Tis the season to be singing all of the Christmas songs!
I am finally out of school for two weeks *cue the hallelujahs* but guess what week comes right after that?
FINALS
Run Marshall, run... the mighty finals are approaching
I am calm. I am very calm. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Christmas, well I am totally pumped for Christmas because you know what comes along with all the festivities? Movies, music, desserts, snow, happiness, presents, ABC's 25 Days of Christmas, and even more music!
Recently I asked what your favorite part(s) of Christmas were, and I enjoy the responses I'm getting. Since it is the season of giving thanks and saying what you love, I've decided to say all the things I adore about this season.
Was it a well timed vacation? You bet your buttons it wasn't.
Imagine finishing a show at 10pm, tired as ever, but going to a cast party anyways. Yep, I'm a smart cookie. Eventually you get home at midnight, bags still unpacked for your road-trip and week-long vacation in Seattle, Washington.
Okay here we go, band numero uno, Locksley is up to the plate. Because of my Pandora listening style, I had only heard one or two of Locksley's hits before truly discovering about this band. Like I had promised, throughout this week I have been listening to Locksley 24/7... okay well close to it, give a performer a break I barely have time for anything! Anyways, Locksley is today's band, and boy are you in for a treat.
Recently this blog has been about theatre and only theatre. I know, I'm sorry to disappoint those of you if you were looking for the Daily Recollection of Grace's Mishaps and Mayhems, I promise that will come soon. This week is the transitional blur from Bye Bye Birdie into Seussical, so some of the constant stress and anxiety will be lifted off of my minuscule shoulders. Since this will be my first post before all of the Conrad Birdie and Seussical posts flood in (besides my tech week post), I've decided to shake things up a bit. I've decided to make a change to my posts, not a big one, but just make it a wee bit different. It may or may not add blogging anxiety onto my pile of worrisome things, but I am willing to sacrifice my sanity for this blog. You're welcome readers.
Last time we chatted, I discussed the not so wonderful tech week your young author was experiencing. Guess what? I survived the ten hour Saturday rehearsal! It wasn't bad at all, just lots of stress, fast-paced scenes, and cookies. Oh yes, you heard me, we had loads of cookies backstage. We're not through yet folks, I've still got three more dress-rehearsal-like days to go before the show opens on Thursday. More on that later, I've got foibles and fables to portray, specifically about Pippin.
Over my excruciatingly tiring weekend I actually had the spare time to see a musical, surprising right? I didn't have many expectations for the musical, truthfully, it was my first time going to see it. Pippin is a popular musical for junior high and high school level performances, it was recently done by my high school only a few years ago too. The story is based off of the stories of Pepin the Short and Charlemagne a little but not much. Imagine a risque, tap-dance filled, sketchy history lesson with lots of musical numbers and you basically have Pippin.
The musical breaks the fourth wall from the beginning with three Leading Players inviting the audience to tell their story about a young prince, Pippin, and his journey to find meaning in his life. Pippin decides to tell the king, his father Charlemagne, about his quest. Pippin joins the war against the Visigoths with his idiotic brother, Lewis, only to find that war is not where he belongs. The Leading Players convince him to overthrow his father on the thrown. He murders his father while he is praying, takes over his thrown, and finds yet again that he doesn't belong there either. The Leading Players try to persuade Pippin to be apart of The Finale, he refuses and continues looking for his "corner of the sky".
He falls into despair, literally falling on the floor until a young woman named Catherine and her son Theo take him into their estate. Since everyone in the show is supposedly a player in a troupe, one of the Leading Players is scared by the attraction Catherine actually has for Pippin. At first he's reluctant, but eventually he enjoys being a member of Catherine's family... until the duck dies. All it took was the death of Theo's pet duck to make Pippin run away, realizing that he wasn't meant for this ordinary kind of life.
The Leading Players come back to Pippin, telling him that it is the perfect time for Pippin to complete the most extraordinary thing he can: The Finale. To do the act he has to jump into a box of fire and become one with it. (Sketchy right?) Catherine convinces him not to, to the outrage of the Leading Players. They instantly take away all the magical, wonderful, and beautiful things in Pippin's life including everything colorful onstage. The play ends with Pippin standing in a completely black theatre with Catherine and Theo where he is "trapped, but happy."
