IMHO: Wicked

The In My Honest Opinion Series (IMHO) is a series of posts for the purpose of declaring my opinion on certain subjects.  My honest opinion.  (Yes, thank you, Mary.)  These posts will be my totally unbiased, totally unaltered-on-any-grounds opinion.  Each and every one of my readers are entitled to the right to comment below with their own opinion and an argument, if they so desire.  Let us begin.

(Behold.  The first IMHO post!  Seems fitting that a series that has been in my mind so long should start with my now-tied-for-second-favorite musical, Wicked.  C :)

The synopsis of Wicked could probably be very (very, very) summarized by saying that it's about what happened Before Dorothy Dropped In.

Wicked is the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and G(a)linda, the Good Witch of the North, and how they became friends.  They start out simply loathing each other and taking things that don't belong to them, then ending up both being changed for good.  (Brownie points for everyone who knows how many quotes I just quoted!)

I had never seen Wicked before seeing it on Broadway (which is the best place to see a musical for the first time, btdubs!!), but I'd heard a few of the songs.  Namely because of Ally.  C :  Anyway, when I heard that I was going to be able to see a musical on Broadway (then wheedled my way into seeing two, muahahaha...), I first thought of Wicked.

Before seeing it, the only things I knew about it were a) it had been running on Broadway since 2003, peeps, b) the two (give or take) songs I'd listened to from it were astonishing (excuse the quote from another musical), c) my friend saw it when she was in NYC yeeeears ago and said it was good, and d) many people who had seen it or listened to it that I knew and respected (*cough*Ally*cough*) absolutely loved it.

So I thought, 'Heyyyy....  Might as well, deeds!'  (Okay, enough quoting from things other than Wicked!)

Now we come to the IMHO part.

I LOVED IT.

From the opening notes (y'all know what I'm talking about) to the closing of the curtain after the bows, I was totally enraptured in all of it.

I loved a great many things about this musical.  First of all, I LOVED my cast.  Lindsay Mendez (GRACIOUS SAKES....  she had SUCH a powerful voice!), Tiffany Haas (who was an understudy, by the way, and I won't go into my theory in understudies and just say that, nine times out of ten, I've observed they play the part better than the person who is actually cast for the role!), Derek Klena (WOW....  Let me just say.... his "Let the green girl go!" was allllllmost as good as Aaron's!), Carol Kane (as Madame Morrible....  Don't recognize her name?  Does "Humperdink, Humperdink, Humperdink!" ring a bell???) and allll the rest....  I was literally just BLOWN AWAY.

During the intermission, my dad and I stepped out to get a drink (non-alcoholic....), my dad looked at me and said, "Wow....  That was actually.... pretty good."  That made me really surprised, cuz, HELLO, this is the guy who watches most of the movies I love and hold dear to my heart and says they're "cute."

I won't go through all of the songs and tell you which were my favorite (I'll just list the ones I really like - No One Mourns the Wicked through Finale: For Good (Reprise)!), I'll just say that I loved all of them.  C :  The one I sing the most, howevs, is probably The Wizard and I.  Just cuz.  C :

Now for the extremely biased part.

I hope you guys agree with me about how amazing this was after seeing all of these videos.  If not, feel free to start a comment war.  I have my caps lock ON.)

Lindsay Mendez singing 'The Wizard and I'

 

 

 

Derek Klena and Lindsay Mendez singing 'As Long As You're Mine'

 

 

 

Lindsay Mendez singing 'No Good Deed'

(Hey...  I really love her voice....)

 

 

Tiffany Haas singing 'Popular' (with Anne Brummel)

 

 

 

Derek Klena singing 'Along the Way'

(Not from Wicked, obviously, but it gives you a glimpse of what a great voice he has!)

 (I can't post this video here....  : (((((  Just click the link.  Click it.  Do it.)

 

 Tiffany Haas and Lindsay Mendez singing 'What Is This Feeling?'

(The picture is of the best cast EVAH)

I wishwishwiiiiish there was a video of them singing this....  They played off each other soooo well!!!

