Monthly Archives: December 2012

Recipe: (Gluten Free) Molten Lava Cakes with Candy Canes

Many months (over a year) ago, my mother and I concocted the idea of baking our own version of the “molten lava cake” that we loved eating at restaurants so much. So, we searched online for various recipes and came across one that we decided that we liked from Savory Sweet Life.

The recipe seemed simple enough, and had the addition of Kahlua, which was a plus for the both of us since there was a bottle of kahlua that has been untouched for years (if not decades).

We used custard dishes for the formations and created the molten lava cakes that we absolutely loved.

Over time, a coworker asked if I would be willing to bake a batch of such treats but in a smaller form. I agreed as long as he paid for the ingredients. Unfortunately that agreement never materialized so I never had a reason to try out the recipe in a different medium.

Recently as I was walking through my local Meijer I came across a shelf of Peppermint Mocha Kahlua and instantly a new idea came to mind: What if I took the molten lava cake recipe, added ground up candy canes and exchanged the traditional Kahlua with the Peppermint Mocha Kahlua? I mean, it couldn’t be all that bad could it?
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Entertainment: Anna Kendrick as Elphaba in For Good

This came through my RSS Reader and I just had to share.

Earlier this year I wrote a post about Anna Kendrick being in a reading / workshop of a potential film version of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods as well as diving into speculation as to whether she could truly fill the role of Cinderella?

Also there were rumors flying about her taking the part of Cathy in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years that is also being rumored to be headed to film?

Well… here is a video of her singing “For Good” from Stephen Schwartz’s “Wicked” with none other than the original Glinda: Kristin Chenoweth. Not only that but Anna ended up singing Elphaba’s part…

So she’s got the pipes, but Cinderella is a fairly high vocal part and Anna sounds more in the mezzo-soprano range at most, well based on the videos I have seen thus far… so it remains to be seen / heard if she could hit the high notes, but at least in the above video she is getting closer.

Review: BrightSide Theatre’s Company

Show: COMPANY
Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: George Furth 		Location: BrightSide Theatre
Director: Jeffrey Cass
Music Director: Justin Potter

Acting: like
Singing: like
Set: meh
Staging: like
Choreography: Could do without

Standouts: Jess Iovinelli as Amy, Michelle McKenzie-Voigt at Joanne, Peter Sipla as Robert

So my friend got me to be her date for “industry night” at BrightSide Theatre for Company. Company was one of those shows that liked a lot of the songs, but the book is either hit or miss depending on what the actors and director bring to the table.

For the most part… the show did well. I would be the first to admit that there were moments that I was scrunching my face up in all sorts of strange contortions because of the choreography or movement that the actors were doing. In fact… to me movement is suppose to either move the story along or enhance it, and in this production Company the movement work detracts from the singing and acting to the point that it probably hinders the singing and acting. But I digress.

The first number to really catch my attention was “The Little Things You Do Together”, particularly the lines that were sung by Joanne as portrayed by Michelle McKenzie-Voigt. Just everything she did during this number was drawing my attention with ease and in a very good way. You knew right off the bad the kind of character she was and I was waiting with anticipation (maybe not that extreme) until her big moment towards the end of the production to decide if she was worth waiting for…

The next number to really catch my attention was “Getting Married Today” particularly one Jess Iovinelli who portrayed Amy the young lady who was about to be married to Paul. The frantic undertones during her moment was not just spot on but hilariously funny. In fact… her performance was so engaging I went to my friend and whispered “she is worth the price of admission”. And I stick to that… in hindsight there were other reasons overall that made the show worthwhile but I am getting ahead of myself.

During the second act the song that did it for me was Michelle McKenzie-Voigt’s moment in the spotlight with “The Ladies Who Lunch”. Granted the Chicago Theatre Review made mention that it appears that Michelle’s rendition of the song was a bit forced… but I thought that in a lot of ways this was more of her character choice and it appeared to be rather seamless to me.

As for the center of the production, Peter Sipla deserves more than a mere commendation for his interpretation of Robert but also for going through the production whilst getting over a sinus infection. Very well done, he hit the highs and lows of his character as he observes the couples around him until finally hitting a moment with Joanne when she presses him that she would “take care of him” to which his soft spoken blink and you would miss reply of “then who would I take care of?”. This epiphany leads him into his heartbreaking rendition of “Being Alive” which… considering that his nose was red and it would appear that he was still under was still pretty darn good.

