The Sheila Variations

I haven't seen it yet either! I'm dying to go. Let me know if you want company.

When the boys and I were at Hoodwinked Monday, they played "Popular" from Wicked while we were waiting for the movie to start. I recognized Kristen Chenoweth's voice IMMEDIATELY but not the song. I liked it.

Yeah - that's a very cute number as well. She's so so funny - she's got that voice, but she's this major comedienne as well.

Have you seen the Annie - with Kathy Bates and Alan Cumming? She's adorable in it as the floozy dumbell.

Another Kristin Chenoweth fan here...

I came from MN to NYC to see the show - it was fun. You should go see it. (my first Broadway experience. Actually, my first NYC experience...)

melissa - how great!!!

Yeah, I've gotta see it! Especially after hearing some of these songs. Goosebumps!

Geez, how out of it am I, I never heard of her before you brought her up, Sheila... Looked up some info on her on imdb.com and other sources and I think I got a new crush...

According to imdb.com, she was on the short list for the role of Roxie in Chicago but lost out to your favorite actress.

JFH - Chenoweth is also on The West Wing. She is about 4 foot eleven - (in the picture she is the one who is NOT green) - and has a MASSIVE singing voice and a chirpy little-girl speaking voice.

But Idina Menzel ... something about her voice is just so vulnerable, and yet also so strong.

Amazing!!!

Have your kids seen Annie, JFH? You have a daughter, how old? Anyway - the one you want to see is the more recent one - with Victor Garber as Daddy Warbucks and Kathy Bates as Miss Hannigan.

WONDEFUL movie. Chenoweth is in it - very funny.

Don't have that version... yet. Is it better than the Carol Burnet/Albert Finney one?

WORLDS better. I didn't like the Albert Finney one, though - they changed too much.

I HIGHLY recommend it.

February 19th Sheila - I can't wait!

I prefer the remade Annie but I missed Tim Curry. I also was very torn between my love for Carol Burnet and my love for Kathy Bates.

I just didn't like how in the Albert Finney one they turned Easy Street into a huge production number on the street with a cast of thousands - it missed the point. The point is is that it's a sneaky little malicious plan - cooked up by 3 people in privacy. By taking it out into the crowds, they missed the menace of it.

And Kathy Bates, Alan Cumming and Kristen Chenoweth - dancing around the office and then boogying down the street - as everyone ignores them ... it's just sheer liquid evil. It's awesome.

you should hear the young miss Wagner belting out the tunes..i bought her the cd earlier this year and she memorized it almost immediately. also Kristen Chenoweth was in Candide at Lincoln center with Patti Lupone and Michael Ceveris..it was on PBS..she was amazing singing Glitter and be Gay...a legit soprano and a big belt and razor sharp timing...it's incredible.

So excited for you, Betsy!!

i saw Wicked in Chicago and was really impressed by the acting as well as the singing...its a very satisfying play. Ask David about going with Emma..it was a great day.

mitchell, when did you see it? By B-in-law and S-in-law are going to NY in March and are trying to decide what play(s) to see. Any suggestions, anyone else?

i saw it in October...i even saw an understudy for Ana Gasteyer...and it was great..i think its a rare show these days that can survive without a star...its an uplifting show.

So you'd recommend it, compared to other "non sold-out" shows?

im not too hip on the NY theatre scene right now...Chicago yes...but Avenue Q is still a blast.

This is going to sound so stupid, but I'm actually afraid to see it. You know how I feel about WOZ and I have this feeling for some reason, it's going to make me mad.

I know. Dumb.

Plus, I think I'd really want to see it with Menzel and Chenowith. Like you Sheila, when I heard the CD I FLIPPED! I adore Kristen. I think she's a major talent. A Colurture with a BELT! Amazing.

And it's no small wonder Idina won the Tony. Just from listening to her sing Gravity was enough to give that woman an award.

And Annie? BRILLIANT! SOOooo much better than the Huston version (although I love Carol Burnette....secretly). I have to say, in that movie, my special crush goes to Alan Cumming. He is hot. During Easy Street when he's literally stomping on the ground with his two feet......dreamy.

Alex - YES - when he stomps to the beat??? I just felt a little stomach flip-flop of lust. The bad-boy charm.

It's awesome - I love the number. Hilarious.

i first heard the number "What is this feeling?" on a showtunes music channel a few years ago, which convinced me to go out and buy the entire soundtrack. i love their numbers. "i'm not that girl" really appeals to me, and "no good deed goes unpunished," in addition to the ones you mentioned in your post. i'm mesmerized by idina menzel's voice, and kristin chenoweth's is wonderful too!

