AWESOME GIVEAWAY: 2 Tickets to Chaplin the Musical

If there's one man who invented and then re-invented the movie business, it was the late, great Charlie Chaplin. His most well known character, the Little Tramp, has warmed his way into many a family's memories and hearts, but the little-known story behind the character is perhaps more intriguing, and ultimately more heartwarming than I ever could have thought.

The new show Chaplin: The Musical stars Rob McClure as the legendary silent film star and features a book by three-time Tony Award® winner Thomas Meehan (Hairspray, The Producers, Annie) and Christopher Curtis, and music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis. Everything from the costumes and make-up, to the set and the brilliant choreography contributes to one of the best new musicals I've seen in a while. The show had such an effect on me that when the curtain fell, I immediately went and added at least 10 Chaplin movies to my Netflix queue.

All my readers are in luck! I'm giving away a pair of tickets to Chaplin: The Musical! There are 4 easy ways to win, and each comment counts as an entry. Be sure to leave your email in each comment so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

1) REQUIRED - Follow this blog by clicking on the button on the right panel and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.

2) REQUIRED - Leave a comment letting me know your favorite Charlie Chaplin movie and why.

3) Follow me on Twitter @yaelleah and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.

4) Tweet about this contest "I just entered to win 2 tix to @ChaplinBway on Awesome In New York! http://bit.ly/S3dsO5" and let me know with a link to your tweet.

Winners will be chosen using Random.org on Friday 10/26. You have until Friday 10/26 at 4 p.m. EST to enter the contest. Good luck!

Congratulations Elizabeth! She was the 17th commenter and wins 2 tickets to Chaplin! Thanks to everyone for entering! Better luck next time.

If you don't want to take any chances, you can purchase tickets for as low as $49 by visiting BroadwayOffers.com and entering code CLSCD925. You can also call (212) 239-6200 and use the code CLSCD925.

AWESOME GIVEAWAY: 2 Tickets to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Before you get too excited, I must tell you Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a doozy of a show. At 3 hours long with not one but two intermissions, it basically details a family in decline, touching on infidelity and insanity all at the same time. If I've still got you, listen to me when I say you must go see this show.

The show stars Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (of August: Osage County fame) and Tony® nominee Amy Morton as America's infamous sparring couple, George and Martha, in the Steppenwolf production. Directed by Tony® nominee Pam Mackinnon (Clybourne Park)—Virginia Woolf celebrates its 50th Broadway anniversary with a spectacularly moving performance that will pretty much make you question every relationship you've ever encountered, insightfully of course.

All my readers are in luck! I'm giving away a pair of tickets to Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?! There are 4 easy ways to win, and each comment counts as an entry. Be sure to leave your email in each comment so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

1) REQUIRED - Follow this blog by clicking on the button on the right panel and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.

2) REQUIRED - Leave a comment letting me know you're favorite way to get free or cheap theater tickets.

3) Follow me on Twitter @yaelleah and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.

4) Tweet about this contest "I just entered to win 2 tix to @WoolfOnBroadway on Awesome In New York! http://bit.ly/Rfwm3r" and let me know with a link to your tweet.

Winners will be chosen using Random.org on Monday 10/15. You have until Monday 10/15 at 12 p.m. EST to enter the contest. Good luck! The show plays at the Booth Theatre (222 W. 45th Street) and the winner will receive tickets good through November 4.

For Performances before October 22, save 35% on tickets by calling 212-947-8844 and using code VWNFP831. Also,visit BroadwayOffers.com and use code VWNFP831.

A winner has been chosen! Congratulations Sarah! You are the winner of 2 tickets to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I hope you enjoy the show! Thanks to everyone who entered and stay tuned for more contests from Awesome in New York!

AWESOME GIVEAWAY: 2 Tickets to The Accidental Pervert

Pornography. See you're perked up already! (Ba dum bum...sssssssh!) No, I'm not advertising a strip club or anything like that. However, the new off-Broadway comedy The Accidental Pervert is sure to tickle your fancy.

Based on a true coming-of-age story, the show tells the tale of one boy’s odyssey to manhood via a childhood dominated by pornography, an addiction accumulated after the boy happens upon his father’s collection of XXX-Rated video tapes in a bedroom closet, just to the right of his golf clubs, above the cowboy boots, behind the sweatshirts, all the way up in the top left hand corner. Andrew Goffman takes his audience on a hilarious and self-deprecating journey into a world of video vixens, X-Rated fantasies, and really DIRTY movies with no redeeming value whatsoever. He found the tapes at 11 years-of-age. The addiction controlled him until he was 26. THE YEAR HE MET HIS WIFE.

I'm giving away a pair of tickets to The Accidental Pervert! There are 4 easy ways to win, and each comment counts as an entry. Be sure to leave your email in each comment so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

1) REQUIRED - Follow this blog by clicking on the button on the right panel and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.

