tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68154792390186762852024-03-13T20:50:44.169-07:00The StoryologistAmanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-40045553568916117152017-10-28T08:11:00.001-07:002017-10-28T08:50:32.030-07:00Understudy Weekend On BroadwayWhen you spend good money and time on a Broadway show, it can be a bit disappointing to arrive at the theater only to find a little white slip of paper tucked into your playbill that indicates one of the leads is out and replaced by an understudy. But in all my years of going to, working in, and writing for theatre, I've learned a little secret: those performances are often some of the most magical, thrilling experiences you'll ever have.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two days, two shows, two understudies</td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a>Which is why it was a particularly intriguing weekend last week in New York City, where I saw two different shows on two consecutive nights in which the leading man was played by an understudy. But in both <i>The Band's Visit</i> and <i>Anastasia</i>, those understudies gave performances that I'll be remembering for a long time.<br />
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I'd been looking forward to <i>The Band's Visit</i> since last season, when it made its way onto several best-of critical lists while still at the Atlantic Theatre Company. Typically led by Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk, it tells the story of an Egyptian band accidentally stranded in a tiny Israeli town for a night, thanks to a linguistic mix-up. But on the night I walked into the Barrymore Theater, Shalhoub was out, and standby James Rana was making his debut.<br />
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Judging by the reactions at curtain call and later at the stage door, the wary in the audience were quickly converted. Tewfiq is a bit of an anomaly of a leading man in a musical: restrained and reticent, with a careful formality that is only partly owed to the need to communicate in a second language. Rana made this reserved, formal man incredibly likable as well, with a slight twinkle in his eye that hinted at a desire for human connection - just like the other characters. When he bonds with Lenk's Dina over music and teaches her the gestures used in conducting, it's exquisite, and when he finally has an outburst of emotion, you can hear a pin drop in the theatre. This role is in the safest of hands; it's hard to believe this is Rana's Broadway debut.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With standby James Rana at <i>The Band's Visit</i></td></tr>
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When an understudy is on, the concern is often less about whether they're as "good" as the usual lead, but more about whether they'll have the same chemistry with their costars. Standbys and understudies often rehearse with each other, not the leads, so their first time going on may be the first (or almost the first) time performing with those lead actors. Here, though, it didn't show. Rana's character has most of his crucial scenes with Lenk, and they played off each other wonderfully, building a relationship that doesn't ignore the obvious attraction between them but that is also filled with caution and just a hint of self-sabotage and fear. He also worked well with Ari'el Stachel's Haled, the Chet Baker-loving young flirt in Tewfiq's orchestra who has a fraught relationship with the older man. Their scenes were alternately harsh, funny, and moving.<br />
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Frankly, I have a lot more to say about this show, but it will probably need an entire piece to itself. For now, suffice to say that this wonderful, small, odd little show is a remarkable feat with many layers to peel back, about missed connections and attempts to communicate and the small, simple ways we change each other.<br />
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When I got to <i>Anastasia</i> on Saturday night, I was actually fairly excited to find the understudy notice: Zach Adkins on for Dmitry (usually played by Derek Klena, who I saw in the role back in May). Adkins had taken on the role several times already over the summer and quickly garnered a following. Having already seen Klena's performance, part of me was actually hoping that Adkins would be on. My thoughts on <i>Anastasia</i> have been <u><a href="http://howlround.com/revising-and-feminizing-the-fairy-tale-in-anastasia" target="_blank">well-documented and shared</a></u> already, so it's probably not surprising to anyone that I found the show equally magical on my second visit, but it was a beautifully different experience as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With understudy Zach Adkins at <i>Anastasia</i></td></tr>
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It's a rare privilege to be able to see multiple actors take on the same role, but one of the great joys is getting to compare those different angles on a character, and getting to fall in love with your favorite characters all over again. Where Klena's Dmitry was hardened by a rough life, snarky and quick-tempered with a soft center, Adkins's has a mischievous streak, laughing in the face of a world that hasn't been kind to him. His Dmitry rarely stops smiling (whether genuinely or sarcastically), making those serious moments all the more powerful. It's a softer, more vulnerable take as well, highlighted by some of my favorite vocal choices I've ever heard (his pure, clear use of head voice during the memory/love song "In a Crowd of Thousands" was especially stunning). And, like Rana in the previous night's show, his chemistry with his leading costars was excellent, particularly his delightful comedic tag-team with John Bolton as Vlad and a sweetly evolving romance with Christy Altomare's Anya. Affable, richly voiced, and funny, Adkins is already garnering a fanbase that will only grow in the lead roles that are sure to follow.<br />
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I'd go on about the rest of the cast too, only I would end up going on forever; you can read my previous article, linked above, for that :)<br />
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At risk of sounding like a broken record, there's something so special about getting to see an understudy perform. These are talented, hardworking actors who not only know their ensemble tracks, but every detail of leading roles as well. Next time you see an understudy on when you go to a show, give them a bit of extra applause at curtain call - they deserve it.Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-7670835448450442672017-09-17T08:15:00.000-07:002017-09-17T08:15:34.421-07:00Shakespeare SparkNotes With A Twist<i>The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)</i> sounds like the kind of show an overwhelmed high school student might attend to cover their bases for English class without actually doing the reading. Any such students in the audience of Southwest Shakespeare's production (running at the Mesa Arts Center through September 30), however, will find themselves getting much more than they bargained for.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Southwest Shakespeare Company (Facebook)</td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a>Originally written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield for the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the play is exactly what it says on the label: three actors (Breona Conrad, Louis Farber, and Alexis Baigue) present an overview of all 37 works in just over 90 minutes. What the title <i>doesn't</i> say, however, is just <i>how</i> they accomplish this - and therein lies the comedic gold. This isn't Shakespeare For Dummies; indeed, although newbies will enjoy the show, some of the best jokes are sly references that expose just where the biggest nerds in the audience are sitting.<br />
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The show takes more time on some plays than others. A twelve-minute condensed <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> opens the proceedings; the balcony scene between Conrad's Romeo and Farber's Juliet is a deadpan delight. But afterwards is where things really pick up. The gleefully line-crossing pairing of a cooking-show <i>Titus Andronicus</i> and a white-boy-rapping <i>Othello</i> takes on two tragedies, while the condensing of every comedy into a single segment results in madcap madness that underscores the ridiculous nature of these classic comedies.<br />
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The one weakness of the show's structure is a forced device that leads into and out of intermission. The show works best when it focuses on the actors' nimble switching between roles and their asides to the audience, so the awkwardly shoehorned act break lands a little stiffly. However, on the other side of it is the highlight of the evening: a version of <i>Hamlet</i> that manages to condense the story while still diving into the characters. Sock puppets, spitting water, and loud audience participation all show up, followed by several "encore" variations of the play, getting more ridiculous each time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Laura Durant</td></tr>
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It takes a certain touch to pitch this kind of comedy, and director Debra K. Stevens manages it skillfully, keeping the tone just on the right side of over-the-top and making use of every inch of the small stage area (and some of the audience sections, too). The trio of actors are equally up to the task. Conrad channels a wide array of characters, with her Paula Deen impersonation in the <i>Titus</i> section and a hilariously whiny Romeo as highlights. Baigue preens, smirks, and occasionally takes on a dryly humorous narration as the closest thing the company has to a "straight man." As for Farber, he conquers an increasingly ridiculous series of wigs, skirts, and, most memorably, a hoverboard, en route to the biggest laughs of the night.<br />
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Ribald jokes, "borrowed" stories retold, and cross-dressing. Shakespeare would be so proud.Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-86816954891308567192017-08-11T11:19:00.000-07:002017-09-29T09:45:44.792-07:00Journey to Pyeongchang: Preseason, Part 1 - Ice DanceIn about six months, the world will tune in to the 2018 Winter Olympics to watch the best of the best compete in 102 events in 15 sports. But before any athletes can get to Pyeongchang, they have to get through their regular seasons first! As the 2017-2018 figure skating season gets underway this summer with club competitions before the top internationals in the fall, I'm taking a look at the top prospects for the American Olympic team.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ice dance medalists at the 2017 national championships (Photo: Jay Adeff for IceNetwork)</td></tr>
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First up: ice dance, the discipline with which U.S. Figure Skating has the weirdest relationship by far. Ice dance has long been the red-headed stepchild of the figure skating world, dismissed as less exciting due to its lack of the high-risk jumps found in singles and pairs. However, it's also the discipline in which the U.S. has the deepest field in the world and by far the most success from this past quad. The discipline requires a short dance, in which all couples must create a program incorporating the same rhythm(s) - for this season, it's a Latin/rhumba pattern - as well as a longer free program</div>
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Barring injury or other disasters, the American ice dance team for Pyeongchang seems fairly certain at this point: three teams have been so dominant this quad that any other choices are extremely unlikely. However, in Olympic years, many top teams skip other major internationals (such as the Four Continents Championship and even the post-Olympic World Championships), meaning that the second tier will be fighting for this extra distribution of berths.</div>
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In alphabetical order, here are the American teams to watch for this season:</div>
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<b>Madison Chock & Evan Bates</b></div>
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<b>Age: </b>25/28</div>
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<b>Notable achievements: </b>2015 national champions, 2015 World silver medalists, 2015 Grand Prix Final silver medalists, 2016 World bronze medalists</div>
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At the beginning of this quad, Chock and Bates seemed the likeliest candidates to take over where Olympic champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White had left off. And for about a season, they certainly made a splash, dominating fall competitions, alongside Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, in a way that suggested the beginnings of another American-Canadian rivalry at the top. However, they struggled to find a unique voice as a team, and their once-ironclad consistency began to suffer as well, leading them to fall behind Maia and Alex Shibutani - and they haven't climbed back yet. They're all but guaranteed an Olympic berth (the second trip for Chock and third for Bates, who competed in Vancouver with his previous partner Emily Samuelson), but will have no room for error if they hope to climb back into medal contention.</div>
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<b>Signature program: </b>Although their free dance to "Under Pressure" last season was arguably the moment they found a "voice" as a team, their most reliable program was their elegant free dance to "An American in Paris" from the 2014-2015 season. It highlighted their strengths (technical consistency and precision) while masking their weaknesses.<br />
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<b>Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker</b></div>
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<b>Age: </b>20/23</div>
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<b>Notable achievements: </b>2014 World junior champions, 2015 national pewter medalists</div>
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When Hawayek and Baker became the best juniors in the world the same year that Davis and White took Olympic gold, they looked like the next big thing in American ice dance. Unfortunately, an unusually dense field, coupled with a few stumbles at the worst possible moments, meant that they have yet to break through to that top tier. That said, this pair remains the cream of the crop among younger teams, and they have had moments of breakthough greatness on the international level, including a surprise fourth-place finish at last year's NHK Trophy. Despite a small height difference (making lifts appear more difficult and less spectacular), their versatility makes them a team to watch: they can effortlessly switch between young, edgy hip-hop and classical, delicate elegance. Although unlikely to make the Olympic team, watch for this team to charge into the gap left when Olympians skip other international competitions.</div>
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<b>Signature program: </b>This was actually a hard call to make, because I'm personally partial to their (ridiculously underappreciated) free dance from 2015-2016, a challenging and abstract program set to the soundtrack from <i>The Theory of Everything</i>. But their best-received program has been their delicate, detailed <i>Liebestraum</i> free dance, which they are using for this season as well.<br />
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<b>Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue</b><br />
<b>Age: </b>26/26<br />
<b>Notable achievements: </b>Three-time national bronze medalists (2015, 2016, 2017), two-time Grand Prix Finalists (2015, 2016), Four Continents champions (2014)<br />
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In most countries, being the third-best team is not the most exciting achievement. But to be third-best in the ridiculously deep American field, you have to be among the best in the world. Hubbell and Donohue barely fended off the rising Hawayek/Baker in 2015, but a coaching change to Dubreil/Lauzon for 2015-2016 worked wonders. As one of the taller teams in the sport, they are remarkably well-suited to the currently-in-vogue lyrical style. They thrive on programs that play up their electric on-ice chemistry, which should make this season's required Latin rhythm right in their wheelhouse, but they have had major errors (including a fall on a twizzle that cost them the bronze at Worlds this past spring) that have kept them from surpassing their nearest rivals.<br />
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<b>Signature program: </b>This one is no contest. No one was paying attention to this team in the fall of 2015, until they debuted this short dance to k.d. lang's cover of "Hallelujah" at Grand Prix France. Transforming the required Ravensburger waltz pattern into a poignant, lyrical program, they put the skating world on notice with a style that would become their calling card: a blend of abstract artistry and concrete lyrical angst, with a remarkable attention to detail and can't-look-away chemistry.<br />
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<b>Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter</b><br />
<b>Age: </b>18/21<br />
<b>Notable achievements: </b>2015 Junior Grand Prix Final champions, 2016 World Junior Champions, two-time national champions (2015 & 2016)<br />
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In the spring of 2016, McNamara and Carpenter were the undisputed golden team of junior ice dance. They dominated the entire season and topped it off with a gold medal at Junior Worlds. Most assumed they would move up to seniors for the 2016-2017 season and were shocked when they chose to remain juniors for another year - a decision that came to haunt them, as so-so programs and a sudden reputation for inconsistency dogged them throughout the season, allowed them to be surpassed by their rivals, the Parsons siblings, and left them off the podium at Junior Worlds, all the way in seventh place. Now aged out of juniors (Carpenter turned 21), the team is debuting as seniors, and early word is that they may be back to their old selves. They have a knack for quirky, clever programs, which may hurt them in the Latin short dance but set them apart in the free.<br />
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<b>Signature program: </b>This team has a style that's hard to pin down, but is probably best described as quirky and just a little bit dark. Their chemistry and on-ice presence doesn't tuck neatly into the "soft and lyrical" or "fierce and passionate" boxes, instead leaning more towards something creative and edgy. It's hard, then, to pick one program to sum them up. But while their <i>Carmen</i> free dance that won them Junior World gold in 2016 was appropriately macabre, their hip-hop short dance from last season seemed to suit them best.<br />
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<b>Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons<br />Age: </b>19/21<br />
<b>Notable achievements: </b>2016 Junior Grand Prix Final champions, 2017 World Junior Champions, 2017 national champions, two-time national silver medalists (2015 & 2016)<br />
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While all eyes have been on the incredible depth of the senior American ice dance field, a tight (though friendly) rivalry has been developing in the junior ranks. McNamara/Carpenter and the Parsons siblings share a training team in Maryland - far from the usual hubs in Michigan and Montreal - and have shared the top for the past years. The Parsonses surged forward last season, riding a pair of excellent programs and impressive technical content all the way to a World Junior championship, and now move up to seniors alongside their rivals. Like their veteran counterparts, the Shibutanis, the Parsonses may struggle with pairing their sibling dynamic with the Latin dances this season, but their creativity and consistency makes them a team to watch.<br />
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<b>Signature program: </b>The Parsons finally settled into their artistry this season with a free dance that tweaked the in-vogue lyrical style to suit their sibling bond and showed off their technical mastery. Their "Singing in the Rain" free dance (no, not the Gene Kelly movie) highlighted their control and surprising maturity - it's no wonder it won them their first national and world titles.<br />
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<b>Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit</b><br />
<b>Age: </b>19/21<br />
<b>Notable achievements: </b>Two-time national junior bronze medalists (2015 & 2016), national pewter medalists (2017)<br />
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If there's one team in the American field that defines "dark horse," it's Pogrebinksy/Benoit. They've never been champions of anything, and they spent their time in juniors in the shadows of the next big rivalry teams. But they took a calculated risk last season by moving up to the senior ranks, despite not aging out of juniors yet. And, instead of getting buried again by the other talented juniors, they got to benefit from a season's head start in seniors and from Hawayek/Baker's disastrous free dance at Nationals (the latter of which allowed Pogrebinsky/Benoit to claim fourth place unexpectedly). Like the other young teams, they're still establishing their style and adjusting to the depth in seniors, but their energy and obvious talent make them a team no one should write off just yet.<br />
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<b>Signature program: </b>Although still developing their on-ice identity, this team has a natural showmanship and panache. Their Elvis short dance last season hinted at a playfulness and knack for playing characters that will serve them well as their careers continue.<br />
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<b>Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani</b><br />
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<b>Notable achievements: </b>2016 World silver medalists, 2017 World bronze medalists, two-time national champions (2016 & 2017)<br />
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The Shibutanis have turned out to be the biggest American ice dance story of this quad. After a respectable season in 2014-2015, they stepped up their game big time the following year, blazing back with programs that finally, <i>finally</i> tapped into their fullest potential and got them onto the Worlds podium for the first time since 2011 - on home turf in Boston, no less. Last season was slightly more of a struggle for them, and at times, they seemed in danger of being beaten by both of their closest rivals (Chock/Bates and Hubbell/Donohue). This season, the Latin rhythm for the short dance puts them, as a sibling team, at a disadvantage. But this team, with their knack for moving, unique programs and the best twizzles in the world, remains the best bet for an American figure skating medal at the Olympics.<br />
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<b>Signature program: </b>There's no contest here. Their 2016 free dance, set to Coldplay's "Fix You," became instantly iconic and helped them blaze a near-perfect season all the way to a silver medal at Worlds in Boston. It's perfectly encompasses their technical prowess, abstract style, and storytelling capabilities, with an emotionally resonant program that perfectly builds to sweep everyone away.<br />
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Next up: men's, the most unpredictable and flat-out chaotic discipline in American skating. Brace yourselves!</div>
