I wish so much that I had gotten to see Rent while it was still on Broadway, but this past year I went with my school to see the off-Broadway production at New World Stages. It was directed by Michael Greif, the director of the Broadway production, and featured a cast of Broadway performers, so it was pretty spectacular.

Seasons of Love

First a little background (spoilers!) for those who are unfamiliar with the story. Rent takes place in the east village of Manhattan during the 1989 AIDS epidemic. Mark, Roger, and Collins live in a loft owned by an ex-friend but have no money to pay rent. Mimi lives below them, and Mark’s ex, Maureen, and her new girlfriend Joanne come to visit often. Collins meets Angel, a transvestite, after being mugged in the street, and she brings a little happiness to everyone’s lives. Roger, Collins, Mimi, and Angel all have AIDS.

Starting with the set, this production was staged in a jungle of fire escapes, moving doors, and a bare-bones warehouse room. The stage had a grungy feel when combined with the lights and ripped posters tacked everywhere, fitting the feel of the struggling east village. When the performers added in their choreography, though, the set became an incredibly impressive and versatile tool. In group numbers, the cast would swing through and around the bars like a giant jungle gym, but going at running speeds and often swinging out 10 feet above the ground. It’s a little nerve-wracking to watch, but the franticness of the movements fits fantastically with the story.

This performance also had some of the most talented, high energy performers I had ever seen. In our performance, the Mimi was a great dancer and managed to keep singing on key while doing her dances, impressive for that song. Toward the end she and Roger made me cry (as everything does). It wasn’t until afterwards that we found out she was the understudy! I can’t imagine how the regular performer could have been better. Angel was absolutely hysterical, one of the best I’ve seen play the part, and he/she had phenomenal moves and comedic timing. Our group knew the actor who played Mark because he graduated from our high school, and we had seen him in two other shows, so it was great to see him in a different role.

Rent–Your Eyes/Finale

Because we knew Mark (Adam Chanler-Berat), he was able to arrange a talkback with the cast for us after the show. The entire ensemble came out once it finished, and we talked for about half an hour about how they got into theatre, where they went to school, what auditioning was like, and more. The cast was really cool about it too, letting us stay a bit longer than we were strictly supposed to to answer all our questions. It just made the experience even better.

Rent is always going to be in a class of its own for musical theatre. You will cry if you get to see it, but it’s so worth it. The harsh truths of the story and the reflection of all the less-than-ideal parts of the culture make it stick with you long after the curtain drops. I guarantee that if you get to see a professional version of Rent you won’t be disappointed.

Wicked at 2004 Tony Awards

Oh boy. Where do you begin with Wicked?

Wicked is one of the most popular musicals Broadway has seen in a long time. It’s been on Broadway for almost 10 years now, but you’d think it had been there forever from the amount of praise and renown it has received. It has outlasted many other shows that started around the same time or even after it, and is still breaking records in weekly ticket sales.

If you haven’t seen Wicked, this post is probably going to ruin a lot of it for you because what I love the most about this show is the actual story. To not turn you away now though, I’ll start with the impressiveness that is the costume/set design. When you first enter the Gershwin theatre to see the show, the frame of the stage is covered with briar-like sculptures mixed with mechanical clock-like parts and a metal dragon head, telling you already that the show has many dark undertones. When it comes to the onstage sets, for the most part they are very complex, featuring full home interiors, forests and fields, and the mechanically moving wizard of Oz facade, among others. What impresses me though is that these complex sets don’t overshadow the performers in any way, instead serving to highlight them as they move around, providing only a backdrop to the events unfolding.

The next most impressive aspect of Wicked, for me at least, is the music. It takes very special performers to pull off this show–there are no easy numbers, no breaks for the voice, just insane belting all over the place. No Good Deed demonstrates one of the smaller numbers in the show, and look how difficult it is. The arrangements were designed for powerhouses, and when true powerhouses perform them, the show is incredible. The ensemble numbers are impressive too, and their songs and dances add to the often ridiculous characters of the citizens of Oz. Without the crazy music, this show would still be good, but nowhere near as impressive.

No Good Deed/Wickedness must be Punished (start at 4:30)

For a lot of other shows that I’ve been blogging about, some other aspect like the music or costumes seem to overshadow the storyline, but not in Wicked. The writers of this show took The Wizard of Oz, a spinoff novel about the witches of Oz, and combined the two into something new, grand, and spectacular. It’s not an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz or any other movie, as so many new musicals are, but can stand alone.

