Five Favorites Friday: Actresses

Last Friday, I posted my five favorite actors. This week, as promised, comes my five favorite actresses!

1. Amy Adams
With such gorgeous red hair, it’s no surprise that I fell for Amy Adams. First seeing her in Enchanted, I immediately thought she was the most adorable thing ever. She’s instantly charming and can win over most people with her ability to be so cute but she can do so much more than that, as she has proven. Have you seen her in Doubt? Go see it. Haven’t seen her in Julie and Julia either? Go see it. In both of these films she stars along side Meryl Streep, but I’ll get to her in a little while. I’ll admit, I haven’t seen her in The Fighter yet but word on the street is she totally owns it. It wasn’t until this past year that I actually saw  Catch Me If You Can but she was so good yet severely underused. She’s in a plethora of other movies as well and a few big ones coming up but my all-time favorite Amy Adams movie is Leap Year. This was the first film that Amy pretty much had to pull the weight of the film on her own. A test to her true abilities, she was able to do it. Is it predictable? Sure. Is it cute? Heck yes it is. But Amy is too cute and adorable to resist this cheese ball of a film. Oh! How could I ever forget?! Then there’s Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day yet another film where she sings but this time, she sings and stars along side Lee Pace. Major spaz attack.

2. Meryl Streep
Oh, come on! You had to have seen this coming, right? I was so tempted to leave this section blank because there doesn’t need to be any justification. Meryl is perfect. She’s the epitome of class. Graceful. Poignant. Powerful. I could go on and on, but let’s just all agree: Meryl has it all. I enjoy the two movies she did with Amy Adams and I wish she would do more! The two of them have wonderful chemistry. One of my first movies I ever saw with her, yet I didn’t even realize it was her, was Music of the Heart when I was forced to watch it in orchestra class in middle school. And boy, am I glad I was forced to watch it. Without going into detail, it’s a really touching movie that I would recommend to anyone. One of my most favorite performances by Meryl in a movie is in The Hours, which also stars many other big names. Very powerful performance. And of course, she did Mamma Mia! in which she sang. She wasn’t bad either! One of the reasons she became my favorites was hearing how dedicated she is to acting. And no, I still haven’t seen The Devil Wears Prada, which I probably should, right?

3. Sarah Jessica Parker
Carrie Bradshaw, anyone? After finishing the first season of Sex and the City, I immediately knew why everyone loved it: it was good. Not only was the show, in general, good but so was Sarah Jessica Parker. In fact, she was the best on the show, in my opinion. She is just an all around great actress. When I watch Hocus Pocus, it amazes me that she is in it. She transforms into such a different person but remains dedicated and pulls it off. I was watching The First Wives Club the other week because I was on a Bette Midler kick and low and behold: there’s Sarah Jessica Parker. While not the greatest movie ever, I did enjoy her in Have You Heard About The Morgans? I even enjoyed the slightly better Failure To Launch. I would love to see someone write a more serious film for her to star in.

4. Drew Barrymore
Is there anyone in the world who can hate her adorableness in E.T.? Nope. Even though she faced a rough childhood, Drew transformed into a lovely lady. I really enjoyed her performance in 50 First Dates but it wasn’t until I watched Music and Lyrics that I completely fell in love with her. I’ll admit, she can’t sing, but everything else about her in this movie makes me feel warm fuzzies. Another RomCom of hers that I thoroughly enjoyed is Going The Distance. But if you think Drew isn’t that talented, think again. She made her directoral debut with Whip It, a film about a roller derby where she not only directed but starred along side one of my favorite other favorites: Kristen Wiig.

5. Kristen Wiig
Most famous for her being a comidienne on Saturday Night Live, Kristin brings the most laughs to the nation weekly. Seriously, she is one of the funniest people I’ve ever seen. She may not have too many film credits to her name.. yet.. but that’ll definitely change, now that she’s proven herself in Bridesmaids. This is one of my all time favorite films and it is all because of her. She also starred in a quirky film called Paul which was actually pretty funny and even though she wasn’t the biggest character, she still garnered a ton of laughs. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for her in the future. Broadway, anyone? Please?