2) REQUIRED - Leave a comment letting me know why you want to see this show.

3) Follow me on Twitter @yaelleah and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.

4) Tweet about this contest "I just entered to win 2 tix to The Accidental Pervert on Awesome In New York! http://bit.ly/VB4bA1" and let me know with a link to your tweet.

Winners will be chosen using Random.org on Tuesday 10/9. You have until Tuesday 10/9 at 12 p.m. EST to enter the contest. Good luck!

Congrats to JC! You've won 2 tickets to The Accidental Pervert. Enjoy the show!

The show plays at The 13th Street Repertory (50 West 13th Street, NYC) and the winner will receive tickets good through November.

Love Me Some Cheap Theater

I don't know if you've noticed, but there are some AWESOME Off-Broadway shows out there right now. I have so many on my want-to-see list, it's ridiculous. From Rent to Million Dollar Quartet, The Fantasticks to Traces, there's something for everybody!

While we await the big spring Broadway openings, I would highly recommend taking advantage of a current promotion available at more than three dozen shows called 20 at 20. Basically, you have 20 days to see amazing shows like the aforementioned for just $20. The 20 days started Jan. 18th (sorry for the late notice!) and goes until Feb. 6th. The way to get your $20 tickets is to show up to the box office 20 minutes before curtain and say you want your 20 at 20 tickets. It's that easy!

Plus, if you manage to see 7 shows over the course of the promotion, you get a free dinner for 2! Whatcha waitin' for?

Behind the Scenes at Bonnie & Clyde

There’s not much I love more about New York than Broadway. Hence, when Theater Advisor asked me to be a guest blogger, see the new show Bonnie & Clyde and recap a post-show Q&A event with some of the cast and creative team, I jumped at the chance.

The tale of Bonnie and Clyde is one of those legendary American stories that everyone knows at least a little bit about. However, only knowing the fragment about love and crime (I didn’t even know exactly what happened to them in the end, but I won’t spoil it here!), I decided to watch the classic 1967 movie with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the night before. With that in my head before the actual show I figured I’d be able to focus more on the creative characteristics of the show itself and not merely the plot. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the show itself. The acting was wonderful and I found the songs catchy, unlike some die-hard critics out there. The simple, yet flawlessly transformable set could have easily stolen the show, but instead it functioned as an additional character with the sole purpose of connecting everything that was happening on stage. Overall, I was able to completely give myself over to the story and be swept away by the magic of Broadway.

After the performance, the show held a digital media Q&A at Hurley’s Saloon. Director Jeff Calhoun, scenic/costume designer Tobin Ost and cast members Claybourne Elder (Butch Barrow) and Melissa van der Schyff (Blanche Barrow) were in attendance and took turns answering questions related to the show, its relationship to the movie and how the real characters in the story might have reacted to the musical today.

After several questions regarding the iconic film, Calhoun commented that he did not set out to make a musical based on a movie, but rather, wanted to create a show based on a real American story – not an easy feat in the world of never-ending movie-to-Broadway musicals.

“New musicals are hard to come by,” he said. “I’m an independent contractor. I don’t write. So I’m at the mercy of finding material that speaks to me. I spent the last five years developing this show because I love it and I’m proud of it.”

Taking a unique approach to a musical and not including any large production dance numbers, Calhoun said he thinks of Bonnie & Clyde as “a play with music.”

Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes as Bonnie and Clyde  (Photo by: Nathan Johnson)

Because Broadway has seen its fair share of wackadoodle musicals (I won’t name names), the creators of this show took a risk in putting on a production essentially about criminals. I’ve heard plenty of chit chat about the implausibility of creating a musical, which is usually lighthearted, about murder and poverty. However, every musical I’ve seen seems to have some sort of take home message. For Bonnie & Clyde, the love story was pronounced and the criminals got what they deserved, but the show really emphasized the economic climate in America during that time in our history and the injustices committed on both sides of the gun, so to say. 

“Poverty made Clyde a criminal. Jail made him a murderer. Only in America at that time in our history, could two such animals have been created,” Calhoun said, adding that the show was created to be the most truthful telling of the actual events as possible, while the film was “very ‘Hollywood’ and loose with the facts.”

Van der Schyff added to that saying, “I think it’s interesting how one wrong choice can steer your life in the wrong direction.” She followed that up by noting that the choice Blanche made to follow Butch into a life of crime may have been well-intentioned (in her mind she was standing by her man), but ultimately ended up, let’s just say, poorly. 

Melissa van der Schyff, Claybourne Elder, Louis Hobson and Jeremy Jordan (Photo by: Nathan Johnson)

Taking inspiration from all of the “dilapidated barns” near his home in rural Pennsylvania, Ost said the “total organic process” of creating the set enabled him to fabricate something that would flow seamlessly with the fast-paced script. In addition, the set was filled with symbolism, right down to the topography which Calhoun said was “as perilous as the times that [Bonnie and Clyde] were living in.”