 

 And here are some pictures to make y'all completely and totally jealous.  C :

The usual cast....

Plus one of the sweetest ladies on the planet!

The wall was painted with the map of Oz.
And everything in the theater was green, which, if any of you really know me, you'll know it's my favorite color.
So I was literally in heaven.  C :

The staaaage....

 

 

Okay, this is too cool to be in a caption.  We were right on the edge of the balcony, front Mezz left, and we had a reeeeally good view of practically everything.  The rope hanging from the ceiling on the far right was where the first personal flying monkey (sorry.... couldn't resist!) came down, the black shape on the stage to the right of it is a small trap door, and the ramp on the right of the stage leads down to another trap door which the cast uses frequently.  When I took the picture, I was like, "It's a TRAPDOOR, DAD!  This is going to be AWESOME!!!"

 

Meeting the Cast.  C :

 

(If you're already turning green [heehee.... green....], you can just stop now.  Cuz it'll only get worse.)

Me and Catherine Charlebois, who played Nessarose.  So good!

Me and Derek Klena, who played Fiyero.  (Stop gushing, KarMarie....)

Me and Tiffany Haas, who played G(a)linda.  She was so sweet!  She stayed and talked with my dad and I for the longest.  : )

 

Me and Lindsay Mendez, who played the green girl herself!

 

The stuffs I got.  C :

My autographed Playbill.  (Which is an ACTUAL Playbill, by the way!!)

My autographed Playbill, cont'd.

 

The cup that is ONLY sold at the Gershwin.

I use it every day.  No joke.

Well, that's Wicked.  IMHO.

Care to comment?

~Eowyn~

"life goes on...."

Wellsies.  How have y'all been?  My life has been just a little short of crazy lately, but still pretty awesome.  : )

I did a photo shoot of this little cutie pie the other day.  Care to see more?

Lately, I've been studying for my first CLEP test with CollegePlus - Analyzing and Interpreting Literature.  I've been studying for it for literally months - partially because I could never get it scheduled, partially because I had to take a month off so we could work on our basement (it looks FAB!!), and partially just cuz.  Life, y'all.

Anywhoz, I fiiiiiiinally took it today.  And I PASSED!!  WOOT!!!  I am now in BEACH MODE.  We're leaving on Monday, and I'm sooooo excited.  I got a million books at the library, so, combined with a few I'm re-reading (or, in the case of The Living Room by Robert Whitlow, bought about a month ago, but haven't been able to read yet cuz of school), I'm going to have a LOT of fun.  We're also planning several movie marathons - ALL of the Lord of the Rings movies (extended, of course), plus a few new ones, including Patriot Games, starring Harrison Ford and Sean Bean.  Can't wait!  We've been listening to the soundtrack for several months now, and if the movie is anything like the soundtrack, it's going to be AWESOME.

During my vacation at the beach, I'm hopefully going to have a lot of time to blog, so you should see at least two NYC-related posts next week.  One will be for Day Two, and one is... well, that's for me to know and you to find out.  : )

As I type this, I'm half-watching Melody Time.  I was doing research for my new novel (eep... so excited about the way it's heading!), and found out that it came out in 1948, which is the year the novel starts in.  I needed a movie for two main characters to go see, and picked Melody Time.  Remembering it was in our collection of movies in the newly-finished basement, I took it upstairs and have tried to watch it for a while now.  So far, Nut-Nut is enjoying it.  As the opening credits rolled, I found out that Roy Rogers is in it!  YAY!!  Can't wait to hear him!

