Thankful

Greetings, faithful readers! (All four of you... lol.)

(Actually, apparently my aunt also follows my blog, so I guess she counts as an unofficial fifth reader. So there you go.)

Anyway... Happy Thanksgiving!

I happen to be celebrating Thanksgiving in a fairly less-than-traditional way-- my parents are out of town, celebrating their anniversary, so my dear, darling aforementioned aunt offered to allow me to stay at her condo for the weekend-- God bless her-- so I have been able to have a nice Thanksgiving.

Not that I'm upset that my parents are out of town-- I'm very happy for them, actually. I'm glad that they are able to still go off on random trips to continue their strong relationship. But I'm glad I was able to have a nice Thanksgiving with some family, at any rate.

That brings us to the universal theme of this post-- thankfulness. In case you haven't followed my everyday life, THS's choir actually sang a version of Josh Groban's "Thankful" at our senior concert last year, which is a very moving song. For your sake, I'll post an excerpt of the lyrics:

Somedays, we forget to look around us
Somedays, we can't see the joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we pray for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

I never quite understood the meaning of this song while I was singing it during my penultimate senior concert. Now that I've become more immersed and started to grasp the fact that I'm a senior and am leaving a major part of my life behind soon (GOOD GOD, HOWARD), it really rings true. There are parts of my life that are really little things that I shouldn't be worrying about, and so many things I take for granted. When the THS Vocal Jazz Ensemble picked this up randomly one day a few weeks ago and brought it back, it truly spoke to me... despite the fact that the song itself was a bit rusty... :)

But anyway, I'm very thankful for everything that I've had the privilege to have. Even if my Thanksgiving is a little unorthodox, I realize that I should be thankful for everything I have in my life-- my family, friends, and life in general. I'm extremely privileged, and I don't think I should only look at that one day a year. I should have daily reflections of the fortune in my life, especially on those days when IB and my stressful schedule are weighting me down.

And on that note, I think I'll have another slice of pumpkin pie. :D

Willy. Freaking. Wonka

So yeah. I intend to participate in five dramatic productions this year. Tonight, the second of those ended. So bittersweet... the ending of a show. But I like to look at it as the beginning of a new journey... and then the music gets... happy.

But seriously. It was a lot of fun.

As I said on Facebook, back in September, when I first got the role of Mr. Salt, I had absolutely no idea how much fun I would have in the role. Seriously. For a few moments of self-pity after I received my call about the part, I was a little disappointed in myself that I hadn't gotten a bigger role. I had massively failed to understand the vast, immense excitement that this character would offer me.

Since this was my second NYT show, I no longer had to deal with the awkwardness of being a new kid, which, for all intensive purposes, was mostly caused by me being introverted at the beginning of Aida rehearsals back in April-- I was actually very warmly welcomed into the cult... er... society. I just had a little trouble adjusting to such a new environment. Before Aida, I had only participated in school productions, which-- as far as professionalism and conciseness goes-- were nothing compared to NYT. It was a new kind of animal for me to comprehend, and now that I've participated in two productions, I'm really glad I joined. In fact, my only regret is that I didn't start sooner. I could have started at NYT at age eight and participated in all the shows that they've put on. But I'm glad to have what I have. :)

But I digress.

Besides the excitement of the role itself, I was really blessed to get to know some of the NYT people a little bit better. One unfortunate handicap of Aida was, for instance, the fact that most of Zoser's scenes were with his ministers, so I was unable to get to know anyone (besides the ministers, of course :D) very well. In Willy Wonka, most of my scenes (with the exception of the first one) were with most of the cast, so I was able to get to know everyone a lot better. The NYT kids are a special breed of human-- they're outgoing, social, awesome, and uncaring of what people think of them. They're the stereotypical theatre kids, but blown up way out of proportion. It's ridiculous, really. I've gotten to work with a lot of great people, and I hope to have that chance again when April rolls around. For you see, dear blog-readers, NYT is putting on Sound of Music, and that, coupled with whatever the choir musical will be (which will be done during school, so I'll actually have something reminiscent of a life then), will mark the end of my dramatic endeavors as a high school senior. As a minor. Then I move onto the exciting world of college.

Dear Lord. I'm excited. :D

Bananas!

Bananas are tied with pomegranates for the award of most obscure albeit comedic fruit. And they've been the focus of my last two evenings.

In case you are blissfully unaware of my life situation, I've been playing the role of Mr. Salt in NYT's performances of Willy Wonka. And it's been an absolute blast. I can't even tell you. To properly understand the glory of NYT, you must be in one of their shows. It's absolutely wonderful.

