Chita and Kristin

Time to catch you guy(s) up on my life! Been busy, but I do have some things to share...

I saw Chita Rivera's one-woman show, Chita Rivera: My Broadway, and I thought I'd share some musings.

-Chita referred to Jerome Robbins (West Side Story choreographer) quite endearingly, which is interesting seeing as people (in)famously talk about how hard he is to work with.
-Chita talked about Catherine Zeta Jones, who we all know played Velma Kelly in the film version of Chicago (and, which you should know, Chita cameo'd in! And just in case you weren't sure of the connection because you're not Broadway-oriented, Chita originated the role of Velma Kelly in the original, Bob Fosse-helmed production of Chicago). Chita says she told Catherine that she could "keep her Oscar" as long as Chita could keep "her vamp" from All That Jazz.

-Chita called Rob Marshall an "up and coming director" and referenced his recent movie, Nine. She played Judi Dench's part in the 2003 Broadway revival, which netted Chita a Tony Award nomination.

-Chita paid a lot of tribue to Kander & Ebb, the duo behind Chita-musicals like Chicago, The Rink, and The Kiss of the Spider Woman. She says she's hoping to bring their latest (The Visit) to Broadway this year!

-At 77, Chita is still so full of life. She can kick higher than some twenty-somethings and certainly has an amazing screen presence.

-Chita also paid tribute to fellow famed dancer, the late Gwen Verdon. She did a touching "Nowadays" tribute to her deceased friend.

and all that jazz!

I also saw the new Broadway revival of Promises, Promises. I'm running out of time, but let's just say...
-Katie Finneran for the win!
-Sean Hayes can play straight! (Take that, Newsweek!)
-Kristin Chenoweth was so snubbed! (And I'm not just saying that because I met her at the stagedoor!)
-Based on The Apartment, it really benefits from such a cute, funny, and touching book.

Check it out if you can!

Broadway Goes Hollywood

The Tony Nominations are here! And the list for some of these categories almost looks like an Oscar shortlist, doesn't it? For example...

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Jude Law, Hamlet
Alfred Molina, Red
Liev Schreiber, A View from the Bridge
Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane
Denzel Washington, Fences

Apparently Denzel is the frontrunner here, but wouldn't we all love the Tony Awards if they decided to give an award to Christopher Walken? He'd be halfway to an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony)!

Speaking of the EGOT, Catherine Zeta Jones is nominated for her performance in A Little Night Music. Since she already has the "O," arguably the hardest letter to obtain in the much coveted EGOT, wouldn't it be nice to add a "T"? We all know Emmys are easy to nab, providing you're not her. And she has a wonderful voice, so she could win a Grammy with that, or record a children's album. Gwyneth Paltrow tried that last year I believe. She didn't win.

In other movie related news, Laura Linney nabbed a nomination for her lead-actressing in the play Time Stands Still. She's somebody else that the Triple Crown (Oscar, Emmy, Tony) seems somewhat obtainable for. Or is that just wishful thinking? Do you think Oscar will ever fully embrace Linney? Emmy might (again) for her upcoming Showtime Series with Gabourey Sidibe, The Big C.

ScarJo is also nominated for her work in A View from the Bridge. She's flirted with Oscar before but has not been nominated, which is weird considering Oscar loves pretty young faces.

What say you? Anyone in mind not on the Tony shortlist that you hope to see Triple Crown and maybe, just maybe EGOT one day? Any reactions to the nominations? Predictions? Have you seen any of the shows? Sound off below!

West Side Story Wins!

The Grammy, that is. The cast album won Best Musical Show Album, according to Broadwayworld.com.

The revival is great, and stars Tony nominee (and Argentinian goddess of the high note) Josefina Scaglione, Tony winner Karen Olivo (her new album will be out any day now!), and Matt Cavenaugh (before he left in December). If you're in New York, I highly reccomend checking out the Tony/Grammy winning production directed by the play's librettist, 91 year old Arthur Laurents.

