Friday, March 21, 2025

SOAR -- Sky Rink, Pier 61, NYC March 5, 2025

 I've been watching ice dance videos for several years now.  I'm not sure why I've been so taken with ice dancing, when I'm not all that interested in conventional dancing.  Maybe it's because I skated as a child, but never had lessons, so I never learned how to do anything fancy.  I would have liked to have learned how to do something more -- at least skate backwards, which I can only do very awkwardly.  I don't think I would have been happy doing anything with spinning or flipping as I have a tendency towards motion sickness.  Also, I stopped doing cartwheels in my 30's because I started seeing stars -- making me fear detached retina.

I've been particularly taken with the French team: Papadakis & Cizeron.  They won several championships & an Olympic Gold.  Recently, they broke up -- much to my consternation.

Johnny Weir, who is gay, and who is a sportscaster for figure skating,  always said he thought Cizeron's skating was better.  I didn't see that at all.  I thought all the drama and style of the duo came from Papadakis -- and that he just preferred Cizeron, because Weir is gay -- and so, as it happens, is Cizeron.

Of course, it's really none of my business why they broke up as a team.  They seemed to get along well and had been dancing together since childhood.  I feel frustrated and curious. 

Now Cizeron has deleted all his old Instagram posts, and is starting with a new woman as his skating partner.

Papadakis has become a coach, has done some sportscasting, and has been skating with another women -- Hubbell, who she trained and competed with.  She also posted a video of herself singing.  She's a good singer as well as a skater.

Cizeron has an exceptionally attractive face.  Papadakis has this classic Greek look, which reminds me of ancient statues -- but is not conforming with Hollywood standards of what is beautiful.  She's a beautiful skater tho -- very expressive, with dramatic facial expressions.  She's much more articulate than he.  She also has more interesting Instagram posts.

Then, Tuesday, she said she was starting a tour called "SOAR" the following day in NYC.  I live in the suburbs of NYC.  My schedule was clear.  I could go.  Here's an article about the SOAR show https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/article/ice-dance-internationals-tour-offers-skaters-and-audiences-chance-soar

This show is sponsored by Ice Dance international.  Here's a website with their upcoming events https://icedanceinternational.simpletix.com/

Here is Ice Dance International on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/icedanceinternational/

Here is a rehearsal video that gives you a flavor of the show


It's hard for me to turn on a dime.  I'm a creature of routines.  Just suddenly going into the city during flu season is not my usual deal -- and a downpour was forecast.  But the show itself was pretty cheap -- $25 plus fees; and I've never seen ice dancing in person, only in videos

I decided to go.

It rained even more than was forecast.  

I used my clear plastic backpack, because I thought maybe there would be a security search.  There was no search

I thought the backpack would be waterproof, because it's plastic.  The zippers leaked.  

I worried that the bag dinner that I packed wouldn't pass security.  It turned out that the Sky Rink doesn't care if you bring in food and doesn't care if you eat in the stands.  They only care if you eat on the ice.  I had no intention of setting foot on the ice.

This was a pretty informal setup.  This rink is used for all kinds of youth sports.  In fact, the show was barely over when some hockey players came in to start playing.

The stands were probably only about half full -- plenty of room.  I had a whole section to my self on the far end.  That was nice.  I tried to spread out my wet clothing, tho an ice rink is not a great place to dry wet clothing.  

I was wearing a mask, because I'm a germaphobe -- but I didn't feel uncomfortable taking off my mask as I was pretty much by myself.  As usual, I sat in the back row, with the thought that heavier than air germs will likely fall away from me.

Papadakis had two solos in this show, but also skated in some of the ensemble pieces.  She also did a skating duo with a different woman, Alyssa Czisney, another former champion.   I felt really excited to see her.  She was great.  She had a wardrobe malfunction in one of the group numbers, with the seam of her tights coming open.  She had a wardrobe malfunction in a major competition once that cost her team the title, I think, because it was indecent and distracted her.  This one she ignored & skated on.

It seemed so odd to me that this person, who I regard as an international celebrity, would be skating in such informal circumstances.   Her performances were less high speed than what she used to do with Cizeron.  Still, you can see that she's a pro.

