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So I have absolutely no clue what the Helen Hayes Awards is or what they are for, but my friend sent me an invite to an opened to everyone party (that actually sounds kind of lame) at the Jefferson hotel Quill bar. According to the invitation below to the Helen Hayes Awards showtunes party, there is no cover which is nice, cocktails which is better, but most importantly, sing a long showtunes where you are encouraged to belt out as loud as you can. That is why it got my attention. This bitch loves to belt out showtunes, especially when drinking cocktails and having fun with other theatre queens. Here is the invite to the Helen Hayes Awards showtunes party in Washington DC.

SHOW TUNES & COCKTAILS AT THE JEFFERSON

Presented by The Helen Hayes Awards Shed your inhibitions, connect with your inner diva and belt out show tunes with other theater lovers, bandleader and pianist extraordinaire Glenn Pearson and a few special guests from Washington stages at this monthly gathering.

Join us on:
MONDAY, JULY 11, 7 – 10PM
Quill Bar at The Jefferson, Washington DC
1200 16th St, NW
No cover – FREE!

Enjoy the art of the cocktail in The Jefferson’s elegant Quill Bar and savor their spectacular bar menu. An appetizer & specialty drink menu will be available.

Discounted parking is offered to our guests.

20% of proceeds support the year-round audience building efforts of the Helen Hayes Awards – Your Ticket to Washington Theatre. Find out what’s playing on over 70 area stages, visit www.helenhayes.org.

Anyways, if you are in the Washington DC area on July 11th, I highly encourage you to come to this event. I have no clue what the Helen Hayes awards are or what the actual purpose is, but when you combine a great pianist, showtunes and cocktails with a bunch of drunken queens you are bound to have an awesome time. I’ll more than likely be there as well with my camera taking random photos to review the event for this blog as well. If you end up coming, feel free to say hi if you see me.

Drag Queens, Prostitutes and Cowboys, Ohh My! It can only mean one thing, the Washington DC Gay Men’s Chorus is doing an all male version of the hit show The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The Washington Dc Gay Men’s Chorus does a broadway production each year. Not only are they amazingly talented, but they always put a few fun twists on their shows. I absolutely cannot wait to get to see them perform The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas next month. Last year the did Grease, only gayer. This year should be fun, as long as they have cleaned up the songs.

At their Christmas show they sang Hard Candy Christmas which is one of my favorite Christmas Showtunes and unfortunately probably shouldn’t have. It wasn’t that they were bad, it was that they couldn’t hit the harmonies and the solos were not acted and lacked any form of personality which is key to that song. Then again they probably didn’t really have enough time to rehearse it. I am certain that with the amount of talent they have and how well they put on their productions, they will have completely found a way to get everyone to act out the songs, use proper voice inflections and completely knock it out of the park.

The Washington DC Gay Men’s Chorus always gets 5 stars from me and I love watching them perform. I cannot wait until they do The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas this March and you can find the details and come see them yourself at:

Gay Men’s Chorus Perform The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas:
Lisner Auditorium – George Washington University
730 21st Street NW
Washington, DC

Friday, March 18 at 8 pm
Saturday, March 19 at 8 pm
Sunday, March 20 at 3 pm

This is a show that you definitely will not want to miss. The guys are hilarious and extremely talented and as their ad says, it gives a whole new meaning to The Chicken Ranch. I can only imagine the puns that they will add in for Miss Mona and the prostitutes. If you are going to see The Washington DC Gay Men’s Chorus perform The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, feel free to comment below or share this post with your friends on Twitter and Facebook.

Where can you find showtunes nights in the USA?

If there is one trend that has picked back up in the USA it is Musical Theatre. All of us know and love musicals and love to sing a long, even if we didn’t realize that the song was a showtune. Musical Theatre has invaded Hollywood throughout time regardless of whether it is Funny Girl, Annie, Chicago or even modern shows like Wicked or if the rumor is accurate that the new remake of the Wizard of Oz showcasing quite a few broadway stars and even the possible make of In The Heights. Nintendo Wii just introduced a completely new game called Dance on Broadway which teaches you how to execute a professionally choreographed dance routine to some of the most well known and well-liked broadway showtunes.

With just about all of the main stream media channels going broadway crazy, the bar and lounge scene has started to really feel the pressure to add in musical theatre and showtunes nights and a few of the most famous showtunes nights at these lounges are now feeling the benefits of their commitment to theatre and hosting showtunes nights.

