Day 1259: Tony Time

As a fan of musicals, I'm sure you can imagine how exciting a night like the Tony Awards is. After all, Hamilton was sure to have a sweep this year, and a Hamilton fan myself, I probably watched just as much for them as I did for everyone else (although Hamilton or no Hamilton I would have been on my couch either way). As we so often do on Sunday nights, we gathered together with food and a TV for three hours of wonderful performances, and it didn't disappoint.

Of course, Hamilton did sweep the awards, winning 11 throughout the night. While they were nominated for 16, the most ever in Tony Awards history, they only needed 13 wins to beat out the previous record holder, The Producers. In fact, they came really close to a tie with The Producers, but a much deserved award for Best Actress in a Musical went to Cynthia Erivo of The Color Purple.

Noticeably absent from the awards was Disney, although with no new musicals this year this isn't surprising. Frozen will appear soon, and I'm sure that will be a contender for several when it does finally make its Broadway debut. In the past, several Disney musicals have won Tony Awards. In fact, a lot of them have won Tony Awards. Beauty and the Beast was nominated for 9 in 1994 and won for Best Costume Design. The Lion King, in 1998, was nominated for 11 and won 6, including Best Musical. In 2008 The Little Mermaid was nominated for two, and in 2007 Mary Poppins was nominated for 7 (Mary Poppins would win Best Scenic Design).

More recently, Newsies was nominated for 8 in 2012 and won Best Choreography and Best Original Score, and Aladdin was nominated for 5 in 2014, bringing home one for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for James Monroe Iglehart.

All in all, I think you could say that Disney has had a long relationship with the Tony Awards, and if that's not enough for you, just remember that Jake Gyllenhaal and Sean Hayes did an impromptu performance of A Whole New World during one of the commercial breaks.

Have a magical day! 

Day 1174: One Little Mermaid

Once a year I head to a local high school to see their musical, despite the fact that I never went to the high school and I only know a handful of people who did. Either way, their shows are usually pretty amazing, and this year's showing of The Little Mermaid was no exception!

While I've now seen The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast, and Newsies all on broadway tour, I've never had a chance to see the stage production of The Little Mermaid, and I must admit that I was a bit skeptical at first going into it. I knew nothing about how the show was similar or different to the movie, and I'm certainly not the world's biggest Little Mermaid fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by the entire thing. Even as a high school production, the show has so much energy, color, special effects, and excitement. I will say that I feel relatively the same about the show as I do about the attractions that are in the Disney Parks - there wasn't much of a climax to the story.

Considering the changes from the original tale to the Disney version, I can see how the climax of the story might get sort of left out, but the energy the students brought to the stage production I had a chance to see made it all worthwhile. The added songs that aren't in the movie really round things out, and the puppets really reminded me of Finding Nemo the musical (as did the Flounder in this particular show...she did an amazing job)!

I'm not entirely sure I would spend a ton of money to see the Broadway Production, but let's be honest, I probably still would because it's Disney. If you've seen The Little Mermaid, let me know what you think of it in the comments below (I know there are a few of you out there currently involved in productions too! Let me know how those are going!) and if you haven't, would you want to see it?

Have a magical day!

Day 1137: The Wonderful Wizard

You may not know this, but The Wizard of Oz was easily one of my favorite movies as a kid. I remember the days of watching it constantly, and one of the earliest presents I remember was a VHS copy of the film all my own. Granted, my love of The Wizard of Oz hasn't really continued, at least not in the force it had when I was three, and it also happened to instill a terrible fear of thunderstorms and tornadoes in me. Still, when I found out my high school theater program was doing a production of the musical version of The Wizard of Oz, I was pretty excited. It's not a terribly complicated musical, and I loved their production of it...which I apparently have no pictures to prove I went.

The musical version, if you don't know much about it, is a bit different from the film or the book, although personally I still think the movie is the way to go if you really want to experience The Wizard of Oz. As you can probably imagine, the musical features a couple additional musical numbers, including The Jitterbug, which does its job of getting stuck in your head for what seems like forever.

It's also funny though because in the matter of two months I'll see four different musicals: I saw CHICAGO here at SNC, Newsies on tour, now The Wizard of Oz at my high school, and finally I'll be heading to see The Little Mermaid at another local high school in March. Talk about a lot of music, right?

