Dec 2019 – RCAH Student Blogs

Yep, it’s true—2019 is almost over and I can’t believe it. As always, this year has flown by. I have recently seen theatre critics releasing articles about their favorite shows of 2019, and I decided I wanted to do the same thing, but with a twist. I didn’t feel as if simply showcasing my favorite shows would be conclusive enough of 2019. This year, I got to visit New York City three times, see dozens of shows on Broadway and off, and I started my first job in the theatre industry. This list includes my favorite theatre moments (shows, experiences, events, and encounters) of 2019.

Attending the Tony Awards And Seeing History Be Made

If you’ve been reading my blog since this summer, you already know that I attended the Tony Awards, but I couldn’t sum up my favorite 2019 theatre moments and not mention it. The Tony Awards are always my favorite day of the year, but this year I was fortunate enough to attend them in person for the first time. It was surreal. I got to get dressed up, go to Radio City Music Hall, and be surrounded by the best of Broadway’s performers and creatives. There, Hadestown made history by being the first musical with an all-female creative team to win Best Musical, and Ali Stroker made history as the first actress in a wheelchair to win a Tony. It felt like I was living in a dream, but it’s a moment that I will remember and cherish forever.

Attending the Tony Awards

Meeting Lin-Manuel Miranda

If you’ve known me for a while, you would know that Lin-Manuel Miranda has been my theatre god for the past four years. He transformed theatre forever by creating Hamilton, and since then he has used his success to make the arts accessible to all people (i.e. bringing Hamilton to Puerto Rico and raising $2 million for arts programs there). He is a legend and a true gift to our world.

In November, I was attending Little Shop of Horrors Off-Broadway with my mom, and at intermission, we overheard someone say that Lin was in the lobby. We bolted out of our chairs and rushed to meet him. I can happily report that he is as great in person as I had hoped. I got the chance to thank him for his contributions to the arts, and despite the fact that I’m sure he gets bombarded by fans every day, he was so gracious. Meeting him was a moment I’ve dreamed of for years. I believe our world is unworthy of someone as good as him.

Sadly I didn’t get a picture with Lin—but he took this photo with Jonathan Groff the day I met him

Seeing In the Heights And Meeting Its Movie’s Stars

Before there was Hamilton, there was In the Heights—Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (no, I will never stop talking about him) first Broadway show. During 2019, In the Heights was one of my most listened-to cast albums, and its score has become one of my all-time favorites. In June, my mom and I located where they were filming the movie version in Inwood, New York, and we got to meet the movie’s stars and director and watch some of their filming.

In July, I saw that a professional theatre in Saugatuck was putting on a production of it, and my mom and I knew that we had to go. It was amazing to finally see Lin’s music come to life on stage. I should also note that I ended up being extremely sick on the day I saw In the Heights (seriously, I probably should have gone to the ER because I couldn’t breathe) but the show was so absorbing that I refused to leave. That’s how you know it’s an amazing show.

Meeting Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera, the stars of In the Heights

I Stopped Overlooking Off-Broadway Shows

For years now, my life has been completely devoted to researching and seeing Broadway shows. I did, and still do, consider Broadway to be one of the best things that exists in the world. However, 2019 was the year that I realized other great NYC theatre exists—particularly Off-Broadway. Officially, Off-Broadway means that it’s a show taking place in New York City theater with 99-499 seats (Broadway is 500+). In 2019, I attended some amazing Off-Broadway shows (including Little Shop of Horrors, The Wrong Man, The Secret Life of Bees) that rivaled the Broadway shows I saw. I’ve found that Off-Broadway as just as good as, if not better than, Broadway. Often times, Off-Broadway shows feature Broadway actors, but in smaller and more intimate spaces. In 2020, my goal is to give more Off-Broadway and even more remote theatre a try. Just because it’s not Broadway doesn’t mean that it can’t still be life-changing.

Seeing Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway

Discovering a New Musical That Made Me Feel Seen

I was lucky enough to see Be More Chill on Broadway twice this year, first in March and then again in June when I brought my mom back with me. The first time I saw it, I was not emotionally prepared for the impact it had on me. I loved its quirky characters and catchy score, but most of all I loved George Salzar’s performance of “Michael in the Bathroom” in the show’s second act. It was a moment where I was completely absorbed by the show and the rest of the world was drowned out. I felt like Michael Mell was speaking directly to me, and it provided some healing that I’ve needed for years now. Be More Chill (unfairly) received many negative reviews, and it closed early, but it will forever remain in my heart and as a favorite on my Broadway playlist. It made me feel validated and heard, and it was the musical that had the most formative impact on my life in 2019.