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Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-88019710662886608162017-07-14T14:48:00.000-07:002017-07-14T14:48:55.347-07:00Nordstrom Anniversary Sale On A Twentysomething BudgetIt's here! The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, bane and blessing to shoppers everywhere, kicked off yesterday. This time of year, the style blogosphere is chock-full of reviews of the Nordstrom sale. It's easy to get overwhelmed or to feel that it's an elite thing (the sale is open to Nordstrom cardholders a week before the general public) or too expensive, since it's Nordstrom and not Target.<br />
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There's definitely some pricey pieces, but I've put together a handful of my favorite items that are affordable for any budget and versatile enough to be well worth it. With tired feet and drained patience, I emerged with some really amazing finds that I can't wait to share with you!<br />
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First up: two floral shift dresses. I didn't expect to like <span style="color: #ea9999;"><a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/billabong-just-like-us-lace-up-shift-dress/4622543?origin=category-personalizedsort&fashioncolor=OFF%20BLACK" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">this Billabong floral shift dress</span></a><span style="color: #ea9999;"> </span></span>at first. I tend to like dresses that are a little more fitted, and I wasn't sure how the lace-up would sit. But I ended up really liking it! I got it in the black, but it also comes in an indigo with a pink floral pattern. It's really cute with sandals now, and I'm planning to add a cute denim jacket and black booties as it gets into fall. And the best part is that it's super light and comfortable but has "fall" colors - perfect for transitioning into fall, especially for those of us in warmer climates! Same goes for <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/oneill-susannah-bell-sleeve-dress/4621806?origin=category-personalizedsort&fashioncolor=JET%20WASH" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">this O'Neill dress with bell sleeves</span></a>. The longer sleeves mean that it looks perfect for fall, and I love the detailing of the layers on the sleeves and the crinkles on the bodice. The best part? Both of these dresses are less than $40 but are definitely higher quality than a comparable dress at a box store. <br />
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I was on a bit of a floral kick today, as you can tell. <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/oneill-sarah-print-wrap-top/4621813?origin=category-personalizedsort&fashioncolor=WINTER%20WHITE" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">This O'Neill wrap top</span></a> is right up my alley. I love the pretty pink of the flowers, and the cream background is a nice neutral that doesn't wash out my vampire-pale Northern Italian skin. The wrap belt cinches just right, not too high or too low, which can be a challenge for shorter torsos. It's really versatile, too; looks great with any color pant (I tried it with light jeans, dark jeans, and olive green pants).<br />
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I love grabbing basics during the sale, too, and I'm seriously in love with the Hue line of leggings. They're as comfy as you could want, but they're also made of sturdy enough material that you can throw on a cute tunic top and a long necklace and have a great casual outfit. I wore them on a five-hour plane ride a couple months ago and I've been a true Hue believer ever since.<br />
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Also: underwear and pajamas. Stock up during the sale - they're cheaper than you'll ever find them. I'm a big fan of <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/early-access-women-sleep-lounge-robes?origin=leftnav&cm_sp=Left%20Navigation-_-Sleep%20%26%20Lounge&top=72&brand=1074" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">PJ Salvage pajamas</span></a>; they range from fairly basic prints to some really unique, cute patterns (one of my favorite sets from a previous season has pastel macarons on it).<br />
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I'm really excited about this next one - I'll be doing a post just for styling it soon. <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/billabong-wrap-me-up-midi-wrap-dress/4622545?fashioncolor=OFF%20BLACK&origin=keywordsearch-personalizedsort&cm_mmc=Linkshare-_-partner-_-15-_-1&siteId=QFGLnEolOWg-pPfaXcVfvU_Jopkfzd3z_w" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">This Billabong wrap dress</span></a> is probably my favorite find of the day. The black-and-white pattern is neutral but still has plenty of personality, the material is really flowy and comfortable, and best of all, the length actually works great! It's designed to be a midi dress, but for shorter women like me, it's closer to a maxi.<br />
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*All of these picks run pretty true to size.<br />
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Outside of the clothing departments, I like to use the sale to stock up in the beauty department. The <span style="color: #ea9999;"><a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/aveda-hair-essentials-collection-68-value/4624029?origin=category-personalizedsort" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">Aveda gift set</span></a> </span>this year is a STEAL. It's a hair care set including full sizes of their signature shampoo and conditioner, two sizes of thickening tonic spray, and a conveniently sized hairspray. I'm not kidding when I say the Shampure shampoo/conditioner is my absolute favorite that I've ever tried: it's got natural ingredients, leaves my hair shiny, and smells really good. It's easy to skimp on hair products when you're trying to save money, but this is the perfect way to treat your hair without emptying your wallet. Normally, the shampoo/conditioner alone would be almost $30; this whole set is $39.<br />
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There are also a ton of palettes and coordinated makeup sets, which, if you're like me and the thought of figuring out your own makeup look terrifies you more than spiders and politicians put together, are an actual godsend. The <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/bobbi-brown-bobbi-on-trend-eyes-cheeks-collection-365-value/4629321?origin=category-personalizedsort" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ea9999;">Bobbi Brown palette</span></a> includes a dozen eyeshadow colors, two blushes, a highlighter, and a bronzer. It's definitely pricier than drugstore brands, but this palette 1) is high-quality product that actually stays on all day and blends nicely, and 2) <i>lasts.</i> I bought last year's version at the anniversary sale last summer, and it literally lasted me almost the whole year.<br />
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Are you shopping the Nordstrom sale? What are some of your favorite finds?</div>
<br />Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-50311956735525450212017-06-19T09:49:00.000-07:002017-06-19T09:49:05.084-07:00Baking Hacks My Mother Taught MeBaking from scratch can be intimidating for many. There's a perception that it's all about precise measurements and time-consuming waits. And while that's true of some recipes, there are also a lot of hacks that can make your baking easier, tastier, and even healthier! I've been baking with my mom for as long as I can remember, so here's a compilation of some of the best tips she's taught me.<br />
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<b>Use vanilla extract to take the "box" taste out of baking from mixes</b><br />
Ignore the snobs: cake mix can be a godsend sometimes. It's all your dry ingredients pre-measured and pre-mixed; nothing wrong with that. But if you want to get rid of that plain "box" taste, there's an easy fix. Add about a teaspoon of real vanilla extract to the batter when you add the other wet ingredients to the dry mix. Splurge on genuine extract, not the cheap imitation stuff: it's more expensive, but a bottle will last you a long time. The brand I use is Nielsen-Massey, which is available at Williams-Sonoma, among other retailers. This dash of vanilla will give the cake that "homemade" taste without the hassle of baking from scratch.<br />
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<b>Cut the butter</b><br />
Let me tell you a secret: you don't actually need as much butter in most recipes as it calls for. If you want to make a sweet treat a little healthier, go ahead and cut out one-third or half the butter. A caveat, though: when trying a new recipe, you may have to experiment at bit to figure out just how much of the butter you can cut. If the batter is too dry, add a little more. And <i>never</i> cut more than half the butter.<br />
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A caveat: if you like your cookies thin and crispy, this tip is not for you. The butter is what makes the cookies spread out and get crispy, so cutting the butter would change this texture.<br />
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<b>In quick breads: substitute fruit/nut "butter" or applesauce</b><br />
A variation on the above hack that's exclusive to quick breads: replace some or all of the oil with a fruit butter or applesauce. I usually go half-and-half: half the amount of oil the recipe calls for, and a couple tablespoons of fruit butter or applesauce. For something like zucchini bread or banana bread, use applesauce. Pumpkin butter enriches the flavor and texture of pumpkin bread. You get the idea.<br />
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<b>Don't ignore the salt!</b><br />
Almost every baking recipe calls for a dash of salt. It seems like an easy thing to forget or ignore - after all, who wants salty cookies or cakes? But this is also one thing the experts never do. That little dash of salt - or, if it's a recipe with butter, salted butter instead of unsalted - is crucial because it cuts through the other ingredients to balance out the sweetness, enhances the flavors, and keep the final product from being too-too sweet. If you don't have a measuring spoon handy to measure out a quarter of a teaspoon, shake out a bit into your palm, about as big as your pinky fingernail.<br />
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<b>Use coffee to bring out chocolate flavors</b><br />
When chocolate is your primary flavor, a little coffee will enhance the richness of the chocolate flavor. Your brownies won't suddenly taste like a cafe mocha, I promise! Just substitute approximately half your liquid (water, etc.) with brewed coffee. Alternatively, you can add a teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the dry ingredients. Either way, the coffee will bring out some depth in the chocolate without changing the overall flavor profile of the dessert.<br />
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Any favorite hacks or tips you want to share? Comment below!Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-45493234212560472762017-05-06T18:47:00.000-07:002017-05-06T18:52:49.514-07:00'S Wonderful: Dance as Perspective in 'An American in Paris'<span style="font-family: inherit;">The very nature of musical theatre makes it challenging to fully show the world from a character's perspective. Unlike prose, there are limits to limited perspectives: theatre tends to show events precisely as they happen (and then characters sing their feelings about those events). On the occasion we are given the chance to dwell inside of a character's mind, it is more often than not a <i>dream ballet</i>, a literal peek inside their imagination or dreams. This is where <i>An American in Paris</i>, currently touring the country after its Broadway run, pulls off a creative and technical feat: allowing the audience to experience objective story events from a subjective perspective.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The story of <i>AAIP</i> is similar to the 1951 Gene Kelly film on which it is based. Jerry, an American GI (McGee Maddox, alternating with Ryan Steele), decides to stay behind and become an artist in post-WWII Paris, where he befriends foppish showman Henri (Nick Spangler) and sardonic composer Adam (Etai Benson), gets entangled with Milo (Emily Ferranti), a wry American heiress, and falls in love with the mysterious, ethereal Lise (Sara Esty, alternating with her twin sister Leigh-Ann). However, bookwriter Craig Lucas made several smart changes to the narrative that elevate the story from a frothy romance to a thoughtful and timely rumination on the place of art in a reeling society. By moving up the setting to the months immediately following the liberation of Paris and the end of the war, Lucas forces us to see a broken city in which even decent people are mistrustful, in which habits of caution and self-preservation are not easily broken.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Matthew Murphy</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But then, Lucas and director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon do something utterly magical: they break free and seamlessly shift into moments in which the events actually "happening" onstage are filtered to the audience to see them as characters do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first instance occurs midway through the opening ballet sequence. As Jerry roams the streets of Paris, he watches flags rise and couples reunite, and sketches them all "as is." But then he stumbles across a woman being turned away from a bread line, and a young woman - Lise - offering her some of her own bread. In that instant, the scene stops as the light and choreography literally frame Lise, letting us see what Jerry sees: nothing but her, nothing but this one act of kindness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not until Act 2 that we come across another instance of seeing actual events through the eyes of a character. Henri finds himself unexpectedly nervous performing in a jazz club, and stumbles his way (literally) through the first verse of "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," awkward and fearful. Then the number opens up and the club fades away, replaced with a stage and chorus worthy of the Ziegfeld Follies, with Henri in a top hat and tails at the center of it all. Henri has a choice to give into his fear, or imagine something that will get him through. He chooses the latter, and we are allowed to see every detail of how his imagination transforms the scene and transforms his ability in the "real" world of the jazz club - the number finishes in "reality" but Henri performs there just as spectacularly. Although his audience there did not see his visualizations, we did, and we can tell just how much that perspective shift altered the course of actual events.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Matthew Murphy</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The final instance is perhaps the most iconic and significant: we see the "An American in Paris" ballet from Lise's perspective. It is worth noting that this is already a big change from the film, in which the ballet was a true dream ballet and told from Jerry's perspective; here, there is an actual ballet performance in the story in which Lise is the principal dancer. In the scene immediately preceding, Lise confides her fear to Milo, who suggests she remember when she felt deep emotion and reconnect with those feelings as she dances. Minutes later, we see exactly what Lise associates with that passionate emotion: her partner for the romantic pas de deux is Jerry. Of course, Jerry is not actually <i>there; </i>in the world of the story, she is dancing with her unnamed partner. But we see the effect imagining Jerry has on her: she dances perfectly and passionately. Instead of presenting the ballet as a pure show-within-a-show, Wheeldon stages it to again layer a character's subjective experience onto an objective reality.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Fairchild & Leanne Cope (original Broadway cast)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a nice technical feat, to be sure, but the question remains: why does this matter? I believe that, in the world we live in, the specifics of these perspectives suggest a template for us all. In each of these scenes, the characters are faced with a reality that is hard. Unpleasant. Challenging. And they get through it with the power of their creativity and joy, bringing their reality into being. Art is healing, art is love, art is connection, and this is what we as creative people can aspire to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">To clarify, this is not to discredit protest art or creative work that comes from a place of anger and frustration and revolution; indeed, those are incredibly relevant and provocative. But what <i>AAIP</i> reminds us is that the opposite is true too: we must not discard art that tries to be joyful, because joy can heal and unite. Even the cynical Adam comes to this realization after spending much of the story defending his melancholy style of music: "Life is already so dark. If you have got the talent to make it brighter, to give people hope, and joy, why would you withhold that?" </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Matthew Murphy</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of us may not create work that protests overtly, but creating joy is an act of protest against those who would strip it away. If we take our cues from the characters of <i>AAIP</i>, and present the world through a perspective of <i>possibility</i>, then we build our own stairway to paradise. </span>Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-49380908491285140362017-04-07T09:45:00.000-07:002017-04-08T20:05:40.478-07:00A Truth Timelessly AcknowledgedIt is a truth universally acknowledged that there are more <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> adaptations than there need to be. I say this with the utmost affection for the story (and several vintage copies of it sitting on my bookshelf): although it is perhaps the perfect English-language novel, it's also often adapted in ways that don't necessarily capture the "bright, light, sparkling" tone or that simple contribute to culture fatigue. Daniel Elihu Kramer's <i>Pride@Prejudice</i>, running at Southwest Shakespeare Company through Saturday, is not one of those; indeed, it is a warm, witty comedy that is alternately genuine and tongue-in-cheek.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Southwest Shakespeare</td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a>The concept is simple enough: the story of the Bennet family, Mr. Darcy, the Bingleys, and those surrounding them is told in a straightforward manner, but the cast - all but one of whom play multiple roles - frequently break the fourth wall as modern-day readers seeking and giving explanations of the novel on the internet. Everything from Wikipedia character charts to SparkNotes summaries to "I <3 Darcy" merchandise gets its moment. It's a clever conceit that means the story doesn't take itself too seriously, instead accessing the social satire and quick wit that modern readers may not notice beneath the period-drama trappings of a traditional adaptation. Under the lively direction of Kent Burnham, no detail is missed and the fourth-wall breaks are handled with a light humor that keeps them funny and refreshing, not intrusive.<br />
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A talented a cast of five portrays the entire cast of characters (as well as standing in for trees, storms, and, in one memorable instance, a deer), and they are, as Mr. Collins might say, uniformly charming. Cale Pascual skillfully switches between the good-natured (if slightly dim) Mr. Bingley, the dry, beleaguered Mr. Bennet, and the charming scoundrel Mr. Wickham, as well as filling in anytime a servant is needed to deliver a letter and narrating the "chapters" of the story. Breona Conrad displays comedic skills reminiscent of British comedienne Catherine Tate, embracing Mrs. Bennet's complete lack of self-consciousness to hilarious effect, alongside a more subdued turn as plain, practical Charlotte Lucas and background gag Anne de Bourgh.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Southwest Shakespeare</td></tr>
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Katie Hart has perhaps the widest range to cover in the show, covering two Bennet sisters, Caroline Bingley, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, as well as inserted moments as Jane Austen herself (more on that later). She acquits herself beautifully, with small (and, sometimes, not so small) shifts in mannerism that allow gentle, sensitive Jane to morph into haughty, manipulative Caroline Bingley, and her Lydia is appropriately petulant, a hilariously self-absorbed brat. Lady Catherine is a tricky character: written as an ineffective, over-the-top satire of the snobbish elite, but often played by grand dames of British screen and stage. Hart achieves both the icy hauteur and the delicious ridiculousness all at once (with the help of a particularly awful grand hat) - no small feat, but a very enjoyable one. And as Austen herself, she is exactly what we might hope the beloved author might be: wry, playful, reserved yet passionate, and wise.<br />
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There are perhaps no two characters in <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> more different than Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins. Where Darcy is aloof, handsome, and intelligent, Collins is unctuous, awkward, and foolish. It is a marvel, then, that the same actor, Kyle Sorrell, deftly portrays both characters here, and I honestly couldn't tell you which I enjoyed more. Over the years, portrayals of Darcy have gotten progressively more broody, to the point that you start to think he, Heathcliff, and Mr. Rochester should start a club. Sorrell, on the other hand, brings us a gentler, more sincere Darcy as the show goes on, and, dare I say it, a Darcy much closer to Austen's novel. His expressions and line delivery remind us that, despite his proud, brusque nature, his feelings for Elizabeth are very real, and his character development is truly heartwarming. But with a ruffle of his hair and the addition of spectacles and the world's most horrible neck-ruff/bowtie combination, Sorrell transforms into the lisping, simpering Mr. Collins, a scene-stealing performance that had the audience in stitches.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Southwest Shakespeare</td></tr>
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Without Elizabeth Bennet, there is no <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>, and <i>Pride@Prejudice</i> is lucky in that regard to have Alison Campbell as Austen's great heroine. Like Sorrell, Campbell accesses the parts of her character that can get overlooked in pop culture. Lizzy is not always likeable: she is loyal, lively, and clever, true, but she is also judgmental, prone to confirmation bias, and capable of incredibly harsh words. Campbell brings us a three-dimensional Elizabeth whose journey of self-realization is the heart and soul of the story. She has stellar chemistry with each of her scene partners, particularly Sorrell, to the great joy of the audience.<br />
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There's one more element that must be mentioned, and that's the insertion into the play of Jane Austen herself, in the form of letters written by a young Austen to her sister Cassandra and, later in life, to her niece Fanny. Where the references to internet questions and <i>P&P </i>movie adaptations are funny and straightforward, Austen's letters are more bittersweet. The selected letters follow her relationship with Tom Lefroy, the Irish lawyer who often emerges as the prime candidate for Austen's own "great romance," its dissolution, and a wiser, older Austen counseling her niece about the importance of genuine love in marriage. It's a bittersweet reminder that, despite writing some of literature's greatest love stories, Austen herself had a life with its fair share of disappointments. In the play's final moments, Austen watches, smiling, from her writing desk as her two most beloved characters share a kiss.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Patrick Walsh</td></tr>
