Book of Mormon

It is past due for me to post about this show. I purchased the recording on iTunes the day it was available and haven't regretted it nor have I stopped listening to it! In fact... I've sort of become obsessed with the show. It is incredibly irreverent and also incredibly funny. The show is not for the faint of heart (there are even a few moments in the recording that I have a heart time stomaching...) but if you can look past that, it is easily one of the most hilarious shows Broadway has seen in years and the music is fantastic! The video is one of the few clean(ish) songs from the show and this performance is from the 2011 Tony Telecast. The Book of Mormon won 9 of the 14 Tony's it was nominated for, including Best Musical! Students: while the video is fairly clean, you should obtain permission from your parents for the rest!!

1994 How to Succeed clip

I know many of you have seen the exciting revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It is easily one of my favorite shows!! Before Daniel Radcliffe, the only thing I knew and loved was the 1994 revival with Matthew Broderick (from Ferris Buhler's Day Off, The Producers, etc.) and Megan Mullally (Will and Grace). The truly amazing part of this production, however, was Ms. Jones - played by the incomparable Lillias White!! Check this thing out and watch it to the end... I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! Copy and paste the link:

http://youtu.be/AV2zOsRSS7s

JTF is horribly hilarious!

My good friend Terrance recruited me to watch Modern Family - I find it incredibly funny! Now, my all-time favorite TV show is Arrested Development (only running for 3 seasons) but it has the zaniest characters, epically funny lines, and riotous re-occurring jokes. 30 Rock, is my second favorite thanks to Tina Fey's genius writing. But Modern Family is certainly up there. Anyway, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (who was in the original Broadway cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) plays opposite Eric Stonestreet (a K-State alum) and they're both SUPER funny. Stonestreet won an Emmy last year! Recently, Ferguson was at a NYC nightclub and sang a rendition of Gaga's Alejandro (that's my name!!) and puts his own spin on things. I think you'll like this... and I'm trying to convince one of my students to perform this at our cabaret in December!! It would go over quite well, don't you think?

Anything Goes

During the high school's trip to New York in March, four of us (Sarah, Nathan, Lydia and I) had the privilege of seeing the musical Anything Goes with Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney. It was great fun to watch and one of the best numbers is the Act I Finale which the cast recently performed on Good Morning America. It, of course, is WAY more impressive live - but this will give you an idea of just how great the show was. Sutton is the front-runner to win Best Actress in a Musical at the Tony Awards June 12th. Tune in to see how she does!

In a side note, two of the chorus members are originally from Wichita. They got their start at Music Theatre of Wichita before attending the University of Michigan which then led them to their Broadway debut in Anything Goes. I think it is encouragement to my wonderfully talented students that, yes, in fact, Kansas people can follow their dreams through hard work, dedication and thick skin. :)

Spoken Word?

One of the many things the President of the United States has the privilege of doing, is inviting various artists to share at the White House. President Obama has had several of these already! He's done a Broadway one which Nathan Lane hosted (and sang a number from A Funny Thing Happened...), Idina sang from Wicked, Elaine Stritch sang I'm Still Here - and flubbed up some words - she sounded much better on the Sondheim 80th Birthday Concert, and a slew of people sang a number from Hairspray. The president, despite my strict no-country-music policy, even invited some country "singers" to perform. Apparently, he doesn't know about my policy - he now must pay a fine to support quality music. I'm sending him a letter this week.

Today's post is about none of that. :) Today's post is about a few spoken word/slam poetry pieces which were performed. I noticed the first one because Lin-Manuel Miranda is the performer. He wrote and starred in In the Heights (one of my favorite musicals of all time). He "raps" this funny song about Alexander Hamilton - check it out. The second one posted below took me completely off guard. I had no idea who Joshua Bennett was, I just followed the YouTube link from Lin-Manuel's and had a listen. Check it out, I think it's powerful stuff!!