In terms of how the real Bonnie and Clyde would react to the fanfare of a Broadway musical about them, Calhoun said, “I think they’d be thrilled that there was a movie, and they’d be thrilled that there was a play. They were egomaniacal and they really did both want to be famous in their own right.”

Both van der Schyff and Elder said they go into every performance not only thinking about the personalities of the real Buck and Blanche, but also about their collective spiritual presence. “We like to set an intention before each show that if [the character’s] spirits are with us that they would hopefully be happy that we’re telling their story with the intention of maybe someone is going to make a different choice in their life tonight,” van der Schyff said.

“That’s all you could ever hope for, that someone would be changed by what you do,” Elder added. “This show is a really amazing opportunity to do that because of the story.”

Summing up, Calhoun said he went into this show with the objective to create something truly original. “I try to do shows for better or for worse that don’t look like other shows,” he said. “At least if I stole, it was by mistake. I think we have our own integrity, our own DNA. It’s actually adult storytelling and I like that. I’m proud of that. The audiences that like it appreciate it on that level and I’m really grateful for that.”

To save up to 30%  on tickets for Bonnie & Clyde through December 30, 2011, visit Broadway Box, call 212-947-8844 or visit the box office at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater at 236 W. 45th Street and use code BCBBX909.

...And Then I Wrote Another Blog Post About It

I recently wrote about an awesome one-man show that I trekked out to Jersey to see. It's called ...And Then I Wrote a Song About It and it's coming to NYC - tomorrow!

Here's my recap so that you know what you can expect to enjoy:

...And Then I Wrote a Song About It is the brainchild of writer Eric H. Weinberger, lyricist Sammy Buck, composer Daniel S. Acquisto, director Igor Goldin and actor Nick Cearley. It tells the story of a young man in the city in the late 70s and early 80s trying to make it as a performer when all his family wants from him is to marry a nice girl and get to his job at his father's meat store on time every morning. Well, his plans are very different from what's expected of him and he meets life-changing people and experiences unique New York events at a time when many circumstances of a 20-something's life were very unpredictable. And he pretty much sings a song about every one of these people and experiences. 

At a certain point in the middle of the show, I had to stop and remember that it was only one actor putting on this whole production, and you have to recognize how big of a feat that is. Complete with triumphant energy, loads of compassion and a hint of melancholy, the show will leave you feeling lucky to have the opportunities you've had and excited about the possibilities still to come. It's a subtle reminder that the people you might shrug off on the subway could have phenomenal life stories that are just waiting to be told.

If you're looking for a great New York story with the potential to be a hit show (it's playing in San Diego come March!) and don't have plans Thursday night (1/20) at 6:30 p.m., I'd highly recommend a visit to the Jerry Orbach Theater (210 W. 50th Street @ Broadway). Need even more of an incentive? Tickets are only $15! That's cheaper than two hot dogs and a can of soda at any Times Square corner vendor.

...And Then I Wrote a Blog Post About It

It's not often I leave the NYC borders these days (well except for a cruise to the Bahamas coming up this Saturday - eeek!). However I actually took the New Jersey Transit out to a small town called West Orange, NJ last Sunday. Now, what awesome thing brought me out there you're probably thinking? Well, it wasn't just for the original greasy spoon in a diner car called Gamburgers, but it was a fabulous one-man show called ...And Then I Wrote a Song About It.

...And Then I Wrote a Song About It is the brainchild of writer Eric H. Weinberger, lyricist Sammy Buck, composer Daniel S. Acquisto, director Igor Goldin and actor Nick Cearley. It tells the story of a young man in the city in the late 70s and early 80s trying to make it as a performer when all his family wants from him is to marry a nice girl and get to his job at his father's meat store on time every morning. Well, his plans are very different from what's expected of him and he meets life-changing people and experiences unique New York events at a time when many circumstances of a 20-something's life were very unpredictable. And he pretty much sings a song about every one of these people and experiences. 

At a certain point in the middle of the show, I had to stop and remember that it was only one actor putting on this whole production, and you have to recognize how big of a feat that is. Complete with triumphant energy, loads of compassion and a hint of melancholy, the show will leave you feeling lucky to have the opportunities you've had and excited about the possibilities still to come. It's a subtle reminder that the people you might shrug off on the subway could have phenomenal life stories that are just waiting to be told.

Playing at Luna Stage until December 19, ...And Then I Wrote a Song About It is a great show and I would totally advocate for a NY Transit ride to go see it! If you are planning to go, let me know as I might be able to get you a deal on tickets, tbd :) Oh, and you should totally hit up Gamburgers.

Here is a link to get NJ Transit train schedules.

From NYC, take a train from NY Penn to Highland Ave - they are infrequent on the weekends, but quite direct. (More often and less direct on weekdays.)