Speaking of my new novel....  : )  I'm really enjoying doing research for it.  It's so much fun to watch movies, find pictures of people dressed in just the cutest outfits, and listen to music - all set in the late 40's.  I enjoyed researching ice dancing for Becoming Nikki, but I think researching for this novel is going to be even more fun!!  A lot of Arwen's favorite singers and actors were alive and in movies during this time period - Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, etc - so she's more than happy to watch and listen along with me.  : )

I've also found a lot of blogs lately that I'm really enjoying reading!  However, if you guys know of any writer blogs that you've enjoyed reading, I'd love to hear about them!  I can always use more inspiration.  : )

Ooh.  Nearly forgot.  My sister, Arwen, is turning twenty in September (sooooo oooold....), and, after much deliberation, has decided to have a Jane Austen Murder Mystery Tea Party.  *nods*  It's true.  She's inviting about fifteen people, but there are only ten characters, so she had some trouble deciding who should be who for a while.  We've got it all sorted out now, though.  Can't wait to tell you guys how it goes!  I'm playing Mrs. Bennet.....  So that'll be interesting......  *wink*  There's also Mr. Bennet (duuuuuuh), Lizzie, Darcy, Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine de Bourgh (who Arwen is portraying, cuz she's the host), Emma Woodhouse, Frank Churchill (heehee...), Marianne Dashwood, and Willoughby (heehee.....).  Everybody is going to be dressed up in period attire, so it's definitely going to be interesting.  I can post pictures, if you want!

I've also been listening to a lot of great music on YouTube lately - studying, y'all, studying - but I don't think I'll post any cuz I have a little something in the works.  : )  It's been interesting trying to find videos the actors who were in the musicals I saw on Broadway.  I found out that the annual Broadway in Bryant Park show was the week after I was there....  Figures....  *sniff*  With each video I watch from it, though, I'm like, "I WAS THERE!!!"  : )

Well, I think that's all I wanted to talk about.  I should have called this another Random Post, but I like the title I have.  Cuz it's from this song.

(Speaking of!!  I heard Aaron's character, Mike, got shot in one of the latest Graceland episodes!!  Noooooooo!!  Is he okay?  People who have seen it, PLEASE TELL ME HE'S OKAY!!)

I guess that's it.  I'll tell y'all a random quote that's been making me laugh for the past few weeks (thanks, Kate!), and let you go back to your normal lives.

"You illiterate twit!"
"I am not illiterate!  My parents were married!!!"

~Eowyn~

START SPREADIN' THE NEWS - I'M LEAVING TODAY!!!!!!

SHIOLKNLSGBUAOIHLNTAKLGIHLSK'A;OIHLSGSILHJ;LKSAPIUWNKVSOPIGUSP!!!!!!!!!

Yeahhhhh.....  All the feels.....  : )

Soooooo.....  I'm taking a leave of absence on this blog (and emailing and commenting on other blogs and all that jazz) for the next four days (count 'em - FOUR!!!) while I'll be in....

Yups.  : )

Au rivoir!!!!!!!

~Eowyn~

Sir Percy Day - Part Two: Clips from 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'

From the 1982 movie

 

The Famous Quote

The theme

(sighhhh)

One of my favorite scenes from the movie

(Seriously, when we watched this movie with a few teenage guys, they absolutely loved Percy after this.  And I totally understand why.)

The Duel

(spolier alert if you haven't seen the movie!)

 

From The Scarlet Pimpernel: The Musical

(Disclaimer: I haven't heard the whole thing - only these three songs, which I loooove.)

 

'Into the Fire' (Percy and The League's song)

(warning: mild language)

'Falcon in the Dive' (Chauvelin's song)

(warning: mild language)

Best version I've found of 'I'll Forget You'  (Marguerite's song)

 

Randomocity : )



My personal favorite music video, created by the ever awesome Ally!

 

Totally awesome.  What are some of your favorite scenes?  Have I left any out?!

 

~Eowyn~

D'awwwwww......

Suddenly I see
Suddenly it starts
Can two anxious hearts beat as one?
Yesterday I was alone
Today you walk beside me
Something still unclear
Something not yet here has begun.

Suddenly the world
Seems a different place
Somehow full of grace and delight.
How was I to know that so much hope was held inside me?
What has passed is gone
Now we journey on through the night

How was I to know at last that happiness can come so fast?
Trusting me the way you do
I’m so afraid of failing you
Just a child who cannot know that danger follows where I go
There are shadows everywhere
And memories I cannot share

Nevermore alone
Nevermore apart
You have warmed my heart like the sun.
You have brought the gift of life
And love so long denied me.

