When Donald Trump was elected, those of us who are not Straight White Christian Men became afraid. We are afraid that his administration that is anti Women and Same-Sex rights and Freedom of Religion will create an unsafe environment for those of us who don’t look and act like the Vice President Elect.
Yesterday that man, Mike Pence, attended a Hamilton performance and the musical’s star had a message for him. Brandon Victor Dixon implored him to listen to what he has to say, “We have a message for you, sir. We hope that you will hear us out…Vice President-Elect Pence, we welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical. We really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us, all of us. We truly thank you for sharing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men, women, of different colors, creeds, and orientations.”
Pence came into our house, and as a guest I hope he heard what we have to say. We want to America to keep moving forward and not backwards into a time where people of different colors, races, religions, sex and sexual preference were not allowed to be free. That is not asking for too much.
If you can’t handle what a man so eloquently had to say to you, then maybe you should not be a heartbeat away from being President.
Don’t send your goon, I mean President Elect Donald Trump, to do your dirty work. Do it yourself.
As we say in NYC, grow a pair! Because what Brandon Victor Dixon said is how most Americans feel and he did not say anything offensive or threatening or anything that warrants an apology. He spoke from the heart, something I don’t think you or your goon have.
And with that my tricorn is off to the cast of Hamilton!
UPDATE: Lin-Miranda Manuel Tweeted this response to his casts’ peaceful and inspirational message, “Proud of @HamiltonMusical. Proud of @BrandonVDixon, for leading with love. And proud to remind you that ALL are welcome at the theater.”
UPDATE 2: Brandon Victor Dixon had this to say to Donald Trump who told him to apologize to Pence, “@realDonaldTrump conversation is not harassment sir. And I appreciate @mike_pence for stopping to listen.” Amen!
Trump has a lot of nerve to ask anyone to apologize when he can’t do it himself.
Josh Groban was offered too much tuna at Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s Broadway show Oh, Hello, and the two old men asked the singer to sing an ode to the monstrous sandwich that was jiggling in front of him. Even though he was put on the spot, he was able to rise up to the occasion. Belting out, “Oh what an idiot I am, What a f*cking moron, This is entirely too much tuna.”
Now if you or I tried to sing those lyrics, we would sound like crap. He sings it and I would pay bucks to hear it over and over again. Who else could make the word f*cking sound so beautiful? Well besides Adele and him.
BTW Groban makes his Broadway debut starting next Tuesday in The Great Comet of 1812. Get your tickets now before it sells out.
Back in 2001, we fell in love with Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge and now we have to prepare to do that all over it again. That’s because it was announced today that the man who brought it to the big screen is working with John Logan and Alex Timbers to adapt it for the stage.
As of now that is all we know, and Playbill says that they will make more announcements later on like who is starring it, when and where it will debut and what music will be included.
One question that is not in doubt is how much we are going to love it!
Tonight during the Democratic National Convention several Broadway stars, many who also have been on television, sang Burt Bacharach’s What the World Needs Now, and it was painfully awful.
You know it is bad when someone decided to put The Brady Bunch’s Eve Plumb in the middle and several people tried to Marcia Marcia Marcia her by not giving her the mic.
To make matters worse, they might be Broadway stars, but that doesn’t mean they can sing a song together. Not only did their voices not mesh together, several of them cannot sing that particular type of tune. Audra McDonald is one of the most beautiful singers, but this song was not made for her. Same goes for Idina Menzel.
Finally, they saved the worst for last. Just when you think The View was the worst thing that Rosie Perez could have ever done to us, turns out singing is a million times more irritating.
The ultimate way to tell how bad this performance was, Broadway’s newest darling Lin-Manuel Miranda was not even part of it. Where was he?
But I will end this on a positive note. It was nice to see Cagney & Lacey aka Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly sharing the mic as the belted out the chorus.
Josh Groban is making his Broadway debut in The Great Comet starting on October 18th and today they released his first song from the musical. While Dust and Ashes sounds great on our computers, I am sure it will sound even better with the acoustics in the Imperial Theater. The way his powerful voice will bounce off the walls and into your soul as he sings each note will be electrifying. Then to add in all the emotion you need do when you acting as you sing, you will find yourself belting the show tunes for 18 months after you see the show for the 12th time and picturing him serenading you with each melody.