Here are some of the best showtunes nights in the USA. Feel free to leave a comment below if you find out of any other high quality or fabulous ones. I am aware that there is an outstanding one in Cleveland and some other metropolitan areas, I just don’t have enough time to write about them all.

Sidetracks Showtunes Night Chicago.

Sidetracks is the home of showtunes night in the United States. Sidetracks is a massive bar with large projection screens, several rooms, a rooftop bar, flat screen tv sets and Sidetracks Chicago delivers 3 or 4 nights of showtunes each and every week. Everynight for showtunes is packed full of people and Monday Night showtunes at Sidetracks is above and beyond the most popular. People act out the songs, sing and dance and what can make it much more fun is that Sidetracks is full audience participation, it is almost like you are going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Sidetracks staff even gets into the spirit with wigs, singing and acting out their favorite characters. Whether you love Patty Lupone or Carol Channing, an Idina fan or a Kristen fan, you’ll have a ton of fun at showtunes night at Sidetracks in Chicago.

JRs in Washington DC.

JRs is one of the most broadly known bars in Dc. It was the first bar in DC to offer an official showtunes night where they only played and continue to blast showtunes everywhere. Shortly after other bars saw how well-liked JRs showtunes night is so they began to try and copy them. Unfortunately JRs hasn’t been able to keep up with the times. Even though it is still the standard in DC showtunes nights, JRs showtunes have taken a hit with crowds in Chicago, NY, Philly, Florida, Ohio and the (no longer) rivalling bar EFN Lounge which are different because they already have added in audience participation and a bar staff that sings along and contributes to the fun. JRs is still a staple and the most recommended showtunes night in DC. I also highly recommend it each and every Monday night, but if you want Chicago styled showtunes nights, you have to check out EFN Lounge (which is no longer running).

Don’t Tell Mama Showtunes in New York City

In the heart of Manhattan, just outside of Midtown is Don’t Tell Mama. A small bar in the basement of a building with a loud sound. Don’t Tell Mama is a piano bar that takes on an assortment of music but the most popular are the showtunes. How could you go wrong in New York City with showtunes, especially when you are around the corner from the actual Broadway where Musical Theatre started. Although it is not the greatest showtunes night or bar in the NYC, it is absolutely one with tons of personality and I have met a few cast members from Broadway Shows like Mama Mia there so it is without a doubt a locals bar too.

Splash Bar in NYC

Every single Monday people flock from all over Manhattan and NYC to Chelsea for Splash Bar’s showtunes on Monday Nights. Splash Bar is one of the most popular video bars and dance clubs and downstairs Splash Bar turns it lounge into the absolute best Showtunes Night in Manhattan every Monday evening and night. My friends get stuck upstairs with the 80′s music and the drag show, but I usually stay downstairs to spend time with Liza and all of the other broadway megastars you expect to watch on the screen. The showtunes night at Splash Bar covers just about all shows from many eras and is NYC’s best showtunes night of the week. The main complaint a few individuals have is that they play a lot of clips from the Tony Awards, but when you are in The big apple and the Tony’s are right there, why complain? I highly recommend splash bar’s Monday night showtunes night, especially since Broadway is black on Mondays and you cannot go to see a live show.

New York New York Showtunes Bar Pittsburgh PA

Unfortunately New York New York Showtunes Lounge in Pittsburgh PA no longer exists. It was replaced when the owners tried to help it become more contemporary and I guess the new owners just didn’t want showtunes. Not only was it one of the most popular spots for the Pittsburgh theatre community, but people would sing along to the music coming from the jukebox as well as go to the upstairs and to the back rooms where the piano player would work the broadway scores like there was no tomorrow. It was a shame when I discovered that New York New York in Pittsburgh got rid of their piano player and showtunes theme. Maybe someday they’ll bring showtunes back and get the theatre crowds to come back as well.

EFN Lounge in Washington, DC.

EFN Lounge (EFN Lounge has unfortunately shut down their doors for good but in honor of their wonderful showtunes night I wanted to include them in this post.) in Washington, D.C. is set sort of in the ghetto. Off of Logan circle, every Sunday a tiny but fabulous and loud group of showtune enthusiasts group together for food, fun and showtunes. The bar staff sings along and encourages you to get up and dance and with the exception of the weekend they devoted to bollywood (thank god they stopped that one), this is one of the best showtunes nights on the East Coast. Unfortunately because of the location many people don’t want to go, but with the neighborhood getting better every week, you’ll find a growing number of Broadway fans start pouring in for EFN Lounge Showtunes on Sunday evenings. It is full of life, fun and $2 Absolute Vodka drinks. It is a must attend event if you have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon and evening in Washington DC.