Papadakis has been promoting female duos performing.  She points out that there are more girls who want to learn ice dancing than there are men.  That means that girls can only compete if a scarce man chooses them.  This reminds me of the classic dance party, where women are forced to choose each other as partners because there aren't enough men.  Here's a video of her dancing with Madison Hubbell


I saw an interview where Hubbell explained that she learned lifts as a child when ice dancing with her brother, while Papadakis said she couldn't do lifts.  Hubbell also commented that she has a new body since having a baby -- but people don't mention that having a baby makes you a whole lot stronger.  You have to carry around all this weight when pregnant -- and then as the kid is growing you have to carry them and strollers and diaper bags.  When you look at that mom, whose body is thicker than it used to be, remember that's she's stronger -- and look at Hubbell doing lifts!

Rohene Ward did an interesting solo -- wearing an elaborate reddish- purple outfit with frills.  He has long hair now -- which is very curly and moves dramatically when he skates.  He is listed as retired in Wikipedia, but he certainly didn't seem to be retired in this show   I really liked his ice dancing.  I thoought he conveyed a lot of drama.  Here's a video of him


I was also excited to see Oona & Gage Brown, whose videos have appeared frequently on my social media feed.  I think it was stated that they had won some junior championship.  They're brother and sister.

It was once explained to me that ice dancers don't jump -- only figure skaters jump.  I did see a few jumps tho.  Perhaps 3 in the whole show.

I was really hoping to get a selfie with Papadakis, but there wasn't a meet and greet afterwards.  The coordinator told me that I would have to go to the show in West Orange Friday to get a meet and greet.  OK, I am a fan.  I did think it was a good show -- but I don't think I will go again.

Here's an instagram post of Ice Dance International. This guy dancing was the emcee of the show, but he didn't dance in the show.  I'm not sure who he is.  Maybe Douglas Webster?


Just a comment on rain clothing.  I had a pair of gloves that had been said to be waterproof on the webstie where I ordered them.  However, they were only water resistant.  After an extended period of time out in the pouring rain they were thoroughly soaked.  24 hours later, after hanging up , they were still fairly wet.  I also had my LL Bean low boots, which I think they call gumshoes.  They are definitely waterproof, but they leaked around the opening at the top.  I was weraing a long wool dress that was not completely covered by my raincoat.  That was sopping at the hem.

The real hero of this story was the Jack Murphy raincoat that I got from an Irish website.  That coat is amazing. Whatever it covered stayed dry.


Here's a video showing some highlights of the show -- great camera work

Here's a newer video of Papadakis pairs dancing with another woman, past champion Alyssa Czisny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alissa_Czisny.  

Papadakis points out that many fine women ice dancers are unable to compete because there are not enough male ice dancers for them to find a partner.  Therefore she is advocating for women's pairs competitions.  


This is a video of Papadakis solo dancing at Rockefeller Center.  I believe that this dance was also in the SOAR tour, at least she did a dance in that same costume.  I feel this may be a sort of social commentary.  In any case, note that she injured her knee and was bleeding at the end.


#IceDance #IceDanceInternational #SOAR #Papadakis #GabriellaPapadakis #MadisonHubbell #AlyssaCzisney #OonaBrown #GageBrown #DouglasWebster

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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

@BoopTheMusical @officialdfoster @angelicahale


I only vaguely remember the Betty Boop comics.  I’ve been told that there are historical videos on YouTube.  I never got around to watching those before seeing this show.  A friend asked me what this musical was about and I couldn’t say.  I had seen a trailer.  I knew that David Foster was involved.  I knew Angelica Hale was in it.  That was all I needed to know. I told her that I expected it to have a lot of singing and dancing and that the music was likely to be good, because Foster was involved.

*****

David Foster

I first learned about David Foster, because I was a huge Grobanite.  Josh was originally signed by Foster.  Josh told stories of his initial interactions with Foster.  Later I read an autobiography, I saw more and more YouTube videos featuring him.  I went to one of his concerts with his wife, Kat McPhee, last spring.

Foster intrigues me.  He is a huge genius.  He was playing piano with adult musicians when he was 6.  He has done accompaniment, production, arrangement, conducting, and promotion for many famous singers other than Josh: Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Whitney Houston, Blake Shelton, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton .. and more, He has 16 Grammys and 47 nominations.  

