Every Show I’ve Seen

Hello everybody and welcome back to confessions Of A Theater Freak! It’s the fourth week of the student blogging challenge! I’m a little behind but I’m sure we all sort of left our brains back in October along with our costumes and jackolanterns. It is now November and it’s definitely time to make a new post.

I was taking a look at my blog and all of my most recent posts, and I realized that I’ve made almost no theater related content for a blog that’s focus is just that. And therefore, in this post I will be writing about my thoughts and experiences with all of the shows I have seen. Disclaimer: I have seen a couple other shows that of which I didn’t include in this post such as school plays and field trips.

 

#1 Adventure Theatre and the early years:

My love and excitement for theater started early in my life. My parents often took my sister and I to the adventure theatre. A theatre that  turned beloved children’s stories into stage adaptations. My favorite shows were those based off of Laura Nuemuroff’s children’s books such as ‘If You Give A Pig A Pancake’ and ‘If You Give A Cat A Cupcake.’

#2 The Adams Family at the Kennedy Center:

I don’t remember much from this show, as I was very young when we saw it. I do remember however, how much I enjoyed the show. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and I loved this show because of it. It sings beautifully and I love the Wednesday Adams character.

 

#3 Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center:

This show was one of the first that my sister and I were able to get really excited about. It was pretty early in my life and I don’t remember much from the show itself however, it was very important to my parents that we saw it.

 

#4 Annie on Broadway: 

My first broadway show! I saw Annie in 2013 starring (now Stranger Things star) Sadie Sink. I have written about my experience in my previous post titled “My First Show.” Seeing a well known show such as Annie was extremely exciting!

 

#5 Wicked on Broadway:

 Wicked is by far one of my favorite Musicals of all time. It was the show that got me genuinely interested in musical theater. Listening to the cast album was literally a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE! I saw wicked for my tenth birthday and it was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life! Since then, my love for this show has only grown. I don’t listen to the music as much but I’m reading the book for the second time and am anxiously awaiting the 2021 wicked movie adaptation.

 

#6 School Of Rock on Broadway: 

School Of rock is unbelievably funny and it sings incredibly well. It makes a couple changes from the original movie but still manages to make it feel like the same story. One of the most impressive aspects of this show is that all the kids that play instruments in the show already play those instruments and everything is real and live. There’s literally a ten year old girl playing bass electric guitar, it’s absolutely astonishing! What I really loved about it was the time leading up to us seeing the show. This was the first time I’d seen my dad as excited about a musical as I usually was. For what felt like months, my dad listened to the cast album on repeat. I wasn’t as into the music as I have been with other shows, but it was really great to see my dad feel the same way about theater that I do. 

 

#7 Beetlejuice off-broadway: 

Beetlejuice The Musical has become extremely popular among broadway theater fans within this past year. I can proudly say that I liked it before it was cool. I saw Beetlejuice exactly a year ago at the DC National Theatre for my thirteenth birthday. Originally I was a little sceptical about how the show would be. I knew the show would be very hit or miss and worried that it wouldn’t sing well. Making a musical or even just a stage adaptation of a movie is very hard to do, especially when it’s one as popular and beloved as Beetlejuice. I also saw Beetlejuice before it went to Broadway. Meaning that almost no one had heard of the show and there had yet to be any hype surrounding it that could give me a clue on how the show was. Rest assured, I saw the show and it was mind blowingly spectacular! Beetlejuice is quirky, it’s weird, it’s very colorful, and the music is great! I’ll admit it’s a little raunchy (or at least when I saw it they do make a lot of changes to shows once they hit Broadway) but it’s undeniably hilarious and the entire audience was laughing throughout the whole show. 

 

#8 Mean Girls on Broadway:

Another amazing comedy musical! Mean Girls is funny beyond belief and I highly recommend seeing it if you can. Mean girls is a vibrant show with super fun, poppy, colorful music! Some of the plot and characters have changed a bit from the original movie and they’ve made it set in more recent years however, it’s done quite well. They’ve managed to make the problems that the characters face more relevant to today’s teenagers. What I love about this adaptation is that they really focus on the real villain of the story, the female social structure. In this show they focus less on the evil Regina George and more on more serious and relatable issue. They express this point perfectly in the anthem of this musical, a song called “I’d Rather Be Me.” this song is all about how awful us women treat one another, that we already have to fight against a highly sexist society and shouldn’t have to fight or compete with other women but instead have each other’s back and lift each other up. The song also sends the great message that we should want to be ourselves rather than please others.

 

#9 Dear Evan Hanson at the Kennedy Center: 

I swear this show will make you cry! I saw DEH in august earlier this year with the touring cast. This show has a great story that is beautifully moving. The actors were super talented, and the music is unreal! I actually dressed up as Evan for the show with his iconic blue striped button down and cast. I was definitely the only one that came in costume but I had an amazing time.

 

#10 Hamilton in chicago: 

I recently saw Hamilton as an early surprise birthday present from my parents while we were traveling in Chicago. It was incredible! Everything about it was so iconic and I was insanely excited. Seeing all of the songs performed live was so special. I was also happy to see the set that hamilton is so well known for. If you don’t know, Hamilton uses a revolving stage to perform a lot of the songs. For instance, in the song “Satisfied” they use the revolving stage to demonstrate time turning backwards. Seeing this show was such a treat and will definitely be something I will never forget.

 

Have you seen any of these? What’s your favorite show that you’ve seen? Let me know and see you later!