Broadway | The Hanslick Girls

June 25, 2018

Far From Home: Alexandra Silber’s “After Anatevka”

Despite being the one to suggest that they read it, Gwen was the last to finish reading After Anatevka. She had put it off: work got in the way, or she meant to bring it on the El with her but forgot, or it was lumpy to carry around anyway. Excuses, excuses, she knew. But the fact remained that, on the afternoon when Gwen finally closed the book shut with a satisfying slap, Eleanor was already waiting on the couch.

“Oh, finally,” she said, as Gwen sat up in her chair. “Now we can discuss.”

“Not so fast,” Gwen pulled back. There was much to be digested in the book, and Gwen wanted enough time. “I have to think about it first.”

May 14, 2018

Think About Today: Lyric Opera of Chicago’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”

“So you’ve seen the John Legend one,” Dania began, as they walked away from the imposing facade of the Civic Opera House.

“Yes, the live one NBC just did,” Eleanor said. “Which the Jesus in this version was apparently in, but I wouldn’t recognize anyone.”

“Well, duh,” Dania said. “On TV there’s a million people in the ensemble, and at an opera house he’s about a million miles from your seat. I could barely make out which apostles were which.”

October 16, 2017

The American Fairytale: NBC’s “The Wiz Live!”

Meet the Hanslick Girls: Gwen, Eleanor and Dania. Created by writer Zach Barr, they are a trio of friends who are always out experiencing the best of entertainment. Be it plays, films, concerts, exhibits, or games, they’ve learned that the arts are best when experienced together. They may not have the same opinions, but their conversations tend to make for an entertaining read. Today, we throw it back to the Girls discussion of NBC’s third attempt at a live musical: the 2015 broadcast of Smalls & Brown’s The Wiz (1974). Let’s listen in on their conversation…

Dania was shook. Fully and fundamentally, she had not been prepared for what she just saw. She had been nervous with excited anticipation, for sure. After the delightful trainwrecks that were NBC’s previous specials, The Sound Of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live!, it only made sense that she would expect nothing less of the third iteration of the newly-revived live musical trend. The Wiz was not exactly a household name the way the other two were – premiering in 1975, after the era where Broadway musicals dictated the popular songbook, and perhaps most famous today for its film adaptation, which not even Diana Ross and Michael Jackson could save.

July 24, 2017

Signifying Nothing: The First National Tour of “Something Rotten”

Meet the Hanslick Girls: Gwen, Eleanor and Dania. Created by writer Zach Barr, they are a trio of friends who are always out experiencing the best of entertainment. Be it plays, films, concerts, exhibits, or restaurants, they’ve learned that the arts are best when experienced together. They may not have the same opinions, but their conversations tend to make for an entertaining read. Recently, the Girls saw “Something Rotten!,” Broadway’s musical comedy about Shakespeare, kind of. Let’s hear what they had to say on their way back from the theater…

Right off the bat, Dania could tell that Gwen was going to hate this show.

Which was disappointing. By the time applause for the opening number, the comedic and quick-moving “Welcome To The Renaissance,” had faded away, Dania could sense most of Gwen’s criticisms. The show wasn’t taking itself seriously. The history was entirely inaccurate. The comedy wasn’t funny enough – Dania had been overwhelmingly enjoying the humor, but assumed that Gwen would probably dislike it. After all, this was a musical that took it upon itself to rhyme “genius,” describing Shakespeare, with “penis,” describing the put-upon protagonist Nick Bottom who hated the Bard. In fact, his rant regarding why Will gets to be “The Bard” rather than just “a bard” had mirrored a conversation Dania and Gwen had actually had once.

Category / Broadway