During my second year studying undergraduate theatre, my class watched a documentary called Every Little Step. This film details the story of the musical Chorus Line and follows the casting process of the 2006 Broadway revival. Although it is a truly fascinating film I would recommend to all theatre fanatics, one moment stuck with me most of all. One of the actresses cast in the revival said of dancing and showbiz, “If you have something to fall back on, you’ll fall back.” My fellow classmates seemed to think this was wise advice to keep in mind as we began our careers as actors, but to me something seemed wrong with the picture.

When I was 15 years old, I shimmied into a sequined leotard and balanced a feathered headpiece on my head for my high school production of George M! I distinctly recall claiming a private changing space in our closet-sized dressing room during our first dress rehearsal, only to have it dawn on me that there was no point in being modest: I’d be wearing virtually nothing onstage, so why bother hiding now?

Over the past couple of months, I've heard from more than one person that they are concerned that the over-commercialization of Broadway will mean that less "artistic" and original musicals will be recognized by the Tony Awards.

While I think they're overreacting, I don't think their concerns are completely unfounded. After all, this past year, there wasn't a single musical that wasn't based on a movie or TV show or that wasn't a jukebox collection.

Next week Wicked flies into Edinburgh as part of its 2nd UK & Ireland tour. I am excited to say I will be attending press night to see how this new production compares to the previous tour and the show currently running in London's West End. However, Wicked the musical is one of, or most likely, THE most iconic musical in the world. How does it manage to maintain it's popularity 15 years after its premiere in San Francisco?

This morning the nominations were announced for the 2018 Tony Awards. As per usual there were a number of surprises and snubs in virtually every category. Let's break it down and also see how we did with our own nominee predictions. 

While no one should be worried about whether or not Frozen is going to be a long-running Broadway smash, a concern that has been brought up to me by more than one theatre insider, is how much success will it have come June 10th at the Tony Awards. 

"Disney likes to make money," my source said. "But they don't like egg on their faces. And failure to win Tonys or even be nominated would certainly be that."

I was at a disaster training when it happened again. The irony of being in a disaster training but without protocol for....that other disaster. The one, you know it. That feeling that comes on when you are out of place, but shouldn't be. The moment when every sign on earth points to you being the center, placing you right at the right time but the worst place. I was a theatre kid in a theatre scenario with non-theatre people. 

Last year it was announced that the venerable Oregon Shakespeare Festival would be putting an interesting spin on their upcoming production of "Oklahoma" by making the couplings of Laurey/Curly and Will/Ado Annie, same sex rather than the traditional heterosexual pairing. 

The announcement was met with praise but also with some skepticism. Would a recasting like this make sense? Would it work within the context of the piece? 

Well, at least according to local critics who have seen the show since its opening on April 22nd, it's worked perfectly. 

Melodrama.

When the term comes up, many people tend to think of the old melodramas that theatergoers were accustomed to in the 19th century. Perhaps if they know enough about the history of theatre, they might think of plays such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Corsican Brothers and The Octoroon.

However, all of this overlooks what the term actually refers to: the usage of exaggerated aspects of performance and storytelling, whether it may be referring to the events in the plot or the emotions of the characters.

Recently, I have attended several productions ranging from Spamalot to Into the Woods.  As I am a person who is often curious, and I usually arrive fairly early, I started looking around at the audience.  Except for Into the Woods, which was a high school show, most of the audiences were in the 40-senior range.   So, it begs the question, is theater relevant in a modern world of technology?

Audrey Cardwell is currently starring in the National Tour of Bright Star where she is playing the central role of Alice Murphy. She has also appeared in the national tours of Cinderella (Ella), Anything Goes and Elf and has been seen regionally at The Old Globe, Asolo Repertory Theatre, The Muny, North Shore Music Theatre, Houston Theatre Under the Stars, Dallas Summer Musicals and Pennsylvania Centre Stage. She’s also an alum of Penn State University.

My mother recently told me that she and her friends were planning on taking a trip into the city to see a show. They're not the most consistent theatre-going bunch but they usually see a show every couple of years. 

Since my blogging has basically made me a travel agent for many of my friends coming to the city to see a show, she asked me if I had any suggestions. 

"What type of show are you looking for?", I asked. 

"Something fun", my mother replied. 

Thankfully, for the first time in a long time, I had a lot of shows to choose from.