Have a magical day!

Day 983: Frozen Carpet Ride

I'm certainly not the first to discuss the recent news out of Disney California Adventure and I'm sure I won't be the last. I have to say, first off, that I'm not a fan of Aladdin in general, but the musical that's called DCA home for the last how many years almost convinced me otherwise. I remember my first trip into the Hyperion in 2011, laughing my head off at Genie's jokes about Twilight (ironically enough, I was laughing at similar jokes just today), and I will be sad to see it go just as many of the Disneyland Locals that have signed the petition to stop it from leaving.

If you haven't caught up on the news yet, Disney is closing the Aladdin show at Disney California Adventure and replacing it with a Frozen Musical Show sometime in 2016, and people aren't exactly happy about it. I've always thought of Aladdin fitting so perfectly there, but as much as I'm with those trying to save it, I also wonder if Disney's making the right move. Not to say Frozen is the answer, but there was an observation I had while out at Disneyland that I felt is kind of important, and odd, considering the controversy surrounding Frozen in the parks.

There's been a lot of complaints about Anna and Elsa taking over pretty much everything, and for the most part, I wholeheartedly agree. Maelstrom, for instance, should never have been closed. Updated, yes, but closed, no. Frozen is not the answer for Epcot, and while I do believe it will be an extremely popular attraction (maybe wait times for Test Track will finally go down), there were probably better answers, and the same can be said for Aladdin and DCA. But before we really start trash talking Frozen as it becomes more integrated into the parks, perhaps we should look at a different film...The Little Mermaid.

I've never been quiet about my dissapointment of the Ariel attraction that now graces both DCA and Magic Kingdom. It just didn't impress me, and quite frankly, I didn't see the need for another Little Mermaid attraction. And then, while at Disneyland, it finally clicked. If you think Frozen is in a lot of places...think about Ariel for a moment. At Walt Disney World, there's reference after reference to the film, including the following: Voyage of The Little Mermaid (Hollywood Studios), Ariel's Undersea Adventure (Magic Kingdom), Fantasmic (Hollywood Studios), Festival of Fantasy (Magic Kingdom), Wishes (Magic Kingdom), and she has her own meet and greet. At Disneyland, however, things are a bit more shocking: Fantasmic, Disneyland Forever, Mickey and the Magical Map, King Triton's Carousel (DCA), Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Soundsational Parade, Paint the Night, AND Ariel's Grotto. Compare that to Frozen: Maelstrom Location (Epcot), Meet and Greet (Magic Kingdom - Moving to Epcot), World of Color Celebrate!, Disneyland Forever, Paint the Night, Sing-A-Long locations on both coasts, a Frozen Summer Fun Event, and Festival of Fantasy. There are a few seasonal events not listed, but do you see a problem here?

I'm not about to say that The Little Mermaid is a bad film, because it certainly isn't, and there's a lot of attractions and events that involve Ariel that I do love in the parks, but what makes The Little Mermaid so much better than Frozen? What makes it possible for one film to take over and receive backlash while another does it secretly in the background? Is it because Ariel, with her mermaid tail and upbeat songs, is easy to include in shows? Or is there another reason in the background?

Personally, I think we need to see more Princess and the Frog and Tangled stuff, if we're adding anything, and maybe a bit more Pocahontas too, but that could be beside the point. If you're interested in signing the petition to keep Aladdin at Disney California Adventure, you can do so HERE, like many of us Disney Fans that have already done so. And let me know your thoughts on either the Aladdin show leaving or everything I mentioned above in the comments below!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 25 due to a tight schedule).

Day 713: The Disneybounds Continue

With the first half of the Once Upon A Time Season 4 coming to a close, that means that, for a few months, so are my OUAT Disneybounds. I only Disneybound for episodes (although I do other Disneybounds quite frequently...just wait until my Disney trip!). This season, so far, was especially fun for me, with all the Frozen Disneybounds and new characters and new outfits. Yep, it was a great time. Add on the fact that I've had more favorites and comments on these 'bounds than I've ever had before and I'd say it's been a very successful S4A.

