I'm going to keep this short and post a full review soon (UPDATE: FULL REVIEW IS UP) but last night, I saw the first preview performance of Hair at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park New York being produced by The Public Theater (that first produced Hair 41 years ago) and the show was SENSATIONAL!
Before we went In The Heights, before we had our Spring Awakening, before we ever paid Rent, we had Hair. And this top notch cast and amazing direction performing the show on a field of grass in the circular Delacorte Theatre against the backdrop of trees and Central Park in the warmth of the summer winds is EXACTLY how Hair should be seen and made relevant again.
Free tickets are distributed either through an online lottery everyday (sign up between midnight at 1pm, then check back between 1pm and 6pm to see if you won), or mostly at the box office at the theatre at 1pm each day (the show will run Tues-Sunday at 8pm until August 31st 2008).
Or in the spririt of Hair, you can go to Craigslist and pay a scalper/bum/meth addict $100-125 for a ticket. Seriously, I've never seen that many rich white people trying to live off their hippie days by buying free tickets illegally...
On the other hand, get tickets any way you can because you MUST see this show before it ends later this summer. BTW, we lined up at 4:30am on the first day but that was WAY too early. Basically it was a few diehard theatregeeks and hippies, then a bunch of meth addicts (I'm not kidding you), us, some more street people, THEN everyone else. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The bulk of people (who were there NOT intending to scalp the tickets) seemed to arrive between 7-9am. 6:30am would have gotten you a great spot in line already. On the first day, there were still tickets available to those who showed up after 11am and probably even until 1pm but I have a feeling that's not going to last long now that I've seen the show.
And I was joking about buying from Craigslist. PLEASE do not buy from scalpers. That's just wrong. Especially for Hair.
It's summer. I'm in NY and I'm hot. The New York City Waterfalls are kinda neat (and kinda not) and all but really, not worth trekking out to when its this friggin hot in the city. And I'd almost rather be sitting in air conditioning watching TV. Or in an air conditioned cinema watching movies. Instead, I choosed the most expensive option. I'm sitting in an air conditioned theatres watching musicals (so far, seen the excellent [title of show, Xanadu and Gypsy again, South Pacific and Damn Yankees, all good and worth watching BTW) but I'm here for the rest of the week so I'll be a little slower on the blogging (and I wasn't as prepared as my Europe trip where I had lots of posts still pop up while I was gone so apologies to my regular readers (and thanks AGAIN for being regular readers!)). So in the meantime, check out what my fellow TV bloggers are talking about this week:
With the Emmy nominations out, Buzz (not surprisingly) had a few rants and raves. (BuzzSugar)
GMMR's summer obsession, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, just went from the Top 10 dancers to the Top 8, but not without a little scandal and drama. Listen to what GMMR & Ducky have to say about it in the latest TV Talk Podcast: SYTYCD Edition. (Give Me My Remote)
Marcia celebrated the return of Project Runway with a thorough look at the first episode -- adult diapers, Oompa Loompas and all. (Pop Vultures)
Infatuation is the only word to describe Rae's feelings about Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and is trying to decide whether she likes Act I or II better while eagerly awaiting the third. (RTVW)
All Scooter could think about after watching the season premiere of The Closer was, "Who doesn't do there business in the shower?" (Scooter McGavin's 9th Green)
With the Emmy nominations finally out, Vance got his butt in gear and put out his Best of TV for the 2007-2008 TV Season. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace reviewed the laughably bad BBC drama series Bonekickers, from the typically brilliant creators of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, and was shocked and horrified by just how truly awful it was. (Televisionary)
Watch Design Star? Well, Dan wrote a little letter to his favorite contestant -- the bald, bearded Colorado native Matt Locke. (TiFaux)
It's TCA Madness on theTVaddict.com, featuring interviews with Wentworth Miller, Joss Whedon, Sarah Wayne Callies and more! [The TV Addict]
With another incredibly strong Top 10, this is going to hurt tonight.
