Hurry up and get yourself to the Paramount, because no theater fan wants to miss their current show! Seattle has welcomed Harvey Fierstein and the rest of the touring cast of Fiddler on the Roof, and the show is running through this Sunday!

Fiddler is a classic musical and a favorite of many theater fans, and although I’m a modern musical girl, I knew I could not miss this. I attended the opening night performance on Tuesday, and although I was completely exhausted, I did like the show. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a favorite (my tastes more fit the most recent generation of musicals, from the last 30 years or so), but it was definitely a well-written show and since I already knew a lot of the music, I did have fun. (I was not happy about missing this week’s Glee episode while I was at the Paramount, but you can’t have everything, right?)

A quick recap for anyone who has never heard of Fiddler on the Roof (although I think that’s kind of like never hearing of The Sound of Music, but what do I know?): it is a musical, written by Joseph Stein, set in the very early 20th century, in a small town called Anatevka. Popular songs from the show include “If I Were a Rich Man,” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” It is basically the story of Tevye, a hard-working Jewish family man, who is trying to live his life true to his faith, in a world where many Orthodox customs are being challenged. Throughout the course of the show, the three eldest of Tevye’s five daughters get married (all picking their own groom, which served as enough of a shock to the parents), each one straying just a little bit further out of the norm of Orthodox Jewish traditons and customs. The final scenes show the beginning of things getting very bad for the Jews in Russia, when the Jewish population of Anatevka are served with an order to sell their homes and leave the village. The story is concluded there, but please don’t let my weak synopsis stop you from seeing the show. I promise, it is much more interesting than I’m making it out to be. There just are too many small plotlines for me to elaborate on right now. The show accomplished incredible things, from being the first show ever to run past 3,000 performances on Broadway, to winning nine of the ten Tony awards the original production was nominated for. The most recent revival of Fiddler has closed on Broadway, and this is the “farewell tour,” so this is probably your last chance to see the show for quite a while.

And since I can’t not talk about him, if you haven’t seen the billboards all over Seattle, gay icon Harvey Fierstein (an original star of Hairspray, and librettist of the Tony-nominated show La Cage aux Folles) is playing the lead character of Tevye, a role he played for several years on Broadway as well. Personally, I found him to be very funny (since the character is supposed to be a bit crazy), although he was hard to understand. Harvey Fierstein made an unusual choice and chose to effect an Eastern European accent for the character, since the story is set in Russia, and on top of that, he has a very raspy speaking voice naturally, so it can be a bit hard to discern what he’s saying. If you can, I’d suggest you either bring a huge fan of the show who can translate for you, or go to the evening performance this Sunday, which has closed captioning provided for hard-of-hearing audience members. It will definitely enhance the experience!

Tickets range from $30.50-73.50, not including fees, which is on the pricey side. However, if you can afford it, it’s a great price to pay to watch a legend like Harvey Fierstein live. Regular tickets are sold at the STG website here. A better option would be to try for student/educator rush tickets, which are last minute tickets given at a discount to anyone with a valid school ID. Rush tickets, if they are available, are sold at the Paramount Theater box office on one hour prior to the curtain time (at every showing of Fiddler except those on Saturday, May 29th), and cost $25 each. You are limited to one ticket per ID, so if you bring friends, make sure they have a school ID too. And enjoy the show, fellow theater geeks!

Food is a very important part of being healthy, it keeps up your energy and helps you work better, and so I wanted to see what other people at Nova eat regularly. This is what I’ve found for a small collection of the students and staff here at Nova.

Finally, there are snacks. Those tend to vary a lot more since snack foods can change a lot. Christina will often times have a latte, carrots with dip, edamame beans, tara chips with salsa, pears, or a cup of tea. Sierra will just eat potato chips. Then there’s Cherise who likes to eat chips and pocky; Karen who’ll eat fruit or licorice; Gabby who likes to eat eggs and toast; and Ellen who’ll eat a sandwich or symphony bars.