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There is a reason that Austen's works survive and are continuously developed into new forms: a heartfelt belief in the goodness of humanity, the hilarity of its foibles, and the possibility of joy. What a blessing it has been to centuries of audiences that Austen remained, as the play itself reminds us, "not afraid of happy endings."Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-86121098890313198622017-04-01T19:18:00.000-07:002017-04-01T19:18:44.669-07:006 Takeaways From Worlds 2017The World Figure Skating Championships just wrapped up this weekend in Helsinki, Finland, and pretty much everyone is slightly confused and slightly happy. Here are a few lessons to be learned when all is said and done:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The logo for Worlds 2017 (helsinki2017.com)</td></tr>
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<b>1. Defending a title ain't what it used to be</b><br />
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Last year at Worlds in Boston, three of the four disciplines had repeat champions from 2015. Only ladies saw a changing of the guard, with Evgenia Medvedeva taking over for fellow Russian Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (who didn't even make it out of the bloodbath that is Russian ladies' nationals). In Helsinki, the opposite was true: Medvedeva was the only champion from 2016 able to defend her title, while new champions were crowned in men's, pairs, and ice dance.<br />
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So what's changed? For men, at least, it's not hard to figure out. Only a couple of years ago, top skaters only attempted a few quads, and they could be unreliable even among the top tier. But in the past year or two, a handful of men have begun pushing the technical boundaries of their sport to an almost supernatural degree. Reigning Olympic champ and newly crowned world champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan has led this contingent for this four-year cycle, but he's been joined by his countryman Shoma Uno (this year's silver medalist), two-time bronze medalist Jin Boyang of China, and reigning U.S. champion Nathan Chen. These men, affectionately known as the "s(QUAD)" among some fans, attempt so many quads that their high base value gives them room to make a mistake or two and still be out of reach of the veterans who can't quite keep up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) in the men's free skate (photo: Ivan Sekretarev, AP)</td></tr>
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<b>2. Even the very best have their bad days</b><br />
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One of the biggest differences between ice dance and the three other disciplines is the lack of jumps. While some might think this makes it the most boring discipline, the opposite is true: because the riskiest elements are not present, ice dance is the most precise and unforgiving discipline of all. A small mistake on a turn or an edge that would go almost unnoticed elsewhere can make all the difference in the world in ice dance. The expectation is that ice dance will be relatively free from major errors and splats.<br />
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If there's one thing to be learned from the free dance in Helsinki, though, it's that nothing is impossible. Even though the final podium was exactly what most predicted, among the teams generally considered the best in the world, three had major mistakes during the free dance, and for two of those teams, the mistakes were utterly fatal. Returning team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada managed to hang onto gold even with a slip by Moir during a step sequence that was not called a fall (with the attendant deduction), but came awfully close. Meanwhile, disaster struck two of the top American teams, widely considered the best ice dance country in the world. Evan Bates botched their twizzle sequence, leaving him and partner Madison Chock out of the running for a medal after medalling at the past two Worlds.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (CAN) spin in the free dance (photo: theicedancekingdom Tumblr)</td></tr>
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<br />But it was Zach Donohue who made the most heartbreaking mistake of the day, with the kind of bizarre accident that almost never happens at the elite level. Sitting in third place after the short dance, Donohue and partner Madison Hubbell had a world bronze medal within sight - quite a feat for a team ranked third nationally - and only had to skate about a point above their current top score of the season to get that medal. But Donohue caught a toepick on the first set of twizzles, taking a fall so hard and unbalancing that he couldn't rebound at all, invalidating the entire element and landing them in ninth overall.<br />
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None of these teams are prone to errors, though each have shown their vulnerabilities throughout the season (Virtue/Moir struggle to salvage twizzles, while Chock/Bates and Hubbell/Donohue have both had freak falls one other time this season). While this doesn't mean these teams will be less respected next season, it just goes to show that anyone can mess up - and in this field, someone will always be waiting to swoop in if you do.<br />
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<b>3. Don't count out the American men just yet</b><br />
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Only a few months ago, skating fans were lamenting their prospects for the upcoming Olympics and beyond. Despite finishing sixth, eighth, and tenth at last year's home Worlds, the top two men failed to get placements that added up to 13 or less, meaning the U.S. only got to send two men to Helsinki. This year, the pressure was on to try to regain those spots for the Olympic season. With last year's champion Adam Rippon out injured and 2015 champion Jason Brown still unable to land a quad cleanly, the prospects looked dim.<br />
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Enter Nathan Chen. The teenager burst onto the international scene this season with an arsensal of quad jumps that could hold their own against the Japanese and Chinese men who dominate the scene. Even with falls on a few jumps and his relatively underdeveloped artistry, Chen did enough for a sixth-place finish. That, combined with Brown's seventh-place finish on the strength of his exquisite artistry and component scores, brought #3SpotsWatch to a happy finale.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">U. S. champion Nathan Chen (photo: Markku Ojala, EPA)</td></tr>
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The lack of depth in U.S. men has been a problem in recent years, but if this season has proven anything, it's that American men are flying under the radar and are ready to climb. Chen beat Hanyu at this season's Four Continents; Vincent Zhou won Junior Worlds and will compete senior next season; former favorite Joshua Farris, who retired young after a series of concussions, announced his comeback and has already been spotted landing gorgeous quads in practice. Add Brown and Rippon in the mix, and the competition for those three Olympic spots is going to be fierce.<br />
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<b>4. Small federations have more to offer than ever</b><br />
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Canada, Russia, the United States, Japan, China. The powerhouse countries of figure skating overwhelmingly dominate, with each having its specialties: the U.S., Canada, Russia, and Japan in ladies; Japan and China in men's; the U.S. and Canada in ice dance; Russia and China in pairs. France, Italy, and Germany are the mid-size countries that turn out a few top-tier skaters at a time. But smaller federations are starting to put themselves on the map, and it would be a huge mistake to ignore them.<br />
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Carrying the small-federation banner is undoubtedly Spain, boasting a two-time world champion in Javier Fernandez, as well as a pair of competitive dance teams, Olivia Smart and Adria Diaz, and Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin (the latter of whom did not compete in Helsinki). Israel has also surprised many by qualifying two men's spots for the Olympics on the shoulders of Alexei Bychenko, while Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan landed ninth in ladies.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Javier Fernandez (ESP) won the short program (photo: Golden Skate)</td></tr>
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Although there's a pile-up from the top federations in ice dance, smaller federations provided some of the most popular and emotionally satisfying moments of Worlds 2017. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorenson of Denmark skated two lovely programs to land in 13th, while Natalia Kaliszek and Maksym Spodyriev of Poland became fan-favorites this season for their charming <i>Dirty Dancing</i> free dance. Don't write off the non-powerhouse skaters: when the top tier falters, they'll surprise you.<br />
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<b>5. Weird music is both a blessing and a curse</b><br />
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Ask a non-skating fan what kind of music they associate with figure skating, and they'll probably say classical. While it's true that many skaters still choose programs to warhorses such as <i>The Nutcracker, Carmen, Scheherazade</i>, and variations on those grumpy European composers who stared out from your elementary school music books, others have launched themselves full-force into the realm of the truly bizarre.<br />
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Some of these choices are questionable, at best. Ladies' champ Medvedeva skated her free program to the soundtrack of <i>Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. </i>Yes, folks, we finally got a 9/11 skating program, with the added bonus of screaming noises on the audio track. It was the controversial choice of the season, to say the least. On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, was Jin Boyang's hilarious and charming choice of short program music: a Michael Buble performance of the <i>Spider-Man</i> theme song, complete with web-shooting gestures.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spider-Boyang! (gif: milquetoasted, Tumblr)</td></tr>
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Ice dance saw perhaps the weirdest music choices of the season, because one of the rhythm choices for the short dance was hip-hop. Hubbell/Donohue attempted to craft a "history of hip-hop" program that sampled several songs, resulting in a divisive program that nevertheless earned them a small medal for the short dance here at Worlds. Bronze medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani threw shade at the habit of bad music cuts with an announcement on their audio track that "we're gonna be skating to one song, and one song only" before cutting from Sinatra's "That's Life" to a Jay-Z remix of the same song. But no one can compete with Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier in the weird department. They've built an identity for themselves as the most bizarre team in ice dance - so, naturally, they were the sole team to find the rule that says "disco" counts as a swing/blues/hip-hop rhythm. Hence, the only time you'll probably ever hear "Disco Inferno" in an ice rink. Complete with porn-stache. See for yourself:<br />
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<b>6. Age is only a number</b><br />
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With all the focus on the young, up-and-coming skaters at this competition, it's easy to think that the veterans have all but ceded the scene to the wunderkinds. Not so fast. Some of the veteran skaters at this competition, while they didn't medal, turned in top-notch performances that prove they're not out just yet.<br />
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The fourth-place finishers in men's and ice dance both are former world medalists whose careers are nearing an end, yet who still put together some of the most satisfying and engaging programs in the sport. Spain's Javier Fernandez, a two-time world champion, fell to fourth after botching a couple of jumps in his free skate - something he can't afford, with fewer quads than the young skaters from Japan and China. But his short program was a masterpiece, a perfect blend of technical mastery and the charisma that has made him one of the most popular skaters in the world. Similarly, Canadian ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje lost political clout with the return of Virtue and Moir, but put together a pair of delightful programs - a sharp Michael Jackson short dance and an elegant, passionate "Aranjuez" free - to climb into fourth as other teams slipped.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje (CAN) celebrate after the short dance</td></tr>
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Meanwhile in pairs, silver medalists Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany put together a pair of moving and technically stunning performances to snag Savchenko's <i>tenth</i> world medal. It's easy to pay attention to the fast-moving young skaters, but these veterans proved they aren't ready to give up quite so easily.<br />
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What a way to end the season! With the Olympics next season, all eyes will be on the top skaters as they fight for the podium in Pyeongchang. It's going to be a great ride!Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-18943564185908708522017-03-21T14:19:00.000-07:002017-03-21T14:19:38.200-07:00A Tale As Old As Time ReturnsIn recent years, Disney has seemingly taken up the project of remaking many of their classic animated hits into live-action films. The latest in this series, <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, hit theaters last Friday, and I was in the audience on opening day. Admittedly, I have a bit of a biased view, given that this has long been my favorite Disney movie, but even I didn't expect the film to be as wonderful as it was. From filling in plot holes that have bothered fans for decades to rounding out the characters and their world, this remake beautifully balanced a devotion to the original and a desire to bring it into the modern world.<br />
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There's no denying the nostalgia factor, but this <i>Beauty</i> is more timely than it seems. While Belle's intellectual pursuits (and, in this version, her inventing/engineering fascination) and resistance to the no-means-yes Gaston are in line with modern conversations surrounding women, it is "The Mob Song" where we most clearly see the contemporary relevance of this tale. Granted, this is nothing new: many involved in the original film pointed to Howard Ashman, the legendary lyricist, as the biggest influence on the story and its style - and, indeed, on the Disney Renaissance as a whole.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dedication in the end credits of the original <i>Beauty and the Beast</i></td></tr>
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A tale about a man in his prime who is shunned due to a mysterious affliction can certainly be read as an allegory about the treatment of "the Other" from a gay man dying of AIDS in the early '90s. <i>We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least...</i> These eerie, dark lyrics can be read as a reference to this disease and the historical furor around it, as well as a horribly spot-on summation of xenophobic sentiment that crops up at regular intervals throughout history. The latter, however, is highlighted in the new film: Gaston's rallying cries to the mob call magic and the Beast a "threat to our way of life" - a horrifyingly timely turn of phrase. It is only by seeing monstrousness as a trait, not a category, that we can be like Belle. Otherwise, we are the mob: well-meaning, perhaps, but fatally blind.<br />
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In terms of the core romance, the new film makes the smart move of turning the Beast into Belle's intellectual peer. Unlike the animated film (where the Beast's education is never mentioned) or the stage adaptation (where the Beast is illiterate until Belle teaches him to read), this Beast has the wry, quick literary opinions of an English major, and the sarcasm to match. The first moment of true commonality between Belle and the Beast comes in an exchange of quips about Shakespeare - the first time either of them have had an intellect to match wits with. In this way, it becomes a tale not of "changing" someone - a complicated and fraught notion - but of rediscovery and restoration, which is a classic fairy tale theme.</div>
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Belle and the Beast have a sparkling rapport, an educated banter, and an understanding of how painful it can be to be smart and thoughtful when the world only wants your beauty, not your opinions. The Prince gave in to those pressures, but Belle has not. Not only does this make the love story infinitely more satisfying, but it addresses the criticisms long leveled at this particular Disney tale. This Belle plans escape, but chooses to stay behind out of a desire to help if she can. She is an inventor, a problem-solver, and one gets the sense that she hopes her talents might finally be of use to someone.</div>
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For me, the music of <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> is the most important element, and also the most personal. Long before I began to formally study music and writing, I learned about structure, rhyme, song placement, and more, all from absorbing the work of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Their movies, their stage shows, their songs - they were my earliest teachers, and they are the standard I aspire to with every word I write. Their music soundtracked my childhood - and my adulthood as well, if we're being perfectly honest. I got teary-eyed when the first haunting notes of the prologue played; I felt like applauding the glorious finish of "Be Our Guest"; I could physically feel a swell of joy from within as the finale swept us all away. And the title song never fails to move me - yes, even the pop version.<br />
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In the new film's version of "Gaston," there are restored verses that were cut from the original version, full of the delicious, hilarious, sophisticated yet accessible lyrics we have learned to expect. Hearing "new" Menken/Ashman verses after all these years was a powerfully emotional experience. That's the beauty of this score: it's not just the nostalgia for the movie we all loved, but the profound and deeply <i>human</i> emotions it evokes in every note and every clever rhyme. It's a story about love and loss and learning and all that goes with them. And that, more than anything, is a tale as old as time.<br />
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Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-74095001361677220032017-01-31T13:41:00.000-08:002017-01-31T13:41:17.689-08:00'La La Land' Is More Modern Than You ThinkFor the first time in decades, an original film musical is the darling of Hollywood critics and awards season. Damien Chazelle's <i>La La Land</i>, with a score by Justin Hurwitz and Broadway duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, is a well-crafted musical in the vein of the MGM musicals of old: a showbiz tale mixed with a love story. For a wide array of reasons, however, there has been a fair amount of criticism leveled at the film since its release. While it's certainly worth considering the relative social importance of <i>La La Land</i> when set against groundbreaking, equally well-crafted tales like <i>Moonlight </i>and <i>Hidden Figures</i>, it's also worth looking at <i>La La Land</i> in the context of the genre it joins and that musical language. When viewed through this lens, it becomes apparent that <i>La La Land</i> isn't just an old-school musical: it's a reinterpretation that pays homage to classic style and tropes while simultaneously calling them into question in the modern world.<br />
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Much has been made of the fact that stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling aren't Broadway-caliber singers, and it shows. What this criticism misses is the <i>La La Land</i> does not purport to be a Broadway musical, but rather a throwback to the film ones of the 1930s through 1950s. Because there is considerably less market for musicals in Hollywood these days, the majority of mainstream musicals we see are adaptations of Broadway shows, which are written for trained vocalists and often utilize operatic techniques or pop-rock belting.<br />
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But in the heyday of the film musical, songs were not crafted as vocal showcases, but as miniature stories and/or entertainment, first and foremost. Although there were excellent singers among those Golden Age stars (such as Bing Crosby and Judy Garland), many of the most iconic stars of these musicals were average singers at best: Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, even Fred Astaire all sang pleasantly, but unremarkably; their dancing and performance charisma were their real strengths. This number from <i>Holiday Inn </i>highlights the contrast between crooner Crosby and hoofer Astaire:<br />
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Stone and Gosling are part of that tradition: not Broadway stars with big voices (or Hollywood A-listers trying and failing to imitate that style), but simply charming, talented performers.<br />
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<i>La La Land</i> has been hailed as a stylistic throwback to the golden era of MGM film musicals, and it certainly is in many ways, but what commentary in this vein fails to realize is that this film not only pays tribute to that style, but updates it through a modern lens. It does not "<u><a href="http://theeverygirl.com/is-la-la-land-really-worth-the-hype" target="_blank">romanticize the past so much it fails to say anything about the present</a></u>," but rather presents a tension between the two - something twenty- and thirtysomethings, as the "nostalgia generation," feel acutely. And it does not simply replicate old-fashioned musical tropes, but reinterprets them.<br />
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The clearest instance of this is the handling of Mia's agency. Many of the old MGM musicals, as delightful as they are, have a bit of a values dissonance with their treatment of characters who weren't white men (though they do have their subversive moments - come talk to me about female agency in <i>Holiday Inn</i>). <i>La La Land</i>, however, turns this on its head: the engine driving the story is Mia, not Sebastian, as some <u><a href="http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/1/5/14153546/emma-stone-la-la-land-best-actress" target="_blank">suggest</a></u>. It is her decisions that drive her career and her relationship with Seb. She is aware of her clichèd existence, where he is not, and takes steps to be something more, where he does not. This is most evident in the final dream sequence - let me explain.<br />
