Posts Categorized: Live Performances

One of those Holy Sh*T, OMG Performances – Audra McDonald

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There are certain performers that people have a hard time taking their eyes off of.  It isn’t about having a presence, it’s about facial expressions, movements and most importantly, a voice.  Audra McDonald is one of those people.  The problem is combining her with two other just as amazing performers (Marin Mazzie and Judy Kuhn), but don’t have her ability to to create emotions from their faces as well, and when you get three voices and an actress like Audra McDonald on a stage together belting out some of the most loved showtunes during a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, you get a holy sh*t and OMG that was an amazing performance.   Even though performances like these don’t happen at the Tony awards, that is probably the only awards show (including the Grammy awards) that could pull off this much vocal talent on one stage.

The Grammy awards may have a ton of great singers, but to get people that can belt and create blended voices (not harmonies) and take three gorgeous songs and turn them into one can only be done by Broadway.  That’s what makes the Tony’s so amazing.  That’s why broadway charity events are also incredible.  Instead of just listening to a cast perform a song from their show, you get things like Avenue Jew, The cast of Spring Awakening Auditioning for Grease and even things like when Bravo featured the Best of Broadway and brought us incredible performances from a ton of amazing talent from Broadway.  I’ll post a few of those videos later this week.  I don’t think that was for charity though, I think it was just for Bravo to bring a ton of talent onto their Network and make a ton of money.  The music and performances were incredible and they really did an amazing job.

If you ever get a chance to go to a broadway fundraiser or charity event or even a tribute to a composer or broadway legend with a ton of performances, go.  You’ll get to see so much talent performing things you’ve never heard of or even performing together on insane songs that are from shows that haven’t run or been on stage in decades which is why these are amazing events.  These are songs and showtunes you listen to, but will probably never have another chance to hear or see on stage again if you don’t go.  If you are planning a trip to NYC and haven’t figured out when you want to go, try to schedule it around one of these events.  You’ll absolutely be happy you did and you can still get to see the shows you wanted on different days.  Audra’s performance singing “Love Changes Everything” is amazing and the other two performers Marin Mazzie and Judy Kuhn did an incredible job with their songs.  Please feel free to leave a comment below if you like or didn’t like the performance and also feel free to share this post on Facebook and Twitter by using the buttons at the top of the post.

Les Miserables Flash Mob at a Wedding Video

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I’m completely over the whole flash mob thing, but I am deathly afraid that this will end up happening at my wedding as well…especially because of all of my musical theatre, junky friends.  Not that I’m getting married soon, but this is definitely a possibility lol.  I saw this video and wasn’t going to share it originally, but then I heard some of the male voices and began to fall in love with it.

Thernardier and his wife were pretty weak which was disappointing, but the girl in the black dress sounded amazing.  The blond girl in the beginning was really weak as well.  There is a shorter girl that had an ok voice, but you don’t actually get to see her, except when she is finishing.  The majority of the men in this video had great voices.  I can almost guarantee this is probably a wedding from a bunch of people who either go to karaoke or went to musical theatre school and remained friends.  My freshman year of college I went to Point Park College, which is now Point Park University which is known for dance and musical theatre.  This is actually sort of what lunch was like.

Whenever a new show would come out or someone would start singing a melody to themselves, a lot of other people would join in.  During finals or mid terms, you’d hear everyone practicing in their rooms or in the halls until at least 3 or 4 in the morning.  I almost miss being able to hear really amazing voices all day and being able to walk into any room, say I have a song stuck in my head and have at least one or two people belt it out perfectly and on tune.  It was actually kind of fun.  Later this month a few of us are getting together in NYC to go see a couple of shows as well.  I haven’t actually seen some of these people since 1999 and the early 2000′s so it’ll be a lot of fun to get together again.  We’re also having another meetup in the West End in London for a couple of us that moved out there.  Anyways, I am completely afraid this will end up happening at my wedding, and if it doesn’t, I’ll probably be even more pissed that it didn’t.

when broadway people travel

Kristin Chenoweth, Christina Applegate & Carrie Underwood + Crazy Broadway Fans

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When you think of the people who star on Broadway, chances are you think they’re a bit crazy. Who else is going to get up on stage night after night, pretend to be someone else, sing at the top of their lungs, sometimes strip and most of the time have to make a fool of themselves. Broadway people are a bit insane, but so are some of their fans. The nice thing though is that even though they might have a bit of insanity, they are still regular, normal people like the rest of us and still get nervous around other celebrities. Check out this clip I found of Kristin Chenoweth, Christina Applegate and Carrie Underwood performing a mashup together.

I love in the video when they go over the awards they’ve won and Christina goes “I won a TV Guide Award” and Kristin goes “What’s That?” and someone else says, no a TV. (This was before GCB and I think Pushing Daisies, but I don’t think it was before West Wing.) Anyways, it shows they are a bit crazy but they also love to have fun. What’s nice is that so do all of their fans. Here are a few examples of how you can tell when a broadway fan is traveling or vacation. The first one is a reaction I had when I was doing the Avon breast cancer walk in Keystone Colorado.

As we were driving up to Keystone I saw a sign for Steamboat Springs and there was the word to after it. I instantly shrieked and made my friend stop the car. When I told her she has to get out to take a picture, she thought I was insane. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any paper, but what I wanted to do was have a Julie Andrews moment and write La Paz and hold it after the word to.