Let's see, where did we leave off? It was with Marian, I believe. But let's just take a real quick look back at the beginning of Season 4:

Which brings us to Prince Eric. A little bit of me is kind of sad that I didn't save this for the second half of the season, but I did promise the actor on Halloween that a Eric Disneybound would be coming. So I threw it in. Plus, I'd been wanting to do one for ages, and I've yet to do Ursula or Ariel, so I think I'll be set on that front when we get to S4B! 

I can't 100% talk for my roommates, but I think this was one of their favorites. Or maybe it was one of my own favorites, simply because when we play the game each week of who I'm dressed as, everyone got it right away! Sometimes it definitely takes a while! PLUS, Lee Arenberg, the actor who portrays Grumpy/Leroy, favorited this one! Definitely a success! 

And finally, to finish off Season 4A the right way, we have Kristoff. This one was great, partly because of Baby Sven, partly because it gave me an excuse to wear my Hook pants and a scarf, and mostly because Scott M. Foster, who portrays Kristoff on OUAT favorited this one! It's always super awesome to have the cast see my Disneybounds, because a huge part of me does it for them. 

As my friends always say, ideally, one day when I meet some of the cast, they'll meet me and I'll mention the outfits and they'll sort of know who I am and what I'm talking about. It's a long shot, but let's be real, I have at least another half a season of outfits to go before I actually have any chance of meeting the cast, so let's just keep going. 

Season 4B, and this is the first I've talked about this really, so big announcement, is still in the works. I won't start searching for outfits until the end of January, at the earliest. Regardless, I CAN tell you that there are outfits for Cruella, Ursula and Malificent all in the cards, of course, as well as Ariel, Archie, probably a Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin and, if things all work out, another Evil Queen! I'm quite excited to see what the new half season brings, and it can't come fast enough! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 26 due to Finals & Holidays).

Day 647: Ultimate Disney Quiz

These quizzes sure like to pop up, and so we have another one. Lately I haven't been taking so many quizzes (I feel like that was definitely a Spring 2014 kind of thing), but once and a while one pops up in my Twitter feed or on my Facebook wall and I feel the need to take it and share with all of you. This is one of those times.

Now, I'll say flat out that I got a score of 22 out of 29. That's right...Lizzie didn't get every question correct. But to be totally honest here, I'm not even sure how I got that many right. I haven't seen some of these films in ages and I was guessing half the time. Ok, more like going with my gut feeling on which answer felt correct, but that doesn't matter. The point is that I have no idea how I got as many right as I did. Maybe I just actually have some sort of secret knowledge of the films that I never knew I had. 

Some of the questions aren't really all that difficult though. I mean, the one about Flynn? Of course I know the answer to that! And some I just know because I've seen that particular film enough times to know what they're talking about. But then there are those random films that I knew the answers for even though I'm pretty sure I haven't seen things like The Black Cauldron in probably at least ten years (of course that will soon change). I even got the Little Mermaid questions right! Benny would be proud! 

The question now is what will your score be? You can take the quiz HERE! 

Let me know what you got! =)

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 10).

Day 603: Ursula Mugs

I have a friend here at college who loves Ursula, or rather, The Little Mermaid. Like, REALLY loves The Little Mermaid. Probably more than I love Tangled...and that's saying something because do you know how much I love Flynn Rider?

Anyways, a while back they started selling these Ursula mugs:

And it just screamed my friend's name. So I had to get it for his birthday present, despite the fact that his birthday was months ago and literally I just gave it to him today. But he loved it, and I mean seriously loved it. Watching him open it was priceless because the box and the tissue paper all ended up on the ground and stuff was thrown everywhere and he was jumping around. Seriously awesome. 

Because sometimes, there are just Disney products that remind me of my friends, and then they generally end up getting them as gifts because I can't imagine NOT giving them to them because it would just seem wrong. 

Have a magical day! 

Day 434: Fish Tanks

College is a great place, if only because you are suddenly surrounded by people who love Disney. I don't know if it works the same way everywhere else, but when you walk onto our campus it's like "WHO WANTS TO HAVE A DISNEY MOVIE MARATHON?" Yeah, that's how it is here. Especially in the music program.