Seeing Be More Chill.

I Started Working in My Dream Industry

When I entered Michigan State in the fall of 2017, I expected I would graduate in five years as an elementary education major. Although I think I would have been fine in this career, my life’s passion of theatre could not be denied. At the end of freshman year, I dropped my education major and have since been avidly working towards my goal of working in professional side of the theatre industry after college. In January, I was hired to be Wharton Center’s Marketing and Communications Intern for their Broadway series. Since then, I have been working with Wharton Center’s marketing department on every Broadway show. I’ve already learned so much, and it makes me confident that when I graduate in a year and a half, I will be fully prepared to enter the professional theatre industry. It’s been amazing to put my Broadway knowledge to use and to learn how to market to a specific community. Above all, I love that my job allows me to share the thing I love most, theatre, with others.

Interviewing Julie Jordan of Come From Away—an opportunity I got from working at Wharton Center

2019 has undoubtedly been one of the best years of my life thus far—both personally and professionally. My knowledge and experience of the theatre is blossoming every day, and I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had this year. 2019 is going to be a tough year to beat, but I’m optimistic that 2020 is going to hold even more amazing theatrical opportunities.

By Cami Hancock

“But, oh, to be free! Such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world!”

Spoken by the vivacious Genie in the show’s first act, this sentiment is also the driving force behind Disney’s Aladdin, a musical I had the opportunity to attend on Friday at Wharton Center. Having already seen The Lion King and Frozen onstage, I was eager to see the third and final Disney show currently running on Broadway. Much to my delight, the stage production added more depth and background to the characters we already know and love.

Photo by Deen van Meer

This shared desire for freedom is what connects Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie, and it’s a theme I hadn’t previously noticed while watching the 1992 movie as a child. Near the top of the show, Aladdin, played by Jonah Ho’okano, sings his “I Want” song: “Proud of Your Boy.” This number was newly-created for the Broadway production, and it was one of the highlights of the show for me. It’s a sweeping ballad about his desire to reinvent himself and his wish to make his mother proud of the person he’s yet to become. This number provides a backstory and emotional depth to Aladdin that was stronger than in the original movie.

Jasmine, played by Kaenaona Iani Kekoaeach, has her own desires for freedom. Being simultaneously fierce, independent, and compassionate (and Disney’s first princess of color, in case you forgot), Jasmine is a female character worthy of being admired even in 2019. After her father’s relentless attempts at matchmaking her with various princes, she expresses her wishes to marry whomever she pleases, and above all, to make her own life decisions without the guidance of a man.

Although often disguised in humor, the Genie, sincerely played by Korie Lee Blossey, opens up to Aladdin and shares that he, too, desires freedom after living a solitary life for 10,000 years inside a cramped lamp. With more depth given to the characters, I had no problem hopping on board Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie’s journey to obtain their freedom.

While the story’s revamped emotion was my favorite part of Aladdin, the show had other highlights as well. Being a Disney musical, it did not go without some jaw-dropping moments. My heart couldn’t help but swell at the first sounds of tap dancing during the Genie’s act one showstopper, Friend Like Me. There’s not much I love more than a tap-dance number choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, whose work you may recognize from The Book of Mormon, Something Rotten, and Mean Girls. My only wish was that the tap dancing would have lasted longer.

Photo by Deen van Meer

Another highlight was, of course, A Whole New World, a number that exhibited the best of Disney magic. I was not prepared to get chills and tear up when I saw Aladdin and Jasmine cascading through the night sky on their magic carpet, but I most certainly did.

This show offers something for everyone. If you’re a college student debating whether or not to drop the $30 on a student ticket to see Aladdin, I recommend you do it. It simultaneously serves the perfect dose of childhood nostalgia and still manages to feel current. Book writer Chad Beguelin incorporated some fun odes to the 2000s that college kids will recognize (think: “Okurr” and “Ain’t nobody got time for that”). At a time when we’re all stressing for finals, what could be better than getting to escape to Agrabah for a few hours and see some iconic Disney characters back and better than ever before?