Suddenly I see
What I could not see
Something suddenly
Has begun.

 

-Suddenly

Les Miserables

 

 

You're welcome.

 

~Eowyn~

Something is Coming....

A contest, actually....  : )  To be posted soon!

Meanwhile... enjoy a random Lord of the Rings video that someone showed me the other day.  I'm not sure whether to laugh or sue.

See what I mean?

And, while we're on the subject of random videos, check this one out.  I'm always up for making fun of Star Wars!!  (Though I've seen all of them enough to know that Jedis don't do mindmelds.  Period.  Somebody needs to do a huge Star Wars/Star Trek viewing on the lawn at the White House.  Heehee....)

Heehee....  Somebody had waaaaay too much time on their hands.

~Eowyn~

Happy Valentine's Day!

First, for all the Whovians.....

Second, for all the married couples (or single people's parents or whatever)....  Some words of advice from our friends at Get In Here Igniter Ministries.

Lastly, for all of us single people, who will be celebrating Single Awareness Day (S.A.D.) this year....

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.

~Eowyn~

This guy is *right* on!!

This video isn't about how to get guys to like you - it's about how to get the right guy to like you.  There's a difference.  And Jordan is right on when he explains it!

Listen well, sister!
(And no, that was not a way of tweaking Thor's idiotic line from The Avengers.)



What do you think?  Do you agree with him?

Let the comment war begin!

~Eowyn~

My Writing Life ~ In Pictures

Behold.  Dylan Bronson, one of my awesome-est secondary characters, evah.  To date.
(Of course, I've never dated him, but I wouldn't mind it that much....)
(This is Michael Bolton, by the way...)

I've been watching videos of Meryl Davis and Charlie White like mad for research lately... and enjoying it muchly.  : )  This Bollywood-inspired program got them first place in the Free Dance competition at the Olympics in 2010 and it's probably my favorite!

Check it out!
I love the fact that even though I can't ice dance doesn't mean I can't let my characters have fun doing it!!

Yes, my characters do this.  Pretty sure it's called a Death Spiral.  (Heehee... look at Charlie's face!)

I've also been reading up on ice dancing again so that I can polish their programs, so I was more than happy to find this, which describes how Meryl and Charlie perform this awesome straight-line lift.  If you want to see it in action, go here.  (Another favorite free dance - I've watched it a dozen times this week!)

I've put this novel on hold slightly and can only work on it when I'm done with my schoolwork each day, but hopefully I'll have the editing done and sent off to a few proof readers soon!  Huzzah!  And here's some more news for you guys - I think I might actually have a title nailed down!!  How cool is that?

 

I've also been working on my OYAN novel, which is going pretty well!  It's a 19th century 'pirate' novel, including lost treasure, evil captains, and a neat set of characters.  I've been thinking of putting some snippets up - would you guys like that?

 

~Eowyn~

 

PS: The reason why I haven't been posting lately is because I thought that since Tolkien was such an awesome guy, he needs to have a pretty long birthday celebration.  (Kidding, Schultz....)  My life has been pretty crazy lately, as some of you probably know, so yeah.  Hoping to do some more posting in the near future!!  : )

Quite a Few Things I LOVE About Christmas!!

• The fact that it's actually CHRISTMASTIME!!!  ("Eowyn, dear, we have all apprehended as much."  Yes, yes, yes, I know, I've just been super busy.  First and probably last Christmas post, coming up!)
• Having Starbucks Holiday drinks... the Peppermint Mocha especially (or Peppermint Hot Chocolate or Peppermint Mocha Frappichino!!)
• Listening to Christmas music - old faithfuls like It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (which we have on a record, but can't listen to because a certain three-year-old brother broke the needle... again...), Marshmallow World, and The Christmas Waltz, and newer songs like All I Really Want for Christmas (I dare you to listen to it and not cry!), Welcome to Our World, While You Were Sleeping, The Christmas Can-Can (heehee...), and Oh, Holy Night (performed by The Voice of Chocolate).  I've heard people say that they're tired of Christmas music within the first week of December, but I never tire of Christmas music!!!
• Watching It's a Wonderful Life, our Christmas Eve movie!!  (Jimmy Stewart is ah.mazing...)