When my brother graduated from college, there was a speaker named Marian Wright Edelman.  That’s a thing with college graduations.  They give honorary degrees to people who they want to have speak at graduation.  The only thing I remember from her speech went something like this “There is no end to the good we can do, if we let someone else take the credit.”

Foster is a master of this.  He was told early in his career that, while he is a brilliant pianist, his stage presence when playing is not great — also his singing hasn’t been great, tho it’s improving, I’ve noticed.

So, he finds these singers. They stand in front of his piano.  They have beautiful voices.  They have great charisma.  They distract the audience. He sits behind the piano and plays and conducts the orchestra. His ear is said to be so sensitive that he can hear a butterfly in  a hurricane. He has often composed and/or arranged the music.  He seldom has sheet music.  It’s all from memory.  Sometimes he shouts out praise for the singer before or after the song.  He introduces them with flowery introductions.  He gets the audience to be fans of the singer.

Yet, all the while, he is the genius.  He is the puppeteer behind the scenes.  People are on to him, tho.  He’s been invited to judge TV talent shows in Asia.

People have been asking him to write a musical for a long time and he's said he was working on it.  He finally did.  Yet, if you look at the program, he’s just one name amongst many, credited with writing the music — while others are credited for lyrics, production, acting — whatever.  Yet, despite his lack of prominence in the program, I believe he was really the mastermind here.  

And this is where he thrives.  His concerts with his wife, where it’s mostly just the two of them, haven’t had the popularity of some of the other performers that he’s promoted.  He’s self-effacing.  He’s doing exactly what Marian Wright Edelman said to do.  He’s letting everyone else take the credit -- except he generally does get a fair amount of money

Apparently, Foster was in the audience, but I went to the restroom before leaving the theater, so I missed him.  I'm an old lady.  I have to be mindful of restrooms. Also, I was in the back of the balcony -- as usual -- because I feel that is least germy.  I think germs are heavier than air and tend to fall away from the balcony.  I'm pretty sure he was in the orchestra, so I likely would have missed him anyway.  I met a young fan afterwards at the stage door who said she had shaken his hand.


Angelica Hale

Another person I was interested in was Angelica Hale.  I’m not a music producer, and the sound on YouTube videos is not that great.  Therefore, other than the fact that she was cute, I wasn’t quite sure why the talent show judges were so very enthused about her singing when she was a child.  But I have an acquaintance on X who was also very enthused about her.  He and I have a shared interest in child prodigy singers.

She has been very persistent in pursuing her music.  She has a YouTube channel.  She puts out videos.  She appears on the videos of her voice teacher, Tara Simons, who reviews singers online, and has become something of a celebrity herself.   And she managed to book this role — the child or adolescent who is a longtime fan of Boop, 100 years after Boop first appeared in the comics.  I watch her on YouTube.

I don’t know how to say this politely, but she has an enormous mouth.  I hope she doesn't think I'm insulting her by saying that.  It's a professional advantage, I think. If I could open my mouth that wide, I would probably be a better singer as well.  


******

So this is why I went: Foster & Hale.

I wasn’t sure that was a good reason to be at opening night of previews of a new Broadway musical.  A friend assured me that it was.


*********

Sound

If you’ve been reading this column for a long time, you know that I have sensitive ears.  The audio is generally the first thing that I comment on, so I might as well just do that and get it over with -- even tho I think it was the only flaw in the show, which was otherwise excellent.  Starting out with the negative is not good psychology, I know -- but here goes.

The orchestra was too loud.  It was uncomfortable to listen to.  I don't ordinarily have this problem on Broadway.  It's an issue with concert tours, but not usually on Broadway.  

The volume of the orchestra was a particular problem with hearing the lyrics when the star, Jasmine Amy Rogers, was singing.  

She has mastered a sound that was very like the sound of early sound recordings from the first talkies.  People sang higher then.  

High singing has all but disappeared, because modern audio technology clips the overtones of sopranos, so they don't sound good.  This is one of the ways that the music industry -- like so many other industries -- discriminates against women.  I've even noticed it being a problem with Josh Groban.  For years I thought he was losing his edge in singing, particularly high notes, then I realized recently that it was just that the audio technology was clipping his overtones.

