@fylfoundation benefit with @joshgroban 241029

This event was held in the Appel Room, which is on the 5th & 6th floors of 10 Columbus Circle, above an upscale shopping mall.  I like this mall because it's one of the reliable places to find an attractive restroom during business hours -- something that's not obvious in the city.

When I got to the room, I realized that I had been there before.  It used to be called the Allen Room.  Josh performed there once before -- I think in 2012.  That performance was amazing and was shown via simulcast in movie theatres throughout the country.

Google AI says that room seats between 410 and 900 people.  I would say it was configured on the low end for this event, because there were tables near the stage.  Presumably the tables were the more expensive seats.

The room features a huge window behind the stage overlooking central park and the Manhattan skyline.  It's a very beautiful venue.

Even tho the room is not that large, I made heavy use of binoculars, because I was in the back row.  I like to sit in the back row because I'm a germaphobe and I don't want people breathing on me.  

To get the commemorative program you had to give your credit card and get an auction paddle.  You didn't actually have to pay, so I figured that I would do this, thinking I wouldn't participate in the auction.

I only bought this ticket about a week or two before the event.  At that time, there were still a lot of seats available, which worried me.  By the time I got there, it was pretty much full.  I wonder what changed.

There was no announcement not to take pictures or record.  There were people recording I think.  I did not.  I was probably the only person taking notes.  Probably you can see some of these performances later on social media

The event opened with a film by Chris Groban, about the mission of FYL.

Then Josh performed the first number: Granted, playing the piano.  He had a large band behind him, including 2 backup singers, a pianist, a guitar, 3 percussionists.  

Josh's voice sounded great.  Those of you who have followed this blog might remember that I haven't always thought he sounded so great -- but he's gotten the kinks out

One of the groups that FYL helps is "Broadway Bound Kids."  They sang chorus on Granted and then later did a number of their own

Natalie Tennenbaum, pianist, played variations on Thriller.  This was the type of music that originally brought me to Josh -- cross between pop and modern classical.  I really loved this piece.  I wish Josh would get back to that type of music.  She was introduced as the musical director for the performance.  That was a bit strange for me, because it's usually Tariqh Akoni, but he was not at this performance -- nor was Mark Stephens, who is usually on piano in Josh's band.  It felt like an all new band.

Lin Manuel Miranda did not perform.  He just gave a short speech and introduced SAY -- a group for young stutterers.  They had a group of four of them come on stage and tell their story.  I gather that one of the ways that they get confidence is that various artists/performers come in and work with them, so it's not exactly about them performing.  It's the arts as a strengthening of the person, which Josh often talks about.

India Carney, who mostly sang backup, got a solo of  "A million dreams" --rich alto voice. Here she is on instagram link.

  

Joanna “JoJo” Levesque sang a song.  Unfortunately, I recognized neither her nor the song, tho I see that she has 2.8 million followers on Instagram link. I did hear a repeated lyric of "Through the Fire," so maybe that was the title of the song? Both Levesque and Carney were heavy on the melisma, which isn't really my thing. 

Then Matthew Whitaker, a blind jazz pianist, played a loud rollicking number.  I'm not sure why but it sort of reminded me of the music from the Peanuts movies.  He was a fun performer.

Josh came back to introduce Misty Copeland, who was identified as the  1st African American prima ballerina at the American Ballet Theater. She is one of those fairly light skinned people who I wouldn't necessarily have identified as "African American" if she hadn't said so.   She didn't actually dance, tho.  She introduced a group of  young dancers from one of the organizations that Find Your Light Supports.  They danced. 

Josh sang Somewhere over the Rainbow, while Whitacre played the piano and the kids danced.  They looked very competent to me -- tho I felt the stage was too small for good dancing.  There were two boys and two girls.  The dance was unusual because sometimes the boys got lifted by the other dancers -- not just the girls.  I think the dance was a ballet, as the dancers pointed their feet a lot -- tho it might have been modern dance.  I'm not sure. Here's a link to MOVE NYC on Instagram. Also this post on X has a photo of the 4 dancers 

Then arrived Harry Santa Olalla, who is apparently a famous auctioneer.  He was a very peppy guy who was able to do a "God Voice" and warm up the room.  He started out with a a reverse auction of nothing.  He just asked who would agree to pay $50k.  After several donations at that level, he asked how many would pay $25k.  He gradually lowered it until he got to $500.  Josh said he would match any $500 donations, and said "ouch" after anyone raised their paddle, which was rather funny.  At that point, I did raise my paddle, which I hadn't expected to -- but Josh really has sold me on the importance of arts education.