What I’ve gathered from these interviews is that all Nova students have a different diet. I was surprised to hear from the six people I interviewed how different their eating habits are and also what foods they have in common.

In the next few weeks, the shows at our two wonderful local theaters are Rain: The Beatles Experience and Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town. And before I give you the information about these upcoming shows, I’d like to apologize to the approximately two people who follow my mini theater column for missing the opportunity to review Dreamgirls while it was at the Paramount earlier this month. It was an amazing production and I hope all theater geeks got to see it, but it’s now a past opportunity, so let’s look ahead for now!

First off, at the 5th Avenue Theater, a locally produced production of On the Town has been playing for the past week and will be continuing its run until May 2, so you still have a few weeks to check it out! The director and choreographer team that are bringing us this production were also behind the local productions of West Side Story and Cabaret in past theater seasons. The production is part of the “Seattle Celebrates Bernstein” festival that many major Seattle arts organizations have participated in. Leonard Bernstein is the genius composer behind the Broadway musicals Wonderful Town, Candide, and West Side Story, among others.

On the Town is based on an idea conceived by Jerome Robbins, and the storyline is about three sailors who are on leave for 24 hours in New York City, determined to have as much fun as possible in that time. Need I say any more? Obviously this plot is bound to be a good time, so you may want to check out this show. All information about the production and tickets is available here at the 5th Avenue Theater’s site.

Over the Paramount Theater, Rain: The Beatles Experience will be doing an extremely brief, four show run on the May 7-9 weekend. (For anyone familiar with musical show schedules and wondering why it’s four shows and not five, it’s because there will be no Sunday evening show. The May 9th matinee will be the final show in Seattle.)

Rain is a tribute to the Beatles and all their music, although I would not call it a jukebox musical – or even a Broadway musical. It’s more of a tribute band performance, as the show is really just a concert of Beatles songs performed by people dressing, acting, and talking like the actual Beatles. I can’t vouch for how good the production or the cast may be, although critics have said that they are a wonderful portrayal of the Beatles and “the next best thing” to the real Beatles (via reviews at www.raintribute.com and the Paramount theater website). I don’t know. I have trouble believing any imitation could be quite as good, but if you’re interested in going to see the show, be my guest. All information about Rain, and opportunities for tickets (this was originally an “add-on” show that you had to buy a season package to attend, but individual tickets are now available) are here.

STG logo taken from BroadwayWorld.com.

For the second year in a row, I have created and submitted an entry for the Georgetown Super 8 Film festival. I am by no means a professional filmmaker, but I have had fun these past two years, going out into my community and creating a story to share with my friends. The purpose of this event is just that: to showcase amateur films in the lost medium of super 8 without juries or awards to dampen the creative spirit.

Last month I went to go see a play my sister’s teacher from Orca put together, only the big performance was at Rainier Beach High School. It was zombie play called Z and plot line was basically about a bunch of people getting together to form a group. They’re the only surviving people who haven’t been zombified and they’re heading to Safeco field where they’ll be supposedly safe. So it’s about their journey to getting there, some don’t make it either. This is an original play by a teacher, Dante Felder, at Orca Middle School.

I think that the storyline of the play was quite ridiculous though very much enjoyable. It definitely balanced out some humor with the seriousness of it. The set was pretty simple, yet the set pieces that were there seemed to be done very well. The makeup was done unbelievably well, actually, the fake blood was believable enough for a school play as well. The extra body parts close to the audience on the stage was a nice addition too. They had a pretty good selection of music however I didn’t like the music that played when we were getting seated, it kind of made me feel anxious and uncomfortable, but the rest of the music throughout the play and at the end was great.

Then there was the dance numbers, one in the middle and the two at the end. The one in the middle was unexpected and I was surprised how well they knew what they were doing, no one got lost and it was in perfect harmony. The ones at the end were just a lot of fun, and they really looked like they were really into it and having a blast. Something else I was surprised by was the acting. Mainly because they’re middle schoolers, and they don’t always take things seriously. But as I watching them perform, there was actually a lot of talent there, they really gave it their all and were into it, looking like they were having a lot of fun. I could definitely see them acting in the near future. I thought it actually would’ve been a lot of fun to be part of this production of an original play, and if it were still out for the public to see I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes things about zombies or would just have wanted to see something fun.

