...has been in my head non-stop since I heard it yesterday. Mark Shea has every right to brag about his son. What a good dad. What a sweet song!
I love to hear you singing. I love that little voice ringing out from your bedroom when you should be sleeping, ten o-clock on a Thursday evening ABC's. Baa baa black sheep. Through a mouth full of baby teeth. You sound so sweet.
I love that little smile. You only have it for a little while longer now. I don't know how I'm gonna live without it when it's gone. A wonder of the world sold to no one for 3 bucks in quarters from the fairy's wand. But I'm sure I'll be OK when I see the new one.
I love your stubby fingers. I love when you pretend they're the stingers of strange tickling beasts. I love your knees and I'm sorry they got hurt when you fell down. I even love your frown.
...to make Mandy Patinkin's amazing voice known to the world of the Mommy Bloggers!
He's the bearded guy on the left.
Enjoy!
I put a link to this clip in the combox but it didn't seem to work. If you have never had the chance to listen to the original Broadway recording of The Secret Garden you need to, now! You've loved him as Inigo Montoya, you might remember him from Chicago Hope or maybe you recognize him from early episodes of Criminal Minds. But this man's first success was on the stage! He originated the part of Che in Evita on the Great White Way and even won a Tony for it. It wasn't until after his second Tony nomination for the role of Georges Seurat/George in Sunday in the Park with George that he even began his quest to find the six fingered man who killed his father. BTW... you can get Sunday in the Park with George from Netflix... it's a film recording of a stage production with Mandy and Bernadette Peters (not for kids)!
And just for fun, here is a list of some other actors that you might not be aware enjoyed success on the musical theater stage either before or while making a name for themselves in film and/or television. Click on their name for a clip of them singing and dancing but watch the warnings if little ones are around:
Angela Lansbury: best known for Murder She Wrote and Beauty and the Beast as the lovable Mrs. Potts (Angela has received 5 Tony Awards which is the record so far! In the clip I linked to, the sound cuts out for a little at the beginning but comes back.)
Jerry Orbach: Law & Order (You've heard him before as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast... in this clip from 42nd Street, there is a *ammit at the 00:52-00:54 mark right before the song begins)
Scott Bakula: recently on Chuck, previously the star of Quantum Leap. Check out Philadelphia Chickens to hear him sing Pig Island. Laura Linney sings Please Can I Keep It? (In this clip, if you are watching with kids, you might want to stop it when they transition into It's Not Too Late at the 2:09 mark.)
Victor Garber: Titanic, Alias, Eli Stone (Not for kids! This clip is from Assassins and there is quite a bit of language not to mention an annoying high pitch squeal. Victor is singing the part of John Wilkes Booth, so the language fits the character, but still.)
Nathan Lane: The Lion King, Mad About You (I thought this clip was hysterical! Gregory Hines and Nathan Lane sing songs normally sung by women to demonstrate how women in musical theater get the best songs. Oh my goodness, how I miss watching Gregory Hines!)
Hugh Jackman: X-Men (jump to the 1:46 mark on this clip to skip over some silly stuff that might or might not go over your kids' head.)
Matthew Broderick: Ferris Bueller's Day Off , also The Lion King (Clip is from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying)
Neil Patrick Harris: singing Les Miserables on a talk show with a fellow cast member from How I Met Your Mother
Joanna Gleason: The Good Wife, The West Wing (Joanna won a Tony award for her performance in Into the Woods which you can also order from Netflix!)
I know I've missed a lot of others. Feel free to add to this list in the combox if you don't mind outing yourself as a musical theater geek!
One of my favorite singers singing one of my favorite songs that Stephen Sondheim (who's birthday is today) wrote. I'm sure the suffering of his childhood influenced this song, but it is a beautiful song...
Last night, my beautiful girls and I dressed up, put on fancy jewelry and headed to the theatre to watch their very first professional theatrical performance! Well, they've been to a ballet before, but that doesn't count ~ there isn't any talking in a ballet! I know, I know... what took so long? Let's just say... as someone who loves the theater herself, I wanted their first experience to be magical.
We went to see The Little House on the Prairie ~ The Musical and it was amazing! The girls were captivated by the performance. We didn't make it home until close to midnight which is why you will excuse any and all nonsensicalness that appears in this post! : ) I don't have any pictures to share except for one that I took with my cell phone camera so the quality is pretty awful.