Semi-Spoiler Time: I loved everything about the plot of this show, mostly because it’s nothing you would expect after seeing the original film. From the very beginning, Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west, is portrayed as a victim, not the evil monster she appears in the movie. She had good intentions, always tried to do the right thing, but the people around her caused her to break and change. The real villains are her family, the townspeople, the wizard, and her teachers, not her. There is also the story of her desperate search for approval, her friendship with Glinda, and her romantic relationship with the scarecrow (formerly a man), all doomed by the color of her skin. With this intense plot, Wicked reminds people that things might not always be as they seem, and to not judge without both sides of the story. Warning: tears are a certainty.

For Good

If you haven’t seen Wicked before, I highly recommend it. It’s intense, impressive, and will change the way you think about the Wizard of Oz, guaranteed. Odds are, it’ll be around for a while, but don’t delay; I definitely think all theatre lovers should see this show.

The Lion King at the 1998 Tony Awards

I don’t know why so many Disney movies got turned into Broadway musicals, but I like it!

The Lion King is one of the familiar stories we had growing up; little lion Simba avenges his father and saves his kingdom by killing Scar who had previously run him out of town. He has help from his two cohorts/adoptive parents, Timon and Pumba, and ends up the hero of the savannah.

Now on Broadway, The Lion King is, for me at least, one of the most impressively done adaptations that I’ve seen. If you watch the clip from the opening (above), one of the first things you notice is the amazing costumes. The Lion King is about all animals, no people, so the designers made the animal costumes incredibly detailed and complex so that even though people were wearing them, the audience could clearly see the animals. The costumes also allowed realistic animal movements: the big cats have enough mobility to lick their paws, the giraffes are on stilts just as real ones can seem to be, and the birds can flap their wings. It’s not just the costumes that make the animals on stage so impressive though. The humans in the costumes perform complicated choreography designed to imitate the movements of their animals. The antelope dancers leap around, the lionesses’ stalking movements imitate the hunt, and the bird dancers wave their arms during their movements. To do complex modern and ballet moves while supporting an animal frame can’t be easy, but the performers in this show do it with grace.

The funniest costumes though are those for Timon and Pumbaa. Where the other costumes are life-like, those two characters look like they came right from the animated movie. Timon is actually a puppet held by a man in all green. His appearance contrasts enough with the set that the audience almost ignores him and focuses on the puppet. The contrast between those two and the rest of the animals and sets heightens their comedic appeal.

Hakuna Matata in London

The Lion King also has a fantastic set. The stage design is brilliant; almost every inch of space on it looks like it can be raised or lowered or moved to create a variety of different effects. During scenes in the savannah, sections with grasses on them pop up, while in scenes at pride rock an entire cliff face spirals out of the bottom of the stage. The versatility of these platforms creates at least a dozen specific scenes, and the audience can be amazed by the transformation.

The only thing that I didn’t love about The Lion King is that it seems with the huge focus on the costumes and set, the show loses some of the intensity of the story. When I watch the animated version of this show, I cry like a baby, especially when Mufasa dies. In contrast, this is the only Broadway show that I’ve ever seen that did not make me cry. Audiences go see the Broadway show to experience the amazing costumes and transformations that happen on stage, not for the story.

Despite that, I greatly enjoyed The Lion King when I went to see it. It was high energy, the performers in their costumes were amazing to watch, and I think it’s a show that anyone could enjoy. If you get the chance to see it in New York, do it, and appreciate the skill of everyone involved in creating the spectacle.

The Phantom of the Opera is Broadway’s longest running musical ever. With over 10,000 performances over 25 years, it has now set a world record in Broadway longevity.

Phantom tells the story of singer Christine Daae. Formerly a chorus girl in a French theatre, Christine makes her debut after a diva (Carlotta) gets spooked by the strange happenings in the theatre. After her show, she meets a man from her past, Raoul, who expresses his interest in her, but that night, the Phantom steals her away to an underground lake to seduce her into being his forever. This begins Christine’s conflict: should she choose Raoul, the good, upstanding viscount, or should she choose the mysterious, passionate, dangerous Phantom? The tension and violence escalate throughout the show, creating a dark horror-romance.

