Results tagged “Internet” from Blogway Baby

Here is a good solid outline of the upcoming fall season of Broadway shows from Playbill! Shout-out to Shrek, currently playing its pre-Broadway tryout right here, in Seattle, at the 5th Ave Theatre. So get your tickets now! Plus, I know there are going to be lots of new and sparkly shows opening on the Great White Way this year, but don't forget to buy your tickets and go see my favorite sparkly show, [title of show]!

The above video is THE WORLD ANTHEM, created by Christopher Judges in an effort to save the world morally, psychologically, and environmentally. The slideshow that accompanies the song is touching, with pictures that encourage you to reach out with love and care for everyone. Especially the one that appears at 3 minutes and 18 seconds. 'Tis no other than our good friend Hollie Howard, in a Venus Flytrap-licious pose, in the NYMF 2005 production of Plane Crazy! w00t!

Take a backstage look at Forbidden Broadway: Dances with the Stars, the latest edition of off-Broadway's most popular musical comedy!

Click here for this month's THE LEADING MEN on Playbill, which features Derek Keeling, Hunter Bell, and Dennis Parlato. Derek Keeling is currently starring as Danny in Grease on Broadway right now (see my previous post). Hunter Bell is, of course, in [title of show] on Broadway, and Dennis Parlato is reprising his role as El Gallo in The Fantasticks at the Snapple Theatre. We love you all =)

Super funny Broadway(!!!) Two Nobodies in New York Montage from our fave [title of show]! I'll be there soon guys (I hope... :S) In the meantime, all of you faithful readers should go buy tickets now!

Check out this ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE on Playbill written by Seth Rudetsky about Autumn and Bailey (of Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods fame) and [title of show]!

Check out Megan Mullally's report on her year as Elizabeth in Young Frankenstein on Broadway.com! She is just so fantastic - I saw her in the pre-Broadway tryout of the show at the Paramount Theatre, and she has a cramazing voice. I also loved her as Karen Walker in Will & Grace. I mean, who didn't? Yay Megan! =D

Yay, you should all read this Diva Talk with Susan Blackwell on Playbill! I especially liked when she talked about the assorted opening night gifts she and the other members of the [tos] gang received. =) At the end, there are some Diva Updates, which include the fact that Bernadette Peters is going to be on the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy! Also, we'll be seeing the return of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Denny Duquette, whom I love. Was that the correct use of whom??? Oh well. =P

Check out this awesome Playbill CUE & A with Cheyenne Jackson! Notice the references to Village Theatre in Issaquah and the general Washington state area! =D

The highly anticipated conclusion of the widely populated Interweb TV series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was released today! Watch it now!!

Or, [title of show] is opening on Broadway tonight peeps!!

Goodness gracious, I fell in love with this show the first time I saw it at the Vineyard Theatre in 2006 (so long ago, goodness). It was so creative, funny, and original, with fantastic talent and heart. Now, I can't believe that it's opening on Broadway. Holy peanut butter. I mean, oh my god.

I feel so happy for everyone involved in [title of show], especially Hunter, Heidi, Jeff, and Michael who accepted my Facebook friend request. =D Just kidding, everyone who has made this show what it is now rox. I couldn't find Susan on FB, so props to her. She rox extra hard. :D

I've read the blog every day for the past forever, which has kept me interested and excited about the show and its future. There's a really cool article here about [title of show]'s evolution through the Webnets... Check it out.

There's also a nice article about the opening on Playbill.com, here. It talks about the show's history, and what the show is "about." And stuffs like that.

So, just wanted to give a shout-out to everyone at [title of show] (=P). Have fun tonight, and congratulations!

Woo. I need to sit down for a second. Calm down, take a few deep breaths. Cool off, if you will. Why? You may ask that. Or not. Whatev. I'll tell you anyway. I just finished watching Acts I and II of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and I was BLOWN AWAY. I mean, OH MY GOD.

This epic mini-series stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion (HOLY MOTHER OF), and Felicia Day. Dr. Horrible is an evil genius, with a PhD in Horribleness. I won't tell you anymore - except that he has a blog and is part of a crazy love triangle with Fillion (GOODNESS GRAYSH) and Day.

Harris is hilariously funny and he makes me smile. He has opened my eyes to a different side of supervillains through his portrayal of Dr. Horrible :D Nathan Fillion is -- Wait. I need to take a second to breathe here. Nathan Fillion is probably one of my most favoritest peoples ever, and I never knew he could sing. Well, he can. Like, really well. Felicia Day is also really good as Penny, playing perfectly the role of the beautiful and big-hearted laundry buddy... =P

Okay. So, you probably guessed already, but Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a musical. Usually I'm very picky about music, but I really enjoyed listening to this! The music was melodic AND epic. I mean, I don't think it gets any better than that. The storyline and script were funny without being too one-notey (word of the day), and the talent (as mentioned above) is astounding. They can all sing, and portray the complex emotions required to pull of this serious drama. Hehe...

Act II was JUST released TODAY, and Act III is coming out this Saturday, July 19, 2008. All of the episodes will come off of the website at midnight on Sunday, so make sure you watch them! However, there was mention in the master plan of a DVD... =O

So, I really think you should watch this TV/Internet/Blog epic musical/epic/comic book. (P.S. about the comic book thing, it's like a comic book but you don' have to read =D) I'm off to work on my evil laugh... and then rewatch Acts I & II!!

Yay, another [title of show] cast member Cue & A from Playbill.com!

Check out this awesome CUE & A with Hunter Bell on Playbill.com!

Now that's talkin' trash!