But I have one friend, Benny, who just LOVES The Little Mermaid. Like, more than I do. I seriously haven't seen the movie all that much in my life (I'm more of a Lion King/Beauty and the Beast/Etc. person). I mean, I have watched The Little Mermaid, it's just not my favorite. But us Disney fans (and music majors) need to unite and show our Disney Sides at all times.

Benny and his roommate recently got a fish, and of course he had the perfect name picked out already: Ariel. Next year I'm totally going to get a fish and name it after a Disney character. Totally either Rapunzel or Flynn, depending on what it looks like. Or maybe it will be Once inspired. Or both. I don't know, but whatever it ends up being, it's going to be awesome. But as if Benny's fish wasn't awesome enough, he made the tank super brilliant. That's right. You are seeing things correctly. That's a little Prince Eric statue for the tank. I LOVE IT.

I actually was going to blog about this weeks ago, but Benny did remind me of it today. I've just been so far behind in everything, specifically with the blog, that I never got around to it. I mean, currently I'm in about my third or fourth hour just today of blogging...and I still have a handful of blog posts to make up. I mean, yeah yesterday and today's posts are still there for me to finish, but either way, lots to do. And now comes the hard part: the posts without a topic already set. That's when it gets hard.

Either way, Benny, Ariel is super adorable and that is literally the most brilliant thing I have ever seen in a fish tank. I can't wait to figure out what I'll do next year with my own fish. I'm excited already. 

Have a magical day, and thanks to Benny for letting me blog about his fish. =)

(Note: This blog post was written on March 27 due to Midterms and travel).

Day 412: The Little Match Girl

Fairy Tales update time!

We've been reading SO MANY of the classic fairy tales that we see in Disney films...like, I mean A LOT of them. I'll have to binge watch a bunch of movies some time. Probably the weekend when Once Upon A Time comes back and I'm going literally insane. That will be the time to watch them all.

But in our Fairy Tale sightings competition, someone shared this video, which is Disney's version of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Match Girl." It's actually quite a sad fairy tale, but I'll let you watch it first:

This short was originally made for a third version of Fantasia titled Fantasia 2006. When they didn't make the film, they included this short on the most recent version (so 2006) of The Little Mermaid, which makes perfect since that original tale was ALSO written by Hans Christian Anderson. 

Either way, the story is about a little girl who is trying to sell matches in the middle of the cold winter, but no one wishes to buy them from her. In the original tale, she lives with an abusive father, and so she doesn't want to go home. Instead, she ends up in a small alley, using her matches to keep warm. Only it doesn't work, and eventually she dies. You can see this happening through the scenes with her grandmother. Those occur in the original story too. I mean, they're a little different. But either way, this short is overall very close to the tale by Anderson. Like really close. Great Job Disney! 

Have a magical day!

Day 308: Ariel

And so it is that time again. But unlike last week I just can't. I cannot handle this week's episode of Once Upon A Time. It just leads to awfulness. Actually, this post I had on Instagram accurately describes my feelings about it at the moment:

Just as last week may be my favorite episode, this might be my least favorite. Maybe, but maybe not. I'm honestly not really sure because I loved the episode, but it's just that it pretty much broke my heart. 

So let's just jump right in, literally. Spoiler alert!

Yes, jumping. Right into the water. Snow, as usual, is on the run from Regina, because that is surprising of course. Well she ends up jumping off a cliff to escape the guards, into water, where she almost drowns, but guess who saves here? If the title didn't give you the hint, I don't know what will. Yes, Ariel. She's here and she's awesome. Oh, and she can walk.

Meanwhile, present day, Hook decides to be awesome and tells the truth...Neal is alive. Only he doesn't tell Emma. He tells Charming and Snow, who initially doesn't want to keep it from Emma, but they eventually decide that they should. Now is a good time to bring in my first beautiful evidence of CaptainSwan in this episode. Remember the kiss from the last one? Yeah, looks like things are about to get really interesting. Hook doesn't want to keep it from Emma, but at the same time he does because he doesn't want to hurt her. Instead he just wants to go find Neal and bring him back without telling her. Just keep that in mind.