Grace's Song of the Weekend: "Magic To Do" from Pippin
As a child, I adored fairy tales like most kids, and I still enjoy some of the morals that they show. I know that fairy tales aren't always realistic though, so this week's post is about the most practical fable, which is an oxymoron in itself. Yay for English and my remarkable abilities to use it.
Two weekends ago, I was privileged to see Into The Woods featuring one of my closest friends. It was great to witness some of my favorite characters in action once again. For those who haven't seen it, Into The Woods is a combination of fairy tales with a new and pragmatic twist ending. A few of the important fairy tale characters in Into The Woods include:
Little Red Ridinghood
Rapunzel
Jack (and the beanstalk)
Cinderella
The Baker and the Baker's Wife
Into The Woods follows several characters as they venture through the frightening, unforgiving, and fantastical forest. The story begins with the Narrator telling the four wishes of the aforementioned characters; Cinderella wishes to attend the King's festival, Jack wishes that his cow would give milk, Little Red Ridinghood wants to deliver bread to her grandmother, and the Baker and the his wife wish that they could bear a child.
Most of the characters begin their oh so famous journeys while the Baker and the Baker's Wife embark on a journey that is yet to be discovered. After learning that there is a curse of infertility upon the Baker's family set by the Witch, the Baker and his wife set out to find a "cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold" so that they can break the curse. As you can probably assume, getting these objects aren't so simple, it requires the collision of many a fairy tale story.
Everything Hilary, the version definitely matters if you want to see the second act.
Image courtesy of Bare Naked Islam
Now this is where it gets messy. I will warn all theatre-goers, there are different versions! If you're someone like myself who researches a show before or after going, you'll want to know what version of the show you're seeing. If you go to a junior version of Into The Woods, the original second act is expunged from the script. If you are planning to go to a three hour show, you're looking for the original version of Into The Woods. Due to this, I can't summarize the second act for those of you who will see the junior version. Spoilers, spoilers everywhere.
On a brighter note, a film adaptation of Into The Woods hits theaters Christmas... of next year! So you have more than a year to see the original musical! Depending on who you are, having more than a year to wait for something can be a good or a bad thing. Anyways, I made a countdown timer for the Into The Woods' release! So now you can wait in excitement like me!
Grace's Song of the Week: "Your Fault" and "Last Midnight"
Last week, I lost a true friend. We had been friends for a good amount of time I'd say, so we got to know each other pretty well. I would consider us close, but sometimes he got a bit too up in my face. We poked each other, and sometimes I let him get a bit messy without realizing it, and he even took the blows for me when I truly deserved it. Yet, beyond all, my friend sacrificed his life for me, and I am truly grateful.
But I guess glasses break, I just didn't expect this so soon. Goodbye my dear frames, you will be truly missed (especially once I get irritated by your not so brilliant siblings... the contacts). So while they undergo surgery, I’ve decided to dedicate this post to the famous four-eyes’ out there who get where I’m coming from when I speak about my love for glasses.
10) Helena Bonham Carter: Who doesn't love the crazy female character in a movie? When it comes to Helena Bonham Carter, every role is beautiful and unique. From Madame Thénardier in Les Miserables, to Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech, Helena Bonham Carter knows how to rock a role but also make her performance irreplaceable.
9) Tobias Funke: I discovered Arrested Development three years ago, but since then I have become, well obsessed. Tobias Funke is oblivious to most of the things he does, whether it is bad word choice, or impeccable timing, his character is comedic gold.
8) Diane Keaton: Mainly known as Kay Adams from The Godfather Series, Diane Keaton is a phenomenal actress who has been on Broadway multiple times within her career. Her trophy closet contains of main pieces, just your typical 31 wins and 30 nominations. But don't we all have hidden Oscar nominations in our closet?
7) Tina Fey: A self-proclaimed "supernerd," Tina is one of my acting role models. When I'm binge-watching Netflix, you can bet that the Saturday Night Live is on My List. Tina's incredible comedic talent can easily be seen in her many "Weekend Update" sketches with Jimmy Fallon and Amy Poehler on SNL.