Sounds like this was a blast. I got the following email from my friend Stas Kmiec who directed the ATRAIN piece called GARBAGE-A-TROIS:

The Talkinbroadway blogs and Duncan Pflaster of BroadwayWorld.com liked our piece -

"The fourth Atrain play had a book by Erica Silberman, music and lyrics by Brian J. Nash, direction by Michael Duling, and choreography by Stas' Kmiec'. Ryan Duncan plays a stoner with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, who is suddenly confronted with two pieces of talking, singing trash: a Pellegrino bottle and a New York Post. Darcie Siciliano and Cristin Hubbard were a hoot as Pellegrina and Gazette, and actually made us care (with the help of Mr. Nash's gorgeous music and clever lyrics) about their potential rebirth through recycling- if only the stoner with OCD would overcome his problems and help them. The three performers worked together brilliantly. Hilarious and ultimately moving, this was my personal favorite of the pieces."

Congrats Stas!

On the back cover of every Playbill I've picked up in the theaters this week is an ad from American Express titled "Welcome to the New Address of Broadway: broadway.yahoo.com".

The body copy reads:

With just one click, you can see exclusive features like video clips from your favorite shows, interviews with the biggest stars and much more. You'll also get show descriptions, show times, ticket prices and all the inside scoop on the Broadway scene. And if you have an American Express Card, you can get tickets before anyone else, or special gifts from the hottest plays and musicals. So stop by broadway.yahoo.com today.

So I checked out the site, and it seems like a specialized channel for the American Express "front-of-the-line" product that they do in concert with Ticketmaster. Otherwise...gee guys, how do you spell "overpromise" (and no, I will not give you the definition or use it in a sentence). It seems that the "inside scoops" are simply powered by Playbill. So, it's sort of like a cut-down low-rent version of Playbill.com, with ticket sales powered by Ticketmaster.

Broadway has a new address indeed...

OK, I'll admit that this week might be getting the best of me...

I'm in NY for a party Tuesday night...then back in Toronto for Wednesday...then back to NY for Thursday and the Tonys...and not sure WHEN I'll get back to Toronto.

I'm busy apartment and Director hunting in NY, and trying to explain to my family why I won't see them for he rest of the year...

And you know what? I don't remember the time when I had this much fun...

Here's a neat post for all you lyricists and other wordsmiths out there...from this article in Merriam-Webster Online:

What a lovely bunch of vocabularians (persons who make up new words) you are! Lasterday (refers to any day before today) we squinched (action required to fit something into a space that is slightly too small) a schmiglet (a small unit of measurement) of your awesomtastic (so wonderful the words just meld in your mouth) one-of-a-kind entries into this space in preparation for our Top Ten reveal. With so many chizzy (awesome, super, happening) creations to choose from, we admit to becoming a bit flusterpated (a state of being flustered that's so intense, one's actions and words become bound up) and fahoodled (confused, esp. when trying to think of too many things at once). We craughed (to cry and laugh simultaneously), we troddled (to wander around without knowing of doing so), and finally decided to use the schwack (a large amount) of multiple entries received as the basis for the Top Ten -- this is, let's not forget, all about favoritism.

From the thousands of submissions we received, here, then, are the ten words (not in the dictionary) entered the most often:

Top Ten Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)

1. ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous

2. confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time

3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

4. chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends

5. cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway

6. gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."

7. phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

8. slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy

9. snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed

10. lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms

(via BoingBoing)

Playbill is running a contest: Vote for the greatest Broadway musical of all time, and win a chance to go to the Tony Awardsand tickets to the four shows nominated for Best Musical (The Light in the Piazza,Spamalot, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). Sounds pretty straightforward, right?

Yes, but they give you four "...of the most influential shows to ever grace the stage..." to choose from: Oklahoma!, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, or A Chorus Line. So tell me, how am I supposed to pick just one from that list?

I know, I know, I should be picking Oklahoma! because that is considered the gold standard of modern musical theater. I like it and everything, but it isn't my absolute favorite. Maybe if I had seen Hugh Jackman in it in London I'd be singing a different tune...

A Chorus Line? Well, as a child of the '70s, I grew up singing "Tits and Ass" and "What I Did For Love" at the piano, and wishing I hadn't given up my tap lessons...

West Side Story? Sondheim and Bernstein and Shakespeare all wrapped into one gorgeous piece that includes singin' and dancin' gang members. What's not to love?

Guys and Dolls? "Adelaide's Lament" (a song even Sondheim wishes he had written) was my staple song for auditions. "Luck Be A Lady"? "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat"? "If I Were A Bell"? Saints, sinners, gamblers...

Ahh! How can I choose just one?

Here's something for all you Plane Crazy fans out there.

National Geographic has a mini-photograph gallery of theAirbus A380 SuperJumbo plane. This is a picture of the onboard duty-free shop.

The Airbus A380 "SuperJumbo" is the largest civil aircraft ever built. Designed to carry 555 passengers in a three-class arrangement, it has one-third more seating capacity than a Boeing 747. A planned stretched version would carry 656 passengers, and an all-economy-class configuration would be able to carry more than 800 passengers.

(via BoingBoing)

Here's a neat bit of follow-up from my childhood, courtesy of BoingBoing.

Apparently, Dolores Erickson, the cover model on the Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass album Whipped Cream & Other Delights is alive, well, and making impressionist paintings.

She has a really cool site at whippedcreamlady.com for anyone into the '60s, including all her record album covers (she was also on the cover of Guantanameraby the Sandpipers), and a link to the book Hal Lifson's 1966 (subtitled as "A Personal View of the Coolest Year in Pop Culture History"), described by Billboardmagazine (February 5, 2003) as a "mind-boggling collection of visual trivia, from Sno Cones and Goofy Grape drink packets to Sting-Ray bikes and Gumby flexes."

She was gorgeous in her younger years, and still looks great today.

As far as I can tell, the album Whipped Cream & Other Delights was issued en masse to all adults in the '60s. My parents had a copy which they played over and over again, and I remember staring at the album cover, wondering how they got all that whipped cream to stay in place...