But there was also a slightly different accent back then in the early talkies -- and a slight scratchy sound.

She had all of that down -- very impressive -- but, unfortunately, not loud enough to be heard clearly over the orchestra.

It should be noted that the Broadhurst, while a Broadway theater, is somewhat smaller than some others, so sound carries better, which is probably why the orchestra sounded too loud -- but the sound balance between Rogers and the orchestra is for the audio engineers.

I saw their setup when I went down to the restroom just before intermission.  Very impressive panel with lots of controls and lights.  I didn't say anything to them, tho. I didn't want to distract them during the show.


*******

OK, let's get back to the show


************

General Description

How to describe this surprisingly complex show?  It's about the comic strip.  It's a musical, of course.  There's a sci-fi aspect.  There's a coming of age story.  There are sub-plots about overcoming political corruption and sexual harassment. There are two romances.  There is fantastic puppetry. The sets are often computer generated on a screen, tho there are props.  It's light and joyful.  There is no high drama suffering or breathtaking suspense. The music, aside from being loud, has grandeur.  

We live in very serious times. It was nice to have something light and fluffy to watch.

I'm never quite sure what is a spoiler.  If you don't want to know details about the show you could stop here.  I'm going to start with some of the tricks they used to convey plot elements.  I don't know how many of the plot elements were actually in the original comics.  Maybe, if you're a Boop fan, you already know the story.  I've found that with the Marvel Comics movies.  My son will tell me that the story was following the comic books.  He knows this, somehow, because he's a master of trivia and he remembers all kinds of details about these things.  


******


Colors & Worlds:

The show deals with two worlds.  

One is the world of Betty Boop, a black and white comic strip story.  In this world, everything is black and white, and even the characters are made a bit paler by makeup -- tho they don't actually put on pancake makeup to make their skin really white or grey.  The props and costumes are black and white.  The background screen is old timey animation.

The other world is "reality" which happens in 2025 in New York City. Reality is in color.  This is sort of like the Wizard of Oz, where Kansas is black and white and Oz is in color.  

She travels from one world to the other using sci-fi contraptions that look very like early movie and comic strip conceptions of sci-fi machines.  The obvious fakeness of the gadgets does not distract from the show, because it's true to the context: old time comic strips and movies.

The colors of the costumes, when Boop arrives in reality, are very bright.  She has to learn the colors, as she has never seen colors before.  

Later, there is a wonderful dance where the dancers have costumes that are colorful on one side and black and white on the other, with some having the black & white on the back and others on the front.  When they do this dance, they switch which direction they are facing to symbolize which world they are representing.  I thought this was very clever.

One curious thing is that people in "reality" seem to have no trouble believing that this is really Betty Boop out of the comics.  Also, there never seems to be an issue that she wouldn't have any real money or need a place to stay.  Those sorts of real reality issues kind of call into question whether she has actually voyaged to reality -- or rather just another comic strip.  

One item of suspense is that Betty Boop's world cannot exist without her -- therefore everyone there is imperiled by her absence.


Puppetry:

Boop's dog is represented by a marionette.  They don't hide the marionettist at all.  He's right there with the dog puppet -- tho he generally keeps his face down, looking at the puppet -- and wears solid, dark colors including a baseball style cap.  Yet the little dog is marvelous -- so convincing and cute.  He is well lit to draw attention away from the operator.  I feel this puppetry was probably the best I've ever seen.  If you're a fan of puppetry, it would be worth going to see the show just for this -- seriously, maybe even if you're not a particular fan of puppetry.


Romance:

There are 2 couples that fall in love between the two worlds. Boop falls for a young jazz musician in reality.  The professor, who invented the time machine and visited reality before, falls in love with a female scientist who he first met on his first voyage.  This is a second sort of suspenseful thing that arises during the show.  Are these lovers star crossed?  More later


Coming of Age:

This is where Angelica Hale came in.  She plays a young fan of Boop.  When Boop arrives in reality, she pops in at Comic Con -- fortuitously -- the one place where a comic book character would be totally expected.  And, fortuitously, the first person who sees her is a Boop fan.  