It’s not news that teenagers shoplift. Nova students however, always held a good reputation with the businesses surrounding our old location on Cherry street. This past year though has seen our school relocate to a new set of surroundings; including a new set of lunch-time options. The traditional place of patronage for Novites was Tana Market—an independently owned and operated convenience store, while now the closest store and seemingly the new favorite place to eat of Nova students is one of two neighboring Safeway locations.

The new-found disconnect between us and our snack food has seemingly added to the appeal of shoplifting. I interviewed a Nova student who has only begun to shoplift this year, and when asked if he would ever steal from Tana he responded, “I wouldn’t and I haven’t, because they’re [Tana] a small business and they need the money.”

The same very common initial conditions amongst teens were the reasoning behind this students’ lifestyle change. “I was broke, I was hungry, and I don’t like paying for tasty chicken” confessed the student.

In the mere months since he began shoplifting, he estimates he has stolen, “…$150 worth of food and drink from Safeway…”

When asked if his lifestyle choices are socially acceptable at Nova, he responded, “I’ve never really had any problem with shoplifting, especially from a large corporation.”

Whether this students story is a unique side note or the indication of a trend, it is a sure sign that the face of Nova is changing. You be the judge on if that change is acceptable or not.

Today, “that crazy theater-obsessed girl” is bringing you information about local summer programs available for teens in the area of theater arts. Specifically, a slew of amazing classes hosted at Broadway Bound Children’s Theater, a local non-profit that is known for producing amazing, high-quality musicals casting only students, and giving all youth the opportunity to study and perform theater with wonderful professionals. For anyone who is interested in developing theater-oriented skills over their summer break, without committing huge chunks of time, Broadway Bound’s one-week-long performance camps are ideal.

Each of the camps offered at Broadway Bound (all take place in the University Heights Community Center in the U-district) gives five days to learn songs and dances, and develop skills and make friends, and each camp ends with a performance on the final day. I’m speaking firsthand saying that the camps at Broadway Bound are the most fun thing I’ve ever done on a school break. Over my mid-winter break, I spent four days learning the music and story of a great song, and on the fifth I got to perform it as a solo. It was an amazing experience and it was a great use of my break.

Because the camps are six hours a day and five days a week, and you can sign up in one-week segments, it’s a good option for someone interested in doing an arts camp, but not wanting to sacrifice any other summer activities – like travel, long-running classes, etc.

There are nine five-day long camp sessions available at Broadway Bound, and each week has one class that is specifically for teens (ages 13-17). Classes are available for younger children (as young as 6) as well, if you have any younger siblings, etc. Some of the teen classes include classes on vocal technique, monologue delivery, and dance styles in musical theater. There are also classes that will be learning songs from a selected show and performing them in a musical revue at the end of the week. Teen classes include revues for the shows Rent, Spring Awakening, and the TV show Glee. I’m excited and I want you to be, too!

Full tuition for each week is $250, but there are full and partial need-based scholarships available, and I would advise you to not pass up this opportunity. Broadway Bound is all about bringing the chance to participate in theater arts to youth, and if you’re serious about wanting to spend your break working in theater arts, I suggest you don’t let a lack of funds stop you from signing up! Visit Broadway Bound’s website for more information on the program, and this page for the full run-down and descriptions of the 2010 summer break camps, as well as the link to the registration form. And I hope to see some Nova kids at Broadway Bound this summer!

Scholarship information is available from the Broadway Bound office manager, Lauren Williams. Email for additional information: lauren@broadwaybound.org.

