I'm not in New York at the moment, so that means no Broadway. Here is how I've been incorporating theatre into my Summer back in Maryland.
In June I got to see "Falsettos" preformed at a local college (Montgomery College). Despite it being a school that put it on, it was very professional and comparable to the touring cast. I was impressed that they kept in the part where Trina sings with a banana in her mouth, you can imagine how difficult it is. And the guy who played Marvin sounded identical to Christian Borle. I just wish they kept the set the same. It is probably a difficult set to build as all the pieces must fit together to create a box and still function as other things; chairs, benches, and a headstone. But other than that the show was very well done and I enjoyed that they had a live band.
In July I saw a deaf production of the "The Music Man" at Olney Theatre. This was so cool because I'm a huge fan of Deaf West Spring Awakening and I can now say I got to see a musical in American Sign Language! I thought that the production was beautiful and I loved how they incorporated both signing and captions. It was staged very well and it all flowed together perfectly using several form of communication. Unlike Deaf West Spring Awakening, this musical was directed by both a hearing person and a deaf person (Spring Awakening was directed solely by a hearing person), which is so important because this show relies on deaf actors and sign language to relay the message. Similarly to Deaf West Spring Awakening, the show had characters portrayed by both a deaf and hearing person. The deaf person would sign, while the hearing person would be more in the background to sing. The show itself is pretty cute and in my opinion this is likely a better production than you will see from Broadways current revival (and a lot cheaper too). It was just so cool seeing both the deaf and hearing community come together.
Here I am with James Caverly. He was super nice and I got the opportunity to sign to him! I told him that I watched him in "Only Murders In The Building" and he even signed my program. I had never signed to a famous person before, so I was a bit nervous, but I think he understood everything that I signed even if my syntax was a bit off.
Here is a look at the full cast from The Music Man. They were all phenomenal and I saw Adelina Mitchell in A.D. 16 at Olney a few months back. It was awesome to see her step into the role of a leading lady.
🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻
Additionally, I went to go see Six The Musical on tour in D.C.! As you know, I've seen the show before and the Aragon Tour was just as phenomenal as the Broadway cast. I saw an understudy cover for Catherine Parr, Kelsee Kimmel. She killed it! I thought that Jasmine Forsberg (who portrayed Jane Seymour) really stood out. Her performance was very emotional. I can tell that the queens really put all their energy into their performances. The show will be touring all around the U.S. , so I definitely recommend seeing it if you can!
Here is a video from the curtain call/encore.
To add to the Six theme, I have been working on an Anne Boylen cosplay. I'm not much of a sewer so I've been using fabric tape. It's a long process and I've yet to start the top. I'll try to update when I'm finished. Let me know what you think.
That's all the shows I've seen so far, but I'm planning to see Little Shop of Horrors off broadway in a few weeks. I'm beyond excited because I've only ever seen the movie, which I love. I hope to post a review after the fact. Also I did watch the Tony Awards and if you've been following my blog you can understand why I was a bit disappointed with a lot of the outcomes, however I did not exactly have high hopes.
Signing off!
-Jo 🌈
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