insp

Like imagine if you were attending a touring performance of Shrek The Musical, and you find out halfway through it’s a failed sting operation to catch a serial killer who appears on stage disguised as Shrek. Do you think you can get your ticket refunded

Now that's good but I remember correctly that's not how it goes down so let me correct this to the best of my half-remembered ability.

You AREN'T seeing Shrek, you're seeing Shronk: Some Guy's Shrek Fanfiction Opera. You meet up with one of the producers and they say that yeah it was written by a serial killer who lives in the sewers but his music is SUPER good so we're doing it. Then halfway through Shronk is switched out for another actor and it's the serial killer but the wild thing is he sings BETTER than the first guy? And it's clearly a different guy but they're just going for it but then the operation goes off and he kidnaps the lead actress and everyone runs away and now you're pissed because you were kind of invested in the story of Shronk but because this was a world première show written by a guy who was just chased off stage giggling like a giddy schoolgirl you'll never know how it ends.

God if you got invested in the plot of the phantom’s opera, you’re definitely shit out of luck, aren’t you? They are not restaging that

People who honestly think there shouldn’t be a proshot release of theater shows because then people wouldn’t go to the theater anymore are so fucking dumb holy shit how dumb do you have to be did people stop watching footbal games because it also airs on tv? did people stop going to concers because you could get the dvd? holy shit just let poor people have a taste of the thing too god damn it

I should add, as an opera fan, this is something opera got over long ago. I can access proshot recordings of practically every major opera production of the last 30 years, because most of them got official dvds. And that didn’t kill opera. Tickets for opera productions can often be gotten for cheap too. Operas, despite their reputation are actually really good about accessibility, at least in terms of cost.

But broadway musicals? The community that are mostly having this debate? My options are buying a ticket (for a large sum, plus a plane trip to New York), a sound-only official cast recording, a shaky low-fi bootleg video or a hollywood movie adaptation if I’m lucky. Tickets for musicals on broadway and the west end are often sold out and for large prices, and I doubt proshot recordings would put any major dent in that.

Also I can’t go into a crowded auditorium and probably won’t be safe to do so for years because people think Covid-19 is sooooo over

So it’d be nice to have a chance to experience a watered down version of shows ballets plays or etc. because I liked them and there’s so many I might not get to see

In addition to the price and location barrier, there’s also a time barrier with live theatre.

There are so many shows that I would HAPPILY pay to see if I could, but they ran before I was born or when I was a child/teen.

There are shows that I DID get the privilege of seeing live that I would love to see again, or share with loved ones, but I’ll never get to because they’re no longer running or touring.

Not only would pro-shot releases help people who can’t afford or access live shows, it would create an archive of these performances for present AND future audiences to experience over and over again (and probably generate broader interest in live revivals too).

So we've all heard of the "I Want Song" genre in musicals.

But what about the "Let's talk about the bitch behind their back like they're not in the room" song, or "singing s*** behing a bitche's back". There's a surprising amount of them.

"Belle" from Beauty and the Beast

"Scrooge" from Muppet Christmas Carol

"Maria" from The Sound of Music

"Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee" from Grease

"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from How The Grinch Stole Christmas

"Jackass In a Can" from Galavant

"Phony King of England" from Robin Hood

"Stepsister's Lament" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

"Non-Stop" from Hamilton

And, of course, the man, the myth, the legend...

"We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto

You can learn a lot about a character and story from what they sing versus what other people sing about them.

Let's not forget

"Jack's Obsession" from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Basically it's Hollywood's rendition of the Chorus in Ancient Greek plays: a bunch of *relevant* people (like townspeople or elders or even the Gods) all sing about the plot or the main character together. Neat

Moses Supposes

Running into this on my dash was like running into an old friend

Thats just what theater kids are like

What I’ve always loved about this bit is

a. this musical number comes completely out of nowhere, with no greater context than what this video captures; and

b. the language instructor clearly can’t hear the music. He’s not from Musical Theatre Land. From his perspective, a couple of twinkle-toed weirdos just randomly decided to physically abuse him for three solid minutes. This isn’t reading anything that’s not intended into the scene – it’s literally the central gag.