Now, I’d hate to be seen as a wimpy reviewer afraid to give out bad marks, so today I’m reviewing the musical playing for the rest of the weekend at the 5th Avenue Theater, Legally Blonde. Usually I have very little negative say about a musical, because I can find the good in almost any show. So I suppose my review of Legally Blonde will be more “mediocre” than bad. But nevertheless, I was getting sick of raving about every show in town all the time.

I have never seen the movie Legally Blonde, because frankly, I didn’t think I’d want to. So I have nothing to compare the musical version against, but here’s my take on it: the show is humorous. Ditzy. Fun. But it seems to me to be more of the type of musical that 11-year-old High School Musical fans like to attend, rather than a serious musical. I’m never against a funny musical, but this particular one wasn’t side-splittingly funny, and I couldn’t find any huge redeeming qualities in the music or the humor that made up for the tween-oriented storyline.

Really, I’m right on a  fence concerning Legally Blonde. To be upfront with my readers, I didn’t particularly want to see the show to begin with. A friend that went to see my favorite musical, Wicked, at my request, guilt-tripped me into going to her favorite musical in return. (She’s lucky I was able to find a $20 ticket to a weekday matinee, or the deal would’ve been off.) I went to the show trying to keep an open mind for my friend’s sake, which is probably why I’m not flaming the show altogether. The music is admittedly catchy and the plot is a cute, light story. And even though the music isn’t particularly complex and doesn’t really showcase any particular singers, the cast that’s performing at the 5th Avenue Theater is ridiculously talented and I was definitely glad to be able to see them all. The cast includes Becky Gulsvig as Elle Woods, who is a cute actress direct from Broadway who was the understudy for Elle in the original cast; and Coleen Sexton as Brooke Wyndham (a minor character, but Coleen majorly impressed me!).

On the flipside of the coin – Legally Blonde is a light kind of show for kids. If you quiz a group of middle school-aged girls (and possibly queer middle-school aged boys), the most popular musicals among them would almost undoubtedly be High School Musical, Hairspray, and Legally Blonde. (And if you can’t tell, my opinions of the first two are very low.) I consider it to be one of the watered-down, pop-style musicals that aren’t really designed for musical fans. The music is simple and the show overall is cheesy.

And yet, after saying all this, I have to admit that the opening number for Legally Blonde, also a big hit with young girls, “Omigod, You Guys!” has been running through my head since seeing the show, and I downloaded the soundtrack. So I guess I’m undecided. Here’s the short, condensed review for anyone considering seeing the show:

Rating on a scale of 1-10: 6.5

Appropriate for: ages 8+ (official rating is PG)

Best for: young children, people who haven’t seen many musicals, fans of the movie, or theatergoers in search of a lighthearted show

You can buy tickets to the four weekend shows at the end of Legally Blonde’s Seattle run here at the 5th Avenue Theater’s website. Tickets are rather reasonably priced for theater, starting at $29 for weekend matinees. And I’m going to plug the 5th Avenue’s 2010-2011 season here, because it’s recently been announced, and I’m very excited! The 5th Avenue is going to be hosting fresh-from-Broadway shows such as 9 to 5, Next to Normal, and In the Heights, as well as classic shows like Oklahoma! and Guys & Dolls!

images from BroadwayWorld.com and Playbill.com

Attention all Nova gamers: if you’re looking for something to do over your spring break, consider visiting the Seattle Public Library on April 1. The South Park branch of the library (located at 8604 Eighth Ave. S) will be hosting an all-ages gaming event. Why play outside when you could be in a nice, warm library, showing off your impressive finger reflexes to fellow gamers?

The event will be from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, and the news release says there will be Wii and Xbox games, as well as Dance Dance Revolution. There will also be board games for the more mellow “gamers.” The event is free and there is no need to register. There will also be snacks provided! (Thought I’d mention that, since it seems to be a selling point for many Nova students.)

You can call the South Park Branch of the Seattle Public Library at 206-615-1688 for additional information. This is a great opportunity to socialize with other gamers, new and experienced, and have a lot of fun, so I hope I’ll see you there!