My sister's friend met Aileen Quinn (Annie in the Carol Burnett version) a few years ago. She said she still has that frizzy red hair like Mrs. Roper's and was a complete nut job. True story.

I have a soft spot for that movie. It came out when I was about 8 or 9 so I had the lunch box and the Topps sticker album.

hahahaha she's a nutjob??

I was such an Annie fanatic when I was a kid that I just coudn't deal with the fact that that version placed the story during July as opposed to December ... I was like: no no no, that's not right!!!!
And - Annie hanging from the side of the Brooklyn Bridge? What???

I couldn't get past the changes - I wanted to see the Broadway version on film. And that's what the updated one is. Except they left out the Herbert Hoover song!

Woah.. A musical I can comment on?! Kind of.. ANYway.. something to look out for if you haven't seen it already, Sheila. There's a history of the musical [may be billed as a History of Broadway?] series narrated by Julie Andrews that was shown on TV here over Christmas. Recommended. Full of amazing stuff going waaay back, original cast footage etc.. including, in the later episodes, footage from a staging/rehearsal of Wicked.

Just to clarify *ahem* that's recommended for the archive footage.. as much as anything else..

*ducks*

Yeah, the bridge scene was kind of dumb. Where did Annie think she was going? Not smart, Annie. And what was up with Punjab? Duh. (The guy who played him was the 7-Up dude, right? "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!")

FYI, that bridge scene was shot in East Newark (not 5 minutes from where I grew up). The town was all abuzz when Carol Ms. Burnett If You're Nasty came to visit. And then she remarked on the smell and suddenly she wasn't as popular. Again, true story.

Oh boy. You should never dis the local town where you are filming. Bad bad idea.

She was right though. P.U. Despite the snub, I still went to see her in Moon Over Buffalo and got her to autograph my Playbill. Lovely woman. I also adore her for suing the tabloids way back when and donating the money to a journalism school. Carol Burnett kicks my ass.

Newark does stink. But ... it's just not polite to take over a town with a movie crew and then complain about it.

I love Burnett, though. I'm with you, babe. member her show? The JOY that was the Carol Burnett show????

I watched it ALL the time. In fact, I used to do a very good impression of Mr. T-t-t-t-t-t-udball's secretary sharpening her pencils. What was her name? Ms. Wiggins?

Mrs.-Huh-wiggins.

Wait, where is this new film version of Annie that you speak of? I really hated the earlier movie with Finney et al. (although I loved him as Daddy Warbucks.) I too was a huge Annie freak as a child and refused to accept the changes. Plus, Andrea McArdle had that incredible, incredible Broadway VOICE, and Aileen Quinn? Ugh! Totally unremarkable. I remember thinking with dismay that if being a great singer wasn't a requirement for that part, I could have played it. Also, if memory serves, that movie left out "NYC", which really might be the best song in the entire score -- I can't even think about it without crying -- and replaced it with the lame tune, "Let's Go to the Movies". Bah! Was "A New Deal for Christmas" in that movie? I don't think it was!! Another awesome song axed.

I "was" a huge Annie freak? Um, apparently I'm not quite over it.

Anyway, if there's another movie version that's better, I am interested! I wonder if it's on DVD?

Warning.. I think.. and off-topic.. but if you haven't voted yet.. Do so now!

My decision is to stop all voting as of 6:00 p.m. MST, 4:00 p.m. EST. At that time, the votes will be tallied and the number of votes will be recorded.

I think that means today..

Vote here.. scroll down for the Literary Blog section.

According to imdb, "Another Sheila", Andrea McArdle has a role in the updated Annie verion... and speaking of "Annie's" I've always had a crush on Allison Smith (of Kate and Allie), what ever happened to her? (and for that matter the girl that played Susan St. James daugher?)

Wicked, the Wizard of Oz for people in blue states. The which was misunderstood, she had a right to be mean.

Sheila - it is indeed on DVD and it is directed by Rob Marshall, who directed Chicago. And yes, Andrea McArdle, the original Annie, has a brilliant cameo.

GO! RENT IT! NOW!!!

And the little girl who plays Annie is heartbreakingly wonderful - and they include the musical number NYC which gives me goosebumps every time I see it.

Yay!!!!