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The "dream ballet" is a time-honored tradition in the musical genre. Although it began as a look into the female psyche, with Agnes de Mille's legendary "Laurey Makes Up Her Mind" sequence in the stage version of <i>Oklahoma!</i>, the most famous dream ballets in film musicals were seen through the eyes of male characters. Gene Kelly's films loved this trope, particularly <i>Singin' in the Rain, </i>in which Kelly himself directed the fantasy dance sequence that takes place completely in his character's imagination. <i>La La Land</i> is most clearly descended, however, from another Kelly dream ballet: the iconic end sequence of <i>An American in Paris </i>(incidentally, the last original musical to win Best Picture). In it, Kelly's character, Jerry, imagines a romantic abstract sequence with his love interest, Lise (Leslie Caron). See for yourself in the playlist below:<br />
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It's easy to see how <i>La La Land</i>'s final sequence is an homage to this, one of the most iconic dance numbers in the history of film. But there's a crucial difference, and it has to do with character. The film reclaims the dream ballet for the female lead, taking us into Mia's heart and mind rather than Seb's. This choice is a decidedly more modern aesthetic, one that both takes us back to de Mille's original desire to nonverbally explore the internal conflict of a woman and takes us into the future by moving past the long-established film musical tradition of male-centric fantasy ballets. And, importantly, <i>both </i>of them are characters in <i>La La Land</i>'s dream sequence, rather than having the character whose dream it is function actively and the other function solely as an object. This sequence updates one of the most symbolically rich elements of the musical and updates it to the modern world.<br />
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<i>La La Land</i> also reworks one of the classic tenets of the American film musical: the role of innovation. One of the most well-used conflicts in film musicals of the first half of the 20th century was a clash between the old and new, between traditionalists and innovators. These musicals often get a reputation these days for being very conservative, but in reality, the majority were on the side of innovation and progress. And, crucially, their protagonists were as well. <i>Easter Parade</i>'s leading duo reached success by breaking free of established ideas of a ballroom song-and-dance pair and incorporating vaudevillian techniques. The titular ladies of <i>The Harvey Girls</i> are (historically-based) innovators who revamp the culture of the Wild West. Most famously, perhaps, is <i>Singin' in the Rain</i>, which focuses on Hollywood's transition to talkies. The heroes are able and eager to adapt to this new form; the only one who (comically) can't adapt and gets left behind is the villainess.<br />
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What <i>La La Land</i> does, however, is embrace this tradition of innovation, but leave one of its protagonists on the wrong side of progress. Seb idealizes the jazz of the past, waxing poetic about how "pure" jazz is dying while failing to recognize one of the crucial elements of jazz history: it is a form of music that has traditionally been born out of creativity, evolution, and thinking outside the box. In this, he is placed in direct contrast to Keith, another jazz musician who has the same goal as Sebastian - "save jazz" - but goes about it by trying to broaden its appeal by blending traditional jazz with modern music styles, creating a whole new genre. Unlike his film musical forerunners, Sebastian cannot and will not adapt to a new world, instead choosing to stubbornly stay in the past, as <u><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/01/la-la-lands-double-edged-nostalgia/512351/" target="_blank">this excellent piece</a></u> in <i>The Atlantic</i> describes.<br />
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This reversal of the classic relationship between musical protagonists and progress also explains one of the <u><a href="http://www.refinery29.com/2016/12/133792/la-la-land-race-issues-twitter-critique" target="_blank">main criticisms</a></u> of the film: the idea that viewers are supposed to side with the white Sebastian over Keith, the only black character of significance, in a debate about a music form rooted in African-American culture and history. Here's the thing, though: <i>we're not supposed to think Sebastian is right</i>. He <i>fails</i> at his goal; his goal of making old-fashioned jazz mainstream is not attainable, as seen in the contrast between his and Keith's ultimate professional achievements: while Keith's group is wildly successful and does, in fact, bring new fans to jazz and innovate in the jazz tradition, Sebastian gets to keep his "pure" jazz, but only reaches a small audience in his club. Sebastian is not on the side of progress, which goes against the coding of classic film musicals; therefore, he is a flawed character and thus we are not directed to think he is right. Indeed, the film shows us repeatedly how his approach is <i>wrong</i> for the goal he hopes for. He keeps his style of jazz performance because of his own personal preference, and the film presents that as an acceptable choice, equally acceptable from a character perspective as Keith's electronic-tinged jazz.<br />
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<i>La La Land </i>is a throwback to the classic film musical, and in many ways it faithfully recreates the spirit of those colorful, elegant old musical comedies. But layered within those recreations are commentaries on the shortcomings of nostalgia and timely warnings that slavish devotion to and idolization of an idealized past is not necessarily the best way to go. Ultimately, the classic Hollywood musical tended to be about three things: a willingness to upend the status quo, embracing one's exuberance and inner joy, and romance. By those standards, <i>La La Land</i> tap-dances proudly alongside its predecessors, finding a way to adapt the seemingly outdated modes and conventions of the film musical to address the modern world while never letting go of the most important element: hope and joy.<br />
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<br />Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-79195545706435522982017-01-06T10:14:00.000-08:002017-01-06T10:14:57.515-08:00On Theatre, Creating Art, and a Changing WorldThe day after the election, a friend of mine - a fellow artist - posted on Facebook a list of adjectives describing the art they would no longer consider acceptable. Among those adjectives were "cool," "cutting-edge," and others, but the one that bothered me was "beautiful." I saw similar sentiments repeated across my social media as much of my extended community cycled through fear, anger, confusion, and even rebellion. "Beauty," it seemed, was no longer something to strive for, no longer something worthy. As 2017 kicks off and the prospect of immense change looms, it's time to have a discussion about the role of art and its creators going forward.<br />
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Implicit in the idea that "beautiful" isn't enough is the idea that beauty is somehow a shallow concept. And, indeed, that's something we teach our children, isn't it? "Beauty is only skin deep." "Don't judge on appearances." But there's another saying we learn, and it's often used in a strange manner contrary to its actual meaning.<br />
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"True beauty lies within."<br />
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Think about that for a moment. <i>Beauty</i> itself is not a shallow concept, but rather our <i>perception </i>of it can be shallow or "skin-deep." But real, genuine beauty is something that lies deep within, something that is much more complex than what the style of the day dictates. It's a state of being that suggests wonder and humanity and complexity. And that's the kind of beauty that our art needs to be striving for in the days ahead.<br />
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Film and television, music and literature all have their roles to play, but I want to talk about theatre in particular, because of its unique ability to be <i>right there</i> with its audiences, to have an immediacy of connection, to have a without-a-net sense of live daring. There's no way to forget that these are real people because they're right there, breathing the same air as you, maybe making a mistake or reacting to something you as an audience did. Talk to any "theatre kid" (and by this I don't just mean eager <i>Hamilton</i>-obsessed teenagers; once a theatre kid, <i>always</i> a theatre kid, even if you're in your seventies), and they'll tell you about the magic of theatre. It's a liminal space, a place of in-betweens, and - this is the important part - that's where transformation happens.<br />
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How does beauty have anything to do with this, you say? I believe this is twofold: that the multilayered nature of beauty can allow us as artists to convey messages that otherwise would get lost or ignored, and that beauty in the face of ugliness is itself an act of defiance and rebellion.<br />
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Theatre has a unique place in that it is both high art and popular art. I have long made my views clear that I believe firmly in the importance of theatre that straddles that line, because if art is provocative and interesting but no one sees it because it's too inaccessible (literally or intellectually), what happens to its message then? We cannot underestimate the power of popular theatre to set trends and spark interest, particularly among younger fans. We have a generation of young people who will come of age with a fascination for complex American history because of <i>Hamilton.</i> Among ardent fans, nuanced arguments about history, politics, and American institutions erupt, and understanding of those institutions (#HamiltonElectors, anyone?) is currency. Now imagine what those young fans will be like as adults: educated not through force-fed history lessons they'll promptly forget, but through something they sought out on their own.<br />
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As a playwright, scholar/writer, and audience member, I often notice a "spoonful of sugar" approach to controversial, layered topics in popular art. That is to say, a highly opinionated or political idea embedded within layers of story has the ability to distance audiences and help them let their guards down to explore and question beliefs. If I asked an average person to come with me and see a feminist play about women fighting a charming fascist dictator who manipulated his people into blind devotion, how likely would they be to enjoy it, or to come in without strong preconceived opinions about the content? But thousands of people of various political and cultural backgrounds around the world daily see this story and love it, all because it's dressed up as an emerald-colored fantasy musical.<br />
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There's a lot of discussion about the role of police in society and their duality as flawed humans and decisive authorities, which would make any discussion of this complexity likely to invite controversy or only attract those with specific points. But one of the world's most popular pieces of theatre of all time has as a primary character a policeman who is both sympathetic and antagonistic, who struggles with judgment versus mercy, and whose story arc outlines the complexity of this debate.<br />
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A beautiful place setting invites people to the table, and once they are there, it's up to them. Beauty is not a hindrance to provocative, illuminating works of art, but rather an invitation to see them without prejudice.<br />
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More than anything, though, we face uncertain times ahead. The arts community, among others, has legitimate concerns about our future, our prospects, and even, to a degree, our freedom. There is so much ugliness in the world today, with the divided society we live in providing a never-ending cycle of vitriol that can depress even the brightest optimist. It is by giving in to that darkness and despair, however, that evil wins. If fiction (and history) has taught us anything, it's that evil feeds on loss of hope and light. It <i>wants</i> that ugliness so it can continue its cruel work. It is our task to keep the light on.<br />
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With that in mind, here is my pledge as an artist. I do not ask others to do the same; there are as many types of art as there are artists in the world. Some are best suited to fiercely political, unambiguous work, and I applaud them. Some are best suited to escapism, and I applaud them. I applaud any artists who keep to <i>their</i> visions.<br />
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But I promise to bring beauty into this world with the work I create. I promise to not let the dark side of the world slide or to brush over it or prettify it, but I promise to defy those who would plunge anyone into darkness and ugliness. Beauty in the face of ugliness is an act of defiance against that ugliness and an act of hope, and that is what we need.Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-36362538627886441662016-12-06T15:07:00.002-08:002016-12-06T15:07:50.048-08:00Making Your Home Merry and Bright For the HolidaysFor many of us, it doesn't really feel like the holidays until we've put up our decorations. As much as we all love the classics - a tree, a wreath or two, and some lights - it can get easy to get stuck in a decor rut. Perhaps you're tired of the same old ideas, or perhaps you live in a small space that doesn't fit a big tree. Whatever the case, here are some ways to add holiday cheer to your space!<br />
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Signs with festive quotes or phrases are an elegant way to bring the feel of the season into your home. Nestle smaller signs into garland or trees, and hang a flat sign on the wall.<br />
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A photo posted by Amanda Prahl (@amandaprl93) on <time datetime="2016-12-06T20:26:08+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 6, 2016 at 12:26pm PST</time></div>
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On a smaller scale, I love using smaller signs of just a few words tucked into greenery to make that Christmas staple more unique. This "Merry And Bright" wood sign spruces up the traditional garland along a mantle.<br />
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<b>Table vignettes</b></div>
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When space is limited, embrace it! On a single coffee table or side table, you can put together a display by bringing together a few elements around a common theme and/or color palette. </div>
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Focus on unique pieces that you already use during the rest of the year, and spruce them up with holiday touches. This vintage Underwood typewriter and lantern are part of my everyday aesthetic; the addition of the wreath, mini glass ornaments, lights, and snowflake make it festive.<br />
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A tray can be a great base for a vignette piece by creating borders for the design. For this vignette, we mixed antique books and a vintage cloth ornament with a fresh bouquet, colorful candles, and geometric votive holders. The copper in the votive holders and candle lids tie the inside and outside of the tray together. (Pro tip: it's 100% okay to mix metals, as we do here with the silver and copper, as long as the other surrounding colors work to bring both together.)<br />
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<b>Small themed trees</b></div>
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Whether because a big tree doesn't fit in your space, or because you want to add even more holiday cheer, a smaller tree with a specific aesthetic can brighten any room.<br />
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Don't be afraid to use several of the same ornament or interesting variations on the same themes: here, every ornament aside from the glass balls are snowmen or snowflakes. Even the tree topper is a holiday top hat that would be at home on Frosty's head. Craft fairs and monthly pop-up vintage markets, both of which are increasing in popularity, are great places to find coordinating sets.<br />
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A tree doesn't have to be "themed" in this way; instead, try building an aesthetic around a color scheme or style. This small tree is began with a color palette of golds, silvers, and ivory, though the ornaments range from angels to music notes to skates and more. Then, to add a pop of color, I filled in with small glass ball ornaments in warm tones.<br />
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<b>Holiday treats</b></div>
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One of the best parts of the holidays is the excuse to make and eat delicious treats, right? If you have the space for it, bring this part of the season into your decor. Try tucking a gingerbread wonderland into a corner of your kitchen, using either real gingerbread or ceramic villages (ours are Department 56), and weave some wire lights among them:<br />
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Instead of an actual bar, create a hot chocolate bar. You can use a chalkboard to write up a cute sign or find one ready-made, and fill glass jars with marshmallows and candy canes. Depending on the space available, you can make it a small display on a counter or a full-size "bar":<br />
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Most importantly of all, enjoy the decorating process and the Christmas joy! From my house to all of yours, may your days be merry and bright!</div>
Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-1050900808064245082016-11-28T09:42:00.000-08:002016-11-28T11:32:43.945-08:00'Gilmore Girls' Revival: Life, Love, and LegacyWhile the rest of the country was stalking Amazon for lightning deals and braving the crowds at malls, I spent my Black Friday in a place that has brought me joy since I was in middle school: with the <i>Gilmore Girls</i>. After nearly a decade, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino brings us back to Stars Hollow for a highly-anticipated revival miniseries. After marathoning six hours of rapid-fire dialogue, fraught familial relationships, and endless return appearances, I've finally begun to process the new episodes and what they mean for our favorite girls and for a fanbase that came of age alongside them. Spoilers abound ahead, so proceed with caution!<br />
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<b>The returns</b><br />
Ever since the revival was announced, there was a constant stream of cast announcements. If you walked through a scene in the original, it seemed, you were in for the revival. Some returns amounted to glorified cameos; it was lovely to see Melissa McCarthy back as Sookie for a scene with Lorelai, and long-absent Dean shared a lovely moment of closure with Rory that was sweet and awkward and warm. And in one of the funniest storylines of the miniseries, Paris Gellar is back, as ferocious and funny as ever. Every appearance was like a jolt of warmth, a love letter to longtime fans.<br />
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When I heard that the Life and Death Brigade were returning, I admit, I rolled my eyes. And their "wild ride" - one part <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>, one part <i>Moulin Rouge</i>, and one part <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> - was a fun sequence, but the question of why these thirtysomethings were still acting like spoiled college kids kept creeping into my mind. When the adventure was over and it was time to say goodbye and grow up, however, these foolish side characters provided one of the most touching moments of the series as they bid a genuinely fond farewell to Rory. Entitled, yes. Careless, yes. Truly do love Rory? Also yes.<br />
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But it was a return that never happened that loomed largest over the new series. Edward Hermann, who played the beloved patriarch Richard Gilmore, passed away in 2014, before the revival began shooting. The loss was felt acutely throughout the entire series. Most affecting, however, was Rory's decision in "Fall" to write her memoir sitting in his study- and when she walks in, for a brief moment, she sees him sitting there, poring over papers. It was a heartwrenching moment that underlined this irreplaceable character and person.<br />
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<b>The musical</b><br />
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We interrupt this discussion to remind you that <i>Stars Hollow: The Musical!</i> exists. And that it's weird and glorious and goes on too long and is absolutely insane. Part of the charm of <i>Gilmore Girls</i> has always been its quirkiness, the strange little details that give Stars Hollow life without a drop of cynicism. Although the sequence, at nearly 15 minutes, takes up more time than necessary, it's a hilarious delight, and one that brings a pair of two-time Tony winners into the fold as the leads in this acid-trip endeavor: Sutton Foster (formerly of Sherman-Palladino's late, lamented <i>Bunheads</i>) and Christian Borle. It manages to mock history, theater, and the show itself with a loving, loony style.<br />
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<b>The relationships</b><br />
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For as long as the series has existed, one of the most polarizing and debated elements of <i>Gilmore Girls</i> has been the romantic relationships of Lorelai and Rory. As many longtime fans had predicted (and hoped), the last few minutes of the final episode "Fall" featured Luke and Lorelai's wedding, a quasi "elopement" in the town square the night before their official wedding. After dealing with questions of their "separate" lives and potential future children, it was uplifting to see the relationship that started in the first scene of the pilot finally make good.<br />
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But, as always, it was the love life of the youngest Gilmore girl that proved the most divisive and complicated. Much of the series saw Rory unable to quit her friends-with-benefits relationship with Logan. While the feelings and chemistry between them were undeniable, it was uncomfortable, to say the least, to see their mutual disrespect for Logan's engagement and his continued poor-little-rich-boy ways. (I would like to note here that, as I wrote the first draft of this article, I forgot that Rory was also cheating on her boyfriend Paul- so forgettable I forgot to even write about him. Oh, the irony). Though his love for Rory was clear, what was equally clear was Logan's prince-charming complex, reliant on grand gestures and big spending. Even so, their bittersweet farewell of realizing their time was finally up provided one of the most poignant moments of the entire miniseries.</div>
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<b><br /></b>There was one relationship on which the door wasn't closed; indeed, it was left wide, wide open. I'm talking, of course, about Jess, who is much like we last saw him in Season 6: still snarky, still brutally honest, but with a layer of kindness and wisdom that came with growing up. It is Jess, as always, who gives Rory an idea that pulls her out of a rut. And it is Jess who, after promising Luke that he's "over" Rory, proceeds to gaze at her through a window:<br />
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And you know what? I'm actually okay with that ending. <i>Gilmore Girls</i> has always been about family first, romance second, and I'm perfectly pleased with the idea of leaving romance as an open-ended question, implying a possible future. And it's a way of allowing devoted fans their own interpretations of what lies ahead.<br />