WOW! I just ran across the most amazing resource for Broadway show CDs. I recently ordered the CD for Oh! Calcutta! fromAmazon.com, and when it arrived, it had a price tag on it...sometimes Amazon.com will buy old stock from stores and feed it into their system.

When I opened the CD, it contained a flyer saying:

We hope you enjoy this recording and that it will occupy a proud place in your library. Whether this is the first CD you've ordered from DRG, or your twentieth, we want you to know how much we appreciate your support.

Visit our website at www.drgrecords.com / e-mail: drgrecords@aol.com

So I checked out the DRG Records Web site, and I was blown away at some of the stuff they have listed. Here are some of my favorites:

Flahooley: This "tuneful, extraordinarily beautiful and delightfully imaginative musical" premiered in 1951 and was the Broadway debut of the legendary Tony Award-winner Barbara Cook. The songs are by the Oscar-winning composers E.Y. "Yip" Harburg and Sammy Fain. With a touch of Babes in Toyland, a smattering of The Wizard of Oz and a suggestion of Finian's Rainbow, it is a child's show, but never childish. This package features a full color eight-panel color folder with synopsis and liner notes from Barbara Cook.

By the Beautiful Sea: This 1954 classic makes its way to DRG's Broadway Collector Series. This amiable old-fashioned musical is a charming memento Oscar and Emmy-winner Shirley Booth at the peak of her great theatrical career.

Noel Coward at Las Vegas: Noel Coward At Las Vegas was recorded in actual performance at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas on June 27th, 1955. Piano Accompaniment & Arrangements by Peter Matz. Tracks include such classics Coward numbers: "Mad Dogs and Englishmen", "If Love Were All", "Alice is at it Again", "A Room with a View", "Let's Do It", "Uncle Harry", "Loch Lomnd", "A Bar on the Piccola Marina", "World Weary", "Nina", "Matelot", "The Party's Over Now" and a medley of eight others.

Plain and Fancy: This 1955 Broadway hit related the adventures of two sophisticated New Yorkers visiting a farm near Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. Here they find a charming and picturesque Amish community...with complications both humorous and romantic.

Top Banana: In 1951, Phil Silvers starred in this Broadway musical comedy satirizing the then-champ of TV, Milton Berle -- his ego, his drive, his anything-for-a-laugh desperation. It only ran a year on Broadway, but the show was later filmed at a Los Angeles theater, with audience-reaction shots in and given a limited release.

Oh Captain!: This 1958 musical became one of the biggest hits of the season. The cast was led by Tony Randall, Jacquelyn McKeever & Susan Johnson and featured songs by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans -- the only songwriting team ever to win three Academy Awards ("Buttons and Bows," "Mona Lisa" & "Que Sera, Sera") and music for over 70 other films. Director Jose Ferrer molded a gloriously improbable story (based on the 1953 screenplay The Captain's Paradise starring Alec Guinness & Yvonne DeCarlo) into an enormously entertaining evening -- all captured on this brilliant Cast Album.

Tovarich: Two-time Oscar winning actress Vivien Leigh won a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical in this adaptation of a warm, old-fashioned, sentimental fairy tale. Based on a 1933 play and subsequent 1937 film (starring Claudette Colbert & Charles Boyer), this musical also starred Jean Pierre Aumont and opened on Broadway in March 1963 and features a book by David Shaw (co-librettist of Redhead) and a score by Lee Pockriss & Anne Croswell.

Ben Franklin in Paris: DRG presents the Original Cast Recording of Ben Franklin in Paris -- which premiered at New York's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1964. Starring the incredible Robert Preston (fresh from his groundbreaking run as The Music Man) as Benjamin Franklin, he had the opportunity to portray a bravura character, larger than life, a Renaissance man who could do anything. Written by playwright-lyricist Sidney Michaels (Dylan), with music by Mark Sandrich, Jr., the entire production was staged by the legendary Michael Kidd. The original Capitol album has been digitally remastered.

Roberta: Available for the first time on CD, Roberta is the show that launched Bob Hope on Broadway in 1933 and had Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers leaping for joy on film. Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's classic score highlights this ultrasophisticated and amusing tale of an American college football player who inherits a Parisian dress salon. Roberta was frequently revived throughout the forties and fifties. This Studio Cast Recording from 1952 features Joan Roberts, Jack Cassidy, Kaye Ballard and Portia Nelson. Highlights from this upbeat and well-known score include "I Won't Dance," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and the flirtatious 'challenge' song "Let's Begin."

The Gay Life: Based on Schnitzler's The Loves Of Anatol, this turn-of-the-century musical (from the early '60s) starred Barbara Cook, Walter Chiari & Jules Munshin and features a score by the first rate team of composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz ("Dancing in the Dark", "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan"). Popular songwriters Schwartz-Dietz' biggest hit, "That's Entertainment" from the film The Band Wagon was awarded the ASCAP Award for Most Performed Feature Film Standard in 1990. This re-issue features an eight-panel color folder with new liner notes from Barbara Cook.

And the list goes on and on...me wantey...ALL OF IT...

UPDATE: Rosie's moved her blog from the somewhat sad sounding sub-domain "onceadored", using an equally lame Blogger template at blogspot.com (with the somewhat daunting tagline: *the unedited rantings of a fat 43 year old menopausal ex -talk show host * -married mother of four- read at your own risk - my spelling sux (add * ocd * adhd * lmnop * suv * dvd * y not me) to the much more impressiverosie.com.

Her traffic is remarkable...586 comments on her latest post! And lots of good Broadway stuff under a separate link.

It's sort of like blogging meets Haiku, meets Broadway, meets Flickr.