I went into that show really depressed, because I am very afraid that Trump is going to win the election -- but by the time we got to the auction I cheered up at the thought of all these kids whose lives have been transformed by arts education, so I got willing to donate.  The ticket was $250, so the contribution brought me up to $750, which is a lot of money for me, but I hope it's going to a good cause.  I went to the restroom during the auction.  I didn't have any trouble getting back in, which has been an issue during the prior concert at the "Allen Room," mostly, I guess, because that was simulcast.

Then they Auctioned off a painting of the statue of Liberty, which an artist made upside down while Josh was singing at Madison Square Garden.  Here's a video. 

During this auction, Joseph threw in his razor prop from his performance on Broadway from Sweeney Todd.  Here I felt he made a strategic error. I think he would have gotten more for the razor on its own.  The razor was much smaller, and therefore more attractive as a souvenir.  Also the razor would have appealed to a different audience from the painting.  I suppose this was likely due to Josh's perennial lack of confidence in his own work,  valuing the painting more than the razor, while I suspect many people there would have valued the razor more than the painting.

  

After the auction, the Broadway Bound Kids performed a song, but I didn't write down the title

The next speaker was Chasten Buttigieg, advocate, teacher, and Broadway aspirant. This is Pete Buttigieg's husband.  He talked about his history of having a theater degree and what his arts education brought him, even though he's not now working as an actor.  He also introduced Sara Bareilles.

I see that Sara has less followers on Instagram than JoJo Levesque.  That's a pity, because I really like Sara.  She's one of the few people who Josh has chosen to duet with who I think really sounds good with him.  I feel that their voices and their talents are well-matched.  Josh has a tendency to think that he can duet with anyone, which isn't quite right.  Quite often he chooses altos whose voices aren't well distinguishable from his when they duet.  Then, also, his voice is so loud and the audio engineers often don't compensate for that, so you can't hear the woman -- or even sometimes the men.  I remember he once performed with Leslie Odom, Jr, who tends to sing quietly and 

I think that the song that Bareilles sang solo was  "I wanna see you be brave."

Then Sara and Josh did a duet of "Both Sides Now."

Then surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General of the United States, was given an award for Arts in Healing.  He also gave a speech.  I have seen him on TV before, but I had no clue what an excellen speaker he is.  He talked quite movingly about the role of the arts in his life and his children's lives.  He really is an outstanding speaker.

It turns out that he plays an Indian drum in a South Indian classical music style.  I think the drum is called a mridangam.  He took off his shoes and knelt on the floor to play this instrument, which was an odd thing to see for a distinguished surgeon general.  He joked that Josh might have made an error in judgment having him play, but it sounded like he played quite well.  Later Josh said he wanted to learn to play like that.

He accompanied Josh and the band in "Peace Train," which was really a wonderful rendition, with *four* percussionists.  Josh didn't sing on this one.  Vuyo Sotashe did.  He sang very beautifully.

Vivek & Josh talked about hitting it off -- "brother from another mother," was what they said -- that they felt like brothers.  In a way, I feel they do have similar personalities, at least in the way they present themselves.

Then they had Angel Blue, introduce Renée Fleming, another honoree.  Blue is an opera singer, currently at the Met, who did a Puccini aria.  I didn't get the title.  I often don't like opera singers, but she was very impressive.  She sang without a mic and seemingly effortlessly filled the hall with her voice. Josh said that she was in his high school class, which was an impressive fact.

Renée Fleming got a Find Your Light award.  She was a lot thinner than I remembered her.  She sang a duet of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with Josh. The last time I heard her sign with Josh, she sang as an operatic lyric soprano style.  This time was more of an alto belt, but they sounded good together.

The finale was "Bridge over Troubled Water," with Josh singing and all the kids as chorus, along with the band and professional backup singers. 

As usual, I may modify this blog later.  I found my program and realize I have the names of all the kids who performed, tho strangely not the name of the soloist from "Peace Train," who may have been substituted at the last minute due to the illness of other performers.