Donna and Jimmy's onscreen chemistry deserves an Academy award!

• Gathering with friends from church
• The cold weather!  Here in Georgia, it's finally gotten cold!  At my violin recital last night (I played the Bach Double Violin Concerto and loved it!), I nearly froze.  No kidding!
• Watching 'The Kid' - a Growing Pains Christmas Special.  Discovered it earlier this year after reading Still Growing by Kirk Cameron (great read, by the way!) and really liked it!
• Watching White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby!  Arwen started it for my little brother this morning before I got up and now we're going to watch it again.  : )
• Getting together with family members that I haven't seen in ages!
• Watching The Shop Around the Corner,which isn't a Christmas movie per se, but whatever.  Like I said - Jimmy Stewart....  : )

Alfred Kralik (Jimmy Stewart): There might be a lot we don't know about each other. You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.
Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan): Well I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik, because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag. Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette lighter... which doesn't work.

• Watching Holiday Inn.  No, it's not a Christmas movie, but it's got snow in it, which automatically makes it a Christmas movie.  Me loves it.  : )
• Eating candy and cakes and cookies and fudge and every good thing!
• Watching Little Women!!  (If I think a movie should be classified as a Christmas movie, who are you to argue with me?!  Need I pull the its-my-blog-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-with-it card?)
• The fact that The Hobbit and Les Miserables will now forever remind me of Christmas!!  WAHOOO!!!
• Watching Miracle on 34th Street!  Love that movie....  : )
• Teaching my little brother about Christmas.... : )  I love listening to his reasons - "Jingle bells and presents!" - then helping him find the real reason - "Jesus when born!  And Santa Claus!"  (Well, sort of....  We're still working on it.)  (Bunny trail....  Let me just tell you guys that he. Is. Adorable.  The fortunate few of you that have met him know how much personality he has!  Just the other day, he went out to eat with my mom and one of her friends and her husband, and this adorable little evangelist was asking the man, "Did you know that Jesus died on the cross?  And Christmas is about Jesus when born?"  And then, at a Christmas party after my violin recital, he stared at an older man for a long time, then told him, point blank, "You... are an old man.")

My absolute favorite reason why I love Christmas, however, is the fact that it's actually Christmastime once again.  I've heard that Christmas is when the world falls in love, and I know that's been true when it comes to my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I could go on and on about how He didn't have to be born in a manger - He's the King of Kings! - or how many things I've learned this year, especially in the past month, that make me love Him more....  It seems like everything in my life is drawing me closer to Him!  From questioning why people don't do certain things I'm involved in, like watching The Hobbit or actually celebrating Christmas and asking God to help me find the reasons why I do those things and not just settling for the easy answer ("Just cuz..."), to just learning about Him through church events, the Anger Resolution Seminar by Bill Gothard.  No, I'm not perfect (far from it, as you hopefully know!), but I can see myself slowly growing in my relationship with Him.  I'm forever thankful for what He did for me, for which, despite all the awful beating this holiday has taken from the media and marketing and millions of other sources, I'm forever reminded of this time of year.  It's something I'll still be thinking about a lot and I hope you'll take the time to do the same.

Merry Christmas!!!

~Eowyn~

"These babies are FANTABULOUS! Absolutely indispensary."

I don't normally do my nails, but in this case, that's right.  They're absolutely indispensary.  Check 'em out!!

First, for your viewing pleasure, my The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings inspired nails.

               They're

just practice nails, by the way.  I think they turned out pretty well for a first time!


And my Les Miz-themed nails.  I'm especially proud of my '4'.  : )

That's what my hands look like right now, by the way....  Seriously.  One hand is for The Hobbit and the other is for Les Miserables, the awesome movies that are coming out in December (which is the best month of the year).  I did them while listening to the completely awesome and very creepy, yet still awesome three part Adventures in Odyssey episodes, "The Labyrinth."

