2016 [On Stage]
When you’re in the thick of a thing, it’s sometimes impossible to know how it’ll all turn out when it ends. Throughout the year, I didn’t really feel like I was getting to many shows, but as I look back at the list for 2016, I’m surprised it’s as healthy as it is. There it is in writing: ten shows, from local Chicago productions to Broadway blockbusters. What it lacks in quantity it certainly makes up for in quality.
A Date with NYC: Post-script
A year after moving away, I got myself back to New York for a weekend and anticipation was high, to say the least. I am happy to report that the trip not only lived up to expectations, it surprised and delighted in ways I never could have guessed, making it all the more memorable. I flew out after work on Wednesday and made my way to my room in Park Slope, a tiny second-floor spot in a brownstone owned by a lovely woman who’d lived there for 35-plus years. She welcomed me warmly at nearly midnight, and I settled in quickly, buzzing with good energy being back in the city…
History is Happening
In 1996, I was a freshman in high school. A freshman in a new high school in a new town in a new house. That year I discovered RENT with the rest of the world and nothing was ever the same again. I’ve loved musicals since I was small, when my mom took me to see CATS when I was seven. Six? Either way, I was tiny and my little brain was impressionable and I fell in love with this art form unlike anything else, the American musical. (Yes, CATS is by a British guy, but it set Broadway records, mmmkay?). While my friends were listening to Green Day and…
A Date with NYC
In just over a week, I head off for a long weekend in NYC. Returning just about a year after I moved away, it’s the first time I’ll be back to the Big Apple since then (with the exception of a whirlwind 24 hour trip for a film event late last summer). I’ve stayed away until now for several reasons, not the least of which was because I really needed to make a clean break from the place in order to fully appreciate my new digs in Chicago. Budget was also a consideration – not much time for weekend getaways when I’m busy furnishing an apartment and what not. And…
Just You Wait…
Back in March, as I packed up my life yet again for another move across the country, I was hearing rumblings about a new musical making a splash off Broadway. Something called Hamilton? Something about American History by the guy who did In The Heights? For a couple weeks, I tried to snag a ticket through the show lottery on the TodayTix app but never came up a winner. (That app, btw, is a must if you’re in NYC and a theater nerd!) No matter, I thought. It’d be nice to get in, but then again, it’s just a show. Famous. Last. Words. In the months since, Hamilton has taken the theater world…