But then Snow, being the idiot she is sometimes, decides that she can't keep a secret from Emma, and therefore blurts it out when they're about to leave to go rescue Neal and need a cover story. Meanwhile, in two of my favorite lines from the episode, Hook says they're getting firewood (huh...wait five minutes, go get some firewood or something), and Charming claims they're going to get water (maybe like that water that saved him or something?). Pretty brilliant Once Upon A Time, pretty brilliant indeed. 

So now Emma knows, but she doesn't want to believe it. We'll find more out about that later, but here again we have a slight hint at something. Emma's all no no no I don't believe it, until Hook looks at her and she meets his gaze. It's only then that she actually starts to believe and stops totally denying it. Funny how that works out. 

Regina on the other hand, yeah, she's not so happy about this whole Neal thing, so she goes off to find Rumple and leaves Emma and Company to go find Neal by themselves. Little do they know that Neal has been moved...to the Echo Cave. And back in the historical Enchanted Forest, Ariel is at a ball with Snow so she can meet Prince Eric. She does, they dance, he offers her a chance to see the world with him, she says she'll think about it (because her legs...yeah, those turn back into a fin with the tide). The whole scene was pretty cute though. Again, Regina doesn't think so, this time as the Evil Queen, so she comes up with an evil plan that will ultimately get her Snow White...of course. 

In Neverland, Rumple's got problems. Meaning that we know he's not in the box that Neal was previously next to. I have my theories though. Anyway, Rumple's being taunted by the Shadow, because Pan wants Rumple to head back to Storybrooke, and intends to get him to do that by bringing up Belle. Belle though, yeah, the shadow's turned into her. Lucky for Rumple Regina was there to save him. And now it certainly sounds like they're teaming up. 

On their hike to find Neal, Emma tells Snow a little secret: she kissed Hook. Apparently this isn't important though, other than we get to talking about Neal. I don't know about you but it's starting to feel like they just go back and forth by the episode: Hook, Neal, Hook, Neal, Hook, Neal. Yeah can it just stop now? Seriously. Either way, Snow just wants a happy ending for Emma, and she tells Emma that she should open herself up to the possibility of Neal being alive and the fact that she loves him. Sigh.

For Ariel, things are getting messy...or wet. Regina's plan? Turn herself into Ursula and give Ariel a bracelet that will enable her to have legs...and for Snow to have a fin. Of course, it's all one big trick because Regina just wants Snow to have a fin so she can capture and kill her. Ariel doesn't get this really, and it's one of my favorite parts about her character: how naive she is. Like I think this is really a part of the character that's brought out in a great way. But Regina comes and tries to capture Snow of course, therefore revealing that she's not Ursula, and Ariel stabs her in the neck with a fork in order to swim away with Snow. To finish up the Ariel plotline for now, Snow convinces Ariel to go back after Eric, but when she gets there it turns out she's lost her voice: Regina stole it. Well, there goes Eric. 

And now we get to the heartbreak. Emma and company have finally made it to where Pan's hiding Neal: The Echo Cave. Hook knows it, and he doesn't like it one bit. He apparently lost half his crew in the cave because in order to rescue the person you need to tell a secret. That's why Pan wants them to rescue Neal: so he can find out their darkest secrets, which will eventually be their undoing basically. Honestly, the second Hook said secrets I knew what was going down. Doesn't mean I want to believe any of it. 

So here we go. They make their way into the cave. Neal's on a ledge, but they can't get to him without telling their secrets. Not sure how it's going to work, Hook goes first. And it just about killed me. He starts out with something just about everyone other than Charming knew: He kissed Emma. That's not good enough though. It's not his darkest secret. But this is : "It's what the kiss exposed. My secret is I never thought I'd be capable of letting go of my first love, of my Milah, to believe that I could find someone else. That is, until I met you." And let the tears begin. 

Snow's secret? She wants another baby when they get back to Storybrooke. Too bad Charming can't go back...and therefore we get his secret. I still don't think it counts because Hook knew, but that's alright. That is not what's important here. One can't forget that Hook just said he loves Emma. Too bad this next part RUINS LIFE. 

All those secrets enabled a bridge to form over to Neal, which Emma quickly walks across. She tried to break open the cage holding him but we all know that's not how it works. Emma has to share a secret too. Sounds like she still loves Neal, and that she probably always will. But her eventual secret isn't that she loves him, but that she wishes he was dead because letting him go would be easier than dealing with all the pain. And then Hook makes this face. 