Top 10 Group Performance Bollywood - Choreographed by Nakule Song: "JBJ" - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (Soundtrack)
I guess the Bollywood dance that Katee and Joshua did was so popular that they had to bring the style back. I'm glad they did! It was so fun and colourful with all the costumes but it's quite telling who starts standing out amongst the group. I found myself looking at Mark, Katee in the blue, Courtney and Gev in the yellow and Will. I'm surprised I didn't really notice Chelsie in the pink. Joshua was great when I could see him but he always seemed to be off camera and I am officially putting the camera person and director on notice. Seriously, what's with that?
Here's the video clip:
I can't even remember what they filled the results show with last year but this year there are additional group performances!!! One with the girls, one with the boys!!! Woohoo!!! Top 5 Girls Group Performance - Choreographed by Mia Michaels Song: "Ave Maria" - Celine Dion
Another surreal routine by Mia with some weird creepy ghost like makeup. I couldn't even recognize Kherington and Katee.
Here's the video clip:
Top 5 Boys Group Performance - Choreographed by Nigel Lythgoe Song: "5 Guys Named Moe" - Joe Jackson
That was such a fun routine! I guess Nigel saved himself to work with the 5 strongets guys who in the routine, just proved that we should keep them ALL for another week. At least. See, they CAN just have dances with just the guys and it could be awesome!
Here's the video clip:
So my bottom four predictions were: Mark Joshua (I had a bad feeling even though I thought it probably should be Twitch if I had to pick anybody) Comfort Kherington
with Comfort and Mark going home.
So the bottom 4 dancers actually were:
Comfort and Kherington for the girls. Mark and Gev for the boys. AW CRAP. Joe WAS sadly right. On the other hand, I'm glad I was wrong about my bad feeling about Joshua. Whew... I need to stop second guessing things sometimes.
They all get to perform again but the end decision had been already made.
Comfort Fedoke - Solo Dance Song: "Egypt, Egypt" - The Egyptian Lover She looks like she's having fun and just going for it considering she figures this is her second chance and second time to be eliminated and when she's relaxed, she's really good.
Mark Kanemura - Solo Dance Song: "Black Betty" - Ram Jam Seriously, I just love this guy. It's so odd and quirky and almost artful with a sense of hipness to it that his uniqueness is a welcome presence on this show.
Here's the video with Comfort and Mark:
Kherington Payne - Solo Dance Song: "Myphilosophy" - Inner Love Kher but she's not a great soloist yet, but better than performance night at least.
Gev Manoukian- Solo Dance Song: "Feeling Good" - Michael Buble Did he just do that slow backflip? What was THAT? CRAZY AWESOME! This guy is dancing genius!
Here's the video with Kherington and Gev:
Finally the results are revealed:
Kherington is out. WHAT???
I'm shocked and yet not since I was thinking Comfort fans probably would have voted in droves to save her since they knew she was in danger (again).
Still, WHAT??? I gasped out loud.
Then Gev is out. WHAT???
I'm shocked.
I LOVE Mark but I sort of relegated that he had the bad luck of two bad dances (Country Two Step? Really? Is that fair?) and was going to be voted out in a strong guys field.
But Gev had the BEST Solos and was the best pairing of the night with an overall average of the best dances of the night... I'm truly shocked and a little bit angry now...
I guess the only silver lining is that Mark is still in and hopefully he can prove himself next week with better dances since I still think he has a chance to actually be in the Top 4 if not the winner.
So with Gev out of the running, Mark is back in the top spot of favorite male dancer and if I were to pick a Top 4 at this point, it would have to be Mark, Joshua, Katee and Chelsie but Courtney is definitely gunning for it.
I do like Will a lot too but I also hear the complaints that he's almost a little cold. Great technical, but something lacking in the soul/pizazz department but at least he's WAY more likable than Danny from last year so I'm not going to complain. I enjoy Twitch a lot and when he's on he's ON and I think any other year I would be cheering for him but Mark is just really unique and weird which I love, Gev is just amazing me every week, whereas Josh has surprised me by excelling in styles that you would not expect him to.