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<b>The Gilmore Girls</b><br />
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Before we discuss the ending, we have to talk about the core of the series: the three Gilmore Girls themselves. Rory's restlessness and uncertainty has been called out of character, but I would argue it's very much in character and very timely; an ambitious young woman who has won all her struggles up to this point would flounder when life becomes unsteady. Lorelai, meanwhile, runs the emotional gamut, particularly in scenes with her mother.<br />
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Emily Gilmore is perhaps the most revelatory thing about <i>A Year in the Life</i>. Set adrift following Richard's death, she evolves into a different Emily than we've ever seen before - and I'm not just talking about her gleeful embracing of Netflix's more relaxed profanity guidelines (although that does provide one of the funniest, most satisfying scenes in all six hours):<br />
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It is the relationship between Lorelai and Emily that, as always, provides the most horrifying and most wonderful moments. There is a chillingly cruel confrontation in "Winter" between the two regarding Richard's death and Lorelai's attitude towards her family, and yet it is a lovely, simple phone call in "Fall" that brings things full circle. The "Gilmore girls" of the title have always been three in number, not two, and seeing Emily brought to the forefront was one of the best things about this revival.</div>
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<b>The ending</b><br />
All right, time to talk about that ending. For the past decade, the last four words have been a source of never-ending debate, the great mystery of Gilmore lore. And in the end, they emphasized the theme that this is a generational story (which, a prevailing theory goes, is good news for Jess fans and bad news for Team Logan).<br />
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In some ways, it's a bit of a letdown - it wasn't exactly unpredictable, and it was rather on-the-nose. As elegant as it is to have generations mirror each other, it also pushes the differences between the generations to the back burner, which was a long-running theme of the show.<br />
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I came of age on the original run of <i>Gilmore Girls </i>and its reruns. It taught me about the value of family, both blood and chosen. It taught me that even the best people make mistakes, and that doesn't make them bad people. It taught me that people grow up and change, and that's okay. It taught me that living life with an undercurrent of love can make all the difference. I've been Lorelai, and I've been Rory, and, yes, I've even had my Paris days. That's why, despite its imperfections, it was a genuine joy to live again in Stars Hollow.Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-82155654009117113832016-11-16T11:29:00.000-08:002016-11-20T11:53:38.261-08:00Lights Up: Broadway's New Season Is Bigger Than EverAlthough the 2016/2017 Broadway season has only just begun, it's already shaping up to be one of the most interesting (and crowded) seasons in recent memory. Thirteen new musicals have already been announced, ranging from long-anticipated adaptations to tales ripped from history to wholly original stories. And that's not even counting the revivals. Let's break down some of the most exciting musicals headed to Broadway this season.<br />
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<b><br /></b>As always, many of the new musicals arriving on Broadway this season are "new" only in the sense that they have not been stage musicals before; this season will see adaptations of everything from a gangster film to a children's book to an animated classic.<br />
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In the category of "Really? They're making this a musical?", we have <i>A Bronx Tale</i> - yes, based on the DeNiro film about 1960s mafia, with a score by Alan Menken, composer of your childhood. Go figure. There's also an adaptation of <i>Groundhog Day</i>, transferring from the West End and starring Tony nominee Andy Karl. Joining it in crossing the pond is <i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i>, with two-time Tony winner Christian Borle as the titular candymaker. <i>Charlie</i> seems poised to fill the gap left by the January 2017 closing of <i>Matilda</i>, not just as another Roald Dahl adaptation but as a similar family-friendly yet off-kilter show with just a hint of magic. But <i>Bronx</i> may struggle to find an audience - anyone remember <i>Bullets Over Broadway</i>? - while <i>Groundhog Day</i> will have to work outside of usual musical theatre structures to capture the quirky comedy of the film.<br />
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In a welcome development, three female-driven transfers are likely to dominate discussion in the spring. <i>Amelie</i>, adapted from the 2001 romantic comedy film, only just announced its Broadway opening, following a well-received run at Berkeley Rep in 2015. With <i>Hamilton</i> Tony nominee Philippa Soo taking over as the titular character, the adaptation enters a crowded season with momentum from both her ascent to theater stardom and the Berkeley production's strong reviews.<br />
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Among theatre fans, <i>War Paint</i> perhaps comes in with the most prestige of the adaptations. With a story drawn from a 2004 book and 2007 documentary and with a creative team including Doug Wright and Michael Greif, the story of the rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein is tailor-made for theatergoing audiences. And if the drama wasn't enough, there's also the divas: the Chicago production starred (as will the Broadway production) Christine Ebersole and theatre's reigning queen Patti LuPone.<br />
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For audiences beyond typical theatre crowds, however, the adaptation that is drawing the most attention is <i>Anastasia</i>, the long-awaited adaptation of the 1997 animated musical. Original songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty return, adding to the beloved existing score, repurposing songs (notably transforming a campy villain song into a haunting paean to a lost homeland), and reworking the story along with writer Terrance McNally to develop a more historical and character-driven tale. In such a crowded season, it may take a property with this kind of appeal and talent to break through the crowd.<br />
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<b>The revivals</b><br />
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Let's be frank for a moment here. Last season's revivals were a nonstop string of brilliance, from the thoughtful bittersweetness of <i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> to the gleaming, precise joy of <i>She Loves Me</i> to the poignant, earth-shattering <i>The Color Purple</i> to the bilingual production of <i>Spring Awakening</i> that managed the rare trick of perhaps being thematically more powerful than the original. This season, it looks like we're paying the price for all that creativity last season: a woefully thin revival category that seems to think we're all longing for the 1980s.<br />
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Opening this past summer was <i>Cats, </i>and the overwhelming question I found myself asking was <i>"why?"</i> Out of all the '80s megamusicals, <i>Cats</i> is the most '80s: more of a revue than a musical, with a cast performing what amounts to near-plotless interpretations of poems while wearing spandex, fur, and heavy makeup. As far as I can tell, no one was clamoring for a <i>Cats</i> revival, except perhaps Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. In case one British megamusical wasn't enough, though, spring will bring over the West End revival of <i>Miss Saigon</i>, the emotional if culturally problematic reimagining of <i>Madama Butterfly</i>. The buzz surrounding this revival is good, at least regarding its stars Jon Jon Briones and Eva Noblezada, who are reprising their roles from London. Rounding out the '80s theme of the season is <i>Hello, Dolly! </i>led by Bette Midler. Only time will tell if this decidedly old-fashioned show will win over audiences today.<br />
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The saving grace, at least at this point in the season, would appear to be <i>Falsettos</i>, a musical relatively unknown outside of theatre circles that revolves around a gay man and the tangled familial relationships that surround him. Character-driven and star-studded, it's a welcome relief from the oversized revivals that surround it, but its status as a limited run beginning in the fall may challenge it come awards time.<br />
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<b>The originals</b><br />
And yet, in an occurrence that is rarer than it should be, multiple original musicals are making their way to Broadway this season as well. <i>Come From Away</i> revolves around the sleepy Newfoundland town of Gander that temporarily doubled its population on September 11, 2001, when 38 diverted planes landed in its airport and stranded their passengers in the small town. Meanwhile, news about <i>The Bandstand</i>, a wholly original story about life in the postwar music scene of the 1940s, had trickled to a near-standstill following a well-received Papermill production in 2015; most insiders and experts predicted it was dead in the water. It came as a lovely surprise, then, that the production announced in late October that it too would be coming to Broadway this season, with Broadway favorites Laura Osnes (a two-time Tony nominee) and Corey Cott leading the way.<br />
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But the real standout and most anticipated transfer of the season is <i>Dear Evan Hansen</i>, a poignant and modern musical about a teenager who inserts himself into the narrative of a classmate's suicide and its aftermath. Winning raves in its recent off-Broadway production, a Broadway production debuts this fall and hopes to continue its momentum into the spring awards season.<br />
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With a book by Steven Levenson and a score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (best known for their off-Broadway cult hit <i>Dogfight</i> and their work on the TV series <i>Smash</i>), <i>Dear Evan Hansen</i> is riding a wave of acclaim and has already been hailed as a Best Musical contender. Time will tell, but this looks to be a great year for new stories on Broadway.<br />
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<b>The wild cards</b><br />
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Most of this season's shows fit into tidy categories or are coming in with some degree of predictability, whether because of their content and form or some pre-existing buzz. Even so, a few shows are still wild cards that could either soar above the competition or crash and burn. <i>In Transit</i> is a musical that tries to join the rise of a cappella, following an ensemble of New Yorkers as their stories intertwine. Acclaimed Off-Broadway half a decade ago, the show could either be an a cappella <i>Love Actually</i> or a gimmick that gets lost in the season.<br />
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It's another long-awaited transfer, however, that's garnering attention in the early half of the season, and that's the show with the season's most cumbersome (yet oddly catchy) title, <i>Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812</i>. A strange and glorious combination of EDM, folk and classical music, and indie rock, it narrates exactly what the title tells us: a small segment of <i>War and Peace</i> focused on Natasha's romantic dilemmas and Pierre's existential and philosophical crisis. Early praise has been heaped on its stylized, immersive production, but only time will tell if this delightfully odd show will survive long enough to get the Tony nominations that could propel it to the top.<br />
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<b>The bottom line</b></div>
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It's an embarrassment of riches this season for Broadway musicals, which is both great news and worrisome news. On the one hand, it means that there will be huge onslaught of new material, which is always a beautiful thing. On the other hand, however, there are only so many theatergoers who each only have so much time and money; so many shows means that the herd is likely to be cruelly thinned, with shows that might have succeeded in a less crowded season falling victim to being just not <i>enough</i> to top their rivals.</div>
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Among the new musicals, <i>Dear Evan Hansen</i> is about as close as we can get to a safe bet for both commercial and critical success. <i>Great Comet</i>, though garnering strong reviews, opened early in the season and has been praised more for its style than its substance. While <i>Anastasia</i>'s devoted fan base and wide-ranging appeal may assure some level of success, its animated origins and up-and-coming leads may make it a tough sell to critics and Tony nominators/voters. Ditto <i>Amelie</i>, whose quirky charms may help the show rise above or prove too twee for mainstream audiences and critics. <i>War Paint</i>, meanwhile, could be a surprise smash and boasts a considerable pedigree, but its reliance on star leading ladies and its insider-y topic may turn it into the <i>Shuffle Along</i> of this season. Notably, however, a large percentage of these new musicals are female-driven stories ranging from Russian noblewomen and their love affairs to American businesswomen to a 1940s widow and everything in between: a welcome trend in a year in which gender parity has been at the forefront of many discussion both in and outside of the arts.</div>
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In the end, this season proves one thing above all else: Broadway musical theater is alive and well and <i>thriving</i>, and that, more than anything, is reason to celebrate.</div>
Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-70201995962852008592016-10-24T09:02:00.000-07:002016-10-31T09:06:02.644-07:00Review: NBC's 'Timeless' Is A Timely Take On HistoryTime travel seems to be all the rage on TV these days. Half of The CW's superhero lineup (<i>The Flash </i>and <i>Legends of Tomorrow</i>) involve leaping around in time as crucial plot points, and the other parts of this extended universe are affected by <i>The Flash</i>'s timeline-creating "Flashpoint" shenanigans. <i>12 Monkeys </i>remakes a classic time-travel TV series, while BBC's <i>Doctor Who</i> continues its 53 years of traveling through space and time. Into this crowded milieu comes NBC's new series <i>Timeless</i>, a surprisingly thoughtful and enjoyable drama with an attention to history that delights as much as its characters intrigue.<br />
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The premise of the show is blessedly simple and evokes an old-fashioned spy caper: a rogue agent named Garcia Flynn (a deliciously villainous-sounding name) steals a time machine and goes back in time with the ostensible goal of destroying America by wreaking havoc on its history. And, as always, we assemble a crack team of misfit geniuses to set off in pursuit: quirky, ambitious Lucy, a history professor tasked with preserving historical timelines; wry, damaged Wyatt, the soldier designated to take out Flynn who is haunted by past tragedy; and capable, kind Rufus, a technician who pilots the ship and whose loyalties are forcibly divided.<br />
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What sets this show apart is that, unlike many of its time-traveling cousins, it revolves around characters who are utterly ordinary aside from their intelligence or training. This means the show is capable of focusing more on history and characters, rather than on the flashy high-concept that gets old fast. One of the most delightful aspects, in fact, is that the series chooses to focus on historical figures who aren't on the front lines, meaning we get to know them as people without the baggage of existing impressions. Instead of focusing on Lincoln, the episode is connected to his son's perspective; instead of JFK being the target, it is his mistress who can affect history. By taking this approach, the series takes a more human perspective, forcing us to see history as merely a different group of people who lived and breathed and felt like us, rather than immovable, unknowable figures. Granted, this does result in unintentional giggling when the show goes out of its way to keep the major figures on the sidelines: President Lincoln looks like he belongs in a re-enactment at a tourist attraction, while we only ever see the back of JFK's head. It's imperfect, but not too distracting.</div>
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Because of this human focus, the series gives us the chance to learn about our characters by how they react to history and to each other. Lucy is all about believing history is rated, until some small butterfly effect causes her to return to a timeline in which her beloved sister was never born. She still clashes with Wyatt, however, who is tormented with guilt over his wife's death. The inevitable episode where Wyatt and Lucy give into their sparkling tension, only to miraculously find his wife alive somehow, can't be far off, but the build of their relationship on both emotional and intellectual grounds is enough to keep my attention.<br />
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Likewise, their relationship with Rufus lends yet another perspective: if Wyatt is laser-focused on capturing Flynn and Lucy is obsessed with preserving historical events, Rufus takes the most human view. As a black man, he bluntly states that no time in history has been a picnic for people like him, and he struggles with knowing he cannot change that, although he has the series's best speech to date, a funny and powerful takedown of a police officer who condescends to him while in jail in the past.</div>
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He is an interesting paradox: apparently spying on his comrades for his vaguely amoral boss, yet he is the most loyal character: refusing to give up on a past mentor who has apparently betrayed them, and declaring his willingness to do the same for Wyatt and Lucy.<br />
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The hallmark of this show, despite its title, is its emphasis on <i>history</i>, not time-travel. <i>Timeless</i> doesn't waste time or energy explaining the sci-fi junk - which, granted, can leave a few frustrating plot holes, such as why history only seems to change enough to affect Lucy's life and nothing else. But instead, it is concerned in a quiet way with what (and who) makes history and with the ways we all react to history. Some of us are Rufus: frustrated by history and our inability to fix what went wrong. Some are Wyatt: cynical about history, certain that nothing is fated and focusing solely on what we can control. And some of us - and I admit, this is where I fall - are Lucy: full of endless wonder, yet with the slight hint of sadness and understanding that history is flawed because history is human. And that, ultimately, is <i>Timeless</i> in a nutshell: flawed, but oh so human.<br />
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I'll keep watching, and you should too. Join me Mondays at 10/9c on NBC!</div>
Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-4464234741688773682016-09-16T15:04:00.000-07:002016-09-16T15:13:26.235-07:00People Change People: Part 2 of a Defense of 'Kid' EntertainmentI realized I had more to say on the topic of entertainment ostensibly geared for young audiences, so here's part two of the discussion started <u><a href="http://thestoryologist.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-see-light-why-i-proudly-still-watch.html" target="_blank">here</a></u>. This time, we're focusing on television geared at younger demographics, although, it must be noted, all the discussed shows do have a strong fanbase above age 20 as well.<br />
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The CW, like its predecessor The WB, has made a brand for itself as home to supernatural shows featuring inordinately pretty people who have a) superpowers, b) tragic backstories, c) epic romances, or d) tragic backstories that lead to superpowers and cause massive problems with epic romances. While its hour-long female-centric comedy double-header of <i>Crazy Ex-Girlfriend</i> and <i>Jane the Virgin</i> has received critical acclaim and skews more adult, the cornerstone of the network has become its four- count 'em, <i>four</i>- superhero shows: a genre which traditionally covers a broad demographic that reaches all but the very youngest viewers. Each of these DC shows is a different genre: <i>Arrow</i> is a crime drama in a broken city; <i>The Flash</i> is quippy sci-fi; <i>Legends of Tomorrow</i> is workplace dramedy transplanted to a time-traveling spaceship; and <i>Supergirl</i> skews closer to corporate and romantic comedy than any of its fellows.<br />
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What these four shows have in common, however, is an implicit contract with their audience that things will, eventually, be okay. The heroes may doubt and falter, but they will always rise. The best in humanity wars with the worst possibilities of humanity, and guess what? The best win. Not without losses- and this is crucial, because it adds dimension. Death does come for characters we love (and ones we don't- sorry, Hawkman!). In fact, this family of shows had developed such a pattern of killing off a very specific character in each of its first season finales (the handsome young man on the wrong side of a love triangle involving the lead) that it was a shock when <i>Supergirl</i> broke the pattern. But even with death and despair, cities in crisis and relationships made fragile, they never leave us without a glimmer of hope.<br />
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These shows function best when read on a metaphorical level, as a means of putting complex concepts into understandable terms. It's important to note that the reasons why they skew youthful have little, if anything, to do with the quality of the show. Young (by which I here mean teen and college-age) audiences often are drawn to shows with epic mythologies that reward loyal viewing and with, let's face it, young, attractive casts. Neither of those qualities make a show innately bad- but they do provide easy targets for critics to attack. But that same epic, sometimes silly supernatural mythology also functions as metaphor for a slew of socio-political concepts. Why should we dismiss a dissection of human and political corruption and decay just because it includes red and green leather masks? Why should we ignore a show that highlights the experiences of women in male-dominated fields just because one of those women is from a different planet?<br />
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All the while, the youthful nature of these shows means it never becomes too angry, too full of negativity. While some might argue that those are restrictions on content that result in watered-down stories, I would argue the opposite. Having to make a nuanced point is a <i>lot</i> harder when working within restrictions; a lack of restrictions may lead to innovative ideas, true, but it also makes it much easier to just go as dark as possible and call it good art. But giving hope? A family dinner, a sunset drive, a gathering of friends... that's something we can all strive for, and it can give us hope, no matter our age.<br />