You may also notice that I'm posting this at 2:11 am on the morning of November 21st. (The blog might be stupid and say it's 1:11 am-- it thinks I live in California). This is because I've been up till 2am these past two evenings, decorating bananas.

Yes. Decorating bananas. Dear reader, you heard (or read) me correctly.

(Disclaimer: Since I'm typing this so late at night, I cannot be held responsible for anything in the content of this blog. Then again, I'm conscientious enough to include this disclaimer, so perhaps this disclaimer should be disclaimed.)

So me and three other great NYT friends (Dave Moyer, Ali "Baba" Bongiardina, and Christa Valdez) decided to participate in the traditional "Dress-A-Banana" contest that each show offers. The winner gets the products of the fine jar (probably around $3.) The only other show I've done at NYT is Aida, and I was too afraid to dress a banana back then. But we went all out, incorporating a total of six bananas into a diorama of our stage, along with bananas representing Charlie, Willy, Grandpa Joe, Mr. Salt, Mrs. Teevee, a stage techie (representing Ali), and an oompah-loompah (dedicate to Danielle Jackson.)

All this time, I've been thinking something along the lines of "Most teens who stay out this late on weekends are drinking or partying or having intimacy with every thing that moves." But no, we decorate bananas. And if we don't win this friggin' contest, I intend to sue God, because it would be obvious that He did something wrong in the creation of this world. ¿Sabes?

And with that, my dear faithful readers (all four of you... ;D), I bid you all a pleasant evening.

Les Mizzzzz! :D

Now, I don't usually blog critiques, but tonight I saw the 25th Anniversary Concert of the ever famous musical Les Misérables, which I've always known to be an excellent musical-- it is, in fact, indirectly, the musical that convinced me to join the Thornton High School choir department. This production was so phenomenal, it was pretty much ridiculous.

The singers were, of course, excellent. Lea Salonga (formerly Eponine-- she played Fantine in this performance) was probably my favorite. Her portrayal of Fantine was true to every virtue of the character, and was highly reminiscent of Salonga's role of Kim in Miss Saigon (interestingly enough, another show with music written by Claud-Michel Schönberg). Both characters are virtuous and pure, and yet have degraded themselves in order to survive in a cruel world. Of course, my first thought was "Look she's Asian," but I digress.

The gentleman who played Jean Valjean-- Alfie Boe-- of whom I've never heard, was pretty good. Actually, he was excellent, but he broke character at the end of "Bring Him Home," and actually acknowledged the audience's applause. Yes, I know that it was a concert, but I think his breaking of character severely weakened his performance in that song, which is, of course, a very important song not to break character in. The performance didn't seem to be quite all there, and it was nothing compared to the original Jean Valjean, but it was still highly impressive and moving.

Now, of course, I must move onto the show's weakest link-- Marius, played by none other than the Disney Channel pop sensation himself: Nick Jonas. "WHAT, Eric? Nick Jonas in Les Mis?" Why yes, good person. Jonas actually did fairly well for himself, but I'm not sure if I would choose him as the Marius for the 25th Anniversary Concert (I mean... isn't the point of the concert to create a dream team Les Mis cast?) He can carry a tune, of course, but I felt that he was too often switching into his pop voice-- especially during "A Heart Full of Love" and "One Day More." However, his rendition of "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" was, with the possible exception of his low notes, pretty good.

The Thernardiers were good... they weren't quite as over-the-top during "Master of the House" as the originals, but they played the part well. They were especially good in their final song.

Norm Lewis was Javert-- the role that I would most love to play. I actually got really excited when I realized that he played King Triton in Little Mermaid-- so I actually had seen him perform live, which was pretty cool. He captured the essence of the character, and his rendition of "Stars" was absolutely gorgeous.

The guy who played Enjolras-- Ramin Karimloo (apparently, he also originated the Phantom in Love Never Dies)-- was a highlight of the show. His performance was energetic and moving, and the girl I was sitting next to wants to marry him, but who wouldn't?

I've always been kind of annoyed by Cosette, and this was no exception. The girl who played Cosette played the role quite well-- it's just a role that grates on my nerves. Eponine-- who was played the wonderful Samantha Barks-- was wonderful, and could take Cosette any day.

That's really all I have to say. The performance was EXTREMELY moving and wonderful. I have never been to a performance that has left me physically exhausted and panting for air at the end, and please bear in mind that this was a recording of the concert. If I had seen it in person, I probably would have just died of heavenly shock.