If not, check out the soundtrack on iTunes/amazon.com! It's great. It's just impossible to get tired of Matt, Josefina, and Karen's voices.

Have you seen the show or listened to the new cast album? Love the movie? Love another Broadway show? Please, do share in the comments!

The Juno Honeymoon Is Over

Juno, the wildly popular, Oscar-winning film has proved sort of a curse to its stars. What do I mean exactly? The cast's/Diablo Cody's films have flopped ever since Juno and its stars/creators were though to be the next hot-ticket in Hollywood. Let's take a closer look:

Ellen Page- The knocked-up, titular star of Juno recently starred in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It! The movie got better than average reviews, yet only raked in $4.6 million in its first weekend.

Michael Cera- As the father of Juno's baby and the funny, awkward star of Superbad, Cera seemed to be a big box office draw. However, his next film, the lovely Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, grossed a paltry $11.3 million in its first weekend, eventually coming to a halt just above $31 million. His next film, the not-so-critically-adored Year One, was a super-flop with Jack Black. The $60 million epic-comedy only mustered up a scant $43.3 million. And for a summer movie? That's pretty pitiful.

Diablo Cody- The Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno made a successful foray into television with the Spielberg-produced and Emmy-award-winning The United States of Tara, starring Toni Collette. However, her next film, the horror-comedy Jennifer's Body that starred It-Girl Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls), flopped, and to date has brought in a weak $14.8 million on a $16 million budget.

Jason Bateman- Following the success of Juno, Bateman took a supporting role in the Russell Crowe starrer State of Play. But he was just a supporting player, so maybe it had nothing to do with him? He then starred in Extract, from Office Space helmer Mike Judge. Extract, like Office Space, sunk at the box office and only brought in $10.7 million.

Jennifer Garner- Never much of a box office draw but always called an "A-lister," Garner's first film after Juno was with Matthew McConaughey and called Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Oh boy. The fantastical (using the word only to describe the plot, this is not a compliment) rom-com did not do wonders for either's career and brought in only $55 million, a lot less than other McConaughey starrers like How to Lose A Guy In Ten Days, Failure to Launch, or Fool's Gold. Her next role came in the Ricky Gervais film, The Invention of Lying, which just recently failed to find an audience and has brought in a measly $7.4 million so far.

Allison Janney- 9 to 5 recently closed on Broadway recently due to poor ticket sales. Poor Janney. Her new film, Life During Wartime is not getting good buzz, and the last film she was in, Sam Mendes's Away We Go, could not find a sizable audience and ended up with a mere $9.4 million.

Luckily Jason Reitman, the film's director, has been gaining lots of positive reviews for his new George Clooney-Vera Farmiga film entitled Up In The Air. However, stars and reviews don't always add up to box office dollars. Reitman, our fingers are crossed!

West Side Story (Broadway)

As many of you can already tell just by looking at the picture of the Sharks/Jets on the top of my blog, I adore West Side Story (Le adoro, for you Spanish speaking readers). I saw it on Broadway today (a little late, but hey the original cast is still all in tact).

Comments
1. Karen Olivo is a deity all in her own. Her tall, maternal-yet-sexy look is beyond Tony-winning. A complete scene stealer.

2. Jerome Robbins choreography is still as amazing as ever, if not better.

3. I'm looking forward to many years of Josefina Scaglione, you?

4. I'm still torn whether I like the Sharks or Jets. I'm leaning toward Sharks.

5. I would have like to have heard I Feel Pretty instead of Hoy Me Siento Heromsa. Also, with my only 3 years of Spanish I could only catch some of the Spanish songs.

Side comment- When Tony was (Spoiler Alert!) shot by Chino, the audience obviously gasped. But then proceeded to whisper for an incredibly long time and becoming unruly before an individual audience member told them to (thankfully) shut up. Strange.

Overall, I would place this first, ahead of the only other two musicals I've seen which are Chicago and, my first, Jersey Boys.

So, have you seen it yet? If not, do! If you have, comment! If you haven't, feel free to comment anyway!