New Year, New Banner

I made a new banner for our Etsy shop last night--what do you think? I thought it needed a little freshening up, but I'm never sure if I'm improving or not.

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Prepare Ye

Just recently, Tori and I were lamenting the lack of a good musical to totally geek out with lately. We both have incredibly fond memories of seeing Jesus Christ Superstar, ...tick tick boom, and The Last Five Years over and over again, getting way too invested in the productions and the creative teams, and generally having fun getting all obsessive. I'm so ready for a show to completely, unhealthily fixate on again.

Which is why I was so excited to hear that Godspell is being revived! Godspell is such a weird show--it has some of the most rapturously gorgeous melodies of any pop musical, but man alive--it can be a cheesy mess. I LOVED the 2000 off-Broadway revival, but even that one, with its ridiculously talented cast (Chad Kimball, Leslie Kritzer, Shoshanna Bean, Barrett Foa, Capathia Jenkins, the dreamy Will Erat...) got a little overly jazz-handsy at times in its attempts to make the gospels groovy for the kids.

But you can't deny the beauty of that score, and the show can be fun at its best, so I'm hoping it can help reignite some of our dormant theatre-geek enthusiasm. Besides, since I tend to swoon over any actor who plays Judas in a musical (the weirdest and most niche-y of my predilections), I should at least come out of this with a new crush. :o)

A Handmade Christmas

My mom and I usually exchange at least a couple of gifts that we've made for each other, and this year was no exception. Here's what she made me:

A dragonfly necklace of amethyst and sterling silver. I adore dragonflies, and this is probably the 5th or 6th dragonfly piece my mom has made for me over the years. It's so simple and pretty, I'll be able to wear it with anything.

And on the completely other side of the fence is this crazy charm bracelet! My mom loves to make things like this for me because she knows that she can never go too over-the-top for my tastes, so it's loaded with everything from my name and initials to tiny masks and arms and legs and jacks and keys--you name it! This is probably my favorite piece she's ever made me. :o)

(I've included lots of pics because it really needs to be seen from all angles)

Pounce Again!

So, it's the day after Christmas (always depressing) and a Project Runway-free Wednesday (always super depressing), so I decided to Pounce around for a bit to cheer myself up. I don't know why Pounce is so addictive, since it's really just a reformatting of the same information I could always get from Time Machine 2, but I can't stop playing with it.

Anyway, as I was "Pounce Again"ing, I finally pounced myself! Yay! :o)

Attending the Tale of Sweeney Todd (spoilers abound!)

Last night Tori and I went to see Sweeney Todd at the Ziegfield, the biggest “movie-house”-type theater in NY. Tori believes, and I concur, that all musicals should be seen here, and to be sure, we were in our element. Even the trailer for Mamma Mia (which looks like awesomely cheesy fun) drew hoots and cheers from most of those around us.

As for the movie—I loved it. I don’t know how else to put it. I was completely, ecstatically riveted right from the gorgeously thundering opening sequence. I went in with some trepidation—Sondheim is my favorite composer (by a mile) and Sweeney is my favorite of all, so I *really* didn’t want to see a bad movie version. Also, I’m usually disappointed by filmed musicals—I think so much of the power of a great musical is dependent upon the collective energy of the performers and the audience. And I’m bored with watching famous actors try to sing scores that are beyond them, when I know how many lesser-known performers can both act AND sing beautifully.

That said, the singing in Sweeney isn’t great, but it worked for me anyway (with one major exception, which I’ll get to in a minute). Johnny Depp brought such intensity to his vocals that it was almost beside the point that they were a bit thin and harsh. The characters with the “pretty” songs (Johanna and Anthony) had voices to match, but were duller than dirt, making grateful for the grittier performances, warts and all.

Which brings me to Helena Bonham Carter…first off, she’s a weak singer. But worse was that, she was a *dull* singer—a wispy voice with no power behind it, totally ill-suited for Mrs. Lovett, the least wispy character I can imagine. She’s also far too young and beautiful. And yet, I think I liked her performance overall. A lot. She’s the first Lovett I’ve seen who seemed truly affected by Toby, and by having to sacrifice him for Todd—including Toby in her “By The Sea” fantasies was a lovely touch. I’ve never felt anything close to sympathy for her before, and it added a nice layer here.

Johnny Depp, however, was perfect in nearly every way. I loved his ability to shift so effortlessly from snarling rage to melancholy vulnerability, I loved the ferocity with which he tore into his songs, I loved his physicality as he prowled like a caged animal. My only quibble was his humorlessness, which ruined “A Little Priest” for me—at this point, I prefer to have Todd showing some manic glee in his planning. The way it was played here, with Todd dourly making jokes he didn’t even seem to be aware of, didn’t work for me at all.

I liked Alan Rickman’s Judge Turpin quite a bit—just the right combination of sicko-sadist and pathetic old man—but was distracted by Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford. It was just too over-the-top and Igor-ish for me, and it didn’t meld with the rest of the movie.

But the real revelation was Sacha Baron Cohen as Senor Pirelli, a character I find incredibly tiresome onstage. Baron Cohen was amazing—hilarious when it was called for, and convincingly creepy and threatening when he switched gears. He also had a fine singing voice (at least, what could be found in his greatly abbreviated song).

I could go on and on, scene by scene, but I’ll spare you. I am just so thrilled and relieved that the combination of Sondheim and Tim Burton was as magical as I was almost afraid to hope it would be.

The World's Scariest Karaoke

The other night Tori and I walked by Spotlight Live, the giant, shiny new(ish) karaoke place in Times Square, and the first thing we noticed was that the girls on stage were being projected Jumbo-Tron-style onto the side of the hotel across the street.

!

I really, really, really want to go. I do like to pretend that I'm a giant signing star, and what better way to indugle that fantasy than to be supported by actual backup singers and dancers (both of which this place has). They're having an American Idol-style contest for the next couple of weeks, and some masochistic part of me wants to enter SO BAD.

I think I need to be talked down from the ledge.

More Chistmas Shopping!

I'm out of control--here are few more gifts I've snagged--so far, everything's been from Etsy:

For my brother:


A clipper-ship tie from toybreaker. He always has a hard time getting ties that are long enough (he's 6'5"), but they were nice enough to make this in an extra-long length for me.

For my aunt:



She's obsessed with all things Food Network, so I thought she's appreciate this French salt pig from Blue Sky Pottery. It's meant to hold sea salt on your stovetop so that you can just reach in for a pinch when you need it.

For my mom again:


This pretty print from jellybeans called Mother Daughter, for obvious reasons. :o)

And for me, dammit:


I bought myself these Fetish hairpins from Tilly Bloom a couple of weeks ago, and I love them so much! I hardly ever take them off--in fact, I even took a self-portrait where I had them on! Everything in Tilly's shop is amazing, but for some reason, these fat little birds just kill me.