Anyways, 8 dancers left. Wait, does this mean there's only 3 weeks left to the show? WHAT???
Next year, they really should do the Top 10 for like 3 weeks straight and then combine the scores or something. Seriously, Nigel, listen to my advice. You'd get three more episodes and ad money too? It's win win for all of us!
A few weeks back a few of the otherbloggerswere all fawning/fighting over Dominic Cooper, but I'm here to remind all you bitches that I SAW HIM FIRST.
Okay maybe not first since I didn't see him in his stage debut of Mother Clapp's Molly House nor did I see the stage version of His Dark Materials at the National Theatre (even though I tried to) but whatever. I called out that he would be big back in The History Boys days. The PLAY! Not even the subsequent film version! So Dibs!
Plus he's more my age so we'd get along swell. (I can't believe that though, I thought he was MUCH younger since he kinda looks 18).
Anyways, I'm staking my claim before Mamma Mia opens tomorrow (against the other juggernaut The Dark Knight which itself is full of many other crushworthy people and I'm equally excited about) and all you bitches start pawing on my Dominic. Keep. Your. Hands. Off!
He will also appear against Keira Knightley in The Duchess later this year (which also stars Ralph Fiennes).
Anyways, more pictures after the jump and the short clip of "Lay Your Love For Me" with Lily Kane Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper (though I'm curious and slightly creeped out by all those swimmers swimming towards them) after the jump below:
Top 10 - Performance Night Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Lil' C
So now we know Jessica is out, Comfort is in. Let's not worry too much at this point this week on the girls side since Comfort and Jessica are the weakest of the remaining girls, but lets start panicking on the boys side where all 5 could be contenders (and Thayne could have been too). Though I was chatting with the always hilarious Joe from Low Resolution and he thinks that Gev and Mark might be in trouble since the other three have been propped up way too much (this was before the Top 10 episode) but I guess if I had to do a Sophie's choice, I would save Gev and Mark and Joshua over Will and Twitch.
In addition, Linz mentioned how unmemorable a lot of the previous dances were when I recapped the Top 16, 14 and 12 Weeks (the last 3 weeks) but I will say that even in past seasons, most dances are actually a bit unmemorable since we watch so many now and usually only one or two stand out each week at most. I also think those with more contemporary songs help (see my theory below in the Comfort and Twitch write-up) create a more memorable piece. That and Mia Michaels or now Tabitha and Napoleon choreographing probably help too.
Anyways, The Top 10 is on! Let's see if I change my mind with my loves and dislikes because it's a busy night with new partners, 2 dances each PLUS a solo!:
Courtney Galiano and Joshua Allen 1st Performance Style: Hip Hop - Choreographed by Dave Scott Song: "Skippin'" - Mario
I thought it started off strong and Courtney kept along with Joshua but I felt like they seemed to get a little tired as the dance went on (Courtney more so than Joshua) and the hits were less hard than it probably should have been but they were probably saved by their fun characterizations.
Grade: B+
Here's the video clip of Courtney and Joshua's Hip Hop performance:
2nd Performance Style: Rumba - Choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux and France Song: "Hero" - Enrique Iglesias
That was pretty awesome for a dance performed to that Enrique song. Joshua was passionate and smooth and Courtney was sexy and sizzlin'.
Grade: A-
Here's the video clip of Courtney and Joshua's Rumba performance:
Kherington Payne and Mark Kanemura 1st Performance Style: Country Two Step - Choreographed by Ronnie DeBenedetta and Brandi Tobias Song: "Kick Back" - Ty England
It looked as if either Mark wasn't given much do to or seemed a bit nervous but he flourishes it enough that he can cover up that he was mostly there to be Kherington's spinner and lifter. Kherington seemed to fare better since she got most of the "tricks" but altogether, didn't seem as "quick" stepped as the judges described it should have been. I still love these two and think that this could be a power couple but country just wasn't their thing.