Tavern on Camac Showtunes Philadelphia PA

Tavern is a classic Philadelphia bar. You can find Tavern on Camac off of a side street that hasn’t been updated and on an actual cobblestone road. Tavern really makes you believe you are back in the times of My Fair Lady when you are strolling up the historic roads. Tavern on Camac has the downstairs floor when you walk in and to your left you’ll find a huge grand piano. On Monday Nights in the downstairs at the piano, and I think Tuesdays as well, you’ll find a fabulous Pianist playing his favorite showtunes from all of the classic shows. He not only sings along but he also promotes the visitors to take a microphone and work their favorite showtunes along with him. He is one of the greatest showtunes piano sing a long hosts in the country and one that you cannot miss. The only bad side to it is that he really isn’t a fan of the newer shows so if you request one like Wicked or Avenue Q, be prepared to tip extra in order to get him to play it. He is incredibly talented and someone I always make an effort to see when I’m in Philly.

Partners Bar Rehoboth Beach Delaware

I found Partners Bar (It now has a new name but I cannot remember what the name is) in Rehoboth Beach Delaware from reading this Gay Wedding blog about what to do and where to go when you are in Rehoboth Beach. Partners is a small locals restaurant and bar with a small piano or keyboard (I can’t remember but I am pretty sure it was a keyboard). There was a younger piano player there named Matt and although he was a bit bitchy and had a diva attitude with some of the tourists (mainly me because I was a bit drunk at the time) when they wanted to sing, he was very talented. He not only played classic showtunes, but he also liked and played a lot of newer showtunes as well. I’m not sure if he is still there or not but my only problem was that he never let the audience sing into the microphone or wanted to actually share it. If he would have I probably would have gone back and not been as moody. He is very talented and I actually enjoyed the night there, but my opinion with showtunes night is that unless the audience gets to sing a long, it probably isn’t worth going back to.

The Hippo in Baltimore Maryland

The Hippo is a fantastic gay bar and one of the top night clubs in Baltimore. It is also a personal favorite club to have drinks in by the writers at Broadway Reviewed. Unfortunately we have had very negative communications with the individuals who claim to run the showtunes night at the Hippo so we will never set foot at showtunes at the Hippo in Baltimore, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go. The Hippo is a fabulous club, but since we were spoken down to and treated very rudely by the people who claim to manage or host showtunes there, we will find other clubs and bars to go to for showtunes nights. Unfortunately This also means that we cannot give it a legit review because we have not been there, but we did want to talk about it because it is supposed to have a showtunes night and if you are reading this post, that is probably what you are looking for. If you have been to showtunes night at the Hippo in Baltimore, please feel free to leave a comment below. All comments are being moderated and not all will be posted as a quick heads up.

Showtunes nights are becoming a favorite night out again in almost every major US city. If you have a favorite showtunes night or bar and want to review it here on Broadway Reviewed, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to include it into this post.

Ok, so a huge giant gasp of air just left my lungs when I saw a headline in the Washington Post about the talented and one of my personal favorites, Ms. Bernadette Peters coming to Washington DC to star in a revival show of one of Stephen Sondheim‘s greatest musicals, Follies.  Not only did I almost go to see Bernadette Peters star in another Stephen Sondheim show, A Little Night Music with Elaine Stritch (who I love from Stephen Sondheim’s show Company with the song Ladies Who Lunch), but I have had an insane obsession with Bernadette’s Voice ever since I saw Into The Woods (another Stephen Sondheim show) when I was younger.

Bernadette Peters is not only an amazing actress and singer, but when you combine her talent with Stephen Sondheim’s music and shows and with the number of revival shows coming back (Promises Promises, La Cage Au Follies, A Little Night Music, etc….) this is one that may end up making its way back to NYC and broadway.

One of my very favorite songs from Stephen Sondheim’s Follies is definitely I’m Still Here.  Its not only fun to sing but it is also a fun one to dance to and sing a long with at karaoke nights.  It is one of those fabulous songs that everyone knows and loves but doesn’t always remember unless someone brings it up.  Unfortunately I don’t think that Bernadette Peters has the right voice for this as I think the song should be sung by someone whose voice is more rough and deep, but then again with her ability to morph her voice from a gorgeous light and opera sounding voice and her ability to hold a solid note, she may be able to pull it off or turn it into her own version.

I cannot wait for Bernadette Peters and Follies to open up at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and when tickets go on sale I will definitely be one of the first to get them.  Watch out broadway, another $6 million revival show is coming to NYC.