Let’s recap. Amy Adams. Meryl Streep. Sarah Jessica Parker. Drew Barrymore. Kristin Wiig. Five gorgeous, talented actresses that I love. Comments? Write ‘em below! And don’t forget to tune in next week where I shall list my five favorite Vacations I’ve ever been on!

Five Favorites Friday: Actors

If you’re anything like me, you love to make lists. Sometimes, you love to make them for no apparent reason. For example, yesterday I was sitting in class just making lists of my favorite things from various categories ranging from movies to books to places I’ve been on vacation. Then the idea hit me: why not incorporate this into my blog? I narrowed down each list to five, some of which I still have yet to flesh out to a full five, and decided that each Friday I will be posting a new five favorite things. This week, I decided I’d start out with something simple: Actors.

1. Lee Pace
Anyone who knows me knows that I have an undying love for Lee Pace. Why? Have you seen him in anything?! He is so charming! That’s why. I was first introduced to him when I decided to watch Pushing Daisies and I immediately knew that he was going to be one of my favorite actors. After I had watched every episode, I ached for more so I looked him up on Netflix and saw he had a movie called The Fall available for instant stream. I won’t go into too much detail but basically it’s a must see movie. I immediately bought it on DVD because I knew I would be watching it over and over. Not just for Lee either. Anyway, I also watched him in Ceremony, yet another movie he was in only this time he sported a British accent and I hardcore swooned. He then repeated this accent in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day featuring one of my favorite actresses: Amy Adams. AND THE MAN SANG IN THE MOVIE. My heart was a big puddle by this point. If you noticed the picture above or have been following Broadway news, you would have known that he was in The Normal Heart on Broadway. I got to see him in that and it just solidified all my previous thoughts. In person, he is very tall, very suave, and there’s only one word I can think of for him: dreamboat. Lee Pace is a dreamboat. So if you had any doubts, yes, Lee Pace did in fact make my top 5 actors at the top spot.

2. Zac Efron
Surely you must be judging me for having Zac on this list but I promise, he really is a great actor. High School Musical 1 doesn’t even count. Not even the second one. But I still love those movies and him in them. Have you seen the third one? It’s actually pretty good. Zac has truly established himself outside the Disney franchise too. I think the moment he solidified himself as a member of this list was when he appeared in Hairspray. Not only is he a pretty good singer, he can actually act. Surprise! Basically, I will see anything Zac is in. 17 Again. Charlie St. Cloud. And of course, there’s the upcoming film adaptation of The Lorax with one of my other favorites: Taylor Swift. And how could I miss the opportunity to see him collaborate with Nicholas Sparks? I must say I’m pretty stoked to see him in The Lucky One. Again, I find Zac very suave and charming and would absolutely love to see him tackle Broadway some day.

3. T.R. Knight
If you don’t  know who T.R. Knight is, you must not have watched Grey’s Anatomy. What a shame, too. I found the show to be at its best when he and Katharine Heigl were on the show. Anyway, he portrayed George, who was clumsy and love-stricken but one of the most down to Earth on the show. Now, I’ll admit I haven’t seen him in anything outside of the show, but I know he has done Broadway and will probably end up doing it again. He even did a musical out in California, so he can decently sing! Why does he make the list, you might be asking? Because he is charming as can be. Notice a pattern here?

4. Victor Garber
Ah, finally, someone who is not under 35. Why yes, Victor Garber is one of my favorite actors. I had seen him in movies long before I had known who he was. My first exposure was Titanic. After that, one of my favorite movie musicals: Annie. I won’t even mention the rest of the cast because it is just so extraordinary. I never knew that he played Jesus in the movie adaptation of Godspell but it was pleasant surprise seeing him in it! (Note: that is why he was at the opening night of the Godspell revival, as pictured above) He was even in one of my all time favorite movies ever: Legally Blonde. He can do anything. ANYTHING. Recently, I was browsing HBOgo.com and turned on The First Wives Club. Yup, Victor was in it. End of story. That is why he is on this list.