Grade: C+
Here's the video clip of Kherington and Mark's Country Two Step performance:
2nd Performance Style: Jazz - Choreographed by Tyce DiOrio Song: "Canned Heat" - Jamiroquai
Oh good, apparently they were saving it for this performance. It may have not been technically perfect (the lift could have been smoother and sometimes they were a split second off from each other) but at last these two strong dancers rebounded with a better performance. I still think these two need to connect better (it's too bad cause I thought they would) and be more confident but both have a certain stylization that they add to their dances that I enjoy watching, even when its not perfect.
Grade: B+
Here's the video clip of Kherington and Mark's Jazz performance:
Comfort Fedoke and Twitch 1st Performance Style: Smooth Waltz - Choreographed by Hunter Johnson Song: "Open Arms" - Journey
Did anybody ever picture Twitch and Comfort dancing to Journey? And to do a reasonably good job? Not enough sparks that it needs at this point to start standing out towards Top 4 contention but cute enough in a Disney cartoon fairytale way (with little sexual passion basically but has all the steps down).
Grade: B-
Here's the video clip of Comfort and Twitch's Smooth Waltz performance:
2nd Performance Style: Hip Hop - Choreographed by Dave Scott Song: "Forever" - Chris Brown
I love this song. Okay, so I think that when a team gets to dance to a current song that still is on the radio, before it has had enough time to cement an image in our minds, and letting the dance performance form the image of the song (think "Sexy Back", "No Air", "Bleeding Love", "Hide and Seek or Sexy Love"), gives a great advantage in creating a WOW performance. On the other hand, this is really Comfort and Twitch's thing and they did their THING well. It really did almost look too easy for them.
Grade: A-
Here's the video clip of Comfort and Twitch's Hip Hop performance:
Katee Shean and William Wingfield 1st Performance Style: Broadway - Choreographed by Tyce DiOrio Song: "Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat" - (Guys and Dolls) Sam Harris
I'm all for showing skin but that last rip of Will's T-shirt to a Guys & Dolls song is a bit weird. Okay, so as much as Will was propping up Jessica, Jessica was dragging Will down because paired up here with Katee, Will got to shine along side Katee. The key note though here is along side. I felt both did an amazing individual job and were matched equally side by side but I felt they didn't really connect together, though I'm not sure the choreography really required that either but I wish it wasn't just a parallel dance that they had to perform together (but I'm not sure if that's their fault, and I'm not as big on the Tyce DiOrio love train as the judges seem to be). Still, very well done though I'm not sure if it sparked a OH I LOVED THAT response from myself.
Grade: B+
Here's the video clip of Katee and Will's Broadway performance:
2nd Performance Style: Pas de Deux - Choreographed by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson Song: "Imagine" - David Archuleta
Talk about perfect synergy! An amazing nearly perfect dance set to David Archuleta that makes a star out of all of them (see above with my theory on creating an image to newer songs (or versions of them)). A few mistakes and at one point they didn't seem to know how to put their hands together as if it was undecided but they just make it all look so good and breathtaking that the mistakes are forgivable.
Grade: A
Here's the video clip of Katee and Will's Pas de Deux performance:
Chelsie Hightower and Gev Manoukian 1st Performance Style: Contemporary - Choreographed by Sonya Tayeh Song: "These Arms of Mine" - Otis Redding
I thought that was kind of a wrong song choice somehow but Gev and Chelsie danced the heck out of that routine which I think was wonderful in an unmemorable way (does that make sense?). Chelsie was just bundle of raw energy and emotion and Gev is really stepping it up and performing with all his might and the two looked great together.
Grade: A-
Here's the video clip of Chelsie H. and Gev's Contemporary performance:
2nd Performance Style: Jive - Choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux and France Song: "The House is Rockin'" - Brian Setzer
Gev and Chelsie are kind of like the energizer bunny aren't they? Do they drink Red Bull all the time? I thought Gev was better than the judges said but I did notice that sometimes their joining together seemed a bit nervous. Chelsie is really starting to pull ahead in the competition though.