Otis - shut up with your blue state bull shit on a post such as this. Jesus. What a partypooper.

Also, it's "witch". Not "which". I guess red staters can't spell, huh.

Jagoff.

You know what, Otis? I grew up in New England. I find your comment offensive. You are no longer welcome on my site.

Buh-bye, asswipe.

curly...

Aileen Quinn..."Mrs. Roper hair"...

"Mrs. Burnett if you're nasty?"

You're a genius, miss

Oh and let me just drive the nail into otis' coffin further:

GOD FORBID that we should try to understand why people do what they do. GOD FORBID that we should try to have compassion for the "ugly" people of the world.

People like otis are a blight upon this earth. Their hearts are cold, cold, cold.

And that's the last I'll say on this matter.

Aw thanks, Bill!I was a bit hopped up on M&Ms when I wrote those comments. Perhaps I should pop a few whenever I sit down to write. :)

Oh and one more thing: Otis can suck my left nut.

A warning, Sheila - they do tone down the Depression theme of the new version. At least politically. You get the atmosphere of the Depression, and the hardship, but the cut out Herbert Hoover and also New Deal for Christmas ... they don't have the scene where Annie becomes the inspiration for the New Deal ... but all else is exactly the same.

Easy Street is an absolutely genius number in this version!!!

Can you believe his assholic qualities, curly?? It took me a second to even understand his poorly written stupid comment.

Why do such people read me?

Ew. I banned him.

Go you! I can't fathom that mentality. A wonderful description of a thrilling song (I saw Idina do it on Letterman. Whoa!) makes way for uninformed political commentary?!?! What?!? I don't get it. At all.

Don't even touch Annie Get Your Gun, Sheila. You'll have both the NRA and its enemies battling it out in your comments. And people with facial deformities will be all up in your stuff if you dare say anything remotely bad about Phantom.

Some people really need an enema.

hahahahaha annie get your gun

"Oh, I love Annie Get Your gun!"
"Yeah, well, then you blue staters should change your gun laws."

Uh ... huh??

SHADDUP.

Hey Sheila, did you see the Wall Street Journal article on Wicked that ran a few months ago? It was really good...details how it went from a musical that opened to middling and/or lousy reviews to the phenomenon that it is today. I don't know much about the theater, generally, and the piece about Wicked was quite a revelation. Great story. Lmk if you haven't read it and I'll see if I can pull it from the archives to email it.

And I thought I didn't know who Kristen Chenoweth was until you mentioned that she's on The West Wing (which I have never watched, somehow)and has a teensy speaking voice.. That made me recall seeing her as a guest on the Carson Daly show. Carson drooled over her for her entire segment, and I kept thinking, "Dude, you have no shot. The Tara Taint is like an aura that surrounds you."

I didn't see that piece, alex - bummer - it sounds great!!!

Yes, Chenoweth ... she had her own TV sitcom for one season. She played an actress who tries to stay true to her Christian beliefs. She was a virgin, determined to stay that way, etc. etc. It sounds cheesy and it kind of was, but it actually was quite sweet. Chenoweth's faith is really important to her, I know that, and the sitcom tried to show that. But they never had her sing on the show! Dumb!! She should have done a number every single show.

Amazing amazing voice.

Not that staying true to your faith is cheesy ... but it kinda comes across that way in a SITCOM format.

Many sitcoms do have a knack for making things cheesy, which translates into "not funny." That's why the really good ones last as long as they do. And I forwarded you the article, btw.

Thank you!!!!

It's definitely tough when a sitcom tries to tackle a difficult or serious topic. Only a very few manage to carry it off. All in the Family is an example ... and MASH ... but otherwise it's just really not the right format for tackling tough issues. Because, uhm, they feel the need to wrap it up in half an hour!!

Well, unless they have a Very Special Episode.

Then they do it in two half-hours, and Gordon Jump is there, and Arnold is shocked that that cat isn't wearing any pants.

We got daughter tickets to see "Wicked" for her birthday; we're going in March. We're psyched!

Bingley - oh, how fun!!

Okay, that's it ... I have to buy tickets. Curly, you in??

Definitely!!! Let's pick a date. The theater is around the corner from my office so I can go get the tickets. Oh how I love to give the F.U. to Ticketmaster/Telecharge!!

Oh and Alex Nunez? you're my hero with that very funny Dudley episode reference. HA HA HA HA!! Love it.

curly - i'm going out of town for the week - let's talk when I get back and buy tickets!!