5. Daniel Radcliffe
Rounding out my top five favorites is Daniel Radcliffe. Radcliffe has become a household name for portraying Harry Potter in the films of the same name. If you haven’t seen them, shame on you. Shame on me, actually for not seeing the latest one actually. Gah! I will be getting on that ASAP. Anyway, I saw him last year in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway and boy, was he great. He was charming, suave, funny, cute, adorable. He could dance. And hey! He wasn’t the worst singer on Earth either! What really sold me, though, was when he was on Saturday Night Live. He was hilarious, and I do mean hi-lar-i-ous. And he is very talented too. He can play serious when needed. Funny when needed. He can do anything. His American accent? Perfection. His natural British accent? You’ll be in a puddle.

So there you have it, my five favorite actors: Lee Pace, Zac Efron, T.R. Knight, Victor Garber and Daniel Radcliffe. Thanks for reading! Come back next Friday to see who makes my list of five favorite Actresses. (You didn’t see that one coming, now, did you?! You did? Well crap. It just seemed logical!)

REVIEW: La Cage Aux Folles (National Tour)

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing the national tour production of La Cage Aux Folles at the Kennedy Center thanks to their wonderful program MyTix, which offers discount tickets to people ages 18-30. La Cage stars George Hamilton as Georges and Christopher Sieber as Zaza.

For those who are not familiar with La Cage, it tells the story of Georges, a nightclub owner in the French Riviera, and his partner Albin, who comes to life nightly as the glamourous Zaza. When Georges’s son Jean-Michele brings his fiance Anne home, things get a bit rowdy as he wants his future in-laws to meet his real mother, not Albin. At the end of the day, family is more than just a mother and a father: it’s who you make it.

This was my first time seeing a production of the show but it was not, however, my first time ever hearing the music. With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, it’s no wonder that this score is considered a classic, with numbers such as “I Am What I Am”, “The Best of Times” and the rousing title number. I remember growing up listening to Linda Eder’s rendition of “I Am What I Am” but it was such a delight to finally put it into true context with the show as well as delivered from the incredible Chris Sieber.

The show opens with George Hamilton introducing the Cagelles and I thought it’d be fitting to introduce him: boring. If there is any word that describes his performance it is most certainly boring. There was absolutely no stage presence and often times Hamilton is as stiff as a piece of wood, even when attempting to dance. Sometimes, he does garner laughs but that is mainly due to the well written book by Harvey Fierstein. Thankfully there is Chris Sieber as Albin, a true star, to come to the rescue. Everything about his performance was perfection; from his powerful voice to his flawless comedic timing, he did indeed bring down the house. During his rendition of “I Am What I Am” I actually got chills because yes, it was that good. Some other standouts include the hilarious Jeigh Madjus as  Jacob and the absolutely charming Billy Harrigan Tighe as Jean-Michele.

If you get the chance to see this tour, or this show for that matter, I would most certainly recommend it. It is not appropriate for those under 13, but the message of family very endearing. Go see it for the score. Go see it for Sieber. Go see it for the dancing. Go see it for the story. Go see it for the show. Just go see it!

The Art Of Creation

The art of creation, just like any other kind of art, is just that: an art, not a science. I absolutely love the idea that two people can be given the exact same materials but have two completely different outcomes. What I see in my mind you may not even think of and vice versa. There’s also more than one way to get from point A to point B through the entire process of creation.

As I sit here writing this, there’s a cake baking in the oven. It is the kind that you make from the box, the instructions given on it and all the materials you’ll need for it: 3 eggs, 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of oil. It tells you to preheat the oven first. Add all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix on medium for 2 minutes. Lastly, it gives you heating time for various size baking dishes.

But there’s so much more than that, more than just the material things. Firstly, what kind of environment do you like to bake in? I know for me, I love to have a playlist going. This helps me get in the zone, focus in  on what is exactly that I’m doing. Today, I was listening to a newly made playlist featuring just Lucy Schwartz. Music going, first thing I did before I did anything else was make sure I had a soapy sink, ready to wash any dishes as soon as I was finished with them. For me, I love cleaning as I go; it softens the blow of cleaning and makes it seem so miniscule. Next, I put all the ingredients in the bowl but didn’t even bother pulling out my electric mixer. What’s the joy in baking if you don’t do some manual “labor”? I always use a whisk unless, of course, it’s impossible to mix with. I thoroughly enjoy mixing by hand and leaving a few chunks.

