lauren Fagone whom we enjoyed throughout so many ballet performances when our good friends Pedro Szalay and Brandon Becker were with the ballet. And what a treat to see Maggie Small, whom we have watched dance since her childhood! But while we mention these names specifically, the entire company was simply outstanding!

The CenterStage Foundation is to be commended for persevering throughout recessions and adversity to reach the crescendo it did last night.

Anyone Want to Send Me a Water Filter?

It's the start of separate blog posts for the Steingold sisters now that we're in two different states. Tonight it's Elyse. It took me this long to write a new post because every time I came to the blog to write a new one, I ended up just watching that video over and over again and then I would forget my initial intention in signing on to lordhelpthesisters.blogspot.com. Also, I now have a twitter which I completely don't know how to use and I'm a little ashamed that I have one in the first place, but I felt I had to. So if anything the least bit witty comes to mind, I post it on my twitter. So, my twitter page is very "twitty." Ha. And based on that pun you can imagine how terribly uninteresting my twitter page is.

So I go to school in DC just steps from the Kennedy Center, and every night they present performances at the Millennium Stage for free. Some nights are incredible and some nights they bring in Al from off the street with his tin drum made out of a trash can. Tonight happened to be incredible. The Signature Theatre presented a cabaret of songs from The American Musical Voices Project, which included new work from Michael John LaChiusa, Ricky Ian Gordon, Joseph Thalken, Adam Guettel, and a lot more. There were a ton of songs whose sheet music I have to get my hands on for when Annie and I finally pull off our cabaret. Seriously. We want to have a 2-woman show. And our parents might make guest appearances. It will be just like the Broadway's Leading Ladies show except Annie, Mom, and I will be singing the "Weber Love Trio" and Dad will be singing "The Ladies Who Lunch" in his falsetto. On that note (heh) I bid you farewell.

Later, I'll talk about the upcoming Equality March that's happening here in October and the fact that the Hair tribe from Broadway is going to be marching. I'm all about equality, but honestly, mostly I'm walking to try to accidentally brush Will Swenson's butt.

The Blog Post You'll Always Remember

Questions regarding our family's insanity will be answered in the order in which they are received. Oh, and have we mentioned that our parents are amazing sports? Just count this as our end-of-the-summer treat for you all. 

Does our dad remind anyone else of Brick Tamland from Anchorman?

A New Chapter Blogins

One month, five shows, and another hike to New York later, we're finally back in the blogosphere. Oh, how nice did it feel to carefully remove our blog from the chest in our attic and gently blow the dust off of it. And we're just in time to talk about the nominations for the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards. Obviously a lot of people in the Richmond Theatre Community are either really excited (the nominees), really pissed (the NOTinees), or really hungry (the Steingold sisters).

We want to preface this by saying that no matter what wins, who is wearing what dress, or which Hanover Tavern show didn't get nominated, the main point of these awards is to raise money for the Artists Fund. That's the main point... not who got the most votes out of six local critics or debates over who should or shouldn't have been nominated. It is AWESOME that the money from the event will go to this organization. The committee should be acknowledged positively for that.

We think it's really funny that the press release calls the event a "Black Tie Gala", then goes on to say that "formal attire is encouraged." We were taught many Bar Mitzvahs ago that black tie meant wear a tux. If they didn't expect black tie attire, they should have noted on the invitation something more straightforward like, "Joshua has become a man, join us for a hoedown after the service." Oh, and speaking of tuxes, we personally think Gordon Bass should wear his Daddy Warbucks tux to the show. And that Annie should wear her maid outfit with a poinsettia pinned on.

It goes without saying that we won't discuss plays. Because we prefer when people sing their emotions. WOW, we love musicals. We are honored to say that we saw all nominees for Best Musical. And we know who we think the winner should be. So hopefully they win.

But onto something that doesn't specifically relate to the awards. We understand that the "Artsies" specifically honor "professional theaters" in Richmond, but we feel that there needs to be some sort of recognition from said professional theaters, and the critics, of the other work that is being done in the community. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Dogwood Dell received next to no recognition, and all of the performers were working for free. It's wonderful that the amazing city of Richmond has a venue like the Dell, so people who can't typically afford $40 tickets to shows can be exposed to what we still feel is such an under-appreciated art form.

Clearly we feel a special connection to the show, and we hope we're not overstepping our boundaries in this public forum (ha), but we do think that it's important for the theatre community as a whole to appreciate and commend the work that has been done pro bono. Throw us a frickin' bono.

Pretty Little Picture

Come see Forum... this weekend at Dogwood Dell. It's at 8:30 PM. And it's FREE!

Delicious! Refreshing! Invigorating! Exhilarating!

Always Coca-Cola!

FYI- We went to the Wikipedia page for Coca-Cola slogans because we all found it funny that the "COKE" is basically the centerpiece of this family portrait. Go here if you want to look at Coke slogans from 1886. The one we used is from 1887. 

Wow, don't Charles Wissinger, Terri Moore, and Sean Williams make an adorable family? All three of you win for best awkward family photo face! Congratulations. 

Forum's Boots 'n' Bits

Since we’re not going to be able to review Forum ourselves, we’re instead going to give you some additions to Jason’s 5 reasons to see the show, things you wouldn’t normally notice that we want you to look out for. Let's just think of this as insider tips from two of the stars. And by stars we mean people who appear onstage for less than ten minutes. But oh, what a ten minutes it is! Tragedy tomorrow, bullets tonight:

•  This show is nothing like the horrible movie. Our mom didn’t believe us when we said that the show was actually funny because all she could think about was the somewhat sci-fi/pornographic Zero Mostel version. This show is a hilarious mix of Mel Brooks, Judd Apatow, Family Guy, and Aristophanes – and we all know what a hoot he was!
• Joe Pabst, our director, Blanton Bradley, the musical director, and Amy Farley, our choreographer, are a dream team- smart, hard-working, and so much fun! And we’re slowly but surely convincing them to work together on Dreamgirls. But this time as the lead performers.
• "The House of Marcus Lycus” is an awesome number that you’re sure to enjoy, if only for Robert Redford/Blonde Pierce Brosnan, who we’ve brought in to play Marcus Lycus. Just kidding, his name is Kerry Keenan, and we all love him. He’s totally that guy in high school who not only was quarterback of the football team, but could sing, too (Anyone remember Walker Williams?). Plus, all the girls in the number are great performers. We both realized that every courtesan in the number is supposed to be cute, flirty, and sexy. Whereas what do you think our two characters are supposed to be? We're either a) spastic, b) frightening, c) angry, or d) all of the above. The answer is f) all of the above and also sweating.
• Who here has rehearsed at the Carillon before? Here are our thoughts about this historical monument, also known as a Super Mario World Ghost House. We think there are special bug species that are only populating the Carillon. And we’re pretty sure a hunchback is manning the bells. However, we also think it’s gorgeous and want to stand on the very top balcony and perform “A New Argentina.”
• Charles Wissinger taught Steven Ralph how to authentically draw a sword.

 Go here for the dates and times, and maybe we’ll see you on the way to the Dogwood Dellum!

