MSSM or KHS?

Again I am having second thoughts.

I found out that there is no theater class at MSSM next year. I feel like college and futurewise, going to KHS will leave me no better of theatrically because even though KHS has a fantastic theater program, it's not a theater school and neither is MSSM so they would probably put me in the same place in that way.

So the only thing is, would I be happier at KHS in that way? I mean Kennebunk has local theaters, 3 plays with Mr. Lewia and a new guy, a film festival, and theater classes. I mean I am really going to miss all of that stuff.

But at the same time, MSSM has open mike nights (basically, I think they're called something else), student run shows, 24 hour plays written directed and acted all by students. I just don't know.

Also, sense the old theater teacher has left MSSM it seems like a lot of what I could be doing there is still up in the air. How many plays are there going to be a year? Who will direct them? Etc.

I suppose at this point I am commited to going to MSSM, and going for a year might be good because I will finally know if it is the right place for me and not have to spend my life what if-ing.

Also, if KHS does one acts and MSSM doesn't I am going to be SOO mad!

Change is scary when you don't know what to expect!!

How I watch musicals

I have decided there are a couple things that can make a musical a lot worse or a lot better for me.

For example, in the heights. In the heights was very good, but frankly I didn't love it .I feel so guilty when I don't love things that are that expensive, but let me get to the point.

I had never heard the soundtrack, it was not the original cast, it is kind of a fluff musical, and I sat in the second row. I've come to the conclusion that these are all the wrong ways to do it.

1.) Soundtrack. I love me some musicals, but if there is one problem that almost all of them have is that it is really hard to understand the lyrics. That is why I think I've decided it is better to listen to the soundtrack first like one time, just so you know what's going on.

For example, the 3 broadway shows I've seen are In the Heights, Spring Awakening, and Avenue Q. For the first two, I had never heard the soundtrack before and didn't understand a lot of the lyrics, which took a lot away from it. Spring Awakening was the extreme, because at times I had no idea what was going on. That was also because those lyrics are non literal, but anyway.

2.) Original cast. Obviously it is not always the right choice to see the original cast, but I always seem to regret it when I don't. For example, when I saw Spring awakening I thought I should have seen in the heights with the original. When I saw In the Heights I was extremely disappointed when I found out it wasn't original cast, and I am now thinking I should have seen Next to Normal because if I ever get an opportunity to see it now I will not get to see it with original cast probably.

3.) Fluff Musicals. I generally enjoy musicals that are about something not just entertainment if that makes sense. In the Heights was at it's core about dance and good music and that's fine but I've decided I prefer things with really good plots, like Blood brothers or Spring awakening. Or comedies, of course.

4.) Farther back. I think I like sitting farther back. It gives you more of a feel for the whole show, instead of just seeing fragments. I think that is another reason I didn't love in the heights because complicated dance numbers are hard to see from a foot away. This rule ESPECIALLY applies for dance musicals, not as important for non dancey big ones.

Of course there are always exceptions, but in general that is what I've realized. I think in order of enjoyment, the musicals I've seen go

1.) Blood Brothers
2.) Avenue Q
3.) Spring Awakening
4.) In the Heights

I left out Sweeney Todd and Wicked because they were both made less enjoyable by the fact that I had seen a previous version of them (I saw wicked in LA like 4 years ago but It was to long ago to remember exactly how much I liked it)

I think I should have seen Next to Normal. Of course my mom was really the one who chose in the heights so I shouldn't regret that too much.

I am glad that I have alienated all non musical loving readers.

Review: Once

So this is my first review on this blog in like 70 years! W0oTz.

So I just finished Once, and it was really good. If you haven't heard of once you have probably heard the song "Falling Slowly" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc), which is from the movie.

Overall, I really liked it. It was a very odd movie. It was odd in the way that... I don't really know what to say. You kind of have to see it to understand exactly what it is... but It's like nothing you've ever seen.

It is very real, and human, and really doesn't play out like any other movie.

Basically it is about these two poor nameless people living in Dublin who are amazing at music and sort of come together through that, both coming out better than they started. At first look it would seem like a romance about how they fall in love, but it really isn't like that. I mean at times it can be looked at like that, but in some ways it's really more about the music...