Although most people consider showtunes night in Washington DC the showtunes night at JRs on 17th street, my favorite showtunes night in Washington DC is in Logan Circle at EFN Lounge.  EFN Lounge showtunes night is every Sunday evening from 6pm to 9pm.  There are usually snacks there and a great drink special with $2 absolute drinks during showtunes.  What makes Showtunes at EFN Lounge special though isn’t the drink specials or the food, it is the energy and the people that go.

Unlike JRs showtunes where you get a bunch of fake broadway fans faking the words to the songs (although JRs showtunes can be fun) EFN Lounge has a much smaller crowd but a crowd that sings along, dances and has fun with the shows.  It is more like a Sidetracks Chicago the way the crowd it.  There is a lot of audience participation with the shows and the bartenders sing a long and get into the music as well.  EFN Lounge showtunes in Washington DC has definitely become my favorite showtunes night in Washington DC, even though I still do love the showtunes night at JRs.  So what makes the two nights different?

The reason I like Showtunes Night at EFN Lounge better is because of the music they play.  EFN Lounge plays a lot of non well known songs from not as popular shows like Tick Tick Boom, they also play songs like Every Sperm is Sacred from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and they also play a ton of clips from different Broadway Spoofs.  When you combine that with a bunch of cool off broadway and promotional performances like the rock version of Defying Gravity from Wicked you have a new type of showtunes night that easily beats out a bunch of clips from shows that were turned into movies.

Showtunes night reminds me of Showtunes at Sidetracks in Chicago which is probably the best showtunes night there is.  If you are in the DC areas and looking for something to do on a Sunday evening, I highly recommend checking out Showtunes Night at EFN Lounge in Washington DC.

1318 9th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 341-8281

If you’ve been to EFN Lounge for showtunes or are coming to showtunes at EFN Lounge, please feel free to leave a comment below or share this post with your friends on Twitter by clicking on the green tweet or retweet button at the top of the post.   Even though showtunes night at EFN Lounge is much smaller than JRs, it is also much better in my opinion.  Hope to see you there one night.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting one of the performers from one of Washington DC‘s most popular performance groups, The Capitol Steps. Jon Bell took a minute to sit down and do an interview with us at BroadwayReviewed.com and we are very excited to share with you a bit more about one of DC’s most well known performance groups The Captiol Steps.

What are the Capitol Steps?

“Capitol Steps” is a musical, political satire. It consists of a number of actors that make fun of the things that are going on in politics today. Each show usually consists of 3 men and 2 women that put the mock in democracy. It is a fun, fast-paced show geared to make you laugh.

How did the Capital Steps Form? (This answer came from one of the founders)

The Capitol Steps have an odd history – we started in 1981 as entertainment for a Senate office Christmas party. We were all working on Capitol Hill at the time…and the joke we like to make is that we originally intended to put on a traditional nativity play, but in all the Congress we couldn’t find three wise men or a virgin! So, instead we decided to make fun of the very people that employed us. It was the early days of Ronald Reagan…he had gone from acting to politics, so we thought we could go from politics to acting. And we thought that after that first party, someone would tell us to stop (or maybe even fire us!) but no one did, so 28 years later, the group is still going. For the first fifteen years, we had a rule that anyone who performed with the Capitol Steps had to be a Capitol Hill staffer. Eventually, during the Clinton years, we got so busy that we added some Washington-area actors, and now the group is about fifty-fifty, staffers and performers.

When we started, it was the Reagan administration and the songs were about the scandals back then, “Thank God I’m a Contra Boy” or “Mine Every Mountain.” Over the years, the members of the Capitol Steps have learned to listen to the news not as a serious source of information, but more, “is it funny and what rhymes with it?” So when Dan Quayle was Vice President, we did “Stand By Your Dan,” the first Gulf War gave us “Papa’s Got a Brand New Baghdad,” and the North Korea nuclear threat prompted the song “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Korea?”

Over the years, our favorite scandals have been those that suggest a certain song. For example, when Governor Mark Sanford said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but was actually in Argentina, it gave us a good chance to use “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” and when the Tiger Woods scandal broke, we did “Fly of the Tiger.” Sometimes it’s like the politicians are thinking of us. And though some people think Barack Obama isn’t always quite as funny as George Bush, he gave us Joe Biden. So we’re grateful for that!

How did you get involved with the Capitol Steps?