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More than any other show on my radar right now, <i>Girl Meets World</i> is the epitome of why we shouldn't dismiss a show as "shallow" just because it's geared for audiences who can't drive or vote yet. Let's be real, here. <i>GMW</i> has two fanbases of equal passion: the tweens who started watching the saga of the Matthews family and those who love them only a few years ago, and the twenty- and thirty-somethings who met the Matthewses decades ago and can't bear to not watch their story continue. It can't be easy to make a show that appeals to both demographics. But the writers of <i>GMW</i> manage to find a way, and it's so incredibly simple that it makes one wonder why the other tween-marketed shows haven't done the same thing: they don't pander. They don't talk down to their young audience members. Love and loyalty, betrayal and confusion, faith and diagnoses, separation and even death are all dealt with in a way that feels real to the young characters and rings true for adults as well.<br />
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Take, for instance, a recent storyline focused on crises of identity- familiar territory for a youth sitcom. Even <i>GMW</i> has tapped this before in classic single-episode "crisis" fashion- although that episode also included a subtle lesson on cultural appropriation. One of the core tenets of the show, repeated over and over again, is "people change people." Like the <i>Harry Potter </i>saga (another youth-oriented tale with much more complex themes), much of this show operates on a system of parallels with the past. Protagonist Riley is Cory: cheerful, stable at home, more than a little dorky, meddlesome with the best intentions. Her best friend Maya is Shawn: troubled, mischievous, from a broken home, cynical and artistic yet oddly hopeful.<br />
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Both shows allowed their "people change people" theme to apply to these mismatched friendships, but more in one direction than the other. Though the "bad kids" helped their "goody-goody" friends loosen up a little, the influence was more about how the "bad" kids became "good" because of their friends. <i>GMW </i>has taken the time to explore when this positive influence crosses the line into an erasing of identity. It's even taking the time to tie the story to- you guessed it, a parallel one with the classic characters; in this case, Shawn's pride in the more reckless, edgy aspects of his personality at war with his desire for a family like Cory's. The end result is a thoughtful meditation on the nuances of shifting identity- and it doesn't need to be a dark, gritty, antihero drama to explore the ins and outs of evolving identity.<br />
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<a href="http://kacie-ville.tumblr.com/post/146834958673/do-you-wanna-get-married-yes">http://kacie-ville.tumblr.com/post/146834958673/do-you-wanna-get-married-yes</a><br />
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It's unfortunate, then, that a large part of the discourse surrounding the show instead revolves around incessant arguing over who should end up with who- thus missing the entire point of the show, which is that there is a wide array of relationships that matter and shape who we are. And it's not just the younger fans who are guilty of this: although there is a great deal of heated argument about who tween-heartthrob Lucas should have/should "choose" (ignoring the theme that there are as many variations of love and affection as there are people who love), there is just as much uproar from old-school fans upset over (spoiler alert!) Shawn getting married to Maya's mother Katy, rather than reuniting with original love Angela (ignoring the idea that not everyone ends up with their first love, but that those relationships can and do still matter). But I digress.<br />
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One of the easiest ways for "legitimate" critics to dismiss a series is to imply it might or does appeal to a younger audience. The wonderful thing about series with younger demographics, however, is that they are more likely to still have a hopeful outlook on the world. It might get dark. We might shed tears. People we love might leave us. But for some reason, we still look for hope, and we are not disappointed. For some reason, we don't want children to think the world is a dark and hopeless place. So why do we want adults to think that it is?<br />
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<i>I don't.</i>Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-55576533020241533722016-08-21T17:14:00.000-07:002016-08-21T17:20:36.168-07:004 Summer Hairstyles To Keep You Cool and ChicLet's be honest for a minute. As much as summer is idealized for fashion and beauty trends, it's actually kind of a pain. Especially if you're like me and have long, thick hair. Over the summer break, it was fine to just throw it back into a messy ponytail, but now I'm back to work, where I need to look put-together and professional in classrooms and offices with temperature controls that are sketchy at best.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I'm no beauty guru, though, and that's why it was time to phone a friend. With the help of stylist Megan Jones (find her on <u><a href="http://twitter.com/megnashleigh" target="_blank">Twitter</a></u> at @MegnAshleigh and <u><a href="http://instagram.com/megsdoeshair" target="_blank">Instagram</a></u> at @megsdoeshair), we found a handful of styles that look stylish, keep you cool, and are easy enough to replicate.</div>
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<b>The Fishtail Braid</b></div>
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Okay, so many of you probably already know how to do this one. But I certainly didn't, my braiding knowledge being limited to a sloppy braid down my back when I go to the ice rink. It's a fairly simple process, and looks even better done as a slight side braid.</div>
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Divide your hair into two even sections. Take a small piece of hair from the outer edge of one piece and cross it over to be part of the other section. Repeat on the other side, and continue down the braid, making sure to <i>always</i> take pieces from the <i>outside </i>of each section. Secure the end with an elastic, and that's it! If you want to make it a little more boho, gently tug at the twisted sections to loosen them slightly.</div>
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<b>French Twists with Tucked Pony</b></div>
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This sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, I promise! It's basically done in three parts: two little twists (one from each side of your head) and then a tucked ponytail. </div>
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We separated my hair into three sections: one larger one, and a small one on each side. Take one of the smaller pieces into two sections, and begin crossing them over each other, as if you were braiding but with just two strands instead of three. Secure it with a small elastic, and repeat with the other small section.</div>
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Take one of the little twists and wrap it across the back of your head, using bobby pins (preferably ones that match the color of your hair) to secure it in a couple of places. Repeat with the other side, creating a double "crown" twist across the back of your head. Tuck the ends with pins to cover the elastics as well as you can.</div>
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With the rest of your hair, pull it into a low ponytail and secure with an elastic a bit lower than you normally would. Then, create an opening in the top portion, above the elastic, pulling the hair apart into two sections to make a gap. Take the bottom portion of the ponytail and wrap it <i>over</i> (not under) the elastic and pull it through the gap. Adjust the elastic as needed.</div>
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<b>Three Braid Crown</b></div>
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This is actually my favorite of the looks, although it's also the one that takes the most time and practice to get right by myself! It's exactly what it sounds like: three braids, alternately wrapped and pinned around the back of the head in pieces. </div>
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To start, separate your hair into three sections, braid each one, and secure with an elastic. For the next part, it would be helpful to have a second mirror propped up somewhere to allow you to see the back of your head. Begin arranging the braids around each other on the back of your head and pin them in place as you go. This part is the trickiest but also the most creative- you can pin them in any arrangement you like! Again, try to use bobby pins that match your hair color, but you can also try to arrange the braids to cover each other's pins and elastics. Tuck the non-braided ends of each piece under and pin them in place to finish.</div>
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<b>Braided Bun</b></div>
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I always have trouble with buns, particularly because I have a long commute and they tend to get squished flat against the seat while I'm driving. This style is sturdy enough to hold up against a long commute and multiple walks around campus in 100-plus temperatures, but pretty enough that one of my colleagues told me my hair looked like a princess :)</div>
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We started with a basic, slightly loosened braid. Then, using pins to secure along the way, wrap it around and around to form the bun shape. Tuck the ends under and use a pin or two to secure it out of the way. And that's all! The picture above is how it looked when styled by Megan; the picture below is my own recreation of the style: not quite as polished, but sure to improve with a little practice!</div>
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These four styles will help you change it up from messy buns and basic ponytails, looking like a ton of effort without actually working too hard! Thanks again to Megan for the fantastic styles!</div>
Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-27342259553317366932016-08-14T18:49:00.000-07:002016-08-14T19:03:27.857-07:00'BrainDead' Is The Funniest, Most Cathartic Show You Should Be WatchingIf the current political climate in the real world has you frustrated and in search of a tamer reality, look no further than CBS's <i>BrainDead</i>, a political satire/horror comedy featuring extremism run amok, spreading paranoia, and politicians under the sway of some inexplicable entity. And heads exploding. There's a certain catharsis factor, one starts to realize.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>All sarcasm aside, <i>BrainDead</i>- from the same talented team that made <i>The Good Wife</i> the last great network drama- is a cut above its summer-TV peers, mainly because of the genre-mashing that makes it a bit of a hard sell to a mainstream audience. Even so, the setup is surprisingly straightforward:<br />
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Documentary filmmaker Laurel is cash-strapped, so she agrees to go work for her brother Luke, a U.S. Senator, in exchange for backing from her powerful father. She gets embroiled in DC politics despite her best efforts (and embroiled in a flirtatious rivalry of sorts with Gareth, chief of staff to one of Luke's Republican rivals), and gets drawn into the mystery of why people's heads are exploding and half of DC has sudden gone extremist in their political views (on both sides of the aisle). The answer, naturally, is alien space bugs, which she reluctantly discovers upon teaming up with a conspiracy theorist and a doctor. Here's everything you need to know to start:<br />
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<i>BrainDead, </i>in many ways, bears the hallmarks of series creators Robert and Michelle King: a cynical attitude towards politics and politicians, a finely honed sense of ironic juxtapositions, and a considerable dose of absurd humor delivered with a straight face. But <i>BrainDead</i>, being the strange mix of genres it is, takes all these elements up several notches. See: jaunty musical recaps, above. Which, incidentally, also have the best summary of the relationship between Laurel and Gareth (and pretty much everything else):<br />
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<a href="http://mikewarrcn.tumblr.com/post/147149354785/does-laurel-like-him-kinda-sorta-maybe-yes-she">http://mikewarrcn.tumblr.com/post/147149354785/does-laurel-like-him-kinda-sorta-maybe-yes-she</a><br />
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The satirical nature of the show lends itself to a particularly absurd style of comedy, with a healthy sense of its own absurdity. The wry musical recaps set the tone from the get-go, and the deadpan manner in which brains explode or fall out of people's ears is funny all on its own. Find me another show on TV that leads to the hashtag #salamisex.<br />
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You think I'm joking. I'm not.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrainDead?src=hash">#BrainDead</a> "because you were yelling at me to go faster while you ate chocolate and salami" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SalamiSex?src=hash">#SalamiSex</a></div>
— Aaron Tveit (@AaronTveit) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronTveit/status/759948249662889984">August 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
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In comic tone, the show is closest to the dearly departed cult classic <i>Pushing Daisies</i>. Even in more uneven episodes, the sheer attention to detail is at a level I aspire to; for instance, one side effect of bug infection is losing one's physical balance (not subtle, but bear with me). The side to which the infected physically lean matches their political "leanings." It's little details like this that place the show above its peers.<br />
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The catharsis factor cannot be overlooked when it comes to <i>BrainDead</i>. We often look to our arts and entertainment when the real world fails us in some way. In some cases, we seek escapism, hence the popularity of broad sitcoms and dense fantasies. In others, however, we want to <i>feel better</i> somehow. There's a delicious bit of <i>schadenfreude</i> at work in the appeal of <i>BrainDead</i>: there's a tiny voice that is entertained by the politicians who have failed us getting their brains devoured by alien ants. It's also one of the most darkly humorous suggestions on television right now: that brain-eating alien parasites only make the highest level of politics a <i>little</i> more insane.<br />
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One of the elements of the series that seems to go almost unnoticed is the political commentary implicit in the character of Luke Healy. In the show, Luke keeps trying to get things done despite the (still unknown) invasion that has infected a decent chunk of Capitol heavyweights. And, because of those space-bugs that cause both sides to dig in their heels, he gets nothing for his troubles except a growing loss of leadership in his party. His ineffectiveness- save for one act of heroic leadership in Episode 4- is almost a joke at this point.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A summary of reactions to the current election cycle. Or Luke losing. Again.</td></tr>
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But characterizing Luke as the perpetual failure is missing the point. Luke is, in essence, a stand-in for the moderate voices of reason in the real political arena. In any other time and place, he would be a major candidate for party leadership and even the presidency might not be out of reach. Why? Because he's a strong leader, he's willing and able to balance compromise with standing firm, and he does, in the end, actually give a damn about the people he serves. The worst that can be said about him is that he's opportunistic, cynical, and cheats on his wife- in other words, no worse than many politicians who have done some good. But in this world, one dominated by polar extremes shouting at each other to the point of insanity, he can't get anywhere. Sound familiar? Perhaps the alien-bugs-equals-extremism commentary is a bit on-the-nose, but this element rings a little too true.<br />
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None of this would work, of course, without an exceptional cast, and this is one of the areas where the Kings' track record continues to shine. As Laurel, Mary Elizabeth Winstead has what should be a star-making performance, wry and smart and trying to be distant but too compassionate for her own good. She has no patience for the political games, and yet is not half bad at them, and Winstead plays that exasperation perfectly. Opposite her, Aaron Tveit displays the same expressiveness and charisma that made him a bona fide Broadway leading man. His Gareth is jaded, but just barely- he still has some of that youthful idealism and old-fashioned moderate tendencies. And, despite his ambitious, occasionally morally murky actions, he can't seem to make the earnestly decent heart within him shut up. He's what one imagines <i>The Good Wife</i>'s Will Gardner might have been like as a young man.<br />
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The supporting cast is, as ever, filled with hilarious, sharp turns. Johnny Ray Gill is hilarious as Gustav, the conspiracy nut-slash-genius whose deadpan paranoia is as reliably funny as his loyal friendship is heartwarming. Rounding out the trio of bug-fighters is Tony winner Nikki M. James as the brilliant doctor Rochelle Daudier, wary at first, then the quick-thinking, voice of dry reason. Zach Grenier came over from <i>TGW</i> with the Kings, and here, as Laurel and Luke's political power player of a father, turns in a gleefully self-serving performance that makes David Lee look like a teddy bear. Tony Shalhoub has a similarly scene-chewing turn as Red Wheatus, a Republican senator infested by alien bugs and now an uber-conservative who spews deliciously awful nuggets of dialogue and the occasional nutty non sequitur.<br />
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Politics are everywhere right now, and there's no avoiding them even in fiction. <i>BrainDead</i> is, in its way, an important and even cathartic antidote for this time and place. By not taking political sides, it more accurately reflects many ordinary people's views on modern politics: it's sheer madness, and brain-eating alien bugs are as logical an explanation as any. Take the laughs where you can get them- we need all the laughter we can get.<br />
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<i>BrainDead</i> airs Sundays on CBS at 10/9c.Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-64896975887916465832016-07-30T14:29:00.001-07:002016-08-15T16:57:28.577-07:00Hogwarts Will Always Be Here To Welcome Us HomeI didn't plan on posting anything today. But I just got back from my local Barnes & Noble, running a quick afternoon errand to pick up a CD (yes, I buy CDs, leave this old lady alone) and suddenly I'm feeling unexpectedly emotional. Why? Two words: Midnight Madness.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>As soon as I walked into the store, there were two strings of Hogwarts acceptance letters draped above either side of the doors, in tidy little faux-parchment envelopes with a Hogwarts seal. When I made my way down the main aisle towards the music section in the back, I looked up to see cardboard-and-tissue-paper candles and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, an adorably low-rent representation of the Great Hall. On either side of the store were House banners with the colors, mascots, and traits of the houses emblazoned on them. And for me, it was like stepping into the past, and I'll be honest: I was a little bit overcome.<br />
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I grew up with <i>Harry Potter</i>, from the very beginning til the very end. When the first book was published, a family friend in publishing sent us a copy, insisting it was going to be the next big thing and that my parents should read it with me (I was a little too young still to read a full novel on my own). From then on, it became part of my life. Every few years, we'd go and pick up the books as soon as possible. Once I was a little older, I developed a system for reading them: I'd tear through them as quickly as possible the first time, then go back a second time to savor all the details I might have missed in my eagerness to find out what happened next. I came of age alongside the characters; the stories grew more mature as I did too. It was a magic of the purest sort.<br />
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Once I was a little older, I started getting more into the fan side of things. I'd stop by the Midnight Madness parties, read and debate theories with my friends, visit fan theory sites in the interminable waits between books (who here remembers dumbledoreisnotdead.com?). I'd go see the movies on their opening weekends and relish the excitement of experiencing these stories all over again, and the joyful camaraderie that developed between a couple hundred strangers feeling all these things together. And I'd learn the lessons about life and loss and humanity; that our <i>choices</i> make us who we are, that those we love never truly leave, that home is where you find your belonging, that no one ever has to be alone, and that love is the most powerful magic of all.<br />
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And when the end came, I could hardly believe it. I vividly remember reading my copy of <i>Deathly Hallows</i> and having to turn my head away so I didn't cry on the pages, because every few chapters, something would happen and I wouldn't be able to help myself. I think I cried the hardest at the chapter in the forest.<br />
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But when I finally reached the last page and realized there was <i>no more</i>, it was okay, just a little bit, because there were still four years of movies to go! And then the day came when I sat in a theater and wasn't ashamed to be sobbing because the <i>entire theater</i> was crying too. I had graduated high school only two months earlier, and perhaps it sounds foolish to say, but when I walked out of that theater that day in July, I felt like my childhood was <i>truly</i> ended now. I know many of my generation feel the same way; indeed, one of the questions to which most people my age have always known the answer is "What house?" I'm a Ravenclaw, if you care to know.<br />
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I am a fully grown adult woman now, with degrees and jobs and all those adult things. And yet today, when I walked into that store this afternoon, I was eleven years old again, swept into this world I grew up in, of Houses and Quidditch and Horcruxes, of brave, self-conscious Ron, of clever, sharp Hermione, of strong, quiet Neville, of Luna and Ginny and Fred and George and Harry, Harry, the boy who taught a generation about love and sacrifice, who showed that it's okay for a hero to break down or not be strong at times, who taught that one's greatest strength isn't in being strong alone but in being able to rely on one's friends.<br />
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So I am ready to greet <i>Cursed Child</i>'s release with a great deal of excitement and some emotional nostalgia. Because it means we get to revisit the world created by one brilliantly imaginative single mother that has come to define an entire generation. Because it means we get to feel again the truth of one sentence:<br />
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Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-2028926457744615052016-07-26T15:33:00.000-07:002016-08-15T16:57:15.029-07:00I See The Light: Why I Proudly Still Watch 'Kid' MoviesI am a woman in my twenties. I have multiple degrees and am working on my master's. I think I'm fairly socially aware and culturally discerning. And I count several animated movies among my favorite films and am an unabashed Disney-phile. Recently, I've encountered people in several settings who have seemed surprised or amused to discover this preference of mine, seeming to think that such tastes are- or should be- outgrown.<br />