I never found out if any other Grobanites were gathering for dinner before the show. I probably missed an important socialization opportunity.

Everett Bradley was there performing.  I forgot to write down what he was known for. Maybe he works with Broadway Bound Kids? I think so.  He was doing percussion, but there were 2 others as well.

They announced the total take for the event at the end.  I think they said $1.37 million.  Plus they said some donor had paid for the entire event, so that the amounts collected at the event would all go to @FYLFoundation.  I forgot the name of the donor.

The event ended well after 10.  I gather it ran over.  It wasn't supposed to be more than 90 minutes -- but I didn't feel bored.  The people next to me left early.  I wonder if they paid full price for their tickets.  I certainly wasn't going to leave early.

I took a couple of pix.  First we have the techies and their console.

Here is Matthew Whitaker on stage with part of the band.  Behind him is Natalie Tenenbaum, whose performance I liked so much. I didn't get the whole stage or the view out the massive windows.  

I just found the names of the band in the smaller program:  India Carney (vocals); Vuyo Sotashe (vocals); Justin Goldner (Guitar); Alex Echkart (bass); Shawn Pelton (drums -- but I thought I saw 3 percussionists, confused)  

Probably I should have taken more pix.  I felt shy about doing that since most venues don't allow it, but they didn't say not to in fact.

I found the names of the kids, too.  I wonder if I should put them here.

Here's a nice video from Instagram with brief clips of a lot of what I discussed here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Find Your Light Foundation (@fylfoundation)

I just listened to a Facebook video from this concert.  https://www.facebook.com/share/r/QE95xwU3zZ4kTqom/?mibextid=UalRPS

Josh absolutely does not sound the same on this video as he did in person.  I'm realizing that he's a victim of the same phenomenon that many sopranos suffer from: high frequency clipping.  His high harmonics are cut off.

I guess all the times before when I thought something was wrong with his voice it might really have been the recording equipment. 

@joshgroban & @ItsBMcKnight

 then

now (granted with worse sound quality)

It's interesting to hear how both men's voices have evolved over the years.

I would say that they're both louder and both have a more operatic sound, more vibrato, less reediness. 

@tonyann @lprnyc May 23, 2024

 Just in case you haven't yet heard of Tony Ann, here's a recent video

I found out about him on Instagram.  One of his videos was suggested to me and I was hooked. Actually, a lot of his compositions sound similar to each other, but I like listening to them all anyway.  

Let me just say a few warnings about this venue.  

1. It's super dark.  I couldn't read the menu without my cell phone flashlight.  (People at tables were required to order food) 

2.The salted almond appetizer was *way* too salty

3. I sat near the stage, but they were making artificial fog, which I now know makes me feel ill.  I had sort of thought that this concert was going to be my first crowded indoor even with no mask.  I ended up putting on the mask because of the artificial fog on stage.  I felt much better with the mask on.

4. The air conditioner was kind of hyperactive, which was good in terms of the artificial fog getting into the audience, but it was also pretty chilly.  

 5. The start time they tell you is one hour before the concert 

6. The bathrooms are all gender and the men don't necessarily close the stall doors when they pee, which strikes me as rude.

A friend later told me that this venue used to be called The Village Gate.  

If you sit at a table there is a required minimum order.  I knew that going in, so I wasn't surprised.

Tony was booked for 2 concerts that night, and they had to leave time for seating & ordering food before the concert; and buying albums and song books and getting autographs and selfies.  They allowed 3 hours for the early concert, but that really only allowed for about an hour of actual concert -- and Tony tried to chat between songs, so really there wasn't much playing.  There is supposed to be a concert at the Town Hall theatre in October, so, hopefully, that will be a full show, as that is a Broadway Theatre.

Tony didn't really have too much worked out to say.  People shouted questions at him.  I turns out that he doesn't like personal questions.  You might want to ask him professional questions, if you get a chance.

He did answer that he's from Toronto and is not married, but he never did tell us the answer to the question of what his ethnicity is.  He is clearly of Asian extraction, but more than that I do not know.  He is fairly tall.

He could use some joke telling training, but that might not fit in with his improv mentality.

He did tell us that he took up piano because he wanted to be a composer.  