I was living in Williamsburg, Virginia at the time when I got an email from a friend of mine who had already been performing with “Capitol Steps” for about 15 years. His email asked, ” Are you still black ? Are you still performing ? ” He told me that “Capitol Steps” was currently looking for someone to play Barack Obama and that I should get in touch with Elaina Newport for an audition. I spoke with Elaina and sent her my headshot and resume. I also took a look on you-tube to see what “Capitol Steps” was all about and I realized that they often used well known songs and changed the words to make fun of what was going on in politics. Elaina told me that she wanted to hear me sing and that she would like a comic monologue. So, after checking them out on you-tube I got the idea to sing Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” but change the words to talk about gas prices. I had the audition on a Saturday in November at 3 p.m., after the audition Elaina asked me to stay and watch the show that evening. She told me that I was hired during the intermission of the show that I saw that night. I was overjoyed !

What is the biggest challenge with all of the different routines you have to memorize?

The amount of time that we have to learn some of the songs is really fast, so I always have to be ready to learn something new whenever they have an idea for a new skit. Last year, I was flying to California to do a show and just as we landed in the airport, we got word that Michael Jackson had just died. Well, Micheal Jackson was in our show that we were about to perform in a couple of hours. So Elaina had to change the script in a matter of hours and decided to take Michael Jackson out of the show and replace him with Cher. Well, to make a long story short I began to learn the new lyrics for Cher and that evening I put on a skirt and a long,black wig and Cher became a part of the show.

What do you feel the biggest impact you have had with the Capital Steps is? Education, Entertainment, Awareness, etc…? I think it is the joy that I feel daily to go out and perform this show. It is so rewarding to bring joy to so many people for a living. My world has also expanded since I have gotten to travel throughout the country. I have met so many different cultures and made some great friends.

What do you love most about being a part of The Capitol Steps?

I think “Capitol Steps” is an awesome company to work for ! I get to travel the country and I have worked in some theatre’s that have seated over 2,000 people. I am trully blessed ! There are days that I take a breath and think “This is really happening to me!”. I also think that the people that I work for are so talented and fun. It’s always great when you love the people that you work with. I also LOVE the challenge of having to learn something new at a moments notice, this is an actors dream !! Another fun fact about the “Capitol Steps” is that we are always working with different performers. There are about 24 cast members throughout “Capitol Steps” and they are always mixing us up with different cast members, so we have A LOT of scripts in our head. We will often play different roles depending on who we are paired with. There could be 4 shows going on in different parts of the country on the same night.

Where can we see you all perform?

You can always find our schedule on our website : capitolsteps.com ~ You will be able to find out the next time we are performing in a city near you. You can also book us to do a show. We do private and public shows throughout the country and we always have shows every Friday and Saturday at 7:30p.m. at the Reagan building at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C.

What would you say the most important thing someone can get from one of your shows is?

The news really can be funny, it’s all in how you look at it.

What do you like most about being a part of The Capitol Steps?

I love the travel, the people that I work with and the constantly changing script……. it is a wonderful challenge that I embrace daily.

What else would you like us to know about you or The Captiol Steps?

I have been performing professionally for 20 years and I love where my career has taken me. I thank God for opening these doors and allowing me to experience this incredible joy.

I’d like to thank Jon Bell for taking the time to talk with Broadway Reviewed and if you would like to see The Captial Steps perform contact them through their website by clicking here.

Washington DC isn’t somewhere you wouldn’t normally think of when you think hit broadway shows or broadway celebrities, but surprisingly enough we do have one venue that not only has produced some of the greatest and most well known and loved shows in the world, but also has had some of the most well known and biggest stars in the world come through it.  This venue is probably one of the largest cultural centers for the arts I have ever seen with the massive theatres you are used to and even classic styled theatres with all shapes and sizes in the other sections.

People travel from all over the world to not only see this massive building dedicated to the arts, but every year thousands of students and instructors go to the Kennedy Center to learn to sing, act, dance, teach, put on a production, work lights, and even more people flock to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC to see world class talent and shows.

The Kennedy Center was inspired and sort of dreamed up by a man named Roger L. Stevens.  Not only was Roger one of the visionaries who brought the idea of a huge national center for the arts, but he also was the person who redesigned and rediscovered how the Musicals would become what they are and always found shows that would push limits and work on taboo subjects.

Roger brought the idea of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and after he convinced John F. Kennedy to come on board and get congress to back it, he then got to see his dream of this building begin to come to life and after 10 years of building this massive structure his idea for a National Conservatory for the Performing Arts became a reality and the US now had it’s very own National building dedicated to one of the greatest forms of entertainment ever and one of America’s biggest visionaries running it.