And it just so happened that the things I've been wanting to post about are Hobbit and Les Miz-themed, too!  How's that for spontaneous planning?  : )

I'll start with Les Miz.

Check this out!!  I nearly flipped when I saw it on Ally's blog.  Remain calm - and don't watch it more than three times in a row.  It's not pretty.  (I may or may not be speaking from experience....)

So, yeah.  Pretty awesome, right?!  Amy did a second-by-second rundown of it, which I heartily enjoyed reading.

Aaaaaand... there are some pretty awesome posters floating around the Internet!  I found a few more the other day, available here and here.  Javert looks a little weird, but that's okay because the red 'Javert' below him totally makes up for it.  This one has to be my favorite, though.  Uber cool.

On to The Hobbit!!

This video came out today and I've already watched it a few times.  Sure, it's only thirty-three seconds long, but the dialogue between Bilbo and Thorin is sooooo awesome.  (And I can't see Thorin without saying, "It's Thornton!  Look back at me....")

I knew there was a place where you could watch the trailer with alternate endings, but we were never able to get them to load.  And I just found them!  Huzzah!



But the thing about The Hobbit that I'm most excited about is the music!!  I just listened to the entire soundtrack today.  In it's entirety.  The whole thing.  All. Of. It.  And It. Was. Ah.Mazing.  Here is the link for you.  It's an hour and forty-five minutes long and the pause button doesn't work, so I'd suggest you find something good and looooong to do - like math and chemistry and Greek - and listen to it.  A few times, if you want to.  And let your school take even longer because you're thinking about what the track titles mean.  ('My Dear Frodo'?  Wassup with that, PJ?)  My personal favorite songs are all of them, with an emphasis on all of them, but especially 'My Dear Frodo' (First the Hobbiton theme, then it's creepy!  Whaaaaaa?), 'The Adventure Begins' (It's so fast-paced and hobbit-y!  "I'm going on an adventure!"), 'An Ancient Enemy' (Whoooooooaaaaa....  Deep and ominous - that's how I like it!), 'RADAGAST THE BROWN'!!! (This one is SO COOL!  The electric violin takes the stage and it equals awesomeness.  If you don't want to wait to listen through all the other songs, just click here.  It's awesome.  And amazing.  And awesomeness sauce.  All rolled into one.), 'Roast Mutton' (Again, so hobbit-y, but with a dash of foreboding), 'The Hill of Sorcery' (Looks like I need to read the book again...  And the Radagast the Brown theme is in here a little - awesome!), 'Warg-Scouts' (There's a great John Williams-esque brass part in here, with another pretty awesome cello/bass/timpani solo.  So cool!), 'Riddles in the Dark' (Which I can't wait to actually see!!  Anyway.  This song captures Gollum to a 'T'!  All those tremolos in the string section totally add to the creepiness!  And the really long, gradual crescendo at the end - chills, y'all.), 'Brass Buttons' (The Warg-Scouts theme in the middle is awesome!  I'm dying to see the footage and dialogue during this one!  Plus, the end is so awesome. All those grand pauses, then the continuation of awesomeness....  Golly Pete.), 'Out of the Frying-Pan' (Golly, jeepers!), 'A Good Omen' (Great song!  And a really creepy ending - here's hoping we'll see Smaug!), then the extended scene song, 'Dreaming of Bag End' (The pennywhistle did a little bit of the Hobbiton theme, but a lot of it was new, which I loved!), which was right after 'Song of the Lonely Mountain,' the credits song.  (And boy, is it worthy of some kind of award!!  It totally embodies dwarves and Thorin and The Company.  I loved it!!  I won't tell you how many times I listened to it....)  You can listen to 'Song of the Lonely Mountain' here, by the way.  It's got to be one of my favorite songs on the album.  That and 'Radagast the Brown.'  If you only have time for a few songs, go listen to those.

Wow, that was a lot.  I hope you guys take the time to listen to that music, though - it's totally worth it!!  If you've already listened to some of the songs, whatd'ya think?!