He also told us that he improvises most of the pieces that we see on Instagram.  That possibly explains why they end without a formal ending.  That's been one of the things that I find curious about his music. There isn't a final chord at the end or ending sequence.  It just stops abruptly or fades out, for most of the pieces.  

The ending sequence that we're used to is just a convention, really.  There isn't a real reason why a piece can't just stop abruptly, but I'm not used to it.

He doesn't like to describe himself as particularly talented.  He just thinks that he worked very hard and practiced a lot -- tho I feel that that level of focus is a kind of talent in and of itself.  I personally don't have that kind of focus, to be able to master something to the point that I  would be able to truly excel at it.

He said he's going to be adding more instruments to an upcoming piece.  It will be interesting to hear that, tho it may obscure his extraordinary piano playing.

@officialdfoster and @katharinemcphee in Staten Island

The voyage to the St. George Theater in Staten Island was pretty long for me, coming from Westchester.  I chose to go on public transportation, because I otherwise would have been driving down there during rush hour and that might make things difficult from a restroom point of view.  Also, I wanted to ride the Staten Island Ferry, which I have not been on for many years.

The weather was good for a ferry ride.  It was neither hot nor cold and the water was quite calm.  

Everybody else looks so young on public transportation these days.  Maybe older people like me aren't back on yet.

The St George is a very beautiful historical theater, with ornate decorations.  It's a very short walk from the ferry, though a shopping mall and a park and then one more block.

The Fosters were good, tho the repartee sounded tenser than it used to. I hope their marriage is ok. They did mention that Dave was on oxy for back pain, though, and they had both just gotten over a virus, so that might have affected their mood.

I like to sit in the back row of the upper balcony, so no one is breathing on me. Unfortunately this meant that the video material they were showing was partially blocked with scaffolding. They showed an interesting video of the history of the artists that David worked with. I couldn’t see all the faces, though I recognized some anyway.

They had their three year old son, Rennie, out there playing drums briefly. He’s obviously taking after his dad who was playing with adult orchestras at age six. 

They also had Daniel Emmett singing, and some audience members.  Originally, Dave said he would have 2 audience members sing.  He ended up letting 2 more sing.  They were all 4 really good.  Kat said it made her nervous that there were so many good singers, but it was New York after all. One of the women was only 18.  Dave told her she was going to be singing on Broadway.

The concert was supposed to end at 9:30, but they got out closer to 10, maybe because more audience members sang.  Some of the audience members said that they were going to sing a capella, but the band was always able to pick up and join in.

There were three eminent band members whose history they also discussed and played excerpts from. We often don’t get to hear about studio musicians who are typically amazing.  Unfortunately, I didn't write down the names of these band members. They had a bass, a drummer, and a synthesist. 

I'm searching around the internet to find the names of the other performers.  I think the bassist was Keith Nelson.  The drummer was JR Robinson, who bills himself as Michael's drummer.  I'm still searching around to find the keyboard/synth player, who was very impressive filling in orchestral sounds.  

Daniel Emmett was on AGT, I think.  He was introduced as a new Josh Groban.  I would say Emmett has a wonderful voice, but he's not Josh Groban.  Josh has a fabulous ability to convey emotion with his voice, in addition to having a beautiful voice.  Emmett is good at conveying emotion, too, but he's just not Josh Groban.  

Dave has said before that he's tried to find another Josh Groban, but hasn't.  I still don't think he has, but Emmett is worth listening to nevertheless. 

It was a good show, overall. I think Dave was discouraged that it wasn’t a bigger venue and wasn’t full, tho he didn’t say so. He likes to be a hit, though he’s always used famous singers as foils, disguising his role behind the scenes, because his singing isn’t so great, though it’s definitely improving.

I was impressed that his Russian counterpart, Igor Krutoy, is actually a wonderful, emotive singer as well.  I think Dave might be getting there.  It sounded to me like his voice was resonating more than it used to.

Kat sounded fabulous.  They said she had been singing through a cold on that tour, which made me nervous.  I once read a story about Placido Domingo's father damaging his voice singing through a cold.   