Roger Stevens believed so much in theatre and pushing boundaries that he used his personal bank accounts to fund numerous shows, especially ones that no one else would touch.  He also did something else that people wouldn’t expect.  He launched them and tested them right here in Washington DC instead of off broadway or in cities like San Francisco.  Instead he used the Kennedy Center and brought us some of the most well known shows and songs that people still sing and recognize today.

Some of the shows that Roger Stevens believed in and brought us, even when no one else would back them include Annie, West Side Story, Bus Stop, A Man for All Seasons, Tea and Sympathy, Love Letters, Shadowlands, She Loves Me and a heck of a lot more shows and hits.  He not only saw the value in pushing these controversial shows, but he found a way to take them and make them work.  What was even better was that instead of taking the shows straight to a city like New York, he launched them in Washington DC and more importantly at the Kennedy Center.  Besides Roger, other people have amazing memories of the Kennedy Center.   I went to the Spring Gala this year and was shocked to learn that Ben Vereen had one of his most memorable shows launch at the Kennedy Center as well, Pippin.

Not only was Pippin one of the most beloved shows and one of the shows that helped to launch his career, but he also thanked it for bringing many other shows to life.  It was amazing to hear about the impact and how many famous shows were tested here in Washington DC and how when they started here they went straight to broadway and shows like Pippin went on to win numerous Tony Awards and many other achievements.   It was absolutely amazing to get to learn how many of the most popular shows started here in Washington DC and even better at the Kennedy Center.

Although it isn’t as old as some of the classic theatres in the USA and the outside isn’t glamorous, it is one of the most massive structures and the inside of the theatres just scream class.  You can tell that the people who work there love their theatre and respect it and what is even more important is that they all work to really take care of it and its history.

Many people wouldn’t think of Washington DC and especially not the Kennedy Center when they think of historic Theatre and Broadway or as a city and theatre to test in, but oddly enough the Kennedy Center is one of the most popular and one of the best testing grounds for shows that go on to become hits and win tons of awards.

The Kennedy Center is one of those hidden structures that help to keep Theatre and Performing Arts alive and if you are ever in Washington DC, take a break from the monuments and museums and take a minute to visit this historic piece of Theatre history.

Ok, I know you all are about to be jealous of this star studded Diva oriented weekend in Washington DC.  Not only do we never get the parties that NYC, LA, San Francisco, London, Chicago, etc… get, but we never have the amazing Broadway shows or variety that these cities get.  The one thing we do have that is unique though is the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

The Kennedy Center is not an amazing old styled theatre but it is a huge complex with amazing sound and can easily host all of the top shows in the world.  This is where I went to see Hairspray for the first time and many other shows.  We also have the touring cast of Mary Poppins coming through soon but more importantly we have the Kennedy Center Spring Gala coming through this weekend.

The Kennedy Center spring gala in Washington DC is sort of like the kick off season to Summer shows and events.  The Kennedy Center goes all out and brings in Broadway stars of all calibers and styles.  This year they have completely gone out of their way to bring in some of the best, most well known talent around.  The odd thing though is that there are still tickets available.  Some of my friends just bought theirs last night.  I found it shocking because of this years line up of talented performers and Actors.

The show headliner is none other than one of the original Divas, the great Liza Minelli.

Liza Minelli

Liza Minelli is not only the daughter of the famous Judy Garland, but Liza Minelli is an icon, one of the most recognizable faces and voices in American Pop Culture and history and no matter where you go or what you watch, you will probably run across a reference to her.  She has appeared in tons of movies, tv shows, jokes.  Liza has hit cds like like Liza with a Z and pretty much destroyed the show Cabaret for anyone else who would ever try to take it on.  Liza Minelli is a legend that I dare anyone to try to take on.  She is above and beyond going to be one of the highlights of this show.  This picture of Liza came from the Kennedy Center Website.  http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/gala/

So if Liza Minelli isn’t enough of a headliner for you, the next star to take the stage is the amazing and seriously talented Ben Vereen.

Ben Vereen you’ll remember from countless Broadway shows including Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin and the list goes on.  For those of you not into theatre, which I don’t understand why you’d be here if you weren’t, he was in Funny Lady, All That Jazz, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will and Grace and the list goes on with his TV appearances and roles as well.  He is also the god father to R&B sensation Usher.  Ben is one of the most talented Actors in modern times and I cannot wait to see him perform.  He dances, sings, acts and steals shows.  Between him and Liza Minelli, can it get any better?  Actually yes.