Grade: A-
Here's the video clip of Chelsie H. and Gev's Jive performance:
Each dancer also had to perform a solo, as if they didn't have enough to deal with this week:
Um, how did he get that shirt off? For the first second I thought I might not be that impresses but there were some tricks there that I have never seen. Grade: A
Here's the video clip of Gev's performance:
Courtney Galiano - Solo Song: "I Want You To Need Me" - Celine Dion
Can we redo Flashdance with Courtney? That would be hot! That was hotter than I thought it would be! Grade: A
Here's the video clip of Courtney's performance:
Mark Kanemura - Solo Song: "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen
More "character" than tricks in the solo dance but the guy is so odd that I love him all the more for it. Grade: B+
Here's the video clip of Mark's performance:
Comfort Fedoke - Solo Song: "Need A Boss" - Shareefa feat. Ludacris
There's a reason she made it to the Top 20 but there's also a reason she barely made the Top 10. Grade: B
I thought it started off strong but then relied to much on pumping his chest at the end. Still, it was a good reminder at how good he can be. Grade: B+
You know, maybe Katee did have the right to say she wouldn't re-audition if she didn't make it into the show this year because if this show didn't want her, she should have just moved on to a professional group. Grade: A
Here's the video clip of Katee's performance:
William Wingfield - Solo Song: "Dance With My Father" - Luther Vandross
That "so you think you can dance" ending is sometimes a bit too abrupt as I was just getting into Will's solo. Grade: B+
There were some neat tricks but I felt like it was more a few sets of "tricks" than it was a unified dance which sort of is disappointing coming from Joshua who is always so good. Grade: B
Here's the video clip of Joshua's performance:
Best Pairs Dance of the Night: Katee and Will's Pas de Deux Best Pair of the Night: Chelsie H. and Gev Most Disappointing Pairs Dance of the Night: Kherington and Mark's Country Two Step Best Solo: Gev
Bottom Four Predictions: This is killing me to say this but I think for the boys, Mark will be in the bottom 2 and maybe Joe was right. Mark may be in danger this week. AGHHH... Except despite tonight's lackluster performances, he's still one of my favorite dancers because he has this quirky sytle and he really gets into his characters.
I think TwitchJoshuaTwitchWill Twitch should be in the bottom 2 out of the strong 5 males but for some reason I have a feeling Joshua might be in danger this week.
As for the girls, while Comfort really started fighting for it, I think it's still too late and I think she will be joined by Kherington in the bottom 2.
Going Home Predictions: Mark (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) and Comfort
Can we have another week with everyone and not vote someone off this week? PLEASE???
Individual dancers in order of Favorite to Least for this week (which is a combination of performance and likability and how it gets added to the past) (Last week's ranking in parenthesis):
1. Chelsie (4) 2. Katee (2) 3. Courtney (9) 4. Gev (6) 5. Mark (1) 6. Will (8) 7. Kherington (5) 8. Joshua (4) 9. Twitch (7) 10. Comfort (10)
Again, I keep switching the order and in DRASTIC differences so this is just the list for the moment I've decided to post this. It will probably change every few minutes in my head. Either way, whoever gets kicked off this week will make me sad no matter what.
The Good Wife (Season 2) CBS/Global 10pm ****1/2 (Low: 4)
Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
Thursdays
Fridays
Saturdays
Tapeworthy Shows On Hiatus
Grade system
***** - 5 Stars TAPEWORTHY AND WILL watch it LIVE for fear the recording will mess up. Do not attempt to call or try to make plans during this time.
**** - 4 Stars Tapeworthy and I will TRY to watch it LIVE
*** - 3 Stars Tapeworthy, will watch it live if I'm around but if not, will catch it later in the week.
** - 2 Stars Might tape it to watch later as long as I have space and no conflicting shows that have higher priority.
* - 1 Star Won't tape it but if I need something to watch while I fold my laundry (and I'm done all my tapes), I will watch it (ie. Reba).
0 - 0 Stars Will NOT turn on the TV for fear of coming across this show. (ie. According to Jim).
Grades only reflect current new airings. Does not necessarily apply to previous seasons. Grades are subject to change at any moment. Apologies to TV Gal for half borrowing her system.
