Evita Comes Back To Broadway!

Forgive me while I do a little Broadway geek-out for a moment.

Evita was my first exposure to performing musical theatre.  My father had a part in the Generals Chorus in a community theatre production when I was eleven, and had managed to score my brother and I auditions for the childrens chorus.  We were excited to learn we had received parts, not just because it was just a big cast and we met so many new friends, mainly because we'd be sharing the stage with our father.  Oh boy, were we little hams on stage.

I was so intrigued by the story of this woman at such a young age and remembered doing research on my own about Eva Perón, wife of Argentinian president Juan Perón and champion of the labour movement, women's rights and the salvation of the poor.  Her story is told in this lyrical opera written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, also known for his works on Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Cats.   (I don't care what you say, he's one of my favourites.  Mr. Webber is an acquired taste for some, but I doubt there's anyone who doesn't know at least a portion of the duet between Christine Daae and the Phantom on the river.  I didn't care for Cats, though.)

My awesome Broadway-bestie Jenna and I had a chance to see Evita play in the Princess of Wales in Toronto, but after being part of so many community theatre productions and knowing this music nearly inside and out, we felt a little weird being so judgmental about it. 

I think the only way to redeem myself is another trip to New York City to see this one.  Evita returns to Broadway in an incredible all-star cast featuring Ricky Martin as Che, Michael Cerveris as Juan Perón and Elena Roger in her Broadway debut as Eva Perón, a small-town girl who became one of Argentina's most celebrated icons for the people.

Extra Work on Total Recall 2012

Everyone's career in film starts somewhere, right?  Looks like Nick and I are off to a potentially good start - with background acting work on the set of Total Recall starring Colin Farrell at Pinewood Studios in Toronto!

Nick and I had answered a Craigslist ad looking for "clubby/seedy/funky people" to fill a street scene in New Asia, where it's "always raining in this part of the world".  We were asked to bring our own clothes in rust and earth green tones - about two thirds of my own wardrobe - for the costume folks to take a look at and see if there's anything to use.  They liked just about everything I brought, which I'm told makes the process a whole lot easier on shoot day.  Here's what we got:

:: khaki green three-quarter length sleeve jacket, H&M (gift) :: Mandarin-collar olive green button-up shirt, Alfred Sung :: rust brown dress pants, Ricki's :: paisley pashmina scarf with gold thread detail, gift :: knee-high brown 'leather' wedge-heel boots, gift (not pictured) ::

Funny enough, this is stuff I wear on the regular, so I'm just gonna look like myself!

I've been reading up on the movie itself, being it a remake of one of my favourite Arnie movies.  The original concept of Total Recall came from the short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, written by Phillip K. Dick.  The story is a mesh of reality, false memory and real memory, all in the mind of Douglas Quail, a simple and ordinary man who would one day like to visit Mars, a plausible vacation destination of the future.  Since he is, however, a simple and ordinary man, he can't afford it, so he gets the next best thing - a mental vacation courtesy of Rekal Incorporated, offering "extra-factual memory" to fulfill his dream.  As the "Mars memory" implantation proceeds, the staff at Rekal reveal that Quail is an actual government agent with a brain full of dangerous secrets.  Frightened by what they may have stumbled across, the staff at Rekal hurry him out of the office, where Quail finds more physical evidence to support that his Mars 'memories' are actually real.  The government puts a bounty on his head, but he manages to make a deal: he returns to Rekal to have his memories of Mars suppressed and replaced with "heroic wish-fulfillment" false memories as compensation.  As the Rekal staff prepare to implant the memories, they uncover an older and different set of suppressed memories that reveal the unbelievable events they're about to implant to be actually true.  

In Mr. Dick's story, Quail doesn't go to Mars.  Arnie's "Quaid" does in the 1990 film.  I don't think Colin will be going, though.  From what I understand, this remake will be closer to the short story than a frame-for-frame remake of Arnie's sci-fi action adventure.  I've always been into this stuff, and I'm crazy excited to be a part of this.  Hopefully, I won't be on the cutting room floor when this is all said and done.  

But if we're going to remake this film again, maybe we can see something along the lines of this:




Source material from Wikipedia.org.  Those guys are the best, yeah?

Moral Obscenity 101: Kanye West

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on September 28, 2009.

