Ohh la champs elysee

I made this video while I was a camp counsellor at a computer/Lego camp one summer. I basically ignored the kids for a full week and drew pictures on this program called Toon Boom. At least THEY thought I was cool! It's choppy, but hey, it's amateur.

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A Night on Toronto's Broadway

As a student I never went to see Broadway musicals. While I've heard that you can get under $30 seats to sit at the back of the theatre, I just never thought it would be worth it if I needed binoculars to see the stage. But, now that I'm a professional decently-earning adult, 'Broadway' is one of the few costly leisure activities on my list that's worth investing in. Especially when I heard that my all-time favourite movie was now a musical production. As an inexperienced Broadway goer in recent years, Broadway theatre has conjured, in my mind, images of grandeur. Some of my expectations were met and some weren't. Here's my account of experiencing Toronto's Broadway:

Where I Dined:

In honouring the theatre-going tradition, my party and I got all dressed up and dined at one of those cute restaurants on King Street West. The Red Tomato filled up quickly with the pre-theatre crowd, so note to the next theatre-goer: book in advance. They had a decent selection of pastas, and offered small portions which ended up being enough for dinner and we paid less than $15 for our meals respectively. See, even plebeians can afford to eat on Broadway!

The Theatre:

The Princess of Wales Theatre while smaller than other theatres was both elegant and grand. However, I can't say much for theatre patrons these days. People were a lot more casual than I had hoped. Shorts and t-shirts? If you're spending $70 on a ticket, I think you should make a little effort. I paid $89 specifically for box seats at the dress circle level. While the view was great and I did get my money's worth, to my dissapointment, box seats at this theatre were not in fact those private boxes, but instead free-standing chairs along the right side of the dress circle. For a detailed map of the seats check this out: http://www.mirvish.com/pow-som.pdf!

The Production:

Through majestic sets, including a moving mountain, Mirvish Productions did an awesome job at recreating elements of the original movie. My favourite scene was when the Von Trapp family performed in the Christmas Concert/competition; the curtains came down and they performed right at the front of the stage. Out of nowhere I look up and we were in Nazi-occupied Austria! Third Reich officers littered the fronts of the stage and the audience. There was suddenly a Third Reich flag hanging over my head and across the theatre from us in all the balconies; the swastika all illuminated. Quite discomforting indeed! A giant flag appeared across the ceiling of the theatre and we actually became the audience! When they announced the winners of the Christmas competition, including second and third runner up, we, the audience, had to clap (there was no other clapping). It was very cool; the audience became a part of the production. It was by far a high-light for me.

There were a number of other scenes in which the set really made an impact. Scenes that took place in the Abbey and in Captain Von Trapp's Foyer (the Captain's ball scene was so pretty & romantic) were familiar and nostalgic to hard-core movie fans who have seen the movie probably too many times. Other production-related highlights included: the nuns' chorus and the child actors. ‘Reverend Mother’ got a standing ovation at the end of the production, as I imagine that she does every night. The youngest actor who played Gretl, was only seven years old in real life. Her cuteness and charm caused the audience to heartily chuckle every scene that she was in.

The Story:

Unfortunately, the story itself disappointed me. Don't they know that if they're going to make the Sound of Music into a musical, they're making it for die-hard Sound of Music movie fans, and should try their darndest to pay respect to the film? They can't just add new songs just like that (not even good ones). And, the rapid speed at which they sped through the plot took away from the escalating drama and romance that makes the original story so heart-warming! The children took an immediate liking to Maria; she didn't have to win them over. Captain Von Trapp and Maria had no build-up to their romance. Just one day they suddenly liked each other and that was that! The tense romance between the two lovers portrayed by Christopher Plumber and Julie Andrews -that might be one of the most classic romances in post-war film history- was completely lost. This had much to do I'm sure with the actors themselves. Captain Von Trapp, played by Burke Moses, was so wooden, delivered his lines so unnaturally and looked so uncomfortable in his suit that every one of his scenes made me cringe. He and Maria had no chemistry and their onstage kiss was unbearable. While he had nothing on Plumber's good looks (or any good looks at that), he was totally inept pulling off that wealthy stature, arrogance and self-important disposition that is so like Captain Von Trapp, nor did he capture the nuances of Captain Von Trapp’s character- the slight vulnerability that he shows with the Baroness, his children on occasion, or when he softens with Maria. How he was cast, I have no idea.

Maria (played by Elicia MacKenzie), on the other hand, I am told was cast in that reality TV show "How do you solve a problem like Maria", which I was never privy to viewing. I was told that the point of the show was to find the carbon-copy of the Maria in the movie. Well, while she does have a really great voice, she does not have the grace and elegance that Julie Andrews had. She also looked younger than Liesl (who happened to be my favourite performer of the show), which was silly considering Liesl becomes her step-daughter… That is my two cents on Toronto’s Broadway. With that, I encourage you to take advantage of Toronto’s theatre and arts if you can, but I just would think twice before seeing a production that’s based on one of your all-time favourite movies.

On another note, if you are ever in Salzburg, Austria you can actually take a tour of the sites where the actual story between Maria Reiner and Captain Von Trapp took place in the 1920s, and where the movie was filmed! I spoke to someone who actually took this tour and he found out that locals felt ripped off when the movie was made because apparently few of the profits came back to Salzberg. And a controversial internet source informs me that the real Von Trapp Family did not climb over the Alps to Switzerland but slowly made their way out to London through more convenient means like trains...

S.

He's such a hunk

Whoo!

For hours of fun, find yourself a Mac and spend an afternoon using Photobooth and Comic Life. They're easy to use and you get to use your imagination to create fun stuff. You can even go to the Apple store and use one of their displays.

For seriously

- e