As I said, it was a late night but they weren't phased by the hour. After the show, they invited all of the homeschool groups to come down for a 20 minute Q&A session with some of the cast. I didn't think the leads would show up, just figured some of the supporting cast members might be there for a bit, but I was wrong. Melissa Gilbert who plays Ma was there and the actors who portrayed Laura and Almanzo were there. Even little Carrie (with a nowhere near little voice) was there. They all gave an amazing performance. Acting, singing, dancing... they did it all! While I'm not saying they stole the show, I have to honestly admit that Kevin Massey (Almanzo) and Kara Lindsay (Laura) are two very talented actors with the kind of stage presence that you can't help but watch no matter what is happening around them!
On the way home we talked about our favorite parts. OK, in addition to being impressed by the acting talent I was blown away by the design elements! The lighting design was awe-inspiring and undeniably reminiscent of the big prairie skies! The snow effect was truly chilling. The set pieces were so simplistic, even minimalistic, yet they had the power to convey the scene completely and thoroughly. And even though it changed and moved frequently, you always knew where the scene was taking place. The girls were amazed at how it only took a hint of a set to inspire their imagination... how they saw a wagon train move across the prairie but there was never any wagon on stage and how even though there were no horses either, they really felt as though they had seen them race. That is a credit to the actors and designers and I wish I could thank them all for bringing these beloved stories to life in such a magnificent way.
This night took me back to the days of my youth. (Doesn't that make me sound ancient?) My father was the friend and client of a banker who would occasionally offer him tickets to the big shows that came through town. These were box seats people! Seriously nice tickets! The bank owned the seats and gave the tickets to clients/business people they wanted to schmooze. Rather than go to waste when there was no schmoozing going on, I was often times the recipient of those tickets. The shows I got to see were fabulous. Grand Hotel, Les Mis, Starlight Express... truly wonderful shows! Maybe that's why I have waited so long to expose my children to the beauty of the theater. Like I said, I wanted it to be magical.
The internet is so awesome! Right here in the comfort of our cozy, warm bed, we just listened to our family's favorite band play a live concert at the Battle Ground Brewery in Tennessee! They even played one of our requests and dedicated it to Miss Sunshine! How cool is that? Thank you Momma Rees for singing Lily Mae for her!
I'm waltzing a lot right now and really finding it hard to not two-step in the kitchen listening to the amazing music of L'Angelus. Darn these sandals! Where are some boots when you need 'em? You can take a peek at them on YouTube.
From their website:
A brother and two sisters- from Lafayette, Louisiana who deliver the spirit of their Cajun and Irish roots with heart, wit, flair and confidence through some of the sweetest harmonies and most electrifying sounds you'll ever hear.
It's all true. Ca C'est Bon is delighting my ears and feet right now (along with Lily Mae and Marianne and The Waltz of St. Cecilia...), but earlier, we were all enjoying the beautiful harmonies of their Sacred Song Collection. The Tantum Ergo will make you cry while the hauntingly beautiful Salve Regina calms your soul. And just when I thought I had their style figured out, the smooth Spanish style of Muerto Para El Mundo pleasantly surprised me. But my favorite is Be Thou My Vision which draws you in with the evocative strains of the first verse sung in the original Old Irish written by St. Dallan Forghaill sometime in the 6th century.
The liner notes to Ca C'est Bon were written by the father (of seven ten children) on the Feast of the Assumption 2005. He says:
I also thought about expounding on the theory that our Cajun culture is in danger of being extinguished by the modern attack of those who would reduce it to food and song, attempting to kill its soul- the Catholic faith of our ancestors that compelled them to preserve their way of life even when the cost was dear.
Mr. Rees, your family is doing a beautiful job of following in their ancestors' toe-tapping footsteps of Faith. Thank you for sharing them with us! I'm pretty sure my girls want to learn French now.
*I was not compensated for this review in any way. I ordered these two CD's on my own after seeing a link to them on Aquinas and More and am delighted to tell you how much we are enjoying them!
I was saving this for a post about a craft idea I have been working on for St. Anne's feast day (end of July, I know, not June) but thought it was too good not to share now.
It's called the Ballad of Matthew's Begats written and performed by Andrew Peterson and we first found the book with the included CD on clearance at a local Christian store. Here is another version without the pictures. My kids have been bopping along to it for weeks and almost have it memorized! Cory Godbey's pictures are really adorable and the book is laid out like a family photo album. That's all for now. Hope you are having a fabulous Friday.
you need to, now! You've loved him as Inigo Montoya, you might remember him from Chicago Hope or maybe you recognize him from early episodes of Criminal Minds. But this man's first success was on the stage! He originated the part of Che in Evita on the Great White Way and even won a Tony for it. It wasn't until after his second Tony nomination for the role of Georges Seurat/George in 
that he even began his quest to find the six fingered man who killed his father. BTW... you can get Sunday in the Park with George from Netflix... it's a film recording of a stage production with Mandy and Bernadette Peters (not for kids)! 
