The Theatre Enthusiast

photo by Jenny Anderson It seemed so normal yet foreign and dreamlike all at once. On a warm September afternoon, I walked out of the New York Marriott Marquis, turned right towards 46th Street, cut through the Hotel Edison lobby, and emerged on 47th Street. I stared at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, its marquee lights sparkling like a lighthouse welcoming weary sailors home. I joined the line to enter the theatre and showed the attendants my ID and proof of COVID-19 vaccination - a sign of how different life really is these days. As I passed through the metal detectors, I heard the unmistakable beeps of the ushers' ticket scanners (a sound I hadn't heard in far too long), and that's when it hit me. Broadway is back, and so am I. The usher directed us to our seats and with a deep breath, I stepped into a theatre for the first time in 18 months.  My family and I arrived into New York City earlier that day with tickets in hand for that evening to see Wicked's second perform

A couple weekends ago marked one year since BroadwayCon 2020 and one year since I last set foot in New York City. 2020 was my first year attending BroadwayCon and over the past couple weeks, I've become quite nostalgic reflecting on this memorable weekend. At this time last year I wasn't particularly active on this blog, so I have decided to give myself this excuse to go down memory lane and review, in no particular order, my top 10 favorite memories from BroadwayCon weekend 2020.  THE SUITCASE I went to BroadwayCon last year with my friend and co-worker Mackenzie. Much of the week leading up to BroadwayCon consisted of us texting each other frantically trying to narrow down what to pack. It took some work, but I was able to limit my belongings for the weekend to my carry-on suitcase and a backpack. Mackenzie and I agreed that we would leave work together the night before Con and drive to a hotel near the train station to make our lives easier the following morning. When the ti

I consider myself a chronic collector. By far, my most prized collection is that of my Broadway Playbills (to you laymen out there, a Playbill is the booklet the usher hands you when entering the theatre). Though some Playbills I saved date back to my middle school years, I have been seriously collecting them for the better part of a decade. It started by keeping one Playbill per show I saw on Broadway, then the collection snowballed until I was grabbing extras on my way out of the theatre when the ushers weren't looking. I saved these extras for years because I thought a time might come when I will need some extra money, and I knew there was a market out there for Broadway Playbills. Sure enough, my intuition was correct. Enter 2020. It started innocently enough. Last January I was living my best life at BroadwayCon in New York City, trading Playbills with other collectors and fanatics. I was in way over my head; some people were bringing in suitcases full of Playbills! Neverthele

photo by Taidgh Barron As of the publish date of this post, I am 109 days into my personal quarantine due to the outbreak of COVID-19. That just happens to be the same number of days since Broadway has played a performance. It's an interesting parallel the more I think about it; the same day Broadway shut down, so did life as I knew it. Today The Broadway League announced that all Broadway performances are suspended through January 3rd, 2021. Though this news isn't the least bit surprising and though we all agree The Broadway League made a wise decision for the safety and health of all involved, the theatre community is hurting. Hundreds of actors, musicians, crew members, designers, directors, ushers, box office staff, etc. are out of work for that much longer, as if the theatre industry wasn't cutthroat enough already. Fans around the world who turn to live theatre for artistic expression or a form of therapy are feeling empty and starved of the shows they cling t

photo taken as a screen shot from The Tony Awards Facebook page This morning I awoke with the same energy as Princess Anna on Coronation Day. Today was the equivalent of Christmas Day for Broadway fans across the globe. At 8:30am, the 2019 Tony Award nominations were announced! I had the livestream ready to go as soon as the announcement began, and waited with bated breath as I waited for my favorite shows and stars of the season to receive their nominations. This year's nominations had a lot of surprises, snubs, and excitement. As the Broadway awards season is set, it's time to dish on who was nominated and who was not. NO SURPRISES HERE! Many decisions made by the Tony committee were not surprises to me. On the musical side of the nominations, the Tony buzz around both Stephanie J. Block and Santino Fontana (for their performances in The Cher Show  and Tootsie, respectively) has been deafening for many weeks. I was happy to see their nominations for Outstanding Per

photo by Sara Krulwich "All Rise" is the motif for the Broadway world premiere stage adaptation of Harper Lee's iconic novel. Just as our narrator Scout analyzed within the first few minutes of the show, "All Rise" means much more than standing up for a judge when s/he enters the courtroom. "All Rise" reaches outside of 1930s Maycomb, Alabama and shakes 2019 audiences out of a haze. All rise. Stand up against hatred. Don't let history repeat itself. I first read the 1960  To Kill a Mockingbird  novel when it was assigned in 8th grade. I hadn't touched it again until I checked it back out of the library to read prior to seeing the stage adaptation. Overall, I would say the play stays quite true to the novel, though with several omissions of supporting characters and sub-plots that aren't as relevant to the main trial. The biggest change, which sparked some controversy with Harper Lee's estate, was the alteration of Calpurnia