And all this news about Les Miz!!  Goodness gracious.  The month of December is already awesome enough (what with Christmas and parties and concerts and recitals and *cough*my birthday!!*cough*) and now it's going to be even greater.  Wow.  I can't wait.  I'm going to be reading The Hobbit and probably (hopefully) Les Miserables during my month-long Christmas break (I'll shout it from the rooftops, I don't care - I love homeschooling!), so that'll keep me busy until all these awesome movies come out.  Sighhhhh.....

What about you guys?  Are you as excited as me?  Or is it just me...?

Hoping I'm not the only one REALLY EXCITED about this December....

~Eowyn~

(Oh, yeah....  Bonus Awesome Points if you can correctly guess where the lyrics in the blog post title come from.)

Behold... It's a personal concert!!

In lieu of the fact that there is a Ramin Karimloo concert going on tonight about an hour away from my house (and I'm not there... *sobs*), I've decided to host my own Ramin concert, complete with videos, compliments of YouTube.

Enjoy. : )






Till I Hear You Sing from Love Never Dies
Here's a wonderful song to start us off. It's the first song I heard Ramin singing and I fell in love with his voice the moment he started singing! Great song from an otherwise not-so-great musical.... : )


The Phantom of the Opera/The Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera
These are two of my favorite songs from Phantom! I love this version from the 25th Anniversary Concert because Sierra and Ramin are so great together! (And Hadley isn't afraid to yell, either.... C :)


Wandering Child from Phantom of the Opera
I can't say how much I love Ramin's version of this song! No words for how much I love the way he scoops the notes.... Pure bliss! (And this version has Hadley's part [whoops, I mean Raoul...] in there, too! Also, check out Hadley's face when the men are saying "Secure!" He looks so scared!) And I love Ramin's evil laugh.... : )


Comparing Phantoms - just to prove that Ramin is one of the best Phantoms ever!! (And that last one.... Ick.)


One Day More from Les Miserables (Hey, might as well start with the best!)
Ramin is the best Enjolras I've ever heard! He comes in with a BANG! right after everyone's parts lead up to his perfectly. : )


One Day More (Encore) from Les Miserables
I love the look on Colm's face!


Bring Him Home from Les Miserables
I just found this song.... Love, love, love! : )

(If you want to find out what "never happened on the barricade," click here. Love the look on his face - HA!!)

A Little Fall of Rain from Les Miserables
Didn't know he sang this, did you??? (Sure beats a Certain Version I know of.... *cough, cough*)


Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Miserables
Another recently-found-yet-already-in-love song!!!


And... to be completely random yet totally awesome....

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning! from Oklahoma!
(And, yes, he is playing the banjo, and, yes, that is Hadley Fraser in the matching shirt jamming out with another guitar!)


Hope you enjoyed listening to all of these Ramin Karimloo songs as much as I did!!!!
~Eowyn~

An Apology, A Few Reasons, and One VERY Excited Girl

Hello, all! Deary me, it's been nearly ten days since I last posted - the scandal! : ) I've been VERY busy.... And that's also why I won't be posting again for another week or so. I really can't say. I'll try to do that thing where you can write something and it'll post later, but that usually gets all messed up - Blogger usually puts in some weird spaces and stuff. : P Anyway.

So here's why I won't be posting. On Wednesday, a friend is flying in from Washington and staying until Saturday. Mom is taking her, me, and Arwen (guess that should be "Arwen and I...." Whatever!) to a very pretty, resort-y place called Barnsley Gardens on Thursday, so be expecting some beautiful pictures of ruins and flowers. : ) That's where Mom and Dad spent their last anniversary and Mom said she wanted to take me there to do a photo shoot because it was so pretty! (It even has a helicopter-landing place! How convenient! Hehehe...)

Then, on Friday, I'll be in a piano competition. I've advanced to State! Wahoo! I'm really nervous, though. (If anyone cares, I'm playing Sonata Hob. XVI:4 by Joseph Haydn and Flood-Time by Eric Thiman - two very different pieces!)

