“Nothing happens if you just give in” The Chaz Chronicles Part V

Welcome back, everyone!

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Long time no see. Today, we dive into the fifth installment of The Chaz Chronicles, documenting my journey with the musical Newsies and my unexpected friendship with touring cast member Chaz Wolcott. (Read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV to catch up).

Close to four years have passed since the events of Part IV. Chaz has since relocated to Pennsylvania to teach at Pennsylvania State University. (Though he has since accepted a new position at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music CCM), How I envy all the students who get to have his in-person mentorship and lessons. And if you want to fill in the gaps of what all happened between then and now in my life, I suggest poking around this and my other blog, debdeclamations.wordpress.com. Spoiler alert: it involves a lot of Twilight as it became my primary obsession.

Now that’s not to say my Newsies obsession ever truly went away. It just wasn’t the obsession I spent the most time and energy on anymore since falling headfirst back into the world of sparkling vampires. But heaven help anyone who had to chat with me this past year because unhinged fansie rose up like a phoenix to combine with unhinged Twi-hard to create a mutant fangirl.

What brought about this change you may ask? Well…I was cast to play Katherine Plumber in a local production of Newsies.

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“Gonna be a bright, sunshiney day” That time I met Lorna Luft!

Welcome back to Memoirs of a Theatre Kid!

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I know it’s been a while, but thanks for returning and/or checking out my theatre blog for the first time.. (Hi, Mom).

Over the last few months I’ve primarily been writing on my freeform blog, Deb Declamations. I’m sure at some point I’ll get to writing on this one more consistently, but I’ve been working on some original plays that have occupied most of my writing time. However, I had a magnificent theatrical adventure recently that was just too cool not to blog about. I may be blogging about it a month and a half after it happened but better late than never, right?

In short…I saw and met Lorna Luft!!

Role Call! A Walk Through My Resume

Welcome back to Memoirs of a Theatre Kid!

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It’s been a hot second, and I don’t know if/when I’ll be posting regularly again on this blog, but I was feeling inspired so here we go. I have been doing quite of bit of other writing, most notably on my new freeform blog, Deb Declamations. (Including my never-ending posts about the Twilight/Forks trip).

I was going down a rabbit hole of re-watching Broadway.com videos (one of my go-to sites for Broadway news, behind the scenes vlogs, and general awesome content) and re-discovered a series called Role Call, where notable Broadway folk are asked to pick roles from their careers/resume to match with a prompt. (Examples here). And outside of Broadway.com one of my favorite theatre-centric YouTubers Katherine Steele also did this on her channel. (And speaking of Broadway, can we just take a moment to collectively scream/celebrate that BROADWAY IS BACK!?!?)

Anyway I thought Roll Call it looked like fun so I decided I’d do it for my theatrical “career” thus far. I decided for each prompt I would choose no more than one role, and I could only use each role once. But do know that several shows could fit more than one category, and vice versa. I’ve been very blessed in terms of the shows I’ve done and what I got to do in them and it would be impossible to include everything. (I’m quickly approaching the milestones of 90 productions participated in, and 20 years of involvement in theatre).

“How do you measure, measure a year?” A musical for every time of year!

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Happy new year everyone, hope y’all are staying sane and safe despite…you know…the state of the world.

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But with a new year set out before us, I thought it would be fun to lay out for my readers some shows/cast albums to listen to that coincide with (almost) every month and time of year. We’ll look at shows that mention specific dates, specific seasons, holidays, etc to get you in the mood for whatever is going on in the year time wise.

“Just like that…” Comfort musicals for the times

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It’s been a heck of a year. Whether it be the election, COVID-19, or any of the other plagues, I’m willing to be anyone out there could use some catharsis. And what better place to find that than musicals? (Big shoutout to my friend Tulley Beard for suggesting this one!)

If you need a cast album or two to settle your nerves and give you some hope in humanity, I present you ten shows that can provide some humor, some uplifting songs, and generally good feels without being cloying, as well as a selection from said show to put you in a good mood. This is by no means meant to be comphrehensive list, but maybe a step in the right direction for anybody needing catharsis.

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“Broadway Joes from all over MO…” 10 Broadway Performers from Missouri

Welcome back, everyone!

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I hope you all are staying safe. For me, I’ve been very blessed all things considered. For those of you are wondering, my production of Bonnie and Clyde has been pushed back. Because we don’t have traditional stadium style seating, we were able to find a way to still put on the show and do so safely. (More information below)

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Anyway, a big shout out to my roomie and best friend Hallie (who is a saint for having not killed me through all this). Sometimes we get into discussions about various actors, famous people, etc. from Missouri, so I thought “Why not do something like this for Broadway?

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“I’ll be ready, I’ll be ready…” Becoming Blanche Part 1 (Accepting a dream role and announcing our first Live Stream!)

Welcome back to Memoirs of a Theatre Kid everyone!

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So I’ve decided to switch things up a bit with the blog.

Some months I’ll be doing the standart written posts my readers have come to expect, but other months I’ll be doing a video post instead.

For thos months, I’ll still make a post here, with a link to said video and a brief description/summary of said video, just so that I have all the content together in one place and in order.

“The street’s a little kinder when you’re home…” Theatrical Travels Part IV

Welcome back to Memoirs of a Theatre Kid!

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I hope all of you are off to a great start this year. If not…well, consider January to be your trial month. In any case you’ve found my blog, so you’ve got that going for you.

I decided to jump back into the Theatrical Travels series. This time, we’re going to take a look at places within the United States that are directly tied to notable figures in the theatre world that are open to the public. Think childhood homes, birthplaces, and the like.

Most artists featured this will consist of playwrights and composers, but there may be a few surprises along the way.

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“And One Day, I’ll Shine For You…” The Chaz Chronicles Part IV

Welcome back to Memoirs of a Theatre Kid, and the fourth installment of “The Chaz Chronicles”. (Be sure to read Part I, Part II, and Part III if you have not already done so, for the full story of my unexpected and life-changing friendship with actor Chaz Wolcott.

When last seen, Chaz had just finished competing on So You Think You Can Dance, and I was a fresh college grad trying to find her place in the real world.

“Pack up your suitcase, check your worries at the gate” Theatrical Travels Part III (International!)

Welcome back everybody!

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Today on Memoirs of a Theatre Kid, we continue with our theatrical travels series. Up until this point I’d kept our locations of interests within the continental United States. But given how many historical events and figures from around the world have been immortalized onstage, I decided to expland our scope to other countries.

For the sake of simplicity, I kept criteria pretty minimal. All locations/historical sites featured here directly pertainin to real-life people and/or events that have been dramatized into a full-length stage show and/or movie musical. From there I tried to feature a place from every continent, sans Africa and Antarctica. (If there are, in fact, any musicals with historical connectiosn to Africa or Antarctica, please let me know!)