The second one is my friend Adam who is in Europe right now. You can always tell a broadway person because you’ll notice them in weird poses with absolutely no reason for it. If you ever see someone doing a weird pose at a building or monument, there is a chance it was from their favorite show. Check out this fun photo he posted to Facebook today.

when broadway people travel

when broadway people travel

This next one isn’t the image I was looking for and I took one in front of a Book of Mormon bus jumping in front of the poster in the same pose he was in, but this one is still ok. You have to love that Broadway fans are pretty much as crazy as the Actors. When they see a sign they can interact with, they kiss the main character, pose with the poster and sometimes even jump in the air to match it. The Book of Mormon probably has the most pictures of people jumping with the signs out there and it is definitely a fun one to see.

book of mormon jumping picture

photo from http://carpoolcoutureandcocktails.wordpress.com

If you have a favorite moment from when you were traveling and had a broadway moment or took a picture, feel free to comment or leave it below. I moderate all comments so it might take a day or two to post. Thanks again for reading and don’t forget to join our newsletter.

Madonna Vs. Lady Gaga – We Choose Madonna – Live Video Inside

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The Material Girl was just in DC and took the Verizon Center by storm to show why Madonna is the Queen of Pop Music. There is no one in the world that can compete with her after this show and the MDNA tour. People have been giving her slack lately because her new album MDNA kind of sucked (which I agreed with until I saw the show. Now I love it. Kind of like when you’re listening to a cast recording before you’ve seen a show and songs that you didn’t like now become your favorites.) and because of the Elton John comments. Unfortunately, Madonna doesn’t take crap and if you challenge her, she gives it right back to you and takes it to another level. It was clear in the show who she was giving a big F you to which included Gwen Stefani (according to my friend but I didn’t see it), Guy Riche and Lady Gaga.

Don’t get me wrong, I love some of Lady Gaga’s music, but Madonna can create music that doesn’t have to rhyme to make me love it. Instead she can go out on stage and sing anything and you cannot take your eyes off of her. She is an absolute diva and one of my favorite moments, which you’ll see in the video below, is when Nicki Minaj says “There is only one Queen, Madonna.” Madonna took on her ex husband with a bunch of songs about anger and amazing effects. She took on Gwen Stefani (which I still don’t agree with) with having a marching band and drum line suspended in the air and moving around the rafters while drumming. It was freaking insane. The best though was when Madonna took over a Lady Gaga song on tour and did it 1 million times better than Gaga ever could. No wonder Elton John was pissed. Madonna sang Born This Way by Lady Gaga on the MDNA tour and then went into she’s not me.

Not only did Madonna’s MDNA Live Tour rip into everyone who compared Lady Gaga to her, but it also set the standard that Lady Gaga will have to reach if she ever wants to reach the fame and talent that Madonna has. Lady Gaga is amazing at theatrics and puts on an amazing show, but Madonna made it clear that she is still the one to beat. Lady Gaga talks about singing in her shows so Madonna flat out said that she’ll be singing this entire song live before she did instead of having parts of it pre recorded. If you challenge Madonna, she gives it right back to show that she really is the queen of Pop Music and that there will never be anyone who could beat her. Madonna’s live tour MDNA was amazing and her show at the Verizon Center was incredible. I’m still recovering from it. Here is one of the videos I found of Madonna’s live tour at the Verizon Center in Washington DC. She was amazing and is definitely my favorite above Lady Gaga. Please feel free to leave your comments below or other favorite parts of Madonna’s live tour if you have them. Lady Gaga is still amazing and has an incredible voice, but Madonna showed that she is still Queen. I love them both, but there is no comparison that I would rather see Madonna than Lady Gaga and will always love her music more.

Elaine Brier – You F*cked Up My Life – Because I Got Dumped

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So this weekend I got dumped by my ex b/f because I wouldn’t drive him home because I had a drink with dinner. He told me that because I always have him take a cab (even though I offer to pay and pay for dinner and everything else) when I have drinks, that he doesn’t want to be with me. Unfortunately I am completely opposed to drinking and driving which is why I am much happier without him. The reason I thought of You F*cked Up My Life by Elaine Brier who is one of the top cabaret singers in NYC is because if I would have stayed with him he probably would have f*cked up my life.

The funny thing is that he did it by text and when he was like it’s over, but we should talk and see where it goes I wrote back and said I don’t think that would be a smart thing. I would normally post the texts here, but he’s actually a really nice guy, we just have a lot of differences in opinion so I’m going to keep it all on my phone and not post it. I do feel bad though that he doesn’t get why I wouldn’t drive him home and instead is fixating on him not getting his way. It’s kind of sad that he hasn’t realized that when you get to a certain point in life you have to grow up and realize that things like drinking and driving aren’t safe or good. I know he knows better, but at the same time he is more focused on things that don’t matter and being spoiled, kind of like he was looking for someone to take care of him instead of a b/f, that he hasn’t realized he’s in his 30′s and needs to start actually focusing on his life.

When you get to a certain point in life you need to stop having roommates, think about retirement and grow up. Unfortunately I don’t think he is at that point in his life and because of that he isn’t a good fit for me. He’s an awesome person but we are definitely not a fit for each other and if I would have stayed with him it would have probably been a bad thing. That’s why I thought of the song You F*cked Up My Life by Elain Brier. Although he didn’t f*ck up my life and he was a really nice person, if I stayed with him it could have been bad for me which is why I’m happy we’re not together anymore.