Musical Theatre Mondays

When I think of Christmas musicals - I don't often think of musicals that actually happen during Christmas. What I do think of is  The Sound of Music.  I think that's because like most Americans, after Christmas presents have been opened and faces have been stuffed with food - I watch TV with my family and there is usually some station playing a 24 hour rotation of The Sound of Music . And because I love a soft focus and truly believe that Julie's voice is sent straight from heaven - I can't help but watch. It's one of the first musicals I can remember watching with both of my grandmothers - they both instilled a great love of Julie Andrews in me. I learned a lot of things in preparation for this week's post so let's listicle this a la Buzzfeed. 10 things that Natalie has learned about or finds really interesting about The Sound of Music: 1. It was the last of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals. (source: Mental Floss ) It opened on Broadway in 1...

I'm lucky enough to have spent the last few months in rehearsal for a really special production of A Christmas Carol at Centerpoint Legacy Theatre (CPT). With music by Alan Menken (the man behind all your favorite Disney stuff) and lyrics by Lynn Aherns (the woman behind Ragtime and Anastasia ) it is so joyful and catchy. Now I'm always a little emotional when I'm watching something on stage. Sometimes it's from the music, sometimes it's purely just an outlet for how happy I am to be watching the show (or how happy I am for the people that get to be performing it it), but very rarely do I get emotional about shows that I perform in. I think you become sort of desensitized to the story and the touching moments because you've gone through the very rigorous process of rehearsing them over and over and over again. But as I sang the last few lines of our curtain call number during our final dress rehearsal on Saturday, I could barely hold back tears as I sa...