Aaron Lazar, many of you will not know him, reinvented many roles and recreated some of the most loved characters on Broadway.  He was in the recent revival of Les Miserables, A Tale of Two Cities and the classic A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim.  Aaron has also been on TV in Ugly Betty, The notorious Bettie Page (if your name is Betty you better watch out for this one) and countless other show appearances.  Aaron may not be well known, but his talent should be.

The next Actor I would like to mention is one whose name you won’t remember but whose voice and image you will never forget.  Andrea McArdle was the original Annie.  Not only did she create the role of the red headed orphan, but I think she created one of the most memorable American Icons that almost everyone can remember from their childhood.  Everyone remembers watching it and everyone recognizes the red poster and red lettering for the red headed orphan.  Sure she has done other things since Annie but when you create such an iconic role and character as Little Orphan Annie, it is hard to do anything else.

Some other performers who will be there include Elizabeth Ashley, Raul Esparza, Opera Singers; Elmore James and Harolyn Blackwell and the list of show stopping celebrities goes on and on.  It is insane how much talent The Kennedy Center booked for the Kennedy Center Spring Gala 2010 and I cannot wait to watch all of these icons and amazing performers show why they are the incredible Actors and Actresses that they are and why they have reached Celebrity Status in the Theatre, Screen and Entertainment industry.

If you haven’t bought your ticket to the Kennedy Center Spring Gala yet, you seriously need to hurry up because if word gets out that people like Liza Minelli are in town tickets will sell fast!  Hurry up and buy your ticket today and then come back and share how you liked the show after.

Harvey Fierstein Fiddler on the Roof

This weekend I got to take my mom to not only see a classic show Fiddler on the Roof, but I also got to go with her when one of Broadway’s most beloved Actors, Harvey Fierstein.

Not only are we both huge Harvey Fierstein fans, but getting to see him with my Mom and in a role that almost seems like it was designed for him, Tevye, just like when he played Edna Turnblad in Broadway’s Hairspray, the performance has to be amazing.   In this review I want to go over what makes an Actor like Harvey Fierstein so amazing and then review the show.

Harvey Fierstein is one of the most influential people in Broadway.  Not only has he created a career for himself and turned his extremely unique voice into one of his most sought after traits, but he brought gay people into the main stream on Broadway, besides in Cabaret when the guys admits he is bi or in Victor Victoria where they clearly love and accept gay people in France, with his shows like La Cage Au Follies or Torch Song Trilogy.  He pushes boundaries and fights for his beliefs, but he also does it in a way that is classy, comical and a way that attracts huge audiences.  Not only is he able to create a venue that gets a message across, but he does it in a way that is extremely thought provoking and not as in your face.  With that said, how does this relate to his career?

Harvey Fierstein is able to not only write in a way that main stream audiences will fall in love with it and he can get away with creating shows that are not normal or sometimes controversial, but he can also tie that into his body language, facial expressions and character development.  Not only can you see his eyes from everywhere in the theatre (or at least visualize them) but he is somehow able not only break character to give a shimmy or just before a well known song step out of the cast and point his finger to let the crowd know it is about to start and then come back into place seamlessly, but he can also carry the entire cast if he needs to.

People like Harvey Fierstein, Carol Channing, Barbara Streisand and others that have unique voices find ways to make their emotions speak and hit everyone in a crowd.  It is almost like you are watching their characters in their stories as if you were really there and somehow their presence is large enough that you almost feel what their character would be feeling.  If an Actor can do that and in real life, jump out of their character in a second and then all of the sudden be right back in line and get your emotions going crazy again, that is what makes them a star and what separates Broadway stars from Movie and TV Stars.  They have to be able to act, sing, dance and be able to improvise and remember hours of lines and be able to act along side different people every night and at the blink of an eye.  This is what makes theatre unique and people like Harvey Fierstein household names that everyone can fall in love with.

Fiddler on the Roof Washington DC National Theatre

Fiddler on the Roof reviewed.

So anyways, the purpose of this post was to talk about Fiddler on the Roof.

Fiddler on the Roof is the story of a small and poor Jewish Village in Anatevka Russia.  It is the story of a Milkman names Tevye, his wife Goldie, his 5 daughters and how even though they are poor they can still be rich with love. Love is a reoccurring theme in the show.

Tevye is in love with God and his Traditions, not to mention his wife who has never said she loved him in the 25 years they were married or with Yenta who is the town Match Maker that chooses love for everyone else, even if they aren’t in love or don’t want love.  Tevye’s daughters who discover love and even though it is against tradition marry the Men they fall in love with and find a way to convince Tevye that it is ok to love people that they for themselves, instead of benefiting their families.  Love is the basis for Fiddler on the Roof.