A Lot of Funny Things Happened on the Way to Writing this Blog

...Which is why it took us so long to post a new blog. Whoops. We've been really busy with Forum rehearsals - which opens this week! We hope to see all of y'all there with cold cuts and deviled eggs. Michael Hawke, don't forget your 2-liter grape Big K. Anyway, the rehearsals have been a ton of fun, if not very entertaining. Elyse has just learned to crack a bull whip without taking off her ear, and Annie is working on perfecting her cat screams... without sounding like a pirate.

Jason Marks made a video of the top five reasons you should see the show. Find it on our Facebook profiles because we have absolutely no idea how to link to it here. It's a great video- bravo, Jason, can you do EVERYTHING?- but we have one qualm. The two of us together are not one of the reasons you should see the show. You know honestly, we're not even in the video, except Elyse standing there diagonally and a shot of Annie's stomach next to her. Jason. Seriously? 

Hope you all know that we're kidding and we couldn't be prouder of the amazing team that has come together to put on this show. We literally were saying last night that we feel like proud Jewish grandparents at a Bat Mitzvah who kvell the whole time, not even looking at their granddaughter who is performing, but instead turning around in their pew (is there a word for a Jewish pew?) and smiling at everyone who's there as if to say, "Isn't she a gem?" Well, Forum cast, you are our gem. And by the way, wonderful job on your Haftorah portion. 

Tune in later in the day for our favorite moments for the show, and also to hear about the things we've been doing for the past year since the last time we posted. It feels good to be back! We'd be writing more now but Annie has to go practice with the marvelous Sherri Matthews for a concert that you'll be hearing about here when you check back later. 

... Everybody ought to have a blog.

We'll Make it a Triple, Not a Curtain Call

This might be impossible for you readers to believe, but the two of us really aren't all that great at sports. And by not all that great we mean terrible. Our favorite part of playing sports when we were kids was eating the snack that the parents brought every week after the game. So naturally when we heard there was a Richmond theatre softball game we decided to go and make fools of ourselves, with the knowledge that no matter how horrible we do, we can always go to Westhampton Bakery afterwards. And we had really cute July 4th-inspired outfits. That was enough impetus to go.

Unfortunately, we had to be on two different teams. Which was terrifying! We're never split up. But it made it much easier when we were actually playing because for the first half of the game Elyse's teammates were calling her Annie, so there was no confusion over who they were actually talking to. Speaking of which, Matt Hackman (who is apparently a major league baseball player) couldn't stop calling Annie "Ally," which made things a bit difficult when he was trying to get her attention because a ball was flying at her head.

Lisa Kotula's whole family was there which was so much fun and she was ridiculously good at softball! For some reason we feel like every mom who has a fifth grade kid in little league HAS to be good at softball because we have this mental image in our head of our mom in overalls coaching little league and being amazing.

Eddie Tavares, the most athletic person ever, was there and this one guy kept calling him "Big Stick" every time he was up to bat. Okay. We totally didn't know that was a baseball term for a good batter. So... you can imagine our confusion. Every player was so good, we wondered why we were even trying to play on the same field as them. I guess it was for their entertainment. We played for two and a half hours and Annie was at bat for about one of those hours total. We didn't play outs, so in total, Annie swung about 64 times. And made contact about 4 times.

When we got home from the game we were so excited that we decided to stop at Toys 'R' Us and buy mitts and a softball. We got home and were playing catch in the front yard with our new equipment and next thing we knew, Annie missed a pop fly and it landed in the sewer. Hopefully that isn't a sign that we shouldn't go back next week. Because we plan on giving it another shot. We might wear name tags next time...

Together at Last!

Annie and Elyse are in a show together! This hasn’t happened since the Broadway Kids came into town in 1998 and put on “Kids for Kids” and the locals got to participate. And by participate we mean stand behind all the Broadway Kids while they sang “I Go to Rio.”  So now we finally have the opportunity to be in a show together again. We’re playing two of the courtesans in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Dogwood Dell. Good thing it’s at the Dell because with our crazy-proud parents so happy that their two kids are onstage together, there's going to need to be a large house. Only an outdoor ampitheatre would accommodate.

Rehearsals started the other night and we learned our dance, choreographed by the incomparable Amy Farley. Elyse walks around in elevator shoes and a whip. And Annie is thrown around by Jason Marks. They do a crazy animal-inspired swing dance that is incredible. Jason is such a good dancer! He’s doing steps that no one in our family could get down back when all four of us took swing dance together. Seriously. Mom, Dad, and the two of us all took swing dance classes. Why doesn’t our family have a reality show?

It’s really interesting seeing how we act at rehearsals because everyone has a “rehearsal personality”. And generally it’s different from how the personalities are in everyday life. So here’s what we learned about each other. Elyse is surprisingly really loud and makes jokes as often as possible, but every time she says a joke she has to keep eye contact with Annie for security. Like she knows that Annie will always laugh at her joke. Annie is the most attention-grabbing person at rehearsal. The two of us were sitting with our backs to the mirror while some other people were working stuff with Amy. Elyse was sitting there calmly, and Annie promptly turns so she’s facing the mirror, puts her hair in a crazy hairdo and watches herself bop around with her hairdo.

Stick around for more stories about the rehearsal process that will probably include eunuchs stacking on top of each other, a local re-enactor, Robert Redford’s twin brother playing a pimp, and Blanton Bradley standing there with his hands on top of the piano and a note mysteriously being played... 

Also stick around for our thoughts on Summer of '42 and our attempts at being athletic.

Mmm, Splotchy.

It probably comes as no surprise to you that we consider Center Stage to be one of the most important and hilarious movies of all time. With Susan Stroman's classic choreography to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Shakespeare geek in 10 Things I Hate About You "fooling" us as a prima ballerina, and Peter Gallagher's eyebrows playing a bigwig Artistic Director, we've watched this movie too many times to count. So for all the rest of you who are obsessed with this film, join us as we recount our top 10 "what-the-heck" moments of Center Stage.

• We love all the Broadway performers who are in this movie, especially Debra Monk who plays snobby Maureen's crazy stage mom. It's such a climactic moment when she's watching the big ballet performance at the end and sees that her daughter isn't onstage dancing the lead role. She's so shocked, in fact, that she leaves in the middle of the performance to find Maureen. However, instead of going out the aisle that's probably directly next to her, she chooses to go out the opposite aisle, therefore giving Debra Monk a big opportunity to awkwardly climb over about twenty people, loudly.
• Eva Rodriguez, the tough Spanish girl who only has a Spanish accent about twice in the movie, is the rebel with the heart of gold. Somehow, she is allowed to show up to class at literally the most prestigious ballet school in the country late, with her hair in a mess, and the wrong leotard. And they don't kick her out! Nice. We love that in the movie, they find it necessary to include a 30-second scene showing us how tough Eva is- cut to her smoking a cig outside, dropping it on the ground, and putting it out with her POINTE SHOE. How symbolic is that?
  