So Hook loves Emma, but Emma loves Neal, and Neal also loves Emma. Oh, and Neal isn't ever going to stop fighting for Emma. And once again we have another terrible, heart breaking face from Hook. Why does this have to happen? Why do they need to break all our hearts!?!

But to finish off this episode, Regina and Rumple head to the beach. Not for a day in the sun (is there even a sun in Neverland?), but to cross realms. How? Ariel. Regina gives her her voice back and sends her off to Storybrooke to get the thing that can eventually stop Pan. 

And so this week's episode ends. Heartbreaking, right? Unless you ship SwanFire. Then I guess it was wonderful. But for us CaptainSwan shippers it was awful. I just really hate how blind Emma is. Hook just wants to protect her, and he said straight out that he loves her. He hasn't loved anyone in 300 years other than Milah, who's been dead that whole time, and then Emma walked into his life and he's begun to love again. He's changed. He really has. And she just totally ignores him. Blows him off and runs to Neal. Now, is that totally endgame right now, no probably not because it sounds like Neal's still gonna have to fight for her. Actually I really think that next week will be an interesting one for this love triangle just because now they're all in the same place. 

I just really hate that Hook might not get a happy ending. No one loves him, and all he has absolutely no one if not for Emma (and her family). No, if he loses her too he has no one. Something obviously happened to his mother, his father abandoned him, Liam and Milah died in his arms, and Bae just totally blew him off even after Hook said that he wanted to change, and I truly believe he would have changed. Hook doesn't exactly love easily, not after everything he's lost in his life, so saying that he does love Emma should seriously have more of a reaction than anything, even though we all knew it after last week's "As You Wish." 

Sigh. This episode. I've actually seen it three times now. Once last night, once this afternoon because I always watch at four on Monday's and then once just now to take screenshots and write this blog post. Last night though, after I watched the episode, I watched the promo for Good Form again, just because I absolutely love that promo, and then I watched the CaptainSwan kiss and I legit cried. This love triangle is really heartbreaking. 

Tonight's Disneybound was Belle though, so that's exciting, and honestly I think it's one of my favorites outfit wise. I loved the dress I was wearing and it went perfectly with my blazer and my heels. Next week shall be fun too though, since I pretty much had everything for that one already. =)

Frumpstagram today was "All In the Details," and some of my favorite details come from no where but Animal Kingdom, where the prayer flags bring plenty of color and decor to the entire area!

Here's today's Disney History: 1916: Legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, the second voice of Epcot's Spaceship Earth, is both in St. Joseph, Missouri. He also appeared in the 1981 TV special Walt Disney: One Man's Dream and the 1989 broadcast of the opening of Disney-MGM Studios. 

Have a magical day!

  

Day 76: Disney in Concert

Today I headed to a nearby city to attend a Symphony Orchestra Concert, and this time it was specifically Disney. While we've attending this particular concert before (although with a different Symphony Orchestra), it was just as magical the second time!

They played a wide variety of music, as you can see below. There was one change though...instead of the Rescuers Down Under, they performed selections from Pirates of the Caribbean, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And because of technical difficulties, we were also able to hear parts of Aladdin and Mulan twice, and the entire Little Mermaid selection a second time as well. There was also an encore of It's A Small World...and of course we all sang along!

And since I went shopping yesterday and got a few new colorful additions to my wardrobe, I decided to Disneybound as Winnie the Pooh to the concert. I was pretty excited about my new yellow converse, which I've been wanting for a while. I'm pretty sure you'll see them in many Disneybounds in the future.

The concert was a great way to spend my afternoon. Sadly, I've had to somewhat leave the magical world of Disney behind and spend the rest of my day writing essays for an application, but it was still a wonderful way to start off a busy week!

Here's today's Disney History: 1999: Test Track officially opens at Walt Disney World's Epcot. Sponsored by General Motors, the attraction is the fastest ride ever designed (At this time) by Disney Imagineers....guests can reach speeds of 65 mph! The ride has been up and running since December 1998.

Have a magical day!