One of the things that my friend and I noticed right off the bat was that each of the five couples had amazing chemistry with one another from the “karate” fight between Sarah and Harry (Julie Ann Kornak and Matt Gidson respectively) to Jenny and David (Sarah Page and Dan Maxon). From Susan and Peter (Katy Harth and Peter Durkin) to Amy and Paul (Jess Iovinelli and Steven Attanasie)… and finally Joanne and Larry (Michelle McKenzie-Voigt and Jim Heatherly)… the chemistry between each couple was not only realistic, but palpable too. You could actually believe them to truly be couples. Not a weak couple in sight.

As for the three single ladies… none truly stood out for me, which I found to be rather odd because for some reason the “single” characters (outside of Robert) felt weaker overall than the “coupled” characters, not that this was the intent but it did have a feeling of people are stronger when with someone than alone.

Of the three single ladies (Amy Stricker as Marta, Angela Bubash as Kathy, and Allison Sill as April) I actually enjoyed Kathy and her moving dialogue with Robert. April was pleasantly airheaded and “dumb” but I felt she oversang her solo a bit. It was too nice and pretty… which maybe fits, but it seemed off to me. Marta during her moment in “Another Hundred People” did rather well but seemed to fall flat through her dialogue moments after having such an impact in her couple of lines in the opening song.

However, a lot of thing could probably have been rectified and cleaned up if it weren’t for the fact that it felt suspiciously like the actors were focusing more on the choreography (or movement in accordance to some people) than on their vocals. But again, since I already mentioned this before… I’ll stop.

Overall this was a good production and one with enough highlights to make the price of admission worthwhile for me. Heck… I would not mind going back to watch the standouts again because well… they were worth it.

UPDATES: Changing up the Review process

So I am going to try a new thing when talking about shows that I have seen… since I have a bad habbit of over chatting. At the top of the post I will have a list of points that I either liked, loved, or could do without… then if there were any standouts I would list them.

Once the basic bullet points are over then if you would like to read more in detail then I would do so as I normally would.

Hopefully this would help more in understanding what I was trying to say in the first place.

So the first thing anyone would see when coming onto my blog at the top would be the typical table breakdown of the show, director, musical director, and the creators. Afterwards for musicals I would include my instant thoughts of acting, singing, staging, set, choreography… and finally I would list the standouts and any other quick thoughts that I believe are rather important.

Then after the break I would go into my usual song and dance breaking everything down even more if you want to know the whys behind the whats.

Why am I am changing it up (again) well… after seeing Company out in BrightSide in Naperville with a friend earlier this week I realized that in every show I have gone to I would say something of the following:
– Acting: meh
– Singing: liked
– Set: meh
– Staging: loved
– Choreography: liked

Then I would proceed to go into details of the whys… by doing it this way I think it would give you the readers a chance to do a quick look of my “instant thoughts” as I call it and then if you have time could continue to read.

Would I go back to some of the past reviews and use this system? Probably not, it would take too much time, might as well just start with now.

Fleeting: Creating Bios for Playbills

I’m bored… entertain me.

Sound familiar? If you are friends with me then at some point in time I have said these very words either out of jest or actual boredom. Considering this is me the latter is more likely to be true.

When in community theatre, the actors and production team are usually asked to provide a bio for the playbill so that audience members coming to see the production would have an idea as to who has done what in the past, or their thoughts of the show/people, etc.

However… for me… that has become rather dull and boring, and I rather blame a good friend of mine for that. In the very few shows I have either been with him or seen him in he has always provided an entertaining and off the wall bio that is sure to crack a smile on anyone.

Me on the other hand? Bleh… I go the “traditional” route as I would put it.

There is one bio that I am itching to use one day if someone would let me:

[…] is a multi-linguist that has traveled throughout the Eastern hemisphere as a tour guide and is highly knowledgeable in not only the various dialects but a vast variety of cultures as well. She is also well versed in a plethora of martial arts / fighting styles and is skilled with the katana which has scalped many heads of her opponents.

Oh the inside jokes to be had. If you are confused there was a post about ignorance I wrote a few months ago that touches on the above that as now become a running joke that I use to sort of “break the ice” in a way.
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