Fame or Famine

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams, launched a revival on March 2nd of this year. There was one major change – the entire cast was African-American. Terrence Howard (recently on screen in Iron Man) and Phylicia Rashad joined James Earl Jones and Anika Noni Rose in the critically-acclaimed production. It runs until June 22, which means I’m going to just miss it – I’ve a planned trip out to the coast in early July.
Happily, though, producer Stephen Byrd is revving up to take the show to the big screen – supplanting the classic film with Paul Newman …read more

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I often talk about the way that dances evolve, the way that they influence each other. Last night, in fact, I watched an excellent performer named Arielle do a hip-hop/bellydance fusion piece (she was also a competitor in a local So You Think You Can Dance competition, featuring Hok, interview forthcoming). Some dances are meant to be joined, and complement each other well.
I’m not so sure that this new turn of Morris Dancing is a good thing, however. According to this article in the UK Independent, there is a movement to take the traditional white-hanky-waving bell-jangling wholesome Morris Dance and …read more

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Again, we’re in the really hokey contrived drama. I appreciate the focus on the hopes and dreams, and Bruno I’m liking – he’s got the kind of aggressive tone that I always have liked in dance coaches.
It’s kind of like Fame, but live (wait, haven’t they actually got a show like that?). The music is the hardest – good lord, singing a capella? Just with a mic? Holy cow, talk about pressure. It will be interesting to see if the plot of the show improves since there is more talent to actually put into each episode.
The ubiquitous “look how …read more

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(sigh) I’m not sure I can handle four nights of this. Well, I write that as the first carol is, again, a soloist and then a backup group. The second two choirs use more of the broadness of talent that is a choir – drawing on the power of the harmonies.
I have to say…as holiday specials go, this is a fantastic idea. With all my bitching about the way the things are arranged, there still are moments like Shelton’s choir singing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” with so many happy talented changes and voice that I literally got chills.
These are …read more

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(sigh) Once again, I’m kind of disappointed. Why can’t they have the choirs showcasing really good polyphonic music? Why do we keep having unison singing? And why is everyone just completely being so nice?
The “tense Xmas music” is kind of weird…like a Santa Horror flick. I really, really despise that they try and build up that tension. It’s not that I don’t think things should be tense – I just think the way they are doing it is heavy-handed.
And finding out that Blake’s choir is in the bottom two? It is scary, in a way, the way this is …read more

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I missed the first bit of the show, and I think that means I missed Blake Shelton’s choir. Listening to Patti’s commentary makes me really think that all the other choirs really are just not going to have a chance compared to her. She’s got so much experience, so much talent, there’s just nothing that’s going to compare…Prayer and beatin’ their butt seems to be the strategy.
Iris tells me that Shelton had one iffy soloist, but was pretty good. She’s irritated that the choirs seem to be more focused on soloists & backups, rather than having group ensemble pieces. I …read more

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Last night we performed the Burlesque at the King Club in Madison, WI. There was no real publicity for this event- just some fliers hanging up here and there. As a result the people in the audience were just a couple less than the people on the stage.
This didn’t matter. It was a great show. We got to try out new choreography, the rope tricks I do with Betty Wantsme were some of the best we’d done, and Ms. Behavin was even better than usual, especially in the final number.
I suspect it’s because of the lack of pressure we had. …read more

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“…we don’t have a Pavarotti because DANCE DOESN’T RECORD WELL — i.e., it’s not mass-producible, like a Pavarotti CD or video or PBS special, and so there’s no dancer who’ll be viscerally KNOWN to millions of people as Pavarotti was through radio, TV and CDs, and the newspaper headlines generated by his stadium concerts with the 3 Tenors.”-Foot in Mouth
I’m not entirely sure I agree with this – Mikhail Baryshnikov comes to mind, and to some extent Bill T. Jones and Pilobolus. I don’t know of any Pavarotti calendars, for example, and neither has Kiri Te Kanawa starred in any …read more

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The Mercury Theatre’s presentation of Reefer Madness the Musical was such an incredible treat, it’s hard to say where to start. Anchored by the narrator played by Jordan Jackson, who (forgive me for the comparison) reminded me of a young Jim Carrey in terms of comic timing, versatility, and physical comedy, the entire cast was strong from the “Zombies” who provided extra comic to the set through the hot-n-sexy Jessica Witham (full disclosure: she’s also known as Foxy Veronica, the director of the burlesque group I perform with, so I might be a little biased).
I’d never seen the musical before, …read more

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Tomorrow night, before going onstage at the Inferno with Foxy Veronica’s Peach Pies, I’m going to the opening of this musical. I’m sure I’ll miss more than half of the jokes, since I missed the optimum pot-smoking years, but from talking to some cast members (and yes, I’m hoping for an interview with one in particular) it’s going to be well worth it. Seeing it with cast members from the burlesque is an added bonus.

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