@thebibliosphere in case you need some ridiculous Singin’ in the Rain on your dash.

(P.S. I imagined you making the faces at the instructor and it was hilarious)

I can but aspire to the level of expressiveness Cosmo Brown has with his face.

If you have ADHD and a manic episode this is what your brain does

@hotvintagepoll Donald O'Connor propaganda like look at him go he’s amazing the energy the skill the nonsense of it all

Anastasia (1997) deleted scene where the KGB tries to arrest dimitri for counterrevolutionary monarchist sentiment because he keeps referring to leningrad as st petersburg in public

Toni Braxton as Belle

Brandy as Cinderella

Precious Adams as Aurora

Angel Coulby as Guenivere

Lashana Lynch as Rosaline Capulet

Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte

Sophie Okonedo as Margaret of Anjou

Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn

Alexandra Metz as Rapunzel

Ciara Renee as Elsa

Aisha Jackson as Anna

Brittney Johnson as Glinda

Denée Benton as Cinderella

Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy

Danielle Brooks as Beatrice

Misty Copeland as Odette

Stephanie Mills as Dorothy

Ashanti as Dorothy

Shanice Williams as Little Red Riding Hood

Keke Palmer as Cinderella

Jade Jones as Belle

no thoughts just German Wicked 2021/2022

sorry for the picture quality, I just snapped pictures of the program!

Brittney Johnson, Lindsay Pearce, Sam Gravitte, and Sharon Sachs in Wicked on Broadway (2022). Photos by Joan Marcus.

My five illustrations based upon the musical/film, ‘The Fiddler on the Roof’

Fineliners, watercolours and photoshop.

Black Christines creating history in the role

And with an assist from me To be who you’ll be Instead of dreary, who you were… well, are There’s nothing that can stop you From becoming popu-ler… lar…

Rosalind Harris and Leonard Frey in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (‘71) 

My Piece for the coming Broadway travel poster show” PlayBill” at @gallerynucleus. The painting is designed for the village Anatevka which the story of “ The Fiddler on the roof” happening at. The black and white one was my first sketch but I decided to change the style at the end.

Playbills: A Broadway Poster Show

THIS SAT! / FEBRUARY 29, 6:00PM - 9:00PM

Title: “Where we are all like a Fiddler on the Roof”

Acrylic Gouache 

11x17

Say what you want about theatre, but even if you absolutely hate musicals with your entire being, you can’t deny that some of the rawest lines ever written come from the theatre (musical and otherwise).

Here, I’ll start:

“And when my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance” – Hamilton

“You’re so nice. You’re not good, you’re not bad, you’re just nice. I’m not good, I’m not nice, I’m just right” – Into The Woods

“Death’s a funny pal with a weird sort of talent; he puts his arms around my neck and walks me to the bed, he pins me up against the wall and kisses me like crazy” – Falsettos

“This one’s for kids shining shoes on the street with no shoes on their feet every day” – Newsies

“Dreams are sweet, until they’re not. Men are kind, until they aren’t. Flowers bloom, until they rot and fall apart” - Hadestown

“But then why am I screaming? Why am I shaking? Oh god, was there something that I missed? Did I squander my divinity? Was happiness within me the whole time?” - Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

“Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong” - Beauty and the Beast

“And now, whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friend” - Wicked

“Do you wake up in the morning and need help to lift your head? Do you read obituaries and feel jealous of the dead? It’s like living on a cliff side, not knowing when you’ll dive. Do you know? Do you know what it’s like to die alive?” - Next to Normal

“All they say is ‘trust in what is written.’ Wars are made and somehow that is wisdom. Thought is suspect and money is their idol. And nothing is okay unless it’s scripted in their Bible.” - Spring Awakening

“To love another person is to see the face of God...”

- Les Miserábles

“And take extra care with strangers, even flowers have their dangers, and though scary is exciting, nice is different than good.”

- Into The Woods