I've never actually been to Comic Con.  I have no idea how many Boop fans are out there.  It's an old comic.  It doesn't seem likely that there are a huge number of Boop fans, but this girl is definitely a fan.  She's all decked out with Boop pix and immediately recognizes Boop.

Boop ends up going home with her. She learns that the girl is a talented painter -- and she encourages the girl to follow her talent rather than trying to become Boop.

Then Hale has a solo.  

Now, was it because I was specifically interested in Hale and listened more closely?  Was I prejudiced by that?  

But I feel she was really extraordinary.  I could hear what the judges heard in her -- a sound that does not come through in YouTube videos at all -- a powerful sound, with rich overtones and magnificent vibrato.  While the orchestra made Rogers hard to hear, there was no such problem with Hale.  Hale's voice rang out like a clarion.  I wondered if she really even needed a mic.  Broadway performers tend to have good voices but she was a standout.

It's not clear how old this character is.  Hale herself is 17.  Maybe the character is 17 as well, because she's applying to Cooper Union.  

But she doesn't come off as old as she is. She's very short.  She's very deferential towards Boop.  She's told not to take the subway alone.  The impression is definitely of a child fan.

So it's particularly startling that this huge voice comes out when she sings -- clearly not the voice of a child -- he voice an adult master singer and great artist.  

I feel so hesitant to become her fan.  I know she has a transplanted kidney.  Those don't last as long as original kidneys.  I fear that I'm looking at a potential tragedy here.

Still, for now, there is this star quality voice -- definitely expecting her to be up there with the all time greats.

I met her after the show. I told her I watch her youtube channel.  She thanked me. She is very gracious. She definitely comes across as 17 when you meet her in person -- despite her small stature.  She signed my program. I got a bunch of signatures, so I'm not sure which was her.  

This is not to take away from Rogers, who is a great performer as well.  As I mentioned, Rogers was trying to imitate a particular sound from the early days of talkies.  She is perfectly capable of projecting -- and she does more later in the show -- perhaps to show evolution of character.

I didn't see Hale doing much dancing -- not sure if that's one of her talents.  

This whole experience is helping me see a big defect of the TV talent shows.  I can't hear, in a YouTube video, what the judges hear.  I don't know why they go wild over particular performers.  When I heard Hale in person, it was different.  Suddenly, the extraordinary quality of her voice was apparent.


****

Restrooms

Restrooms are only in the basement and there are *long* lines.  Ugh.  I went to the basement during the closing number of the first act to avoid the lines.  Therefore I missed "I'm where I wanna be" which is probably the signature song of the show

**** 

Race

They've cast Boop with a mixed race actress. I'm sure the MAGA crowd won't like this.  However, she did a great job.  She sings, dances, and acts.  She really looks like Boop. She knows how to sound like an early talkies recording.  She's very talented and pretty.  If you look at some of the early illustrations of Boop, it's not entirely clear that she's white.  Here are some images from the NPR website.  

Interestingly, the love interest for her in the show is white.


This article says she's black https://www.pbs.org/publiceditor/blogs/pbs-public-editor/betty-oops/ I hope the MAGA people don't take down the NPR website somehow.

There is no overt discussion of race in the show and the ensemble is diverse.  Hale, I believe, is Filipina.  Filipinos in general are gaining a reputation for great singing.

Sexual Harassment

Boop is shown dealing with sexual harassment at the hands of a corrupt mayoral candidate, Raymond, played by Erich Bergen.  I probably didn't really pay attention to the quality of his performance too much, because he was the villain of the show.  Still, he definitely held his own -- with a good clear voice.   

I was really glad to see how they dealt with sexual harassment.  You could see exactly how it goes, as Raymond tries to exploit her for his personal advancement, while preying on her, and not even letting her speak.  


Opera Glasses

Since I'm often in the back row, opera glasses are often helpful.  In the past, I used birding glasses, which are a bit stronger.  The opera glasses only have 3x magnification.  I'm not sure which I like better.  The opera glasses did help me see the performers' faces better -- tho it wasn't a huge change.  I found them fairly easy to use with glasses.

I couldn't use them and see the dance numbers, tho.  They give a narrow field of view.  To appreciate dancing, you need to see the whole stage.

