Harry Potter...The Musical?

OH MY, this is RICH! I heard some rumors about a Harry Potter Musical and I just thought it would be blasphemous to wizards everywhere. But THIS is fantastic! I would definitely pay money to see this on stage somewhere.

Outtakes

Really me and Olivia enjoyed messing around with the camera more than anything else!

Can I have a small concession?

Hey everyone! Here is my first ever VLOG (video blog)! So please don't be too harsh. Also this was the first time I've edited anything on imovie so don't expect quality film here. Basically, this video chronicles me, olivia, barr and will's adventure at the DRIVE-IN movie! It was an experience, for sure. Also me an olivia just had fun in Target filming the in between little parts. Enjoy!

Revolutionary Road

Last night I watched the movie Revolutionary Road starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. I really just want to tell the world how I feel about this movie! First of all, I watched it mainly because Kate Winslet is in it and she's my favorite actress. Also, I've read the book so I was prepared for how depressing and bleak it was going to be.

This movie was fantastically crafted. The acting was impeccable, the camera angles/lighting/cinematography was awesome (like I know much about that!), and the screenplay was very well written.

Ok, now on to what I really want to say. These kinds of movies always make me so sad (obvi) because these people, not just the characters but the filmmakers and actors, live hopeless lives without the Lord! Basically the whole movie is about how this couple thought they were special and feel they have wasted their lives by settling down in suburbia. So they realize that they are not different from anyone else and everyone really comes to bad ends. As I watched the behind the scenes featurette the director, Sam Mendes, said that 90-95% of people today live in the "hopeless emptiness" of life because they don't have the courage to do what they really want to. I just wonder if Mendes really feels truly satisfied at the end of the day? I'm sure that all those people really love what they're doing and they worked really hard to get where they are, but that can't escape "hopeless emptiness". It really saddens me how many people realize that they are missing out on something huge in life, but just can't figure out what it is.

I feel like the characters in the movie sometimes, too. Sure, there are about a thousand things that I might really be happy doing that I don't have the courage to pursue. But I really have to stop myself because the Lord doesn't necessarily want me doing those things, He wants me working for his plan. Which I will be happy doing!...if only I could figure out what that is!

I really enjoy this quote because it calms my fears about my future and my past:
"We spend most of our lives trying to make things happen for ourselves...But life is not reduced to what you give or know or achieve. Nor is it reduced to your mistakes, your failures or your sin. Life isn't even defined by whom you love. Rather it is defined by the God who loves you. In other words, you are not the central character-not even of your own life's story. This is not meant to demeant you; it is meant to set you free."

No. Words.

This is Tracey...

TONY TONY TONY TONY TONY!

If you read nothing in this blog b/c you don't like theater, just watch this video! It's the opening number to the Tony's this year.


I would just like to voice my opinions on the Tony Awards this year. I do NOT pretend to be an expert in this area! But I do love it! I was a little skeptical, honestly, about this years awards because cbs was really dying for more viewers. They cut out a bunch of the awards and they brought in touring productions from around the country in an attempt to rope in Americans. Still, I really enjoyed them! Some of my highlights were:

1. Alice Ripley winning Best leading actress in a musicalI was pulling for her b/c when Next to Normal performed they drew me into their performance and she was actually "acting" (too much to expect from broadway right?). Her speech had an odd start by screaming a JFK quote, but she finished stunningly!

2. Quote of the night: during the beginning of the Guys and Dolls performance the mics weren't working (again). You could hear the tech guy say "Do I take it on? I'm going! I'm going!" and a tech guy runs onstage and hands Titus Burgess a mic! Burgess didn't miss a beat either. I was a little disappointed Lauren Graham (Lorelei Gilmore) didn't perform. She is currently in the revival of Guys and Dolls as well.

3. Anytime Angela Lansbury was onstage. End of story.

4. The Legally Blonde Tour performance of So Much Better.

Well actually only Becky Gulsvig (Elle) is on tour anymore. I actually did see 2 of the Delta Nus backing her up on tour (and met Kate Rockwell!) and I was so excited to see Tracy Jai Edwards up there! I was kind of upset that they cut half the song out, it felt a little awkward that way. It was just thrilling to see someone perform at the Tony's that I've actually seen peform in person! Living in Memphis/Greenville that NEVER HAPPENS. It's not like I can go up to New York whenever I want to see a show. But everyone should give Legally Blonde the Musical a chance. I was really skeptical but it really surprised me! (getting off my soapbox now)

Ok so no one in this picture performed, and Becky Gulsvig isn't even in it BUT the Delta Nus are my favorite part of the show especially Cortney Wolfson (far left playing Serena) who is sporting some lovely dark lipstick in this photo.