• Sadly, Eric O. Jones hurts his leg in rehearsal and is unable to perform in Cooper Nielson's choreographic BA-llet premiere (anyone else notice that real ballerinas always have to put the emphasis on the "BA" part?). So, woohoo, Cooper is going to go on FOR Eric. Does anyone else think it's weird that the part that Eric O. Jones was supposed to play included him having an onstage makeout scene with Jody and riding on a motorcycle and getting in a dance battle with Charlie? Like, we're sure Eric was a great actor, but watching him make out with Jody? Let's just say it's a good thing he sprained his ankle and Cooper had to go on and tidily wrap up/summarize, in a 5-minute ballet piece, what we've previously sat through for about an hour.
  
• It's really cool that famous ballerina Julie Kent dances in the movie- but it's even cooler that she acts! We like the acting technique she employs: talking the whole time with her teeth shut together.
• One of our favorite parts in the movie is obviously the jazz dance class with Priscilla Lopez as the instructor. She totally plays the bad-ass, this-isn't-a-ballet-class, dance-the-*$&%-out-of-it dance teacher. So obviously what song does she choose to have her class warm up to? "Candy" by Mandy Moore. Obviously.
• Maureen is lucky enough to date Jim, a pre-med student at Columbia University. In one scene she's at the bowling alley with Jim and all of his cool friends, eating pizza and listening to a guy tell a HILARIOUS joke about an elephant and monkeys. We'd like to think that Ivy-leaguers tell jokes that are funnier and wittier than this one. It's so bad, and judging how much everyone's DYING laughing to the point that they're crying, apparently Columbia kids have really bad senses of humor.
• The Latin dance club scene is amazing, if only for the two lead singers of the band with the really long hair. Jody and Charlie go out onto the dance floor and do some "Latin dancing." Eva and Eric, the two ethnic dancers, OBVIOUSLY are better Latin dancers, so they go onto the dance floor and criticize Jody and Charlie, telling them "That's not Salsa! You want to see Salsa? THIS is Salsa!" They then proceed to shimmy and do a grapevine.
• How many times have we gotten upset during a rehearsal or a dance class and started to cry in the hallway? Hmm, we plead the 5th. How many times have we had this happen to us, then had a cute, straight male dancer reassure us that we're awesome and we shouldn't worry about our faces being splotchy? Um, zero. Jody Sawyer, you're a lucky biotch.
  
• Also with Jody, if she chooses not to be a dancer, she has a long career ahead of her as a hair stylist. Have you noticed how her hairstyle is literally different- and perfect- in every scene?
• Finally, we can't forget the best scene in the whole movie- the very end. The big ballet showcase is over, students have been selected for the company, Cooper's made his choreographic debut, and everyone's gathered in the Lincoln Center lobby. And who gets their name called out and roses handed to her by everyone? That's right, Jody Sawyer. Because... she emerged as a star dancer from just the training company? And was brave enough to tell Peter Gallagher to stick it and instead join Cooper's company? Yes, that definitely deserves a loud, "JODY SAWYER" followed by applause and bouquets of flowers.

We know this was a ridiculously long blog post, but oh, it's so worth it to us to spread the love and ridiculousness that is Center Stage. Please, watch it. If you haven't, you can borrow ours... and you're not splotchy.

Where's Waldo

The other night Elyse couldn't get to sleep, so like any other normal person, she decided to count sheep. And by count sheep we mean she went through all her old Broadway playbills to see how much the actors have changed. It's so funny seeing things like, "Marc Kudisch: Broadway debut!" Oh Marc Kudisch, you and your bow legs have come so far.

Anyway, she was looking through the Annie Get Your Gun playbill from 1999 and saw something really funny. Click on this picture to make it bigger. And no, we're not talking about how different headshots look now than they did back then- can we say hello Chesterfield Town Center Glamour Shots white-washed background? See if you can find what we're talking about:

That's right, folks. Patti D'Beck, the director and choreographer of Millie. Literally two rows under Bernadette Peters. And we thought it was cool to be sitting three rows in front of Adam Lambert. Sheesh. We wonder how long she has had her signature hairdo. And we wonder how we beat Bruce to posting this on his blog.

Farrah Fawcett was Upstaged

Just Elyse here. Annie has given me permission to write this. It's SO horrible that Michael Jackson died. Annie said that when she was walking down the street in NY, everyone was talking about it. But in the light of tragedy, you have to still be able to laugh about ridiculous yet touching things your sister has to say. Here is our text conversation that we had pretty soon after the news broke:

Annie: I just started sobbing over mj
Elyse: Oh no
Annie: Yeah, "beat it" was on. And mom and dad were like, he wasn't the same guy as that. And all I keep thinking is heaven for him will be a time where he can do "thriller" and "beat it"

We love you Michael Jackson.

One Night in Blogkok.

Those of you who have gotten sick of the Alanis-Morissette-imitating-and-movie-acting Idina Menzel might not know about the fact that Idina recently starred in the Chess benefit concert, and it's on DVD- oh, and you know she's pregnant, right?! Yeah, old news. The concert was also on PBS, for free, and we realized that fact basically immediately after we ripped open the DVD from Barnes and Noble. Anyway, Adam Pascal, Josh Groban, and Kerry Ellis also headline. Other than the fact that there literally needed to be a letter from Tim Rice in the DVD cover explaining that no one really knows or understands what the storyline of Chess is, we really enjoyed the show! The guys from ABBA teamed up with Tim Rice to write the music, and they do a great job of balancing the two styles. Just when it gets too Evita for your taste, they mix in some Mamma Mia. Our personal favorite song is "The Deal." It's so good.

Idina is just so amazing singing "Nobody's Side," minus the fact that she throws in her signature speech impediment: singing it "Lobody's on lobody's side." Kerry Ellis sings "Someone Else's Story," but she decided to make her mark on the show by creating her own speech impediment: pronouncing her S's "sh." Now WHY they would give the song Someone ElSe'S Story to someone with an S problem, we will never know. Josh Groban is a little lame to tell the truth - acting is definitely not his strongest suit. His voice makes up for it, though, in a very Polar Express kind of way. Adam Pascal is ridiculous. We've watched him sing "One Night in Bangkok" about 64 times already. Finally, watching Kerry Ellis and Idina Menzel sing "I Know Him So Well" together is awesome just because of the fact that you can't help but think- and hope- that they're going to screw Chess and instead just break out into a Who Can Riff the Best at the End of "Defying Gravity" contest.

So if you're bored this summer, curl up in front of the TV and watch Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dancing Queen. Idina's back in town!

P.S. Elyse was at dinner last night with a group of people and one of the girls said, "For my new car I want to get a Peace Frogs sticker. I wish that was still around." Elyse had to tell her the sad truth that there was, in fact, a Peace Frogs store just 5 minutes from her house. We stand corrected about the demand for peaceful amphibian gear.

Tim Burton + Johnny Depp = <3

... Oh, we meant to say Tim Burton + Helena Bonham Carter, but it's basically the same thing, right? Anyway, because the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland- and the creepy made-for-TV version with Whoopi as the Cheshire Cat (perfect casting, by the way) and Martin Short- wasn't freaky enough, Tim Burton's decided to have a go at it, making the movie even FREAKIER.

Here are the pictures they've just released to give us a sneak peek at how ca-razy this movie is going to be.