Here's a little taste:

slept with a guy named kevin
on the red eye
i 2A - he 2B
i worried about snoring
as i am told i do

blake says it sounds
"wike a weal scawry bear"
gentelman kev never mentioned it

i pulled into my house at dawn
all the twerps were up
a stampede at the door
midget rugby

also in attendence
my in laws
melanie and joel
kels red state born again parents
who - much to my suprise
i adore

when kel and i met
she was positive
they would never come around
the gay thing
was not ok with them
never would be

now we can't get rid of em

we have woven ourselves
into a real family
where a left wing looney
has a place
among the right wing righties

after baby bush won
i told them how upset it made me
to know they voted for him
how he did not consider our family
a real family
deserving of the same rights
all her other married kids had
i blah blah blhaed
for a good four minutes

when i was done
melanie said
"mermie is coming over tomorrow
she's bringing a baums cake"
and that was that

sometime after forty
u settle into yourself
there are many ways to be
in this world

Yikes! I've been struggling with Blogger the last 24 hours, and I think I've finally tussled it to the ground. It looks like Blogger has lost its DNS service, so when I've tried to post to www.blogwaybaby.com it couldn't find the sftp site. I was getting the following message:

005 Unable to connect to SFTP server: java.net.UnknownHostException: www.blogwaybaby.com

I fixed the problem by replacing the post to address from "www.blogwaybaby.com" with the actual IP address, and now I can post again. Sheesh.

I can't say I was blown away by Blogger's customer service. After going through their blogs and seeing no service outage warnings, I sent a Help message and got the following automated message 10 hours later:

Hi there,

Thanks for contacting Blogger Support. Since we cannot always respond personally to every message we get, we encourage you to check Blogger Help, where you can find answers to many common questions. Here are some of the top articles which could help you out:

CHANGES ARE NOT APPEARING ON THE BLOG
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=639

A BLOG IS MISSING FROM YOUR DASHBOARD
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=656

HOW TO WORK WITH BLOGGER'S COMMENTS
http://help.blogger.com/bin/topic.py?topic=23

HOW TO HANDLE PROBLEMS WITH INVITATIONS
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=642

HELP WITH HTML OR CSS CODE
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=1116

If you don't see what you need in these articles, you can use the search form in the upper right corner of any Blogger Help page. Be sure also to check our Status page and our Known Issues page. These cover many known bugs and current operational problems.

BLOGGER STATUS
http://status.blogger.com/

KNOWN ISSUES
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=791

If your question or problem is not addressed anywhere in our documentation, please simply reply to this message and let us know. We will help you out as soon as we can. Thanks for your patience.

Sincerely,
Blogger Support

Geez guys, D it up, K?

This is a FANTASTIC Broadway site calledMaximum Broadway Radio that broadcasts Live 365.com Internet Radio with 24/7 showtunes! It's a BROADWAY RADIO STATION! I've got it running on my laptop now, and forever. Also includes links to a library of songs, theatres across America and a News section, which includes yours truly...

Here's a few facts about how Live 365.com works:

How is this legal?
Maximum Broadway Radio pays royalties via Live365 to both artists and song writers and abides by the regulations contained in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which makes the broadcast legal. Thus, when you listen, you are supporting the artists who create the music.

How can I support the station?
Besides listening, the best way to support the station is to become a Live365 VIP. Packages start at less than $4 a month, and part of that fee goes directly to offset the cost of the broadcast. Plus, as a VIP you can enjoy the station without ads.

You can also support Maximum Broadway Radio by purchasing items through the BUY buttons on the Library pages.

What software do I need in order to listen?
You can listen with just about any music player that can play mp3 streaming audio. The most commonly used players are iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, and RealPlayer. Live365 also has a player of their own that you can download at their download page.

Do you take requests?
Absolutely. You can request any song in the library directly from the Requests section. Feel free to email suggestions for shows or singers you would like to see added to the library.

Why didn't I hear my request played?
All requests must be delayed by at least 1 hour to comply with the DMCA. In addition, the DMCA places limits on how many songs can be played from the same album in a 3 hour period. Thus, it may take several hours for a requested track to play in order for the station to stay in compliance. Just sit back and relax. You'll hear some great tunes while you're waiting.

This seems like the ultimate Broadway fan site. Nicely designed too! Here's a quick taste:

I was 24 years old the first time it happened to me and I'm not talking about sex, but about something much more exciting.

Since I remember I always loved musicals. It began with the old Astaire-Rodgers movies that I saw on television at the matinees and then, later, I saw the likes of THE SOUND OF MUSIC and HELLO, DOLLY! at the cinema. But I had to wait until I was 24 to see a musical live on stage.

By that time I was already completely in love with the cast albums and I was always dreaming of musicals, even imagining me in them. The truth is, that kind of music really touched me and had the power to make me feel happy. Living in a country like Portugal, with no musicals at all, wasn't easy for me. When would I be able to see one on stage? But the cast albums filled my days with dreams and kept my love alive.

Wow, how cool is this? If you're an airline nut like myself, you'll love this site which features a treasure trove of airline bags. I want that Pan Am Makeup Bag!

via Jim Gilliam, via MetaFilter

There's a good Plane Crazy discussion thread on MetaFilter. I'm heading over to weigh in on the discussion.

From MetaFilter:

I should probably state for the record that it is likely Ms. Conn is using this 1960's music style ironically, applying it as both a commentary on the era and the world as it was then. I'm sure she'll hear about this post and comment in some way or another (and likely already has).

The problem is, a lot of these "short-cut" aesthetic styles that came out of mass entertainment always do an amazing disservice to the eras they portray, since they cut out a lot of humanity for the ease of using some tried and true "phrases" to lock the "setting" and move on.

Here's the topline on my philosophy: I have two daughters, and I want them to fully achieve their potential. I don't understand a world that would deny them that opportunity, and I don't understand cultures that hold down the potential of 50% of the population.

Why did I choose to base a musical about feminism in the 1960s? Well, in a way, it was an easy choice since the '60s were the decade where the modern feminist movement came to life. As well, the spirit of optimism of the 1960s is important to the hopeful message of Plane Crazy. The 1960s represented an era that embraced change, and had great hope for the future.