Dinner beforehand

I went to dinner with a friend beforehand.  It used to be that if you went over to 10th Ave you could get a reasonably priced meal.  It turned out to be $65 just for my food alone.  Sigh.  Maybe I'll look on 11th Ave next time.  


****

I think I'm going to post this now & maybe add more later.  I often do that.


Definite spoiler

When they all get back to Betty Boop's world, things stay in color.  I'm not sure why they chose that option.  

BTW happy ending.


Some Instagram videos about this show









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Sunday, November 24, 2024

Wicked Part 1

 My son and I saw this in a laser theater.  Now, I feel like I should see the regular version to compare -- except I didn't really enjoy it enough to see it again right away.  I can't say for sure how the picture might have differed from regular movies, but there was certainly nothing wrong with it.  

It was interesting looking up in the projector booth and seeing that the image was coming from a rectangular source, where something similar to the image on the screen was visible on the source.

This was the 8pm show.  The theater was more than half full, I think, which was encouraging.  I do like going to movie theaters.  The three that were closest to my house have closed, which I find very discouraging, tho one has reopened under new management.

I had read that there was a lot of singing in the audience in some theaters.  This one had an up front announcement not to sing -- and no one did that I could hear.

The instrumental music, unfortunately, seemed anemic to me.  At home, I have a big woofer on my computer right over my head and I'm used to hearing more bass.  I missed that sense of depth.

The great news was Cynthia Erivo. She is such a fabulous performer!  She really drew me in with her portrayal of the bullied Elphaba.  I should say that I have *not* seen the original musical on stage.  I might the only person in NYC who hasn't.  Still, I have heard Edina Menzel sing. I'm not a big Menzel fan. I'm glad I saw Erivo first.  Here's a short YouTube video about Erivo being cast



I think these people are supposed to be high school or maybe college students.  The performers all look considerably older.  You have to suspend your disbelief.  Jonathan Bailey (Fyero) is really 36 according to google. You can see a few wrinkles starting to form in his face -- definitely not a young student -- lovely voice, tho, and suitably sweet and high for a very young man -- also very attractive.  Erivo is 37.  There's no way either of them comes off as high school or college.

The special effects were excellent -- totally believable -- loved them.  I also enjoyed the sets and costumes.

They didn't use little people for the Munchkins, I noticed.  I'm still back in the old Wizard of Oz.  Little people would have been a nice touch, I think.  I did like the costumes and hairstyles of the Munchkins tho.

This tries to be a prequel to the Wizard of Oz.  I have never read the Frank Baum sequels, tho. This might be consistent with the original movie as a prequel -- but I wonder it it fits in with the other Baum novels.

My son was frustrated that this was only part  1.  He wondered how they were going to take a 2 hour play and make it into a 4 hour movie.  He had seen the original somehow, even though I hadn't.  He was annoyed by the parts that were added to make it longer.  I, obviously, couldn't tell the difference, not having seen the original.

I was surprised at what a high voice Ariana Grande has.  I haven't listened to her much -- but she can really do those very high notes. She often sounds more like a classical singer than a pop singer in this, which surprised me -- as I had taken her for a pop singer.  She does a good job as the affected, rich, stuck up, mean girl, Galinda.  I'm not sure it's entirely believable when she decides to be nice to Elphaba.  She just suddenly starts feeling sorry for her.  

I saw a youtube video about the filming of the library scene.  That was quite a magnificent scene, which required a lot of work.  They pointed out in the video that this scene was filmed on a stage. 



The sets were very striking and beautiful.  I came to believe that it was all filmed indoors, but in fact no.  Here's a video about the sets.  I'm just watching this now. Turns out that at least the flower fields were in fact outdoors



I guess people know that there was a wonderful tribute cameo by Menzel & Chenoweth.  Here's a nice vido about that



As usual, I might come back and edit this.  

*****

Here's Edina Menzel singing "Defying Gravity."  I've never been a huge fan of hers, but this is certainly one of her signature songs.


Here's Cynthia Erivo Performing "Defying Gravity"  Of course, the staging is more dramatic in the live action movie, but I think the singing is also better.








And here's a child prodigy singing it starting at 4:16






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