Peace Blogs

Sorry we haven't updated in a while and you've been forced to watch our video over and over again. It was actually pretty funny how it was made: we got home from our Forum audition with a surprising amount of energy and Elyse said, "Hey, can we learn every move Liza does in the Tony opening and then tape it and put it on the blog?" To which Annie replied, "Sure, and I'll be Anne Hathaway in the audience being obnoxious." Next thing we know, Annie's hair is in a French twist, Mom is styling a wig, and Elyse is getting changed into as many black sequins as possible. Welcome to the Steingold household. 

We have so much to talk about so we're going to try to pace ourselves. First things first: has anyone been to Short Pump Town Center lately? This doesn't have anything to do with theatre, but why on earth is there a need for a Peace Frogs store? The economy is bad, however we'll revive it by buying t-shirts whose popularity peaked in 1997 - when Elyse was frequenting the Peace Frogs kiosk and Annie was wearing a ridiculous amount of denim Bugs Bunny shirts from the Warner Bros. Store, both at Regency Mall (speaking of popularity peaking in 1997...). 

And speaking of frogs who promote peace, Mom recently stumbled upon the cutest song on the Sirius Broadway channel. It's from The Little Mermaid on Broadway and is definitely worth 99 cents. It's called "She's in Love" and is sung by Flounder (who we now have a crush on and who we think sounds a ridiculous amount like Eric Pastore) and Ariel's sisters. Try to spot the Sutton wannabe. We just know we really want to get a group of girls - um, and Eric - to sing this with us. Harmonies - love them!

Summer shows, summer shows! There are so many going on. We saw the Millie IDR and are excited to talk about it. And we're randomly hearing about shows that we want to see! For example, today at Baker's Crust our waitress looked vaguely familiar. Finally Elyse said, "Did Robyn O'Neill take her headshot?" And that's how we recognized her, from Robyn's site! So Annie asked her if she was an actor and if Robyn had in fact taken her headshot and she said yes- and also looked at Annie like she was a bit of a stalker. Her name is Alison Haracznak and she's going to be in Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, a Night Live Collective production. We just looked at their blog and hopefully we'll be able to check it out. She brought out our roasted chicken grinders with only mayo, chicken, and bread perfectly, so just for that we want to go out there and support her! Mayo, chicken, and bread- we choose to only eat the healthy parts of the sandwich. We were too embarrassed to tell her to hold the chicken.

Stay tuned for our two-cents on Millie, Busch Gardens, Wintergreen, and Chess. 

Elyse with an S

You know how much we love Liza, and her performance in the opening number of the Tony Awards really was something. We made a video to pay homage to this legendary performer and her legendary performance. Watch the original first - she comes in at 2:03 of this video. Seriously, watch this first. It's worth it.

Now watch this. It's even more worth it. Elyse is playing Liza. Annie's playing Anne Hathaway.

Allison Janney Down the Octave

Last weekend we were lucky enough to see Dolly Parton's 9 to 5. And we mean lucky enough. It was so great and fun! After crying through the last two shows we saw- Hair and Next to Normal- this was a nice change. We were really sad our mom couldn't see it with us, though, because it involves everything she loves: Dolly Parton, country music, Allison Janney, and feminism. If the show had somehow involved gourmet mints then she would have been a producer.

Megan Hilty, Stephanie J. Block, and Allison Janney made the most perfect trio. Megan Hilty literally looked, sounded, and acted exactly like Dolly Parton which was incredible. And made us really jealous. Stephanie J. Block had the most awesome strong, single woman song that blew us away. And Allison Janney is just too much. She's hilarious and so real onstage and she really knows how to hold her alto harmony. After the show Elyse said, "We can be like the three of them!" And our friend Chris said, "Yeah! Elyse, you would be Megan Hilty because she's the one with the big boobs, I would be Allison Janney because she's the gay one, and Annie would be Stephanie J. Block because she's the Jewish one." ...Okay. Is that not an amazing quote?

There were only three things we didn't like about the show. First, we didn't like that they had the same video screen backdrop thing as Guys and Dolls did during their Tony performance. Second, we didn't really like the choreography. It was done by the same guy who did In the Heights. Okay. His choreography is PERFECT for those of us from Washington Heights. However, there's only but so much popping and locking that needs to be done to country music in a suburban workplace in the 1970s. Just sayin'. Third, Marc Kudisch is really really bowlegged and it weirded Elyse out. Annie and Chris didn't even notice it. BUT she was right! Conrad Birdie himself knows he's bowlegged. And now Elyse feels kind of bad for being so freaked.

All in all we absolutely loved the show and are most definitely seeing it again with our mom in tow. So if you're in New York and want to see something which doesn't make you cry and boasts three amazing girls, opt for this. And speaking of Marc Kudisch, have y'all watched the Broadway.com interview with Gavin Creel, Sutton Foster, and Marc Kudisch at Ruby Foo's? It's a 30 minute interview that is totally worth it to watch just to see what they're like in real life. Our verdict? Eh, we'll pass.

We are Speechless.

...ok not speechless enough to not write a few sentences. Kid you not, just two days ago a commercial came on for Zack Morris's new show, and we were talking about how he's aged. And how adorable Zack Morris was and what a pop icon he is. And literally, there he is. Looking and sounding exactly the same! Eeeeeeee!

Video Recaps Full Episodes Webisodes

Minky and Co.

We have no shame when it comes to talking about how much we love our pets. Why would we? We know we're destined to become crazy cat ladies. Have you seen Annie's cat Minky's headshot album on Facebook? If not, it's definitely worth checking out. You know what else is worth checking out? The Daily Puppy. Seriously, it will put you in such a good mood when you're at work. Not only are there adorable pictures of puppies, but also incredibly bizarre comments that people write about the puppies: "Scootchin inna grass like only a Boxer can do. Thank you for keeping their ears natural."

Anyway, because Annie is in NY with Minky, Elyse and mom get about 20 texts a day with pictures of Minky posing. Dad would get them, too, but he still doesn't know how to send a text, much less open a picture. Last night, Annie sent this picture of Minky laying down on a binder of Annie's sheet music:

This was the text sent with the picture (from Minky): "What should I sing for my audition? Eh, I'll sleep on it."

Anyone else think we have a potential career on our hands in theatre greeting cards? Anyone? No one. Thanks for indulging us when we put up cute pictures of our pets. You've seen Buddy and Minky but you have yet to see Blinkin' and Maeby. Oh, you will. In due time... in due time.

Wow, SPARC news is pretty big-time isn't it? Maybe we'll hear more about it soon. Both of us did SPARC- for about a day- but we know how nice Jennie is and we wish them all the best.

News Feed

Ah, the Tony Awards. We all love 'em, and we all love to talk about 'em. And what better way to share your thoughts and feelings than by changing your Facebook status during every single commercial break... and every time an award is given to a play. You theatre people out there had a lot to say. Here are some noteworthy statuses- stati?- and the comments we never left on your wall.

Michael Hawke what's with the touring shows on the TONY'S???
- Elyse and Annie: Oh, Michael Hawke. Thank you for your 50 status changes throughout the night. Aren't you glad you're getting a shout-out on our blog? Anyway, we totally agree with this comment, and we also appreciate the three question marks. But seriously, what WAS with them? And more importantly, what was with their costume choices? The three Mamma Mia women were backed up by H&M's entire island collection, circa 1998.