In several cases, they played songs that had lost, rather than won.  They did the number where they were kicked off Masked Singer, which Dave blamed Kat for, which I didn't like so much.  It didn't sound like he was joking around. They played a song that had lost for an Oscar to a song from Top Gun.  Dave blamed the casting of the movies for the fates of the songs, so he showed scenes from Top Gun during his song, to try to illustrate how his song might have won with a better movie.  He said his music had been nominated for Oscars 3 times and had always lost.  That's ok.  He has plenty of Grammys.

Hellfire cover & Israel & Hamas

This delightful cover was recently posted by VoicePlay.  I'm just finding this group & enjoying them, particularly the bass, Geoff Castellucci.  

This cover was released before the recent conflagration in Israel.  Yet the lyrics keep running through my head in response to the war there.  "You know I am a righteous man and of my virtue I am justly proud..." leading him up to a decision to murder an innocent woman.

I suppose pride in being virtuous is involved in many instances of sinful behavior, but it seems so applicable to this particular conflict -- where both sides are so sure they have God on their side.

******

Some other people posting

People ask me all the time if I am "pro-Israel" because I am a Jew who has lived in Israel, and my answer is that being "pro-Israel" or being "pro-Palestine" or being a "Zionist" does not properly capture the nuance of thought most people do or should have about this issue. It…

— Isaac Saul (@Ike_Saul) October 10, 2023

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ger Killeen (@gerkill)

When I was a little boy, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor. It was a surprise attack, and thousands of U.S. servicemembers perished. As a nation, we were stunned. And we vowed to strike back. Revenge was understandably on everyone’s mind, including many Americans of…

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 8, 2023

@LindseyStirling @hhcamphitheater Concert Bridgeport 8/1/23

 Wow!  

I saw this concert a few days ago, but didn't have the time to devote to writing it up.  

I haven't been going to as many events as I used to, due to the pandemic.  This one promised to be sort of outdoors, so I went.

It's a very interesting structure: kind of a tent, to keep off any precipitation, but then a substantial open gap at the sides, to let air through.  Curiously, for an open air venue, it's nestled between two noisy transport corridors: the MetroNorth/Amtrak train track and I-95 -- the super busy corridor along the Connecticut Coast.  

Its positioning guarantees it will be a noisy place, even without a concert.  Necessarily, they're going to have to crank up the volume to allow the music to be heard over the background noise. I found it necessary to have ear plugs in for most of the concert.

The opening act was Walk off the Earth. This was a competent band with a female lead singer and 4 male instrumentalists behind her.  This seems to be the configuration so often.  The male instrumentalists seem to want to be able to concentrate on their instruments, without having to worry about stage presence, so they have a female do that.  From what I can tell, the lead singer in such bands may make more money off specific gigs, but she doesn't have the flexibility and consistency of employment that the backup musicians have.  They often get repeat gigs with other soloists.    Seems sexist

They did some interesting things.  They had a Beatles medley, where each line was a different song.  They had 3 kids come up to sing one song -- during which the female lead vocalist went upstage and became a backup musician, with a guitar.  They had one piece where the band all got together on one harp guitar to play a medley that included part of "Somebody that I used to know"

So, they were competent, but I did get impatient after a while.  They went on until 9.  Lindsey did join them for one number, but unfortunately the sound balance was such that her violin didn't carry too well.

She finally came on stage after 9, which was a huge relief -- hearing some of her familiar music, seeing her .....

And, then, she lost audio and had to mime for a while until it came back.

Ultimately, tho, she was fabulous.  There were 2 instrumentalists behind her.  One did drums and one did, I think, both piano and guitar.  She both danced and did aerials.  It was extraordinary watching her hanging upside down on a trapeze-like gadget 20 feet above the stage, spinning, and playing the violin -- just incredible.

She did the Bach Toccata & Fugue, which is normally played on the organ, but she pulled it off beautifully -- and as well as any classical violinist.  It was very fast, with simultaneous notes and so impressive -- transitioning into a rock with the backup performers

But really the most phenomenal was Crystallize.  I was able to take out the ear plugs for that one.  She was up on that trapeze-like contraption all dressed in white and spinning around yet the notes came out so exquisitely, with a wonderful tone that I would call fruity (not sure why).  I cried during the whole piece, because it was so overwhelmingly beautiful.

She also had 5 backup dancers who performed with her on many numbers.  They were all excellent dancers, tho not multitasking with instruments.