I don't know, that's the weird thing about it. It is not a normal movie, or musical for that matter, it's just a simple pretty realistic story about what happens to two people after they meet. It doesn't have a movie ending or plot to it... it's just enjoyable and human.

However it is not perfect. Because of it's realism it is in some ways a little unsatisfying and strange, but compared to it's pros that is a small complaint.

Also I didn't even mention because I thought of it as sort of a given, the music and performances are all fantastic and perfect.

Overall, 9/10. SEE IT!

Musicáls

I really wanna see The Last 5 Years and Songs for a New World. There are many more musicals I wanna see and I might add/edit this post, but those are the two I am thinking about right now.

I don't think either off them or on any form of Broadway, or anything like that. They are just both really really good musicals that I wanna see. The Last 5 Years I kind of discovered because of MirandaSings because she was in it, but it's really good. At graduation a couple people preformed the opening song from Songs For A New World and it was really good, and it just seems like a really cool musical. Coincidentally they both are written by the same composer/lyricist, Jason Robert Brown.

I don't know if I will get to see either of them anytime soon, but I would reaaaally love to. Last 5 years is about a relationship between 2 people, but it's told in a really cool way. The girl starts the show at the break up and moves backwards and the guy moves forwards, and in the whole show the 2 only have one scene together which is directly in the middle at their wedding. It's really cool, and it's really good. The only thing is it only has 2 people in the cast, so a school would never do it and local small theaters probably wouldn't be too into the idea.

Songs For a New world is really weird, and I don't exactly understand what it is, which makes it more interesting. It isn't really a piece of musical theater, but it isn't really a song cycle. Here are two quotes from wikipedia kind of explaining it.

"The show sits on the boundary between musical and song cycle, but it is neither; it is an abstract musical, a series of songs all connected by theme rather than narrative. The show employs four performers who do not literally play the same characters throughout the show but who do have consistently developing character arcs nonetheless."

"Composer Jason Robert Brown has said of his show, "It's about one moment. It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back."

That one gets preformed at a lot of small theaters though, so I might get to see it sometime in the near future.

So yeah! I felt like sharing

MSSM course desicions

So I am signing up for courses, and I am going to take you, the reader, through the exciting adventure of choosing classes.

Math, Science, and English are decided by placement tests, so I don't need to worry about that.

The school decided that for your first semester, you can only take 4 academic classes. I guess it's because the workload at MSSM is really different so they want people to realize how much work 4 classes is before they take 5 or something like that.

That left me with 1 spot for an academic class. Generally people choose a foreign language, and I like spanish (and the guy who taught my brother, who apparently was a horrible spanish teacher, is gone now) so I chose spanish. They said to go into intermediate spanish, and if the teacher thinks that people need to change up or down he will just do so in the first week. This means I will have no history class this year. =D YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Also, it appears that there are only 3 spanish classes, and sense I would not be going into introduction to spanish, I might run out before I finish, unless I misunderstood the schedule.

I'll probably choose Psychology for my next history class, and then hopefull avoid taking anymore history at all! That would be ahhhhsomeee!

Then I think I am going to do chorus as a fine art, and that leaves my health/fitness credit. The only 4 that seemed likely I would do were 1.) Dance - Because dancing is awesome and fun and it would be cool to actaully take a class and get better
2.) Cardio/Weight training - No real explination it would just be good to be working out and stay in good shape
3.) Wellness - I don't really want to, but at some point I have to, it's basically Health at MSSM
4.) Boffer

Boffer seems kind of ridiculous but kind of awesome. Basically I've got the impression it's a bunch of people attacking each other with foam weapons, but it counts for a fitness credit. You don't have to take Boffer as a class though, you can just go for fun.

Also, I might have to take Wellness this year because it says that it is neccesary for incoming students who have not taken health. I don't know if I have to take it this year, or just at some point though.

I think I'll probably end up doing Wellness as my class this year, and Boffer for fun. The health/fitness classes are 2 hours a week, usually 2 1 hour meetings, so neither one is a huge deal to do.

So yeah, hopefully my schedule will be a bucket of fun

Poll results

I got one vote for delete it and two votes for keep it but don't use it, so I will do that! You readers must feel so powerful

A fun thing to do

Sometimes when I'm talking to people (usually my mom) on the phone, I like to rub my finger on the mike and tap it to cause interference and see if they will point it out or just pretend they don't hear it.

Usually they don't say anything.