Still, when Broadway opened its doors again in the fall of 2021, it was difficult for me to return. Even fully vaccinated, venturing out into the world again, especially crowded venues made me apprehensive. However, Broadway’s COVID-19 protocols were some of the strictest and this eventually gave me the confidence to go back. In the last three months of the year, I have been fortunate to see some amazing shows. Here’s the full rundown:
When Broadway shut down in March of 2020, it was a shocking, yet necessary measure amidst the uncertainty and toll of the pandemic. Theatre, a huge contributor to the cultural life blood of New York City, has always operated on the “show must go on” mentality. Yet, in an instant, it became just the latest victim of COVID-19. Like many avid theatregoers, I was saddened for the industry and missed the thrill of live theatre and the interconnectedness that comes from seeing a show with a room full of strangers.
Still, when Broadway opened its doors again in the fall of 2021, it was difficult for me to return. Even fully vaccinated, venturing out into the world again, especially crowded venues made me apprehensive. However, Broadway’s COVID-19 protocols were some of the strictest and this eventually gave me the confidence to go back. In the last three months of the year, I have been fortunate to see some amazing shows. Here’s the full rundown:
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Young people affordable ticket initiatives are an integral part in the continuation of performing arts in our society. Most orchestras, operas, and ballet companies are non-profit organizations and rely on the support of audiences- be it donations, subscriptions, or ticket sales- to keep the curtain up. With the current crowd being of an older demographic, one begs the question: who will fill these seats in the future? Needless to say, the youth of today are more transfixed by the suave choreography of BTS or the latest pop song than a Balanchine-choreographed ballet or a Beethoven symphony. Discount programs are thus an important step in developing new audiences and I am one of those success stories. The most generous and, by far, my favorite affordable ticket initiative is New York Philharmonic’s Free Fridays, which provides free tickets for select Friday performances to anyone 13 to 26. Though I now graciously enjoy several concerts per season, I was not always interested in classical music. I grew up playing piano, yet rarely showed interest in listening to the repertoire independently. In college, I probably would not have set foot into a music department performance if it weren’t for extra credit or to support my friends who were a part of many a music group. One of my favorite YouTube channels is Editing is Everything, which whimsically demonstrates how tone can transform the same story into vastly different genres. Though the creator intentionally pushes clichés to prove that even wholesome Disney movies can be revamped as slasher flicks, it stresses the importance of cohesive decision making. The right choices in music, visuals, and material is key to the story you want to tell. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, which daringly turns a classic Golden Age musical comedy into a darker, contemporary drama. Redefining a beloved Broadway staple is a slippery slope, especially when the resulting production shares little semblance of the original. This Oklahoma, a vision of experimental director Daniel Fish, is raw and completely exposed, stripped to the music and drama. It fully explores the themes and conflicts while bravely confronting questionable aspects of the story and characters. Though boasting the prestigious Tony Award for Best Musical Revival of 2019, the show has been critically polarizing with the biggest debate being whether Fish’s upheaval of the untouchable was warranted. Admittedly, some of the standalone creative decisions were less than agreeable. However, what is undeniable is that this revival is cohesive and effective in its impact. I have always been captivated by the performing arts. Living in a cultural epicenter has afforded me access to a diversity of experiences that I have come to appreciate. While my love for concerts and shows stem from an initial interest in musical theatre (I was transfixed at age five by the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast), as I have gotten older, this passion has slowly transcended into other genres, like ballet, opera, classical music, etc.