So, in fact, I am using the decade as a dramatic device to reinforce the message of the show.

Now, a moment on the message of the show.

Today, the term "Feminist" has become loaded with a lot of negative baggage. Feminism is sometimes typecast as a dour, man-hating, bankrupt philosophy. This makes me very sad.

So I call my philosophy "Fun Feminism".

Fun Feminism embraces the innate female traits of love, joy, and sexuality. Some of us like men. Some of us want to have children. Most of us like sex...but don't tell us what we do or don't want, don't tell us how to think or how to act. If I want to be a Mommy...that's cool. If I want to be a corporate ladder climber...that's cool. If I want to be a musical theater writer...that's cool too (but who would want to do anything that silly!)

Fun Feminism is about choosing who you want to be and what you want to do, and not having your limits set by anyone else -- or by society.

It's no coincidence that by the end of Plane Crazy, one character becomes a mommy, one character becomes a feminist organizer, and one character decides to go and beat the ad men at their own game.

Finally, while I appreciate the seriousness of these issues (which are important to me), I also want to be entertained when I go to the theater.

I'm a huge fan of Tom Lehrer who always managed to wonderfully combine the serious with the silly. I've been heavily influenced by Tom Lehrer, and I believe that you can teach people more when you entertain them, when you engage them, when you make them laugh and when you get them singing!

On the Q107 morning show with John Derringer and Maureen Holloway this morning, they began a discussion string with the fact that Britney Spears has announced that she's pregnant. Much blather followed, spattered with the words "skank" and "bloated". Whatever. Then, Maureen mentioned that the news of Britney's pregnancy was broken on Britney Spears' own blog. So then my ears pricked up.

Maureen then began talking about other celebrities who have blogs, such as Rosie O'Donnell (who appeared on Blogway Baby a couple of weeks ago), and Dave Barry. And then Maureen said:

"Why do they feel the need to communicate with people in this manner...I have no desire to have a blog or a Web site..."

Ouch. MAUREEN! You're breaking my heart!

First of all...if you could see how many hits Blogway Baby gets from the search term "Maureen Holloway" from a single article I posted in February (Blogway Baby | What's With the Big Glasses) you'd realize that YOU SHOULD HAVE A BLOG.

Come on Maureen: Jump in, the water's fine.

Meanwhile, MSN Spaces is ON FIRE...here's the next big aggregated community. Can dating be far behind? Apparently, 4.5 million people have signed up for the free feature in less than five months. There's an article in Ad Age today (sorry: Requires registration) that reviews the implications behind the fact that Volvo has taken a major sponsorship deal with MSN Spaces. Here is the article if you don't feel like signing up:

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Microsoft Corp. has signed Volvo Cars of North America as the sponsor of its recently launched blogging tool for the masses, MSN Spaces, according to the company. More than a million people a month signed up for the new blog-creating tool.

Pushed live as a Beta test in December, the MSN Spaces concept, which provides anyone with an easy way to start a personal Web log, has proven wildly popular. MSN said 4.5 million people -- or more than a million a month since testing began -- signed up to use the free feature.

WEB LOGS
MSN Spaces are Web pages with which users can quickly create a Web log, or blog, of personal writings, photographs, lists of favorite music and other personal tidbits. Users can choose to make their blogs available to the public or to keep them private -- accessible only to people they designate.

The new online venue of user-created content and advertising is one of several MSN has introduced recently as part of its reinvigorated branded-entertainment efforts.

"As the Web becomes more personal, what is the right way for the advertiser to integrate itself into an increasingly personal experience?" asked Gayle Troberman, MSN's director of branded entertainment and experiences team. "Once a user chooses to go to a branded experience -- the advertiser is not just creating an impression, they are creating an advocate."

VOLVO ADS
Volvo is advertising on the home page of Spaces and through text links with graphics at the top of users' personal spaces.

MSN has also introduced two new ad products through MSN Messenger, Microsoft's proprietary instant-messaging system. One, called theme packs, offers advertiser-branded characters, backgrounds, photos and audio messages that users can incorporate into their instant messaging. Advertisers include Coca-Cola Co.'s Sprite brand and Adidas.

For example, a user can choose the Sprite-obsessed animated spokescharacter Miles Thirst from Sprite's Web site to greet friends on Messenger. The Adidas theme packs, available in eight countries, will promote the new Adidas 1 shoe. Adidas ads will also be integrated into customers' MSN Messenger game plays.

VIDEO-MESSAGING ADS
Messenger is also debuting an audio-video instant-messaging service for which advertising is available. This product, for users who have a PC camera, will present an ad in the seven to 10 seconds it takes for one Messenger user to reach another. "Instead of an hour glass, we show a full-motion video ad," Ms. Troberman said. No advertisers have signed on to the audio Messenger service yet.

Some 155 million users log on to MSN Messenger service each month, according to the company. Messenger and Spaces appeal to an audience of 25- to 39-year-olds who are more Internet-savvy and more affluent than the norm, Ms. Troberman said.

I don't know about banner ads creating "advocates", but it's always exciting when mainline advertisers start adopting new media channels.

The Blogway Baby ticket engine is powered by Broadway.com, so you can order your tickets from confidence with the largest ticket reseller in the world.

Today we are featuring Sweet Charity. Click here to get tickets.

From the Broadway.com Ticketing Center:

With a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Sweet Charity is a funny, poignant and tender look at the misadventures of Charity Hope Valentine, a dance-hall hostess who always gives her heart -- and her earnings -- to the wrong man.

Headlining this snazzy new production as Charity is Christina Applegate, best known for her hilarious portrayal of Kelly Bundy on ten seasons of the hit Fox series Married...with Children and her Emmy-winning turn on the hit series Friends. Denis O'Hare, who won a Tony Award for the Broadway hit play Take Me Out, will co-star as the lovelorn man who falls for Charity after finding himself trapped with her in a broken-down elevator.

