The title of the song, ​Monster​, is the word that Elsa uses to describe herself over and over again. In the first chorus, she sings, “​Is the thing they see, the thing I have to be? A monster, were they right? Has the dark in me finally come to light? Am I a monster, full of rage? Nowhere to go but on a rampage. Or am I just a monster in a cage?​” It is a song that resonates with a lot of people. Everyone, at some point in their life, can relate to Elsa’s questions of “am I a burden to people?” or “How badly am I hurting this person?” Everyone has moments where they don’t know who they are. But is this song a good song for a musical whose main demographic is young children?  

I saw a sticker on Facebook today. “Feelings are healthy. You need to feel them all. Don’t suppress them. Sadness, anger, fear, happiness, love. Let them come, let them go.” I love this quote, and I even agree with it; however, we can all agree that there are simply times where we can’t just feel. We may find out something that makes us want to cry, or scream in anger, but we can’t just leave the office. I work at a law firm. My bosses wouldn’t really appreciate me blasting the clients with emotions that translate to “I will cut you!” or if they walk in and I’ve obviously been crying, or even if I’m enjoying some moment and laughing. 

Propriety is king when you’re a paralegal. 

For many people, the beginning of a new year also marks the time of year in which people try to come up with resolutions, in the hopes that these specific goals in their lives will have been achieved by this time next year. Those of us who are highly active in theatre most likely have already come up with such resolutions related to theatre. However, there might be a few additional ideas for resolutions that some of us might not have thought about and should be willing to consider to make their year in theatre even better than last year. 

So without further ado, here are just a few New Year’s resolutions – in no particular order – for all of us in the theatre community to consider…

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ Broadway, not a holiday musical was playing, save Ruben & Clay. The tickets were bought at box offices galore, in hopes that audiences would soon beg for more. At least, this has been the case in more recent seasons concerning Broadway musicals focused on the holidays. Think about the catalog of Christmas shows alone that have graced Broadway stages in seasons past: A Christmas Story, Holiday Inn, Elf, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against American Idol magnates Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken coming together peacefully over the 2018 holiday season for a little AI reunion, but where are the tried and true Christmas Broadway musicals that we have held so dear in past seasons? The choice to bring back such musicals (all of which were also hit box office smashes in their own right) seems to be almost a no-brainer. So why the lack this year? In fairness, there are possibly two exceptions, neither of which is technically in a Broadway house however: Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (starring Tony Award-nominee Gavin Lee in the title role) at the HULU

"It's stock day; you need a stock day."

There are going to be problems and obstacles that come up in your life — issues that seem insurmountable, catastrophic or devastating. You're going to feel helpless. To you, this is the absolute worst thing that could ever happen, and it will change your life forever.

But to get through it, you need to take a breath and take stock of what's important.

The plan was to move to New York City, get into a Broadway show, and find a composer to finish my musical. No, not your plan, mine. Oh, it was yours too? Well, you'll appreciate this: only the first thing happened, and that remains true more than seven years on.

Years ago, then CEO of CBS Les Moonves told NY Post’s Michael Riedel that as long as he’s at CBS, so will the Tony Awards. This quote came at a time when the ratings were in the basement compared to other award shows. However, a statement like that from the guy who ran the network was certainly a sigh of relief.

But now Moonves is gone due to the many accusations of sexual misconduct. Which means that the Tony Awards’ biggest network champion is gone. And the ratings are still in the proverbial toilet.

So what does this mean for the future of the Tonys on CBS?

So while every show may not be our cup of tea, let's not display celebration at its demise. We don't have to mourn every show's closing, but we certainly don't have to stomp on its metaphorical grave. 

When people sit in a theater and watch a show, they usually do it for the entertainment or sometimes just to get away. It’s an escape for a lot of people. It could be a concert, musical, play or even a cabaret show. Regardless of what it is, it adds something that’s maybe missing in a person’s life. So, there is definitely that personal aspect to theatre that a lot of people might forget about. There is always reasoning behind our choices.

The two distinct types of productions that automatically come to mind for me are comedies and dramas, and people usually gravitate towards one or another, or sometimes both. They’re polar opposites, but I love that range between the two and think it’s amazing that theatre produces these two categories and provides that range. You can literally see shows based on what kind of mood you’re in and I think this is another reason people gravitate towards live theatre, similar to films.

Recently Newsies announced that its rights are open for community theaters to perform. What made this announcement even more special was the knowledge that part of the Newsies ensemble could include females. (Someone needs to give me a couple years to have my baby and get back into tapping shape so I can be in that ensemble but I digress.)  

In the community theater world, there’s always talk of gender swapping within shows and roles. This is the first major production I’ve heard of which explicitly allows for the inclusion of females into what has been traditionally a male ensemble. I want to look at some other shows and roles that might benefit from a male to female gender swap. Granted this is just a wishlist, knowing that doing anything like this would require permission first. 

Recently, it was brought to OnStage Blog's attention that, yet again, a foreign school has performed unauthorized material. This seems to be a common occurrence as in the past year we've seen schools perform productions of Hamilton, The Book of Mormon and ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Bombshell with music from the TV show Smash all without having obtained permission. 

What makes these occurrences even worse is that they are often supervised by teachers or adults who should know better. When this happens, they are failing their students and putting their schools at risk of ever obtaining permission for future productions. 

The latest example comes from the Polytechnic University of The Philippines(PUP) where their theatre organization, the Molave Theatre Guild, just wrapped production on their musical adaptation of the Pixar film, Coco. Here are some of their promotional materials of the show. 

I can name on one hand the amount of Broadway personalities that feel they belong on the pedestal fans put them on. Because most don't, that's what makes their interactions with their fans so genuine. So it's on the fans to understand and appreciate that(which most do) and not to be jerks.