Disney's Aladdin - North American Tour playing at the Cadillac Palace in Chicago

Another magnet added to the collection

I saw the second performance of Disney's Aladdin North American Tour last night at the Cadillac Palace from three rows from the backrow in the balcony - and I want to go see it again!

I've been a subscriber of Broadway in Chicago for near 10 years now and although I was not excited about many of the shows in this years spring package - I was excited about Aladdin.

The one thing about a Disney Production is that it is a PRODUCTION.  Oh my goodness, the costumes, the sets (even though it's a touring set), the dancers and the leads make it one heck of a show.

Don't think that you're going to get a scene by scene rendering of the classic 1992 movie starring Robin Williams - you're going to get something different and better.  I know sacrilegious, right?  But it is a different show.  The theme is the same, the scenes are the same but they don't try to disguise people as animals (i.e. Iago) instead you've got fully fleshed out character and his side-kick has been transformed into three best friends.

This tour includes the original Ali - Adam Jacobs and introduces Anthony Murphy as the Genie.  Adam was wonderful and kept the show grounded because Anthony blew the roof off.  At first he really reminded me of Titus Burgess' character Titus Andromeda from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, but then he morphed, and morphed again he had one-liner after one-liner and not old ones, new ones.

Enough has been written about the show itself, but this is the first production of the National Tour so that's why it requires being written about.  The show is so popular that it's been extended until September 10th and to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it were extended through the Holidays.

The thing with an actual Disney production, and not the faux kind like the last touring company of "Disney's Beauty and The Beast" presented by "not Disney," is that you get a REAL show.  From the very opening notes of the orchestra you're swept away to the dessert and land of Agrabah.

The costumes were beautiful, brightly colored and the men were mostly shirtless - I was for once sad that I was three rows from the back instead of three rows from the front!  For only the second "public" performance by this Cast, they have really pulled it together.  There were a few klumps along the way, but there was nothing that was distracting or made you go tsk tsk.

I would seriously go again to just watch the Cave of Wonders/Friend Like Me number over and over.

 Up until that point the sets were expected, they did a good job of portraying the scene but they were just good.  OMG, the Cave of Wonders was AMAZING and it just kept going and going.  When he first entered the Cave there were a few things on stage, and then more came from the fly space, more came from the sides, more came from down in front it just kept coming and coming and truly became a Cave of Wonders.

This is the scene where Ali meets Genie for the first time and Genie sings "Friend Like Me" a nearly 8 minute long production number with nearly the entire cast jumping up from inside the stage, appearing in columns magically on stage, performing a magic chest trick, wearing rhinestone tuxedos that were blinding me three-rows from the back - it was spectacular and THEN there was the tap number, pyrotechnics and confetti!  When the number finished the audience clapped for nearly 3 minutes, seriously we just clapped and clapped and clapped it was awe inspiring and probably one of the best scenes I have ever seen on stage, so much better than Be Our Guest - meh!  The cast really pulled it together and presented a spectacular number, I can only imagine that it will get better the more they perform it.

Yep, that's my view from my seats

I haven't even talked about the Magic Carpet yet - that transition from Jasmine's room to the carpet is a bit wonky, but once they're on the carpet it's amazing.  Perhaps it was a mix up but the entire scene was REALLY dark, like from the third row from the back I could barely see what was going on.  I know there's some amazing technology behind making that carpet go all over the stage, but it was just really too dark to see what was going on.  It's like when they don't want you to really see the monster in a horror movie so it's really dark - it was that dark.  The scene itself was beautiful to watch, I seriously thought they were about to do a Mary Poppins and have them fly off the stage into the audience.  Sidenote:  Mary Poppins started it's National Tour in Chicago in the same theater.

One of the nice things I like about being a subscriber - is getting to see the show EARLY, literally this was the second public performance of this cast and it's going to be running through September.  I would like to go back and see it later this year if I can find some affordable tickets, just to see how much better they are going to get as they hit their marks, find their groove and really get into the show, I know they'll be phenomenal.

Find out more information about Disney's Aladdin playing at Broadway In Chicago

Gettin Jiggy With It "Old Style"

Gettin Jiggy With It "Old Style"
Originally uploaded by Michael_L.

This was originally written on January 27, 2001, but for some reason I must have hit "save" instead of Post. So here you go.

A friend surprised me this week with a vintage present, a cassette tape of the original "Into The Woods" cast album! We've been talking about this show recently, because it's Sondheim and we've been on a Sondheim kick since we went to NYC and saw Company. He asked me if I knew the music and I said "Oh yeah, I used to have it on cassette tape and it was one of my favorite tapes when I was growing up. "

Which made me have a vintage thought........thinking about the last time I really listened to this tape.....on a cassette player.....I was suddenly transported back to the late-mid-Eighties (That's the nice way to say 1987)....there I was in High School with my big hair and geeky glasses....pretending I was straight.

Looking back on it, I was SO GAY the funny thing is that I REALLY thought I was hiding it. I used to listen showtunes on my cassette player for God's Sake. I had all the hits of the day on cassette: CATS!, Phantom and Les Miz. I had listened to those cassette tapes so many times that the ink was rubbed off of the label....and then somewhere around 1987 or so "Into the Woods" came around. I had already been to New York several times by this time and I was mad that I heard about Into the Woods - after it had already closed.

