Sorry I've been MIA

The end of the semester was SOOO busy. When I wasn't writing papers, I was cramming everything I'd miss about New York into my spare time. I'm back home for the summer, which is nice and it just dawned on me that if i have it my way, this will be my last full summer in Pittsburgh :-O! WEIRD. ..and a little intimidating.


So in between writing papers, I managed to go to the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop - which is magical. It is literally a hole in the wall - thank God the first day I went there was a line down the block - and it was WORTH IT. The first day I got something called the Salty Pimp, which was delicious, but the second time I got the Monday Sundae which is so wonderful - twist ice cream, caramel, sea salt, whipped cream all in a Nutella dipped waffle cone - yes, please. It was so yummy.


I made a few trips to Veselka with my friends before I skipped town and saw four shows within a week and met Bethenny Frankel. Yes! She had a book signing at a nearby Barnes and Noble for her book Skinnydipping and of course I stopped mid-paperwriting to get my butt up there, despite all the May Day protests and it was worth it. She was funny and engaging and very sweet. I wish her talk show lots of success, but I hope it gets moved to New York, so she doesn't move to LA and I can work for her hahahaha (but seriously). It was epic, it was like meeting an idol and I told her so.


The shows I saw before I left were Leap of Faith (twice), Newsies, End of the Rainbow, and A Streetcar Named Desire.


I saw Leap of Faith twice because I loved it so much, but I saw it so soon because it unfairly closed before it should have. It was SO much fun and you could tell the cast really loved the show and had fun, which made me have fun. The music was great and I'm so thankful that it seems as though I'll at least get a cast recording of the amazing show, since I can no longer go see it. I'm really hurt that this closed so quickly. Raul Esparza was amazing and the entire cast was just outstanding. I cannot say enough good things about this show.


Newsies... I got a ticket for for my birthday because Jeremy Jordan was in it. That is legit 90% of why I bought a ticket, and at the time it was a limited engagement (now it's an open-run). I never saw the movie, so I'm not part of this cult following or anything. The choreography was amazing, and I really enjoyed listening to the music with it being mostly male parts. I did find myself wondering why they didn't cast more kids in it, because they would say "kids" and such and I didn't buy it. The music was good, but not something I needed. I just find that it's pretty overrated because it has the cast following. I liked it, but it was probably my least favorite show of the week, unfortunately.


End of the Rainbow was AMAZING. I laughed and I cried and I was thoroughly a little disturbed. It's about the end of Judy Garland's career and life, so she's pretty hot mess for the show, but it was just haunting and amazing. It was really outstanding. Tracie Bennett plays Judy and if she doesn't get the Best Tony for an Actress in a Play award, I'm going to be so pissed off. She was really outstanding. It was only a few cast members and it was great and intimate. I loved it, if you can, go see it!


Lastly, A Streetcar Named Desire, which we saw on my birthday. My family wanted to see it more than I did, but I liked it a lot. I never had to read it when I was in high school and I have never seen the movie with Marlon Brando the entire way through, so I had no idea what I was walking into. Similarly, it was heavy and sad and intense, but it was outstanding. Blair Underwood was great. Nicole Ari Parker as Blanche was so disturbing and so sad to watch. She was excellent. I cannot say enough nice things about her. And I finally got to meet Daphne Rubin-Vega, which was fantastic and crazy. I love her. It was great! I loved it. It was very good.


Here's my album, a lot of pictures are on my friend Caitlin's FB, unfortunately.


I had fun and I'm not as sad to be home for the summer as I thought I would be. Time to look for apartments and just enjoy my friends and my family :)

xx.

The Semester in Review

It's the end of the semester. I'm getting ready to go home for Christmas on Monday. And you know what? I've had a very good semester. 


It was kind of boring until Halloween and even that was kind of boring (it was so crazy it was hard to do/see anything), but after How to Succeed in Business, things really picked up. After that, I saw Billy Elliot after unsuccessfully getting tickets to Wicked. It was amazing. It's probably my favorite show that I've seen on Broadway so far. It was really spectacular. I cried, I laughed, the music is fantastic. I'm really sad that it's closing in January. If you have a chance to see it, you should. It's touring right now, so you should definitely try and see it. Pittsburgh friends, it'll be in town at the end of January/early February. I was a little skeptical about it, because I love the movie, but I wasn't sure how that would adapt to the stage, but they really did a great job and remained true to the film as much as they possibly could. I love the song "Solidarity," it was probably the minute I realized I loved the show.


Thursday, I saw Bonnie and Clyde, which was also amazing. It is unfortunately closing WAY too soon (December 30th). I really hope there is a cast recording, because it's such a great show and it's great music. It's really bloody (duh, it's about Bonnie and Clyde), but it was kind of awesome. Jeremy Jordan was a PHENOMENAL Clyde. He's completed my trifecta of modern male stage stars that I love based purely on their talent, joining Norbert Leo Butz and Raul Esparza. Laura Osnes is Bonnie and that girl can belt like it's her job. She was amazing and I hope she bounces back quickly because she is too talented to not be the next Sherie Rene Scott. They have amazing chemistry and it was a fantastic show. If you're in New York and you can see it before it closes, you really should. I hope they release a cast recording :(


I also watched people arrive for Blair Waldorf's wedding, which was spectacular. I did not see Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, or Ed Westwick, but I did see Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Matthew Settle, Kelly Rutherford, Margaret Colin, Wallace Shawn, and Michelle flipping Trachtenberg!!! It was beautiful and everyone looked fantastic (except Michelle, but you know Georgie's up to no good). I wish I had been able to be there the day Leighton was spotted in the streets in her wedding dress, but I probably (unfortunately) had class. Next semester, I am all about creeping around on them in my spare time. 


I don't know how much spare time I'll have, because I got an internship with the Wendy Williams show! I don't know much about it yet, except that I got it and I am so excited! I went to her show one day with Laura and she was like "You need to work here," and I applied and got a call for an interview the next day. I'm so excited, you all know how much I love the show and I think I'm really going to learn SO MUCH. It's going to be great. Because of that, I don't know how much time I'm going to be spending in Pittsburgh for break (WAH), but hopefully I get more details soon so I can figure out my flight and my time home and such. 


HOME ON MONDAY! I'm so excited. I can't wait. I miss Pittsburgh so much :)