The original Broadway production of Sweet Charity, which was staged by Bob Fosse and starred Gwen Verdon, opened at Broadway's Palace Theatre on January 29, 1966. Sweet Charity subsequently opened at London's Prince of Wales Theatre on October 11, 1967. The film version, with Shirley MacLaine in the title role, premiered in 1969 and received three Academy Award nominations. On April 27, 1986, the first Broadway revival of Sweet Charity opened at the Minskoff Theatre starring Debbie Allen, going on to receive four Tony Awards, including Best Revival.

Well, now I know exactly where I'm going to be July 30th...I'll be in Santa Clara at the BlogHer Conference. WHAT A GREAT IDEA...a conference on female bloggers. I love it.

As Elisa C of 42nd Street Moon Blog andWorker Bees Blog says:

As you might or might not know, I have been consumed the last few weeks with first proposing, then actually planning to launch a new organization and its first conference.

The organization is called BlogHer. The BlogHer Conference '05 has been set for July 30th, 2005 at the Tech Mart in Santa Clara, CA.

And I think it's going to kick ass!

We've got our site and registration up and running as of 2PM this afternoon, so please check out:http://www.blogher.org

In true bloggy fashion we have started blog threads on the agenda and specific sessions we're planning...and we're looking for feedback. We don't plan to finalize the agenda until May 1st to give us time to incorporate the feedback we get. So, comment away.

The Blogway Baby ticket engine is powered by Broadway.com, so you can order your tickets from confidence with the largest ticket reseller in the world.

Today we are featuring Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Click here to get tickets.

From the Broadway.com Ticketing Center:

After delighting scores of West End audiences, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the most fantasmagorical stage musical in the history of everything!) makes its American premiere at Broadway's Hilton Theatre, beginning previews on Sunday, March 27, 2005 and opening on Thursday, April 28, 2005.
The enthralling story of the adventures of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the magical car, as it sails the seas and flies through the air will bring back a host of memories for fans of the beloved 1968 film. In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty's eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts, and his enchanting children, Jemima and Jeremy, join the truly scrumptious Truly Scrumptious and batty Grandpa Potts to outwit the dastardly Baron and Baroness in this non-stop adventure for all ages.

Based on the film and Ian Fleming's timeless original story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang features a beloved score, including memorable classics such as "Truly Scrumptious", "Toot Sweets", "Hushabye Mountain" and the Oscar-nominated title song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

Well, there's been a flurry of Plane Crazy activity since we launched the site. This is my favorite post. Here's a priceless extract:

Many reading this blog are old enough to remember When Stews Were Sexy and the World Was Sexist, which is the subtitle of an off-Broadway play about life as a stewardess in the 1960s.

Visit the show's brand new website and let the opening song play for a while. Then check out the show synopsis.

A great big thank you to Cory Doctorow and Boing Boingwho blogged the launch of the Plane Crazy Web site. Thanks guys: Much appreciated.

Cory had some really nice things to say about the workshop he attended last year:

A year ago, I got to see the musical performed at a workshop at Toronto's Poor Alex Theatre and it was fantastic: funny, catchy, engrossing, with a really authentic sixties-kitsch feel: like Hair at 30,000 feet, with seasonings of Jesus Christ, Superstar and Germaine Greer.

I've been a Boing Boing reader since Cory started working on it in 2000, and it's been amazing to see it grow in reach and popularity. I've also known Cory since Down and Out in the Magic Kingdomwas just a glimmer in his eye, and I listened to my husband describe this cool story that Cory was writing as they took the train to a client in Kingston, ON. Cory is a great example of how to succeed in this brutal creative business, and his focus, discipline, and work ethic is something to which all creators should aspire.

A lot of people don't realize that they can buy their Broadway tickets throughBlogway Baby. Hallelujah! The Blogway Baby ticket engine is powered byBroadway.com, so you can order your tickets from confidence with the largest ticket reseller in the world.

Today we are featuring Wicked. Click here to get tickets.

From the Broadway.com Ticketing Center:

Long before Dorothy drops in, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey and how these two unlikely friends grew to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

This fantasy-filled musical was the winner of three 2004 Tony Awards including awards for Best Costume Design and Best Scenic Design. From real flying monkeys to a trip to the Emerald City and a soaring, modern score by Stephen Schwartz, Wicked is a true spectacle for the eyes and ears.

The twists and turns in Gregory Maguire's incredibly imaginative back-story to The Wizard of Oz makes audiences literally gasp with delight. But not only that, Wicked is a truly heartfelt story of friendship and love. As Richard Zoglin of Time Magazine put it, "If every musical had a brain, a heart and the courage of Wicked, Broadway really would be a magical place!"

In the words of Burton Cummings, "Planes Are Goin' Up....Planes Are Goin' Down"...with lots of traffic to thenew Plane Crazy Web site!

Now Plane Crazy has a Web site, and it looks FANTASTIC. We have developed the Web site to support an upcoming Actor's Equity Showcase production this summer.

The site includes samples from the whole score, and some killer Flash graphics. It was designed by Michael Karst with Flash by Nathan Fenwick. It was built and is maintained byRich Williams.

It's colorful, fun, and tuneful -- with lots of interesting info about the show. And a great B&W photo of me too!

I've stumbled across a blog called Theatre Blog (via Technorati tag: Broadway) that is a bookmarking-style site on breaking theater stories.

There's one particularly interesting post on Broadway: The Golden Age, By The Legends Who Were There, a fantastic movie by Rick McKay. Theatre Blog doesn't use permalinks, and the article is behind an ass-y registration barrier at The Age, but I've got a copy of this movie and it's AMAZING...