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The thing is, I love these movies for a wide array of reasons: the beauty of the animation, the lessons in musical-theater structure from the animated musicals of the 80s and 90s, the gorgeous scores. Most of all, though, I love their lack of cynicism, their unfailingly positive outlook on the world. That's something that never should be outgrown. It's easy to dismiss them because we grow older and see a more complex, harsher world and stop believing in happily-ever-afters. And, quite simply, it's easy to dismiss them because if something appeals to children, it <i>must</i> be a watered-down version of the world. Right?<br />
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This attitude operates under one false assumption: that in order to have something to say about complex concepts, a work of art/storytelling/etc. can't be bright and light as well. Why must one exclude the other? Indeed, I believe there is a great deal of skill and creativity involved in addressing complicated issues <i>without</i> being able to be "gritty" or violent or cruel. Sometimes, the small cruelties and the subtle hurts are far more powerful than in-your-face horrors.<br />
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Many of these films find ways of addressing complex topics under the veil of metaphors and stories that are easier to watch than films with more obvious agendas. <i>Zootopia</i> addresses the variables of prejudice, stereotyping, and racism and other -isms, all without making an obvious one-to-one correlation that would oversimplify the issue, but instead retaining the multifaceted nature of these discussions. <i>Inside Out</i>, as I've previously written, avoids the easy out of "sadness is bad and joy is good" and instead explores how, as we grow up, we need both the positive and negative emotions to drive us forward.<br />
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And it's not just the Pixar films, either. The animated Disney musicals have just as much to say about our world and paradigms of how stories are told. Want a story with a heroine whose arc includes the struggle between work and personal life? Here's <i>The Princess and the Frog</i>- also only the second Disney Princess (after Mulan) who is <i>genuinely good at something</i> other than just having personality traits. Bonus points for touching on issues of gender and race (if imperfectly). How about one which subverts the idea that the hero "deserves" the heroine because he's a great guy? Sure thing! <i>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</i> has Quasi not "get" the girl and yet it's still a happy ending all around. <i>Mulan</i> features a woman becoming a warrior, and she's not just innately good at it- she has to work hard and use her ingenuity and resilience. (Plus a whole dissertation's worth of deconstructing gender coding, but that's another story). Even the classic princesses encourage imagination, self-confidence, generosity, and self-knowledge.<br />
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Try this: try to summarize the stories of some of the "kids'" movies you can think of, without referencing their more magical elements. See if they sound simplistic and immature, or if they sound like something much more:<br />
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<li>-A prince sees his father murdered and, believing he is responsible, flees his home and embarks on a journey in an attempt to forget his past, allowing for a despot to take over his kingdom.</li>
<li>-A young woman endures endless abuse from which she cannot escape, but instead of it making her as cruel as her abusers, she has enough strength to remain impossibly kind.</li>
<li>-Two ostracized young people- one ostracized for physical attributes, one for mental- learn to love themselves and each other.</li>
<li>-Three men and a woman attempt to discern what it truly means to be a person of faith and how that manifests in an imperfect world.</li>
<li>-A woman attempts to suppress that which makes her different because she fears that difference, but must confront her difference and decide her own morality.</li>
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Speaking of sophistication, we cannot discuss films like these without discussing the exquisite scores of the animated musicals. From <i>The Little Mermaid </i>onwards, the dominant form has been a scaled-down version of the classical musical theater song plot: an opening number, an "I Want" ballad for the protagonist, a villain song, a couple of crowd numbers, a romantic ballad late in the story, and a finale involving reprises of prior motifs. Indeed, I first began to understand musical storytelling structure through the Ashman/Menken/Rice musicals of the 80s and 90s. And these are no generic songs, either; although there is a distinctive "sound" about them, each one fits its story, character, and point in the story beautifully, sampling everything from African chants to reggae to Broadway pop ballads to jazz and more.<br />
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Even the "I Want" songs, usually the most identifiable and most pop-ballad-sounding songs in the scores, all have their own character to them, reflecting each character's unique longings. Here are a couple of medleys in which the sophistication and specificity of these scores are on display:<br />
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There is a beauty about these films that is both incredibly complex and exquisitely simple. They represent not a simpler view of the world, but merely a more optimistic one. Across all these films, there are a few core ideas shared: that people are capable of changing (for the worse, yes, but also very much for the better), the immeasurable value of kindness and compassion, and the importance of learning to understand and accept people who are different from us.<br />
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Fairy tales have always been a form of storytelling that is meant to somehow reflect the world and its values back at us and make us think. Some are warnings, some are fantasies, some are a little of both. They're stories that function at multiple levels, and that's what makes them so much more sophisticated than just "kids'" stories. Go ahead, watch a few- I won't tell.<br />
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Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-46915837085328106192016-07-14T19:14:00.000-07:002016-08-15T16:57:02.118-07:00Quotes We All Need To Hear Right NowI am exhausted. And I bet you are too.<br />
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A few days ago, when I woke up yet again to hear about violence and loss of life and all the surrounding political discourse, I tweeted, "Some days I wake up and think we must be living in a dystopian novel. But I can pray, and I can love, and that's something, at least." And now, today, another tragedy, another loss of life.<br />
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I can't do anything about any of this. I am blessed in that the worst effect for me is a feeling of powerlessness and worry for the world I live in. I have not personally lost. I cannot begin to imagine the depths of grief these extended communities must be suffering. And it is their stories above all. But for those who feel drained hearing bad news in a never-ending cycle, for those who are looking for something to lift them up just a little bit, this is for you. I have little to offer, but this is the best I can do.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>"</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." -<i>Les Miserables</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="font-family: Times;">"But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." -<i>Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban </i>(film)</b></span><br />
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<i>"Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone..."</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>"</i><span style="line-height: 21px;">One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality." -Albert Einstein</span></b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; line-height: 21px;">"Measure your life in love." -<i>Rent</i></b></div>
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<b>"There will be light." -<i>Next To Normal</i></b><br />
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<b><i>"</i>Live a little, comfort a little, cheer thyself a little." -<i>As You Like It</i></b><br />
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<b><i>"</i>The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." -Eleanor Roosevelt</b><br />
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<b>"I am not worried... I am with you." -<i>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</i></b><br />
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<b>"Fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind. It doesn't matter if there's nothing under the bed, or in the dark, so long as you know it's okay to be afraid of it. So listen. If you listen to nothing else, listen to this. You're always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it... But that's okay. Because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home." -<i>Doctor Who</i></b><br />
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<b>"Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, 'What do I care if there is a summer now; its warmth is no help to me now.' Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope." -Vincent Van Gogh</b></div>
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<script async="" src="https://secure.assets.tumblr.com/post.js"></script><br />Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-18177934563009326292016-05-06T08:31:00.000-07:002016-07-27T20:40:08.770-07:00Once Upon a December (or May): Countdown to Anastasia on Stage!I grew up in the late 90s/early 00s, in an era of childhood culture largely dominated by the Disney Renaissance- and another movie, so closely tied to the Disney-princess-musical style that it was often mistaken for a Disney film, one that has retained its popularity and has the unique situation of being based on history, rather than a classical fairy tale. I'm talking, of course, about <i>Anastasia</i>, the 1997 animated classic that got an entire generation interested in Russian history (and stopped any of us from being afraid of bats). And, to the delight of fans everywhere, the beloved musical is <i>finally</i> coming to the stage- destined for Broadway next season, but beginning with a run at Hartford Stage this spring.<br />
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In honor of the show's May 12 opening performance, here's a week-long countdown, with something every day to take you on a journey to the past (and present, and future):<br />
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<b>Day 1: The Movie</b><br />
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By the mid 90s, Disney pretty much had a stranglehold on the animated-fairy-tale-musical genre. With a string of critical and popular successes, the company was in the midst of what came to be known as its Renaissance period. Copycats from other studios just didn't measure up. But 1997's <i>Anastasia</i>, from 20th Century Fox, took an unlikely source- a real-life lost princess from a particularly fraught and violent period in history- and turned it into a tale full of magic and music, in which a fiery, intelligent young woman named Anya chafes at the idea of a dull life of menial labor, instead embarking on a journey to discover the truth of her past with the help of charming con man Dmitri, his paternal partner-in-crime Vlad, and an adorable dog named Pooka.<br />
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What is there to say about this movie that hasn't already been said by its legion of fans over the past two decades? Despite its glossing over of the real issues surrounding the Russian Revolution- instead assigning blame to a ghoulified mystic figure and some evil underworld green mist- it succeeds by presenting itself first and foremost as a fairy tale. But it is definitely a modern one, in which the heroine can long for adventure at the same time as longing for a family; in which it is the hero who is saved and redeemed by love; in which the princess chooses a commoner's life over a life in the lap of luxury. Relive the magic with the original trailer for the film:<br />
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<b>Day 2: The History</b><br />
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No one is under any illusions that the story told in <i>Anastasia</i> is historically accurate in anything but <i>extremely</i> broad strokes. But the real historical context of the Romanov family and its eventual downfall is one that involves some of the most complicated and contentious politics in European history, as well as one of the most sprawling royal family trees in the world.<br />
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Despite what your high school teachers might have told you, Wikipedia is not a terrible place to find an overview of a topic. The page on the <u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Romanov" target="_blank">Romanov dynasty</a></u>, of which Anastasia was a part through her father, Tsar Nicholas II, contains a history of the royal house which ruled imperial Russia for three centuries. Among the ancestral relations of the historical Anastasia were strong, intelligent women such as the much-beloved <u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Russia" target="_blank">Empress Elizabeth</a></u>, who was of the Romanov bloodline but gained her throne through a military coup- then refused to sign a single execution order in her entire reign. One of the most famous and ferocious female rulers in history, Catherine the Great, was Anastasia's great-great-great-great grandmother. Anastasia herself lived among dynamic young women: her sisters, who famously referred to themselves with the signature OTMA (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia). A <u><a href="http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2011/06/07/the-romanov-archduchesses/" target="_blank">collection of family portraits</a></u> shows the young grand duchesses in varying degrees of elegance and playfulness; indeed, it is Anastasia's reputation for spirit and laughter that has endeared her to a century of storytellers.<br />
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Of course, as anyone familiar with the film or with history knows, the Romanov family met a violent end during the many turnovers in power following the February Revolution of 1917. Contrary to popular belief, the Russian Revolution was not a single coup, but rather a series of overthrows that eventually led to the infamous "Red" reign. The Provisional Government set up by the first set of revolutionaries merely exiled the Romanovs; it was not until the Bolsheviks overthrew <i>that</i> government in October 1917 that the imperial family was moved to house arrest and, under the pretense of being assembled for photographs to prove they were still alive, were killed in summer 1918. The presence of the White Movement, an anti-Bolshevik group, was not enough to rescue the royal family.</div>
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Anastasia has lived on in particular because of a long-standing historical conspiracy theory that she alone among her family had survived the hail of bullets in that basement that night in 1918. Several pretenders, most famously <u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson" target="_blank">Anna Anderson</a></u>, claimed throughout the 20th century to be the lost princess, and the possibility of Anastasia's survival captivated millions. This theory seemed to gain traction when, in 1991, the grave containing the remains of Anastasia's parents and three sisters (Olga and Tatiana for certain, though the third daughter could have been Maria <i>or</i> Anastasia) was found- without her or her brother Alexei in it. A 2007 discovery, however, found the two remaining graves and disproved the theory conclusively. </div>
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After this rather depressing end to the tale of the real Anastasia Romanov, let's end on a more uplifting note. Anastasia, along with many, <i>many</i> royals of the twentieth century, could trace her lineage to Queen Victoria of Great Britain, whose granddaughter Alix became Empress Alexandra, last Tsarina of Russia and Anastasia's mother. For a lighter tone to finish this day, check out <i>The Young Victoria</i>, a lighter historical drama about the early days of Anastasia's royal ancestor:<br />
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<b>Day 3: The Legacy</b><br />
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With its epic sweep, fairy-tale feeling, and memorable music and characters, <i>Anastasia</i> quickly became one of the most beloved modern animated movies and migrated into mainstream pop culture with ease. Not a Halloween goes by without little girls running around in Anya's "Once Upon a December" gown. An entire generation can quote the film without a second thought. And of course, there's one of the Internet's favorite memes:<br />
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The story and music of <i>Anastasia </i>even permeated parts of the sports world, becoming a favorite for many a figure skater from the 1990s onward. With its sweeping sound and emotional content, the music leaves plenty of room for interpretation and the sort of rise and fall skaters dream of. Watch two programs from two very different disciplines below: the first, Italian ice dancers Sofia Sforza and Francesco Fioretti's waltz from the 2010-2011 season; the second, Tara Lipinski's short program from her gold-medal winning performance at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.</div>
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Even before the stage version of <i>Anastasia</i> was Broadway-bound, Anastasia held a place in the pantheon of beloved musical princesses, as evidenced by Alison Luff's gorgeous rendition of "Journey to the Past" from the inaugural Broadway Princess Party:</div>
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<b>Day 4: The Musical</b><br />
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Rumors of an <i>Anastasia</i> musical have been floating around for years, with the earliest confirmation of development coming with 2012's announcement of a 29-hour-reading featuring the original Dowager Empress, Angela Lansbury, alongside Broadway favorites Aaron Tveit and Aaron Lazar. Fans eagerly followed news of later readings and reworkings, finally getting the news in 2015 that we had all been waiting for: <i>Anastasia </i>was definitely coming to the stage in a full-fledged production.<br />
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Since then, there has been more and more information released, delighting fans with each new nugget. <u><a href="http://www.playbill.com/article/how-ahrens-and-flaherty-are-re-envisioning-anastasia-for-the-stage" target="_blank">A Playbill interview</a></u> with original/continuing songwriters Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens reassured fans that, while the stage adaptation would be more historical in nature (goodbye, wimpy Bartok and undead Rasputin!), it would retain the core of the story, and, more importantly, the gorgeous songs known by heart by a generation of young fans.<br />
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The official Twitter of the production, <a href="http://twitter.com/AnastasiaStage" target="_blank">@AnastasiaStage</a>, has been doling out teases for a few months now, along with intelligent answers to fan queries and some occasional dry, delightful humor. Check out their feed for sneak peeks at the production, such as this gorgeous costume sketch by designer Linda Cho:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image (c) @AnastasiaStage on Twitter</td></tr>
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<b>Day 5: The Cast</b><br />
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Long before the stage adaptation was confirmed, fans of <i>Anastasia</i> were dream-casting their favorite characters, giving the eventual actors a great deal to live up to. Earlier this year, the lead actors to play Anastasia and Dmitri were announced to be Christy Altomare (<i>Spring Awakening, Camelot</i>) and Derek Klena (<i>Dogfight, Wicked</i>).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy #1 Anastasia Fan Page on Instagram</td></tr>
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Both actors are theater veterans but without a full-fledged breakout role yet, giving them the freedom to truly put a stamp on these iconic roles. Watch a clip of Christy performing as part of "Broadway Loves Katy Perry", showing off her princess-worthy vocals:<br />
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Earlier this spring, Derek proved his fairy-tale-leading-man chops in a guest spot at the Broadway Princess Party, here singing as another raffish, lovable criminal alongside Taylor Louderman as a different unaware princess:<br />
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And for those wondering if this duo will mesh well together, never fear! The two co-starred in 2012's revival of <i>Carrie</i>, and sang the duet "You Shine":</div>
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<b>Day 6: The Music</b><br />
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There is no question that the most enduring aspect of <i>Anastasia</i> is its spectacular Ahrens/Flaherty score. Structured along the same lines as a classic Broadway musical, the music contributes to the fairytale tone and allow access to the deeper parts of these characters that even they might not know exist- which is what the musical genre does at its best.<br />
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"A Rumor In St. Petersburg" is a typical opening number, following the prologue with a relatively upbeat number that sets up the world of the story and the majority of the characters. Within this number, we are quickly introduced to all the elements not found in the prologue: the dreariness of post-Bolshevik Russia, Dmitri and Vlad and their con, and the captivating rumor that Anastasia might be alive. It's also possibly the only number in an animated musical that involves communism.<br />
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One of the two most iconic songs to come out of the film- which received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song- is "Journey to the Past." Covered by Aaliyah as a single, the song functions within the story as the classic "I Want" song: the moment in which Anya tells us and herself what she will be seeking for the remainder of the story. It's deceptively simple and all the more powerful for it:</div>
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Other songs followed a fairly typical structure, from Rasputin's villain song "In the Dark of the Night" featuring a chorus of dancing underworld insects, to "Learn To Do It", a comic trio for Vlad, Dmitri, and Anya. Late in the film, "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart" provides both plot movement and a hint of poignancy as Dmitri's character arc develops:</div>
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With only one day left until the stage adaptation debuts, treat yourself to a full listen-through of the film soundtrack, full of gems like these that will no doubt be a nostalgic delight.</div>
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<b>Day 7: Opening Night</b><br />