I love this soundtrack, a few months ago The Boyfriend bought the "revival" version with Vanessa Williams - ick she can't hold a candle to Bernadette Peters. I used to listen to this tape more often than the others because I knew all of them by heart and this was new. Also this was Sondheim, and to me Sondheim was hi-brow! You either appreciate Sondheim or you don't, I'm not going to try and explain it. Unfortunately I never had the chance to see this live, but I used to sing the songs all the time. I'm sure I was singing out loud in the car and not even caring, all the while thinking that people thought I was straight.

The only problem with this gem of a musical find is that I only own one cassette player (remember when it used to be "I only own 1 CD player) and that is in the boombox that I keep in my bathroom! (And it's the same one that Ms. Mac has) So the last few days I've been listening to it while I'm getting ready for work in the morning. I've been singing in the shower, surprised at how many lyrics I remember.....it's really weird, I haven't listened to this version in probably 15+ years but it comes back so quickly.

Isn't it great though when you can be transported back to a place just by listening to music?

So, I'll share my High School picture if you'll share yours....who's going first?

**POST SCRIPT** I still love "Into the Woods" and I'm really excited that a movie version is being filmed now and will be out soon.

Chess in Concert - drop the newspaper and put it in the DVD Player!

Oh my god, I'm in love!

I am IN LOVE with Chess In Concert!

Earlier this year they did a concert version of the original concept album for Chess and taped it. It was on PBS when it first released as part of their "Great Performances" and I missed it because I don't have a DVR, VCR or Cable - I suck, I know!

But it came yesterday via Netflix and I have to tell you I've listened to it 4 times already. I love it love it love it love it.

I was always intrigued by this show because it has lyrics by Tim Rice (who collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber a lot) and Benny and whats his name from Abba!

Yes that's right, the Abba Musical. It never made it big, which is sad because it's actually a very interesting show. One time when I lived in Atlanta I had a roommate who was an electronic musician and wrote the orchestration for this show on his computer and I "ran the sound board" for the show.....or was it wait 'The Secret Garden' which is also a pretty interesting show....whatever.

This performance is phenomenal, Idina Menzel, Josh Groban, Adam Pascal and so many other amazing performers put on a complete concert of the show with a full orchestra, back up dancers, and a full chorus - and it was taped at the Royal Albert Hall (and you know that's fancy).

The very interesting thing I find though is that how some parts of it are so familiar, there are several parts that sounds almost like Evita and other parts that are complete riffs from Abba but before you can quite place it, they're gone. It's almost like how Sunset Boulevard sounds very similar to Aspects of Love in some places.

Ok, I'm done typing, gotta get back and continue watching CHESS!

And thus The Big Gay Marathon begins

4 Shows in 6 Days!

Starting last night and proceeding through Tuesday of next week I will be going to 4 shows.....someone has to do it.

I've been practicing the last few weeks, listening to only showtunes on my iPod, tap dancing while I'm waiting for the elevator (I had to stop that as my co-workers thought I just had to pee really badly), I've been working on my breathing so I can hold the long notes as long as the best Diva on stage, and I've stocked up on candies that don't make noises when they're unwrapped during the quiet romantic song at the end of Act I!

I just hope that all of my training will pay off, as I'll need it to get through this difficult time!

To kick off this hugely gay event, last evening I went to see Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and before you ask - NO, Johnny Depp was not there. This was the live version of the show that was recently on Broadway.

The great thing about this show is that it was staged by John Doyle and the actors are the orchestra. You may remember that back in November 2006 I went to New York and The Boyfriend and I went to see Company where I ended up starting a round of applause for a fabulously delivered line. Company was also directed by John Doyle (and it also happens to be a Sondheim) and it was on the same theme where the actors were the orchestra.

Sweeney was a great show, the actors were strong and after a few minutes the mysticism of them playing instruments while onstage faded away. I enjoyed the show a lot, but unfortunately my friend that joined me didn't enjoy it and actually left during intermission. He said that his knees were bothering him from being cramped in our seats at a high altitude, but I think he just didn't like the show!

Part II of TBGM (The Big Gay Marathon) is a viewing of Jersey Boys. This was part of the Broadway Series last year, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see it. Through a set of bizarre circumstances a friend of a friend of a friend had some extra tickets to this evenings performance - and so I pounced!

Part III of TBGM occurs on Saturday Evening when I'll be having a discrete conversation with Margaret Cho. Well I'm sure it won't be just me, there will probably be some other homo's there as well. I'll be interested to see how many Straight Boys show up at that concert as Maggie is pretty much a Gay Icon!

The Final Event of TBGM will be three more days in the making when we go see Yelle. Now this will probably be a more one-on-one type of show because she's not a huge artist (although her music is very cool) and the space she's performing in was basically someone's house a hundred years ago....hmmmm

So I'm finishing up my training today and getting my stockpile of protien shakes made so that I can have the strength to finish this Big Gay Marathon.

Hold on, cuz it's gonna be a bumpy ride!