She did one aerial routine in a hoop without the violin as well & one duet where she got the guitarist to dance with her.  He did a good job, but not nearly so good as she did.

I was left in awe of this extraordinary performer.  I always knew she was good, but in person it was astounding -- all the more so because on her albums she often has vocalists joining her, but this time she didn't, which made her ability to hold the stage all the more impressive.

Brava, Lindsey!

******

Addendum about parking difficulties

First, ticketmaster tried to scam me out of $40 for parking, when parking at this venue is free

Then, when I got there, I got directed into an entrance where I was prevented from climbing into the ramp and had to go around about quite far to get back.  When you're going into the ramp at this venue, be sure to be in the rightmost lane. 

I was somewhat late due to confusion at the ramp, but only missed part of the opening band.

******

Here's an instagram post with Lindsey performing with Walk the Earth and one of their kid soloists.  Warning: SUPER CUTE 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Walk off the Earth (@walkofftheearth)

#LindseyStirling #WalkofftheEarth #BridgeportCT #HartfordHealthcareAmphitheater 

@joshgroban in @sweeneytoddbway

I was, at one time, totally obsessed with Josh Groban. I hung out on Twitter every night until 3 am chatting with other Grobanites and waiting for Josh to tweet. 

He knew we were there. Things happened that made it clear that he was reading what we were writing. Other Grobanites noticed also. 

There was a mysterious list of people who had tweeted him. Maybe he started it. As soon as you started tweeting him, you would get on the list. Maybe he followed the list so he could keep track of us.    But he was definitely reading, trying to see what we would say about him. 

Sometimes he directly answered a tweet. That happened to me several times. Or sometimes I would post a question and he would answer it in an interview. 

I started calling him my three quarters friend. There was obviously some communication back and forth, but there was also a disconnect.       

There were people who were obsessed with him, who followed the social media of women who had been spotted with him. There were comments made on Twitter by these women that seemed to be about him without actually mentioning his name. There were websites where people gossiped about these women. 

Some of these comments made him sound somewhat unsavory. I don’t want to repeat what was said. There’s every reason to think it was unreliable. 

 Yet, I believed them enough to step back from my obsession with him. 

The voices were spectacularly beautiful. The music was complex and fast. Singing some of those songs was like trying to say a tongue twisters faster and faster “Sally sells sea shells…”

Josh’s singing was magnificent, astonishing, loud, clear, well enunciated, and heading into bass territory. I wonder whether, after all these years of trying to be the barytenor that David Foster wanted him to be, he’s finally allowed to let us hear the strongest part of his voice — or whether his voice has simply gotten lower with age. That happens to many men.

He’s always been a great singer, but there was a step beyond here. Beyond great, as if he had woken up to a new level. There was that one song, I wish I could remember its name, where really his voice was like thunder. It was late in the first half. Perhaps someone will tell me which one it was. Perhaps I’ll get the record.

But it took me back to the unsavory things that were said about him, way back then, making me wonder if they were true, making me wonder his lifelong obsession with this show reflects something inside of him. It definitely has been a lifelong obsession. He named his dog Sweeney.

I was so surprised to discover that the song “nothing’s gonna harm you” was actually not Sweeney‘s song. It was someone else. That’s a song he’s sung in many many concerts for years. I assumed that whatever role that song was, he would sing the role that song came with — but, no, it was a different role.

He said something in some video that I saw that led me to believe he learned that song when he was four years old. Is it possible that his parents could’ve taken him to see *this* musical when he was four years old? Doesn’t seem like a good idea.

When I was a child, I saw “The Wizard of Oz” many times. I came to learn that it came on every spring. I would watch the newspaper for it. At first, I found the wicked witch very frightening. Later, I came to admire her iconic performance. 

I learned that, while Judy Garland died relatively young of drug addiction, Margaret Hamilton lived to be 83. By all reports, Hamilton was a lovely person who worked for a time as a kindergarten teacher and became very concerned at how frightening her performance had been — concerned about its effects on children. 

I developed a theory. I thought, perhaps, if you put all your goodness into your performances, you would take home the bad; while, if you put all your badness into your performance, you could take home your good. Maybe it will be that way for Josh. 