Emma Orelove WATCHING the Tony's hoping I'll be on that stage someday.

- Elyse and Annie: Oh, aren't we all. Even our cat Minky. And every kid who did All-County Chorus in 5th grade. We feel like for the two of us, it would be a miracle if we were lucky enough to be the guy who ran Titus Burgess's microphone onstage. Unfortunately, knowing us, we'd run into the fly that was being dropped on our way offstage.

Keith Chadwick Bret Michaels almost got decapitated on the Tonys. How did NONE of us catch this tonight? (For the record getting hit by a set piece coming in from the fly is my biggest theatre fear).
- Elyse and Annie: THAT'S your biggest theatre fear, Mr. Chadwick? Listen to this. We were in a show once and knew this stagehand who was always trying to scare us, telling us something about our hands and our eyes. He was kind of an ass. Anyway, one time we were getting ready to go onstage when all of a sudden the backdrop lifted and the stagehand's CORPSE was hanging from the rafters. THAT. Keith. Is what you should be afraid of.

Beth Sinnenberg > Amy Farley Your "Rockin the Boat" rocked...Broadway...not so good...go Amy

- Elyse and Annie: We couldn't agree with you more Beth! Once again, we contend that Amy Farley is a directorial and choreographical (not a word, thank you squiggly red line) genius. Rolling church benches that turn into makeshift boats? Amazing.

Joshua Burns Did anyone see the woman in the red dress with the heaving breasts on stage at the Tonys...um, not pretty, cover those up yo!

- Elyse and Annie: Oh my gosh! Yes! It was Gregory Jbara's wife who he pulled onstage for his acceptance speech in a sweet, romantic, husbandly gesture. But man. They were heaving. All of the bored husbands whose wives made them watch the Tony Awards at that moment became interested in musical theatre.

Jason Marks wants to know why Alice Ripley just yelled at me, and all of America.
- Elyse and Annie: That's HILARIOUS. She apparently wanted to make sure people could hear her speech because she could barely hear any of them all night. Frankly, Alice Ripley could have yelled her speech in Pig Latin and we still would have been so freaking excited for her. In fact, hearing Alice Ripley give a loud speech in Pig Latin probably would be pretty awesome. Ut bay why idn't day "Ext Nay o tay Ormal Nay" in way the Ony Tay Award or fay Est Bay Usical May? WHEW. That was hard.

Really, we loved reading everyone's statuses once the Tony's were over. Please let us know if we are breaking any copyright laws by posting and commenting on other people's thoughts. Our people will talk to your people if there's an issue.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bret Michaels

Well, ladies and gentlemen, last night was the night of all nights. The gay man's Super Bowl. The Tony Awards. Man oh man how excited were we to watch the one awards show a year that we can actually sit through. We were even more excited to turn on NY1 here in the city and see "Live on the Red Carpet". And our excitement faded after one minute when we realized how horrible it was. Tony Awards fashion is definitely not as exciting as Academy Awards fashion. But the night isn't about fashion - it's about incredibly talented artists who can't dress to save their lives (see: Carrie Fisher). And the nominees for Best Featured Bullets in a Blog are...

• Let's get the bad over with. The two bad things about the show were the ridiculous choices of musical numbers and horrible sound engineering. Sure, Shrek isn't the most amazing musical on the block, but they could have picked a much better number. And Billy Elliot should have picked a different song, as well. We haven't seen the show yet, but judging from that one performance, we would say that Next to Normal kind of got robbed. And all the sound mixing was way off. Thank you alto 2 part... and Jennifer Cody.
• The first go round we completely missed Bret Michaels getting clotheslined during the big opening number. Then we watched the video over and over. We don't necessarily think him falling is funny, but we think the fact that Stockard Channing completely has no idea what's going on is pretty funny.
• Of course we had a lot of fun watching the Rock of Ages performance. How cool was it that people in the audience had lights? And we will never stop loving Amy Spanger. But what we loved the most about this performance was the ridiculous camera angle at the end of the song. Did anyone else notice?? Hello crotch shot.
• How about that Guys and Dolls backdrop, eh? It reminded us of the national tour of Starlight Express. And that should never be an association made with a Broadway show.
• The opening number was amazing. That was the first time we cried last night. Other times included Karen Olivo's speech, Next to Normal's performance, the "In Memoriam" presentation, and when we ran out of bean dip.
• We're so glad the Tony Awards weren't hosted by Hugh Jackman. And of course we loved Neil Patrick Harris's final song that was written by the hilarious South Park guys, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Does anyone else think Neil Patrick Harris and Gavin Creel would make a cute couple? They would have gorgeous kids. Dad? Help?

Even though a lot of sound engineers were fired last night, we think the 2009 Tony Awards was very entertaining! Next time let's leave out the touring shows. And get ready for a blog starring YOU guys! That's right, let's see what you all thought of the Tony's!

This blog is dedicated to the valiant man who ran Titus Burgess's microphone onstage when he was in dire need of salvation.

It's the Day of the Show, Y'all

Update time! Keep your eyes open for posts about Toxic Avenger and 9 to 5 which we just saw! They're coming we promise. Right NOW, though, we're too busy getting excited about Chef Chris Collins's famous 7-layer dip.

OH. And the Tony's. We cannot wait. We're expecting to feel literally every emotion known to man. Get ready for a crazy Tony's blog!

Bloggin' and Boppin'

Everyone, it's summertime. Meaning lunch is eaten at Melito's everyday, Gelati Celesti is eaten for breakfast and dinner everyday, and there's generally no thought of getting in a swimsuit because of the fact that Melito's and Gelati Celesti is all we eat. But for those of you who CAN chill by the pool and not get second-degree burns after being outside for three minutes, working out to fit in your itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini or speedo (?) is a must. In workout magazines, celebs often give their ultimate workout playlist for their iPod. Since we're celebs, and since we work out (again, insert question mark in parentheses...?) we've decided to give you the ultimate playlist for your iPod- BROADWAY STYLE!

1. "So Much Better" from Legally Blonde- The rhythm is perfect, and all you need to do is picture all the tiny sorority girls in this show and you'll be sure to crank that treadmill up to 6. Or 5.2.... for a minute and then stay on 4.0 for about 30 minutes.

2. Literally any song from Altar Boyz- did you see those Swift Creek boy banders? Talk about a workout! And with songs like these (we especially love "God Put the Rhythm in Me") you'll be sweating almost as much as Chris Stewart and Annie did after "NYC" in Annie.

3. "Mamma Mia" from Les Miserables- Har har. But again, perfect rhythm, great tune. Just try not to picture Meryl Streep when you're pumping.

4. "Go, Go, Go Joseph" from Joseph- Stop laughing. Or rolling your eyes. The only problem is fast-forwarding through the blah of the Baker and the Butler or whoever.

5. "It Won't Be Long Now" from In the Heights- Karen Olivo is SO awesome on this song. And Lin-Manuel Miranda, well, you know how we feel about him. Just pretend that you're running toward him...