Then, on Monday, Arwen and I will be in a Spring orchestra concert. We play at a university not too far away and it's been really fun! A huge challenge, but nothing I can't handle - ha! Being the expert violinist I am. (NOT!)

Then, on the 28th.... Sheer happiness and joy. My favorite birthday present. *sigh* My dearest sweetest grandmother and grandfather got Arwen and I tickets to see Les Miserables at The Fox Theatre! *runs around screaming... again* Thus the reason I've been so excited lately.

So, the other day, I was SUPER excited - like, more than normal. Guess what I found out? I was randomly perusing the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Tour website (mainly to try to decide what I should buy - so many things to choose from and not nearly enough money!). I decided to look at the cast. Random, but I just thought, "Hey, why not?!"

Lo and behold, guess who is our Javert?!?!?!?! Hadley Fraser!!!!!

Okay, so, I realize that some of you probably don't know who that is.... I certainly didn't know or even care until a few weeks ago, when Arwen and I bought the DVD of the Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Performance at the O2. Hadley Fraser played Raoul. Loved his voice and portrayal from the first minute he started singing, "Can it be... can it be Christine? Bravo!"

You can hardly imagine my excitement. Deary me, I was ecstatic, to say the least. And my friend told me how to get his autograph. Yahoo!

Anywho, THEN, right after, I went on over to Miss Dashwood's blog, telling myself, "Come on, girl. Calm down. It's just an actor in a musical you adore. You'll live." Boy, you should have seen me when I saw this, which she posted on her blog. (I can't embed it because of what happened last time [the video was half cut off].) There went my patience! : )

Anyway, that's why I haven't posted, why I probably won't be posting, and why I'm excited. There you have it.

Cya!
~Eowyn~

EDIT: Hello again... Two things. : )

First off, a lot of people are doing that thing where you ask them any question you want and they'll post their answers in a big blog post later. I'd do that, but I think you guys know me too well. : ) Anyway, if you still want to, feel free to ask away!

Second, who answered in my poll "What's 'The Scarlet Pimpernel?'" (The horror!) Directly go to The Daydream, a blog about all things The Scarlet Pimpernel and Sir Percy. Do not pass GO!

Happy Birthday, Frederic!

Tomorrow is Frederic's birthday. He's turning 39, which is still pretty young considering the fact that he was born in 1856.

As Rapunzel said, "That's the funny thing about birthdays - they're kind of an annual thing." However, Frederic's birthday occurs less often than Rapunzel's (or most other people, for that matter). Poor guy - he was born on February 29th, which is a fact that plays a key role in his story, the light opera The Pirates of Penzance.

The story centers around young Frederic, who, at the opening of the opera, is celebrating his 21st birthday. This event frees him from his indentures as a pirate, which as we soon learn, was an accidental apprenticeship. Long story short, he is later approached by the Pirate King and his nurse, Ruth, who tell him that since he was born on February 29th, he isn't actually 21 yet. Poor lad.

The Pirates of Penzance is one of me and my sister's favorite light operas, with the others being other Gilbert and Sullivan operas such as The Mikado and Patience. That's the reason that I'm writing a happy birthday blog post to this young man, who is a slave of duty. I mean, what is there not to like about light operas? (Unless, in fact, you don't like musicals or something crazy like that....) Light operas are the exact same thing as musicals except that there's more music!

The following are a few of our favorite videos. (A slight caution, though - the Jon English version of The Pirates of Penzance is not totally clean. It's funny and some of the videos are hilarious, but there are a few inappropriate things sprinkled throughout that keep us from buying it.) These are taken from the movie version with Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast), Rex Smith, and Kevin Kline (Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

'With Cat-Like Tread'


'The Pirate King'


'Paradox' (or 'It Really Doesn't Matter')

This is the song when they explain the paradox of Frederic's birthday and age. (As a side note, aren't Frederic's pants AWESOME?! I keep on asking Arwen to make me some, but she's too busy...)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FREDERIC!!!

~Eowyn~

Edit: Sorry the videos are off! I can't figure out how to make that work. If anyone knows, please comment. : )