Of course, I sprayed the pan and poured the batter in. I scraped as much of the batter as I could before running my finger through the bowl and eating the remains of cake batter. Don’t judge! You know you do it too. But sometimes I don’t like making just a plain cake as listed on the box. Sometimes, I separate the batter equally into four bowls and put a different food color into each bowl. With separate spoons, I put a different spoonful of batter into the pan randomly. When fully baked, it comes out as a tie-dye cake! If you disguise it with plain colored icing, when someone bites in, they are easily surprised.

This time, I just kept it simple and now it’s out of the oven, cooling; dishes are all clean and now I just wait for it to become cool enough to ice. That’s another place where there aren’t instructions given. How the hell do you ice a cake? How the hell should you ice the cake? Simple: Any way you’d like. Seriously, it’s your cake. I love to put all the icing on the cake in one quick plop; it makes it easier to spread. But once I spread it, I like to make designs, waves overtop the cake. Today, I think I’m even going to add sprinkles for a little extra.

But given all the same ingredients and cooking space, you could and would and should make a totally different cake than I should. Maybe it tastes the same, sure, but it sure as hell wasn’t made the same way. You didn’t create it the same way I did and that’s what I love. I love that not everyone has to do everything the same way. I love that they don’t do everything the same way.

For example, thanks to my wonderfully amazingly great friend Dana, I was inspired to make one of the “Create your own tumbler”s from Starbucks. I saw that she used Broadway show flyers to make hers and I thought this was really neat. I got a few of those together, as well as some extra Playbills and ads in magazines that I had and decided to create my own. If you put ours side by side, you’d see that even though they used some of the same materials, they were totally different. Hers reflects everything that she likes and mine reflects what I like. Below is a picture of the insert before I put it in the container, so you can see what it looks like!

I have one question for you: What are you going to create today? Even if you don’t create something physical, create an experience that you enjoy or will never forget, just create!

The Wonder That Is Youtube

Ah, we all know, and hopefully love, the biggest procrastination mechanism that is known as Youtube. I know I’ve spent countless nights losing track of time shuffling from one video to another via the suggestions given on the right hand side of the screen. Most of the time it’s a smooth transition but sometimes you do have to sit through those pesky ads. And who remembers when VEVO took over? They added those ANNOYING side ads surrounding all VEVO videos that display a different artist each week. Who knew that people might actually appreciate it? I sure didn’t! That is, until I actually clicked on the ad.

Last night, I saw an ad for this new video by a group I had never heard of before: Karmin. Actually, I thought it was just a female named Karmin. Anyway, I clicked the ad and actually watched the video. Thank goodness I did! It led me to their music video for their new song, Crash Your Party, from their upcoming album set to drop next month.

Karmin consists of Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan who are currently engaged. You might think that an engaged (and soon to be married) couple band might be just a gimmick but certainly not in this case. While Amy provides most of the lead vocals, Nick offers his hand in the musical department. Both of them are equally talented and now I can see why they are making it big. They have a different youtube account, aside from their official VEVO, called KarminCovers and they do just that: they cover songs. They don’t just take the songs literally; they interpolate and rearrange them and make them their own. This only adds to the long list of reasons why they deserve the attention they’ve received. I highly suggest you check them out!

Once I saw their first video, I quickly went through all their covers and before I knew it, it was 3 AM and I needed to go to bed! Like I said before, this is just one of the many nights I’ve spent on youtube all night. Two years ago, I remember a similar thing occurring. I was browsing youtube, looking for any covers of Ingrid Michaelson‘s song Maybe. I found this girl, Kina Grannis, who had a very lovely cover.

After watching, I looked not only at her other videos, but at her website and noticed that she offered a free download, which has since been taken down, of her most popular song Valentine. I was immediately hooked. Kina has a very acoustic sound that soothes the soul. Her simplicity in her lyrics and voice only make it more enjoyable. But don’t be fooled, the simplicity is backed by a heart full of passion. I quickly downloaded her album Stairwells.  It has since become one of my most treasured albums. And to think, if I had never searched Ingrid Michaelson covers, I never would have found her! That is, I never would have found her as quickly as I did.