In 2019, I challenged myself to explore a variety of shows and step out of my comfort zone every now and then to see unfamiliar work. This ultimately amounted to seven classical music concerts, six musicals, three plays, three ballets, two operas, and a jazz concert (phew!). For my final installment of 2019 in Review, I am counting down the top five best live entertainment I saw last year. As favorites are always hard to rank, highlights are presented in chronological order. As the price of Broadway show tickets soars and my luck with digital lotteries deteriorates, my newest strategy is to catch prospective musicals before they make it big on the Great White Way. I am still envious of my friend who caught Hamilton at the Public Theater and thus, avoided paying three-figures to see the show when it transferred to Broadway and became an overnight sensation. I recently gambled on Sing Street, a musical adaption of Irish filmmaker John Carney’s coming-of-age film of the same name. Premiering off-Broadway at the New York Theater Workshop, an incubator for many Broadway hits including Once, Hadestown, and Rent, this new production is fresh with its young talent and memorable pop-rock score. Though the show has all the potential to be the next Broadway cult favorite, it currently struggles to impact with its storytelling and themes. What would you do when asked to produce a two-hundred-year-old oratorio about Saul, the first king of Israel? You probably would not throw the cast of this biblical story on stage in Rococo outfits nor would you incorporate contemporary dancing a la Alvin Ailey nor would you open the show with a giant, severed head stage center. Yet, the Houston Grand Opera’s (HGO) production of Saul does all this and more in a shocking, sometimes crazy interpretation of Handel’s dramatic tour de force. What more? You cannot look away! I stumbled upon HGO’s unusual production during a recent business trip to the Lone Star state. Having run the gamut of NASA, bars, smokehouses, and even the all-famous rodeo, I found myself looking for something new to do and was recommended to check out city opera. With a reputation of cowboy boots, sprawling land, and ten-lane highways, Houston seemed like an unlikely place to indulge my high-brow hobbies. Good theater comes in two flavors- the one that challenges your view on humanity and the one that simply makes you smile. Moulin Rouge is the later. In between the water works that is Dear Evan Hansen and the social commentary of the current Oklahoma revival, we need a show that transports us away from reality and entertains. Based on the popular 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, the highly anticipated stage adaption of Moulin Rouge is, without a doubt, the hottest ticket in town. It offers a sexy and dazzling extravaganza, oozing with musical creativity and visual excess that would make Jay Gatsby’s parties pale in comparison. It is not every night that I leave the theater so enthralled and inspired by a show, who’s cast, direction, design, and music are cohesive and combine to create a remarkable, post-modern experience. I am a strong proponent of greater accessibility to culture, especially music. Growing up, I was privileged to have piano lessons, sing in a local choir, and be taken to concerts at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. I was also fortunate enough to live in a city that values performing arts and offered plenty of free and affordable music programs, such as the NY Philharmonic’s annual Concerts in the Park series, Lincoln Center’s Free Fridays, and numerous recitals at the public libraries. During my recent trip to Chicago, I was pleased to find that the windy city offers its residents similar opportunities as well. I attended a performance of the Grant Park Music Festival, an annual summer music series held at Millennium Park (home to the Bean). It was interesting to experience another city’s take on a free concert and engage with the local community.
When I was in third grade, I went on a field trip to see Finding Nemo at a local theater. That was back in the days when field trips apparently did not have to be 100% educational. There was no tangential lesson on clown fish or the ocean, just a bunch of eight year olds enjoying a cartoon and becoming fully invested in all the quirky characters-especially the hilarious Dory. Thirteen years, I find myself, almost a senior in college, walking into the cinema to see Finding Dory as it finally swims onto the big screen. Like other young adults my age, who have not only grown up with the first film, but also the Ellen Show, I have been waiting desperately for this sequel, hoping that it would not be a train wreck like many sequels usually are. Anyone remember The Little Mermaid II? No? Point made. Thankfully, Finding Dory stands apart as a Disney/Pixar sequel that still manages to enchant and charm the children in all of us. Although the film has been praised for its non-stereotypical portrayal of characters with disabilities- be it, Dory with her short-term memory loss, the near sighted shark Destiny, or Nemo with his lucky fin- Finding Dory is by no means particularly groundbreaking or novel, especially compared to Disney’s more recent hits like Inside Out and Zootopia (at least, from what I have heard). The plot is rather cliché and frankly overdone: Dory recovers glimpses of her past, which leads her out on an exciting adventure across the sea to find her parents and where she came from. Really, this is no different from Rapunzel escaping her tower and traveling to see the floating lanterns gleam and also finding her real parents along the way. Despite all this, the unoriginal storyline is undoubtedly what Disney does best. This film is no exception and proves that the tried-and-true formula of a charismatic underdog finding her roots and overcoming hardship still can provide for waterworks galore. I had my first introduction to the Marvel Universe this year because of my friend at college, who I was also living with, is OBSESSED with comic books and literally owns the entire film canon on Blu Ray. She eats, sleeps, and breathes Marvel. Her particular favorite is Captain America and any mention of Steve Rogers or even more so, Bucky Barnes would send her into a frenzy of elated fawning. I have no idea how I ever managed to talk her out of buying a Captain America tsum tsum at the Disney store. For the record, no human character should ever exist in tsum tsum form! Though I am not an excessive fan of Marvel (alright, maybe I do have a soft spot for Spiderman because we’re both from Queens), I do enjoy the whole vigilante and underdog concept. The few movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I have seen have been quite entertaining and fun. I only agreed to see Captain America: Civil War because I was actually caught up on most of the Captain America series (and my homework!) and my school was hosting a free screening at a nearby movie theater. As a rule of thumb, I’m pretty much down for anything that gets me away from my homework and/or is free. Perhaps for those fully invested in the storyline and canon, this film may really hit the feels, but for me, a moviegoer partial to plot over action, the newest addition to the Marvel lineup was what one should expect from a superhero film: plenty of action, great fight choreography and special effects, and an average execution of the storyline that relies heavily on one’s prior knowledge of the series. |
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