Loving your family, loving God, loving your neighbors, your Country, your possessions, your enemies (if your daughter marries them) and everything else.  Without love then the characters in Fiddler on the Roof would be poor in food, posessions, heart and soul.  It is their love that keeps their faith, keeps them together and keeps them alive.  Love for reading and learning. love for change and love for each other.

The story line of Fiddler on the Roof is great and tragic.  It is emotional and shows the plight of the Jews in Russia when they were forced out of their homes and beaten for their religion.  It has some of the most well known songs in theatre including Match Maker, Sunrise Sunset and If I Were a Rich Man which has been done over and over again by everyone from Pop Stars like Gwen Stefani to TV Shows.  The only things missing from this show are songs were people belt out a tune and hit a high note.  Unfortunately this show lacks that and even though the characters are very memorable, the DC and touring cast, except for Harvey Fierstein were very weak.

It is very rare that you leave a show and not love multiple characters.  The only person in the show everyone talked about was Harvey Fierstein.  Everyone else was somewhat talented but none of them stood out.  None of them was absolutely amazing and none of them were holy crap incredible.  Overall the shows music is great, but no show stopper songs, the characters are extremely well written, but this cast was poorly acted and the story line is classic.  Unfortunately since the cast I saw was extremely weak, except for Harvey Fierstein, I have to give Fiddler on the Roof 2 out of 5 stars.  If you are a Harvey Fierstein fan then it is worth going.  If you have never seen a show before it is somewhat worth going, but if you are a theatre fan and love to see a great show with a ton of amazing talent, this is not one for you to spend your money on.  Harvey Fierstein is amazing but if he wasn’t in the cast I would have given the show an even lower rating.

I love the show but would have loved a better cast.  I am being a little harsh and should give it a 3 out of 5 stars, but for some reason I just didn’t love the show when I saw it.  Maybe it was just an off day because the talent was there, but then again they should all be able to give it their all, Harvey was able to so it would have been nice to have seen them all give a performance like his.

Ok, you can never go wrong with a classic from a showtunes night.  This video was made famous by Sidetracks in Chicago Illinois at their showtunes night and then copied and played over and over again across the country in every bar from Texas and New Orleans to JRs in DC and even up in New England.  I think I even saw it in California in Laguna Beach when they had the drag queens performing.

Everyone has seen the versions that all the bars have, but until you have gone to Sidetracks Chicago to see the full version of the Joan Crawford Abba video you have not seen how funny the video really is.

There is nothing funny about how Joan Crawford acted and treated people, if the way she was portrayed in the movie Mommy Dearest was accurate or true, but when you combine Abba and a brilliant VJ together and then throw in Mommy Dearest, you have a sure fire hit on your hands for every gay bar and showtunes night in the Country.

One thing that I was completely shocked about this past weekend was to find out that Sidetracks has been helping to launch showtunes nights in other cities now.  (This is a rumor only right now that they are helping to launch showtunes nights) and one of these showtunes nights is in DC at a bar which has a very bad reputation for being in a dangerous neighborhood called EFN Lounge.

I went to EFN Lounge last Sunday when I heard they had showtunes and when I saw everything from every show and that it was actually a fun filled and quality showtunes night, I decided that it is definitely worth the risk to walk through the area…and btw, the area used to be bad but is cleaning up very fast.  Just don’t be stupid if you’re walking through and use common sense and you should be fine.

Anyways, when I saw this posted on their Facebook Fanpage and also saw the ad saying that it was Sidetracks/EFN Lounge, I was shocked, they actually got Sidetracks to give them their Joan Crawford Mommy Dearest Abba remix.

Now, there is absolutely no comparison on the way the video is shown and watched in other cities compared to Chicago, there isn’t as much audience participation and the people laugh and love it but don’t go crazy over it, but it is still always a huge hit (pun intended) and everyone is one of it’s fans.  So race over to the nearest Showtunes night in your city (especially if it is being hosted or run by Sidetracks Chicago) and and grab your flask as you wave left, right, left, right, and shout out how you know the original and that they should give you the respect you are entitled to and have a great time.

So here is the Joan Crawford Mommy Dearest Abba Remix.  (Before you watch this, I do have to warn you that there is a lot of swearing and some disturbing scenes from the movie so please do not play it if you are not ok with some foul language and not so pleasant clips about child abuse, drinking and violence).  Enjoy!