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It's the night fans have been waiting for for nearly twenty years: <i>Anastasia</i>'s debut as a live stage musical. If you're lucky enough to be attending the show tonight, then you're luckier than most of us! And if not, then just enjoy one more clip, an iconic anthem of longing and hope and loss:<br />
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Sending the very best of wishes to the cast, crew, and creative team of <i>Anastasia</i> at Hartford Stage tonight! <i>Yes Princess, we've found you at last....</i></div>
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Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-8261764771893595732016-05-01T11:48:00.000-07:002016-11-14T15:57:33.642-08:00Artistry and Athleticism: The Best Storytelling of the 2015-2016 Figure Skating SeasonI'm guessing most of you didn't expect to see anything about sports on this blog, did you? Not on a blog about storytelling and artistry. Not on a blog written by someone who is about as far from sporty as you can get. But here's something you might or might not know: I'm a big fan of figure skating. <i>Love</i> it. Always loved watching it. Even trying to learn it- finally found myself an athletic activity that 1) I don't loathe on sight and 2) I'm not completely terrible at.<br />
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But one of the things that has always drawn me to this sport is how it lives in two worlds: that of performance and artistry, and that of strength and athleticism. When skaters perform elegant step sequences, acrobatic lifts, or dizzying spins, it takes an <i>immense</i> amount of training and physical control- but it also produces something entertaining, beautiful, and often very moving. At its very best, this is a sport where we can not only marvel at the feats of athletic prowess, but at the lovely stories being told out there on the ice. So if you're a complete novice, these videos will give you a taste of some of the best the sport has to offer and a jumping off point should you want to watch more; if you're a longtime fan, it's a highlights reel of a top-notch season (and feel free to let me know if I've left off a favorite program of yours!). In no particular order, then, here are some of the highlights of the just-ended 2015-2016 season.<br />
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*Note: The majority of the programs in this article are from the discipline of ice dance, for two reasons: it's the discipline I follow most closely, and it's the discipline that places the most emphasis on interpretation and storytelling (rather than point-grabbing jumps).<br />
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<b>Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani (USA), Free Dance, Four Continents Championship</b><br />
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Sibling teams can be tricky in ice dance, which often includes pattern dances that traditionally involve a passionate or romantic connection between partners. The rapid rise of the Shibutanis this season, however, proves that it's <i>emotion</i>, not romance, that makes for a truly special performance. And this was never more in evidence than their gold-medal-winning free dance to Coldplay's "Fix You" at 4CC this winter. Their win here confirmed the deservedness of their National title and helped pave the way for an eventual silver at Worlds in Boston. The anguish, hope, and determination portrayed in this program might as well be the story of the Shibs' career path so far. And for newbies and fans alike, check out their worlds-best twizzle sequence starting around 3:20, right on the music, right in the heart.</div>
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<b>Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA), Short Dance, Four Continents Championship</b></div>
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In most countries, being ranked third domestically spells little success internationally. But in the deepest field of ice dance in the world, the bronze-medal-winning team is also one of the top six teams in the world. Figure skating blogger <u><a href="http://thefinersports.sportsblog.com/posts/16349544/10-best-ice-dance-performances-of-the-2015-16-figure-skating-season.html" target="_blank">Sarah Rasher describes</a></u> Hubbell and Donohue as having the most "intense emotional connection" in the sport, and this short dance showcases both their intensely emotional style and their newfound lyricism, setting them apart from a million ballroom waltzes (this season's compulsory pattern was the Ravensburger waltz). Set to k.d. lang's "Hallelujah," the choreography tells a story of tentative fear and longing and love, with a song that the team has described in interviews as something deeply personal to their partnership. </div>
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<b>Ashley Wagner (USA), Free Program, World Championships</b></div>
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Wagner's performance at Worlds in Boston was memorable for several reasons, not least of which was that her silver medal broke a decade-long medal drought for US ladies at Worlds. But in her second year skating her <i>Moulin Rouge</i> free skate, Wagner embodied her character more fully than any other lady in the competition. From her red hair to her glittering costume to her emotional expressiveness, Wagner embodied an arc familiar to any who love the film: Satine's soaring hopes, her crashing, bitter realization, and her determination that "the show must go on" even if her own hopes are dashed. Nicole Kidman would be proud.</div>
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<b>Elena Ilinykh/Ruslan Zhiganshin (Russia), Free Dance, Rostelcom Cup</b><br />
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One of the most overlooked and ambitious programs of the season came from 2015's Russian national champions and fan favorites. In their second season together, the duo created a program set to the music from <i>Frida</i> and telling the tumultuous love story of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Their creativity is on full display in this program (see their challenging combination lift starting around 0:55), displaying a less traditional mode of storytelling. Ilinykh is one of the most expressive ice dancers in the world today, and this program makes full use of her capabilities (and Zhiganshin's strong partnering skills) to produce something sophisticated and memorable.<br />
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<b>Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev (Russia), Free Dance, European Championships</b></div>
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I know what you're thinking. Russians skating to <i>Anna Karenina</i>. Obvious, and probably boring. Well, you'd be wrong. This team has had its fair share of disappointments, from injuries to poor performances when it's mattered the most. But in this free dance, Bobrova and Soloviev showcase their athleticism (check out that perfectly balanced lift at 1:35!) and their ability, built on talent and the trust of a sixteen-year partnership, to tell this complex story of love and loss. No one else could have so perfectly preserved the character of the quintessential Russian romantic tragedy.</div>
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<b>Javier Fernandez (Spain), Free Program, World Championships</b></div>
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In recent seasons, men's skating has often been decried as turning into nothing more than a quad-jumping contest, with the insanely high point values for the seemingly-impossible quadruple jumps making those jumps the elements most focused on. This season's bronze medalist, Jin Boyang of China, is proof that such a strategy (jumps first priority, artistry tenth) can work. But in Fernandez, the surprise repeat World Champion, we can see the best of both worlds: solid quad jumps and an unmatched ability to embody an character- in this case, doing his best Sinatra circa <i>Guys and Dolls</i>- and charm an audience to its feet. </div>
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If all this hasn't made you sick of figure skating yet, I would also highly recommend the Worlds-winning <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rGHeK1V2rU" target="_blank">free dance</a></u> from French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron; fan-favorite Mirai Nagasu's (USA) <i>Great Gatsby</i> <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JeaC02mMAk" target="_blank">free program</a></u>; British ice dancers Penny Coomes & Nicholas Buckland's bright, light <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayB_GYVVbu4" target="_blank">short dance</a></u>; Russian wunderkind and newly-crowned world champion Evgenia Medvedeva's <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NeSjyvepFI" target="_blank">short</a></u> and <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C17aEZT9OXA" target="_blank">free</a></u> programs; and the <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1UbI1nl-jo" target="_blank">free skate</a></u> from up-and-coming Canadian pairs team Julianne Seguin & Charlie Bilodeau. Enjoy!</div>
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<b><br /></b>Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-39889499549487191892015-12-31T14:32:00.001-08:002016-08-15T16:56:34.805-07:00A Year Of Theater, Part 2: Changed For GoodPart 2 of my year-end review of a particularly outstanding year for this theater-loving girl. The second half of 2015 was marked by three ongoing experiences: two long runs at my local touring venue, and the beginning of my graduate writing program.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I have to start by talking about the funniest time I've ever spent in a theater: the three delightful weeks I spent seeing and working <i>The Book of Mormon</i> on its first-ever stop in my hometown. I don't think I've ever laughed so much or so often, either as a patron or in the four years I've been on house staff. There has never been as much anticipation going into a show, given that the show has existed for four years and was only just now coming to my home theater. And, to put it briefly, the show (and the experience of it) most certainly lived up to every expectation.<br />
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Part of the joy of the show was, simply, how much fun it was to work. Coming to work every shift pretty much was a guarantee that there would be a lot of laughing and joking and just <i>smiling</i>. The music was catchy, the jokes landed every single night, and the production values just gleamed. And none of this would have been possible without an excellent cast. Alexandra Ncube shone as Nabulungi: half naive Disney princess, half worldly modern heroine, with the standout ballad "Sal Tlay Ka Siti."<br />
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This show particularly rests on the talents and chemistry of the two leading men, and we were lucky on both counts. Billy Harrigan Tighe plays Elder Price with the perfect blend of arrogance, white-bread tenor-boy perkiness (partly thanks to Dutch Bros, I think!), and just the right hint of uncertainty. His soaring "I Believe" stopped the show most nights, and with good reason. Most fans of <i>BoM</i> are familiar with Elder Cunningham as a sloppy, stocky, slightly obnoxious but lovable slob, but A.J. Holmes brings a completely different style to the character, transforming him into a lanky, adorkable nerd with a brash laugh, impeccable comic timing, and a voice that slid easily between a comic rock timbre in "Man Up" and a surprising sweetness in "Baptize Me." When the three weeks were up, this show was very much missed- it's a lot of fun to say "Hello," but not to say goodbye.<br />
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Before I touch on the other major tour of the fall, I want to say a few words about the <i>other</i> major theater experience of my year: the beginning of my MFA dramatic writing program. I wrote about my challenges at length in <u><a href="http://thestoryologist.blogspot.com/2015/12/whose-right-whos-right.html" target="_blank">this post</a></u>, but I do want to say just a few more words about it. This was a major milestone in my life, as corny as it sounds, and it wasn't an easy one, either. It was intimidating for quite a while, hearing the rapid, high-level discussions that I was only half following some days. But I'm grateful, so incredibly grateful, to a couple of professors and, even more, to a few of my classmates who saw the terrified first-year in the corner seat and reached out to bring me into the fold and reassure me that, above all else, I am there to <i>learn</i>.<br />
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And yet, during the most difficult, stressful early weeks of grad school, there was a bright, saving spot at the end of every week: <i>Wicked</i>. I wrote <u><a href="http://thestoryologist.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-wicked-national-tour-soars.html" target="_blank">an extensive review</a></u> when the show first began its six-week run, but this is more about what it came to mean to me over the course of those six weeks. As anyone who knows me at all is aware, <i>Wicked</i> has always been my personal favorite and has always meant a lot to me on many levels. What is also true is that, by some chance, the tour has always settled down for a run in my city at a time in my life when I've needed it the most. It's not just the story, or the music, or the visuals that get to me, although the day I don't tear up at "Defying Gravity" or "For Good" is the day I have been replaced by a body-snatching alien. It's the <i>ideas</i> embodied in this show, the ideals of friendship and loyalty and heroism. It's these characters who, especially when embodied by actors like Alyssa Fox, Carrie St. Louis, and Jake Boyd, feel like real, three-dimensional, incredibly relatable people.<br />
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And, in this case, it was indeed a bit about the people. It was a joy and a privilege to get to know some of these talented, kind cast members over the course of six weeks. Every weekend, I knew I would get to listen to or watch performances that would draw me in and wrap me in a comforting warmth. Every Wednesday, after my lengthy and often mentally draining writers' workshop, I got to look forward to taking my dinner to my favorite bench and saying hello to these lovely, friendly people. <i>Wicked</i> holds a very special place in my heart, and this particular run with this particular cast became the most exquisite, meaningful experience I've had to date.<br />
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I want to end this year-end review with one more set of thanks:<br />
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<li>-To the professors and colleagues who made my first semester of grad school a lot less intimidating and a lot more enjoyable: it may not have seemed like much, but the little words of encouragement helped me more than you know.</li>
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<li>-To the hilarious leading man who took the time to have a chat about musical theater and the challenges of creating that art form: it was such a joy getting to talk with you, and I hope very much that you find that passion project to compose someday soon.</li>
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<li>-To the friends and coworkers with whom I shared some of the funniest, most lighthearted, most memorable moments: I'm so glad we got to share those unforgettable moments :)</li>
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<li>-To the cheerful leading lady who gave her time and shared with me such insights for my graduate research and who always had a moment to say hello: I am so grateful for your help and for your friendliness that always made me smile- I hope your future is as wonderful as you are!</li>
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<li>-To the amazing leading man who took the time to give me such thoughtful insights to help with my graduate paper and who was never too busy to say hi or sit and chat for a few minutes: your kindness and spirit of friendship always meant so much to me, and I'm honored to stay in touch!</li>
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<li>-And lastly, to my mom, who came with me to so many shows and who has constantly encouraged me: it means the world. Truly. </li>
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Because of all these experiences, I have been changed for good. Thank you all. Blessings for a spectacular 2016!</div>
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~Amanda</div>
Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6815479239018676285.post-6551935973750091602015-12-30T11:49:00.001-08:002016-08-15T16:56:25.446-07:00A Year Of Theater, Part 1: It's Possible2015 has been an extraordinary year. And for me, a lot of that has had to do with the remarkable and unique experiences of theater that I have been privileged to have. I thought I'd take a look back on some of the highlights of the year, but, wouldn't you know it, there was too much for one post. So let's start with the first half of the year, one filled with new beginnings, a dream come true, and just a little bit of magic.<br />
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One of the best parts of my theater experiences in 2015 was broadening my horizons beyond the big commercial theater that takes up most of my time. In early summer, I discovered a local initiative designed to bring together creative women in theater to support one another and continue making strides in improved representation. Attending their June symposium of new works, only months before beginning my MFA program as the sole female in the playwriting program, was an experience both engaging and reassuring. Every person I met was welcoming and kind and full of advice; a few of the women turned out to be already connected to me through my university or through mutual acquaintances.<br />
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The experience that stands out most to me was the reading of Heidi Armbruster's <i>Dairyland</i>, a witty play revolving around the complicated relationship between an elite New York City food writer and her father- a rough, gruff Wisconsin dairy farmer. Not only did I enjoy the play itself immensely, it was an amazing (and, at the time, brand-new) experience for me to be part of the feedback discussion following the reading. It reinforced what I love best about theater: the shared experience that makes it so much more than just a writer sitting at a laptop. I know I'll be following Armbruster's work in the future, and it was a genuine delight to spend that time with other creative women who love the theater as much as I do.<br />
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As always, I spent a fair amount of time, both professionally and personally, at the local Broadway touring venue. There was quite a wide range of musicals this spring, but the standout by far was the touring production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's <i>Cinderella</i>, a tour of the 2013 Broadway production and one of the most magical, genuinely beautiful shows I've ever had the privilege of seeing. I wrote a bit about the tour <u><a href="http://thestoryologist.blogspot.com/2015/04/as-wonderful-as-you-seem-cinderella-in.html" target="_blank">in this article</a></u> about Cinderella in modern pop culture, but I do want to say a few more words about this show and, in particular, this wonderful cast.<br />
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Even for someone who has spent as much time around touring theater as I have, the sight of an understudy notice can still be disappointing, particularly when the usual lead is excellent, as in the case of Paige Faure as Ella, who sat out all but the opening night of this run. I <i>really </i>shouldn't have worried. For most of the performances I was at, Audrey Cardwell wore the glass slippers, and far and away was the best of the three Ellas. Her voice is clear and bright, soaring over songs like "In My Own Little Corner" and "Ten Minutes Ago", and her portrayal of Ella presents us with a girl whose strength is her ability to remain kind and selfless when most of us would have long since succumbed to bitterness, despair, and resentment. Opposite her was Andy Huntington Jones as Topher, an uncertain, charming, and endearing prince with a voice that sounds like it was made for Golden Age musicals and songs such as "Loneliness of Evening" and "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" The clear, easy chemistry between this leading lady and her real-life prince added such a warmth to this modernized fairy tale. Visually and musically stunning, with a cast as charming and sweet in real life as onstage, this tour was the highlight of my spring shows.<br />
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March also brought one of the highlights of my entire year: my first experience having a play of mine read. With a cast assembled from friends, colleagues, and a few kind strangers who answered a playwright's pleas for actors, I had the immense joy of spending an evening hearing my play come to life for the very first time. Perhaps there will come a day, sometime in the future of my career, that moments like these will feel more commonplace, but right now, this is one of the most special, remarkable memories I cherish. I remember nearly tearing up at several parts of the reading. Not because I was so blown away by what an awesome writer I am (even my ego isn't that big), but because these characters, these <i>people</i>, who had lived in my head for so long, were suddenly real in the way that the characters I've loved all my life were. Some of the people I love most in the world were there, and I didn't expect how many would come to support me, even just to spend two hours in crappy chairs watching a bunch of us sit around a table and read a script aloud. The first few months of 2015 were not easy ones, for many reasons, but culminating in this reading and my MFA program acceptance, I finally began to feel it was all possible. </div>
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Because I've been trying to focus more this year on positivity and gratitude, I'd like to take just a couple lines to say thank you to some of the awesome people from this half of the year:<br />
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<li>-To my wonderful cast and play committee: thank you for your time, your input, and for being a part of this experience- I'm so grateful to you all, and none of this would have happened without you.</li>
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<li>-To every person who came to my reading, or who perhaps couldn't make it but has supported me throughout: it means the world to me to have you in my corner, and I am so touched by your kindness and support.</li>
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<li>-To the leading lady whose performance so moved me this spring: it was a joy to come to work each night and look forward to your wonderful performance, and you helped me remember it's all "possible."</li>
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<li>-To the leading man who not only gave such a fantastic performance, but who took the time, upon meeting me at stage door on my day off/day as patron, to chat about experiences of working at a theater: I've never forgotten your kindness, and I wish you (and your "princess") the very best!</li>
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<li>-To the wonderful women who treated me like one of their own: thank you for giving me a sense of belonging and confidence when I needed it most.</li>
</ul>
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Coming up next: the second half of the year, with two stellar shows and one scary graduate program!</div>
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Amanda Prahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308909549802156057noreply@blogger.com0