They did have Josh dancing briefly on stage. Anyone who knows Josh will know that that is kind of incredible. It was very brief though. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that as he’s gotten older, he’s gotten less inhibited. There has been a swimsuit photo that would’ve been impossible even 10 years ago. He’s been on stage with sequins. That also would’ve been impossible 10 years ago. During the Awake tour, he wore a T-shirt, as I recall. Also, during the Awake tour, he was running on stage, so a suit jacket would’ve gotten sweaty.

I should say something about the other performers.. It’s a large cast. In some ways, I found Annaleigh Ashford to be at least as good as Josh, if not better, not so much for her singing, but for her comedic abilities. It’s not exactly that she made me laugh, but she was a comedic actress in a tragic/horror musical. 

I found Ruthie Ann Miles‘ singing very intriguing. She had both a high, haunting soprano, and a loud, low belt. I’ve been criticized for having a lack of passagio. I didn’t hear any passagio from her. It was two voices. That’s the way I sing. I thought that meant I couldn’t sing on Broadway, but she’s doing it, and she sounds great.

I’ll have to look at the program and see if my memory is sparked about any of the other performers.

One of the reasons that I got disenchanted, with Josh, also, was the horrendous audio issues in his concerts. The audio was frequently way too loud and horribly distorted. At the NASA County Coliseum, they shone bright spotlights in our eyes, which was very painful. Theater, I knew that sort of thing wasn’t going to happen.

Still, I did go, even though I’m planning to have surgery in a couple of weeks, and getting a bug would be really bad from the perspective of having my surgery. I noticed that, although theater was packed, there were very few older people there.  I think people my age are not going out that much still.  Older people are still having severe consequences from Covid. That’s noticeable, because Josh has often had a contingent of older fans. I didn’t notice that the younger women behind me were saying his name over and over again. Therefore, there are definitely young women interested in him.

I really have to ask myself why I’m still so attached to him, despite all that’s gone on, that I would go out and take a risk with my health. I thought that attendance was dropping off at the seat at the show, because I’ve seen him advertising a lot; and the advance ticket sales have been way down. 

Nevertheless, the show was absolutely packed. I thought maybe I wouldn’t have much of a chance later. I needn’t have worried so much. Still, I suspect, this show will not have as long of a run as “Natasha Pierre, and the great Comet of 1812” had. Despite the brilliant performances, the subject matter is very disturbing.

I still have a weird sense of loyalty to him. There’s still something in my head that tells me he’s my 3/4 friend. I have met them a few times in person. There was a time when I would’ve gone after the show to get my program signed at the stage door. I didn’t even try that this time. I hadn’t had dinner yet, but it wasn’t worth it to me.

He might recognize me. He’s met me a few times, because I used to do that stage door thing, and one time I paid a lot of money to go to an event, where he would see me in person. I doubt that I would be important to him, even if he did recognize me. There are so many other fans.

And, yet, there’s that sense in my head that my 3/4 friend has a show that might have sales falling off, and maybe I really should go show up.

I should feel that way about “Triple Threat”. The guy who’s doing that (off-Broadway) show really is my friend. I did see it online, when it was streamed, though. It was really great, and very inspiring. If you get a chance, go see that. 

There was a long line for the women's room.  Fortunately, it did move quickly, but they restarted after intermission, before everyone got in.  That's not ok.  They should wait.

I was in a theater this summer that had made the restrooms co-ed and made sure that there were enough of them for people to get through quickly.   This involved making stalls that were private -- with floor to ceiling walls and doors with door jams.  Sinks were out in public. 

I don't think I'll buy the album for this show, tho, after all.  As beautiful as the music was, it's not exactly easy listening.

I tend to like to be in the back at the top, and did even before the pandemic, because I figure that germs are heavier than air and will tend to fall down into the orchestra.  The back row seems to be universally sold out on these shows, curiously.  Maybe it was cheaper.  

However, I realized I was out of practice.  I didn't think to bring binoculars, so I could see the performers's faces.  I know what Josh looks like, but not the others.  Maybe when you buy a seat near the back, they should suggest binoculars.

The lady next to me left her umbrella.  I tried to call out to her, but she was lost in the crowd.

#SweeneyTodd #Sondheim #JoshGroban #Groban #LuntFontanneTheatre #RestroomLines #Broadway #LostUmbrella