Seeing the Lion King and meeting Adam Beach

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, what can I can say I have been out enjoying the beautiful weather getting tanned. First let me get this off my chest, I can't believe the guy I couldn't stand as the Genie in Aladdin has now won a Tony, ugh! Also from what I've seen on the Tony's I need to go see Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, like yesterday. His Tony performance was AMAZING! (Ramin Karimloo may have lost fair and square as much as I was blown away by his performance as Jean Val Jean back in January)

That being said, I am now cautiously optimistic Disney musicals again after seeing the Lion King on June 7. They had me from the giraffe costumes. (Not that I am biased because I love giraffes or anything) They stayed true to the movie which is important to me  -I watched it the day after- although I was a little worried in the beginning of act two that they were going to have this sub plot of Scar pursuing a grown up Nala, fortunately that wasn't the case. I ended up watching the movie the next day. Sadly it seems I have lost my Lion King soundtrack, I've got the case but not the CD. I think it is a good thing the music wasn't fresh in my head, I think that may have detracted from my enjoyment of Chicago because I had pre-watched the movie etc.

I was in the upper balcony of the no longer to be torn down Princess of Wales Theatre (YAY!) so I didn't get to see any costume detail up close. It was especially neat to see how the animals were done because I had gone to a zoo the week before and had seen Lion's and giraffe's up close. Anyway I bought a souvenir programme and couldn't believe all the intricate beading and shell-work.  The ingenuity and the amount of work that went to everything was really impressive. There probably close to 150 costumes. I loved how the person wearing the giraffe costume was using stilts for their hands and feet and their head became the base of the giraffes neck.I still think the hyenas were well done and captured the hunched heads just like the cartoon.

The staging itself was phenomenal.  The elephant grave yard scene I think would have been scary if I were a kid. The way they handled the stampede scene was pretty cool. I don't even want to think about all the time that went into making the wildebeest costumes. Julie Taymor is a genius.

The cast was uber talented too. I though the guy who played Scar was fantabulous. The delivery of Scar's snarky comments was spot on just like in the movie. He was deliciously evil. He's my favourite.

Either way after seeing Lion King I am willing to see another Disney musical. Right now they are batting 50/50 that I'll like it. I am not overly familiar with Newsies, so I wonder what I would think of that show... it is coming next year maybe I'll go.

June 19 marked 10 years since my Aunt Mel passed it is hard to believe it's been that long. So there was something I wanted to do when I saw Lion King, we have a picture of her in front of the Princess of Wales Theatre when she took her son to see Lion King, so I got my friends to take one of me. I guess it was my way of trying to feel close to her some how, that probably doesn't make much sense.  I kinda wish I had remembered to pick the same spot, but the spirit is there.Here are the pics, Mel on the left and me on the right.

 

 A couple weeks after Lion King I got to meet actor Adam Beach, a fellow aboriginal.There was a screening of one of his movies for National Aboriginal Day. It is a sad state of affairs that there aren't more prominent aboriginal actors out there, case in point I can't even name one prominent female native actor, Adam is one of the biggest. You would probably know him from the TV shows Arctic Air or Law and Order:SVU or the films Windtalkers and Smoke Signals. I didn't even find out about the screening until the morning of, definitely how I expected my day to turn out when I woke up! 

The movie that was screen was an indie pic, with themes still relevant to aboriginal society today. There were 5 members of the cast there as well, which was neat, four of them signed my little flyer for the movie, and Adam signed my newly purchased copy of Smoke Signals. The Q&A after was really interesting. I found out all about Adam trying to bring the full movie theatre experience to remote reservations with pop up theatres. Also he is starting a film institute in Winnipeg. He's all around just a really cool guy, a little goofy and funny, not to mention easy on the eyes.. sigh. total crush. His mannerisms and speech remind me of my aboriginal relatives, a total 'nish not a Hollywood hotshot and I respect him all the more for it. His answer to the last Q&A question was "Yes, I'm single" even though that wasn't remotely what the question was. I will leave you with a pic of Adam and I.

Taking time off to see Chicago, Rock of Ages and a Game of Thrones

I've taken a little time off this past week from costuming to go to the theatre.(I know doing something totally different right?) I couldn't resist the urge to see World Champion/Silver medal olympian Elvis Stojko tackle the role of Billy Flynn in Chicago and my mom got tickets for us to go see Rock of Ages at Casino Rama.

My first introduction to Chicago was the 2002 Oscar winning film which I immediately loved, in fact I even wrote a movie review in my university student news paper. Basically that is what I had to compare the performance to other than a community theatre production back in 2004 up in Sudbury that I don't really remember.

Right away I was put off by the vocals of Terra C McLeod in All That Jazz which is one of my favourite songs from the show. She did this weird vocal trick that I didn't like. I thought that the actress playing Roxie, Bianca Marroquin was okay. I guess I am used to the film version where it plays things very seriously, this production really played up the comedic aspects of the show, for me it didn't work. I was irritated for example during the cell block tango how the actress playing Mona shook her head from side to side like an airhead every time she she said Lipshitz. Elvis Stojko's voice and performance on the other hand took me by surprise and made the show for me. He has this really deep, rich voice that resonates, and he can hold that long note at the end of "We both reached for the gun."

