A bunch of thoughts on opera, shakespeare, musical theatre, and boys

First of all - I would like to talk about my newly revived love of musical theatre. After doing opera/operetta for the past six months, I came to realize something - musical theatre is actually better. The MUSIC of opera is, for the most part, far superior and "intelligent," and oftent he directing is more innovative than any other directing out there, and of course no expense is spared with regards to sets and costumes, but there is no TRUTH in the actual performance. (Or there IS - but only rarely.) Everyone is so concerned with making the note loud or big or on pitch, but no one is actually concerned with any sort of emotion or story telling that is going into that note. Or - if they are concerned - the concern only comes AFTER the "technique." And this is weird to me. To ME, a note CAN'T be beautiful unless it has some sort of truthful emotion behind it. And - productions can be dazzling and thought provoking, but at the end of the day, I am far more moved by musical theatre where people LOOK the way they should look (YES - its the BANE of my existence - but trust me - it's better to have a 16 year old LOOK like a 16 year old and not a 70 year old fat black lady, the SEXY seductress ACTUALLY be sexy, and the bull fighter look like he MIGHT, under the right circumstances, be able to take on a bull), where there is an emphasis places on HONEST (if not incredibly heightened) emotions, and choreography can, under the best circumstances, be used to help tell a story. It is also FAR more accessible to the general public, meaning whatever the story/messsage is, will be more effective. And man - when you go to the theatre and watch Daniel Radcliffe sing and dance - it's just plain fun!!!!!! Don't get me wrong John Adams - I still love you - and will probably always love you - and opera - but musical theatre was my first love.

***Footnote - all of the things I mentioned as being "bad" about opera are also things that make it wonderful. There is something wonderful about being able to look ANY way and not pigeonholed by that - and something wonderful about technique and something wonderful about just being lost in an aural sensation. Just for me - I think my TRUE love is in musical theatre.

***Another footnote - I have found my belt. It is in there. Right now it is BARELY there - and the jaws of life are needed to bust it out fully - but it's there - its usable - it's at least enough (for now) to go to a DANCE CALL where they might ask for a belt song if you make it through the dancing - LOOOONG way to go before its ready for the principle auditions - but its there - and I will cultivate it and make it AWESOME!:)

Shakespeare is my other great love. I saw a very mediocre production of All's Well That Ends Well. It's funny - I've always found Shakespeare better when music and dance is somehow incorporated. And - sorry - the Brits do Shakespeare better than we Americans do 97% of the time. Why? Because the BRITS use the language the way opera singers use their music - BUT they also incorporate emotional truth. I listened to Greg Hicks recite some lines of King Lear, his speaking voice was every bit as nuanced as Bryn Terfel's arias. It's a perfect storm of awesome. Americans usually just focus on the emotional truth - which is fine, but you gotta have that musicality in the language.

Which circuitously brings me back to musical theatre - WHERE - USUALLY - you have the musicality AND emotional truth AND some awesome dancing mixed in. And I can't WAIT to get HIRED! WAHOOOOOO!

Also - speaking of emotional truth - much of my emotional truth has been turned upside down. How? you ask. I have a stalker. And in my overactive mind, I am convinced my stalker in a cruel joke. I talk about a prince, a Disney Prince, BLAIR's prince, even a SHAKESPEAREAN prince, but its all really a metaphor. So this guy, who, in my newly found gossip girl induced incredibly superficial state, I find incredibly unattractive, basically imprints onto me and decides HE is going to be my prince. He writes to me in freaking iambic pentameter and begs for me to tell him ways he can make my life better - he is at my beckon call! Apparently his work (he is an out of work lawyer doing temp jobs because the "economy is bad so no lawyers are being hired." AND - he keeps talking about how he will never get hired because the economy is showing no signs of recoery - ummmmmmmmmmmmm....that is WRONG - I sufficiently yelled at him because "sending out a resume every now and then" does not actually count as looking for a lawyer job - and a guy who went to HARVARD LAW should be able to get hired - or audition for shows since he apparently likes performing)(PS - YAY pot calling the kettle black - BUT I at least GO to freaking auditions! ANDDDDD - I wouldnt care except the "I went to school expecting a certain salary, then that didn't work out, and with the economy going the way it is that doesn't look like it will change" speech I have to hear makes the whole situation even more pathetic.) ANY WAY - at his temp job allows him to spend ALL DAY looking up news articles that I will find interesting and exciting (REALLY? If you spent LESS TIME looking up news articles I might find interesting you might not have this temp job you hate!) and MAILING them to me! Along with writing me HAIKUs and commenting on EVERYTHING I do - and MEMORIZING my schedule as dictated by facebook - and OMG STOP ITS TOO MUCH AND ITS SCARY! And all of a sudden - all of those love songs, quotes, sonnets, scenes, dances, aria, painting, sculptures, that I have held onto so dearly in my imagination of what will one day happen to me, are just now incredibly scary! All of a sudden - they all seem like creepy stalker people - who have nothing better to do than sing stupid songs about some girl they love. And everything that was a dream - is now just scary! The fantasy seems completely gone. And it's HORRIBLE because I feel so superficial about the whole thing, but I think, even if it was Brad Pitt, it's really off-putting to have someone SO up in your business - and TELL you they are up in your business. I can't seem to make sense of it in my head! Everything he does is super sweet - and I suppose everything he does is stuff that I fantasize about - haikus and what not - but put into actual practice - it's just horrifying and makes me want to hide under a blanket and never come out! Oh, I also forgot to mention, he somehow found out I was a huge Alan Rickman fan, and kept trying to impress me with his Alan Rickman impressions. For the record - ONLY Alan Rickman is sexy talking like Alan Rickman. A guy doing an Alan Rickman IMPRESSION in an attempt to seduce you - is just sad... And this whole thing is a very bizarre wake up call. And I feel so incredibly mean for thinking all of these thoughts. All truths be told - if he just wasn't so darn SCARY about it all - so INTENSE and SUDDEN about it - he could have MAYBE won be over - but I barely know the guy - why does he want to hang out with all of my friends all the time? My friends he has never met and knows nothing about. I mean - he literally asked "Can I hang out with your friends?" That's weird - right? Blargh. I actually blocked him from my facebook tonight - this rant convinced me I had to. Sigh. I'm mean.

So - instead of thinking them - I'm trying to think of how amazing Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin were in the original Broadway cast of Evita!

Also - is "Weiner-gate" not the lamest media story ever? I love watching the newsanchors attempt to NOT crack up laughing when talking about it. Oh Nixon - who knew your legacy would be the suffix "gate." and one day - it would be attached to "weiner."