6. "Comfort and Joy" from Bat Boy- This song is GOOD. We'll always have memories of Scott Wichmann doing such an awesome job at this role at the Firehouse. Just pretend that you're running toward him...

7. "It's Your Wedding Day" from The Wedding Singer- Who doesn't like working out to 80s music? Or in this case music that sounds like it was written in the 80s and comes with choreography that literally throws in every stereotypical 80s move in a time-span of about 90 seconds?

8. Literally any song from Fosse or Movin' Out- We particularly like "Crunchy Granola Suite" or "Angry Young Man." Just think of Elizabeth Parkinson's ridiculous abs and you'll push yourself like crazy. Or hop off the Elliptical and down a milk shake because really, how will you ever get your body to look like hers? Seriously.

So let's start sweating to showtunes so we can stroot our stoof. If you have any other musical theatre workout songs, let us know!

Next to Perfect... a.k.a. The Post with the Cheesy Title

Friday night while Elyse was still in NYC, the sisters went to see the Broadway production of Next to Normal. We've heard so many awesome things about it, so we were excited to see it for ourselves. We were even more excited when Mario Cantone sat down two rows in front of us. Celebrity spotting week! And we will choose to ignore you if you are one of those people who's like, "Please. Celebrities go to the bathroom just like the rest of us." Umm. First of all, never use the word "bathroom" to prove a point. And second of all, no matter what, it's always fun to see how much you tower over them in real life. Anyway, let's talk about the show!

It was incredible. Seriously we're not yanking your chain or saying we loved it just because there are songs we can belt in our car or because Aaron Tveit (a.k.a. Nate Archibald's cousin on Gossip Girl) is perfect-looking and can sing perfectly and has a perfectly-flexible back arch that sort of comes out of nowhere. This is a show where you are literally hypnotized the whole time. Word to the wise, do not read the synopsis beforehand. Annie didn't and it was so amazing for her to be able to gasp and choke and sputter and cry while Elyse pretty much knew what was going to happen.

Every single one of the characters was believable with voices that blew us away. J. Robert Spencer (who looks a ridiculous amount like Ricky Martin) had us in tears in a good way every time he sang. Jennifer Damiano is a teen prodigy. Alice Ripley is just TOO GOOD. With her slightly Irish twang and her somewhat crazy eyes, she delivered a performance that was so heartfelt, you sometimes can't believe someone can actually be packed with that much talent.

Usually woe-is-me, woe-is-our-family stories tend to annoy us, because a lot of the times they're not done genuinely. The teenager is usually a stereotype, pissed off at the world but only because a 50-year-old writer wrote her that way. This show presents a family whom you connect to, who you root for, and who you pity. We know we're coming off a little bit serious here, but to us, this show proved a point. Although the lite-brite set with its sliding panels were awesome, they could have done away with that and just presented us with a group of musicians and actors- and the show still would have been incredible. This was a rock musical, with belting and a lot of riffing on the electric guitar. Yet there was no unnecessary stomping. There was no yelling to get a note. There was no forced emotion. It was incredible.

Hopefully this show will last really long, even if it doesn't win the Tony. Which it totally should. And we say that having not seen Rock of Ages or Billy Elliot. We feel like since that show won every award possible in London, it shouldn't be allowed to win that many again. Although we do love Elton. Speaking of Elton, do you remember when he sang with Eminem on that awards show? And speaking of Eminem what are you guys' thoughts on him walking out of the Movie Awards? Was that fake?

Good, We Weren't Hallucinating...

Do you agree? Scary looking.

Where Did We Go?

Ahhh! We're so bad at sticking to things! And by things we mean this blog. And diets. But we're feeling creative now and we felt like writing blogs that anyone who likes theatre will enjoy. Or not get it but read anyway because they're related to us. 

Right now the two of us are in New York because Annie is temping at BAM for a few weeks and Elyse doesn't have anything else to do. We're trying to see as many nominated shows as possible before the Tony's because we want to have an educated opinion on who wins as opposed to in the old days when we really wanted A Class Act to win because we apparently LOVED the song they performed on the Tony's? He looks like a combination of every boy in Sunday School with us. And what's the deal with pre-Lady-of-the-Lake Sara Ramirez? Anyway, last night our mom took us to see Hair so we have some thoughts about it! Let the bulletshine in.

•  Okay so first off, our seats were in the third row so we could kind of see backstage and 5 minutes before the show started, Elyse looks in the wings and goes, "Is that Adam Lambert? That's Adam Lambert. That's totally Adam Lambert. Look, it's Adam Lambert." And lo and behold, a couple seconds later Adam Lambert strolls into the theatre from the side door and sits a couple rows behind us! He looks scary in person. It was cool because every cast member of Hair pumped up their performance so much for the idol  in the audience.
• Everyone knows that Hair is the show where they get naked. Well, they got naked all right. But it was so unnecessary! They chose the most unassuming song in which to get naked. And Will Swenson (Berger), who was INCREDIBLE in the show apparently had an inferiority complex during the naked scene... he was hiding. And so was his -
• Mom had some hilarious one-liners. When they all got naked, she leaned over and whispered, "Hmm. The whole time I thought one of the actors was a girl. He's not." And then when Gavin Creel was trying to find ways to get out of getting drafted, she said, "Once the officers see that he's slightly cross-eyed he'll get out of duty." 
• Sasha Allen played Dionne. As in the "How Shall I See You Through My Tears" girl from Camp (once again, if you haven't seen this movie yet, you HAVE to). Apparently she's the one to go to if you need to open a show with a girl staring at you wearing a lot of lip gloss. Seriously, when she was standing at the point of the triangle before "Aquarius", we thought it would pan out to her wearing a tie-dyed tube top and a prepubescent Robin DeJesus would walk up to her with his shirt off.

The show was awesome and we're totally rooting for it for Best Revival. But we kind of think West Side Story is going to get it because of the whole bilingual thing. We'll see. When it gets closer to the big day we'll have our picks for the winners and maybe we'll do a contest to see who can get the most amount of guesses correct. Or something. Or we could have a Guess How Early Elyse Will Start Crying During The Tony's contest. 

Glad you're here reading this, you loyal friend, you! We promise we're not gone. Sorry you kept coming to the page to see "LUGUBRIOUS." 

"LUGUBRIOUS."

We sisters are together at last! Together forever! We're tying a knot that can only be severed when one sister promises to call the other one back because the other has big news and then the other sister "forgets" to because she has "light strike." Anyway, sorry these blog posts are so sporadic (again, thank you Cher Horowitz... and again, thank you makers of Clueless for making her last name so obviously Jewish). But we plan on making them much more frequent because there seems to be a lot we want to talk about. For now, let's rock out with our bullets out!