Also... they're making Les Mis into a movie!! :D :D Though rumors had, of course, been moving around, this was pretty much the first time that Cameron Mackintosh had confirmed the movie, so my friends and I were very excited. I will most certainly be going to that midnight premiere.

Good night, blog friends. Until another day.

A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember

Or How God Spoke to Eric through High School Musical 3

As far as the International Concert is concerned, I have this to say.

Wow.

But… in the true spirit of a reflection, I must write more. If only to truly elucidate my true sentiments of the concert that we gave last week. Also, if you’re wondering what my subtitle means, I implore you to read on with the reflection. You’re in for quite a treat. J

I’m not sure if I’m biased, or if I’m truly immersed in the choir program after a year, or if it’s simply a statement of fact, but I feel that this concert impacted me much more than last year’s. Granted… last year I was a junior who was freaked out by a bunch of crying people. And I didn’t quite understand the meaning of the community that everyone was making such a big deal about. And I’m a senior this year, so I could be blowing it out of proportions.

But I return to my thesis: Wow.

Believe me; I wouldn’t be blowing off studying for my World War II exam in History tomorrow if I didn’t think this was important. I’m still an IB kid at heart, so it’s kind of painful to put that aside, but I know that I have to get this done while the vague memories of the concert still linger on in my subconscious. But I digress.

Last week’s concert exhibited such a vast variety of cultures—the only thing that could have added more culture would be to have some penguins speak on behalf of Antarctic culture (“Hello. I am a penguin. My favorite memory of Antarctica is… the snow”). The wide variety of culture was amazing—and it really is almost a shame that all of this culture is suppressed outside of the choir environment. For every kid in choir, there are several others outside of choir who live such cultural lives that we all can learn from, but never do. While I understand that they live in an American environment, they shouldn’t feel that they can’t express themselves culturally. Culture is something that I, being a white kid in the suburbs, have never been able to identify myself with. The most culture I get in my life comes from yogurt. (Laugh. That was funny.) Why people who actually live lives immersed in culture but choose to hide it behind the fashions and mannerisms of America is, in some ways, a mystery to me. I’m not saying that people should go around every day wearing robes and other such paraphernalia; I’m saying they shouldn’t be afraid to.

BLUEBERRY.

Anyway, on to the fabulousness that is High School Musical 3. This is actually deep stuff, no matter how frivolous it may seem. I was driving to THS—running late, as usual—with my iPod plugged into my stereo. On shuffle, I will add. Then, as I’m getting onto I-25, the movie’s opening number, “Now or Never” comes on. In case you are not familiar with the High School Musical franchise (the movie itself was not great, but I enjoyed the music), the movie’s protagonist, Troy, is playing his last high school basketball game ever, and as the game comes to a close, he begins to realize that his legacy is at stake, and that what he does now will immortalize him (in his high school’s records, at least) and his history. I was reaching down to skip the song when the true meaning of the song clicked in my head. I was on my way to my last international concert. I was wearing my tux shirt for the last time. True, we still have the senior concert, but I will never again (unless I flunk of course—and my chemistry grade isn’t keeping any promises J) have an international concert. There would be no way to change whatever happened that night. Once I got to the concert, it was Now or Never.

As if I weren’t freaked out enough by this bizarre coincidental pairing of song and scenario, the song ended as I was pulling up to the Thornton Parkway exit. And what song should come up next but another High School Musical 3 song called “A Night To Remember.” Of course, the song is actually about attending a prom, but the title of the song was enough to get me to think that my iPod was sending my messages. Out of nearly 1,000 songs, I got two Disney Channel pop sensations which somehow spoke to me. (If anyone cares, the chain was later broken by 3OH!3’s “My First Kiss,” but I prefer to think of that as unimportant.)

So yes. Two songs from High School Musical 3 spoke to me in the course of a single evening. As ridiculous as it sounds, I think they somehow inspired me to perform to the best of my ability. Sure, I have a lifetime of performances to come (hopefully, at least!), but I know now that there won’t be anything—no matter how professional—quite like the THS choir experience. I am heavily anticipating the senior concert (especially since I’m… you know… a friggin’ senior!) and, of course, the choir musical, whatever it may be. (I have some ideas too—I did my research and found some stuff the choir might like. J) And though I’m very excited to graduate, I also know that leaving the choir will be very sad experience.

I guess I’ll just have to enjoy it while it lasts. I have no doubt I will.

Just Freakin’ Sing!