It was kind of neat getting to see late broadway legend/Law & Order star Jerry Orbach's cousin play the role of Amos, a bit of trivia for you Jerry Orbach was the original Billy Flynn. I also recognized one of the ensemble members from when she was in We Will Rock You. Overall though I was underwhelmed and prefer the movie. The stage show leaves lloose ends that the movie doesn't *minor spoiler* like how exactly did Velma Kelly get out let of her murder charges? I am glad I got to see Elvis, but I am glad I didn't pay more than $25 for my ticket! Elvis sadly took of pretty quickly at the stage door so I didn't get an autograph or anything.

With Rock of Ages I had the exact opposite experience, where I liked the stage show better than the movie. I thought the story in the stage show made more sense and I didn't like the changes made for the movie. I had seen Rock of Ages with my sister back in 2010, I thought it was okay, we were familiar with some of the cast from their We Will Rock You days, that can make it hard to suspend belief as you see them as so and so playing a role as opposed to just the character. I think the movie had the same problem, I liked it, but for example you don't see the character of Stacee Jaxx you see Tom Cruise as Stacee. Because with this production the cast was all unknown to me it really allowed them to inhabit and become their roles for me. I quite enjoyed the actor who played Lonny he was great, I thought the character in the Canadian production played by Aaron Walpole was really annoying, but this guy was super funny. I did find that the actress Shannon Mullen who played the lead Sherrie tried a little too hard to emulate Julianne Hough from the movie.

Overall it was a lot of fun, and our seats were great so I got a close look at the costumes. There is a little irony though with the venue because a lot of the bands whose music they were playing Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Whitesnake, Journey have played that exact stage. I had come straight to the show from work and we'd stopped at Arby's for dinner which turned out to be pretty funny because there were three different references to that restaurant in the show! One of my complaints is that as we were leaving my mom saw the actor who played Lonny and I missed him. My other minor complaint is that I didn't get a programme, because there was none. I have emailed the show's production company to see if I can get hooked up with one, if I don't I have a couple cool souvenirs a pic with the show's fictional band Arsenal's name on it and a protest flyer prop from the stage. Here's a pic:

         

As if the shows weren't enough this week with work I got to go the Chorus entertainment building on Thursday night for an advance screening of Game of Thrones season four episode one which premieres tonight. It was really fun, everyone's name was on a guest list, we had to check in. There was free booze and passed appetizers of lobster/phyllo puffs and coconut shrimp (Popcorn too of course) A good night! We also saw the pilot of this new series Silicon Valley which was pretty funny. It's been an interesting week to say the least now time to get back to work!

Theatre and hallowe'en: a match made in heaven

It goes with out saying that costumes and theatre go hand in hand. I have to admit that Hallowe'en has been heavily  influenced by my love of theatre. At my work dressing up is a really big thing, we even have a costume contest. For three out of the five years that I participated I dressed up as characters from a musical.

The first time was going as Tracey Turnblad from Hairspray, this was before I lost the weight, As bigger woman I really found Tracey an inspiration. No one really understood who I was, I think they just thought I was a school girl. Doing the hair was a really bitch, my grandma Betty who had been  hairdresser in the 60's helped me tease it.  Here's a pic of me getting ready:

 
The next year I was Scaramouche from We Will Rock You. This was the first time I actually made a costume from scratch. My short skirt helped me flirt with my future boyfriend, and we got together a few months later. Again no one really got who I was until I showed them a pic from my WWRY programme. I am not sure what they thought I was, but DEFINATELY out of the orindary, plus my hair was purple, boy was that fun washing out... I had borrowed my mom's Eddie Bauer jacket and there was a purple ring around the neck that I got out without her ever knowing about it lol.. Here's a pic of me in costume, and a snap of the from the programme.

 
The next year I went as Velma Kelly from Chicago. I didn't recreate the Catherine Zeta-Jones movie version. Most people just thought I was a flapper, but I did have a little toy gun with me. That red dress I made got a lot of mileage. That fall I knew I was volunteering for a theatre fundraiser where we had to dress up from the 20's so it was kind of a no brainer what I was going to do for Hallowe'en. I also wore it to a Hallowe'en party the boyfriend and I had, plus a year later I wore it to another work event where we dressed up from the 20's to go a party for the Boardwalk Season 2 premiere. I placed in the top ten with this costume.

 
 Last year I placed again, but my costume wasn't from a musical this time. It was definitely more conceptual.I was a garden. I just saw the wings and knew I had to do something with them, aside from being a butterfly. Again I don't know if people quite got what I was at first, but once I said garden they got it.



 This year was more influenced my interest in women's history. I went as Rosie the Riveter/Bomb girls from the 1940's. For those who don't know they were the women who worked the factories while the men were off at war. People thought I was a mechanic or a cleaning woman, not everyone got it, however the word adorable was bandied about quite a bit and I placed 8th. I will leave you witha pic of this years costume.