• Did you think we'd go without talking about the Tony nominations? Well here they are, in case you haven't seen them yet. We're a little ashamed because we haven't seen a lot of the musicals that have been nominated for a lot (like Billy Elliott, which we had the opportunity to go to but opted out because we weren't in the mood to cry all of the liquid out of our body). Um, Rock of Ages for Best Musical? Seriously? Even though we haven't seen it, that title makes us throw up in our mouths a little bit.
• We're so excited that Stockard Channing got nominated for Pal Joey. For some reason, she feels like the long-lost alcoholic aunt we never had. We're also excited that Hunter Bell got nominated for Best Book of a Musical for [Title of Show]- too bad it didn't get more nominations. Other than that, we don't have much to say other than obviously we can't wait to watch the awards and eat and drink "Angel HAIR Pasta," "Pal Cups o' Joe-y," "Next to Noodles," and "Guys and Dills..." Hm, apparently the rain stunts our puns. And apparently we will be having a lot of pasta on Tony night.
• This doesn't have to do with musicals or theatre but there's a website we found out about called Awkward Family Photos and it's so funny. There are only archives from April and May so it hasn't been around long but it's bound to get more and more hilarious. Go to it and read the captions. We want to send one of our family photos in and hopefully make it on the site. Here's our top contender so far. We're bound to find some that are even more awkward. Probably the best part of this photo is the cow holding yarn?
  
• As Mr. T. pointed out, theaters in Richmond are starting to announce their season. It's funny that there's talk about who will play who because it reminds us of high school. Obviously we wonder as well! What's on our minds right now is Spelling Bee at the Barksdale, because auditions for that are going on at the moment and it's just such a freakin' awesome and hilarious show. When we saw the show in New York we loved it and hoped that our friend Mike would get asked to be one of the spellers but he wasn't :( Oh well, Mike, maybe in Richmond.
• Anyway, who knows who will play who. It could go a lot of different ways. But out of the people we know, we know we're rooting for Drake the Butler to play William Barfee with an accent aigu. Seriously, we'd pay so much money (wow, maybe even $38!) to see him spell words out with his magic foot and have an allergic reaction to peanuts. It'd just be so great.

The one year anniversary of our blog is coming up kind of soon! ...........punch and pie.

Annie, You're Okay

Last Friday I, Elyse, had the pleasure of seeing Annie at the "Historic Empire Theater." I'm kind of jealous that whenever anyone mentions the Empire Theater they have to put the word Historic in front of it. I wish whenever people said my name they had to put a really awesome capitalized adjective in front of it. I'll let you guys come up with some suggestions for said adjective because right now all that's coming to mind is "Unsinkable." Anyway, onto the show!

• The set was great in a slanty kind of way. I was a little nauseated at first but then I got used to it and actually thought it was incredibly cool. And then this Saturday when I was staying in New York for a couple of nights I actually realized that all of New York is actually on a slant. Who knew?
• The second the show started I started crying and I didn't stop until 13 minutes into intermission when I decided that if I didn't pull it together for Act 2 then Annie would get mad at me that I looked disheveled for the barbecue reception afterwards. Annie the orphan, not Annie my sister. The show is just too good and the music for some reason makes my heart break into 12565 pieces.
• Gordon Bass was incredibly impressive as Daddy Warbucks, Sarah Day was adorable and incredibly talented as Annie, Joy Williams was absolutely hilarious as Miss Hannigan, Rachel Abrams was heart-warming as Grace, Rooster and Lily were an outstanding duo, Robin Harris-Jones nailed her star-to-be solo, and Annie Steingold was an incredible Boylan sister/Hoorvervillian/maid - your eye was drawn to her perhaps because she is ridiculously talented or perhaps because her wigs on her were ridiculous.
• Cody, Cody, Cody. I don't even know what to say. He was too much. Let's just say that during the reception afterwards I walked away from Bruce Miller mid-sentence when I saw that Cody was in the lobby. Priorities.

I could write 12 blog posts about how great I thought the show was. It makes you laugh, it makes me cry, it's a spectacular show that Robin Arthur has done a fantastic job on. Everyone should go see this! A Steingold is on the Richmond Theatre Stage!! Who knew this would ever happen? I sure didn't. Especially not after my audition for Big. Ha. But it looks like after 13 years, Annie has broken the Steingold curse (similar to Princess Fiona's but minus the ogre part. Or maybe not...?).

I went and saw Rooms: A Rock Romance this past Sunday off-Broadway and it was incredible so some kind of something will be on the blog about that soon. And as a sign off, I (and by I I mean my mom) made up a song to the tune of "It's a Hard Knock Life" when I was in elementary school to help me learn how many feet and yards were in a mile for a test. So here goes...

fifty-two eighty feet go 

in a mile don't you know

if you walk five-two-eight-oh

your feet'll get there don't you know

fifty-two eighty

(and then this next part goes with the don't you feel like the wind is always howlin' part)

seventeen-sixty yards are in a mile

seventeen-sixty yards are very far

seventeen-sixty yards'll make me smile

when I get a hundred on my test tomorr-

This verse tells a lot about me as a third grader. Number 1: I don't start studying for things until the night before. And Number 2: I half-assed rhymes.

We Will Never Be Hip

Nothing too interesting has happened in the Steingold Sisters' lives since that gem of an iMovie was released of the Annie cast. So we're going to have to pass the time with some bullets. They always brighten our day.

• Elyse recently bought the Next to Normal CD, which she LOVES. But she was really curious as to what the plot was so she Googled the synopsis. What came up? "An Asian-American rock star looks back on his family history." Seriously. So I guess Alice Ripley really IS that good of an actress. From Siamese twin to Asian-American rock star? What's next, Juan in Altar Boyz?
• Has anyone on earth besides us seen Teen Witch? It was this crazy 80's movie about this nerdy girl who turns out to have magical powers and she makes herself popular. And it's a musical. And it's AMAZING. Here's a number from the movie just to prove how awesome it is. We wish our best friend had the powers to make us brave enough to get involved in a rap battle with the guy we have a crush on. We just wonder whether or not Michael Hawke would be up for the challenge...
• Elyse used to be OBSESSED with The Swan Princess which was one of those not-quite-Disney-movies where the songs were just as good and there were just as many jokes for adult audiences, but all of the characters' eyes were slightly crossed. Anyway, our favorite song from the movie is "This is My Idea of Fun" and we watched it the other day and never realized how ridiculous the lyrics get at 3:15. If you're too lazy to watch this whole song (which would really be a shame because you're missing out on some amazingness), the whole thing is about how these two kids from two different royal families knew they were going to get married eventually and they keep playing tricks on one another and not wanting to get married and it shows them through the years growing up and still being annoyed with one another. THEN, right in the middle it cuts to all of the townspeople and these are literally the lyrics:

We need a royal wedding

I'd love to be invited

At least we'd get a holiday to rest our plows and axes

Someday these two will marry

Two lands will be united

And with some luck their marriage will result in lower taxes!

Seriously. Those are the lyrics. We wonder what parents thought when they watched this movie with their kids? Honestly, what was the first draft?

We need a royal wedding

I'd love to be invited

But if I'm not invited then they better make abortion legal!

Daddy Warbucks Dances Hip Hop

Come see Annie. With a cast this cool, you're sure to have a good time.

Altar Boyz Rulez... and so does Shari Lewis

Friday night, Annie, the non-redhead, and her family, minus the redhead, drove out to Colonial Heights, passed the Beary Crafts Store, and went to see Altar Boyz at Swift Creek Mill Theatre. Now, let's preface this "review" with a few things. First, as soon as we left the theatre, our dad said, "Now we don't go to 'the Mill' that often, but every time we do, I love what we see." And that's so true! We've only seen six shows there- the first one being 1776 starring Duke Laffoon as Thomas Jefferson (nice), but literally every time we have a ball. If it wasn't an hour away we'd definitely make it out there more often. 

