Liza Minelli To Guest Star On Smash

 

    

          Liza Minelli; daughter of Judy Garland, famous actress, appearing on the screen and on the stage-is set to guest star on Smash, the musical drama television show. In the midst of filming its second season, has been garnering big names; such as Jennifer Hudson, Sean Hayes and Bernadette Peters.

          Smash seems to have gotten their biggest guest star yet. Liza Minelli will be appearing as herself in the second season of the show which premiers February 5.

Willemijn Verkaik to Join Broadway Cast of Wicked

          Willemijn Verkiak; a Dutch actress who is perhaps most well known for playing the role of Elphaba in Dutch and in German, will be making her Broadway debut in Wicked in early 2013. Verkaik originated the role in the Stuttgart and then Oberhausen productions of Wicked, toured with the company when it toured Germany, and is currently playing the role in Scheveningen (Holland, the Netherlands)-where she will stay until the production closes on January 11, 2013.

          She will succeed the role from Jackie Burns, and will play her first performance on February 12, 2013. Willemijn  will play the role of Elphaba for 15 weeks.

Broadway Production of Evita Set to Close

          Evita, a musical chronicling the life of Argentinian first lady Eva Peron, or Evita, is set to go dark later next month. After 337 performances; the show, now playing at the Marquis Theatre, will go dark on January 26, 2013.

          Originally; the plan was just to replace the three principal actors-Elena Roger as Eva Peron/Evita, Ricky Martin as Che, and Michael Cerveris as Juan Peron, but that didn't really work out.

           The production team stated that they were having a hard time finding replacements to fill these talented shoes. And also; they were not able to coordinate schedules with the new cast members that might have been replacing the main trio. 

           As unfortunate as the closing is, there will be a US National Tour launched in September of 2013-starting at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. 

Want To Improve Your Voice?

          This is sort of less like a 'Broadway' related post-and more like a filler post. There's been somewhat a lack of breaking news on the Broadway scene lately-so I thought I'd make this post about some info and sites you can use to improve to improve your voice if you-like me-hope to make theatre a career.

          The place I frequent the most is Felicia Ricci's YouTube channel-@madameunreality. She has a couple of videos so far; on how to breathe, vocal blends, and how to high belt. For someone who hopes to play a role like Elphaba one day, which has a ton of belting, this works for me. And any type of singer in general; I feel like it would be really helpful. 

          Of course-you can take actual voice lessons (as I do), but for people who do not, or just want some tips on how to better their singing-this is one of the best places I have found to do so.

Oklahoma!

          I now introduce you to a segment I'd like to call, Hey-this is a musical you might not have heard of-so I'll introduce you to it! It's a working title. Anyway-this week's musical is Oklahoma!, a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.

          Without giving away the full plot-the musical takes place in Oklahoma (sort of obvious, considering the title), and is centered on the story of Curly McLain and Laurey Williams and how they fell in love. Other characters are. Ado Annie and her two romances with Ali Hakim the peddler from Persia, and the cowboy Will Parker. Supporting characters include Laurey's Aunt Eller, the farm hand Jud, and Gertie Cummings.

       Considering that Oklahoma! is my high school's spring musical-I'd like to take a bit of time to talk about that here. Auditions are in 16 days, yet I've already started preparing. I'm a freshman, so the chances of me getting a speaking role are .0001%, but I am going to try my hardest anyway.

         I'm going for the role of Gertie Cummings, the character with the obnoxious laugh. I'm somewhat proud to say that I've got the laugh down-all it needs is polishing. I've been looking forward to this since school started, and I'm really excited. Well-wish me luck! 

Introduction to New Music

So for this post here, I'm gonna introduce you guys to some music you may have not heard before. They are all by theatre actors, and most are a part of different solo albums. I hope I can broaden your musical horizons.

The first song I'd like to show you is Runnin' Out Of Days, by Shoshana Bean for her soon to be released album. Often described as 'a fresh take on vintage soul', it's worth a listen.

The second is called Beautiful Eyes, written by one of my personal idols Alice Ripley. In my opinion, the song has a bit of a bluesy feel.

From Funny Girl, sung by the incomparable Barbra Streisand-Don't Rain On My Parade is a classic. If you haven't heard it sung on Glee, I recommend listening.

I've talked about Kerry Ellis in one of my previous posts. Brilliantly talented British theatre actress, recently released a solo album. This song is called Dangerland, and it's one of my favorites.

Romeo and Juliet-My Experiences

So I know it's not 'official Broadway stuff' like my blog states, but I want to share about my production of Romeo and Juliet. First of all-when the drama club announced that we were doing this play, I was pretty excited. As far as regular plays go, this is one I was the most familiar with. So I decided to audition.

I absolutely knew I would not get a speaking role (there were only four female speaking parts and the upperclassman get first priority), but I gave it all I had. I auditioned for Lady Capulet, Juliet's mother-and I felt like I did a decent job. As was expected-I was casted the chorus, and I wasn't disappointed because I knew it was coming.

Anyway-the whole journey has been somewhat surreal and astonishing. Our rehearsal schedule was somewhat wacky-Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 6:45-9:30 at night-with the top cast having even more practices. It was very tiring some times, but I had a lot of fun.

This last week has been pretty tiring. It's production week or as we call it-"Hell Week". Final dresses on Monday and Tuesday from 6:30-10:30, and shows Wenesday night, Thirsday night, Friday morning and night from 5:30-20:45. Needless to say I'm a bit tired. Our drama club had a sleepover at school after Friday's show, and I haven't slept in over 24 hours.

We have a night show tonight, and a matinee tomorrow. Hopefully they'll go well. It's been a process, but our drama club is truly amazing and filled with extremely talented actors. I'll miss the show, Romeo and Juliet is a classic and a great one to do for my first high school production. But...auditions for Oklahoma are in a month so I won't have to miss drama for too long.