how have i not seen Planet Earth before this moment in time? i'm currently sitting on a couch in Philly, captivated by weird ass creatures roaming the earth. dj, glots and i had an epic brunch with champagne cocktails galore at Farmicia, did some serious shopping in Old City & Center City, and went to this sweet, gigantic market to buy fresh ingreds for tonight's pork dinner. with brussels sprouts. and cornbread. god almighty. planning to go out to a few bars tonight, including one of the greatest whiskey bars around. i may or may not sit my butt on a bar stool there...and stay there forever.
this smashing journey to philly won't stop me from being gay and talking more about Broadway. today, we'll discuss hands down the most disturbing musical released in 2000:
...Marie Christine. i know, i know, another musical that didn't get a Tony nom for Best Musical, but it deserves some blog time because of it's insane-ness. and yes, that diva on the front cover grasping a man boob is none other than the great Audra McDonald. who is Audra McDonald, may you ask? answer (and i quote, from Glee Season 1): "who is [Audra McDonald]?! KILL YOURSELF!" having studied classical voice at Juilliard, she proceeded to win THREE Tony Awards before the age of 28...THREE Tony Awards in FIVE years. yeah, hate her...but obvi love her at the same time. those three shows: the 1994 revival of Carousel (see below), Master Class (with camera-flash-sensitive Patti Lupone), and of course, one of the greatest musicals of all time, Ragtime. here's Audra singing one of the most epic songs from Carousel, "Mister Snow":
can't you tell divas distract me from the original topic? a few more tidbits about Audra:
(1) Audra obviously respects her Broadway costars and idols. with her first husband, she had one child, Zoe Madeline, who was named after two other diva actresses: Master Class costar Zoe Caldwell and the great Madeline Kahn
(2) After divorcing her first husband in 2009, she's currently dating her former costar from the recent 2007 revival of 110 in the Shade: Will Swenson (also one of the lead guys in the awesome 2009 revival of Hair)
(3) Audra is unreal. she's actually an alien. from the planet Diva.
(no, Audra is not in The Fifth Element. but it'd be awesome if she was.)
...what were we talking about again? back to Marie Christine. now why, you ask, is Marie Christine a "crazy ass bitch"? well, the musical is loosely based on Medea, that insane woman who went on a rampage after her lover left her for a royal hottie and proceeded to poison a golden dress, send it to her, kill both her and her former lover...oh yeah, and killed her two sons. icing on the cake. Marie Christine is a more modern take on the play (takes place in 1899). Audra plays Marie, who meets a white sea captain from Chicago. they sail around together, Marie pops out two babies, and the two start a home together. pretty soon, Dante (her lover) gets interested in politics, peaces out and marries the daughter of his boss. Marie freaks out, sends the new lover poison as a wedding present (oh, how thoughtful), and kills her two sons. aka a crazy ass bitch.
Audra was nominated for a Best Actress Tony, but was beaten out by Miss Heather Headley of AIDA. oh yeah, and the music was written by Michael John LaChiusa. sound familiar? another musical came out in 2000 that also had his name on it: The Wild Party (see last entry). two musicals in one year? another crazy ass bitch.
other notable performers in Marie Christine:
Dante: Anthony Crivello (Valentin in Kiss of the Spider Woman...also currently plays Phantom in the Las Vegas show of that Andrew Overrated Webber musical)
Magdalena: Mary Testa (nothing worth mentioning...but played a supporting role in the 2007 revival of Xanadu aka Xana-poo)
this is the only song i found on YouTube from Marie Christine. and it's an amateur performance. damn. oh well. the first song they sing is not from Marie Christine, but fast forward to 1:40. this one's called "Way Back To Paradise". annnnnd go:
well, that was fun. back to planet earth. and drinking. and making an incredible feast. and then more drinking. i love life right now.
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