The film is the winner of 15 Film Festival Awards, and it is regarded as the most important, ambitious, and comprehensive film ever made about America's most celebrated indigenous art form. Rick McKay filmed over 100 of the greatest stars ever to work on Broadway or in Hollywood. Rick learned that great films can be restored, fine literature can be kept in print -- but historic Broadway performances of the past are the most endangered. They leave only memories that, while some are vivid, are more difficult to preserve. In their own words, and not a moment too soon -- Broadway: The Golden Age tells the stories of our theatrical legends. How they came to New York, and how they created this legendary century in American theater. This is the largest cast of legends ever in one film, and they include:

Edie Adams
Bea Arthur
Elizabeth Ashley
Alec Baldwin
Kaye Ballard
Betsy Blair
Tom Bosley
Marlon Brando
Carol Burnett
Kitty Carlisle Hart
Carol Channing
Betty Comden
Barbara Cook
Carole Cook
Hume Cronyn
Arlene Dahl
Charles Durning
Fred Ebb
Nanette Fabray
Cy Feuer
Betty Garrett
Ben Gazzara
Robert Goulet
Farley Granger
Adolph Green
Tammy Grimes
Uta Hagen
Julie Harris
Rosemary Harris
June Havoc
Jerry Herman
Mimi Hines
Al Hirschfeld
Celeste Holm
Sally Ann Howes
Kim Hunter
Jeremy Irons
Anne Jackson
Derek Jacobi
Lainie Kazan
John Kenley
Joan Kobin
Miles Kreuger
Martin Landau
Frank Langella
Angela Lansbury
Arthur Laurents
Carol Lawrence
Michele Lee
Hal Linden
Shirley MacLaine
Karl Malden
Rick McKay
Donna McKechnie
Ann Miller
Liliane Montevecchi
Patricia Morison
Robert Morse
James Naughton
Patricia Neal
Phyllis Newman
Nicholas Brothers (Harold and Fayard)
Jerry Orbach
Janis Paige
Don Pippin
Jane Powell
Hal Prince
John Raitt
Rex Reed
Elliott Reid
Charles Nelson Reilly
Diana Rigg
Chita Rivera
Tony Roberts
Mary Rodgers
Gena Rowlands
Eva Marie Saint
Marian Seldes
Vincent Sherman
Stephen Sondheim
Maureen Stapleton
Kim Stanley
Elaine Stritch
Laurette Taylor
Tommy Tune
Leslie Uggams
Betsy von Furstenberg
Eli Wallach
Fay Wray
Gretchen Wyler

From the article quoted by Theatre Blog:

There's been countless films made about Broadway in the '30s, '40s and '50s -- the thrill of the spotlights, the greasepaint, the roar of the crowds, all of that. But as obvious an idea for a film as it may seem, a documentary has never been made about Broadway. Until now.

US Broadway lover and filmmaker Rick McKay has spent six years interviewing more than 140 Broadway stars, ranging from Carol Channing to Shirley Maclaine, Farley Granger and Uta Hagen. Some of them have since died, making the final product, Broadway: The Golden Age, By The Legends Who Were There, all the more important.

It started as a modestly short program for television, but McKay found it hard to sell the idea. “When I brought it to PBS, they said, 'No one's interested in old people; you've got to put young people in the cast'," he explains.

"About two days later, Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse's wife, died, and her last interview was in my film. And I thought, 'It's becoming a responsibility for me to do these interviews, because these people who are older will never get a chance to tell their story again'. I was in the right place right time."

As we are a couple of days from launching the official Plane Crazy Web site, I have taken a few moments to sit back and say "you've come a long way baby".

So much work and energy has gone into this musical thus far (and so much more is ahead, I know, I know) I have to stop and think -- where did it all begin? Can I pinpoint the genesis of Plane Crazy, the actual moment of conception?

When did that seed first drop into the fertile ground of my young, impressionable brain, to grow and grow over the years, nurtured by my experiences, dreams, and fantasies? Let us cast our minds back to the 1960s.

My Grandmother (on my Dad's side) was Hungarian, so we would travel to Europe for vacations and drop in on my Grandmother who lived in Budapest. We always flew into Frankfurt or Zurich and we almost always took Luftansa. As a child of five I was enthralled with the whole airplane experience and especially the compartmentalized food on those long flights, those lovely little trollies that would bring wonderful snacks and exotic soft drinks. I remember it was all so grand.

But most of all I remember the napkins.

With our drinks (hard or soft) we would get napkins that had little cartoons on them. Except these were naughty little drawings of balloon-breasted women in short tight dresses (inevitably bending over to pick up something ), with some lewd joke or pun captioned underneath. I don't think I really understood the jokes, but I was fascinated by these napkins (remember, I was five). I hung on to a few of them for a while but over time I have lost them. But at that moment, at 30,000 feet, as I sat drinking my Orangina and contemplating those funny drawings, an idea was born: Stews...sexy...sexist...funny...airplanes...that was to grow one day into Plane Crazy!

To be continued tomorrow...

From BoingBoing:

Todd Lappin has finished installing his 707 jet panel in his house. It looks incredible! Here's a link to his great Flickr site.

My 707 has come a long way since I first found it at an aircraft scrapyard in Tucson. Here's a daylight view, shortly after I stripped off the paint. The illumination comes from rope lights mounted on the structurally-cool back side. (Next time you rest your head against a window-seat wall to snooze, this is basically what lies underneath.)

I did an earlier post on this fixture in the middle of March. I love it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's a great example of modernist architecture...both the plane and the resultant fixture. But mostly, it feeds into my plane fetish and obsession with the Jet Age, amply demonstrated by my musical Plane Crazy, and my Pucci stewardess uniform collection.

Gosh, I enjoyed that April Fool's post, and I can't wait for next year. Hopefully it will be true...

When I read this article on Playbill, I thought it was an April Fool's joke as well.

Apparently, Russell Crowe is considering the lead role in the movie version of Stephen Sondheim'sSweeney Todd.

