Very happy for Karen Olivo

In our family trip to NYC this year, we went to see the Broadway revival of West Side Story. Quite possibly the greatest of all American musicals, it moves "Romeo and Juliet" into a singing 1950's NYC. The movie won the Oscar. This year, the revival tried to again modernize the earlier production by adding a lot more Spanish Language components and using real Latinos in the key roles. They took the best actors from In the Heights and used an updated book. It didn't really work out because while the Jets were still in the 50s, then Sharks were in the 2000's.

What did work was Karen Olivo, who was the best thing going by far in the musical. Here is her singing the show stopping "America" on Letterman.



Here is her doing one of my favorite numbers from "In the Heights": In the Club. This is her dancing and this number was completely different with here non-dancing understudy.



Finally, if you want to hear her sing, here is a short clip of her singing, "It won't be long now":



Here is her with Amy and Jake!

Prop 8, the musical

Because we at makethebestofwhatsaround.com like musicals and hate prop 8, we embed "Prop 8, the Musical" for your enjoyment. Its a little over the top, but isn't that the definition of live theater?

In a couple of years this will get turned around. I'm skeptical that gay marriage can save the economy.

Apologies for the ads, maybe they can find a business model that works for showing free videos on the web.

That's my new philosophy!

Everyone needs a new philosophy every once in a while, just ask Sally from the scene above (isn't Kristin Chenoweth great). A buddy recommended I read the book "Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps". The book's thesis is that humans have millions of years of evolutionary programming for gender roles and that today's beliefs that all humans are fundamentally identical fights that genetic history.

The book tries to apply this thesis to just about everything in life, from the two points in its title to LGBT behavior and why women are underrepresented in science and math.

It's a quick read and will make you think. While I definately don't buy everything in this book, it can give you some tips for understanding how stereotypical people think. It also explains to me why I turn off the radio when I'm trying to talk. Maybe it will even give you a new philosophy!

Note: I may be able to get interested readers a soft copy of this book.

Spring Awakening comes to San Francisco

I've previously blogged about Spring Awakening, a great show I saw on Broadway. They are bringing a touring cast to San Francisco for a short run.

Of course, not everyone enjoys this show. An accurate reviewer said in the SJ Mercury:

Of course, most of the hard-core theater audience is way past adolescence, and some wonder what all the fuss has been about.

"The show is a letdown," says Bill Schwartz of SF Playhouse, "and should more accurately be called 'Hormonal Awakening.' ... I am of the older generation. It's not for me."

In case you forgot high school, the third song in the show reminds you that life can be a bitch:

Age, its always too high or too low

We all know there are two things in live that are inevitable, getting older and being worried about getting older. However, this is not always the case. There are lots of times in your life you wish you were older.

1) In high school, before you leave high school.
2) In college before you turn 21. Probably don't need to explain this one.
3) If you are a Chinese gymnast at the Olympics. It would have been great to be 16, but I think things turned out just fine anyway. There is nothing better than a government issued fake-ID! They should buy the whole world a round.

That being said, getting older isn't all it is cracked up to be. There is also a list of timesit would be great to be younger.

1) When you go to a birthday party for anyone over the age of 29.
2) On Broadway, to be in the Spring Awakening cast, you have to be under 24 because you are supposed to look like a teenager. I can say, I wasn't really fooled into thinking anyone up there was 16, but I guess this is another time to fudge your name to get a big role on the Great White Way. No sleep in Heaven, or Bethlehem for those over 24!
3) In the Little League World Series. I thought we had laws against exploiting children, but I guess we make an exception if they are playing baseball or spelling long words. Anyway, there is no way that every kid on every team is under age 12, unless most 12-year-olds are 5 feet tall. Yeah fake birth-certificates created by parents abusing their kids!
4) Staying in the sporting world, if you want to play in the Majors, it helps to be 16 instead of 19. So this is another great chance to use your little brother's birth certificate. Miguel Tejada is a good example of "age doctoring". Heck, I'd do that too if it meant I could get of an island and go to the US.

Until there is a way to cut off someone's finger and count the rings, people will always be lying about their ages. I guess after we figure out how to do drug testing, we can figure out how to do age testing. The moral of the story is that you will never be happy with your age, so you will be happiest if you learn to enjoy each of life's ages in spite of its failures.

A Spring Awakening

I'm now going to alienate my core readers and blog about Broadway. Why blog about the Great White Way right now? Well, I went on a trip to New York in the spring and I've been too lazy to get around to blogging about it.

I've seen some musical theater in my day, and it was nothing like Broadway. Broadway is just a bit better in every way compared to regional theater.

I saw two shows, Young Frankenstein and Spring Awakening. Young Frankenstein the musical was a lot like Young Frankenstein the movie. If you liked the movie, you'll probably like the musical unless you don't like music.

Spring Awakening was an amazing show. The lighting was the best I've ever seen and the music was great. You can get a plot synopsis here. The book was adapted from a German play from the early 1900's. If you want to summarize the plot in one sentence, it is about a bunch of sexually repressed youths coming to sexual maturity. If you don't think that plot synopsis would interest you, you won't like the musical. This isn't Annie or anything The King's Academy would present.

This is the clip from the Tony Awards a year ago when they won the Tony for Best Musical. The lyrics have been altered dramatically so it can be put on public television.



I was fortunate enough to see the show when most of the original Broadway cast (OBC) was still doing 8 shows a week.

Watching Broadway is one of those only in New York experiences. If you get a chance to spend time on Manhattan, do yourself a favor and stand in the tkts line and go watch some Broadway!