Things I did not like/Tony Awards need to improve on:
Since every Tony producer executive chairman keeps close tabs on my blog, I am confident that my voice will be heard on this.

1. Mamma Mia performance-bad costumes, singing, sound and actors. sorry that should've been axed.

This picture isn't from the Tony performance and truly the picture just doesn't capture the horrifying nature of that performance, but you get the idea.

2. TECH. Microphones were too loud/not on/on at the wrong times. Cameras showed the wrong nominees at the wrong times. Names were misspelled and presenters mispronounced half the people's names in their intros. Get it together guys! This is national tv for goodness sake! I don't really know whose fault this was. Maybe they should hire new sound guys, or maybe they need to buy new mics?

3. I would like to have seen a re-enactment of Patti LuPone's freak out in Gypsy (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Wh6DAFpW4 NOW!!!!)

4. Choose performances that are represenative of the shows. Hair's performance was a perfect example of this. It's the title song, "Hair", the entire cast is up there and there is singing and dancing going down. Billy Elliott however....I have not seen that show but I'm pretty sure that the that show is not about an angsty boy who runs around the stage screaming "eek" a thousand times while being beat up by the police. The kid was a phenomenal dancer, but there was zero singing. None, not a note. Apparently the song they were going to do got cut out for time, but still, just make it work. Shrek was alright, but with a show called "Shrek" shouldn't the character Shrek be performing?!

Gavin Creel and Will Swenson in Hair

5. Don't cut things just because you think they won't get you more viewers. Things like best choreography, orchestrations, book of a muscal etc were presented before the Tony's started. I just think that anyone who takes part in the production of a show is brilliant and deserves recognition. If you didn't have the book, you wouldn't have the musical. If you didn't have the orchestrations you would be listening to actors sing a capella. Anyway, it just bugs me!

I think that's all I have to say on the Tony's for now. I'm sure I'll think of something else!

The Ryan O'Connor Show

This is a video from one of my favorite youtubers (yes it's a noun) Ryan O'Connor. He does little talk show-like segments every week or so talking about topics ranging from American Idol to Broadway to Oprah. I think this video is HILARIOUS. The girl Nina is learning sign language and Ryan tries to translate into words without any prior knowledge of signing!

My Summer...thus far

Wow, summer is here and I am enjoying staying up too late, sleeping, swimming and sleeping. A couple weeks ago we took our family vacation to DISNEY WORLD! I had never been before so it was about time that I went!

Me and Barr's 1st Picture in Disney World

The only thing that sucked was that it rained practically the ENTIRE time we were there. We rode Test Track in the rain, watched Fantasmic in the rain...you name it.

In front of the Tower of Terror!

I think my favorite ride would have to be the Rockin' Roller Coaster. That thing was ridiculous. Before this trip I would not ride roller coasters, but I left Disneyworld (is it one word or two?) a changed woman! Also the tower of terror was ahhhhmazzzing! I had to drag my brother and dad onto that one.

Also the last day we were there it was Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios! Since a certain member of my family is obsessed with Star Wars (cough*mom*cough), this was really exciting! The only thing I cared about was getting an autograph from Warwick Davis (Harry Potter, Narnia) but they ran out of passes for that in like five minutes (angry). But i did get to see him in a parade! Warwick Davis kickin it with Darth and an Ewok

Also this girl named Ashley Eckstein was there and her dad is one of my dad's clients. She was in That's So Raven, and is now a voice in some Star Wars show I think. Also she's married to David Eckstein, baseball player who used to play for the Cardinals. Well, we tried to say hello to her like a bazillion times, but no cigar. Still it's fun to think that my dad knows someone who has a daughter who knows Raven. And Raven knows everyone, so yeah I'm pretty much famous now.
Disney was a blast! I just wish I could go back now! It is impossible to see everything in that place even though we had like a full week there. I took some lovely videos while I was there so I may post some of them on here later.It really takes alot of hard work to blog. This post took me forever.

Well hello there, and welcome to my blog...

Hello world! Well after a long inner struggle I decided to try my hand at this blogging stuff. Basically this will just give me something else to do when I'm bored or procrastinating! I hope you enjoy following my busy busy life!