Back in the Habit

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

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

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

Daily Obsession

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

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

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

Friday Night Plans? Done.

In case you haven't seen the sparkly commercials, MAMMA MIA THE MOVIE IS GOING TO BE A SING-ALONG! Were you already singing along, much to the chagrin of the stranger sitting next to you? Well, now you can sing along and it won't be awkward! Well, maybe it still will be, but at least it's expected.

We are totally going to this. Like, no kidding. Friday night, Regal Short Pump 14, 6:55, wearing glittery spandex. Ha, no, but seriously, Annie will be in an Afro wig and Elyse will be in a one-piece bathing suit, sitting Indian style. 

We hope to see all of you there! .... punch and pie. 

NewsFlash!

This just in. We've received word that Annie's friend, Caroline, now works in New York City two floors below the man, the myth, the legend.... the boy of our dreams... the Muppet... Bernie Telsey.

All of our dreams have come true. We will camp out there. And we will see him. And we will be too scared to talk to him. Although we will tousle his hair. 

This has been another special report from the treadmill and elliptical, respectively. Signing out.

Boy Bands, "Children", and a Lotta Scott-a

"Another season of awesome shows, from Broad Street, Ashland, to Lawn of Willow, a chance for (Richmond) stage folks to say 'hello!', another season of some awesome shows!" ...If Cole Porter knew what we just did to his song, he'd be rolling in his grave. As you can see, the Steingold sisters will never have a future in songwriting.

Let's talk about the 2008-2009 season of Richmond theatre! But first, we have to preface this by saying plays are not our forte, so mainly we're going to be talking about musicals. Although Elyse did see The Tale of the Allergist's Wife on Broadway at age ten. Mistake. So, here are our thoughts...

Musicals galore! Oh, how we love the musicals that are being put on this season. Firehouse is doing The Great American Trailer Park Musical- so cool! We're really excited to see it because we don't know much about it. Swift Creek is doing Side Show, which we've also never seen yet love the music. Stage 1 is doing only musicals- very, very cool, and brave. Tick, Tick..., Summer of '42, Children's Letters to God... speaking of Children's Letters to God, which opens February 6, the Barksdale also has a show opening February 6- Children of a Lesser God. Kid you not. Granted the two shows are entirely different, but seriously? Let's just hope that no one shows up at one expecting the other.

Speaking of "seriously?", two different Richmond theatre companies- Swift Creek and Richmond Triangle Players- are doing Altar Boyz, which we saw in New York and LOVED- it's absolutely hilarious. So, two doses of it will be nice. Kind of weird, but nice. What we would love to see is the two casts have a boy band battle. Like, a dance-off or something. Then we got to thinking about a Richmond theatre boy band. And oh, do we have ideas of who would be in it.

We have a lot of Scott Wichmann shows coming our way this season- or at least two that we know of so far. Henley Street Theatre is doing Richard III, with Scott as the title role. Very exciting. We'd go to anything that has Bat Boy in it. Let's just reiterate that we were so obsessed with his Bat Boy portrayal at the Firehouse that this has become our pet name for him. Yeah, we're that close... in our dreams. By the way, Henley Street is doing really smart shows this season, basically all ones that Annie had to read in Drama lit classes. The Barksdale is doing This Wonderful Life, a one-man show featuring Scott as all the characters from the movie It's a Wonderful Life. This should be very impressive to see. We personally have never seen It's a Wonderful Life. No, no, it's not because we're Jewish. It's because we've always had beef with Beulah Bondi. Just us? Ok. We're totally impressed with the Barksdale's promotional ad for this show, with illustrations of Scott.

We want to be drawn into a Barksdale illustration! Robert Meganck's style is so awesome. However, what's up with the Millie illustration? Oh, how we hope the real Millie won't look so awkward when she dances. And oh, how we love Millie! Great music, great dancing numbers... speaking of dancing numbers, how perfect would Amy Farley be as the choreographer? We personally can't think of anyone who could do a better job. Seriously. She should do it.

So many shows to look forward to- let's go out there and support theatre! Even if it is a play. We'll try. And be on the lookout for the new Richmond theatre boy band!

What the Dickens?

Alrighty. So once again we were gone for the weekend and unable to update. This time? Visiting our grandparents in Virginia Beach. It was fun. The apartment was kept at a consistent 78 degrees, the Olympics was watched with the volume at a consistent decibel level of 98, and we played Rummikub (haven't heard of it? Really? Oh, that's because the game hasn't been bought/played since 1978.) 17 times. However, all of that aside, it's always really interesting talking to our grandma because she grew up in New York and has seen the most amazing slew of shows. Like, she saw Ben Vereen in the original production of Pippin, and saw the real Gypsy Rose Lee perform. And we're pretty sure she saw John Adams in the original production of 1776. Impressive.

Okay, so has anyone else been curious about A Tale of Two Cities, the musical? We want everyone to watch this trailer for the show. Is it just us or does it seem soooo derivative of other shows? I mean, they have the creepy harlequin presenters of the guillotine (Pippin, anyone?), kind of creepy-but-comical adult man resting his elbow on a little boy (Oliver, anyone?), dead people dancing (Urinetown, anyone?), and, oh, hi, the fact that it's a musical about a revolution in France that involves stories of love and redemption. Mamma Mia, anyone?

Ha. But seriously. If you're too lazy to follow that link and watch the trailer, the lyrics to the song are literally, "It won't be long, it won't be long, it won't be long, until tomorrow!" Oh, so what you're saying is that you only have ONE DAY MORE before everything changes? Interesting.

However, according to the people commenting on Youtube, it's actually a really good show...like Les Mis but without the boring parts. Their words, not ours. So maybe we'll see it when we go to New York to see Equus. How many people have made jokes about being excited to see Harry's Potter? Eh, add us to that list.

Not Her Strongest Suit

We're taking a big risk with this post. First of all, we're commenting on a video from a show that's not even on Broadway anymore- Aida. Old news, right? Well, thanks to YouTube, everything old is new again (quoting Boy from Oz? That's risky, too). Secondly, this has to do with the Idina Menzel.

Now, we all know that she's known for her rockin' pipes- or whatever you kids call it these days. And we absolutely love her. What's not to like- with her big strong voice, gorgeous husband, chiseled cheekbones, and... uh, gorgeous husband, Idina is pretty wicked ;-)

Please note that we are using this emoticon sarcastically. We don't care for emoticons.

For those of you who saw Wicked, you might have thought her, erm, dancing in the Ozdust Ballroom was just a fluke. However, we stumbled upon this old video the other night, and literally watched all of it like this: :-o .... hmm, apparently emoticons really do help you express what you need to say! But seriously, what is going on in this video? Why do they have her dancing like this? It's just so awkward. Maybe it's just us, but please watch it and see if you think it's as awkward as we do.