Kina has recently garnered much deserved attention and praise for her music video of her song In Your Arms. For over a year and a half, Kina tweeted about a secret project she was working on. Most fans, including me, thought it might be some sort of album but little did we know it was this music video made completely of stop motion video and jelly beans. Yes, jelly beans. If you don’t believe me, take a look. Your mind will be blown. Promise.

2011: My Year in Theatre

As I sit here on my bed, with all my Broadway theatre tickets out in front of me, I realize that for living in Virginia, I saw quite a fair amount of shows this year: 17. For those who know me, they would realize that this is quite special. I was born on July 17 (7/17) and so I love to see 717, 17, and 7 everywhere I look and consider 17 to be my lucky number. So I guess you could say 2011 was my luckiest year. Here’s a list of what I saw in order of when I saw them:

The Addams Family (3.11)
Lombardi (3.12)
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark 1.0 (3.12)
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark 1.0 (3.13)
Wonderland (4.15)
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (4.16)
Catch Me If You Can (4.16)
Sister Act (6.15)
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark 2.0 (6.17)
The Normal Heart (6.18)
Catch Me If You Can (6.18)
The Book Of Mormon (6.19)
Godspell (10.22)
Bonnie And Clyde (12.3)
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (12.4)
Godspell (12.4)
Bonnie and Clyde (12.29)

Well, there’s the list. 17 times seeing shows.  12 different shows. (13 if you include Spidey 1.0 and 2.0 as different!) 10 musicals. 2 plays.

Out of the shows I saw:
Best Musical: The Book of Mormon
Favorite Musical: (tie) Catch Me If You Can // Bonnie and Clyde
Favorite Play:  The Normal Heart
Favorite Female Performances: Judith Light (Lombardi), Ellen Barkin (The Normal Heart), Melissa van der Schyff (Bonnie and Clyde)
Favorite Male Performances: Jeremy Jordan (Bonnie and Clyde), Lee Pace (The Normal Heart), Norbert Leo Butz (Catch Me If You Can)

All in all, it was a very good year. I only hope that this year is even better and by the looks of it, it will be!

This Is The New Year

With each passing January 1, we being a new year with new hopes, new dreams and new ambitions that maybe not come to fruition yet we still have them and strive to realize them. This year, 2012, is a year of many lasts for me that lead to a road of many firsts. This is my last semester in college, my last semester teaching piano, my last semester playing handbells but it’s the first of many new opportunities to come. The biggest first is my first move. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will be relocating myself to New York City after saving up some much needed money with my first full time job.

My New Year’s Resolution:

Crochet more. Think more. Live more.

Yeah, yeah. Cheesy, right? But it’s all I could think of that could be achievable.  I learned a lot about myself in 2011 and I grew so much in ways I never thought I would. I discovered what was truly important in life and yet there is still so much more for me to learn. I hope that 2012 expands upon what I’ve built for myself and discover even more.

As far as Broadway is concerned, I saw 10 productions of new shows that opened in 2011. This does not included seeing them repeated times, nor does it include the ones that I saw that had opened in previous years. Check back later for my 2011 year in theatre blog, but for now I’d like to reflect on what lies ahead.

There are so many new shows that I plan on seeing this year but here is just a short list of what I want to see and why:

Wit: Cynthia Nixon in what seems to be a very fascinating play? Yes, please!
Ghost: I fell in love with the music before I ever saw the movie and then I saw the movie and loved it even more.
Evita: Pretty much the only Andrew Lloyd Webber score I like and I’ve always wanted to see it live.
Newsies: I really enjoy the score and now that I’ve seen Jeremy Jordan live, I am DYING to see him in another new show!

This short list doesn’t even being to cover what I will be seeing and what I want to see but it covers the highlights. With Chix 6 planning on coming, you best bet I will be blogging up a storm about it!

There also should be new music in 2012. Ingrid Michaelson is coming out with her new record Human Again on January 24! Allison Weiss is coming out with a new album, an acoustic album, and a Teenage-Years album all thanks to the Kickstarter campaign that I helped back! Hopefully Cara Salimando will be coming out with new music as well! And let’s not forget, Lelia Broussard is coming out with her live album that she is recording TONIGHT at Rockwood!

All in all, I know that 2012 has big things in store for me and for you, so here’s to living the life we’ve always wanted! Here’s to being us!