This is an editorial by the author.  Any comments made are of the author, and the author alone, unless otherwise stated.  I welcome your thoughts on this post.  (Resources: Wikipedia.org, Youtube)

For those who have been avoiding all things pop culture and relative news these past few weeks, you would have learned that at the 2009 MTV Video Awards, upon earning her win for Best Female Video for 'You Belong With Me', Taylor Swift was interrupted by professional jackass rapper/hip-hop artist Kanye West, who stormed the stage, stole the microphone out of Taylor's frozen hands, and stood shocked as he declared that Beyonce's video 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)' was the "best video of all time", to the shock, amazement and disapproval of the packed theatre.  Since, he has sparked the international catchphrase "and I'mma let ya finish ..."

For me, this was the straw the broke my Kanye camel's back.

Patrick Swayze 1952-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on September 20, 2009.

"I dream that the word 'cure' will no longer be followed by the words 'it's impossible'. Together, we can make a world where cancer no longer means living with fear, without hope, or worse"

Speaking at the multi-network simulcast of Stand Up For Cancer in September 2008, appealing to the general public to make donations for the cause.

Patrick Swayze was a big part of my adolescence.  Not a day went by between the ages of 12 and 16 where my sister and I wouldn't put Dirty Dancing in the VCR and sing along to every song he and Jennifer Grey danced to.  To us, it was the epitome of the 'converted bad boy' that we dreamed to meet one day.  Dirty Dancing still remains to be one of my favourite movies.

So to hear that Patrick had passed away after suffering from pancreatic cancer since January 2008, I was happy to hear he wasn't suffering anymore, but still confused and sad that someone I consider so young to be taken away from us so soon.

Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM 1973-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on August 30, 2009.

"New york, new york. Big city of dreams, but everything in new york aint always what it seems." [sic]

- Adam's last post on his Twitter page, three days before his body was found in his New York City apartment on August 28, 2009

I'm a Twitterbug, yes.  I'm chatting with a good friend I've made on the site from Boston, as she tells me she's packing for her trip to New York City tomorrow.  As I yearn to return to 'The Big Apple' and tell her my jealousy, joke about sneaking me into a bus carry-on, and Photoshop me into her pictures, the next tweet I read from Perez Hilton stopped the banter quite suddenly as I read that Adam Goldstein, better known to his fans as DJ AM, has died.

My God, is this truly a summer of death?

Les Paul, the 'Inventor' of Modern Music 1915-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on August 16, 2009.

"Honestly, I never strove to be an Edison. The only reason I invented these things was because I didn’t have them and neither did anyone else. I had no choice, really.” - Les Paul

Les Paul, a man whom all musicians today owe deep gratitude for many things taken for granted, died on August 13 from complications due to pneumonia. He was 94 years old.

Les Paul, born Lester William Polfuss in Winsconsin, started his interest in music at the age of eight when he started playing harmonica, and after an attempt at learning banjo, he opted for guitar. It's said that at this time, he invented the neck-worn harmonica holder, so that he could play the harmonica hands-free while playing the guitar.

His inventions were always out of necessity. Dissatisfied with acoustic guitars that were sold in the 1930s, Les Paul experimented at home with some ideas of an electric guitar of his own design. He created "The Log", the famous prototype simply made from a common 4" x 4" piece of lumber with a bridge, guitar neck and pickup attached, and for aesthetics, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawed lengthwise with "The Log" in the middle. Two problems were solved: the acoustic body didn't resonate with the amplified sound, so it cut out feedback; and sustain, because the energy of the strings didn't fade out because it was resonating through a thicker guitar body. Hence, the 'electric guitar' was born.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on July 14, 2009.

Death registers in different ways for different people. For me, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I found myself grieving with the rest of the world, but I also had a much different, personal reaction.

At the time of Michael's death, we were also surrounded by a number of other celebrity deaths that shocked and rattled the media. Farrah Fawcett, most famously known for her television work in 'Charlie's Angels', becoming a seventies sex symbol, finally succumbing to her battle with cancer. Steve McNair, nicknamed 'Air McNair' for his prowess on the football field, was killed by his alleged mistress after she turned the gun on herself. Martin Streek, a Torontonian radio deejay credited for bringing the alternative music scene to the forefront of Canada's music appreciation, committed suicide, leaving his suicide note on his Facebook status update. Even reports of attempted suicides in extraordinary circumstances can be a bit much for anyone. (A young woman in Arizona attempted to hang herself with a scarf from a ceiling fan after an argument via webcam with her boyfriend turned hostile. The boyfriend witnessed her attempt, and called her father who was in the same house to stop her. They saved her life.)

Author's note: At the time of revision, a new death had surfaced in the media: world champion boxer Arturo Gatti was found dead in his Brazilian vacation residence a few days ago. His wife has since been arrested for his murder.