Phantom at the 1988 Tony Awards

If the show has a good cast, the music in Phantom is incredible. It’s difficult, demanding extremely large vocal ranges from each of the performers, but if the singers can stay on pitch the sound is truly majestic. If they can’t . . . it’s the equivalent of musical nails on a chalkboard. Usually it comes out right, though the performance I saw was nowhere near as incredible as the original cast in the video above.

The set of Phantom is almost as important to the show as the story is. I don’t know how it’s possible, but the stage transforms from an auction hall to an old french opera house, to an underground lake and labyrinth, to a rooftop, to the grand staircase and entrance to the opera house, to a cemetery. Each of the pieces looks like it was made in the 1800s, bringing the audience in through the realism. Because the set is so realistic and the transitions are so seamless, the otherworldly aspects like the labyrinth and candelabras seem possible, drawing the audience into the story even more. The set designer, Maria Bjornson received a Tony award for her design.

The final feature of Phantom that makes it such an incredible show is the use of illusions. My gosh the illusions. Some are frightening in their execution, while others just give you “holy crap how did that happen??” moments. From the Phantom and Christine disappearing from under the stage to the top of it, to the boat seemingly floating on a sea of fog, the illusions in Phantom boggle the mind. Katharine Buffaloe, a member of my church back home played Christine in the 80s, and she told me that everyone in the cast and crew signs a contract saying that they won’t disclose how they performed the tricks until after the show closes on Broadway. After 25 years, I don’t see that day coming anytime soon, but I almost wish it would. I’ve tried to speculate about the tricks they use, but my limited knowledge of stage crew gives me no ideas.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, I highly recommend going to Phantom. It’s Broadway history, and the show is phenomenal if you like somewhat darker stories. For me, it ties with Once as my favorite show ever.

Tarzan: Trashing the Camp

This is a bit of a blast from the past today, because I saw Tarzan on broadway in 2006. It was with my summer camp, and somehow they managed to get us seats in the 3rd row, center section. It was a fantastic experience, but a more fantastic show.

Tarzan: You’ll Be In My Heart

One of the best things I can think of about this production is that the creators did not change much from the Disney movie; all of the major songs are there along with the story it presented. The show is the story that audience members wanted to see, just shown in another adaptation. Not to say that there aren’t original songs and plot aspects such as in Who Better Than Me,  but the story is completely recognizable and all of the important moments are just as they are in the movie.

Gorillas: Jungle Funk

One of the most impressive aspects of this show is the ariel effects that the gorillas and Tarzan use. Clearly, apes are supposed to be able to swing through the trees easily, but with humans playing the roles and no animation studio to do the impossible, how was this going to work? When I was watching this show, I thought it was very clever of the tech crew to come up with the idea of using the vines as undisguised lift cables. You can clearly see that the apes in the show are hanging from the cables, but it works because much of the set is a backdrop of vines, and the audience knows that people can’t actually do these tricks without the lifts. Once the cables are accepted by the mind, the tricks and ariels look fantastic. I was impressed by the range of dancing and trick skills on display throughout the show; most of the dancers use modern dance forms but apply them to animalistic characters. In the air, there are spins and twists like you would see in circus performances, and pieces come together to create as realistic of a jungle as could be possible.

Strangers Like Me

The story also brings in the love story of Tarzan and Jane just as the movie did. It’s impressive though that Tarzan sings through all of the background music while maintaining his animalistic actions. Everything follows the story to the best of their abilities, where Tarzan and Jane fall in love as he learns about human society, but Clayton tries to kill gorillas for his own ends, almost tearing the gorilla pack apart. The visual effects of the show enhance the music and acting, so the audience is at least as drawn in as they are to the film.

My only complaint about this show is that sometimes it’s hard to remember that the gorilla characters are gorillas. Clearly they’re dressed in different costumes, but they’re still people, and the mind interprets that first. In some scenes, like the one at the end of “Strangers Like Me” when the gorillas are next to other people, they look too similar. It really can’t be helped, but it breaks the atmosphere of the story a bit when you have to concentrate to remember who’s who.

Overall, Tarzan was a great performance to go see. It’s not my favorite musical, but I enjoyed it immensely. I hope that you enjoyed the clips above and can see the amazingness that was this show.