5) Clark Kent: It's a bird! It's a plane! Oh wait, it's just Clark, go back to work guys, nothing to see here. Clark Kent is the perfect example of less is more when it comes to disguising your superhero identity from the world.
Image courtesy of imdb.com
(No surprise, she's winning another award.)
4) Meryl Streep: If you are confused why Meryl Streep deserves to be on this list, I would like to refer you to her awards page which includes more than 100 wins and nominations. Not to mention her record winning 17 Academy Award nominations and 28 Golden Globe nominations, talk about fierce competition!
3) Johnny Depp: Although his characters don't always wear glasses, Johnny Depp's talent and abilities are recognized worldwide. This fantastic four-eyed fella also has forty-four films on his hefty resumé, six films less than his age! Aye, that's a treasured success if I've ever seen one!
From 3D to thick frame, the famous timelord sets glasses trends without even realizing it. Still think that glasses are geeky? Look at the image to the left, The Doctor states otherwise.
1) Harry Potter:"Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already!" - Dobby, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Perhaps one of the most famous characters with glasses, Harry Potter is known mainly for his Griffindor uniform, wand, scar, and of course, spectacles. Named on AMC's "50 Greatest Male Character" list, NPR's "100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900" list, and many more, Harry Potter is not only my favorite famous four-eyes, but also one of the most renowned in books and movies.
UPDATE: My glasses have been replaced and fixed! My joy cannot be contained within the limits of this small sentence! Contacts are malicious little twerps compared to the glory of a pair of glasses. Now if you're wondering how I broke them in the first place, let me leave you with this: never be hero, especially when your face is in risk. More specifically when a volleyball is plummeting at your face I strongly advise you not to run after it! There is a reason to avoid sports my friends, and face crushing equipment is just one of those reasons!
Who created over 1,700 words that are used frequently in the modern age?
Who wrote 38 plays and 150 sonnets in total before he was 50 years old?
Who is one of the most influential writers to date?
If you thought William Shakespeare, you are right. The 16th century poet, author, playwright, and actor is considered one of the greatest writers of all time by many great writers today. Perhaps I'm a bit swayed as a "theatre geek", but there is no denying the brilliance that is William Shakespeare. This happens to be the week of Utah's Shakespeare Festival, but that doesn't mean that I'm not recommending any other Shakespeare fests around the nation. There are an incredible amounts of people who go through the effort of watching, memorizing, performing, and loving the works that came from William Shakespeare including myself.
Now I know some people may be like, (insert sassy teenage voice) "Girl, this is not English, I don't care about some old writer!" Well you should! There are books, movies, blogs, shows, raps, and tons of different things that are dedicated to the bard himself.
Shakespeare's Works: Want to find out all about all of the pieces, topics, and themes Shakespeare discussed? Confused about whether "to be or not to be" is in Act Three Scene One or Act Three Scene Two (it's Act Three Scene one fyi)? All of Shakespeare's works translated, defined, explained and analyzed to a science on this site.
TED Talks: Maybe because it's my recent obsession, but I adore TED Talks. They are informative, interesting, and eye-opening to even a high school freshman! TEDx talks about the wonders of Shakespeare that include "The Hip-Hop of Shakespeare" and "What Would Shakespeare Think of Us?". I typically listen to Talks on the bus, on runs, and during study sessions, most talks range between five and 30 minutes. If you have time to spare, I recommend listening/watching a TED or TEDx talk about Shakespeare.
Youtube: Trust me, I spend way too much time on Youtube. Just researching Shakespeare related videos led me to more places than I would ever think! My favorite video that I found on Youtube was performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company called "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)".
So emerse yourself in the amazing cultural experience that comes with watching a play written by Shakespeare! With all of the festivals coming up, it's easier than ever to find a Shakespearean play near you. Class dismissed!
I never thought that I would have had the idea to make a blog about all the random chaos in my life. That's a lie, I've basically known that I would start putting together a blog once freshman year started. I mean, that's when all the mayhem doubles right? Creating a blog isn't so simple though, you have to see who's come before you, what works, and what gets flushed down the toilet faster than you can hit "publish". After going through enough blogs to fill an issue of O Magazine, I was able to determine my favorites and why they were so marvelous.