Second, this review might be a little biased because Annie and Elyse are, in actuality, huge fans of boy bands. Funny story: Annie and her friend Erin were, in cough *the beginning of high school* cough kind of obsessed with *NSync. So much so that they decided to learn all the choreography to "Dirty Pop," record themselves dancing to it, and send it into TRL- when the show was still popular and Carson Daly was the host. And guess what? On the season premiere, their video was played on the closing credits! Very cool. So bragging about that claim-to-fame aside, no matter what, Annie will like a show with boy bands.

And OH. MY. GOSH. What an AMAZING SHOW! Even someone who doesn't know who *NSync is would love the show. If only you could have seen the 80-year-old man clapping to the beat in the second row. Incredible lighting. Really great and fitting choreography. And really talented guys who danced so hard and strong, the floor literally shook. Kid you not. Annie looked over at one point and her parents were bouncing a little bit.

"Everybody Fits" was our favorite number in the show, and it also was when we saw the show in NYC. However, in Swift Creek's production, they added a hilarious touch that we didn't see in New York. All the guys were just too cute. Brandon Becker as the lead is an amazing dancer, and we've actually always thought that he looked like JC Chasez of *NSync, so that's a nice touch. Sean Williams as Abraham had a really great voice, Eric Stallings as Luke was hilarious and able to hold himself up in the air for a really long time, and David Janeski was so cute and sweet as Mark. Finally, even if Brett Ambler was playing Aida, as long as he opened his mouth to sing, we would have loved him. Awesome voice, and funny. Nice :).... remember that? ;)

In short, just go see this show. We're not kidding, it's worth it. It appeals to just about everyone and will put you in a great mood. We only wish we had been able to see the other Richmond production of it. Anyone have it so we can watch it? Good. So grab some bear arts and crafts, attempt the buffet or just skip that part, and see a really fun, high-energy, and impressive show at Swift Creek Mill Theatre!

Buddy's Rebuttal. Rebuddal?

All right, so after that last post that raved about Cody (the talented actor who is playing "Sandy" in Annie), our dog Buddy got seriously upset. If you blog readers thought Annie and Elyse were the only performers in the Steingold family (besides our mom at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, but that's another story for another long-winded blog...), you were wrong. Buddy had a lead role in Godwin High School's production of Steel Magnolias. Seriously. Elyse didn't make the show but her dog was in it. He played M'Lynn. Sally Field, watch out. Below is the picture that was showcased on stage. You happy, Buddy? 

We Think You're Gonna Like It Here

Just Annie here! Alright, so Dave T. recently called us out and questioned how it was that we have nothing to talk about. He suggested we talk about Annie rehearsals then used a big word. So, I don't want to get annoying and ALWAYS talk about this show, but here's the first update. Number one, please check out this incredibly adorable picture of Sarah Day, who's playing Annie, and Cody, who's playing Daddy Warbucks.

Not sure how anyone could avoid seeing the show after having looked at this picture. Well, okay you're excused if you're allergic to dogs and gingers. But again, this is probably one of the cutest pictures we've ever seen. 

The cast of this show is pretty awesome, and Robin Arthur, the director/choreographer, is pretty kick-ass. Obviously Annie is biased, but we're thinking that this show is going to be REALLY good. Gordon Bass as Warbucks is so endearing, I wish he would adopt me. And he's so funny, too. Love a man with comic timing. Rachel Abrams as Grace is just so talented and such a loving character. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of Hannigan's scenes, but if the other scenes are any indication, Hannigan's are sure to be just as good. 

Also, I can't leave out Jason Marks, especially since he told me how hilarious he thinks our blog is and admitted to being a Muppet fan. NICE. Wait until you see me doing fancy dancing with him Upstage Left. We're kind of the best. Jason as Drake honestly is so funny that everytime he says a line I laugh. Oh, and Jason? 1,236. That is all.

So go ahead and buy your ticket to see this amazing show and to support a really great cast and an awesome director. 

What Do We Think?

We're not kidding when we said there's really not much to talk about. We're excited to see Altar Boyz at Swift Creek and we're really upset we missed the other production. Especially because Eddie Tavares would make a perfect Juan.

In the meantime, let's talk about the Where the Wild Things Are trailer, which Elyse has now proceeded to watch about 50 times. Part of the time we were crying, part of the time we were elated, and part of the time we were glad they found a use for the Gorgs' costumes on Fraggle Rock. Besides the fact that the trailer alone is pretty amazing, this movie has so much potential. Let's ignore the fact that the voice of the Wild Thing at the very beginning of the trailer seems a little unfitting.

Like We Didn't Love Them Enough Already...

Welcome to Steingold Mekai

Tonight, the Steingold sisters ventured out to Hanover Tavern for the first time ever. And we mean ventured. We've never passed so many haunted houses in our lives. We were very excited when we got there and realized Hanover Tavern is gorgeous. The area around the building is very quaint, old-fashioned, and charming. All the history fits right in... unlike the Civil War Trail we've been to in Charlottesville that cuts directly through a Waffle House and a Sell-It-On-Ebay Store.

It was nice finally getting to see Mona's Arrangements in person, considering we've seen about 300 pictures and videos talking about it online. Time to bring the bullets back!

• First off, pretty cool that this is a world premiere- and of a MUSICAL! It's always nice to hear new songs. Props to Bo Wilson and Steve Liebman for literally writing a show. We love smart people.
  
• We personally think the show should be retitled Mona's High-Heeled Flip Flops, because Jan sported them in every color of the rainbow, including gold. Anyone else notice that?
• Speaking of Jan Guarino, she's just too cute! We want her to be our aunt, but we don't want her stealing men from us who are our age. We have a hard enough time with guys as it is. Jan totally has a lot of heart, and audiences can't help but eat up her every line. We're pretty sure that after this show, Haynes will increase their sale of Clik Claks (yes, we went to the Haynes website. And yes, we now want to buy a Clik Clak).
• Audra Honaker embodied the part of the rambunctious match-making niece. We also were impressed with the random note progression that she tackled at the end of one of her songs. The note progression sounded a little like the Torah portion at our Bat Mitzvahs. She handled it very well the second time she sang it, during the unnecessary reprise where Jan changes into another cute dress with matching high-heeled flip flops.
• Scott Wichmann as the young love interest was entertaining as always. We loved his first big number! When he literally jumped over the baseball bat, we realized that this number was a conglomeration of the "Special Skills" section on a resume. "Tap dance, impressions, can jump over baseball bat, valid Driver's License." He's also SO funny and genuine to watch. We want to be real friends with him. But honestly, Facebook would work, too. We'll be awaiting your request.

So as you work your way down the Civil War Trail, make sure you stop along the way to see Mona's Arrangements. Oh, and something funny to leave you with. As we were leaving the theatre, we overheard the conversation of two very elderly women. We've reenacted it for you. The third character was added so as to include our mom. Blooper reel also available.