Squeeze me? Baking powder? Hey, I mean he sings in a rock band, so why can't he do a lead in a Sondheim role? And the actress they are considering for Mrs. Lovett is Emma Thompson whose musical theater resume reads, and I quote, "...reportedly acted in some musicals while at Cambridge University". Was Patti Lupone too obvious a choice?

Hello! Earth to Hollywood!

I have the DVD of the magnificent production of Sweeney Todd starring Angela Lansbury andGeorge Hearn that was filmed in Los Angeles.

George Hearn is spectacular. But the original Sweeney was a Canadian, Len Cariou.

And another Canadian, Robert Goulet, is replacing Daniel Davis in La Cage Aux Folles. Apparently, Daniel Davis was fired for obnoxious offset behavior. I can't even begin to imagine what that was...Yikes. And guess what? La Cage originally starred George Hearn when it opened on Broadway. It's the circle of live theater!

Uh oh, have I become a hopeless theater snob?

From Playbill:

Russell Crowe is in the running to star in the planned movie version of Stephen Sondheim'sSweeney Todd, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

The report says that Crowe is "mulling over" whether or not to accept the role. The movie is being made by Sam Mendes' Scamp Films, although Mendes has not confirmed that he will direct it. As for the other main casting, there are reportedly several names in consideration for the role of Mrs. Lovett. Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Toni Collette are all cited by The Mail as being "in the mix".

Staunton has built a reputation for musical theatre, having appeared in the Donmar Warehouse's Divas cabaret series and Richard Eyre's hugely successful production of Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre. Collette starred in the Broadway musical The Wild Party and also offered a musical turn in the film Connie and Carla. Thompson acted in musicals while at Cambridge University, and later starred in Me and My Girl in the West End.

John Logan is on board to write the screenplay. His screen resume includes The Aviator for Martin Scorsese and Gladiator for Ridley Scott.

The original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd featured Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury as Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. A live performance of the Harold Prince production was filmed in Los Angeles, with Lansbury but with George Hearn rather than Cariou -- and that performance is now available on DVD. Sweeney Todd will only be the third of Sondheim's musicals for which he wrote both music and lyrics to be given the full-movie treatment. The others are the 1966 film ofA Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, which starred Zero Mostel, and 1977's A Little Night Music, which starred Cariou, Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Rigg.

This is almost too hard to read. This article in Playbill talks about the story of Alison Hubbard and Kim Oler who won the Rogers Award forLittle Women, and were then KICKED OFF THE PROJECT when it went to Broadway. This is a TOUGH business...

From Playbill:

The musical-theatre songwriters Alison Hubbard and Kim Oler have had their share of highs and lows in recent years.

Receiving the Richard Rodgers Award, with librettist Allan Knee, for their musicalLittle Women was a definite high in 1998. Getting cut loose from the project by the producers who were taking it to Broadway was a serious low.

Charting the details of the songwriters' painful separation from the show (in April 2000) is a "Rashomon" experience: For participants on both sides there are different points of view about how and why an award-winning score did not make it to Broadway.

Lyricist Hubbard and composer Oler have moved forward to other projects, including the creation of their own fresh version of Little Women, inspired by the novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Cool post on BoingBoing today about a house reno which includes a lighting fixture made from a section of a 707 WhisperJet. WOW...a must have for my next house...

Also, congrats to BoingBoing for winningBloggies for "best group 'blog" and "blog of the year/best weblog overall". I've been a reader since Cory joined in 2000, and I've been a solid fan ever since. Here's a link to the BoingBoing post on the announcement.

Since Blogway Baby launched January 2nd, we've had unique visitors from 46 countries. Broadway really is a global language!

Our goal by the end of this year will be at least one unique visitor from the entire global village.

How do you say thank you in 465 languages? Oh my gosh...here it is...

Here are the country visitors we've had so far:

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Croatia
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Guatemala
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Korea
Kuwait
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russian Federation
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States

We've updated the way archiving works here at Blogway Baby (how exciting...we actually have an "archive" now...) and we're basically continuing to pay homage to the excellent UI of our favorite "other" blog: BoingBoing.

So, you can access the Archive with the link under the title bar, or now you can scroll down to the end of the articles and there's a link to the Archives there as well. And, when you go to archives we've shelved January and February.

Thanks John!

In keeping with the theme of my musical Plane Crazy, maybe I should do a musical on Playboy magazine next?

Plane Crazy is a fun, upbeat musical about feminism set against the backdrop of glamour and innocent sex appeal of the swinging '60s Jet Age. A time when the stews were sexy and the world was sexist (TM).

Plane Crazy is set during an explosive time in history: The intersection between the dawn of intercontinental jet travel, the introduction of the Pill, the genesis of the modern Feminist Movement, and the Golden Age of Advertising.

While the Playboy club was an important cultural fixture at the time, it's only glancingly included in some of the winking comments that the males in the show make. I could easily do a whole bunny musical...

I have an old mid-sixties copy of Playboy and it's hilarious. The demure sexuality is one thing: Most of the pics would be rejected by Maxim or FHM as "too tame", but the ads are something else. There's one amazing cigar ad where a woman, dressed as a tiger, is actually IN A CAGE. Whew, you really have come a long way, baby!

So now I've run across this archive of Playboy models from 1956 to 1962. Wow, I almost fell out of my chair. Two words for these girls: Jenny + Craig...

I'm not worthy!

Breaking news...Blogway Baby has just been awarded top honors! I have been blogged by the great and powerful Cory Doctorow on the venerable Boing Boing! Thanks Cory, you're the best!

I don't think Blogway Baby is in Kansas anymore!

Oh, and how could I forget:

Diddler on the Roof

(Although I think I might have heard that one before...)

Yahoo! has a fantastic movie musical link database. I'm going to put it into our permanent links section.

It has comprehensive link listings for a huge number of movie musical stars. I found myself taking an interesting cruise through the Cyd Charisse links, which is someone I should talk about more. Best legs in the business, bar none.

Well, Dietrich had nice legs too, but she couldn't move like Cyd.