A Musical Sensation: My thoughts on Schmigadoon

Courtesy of The Movie Database

As soon as I first heard about Schmigadoon, I knew it was going to be the perfect show for me. I love Broadway musicals and comedy. The combination is a dream come true! I had high hopes for this show to live up to the expectations I set for it....and it did! 

There is so much that I love about Schmigadoon, so I will just make a list: 

* One of the main characters is named Melissa. That almost never happens in a show, movie, book, etc. I also love how one of the supporting characters says it. You'll know what I mean as soon as you hear it said a certain way....

* It has so many different tropes from old-time musicals, including characters, plots, song styles, etc.

* It has an ongoing inside joke in the form of Pete, who is always getting injured. I also love the little boy announcing everything. 

* It has a star studded cast featuring: Keegan-Michael Key, Cecily Strong, Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Fred Armisen, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Ann Harada, Martin Short, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski, etc. 

* The songs! They are so much fun and many of them are hilarious. I especially love the parody of "Do Re Mi". I also enjoyed "You Can't Tame Me," "I Always, Always, Never Get My Man", "He's a Queer One, That Man o' Mine," etc. 

* It reminds me a bit of Pleasantville with some aspects of Waiting for Guffman mixed in. 

* There are some really sweet moments and one in particular got me teary-eyed. 

* The main characters, supporting characters, and ensemble work really well together. 

* The set is completely adorable and adds to the whimsical feel of the show. 

* I feel the need to say it again...it's hilarious! The comedy is spot on. 

* There's room for a second season, so I hope that will happen! It would be interesting if they had a different musical era for season two, like Andrew Lloyd Webber or Stephen Sondheim style...

If I haven't yet sold you on this show, check out the trailer:

 

And if you don't have Apple +, get a free trial and binge watch these six episodes. It's only three hours of your time and totally worth it!

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The Guilty Reader Book Tag

I saw this tag on Book Coffee Happy and it looked like a lot of fun. I'm also realizing that I'm not as nice of a reader as I thought... 

Please feel free to participate over at your blog, if you'd like. I'd love to see your answers!

HAVE YOU EVER REGIFTED A BOOK YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?

Only when I already have a copy of the book. 

HAVE YOU EVER SAID YOU’VE READ A BOOK WHEN YOU HAVEN’T?

No. What's the point? If I saw the movie instead of reading the book, I'll admit it. I'm not George Costanza.

HAVE YOU EVER BORROWED A BOOK AND NOT RETURNED IT?

Guilty as charged. Usually it's because the person never asked for it back, even if I have the intention of doing so at some point. And yes, it has been done to me many times and I'm so bad at keeping track of my books that it doesn't bother me. 

HAVE YOU EVER READ A SERIES OUT OF ORDER?

I probably have. Sometimes books are loosely placed in a series, like they are standalones but have mentions of characters from previous novels. I read this one Bette Lee Crosby book earlier this year and realized that it came after another book that I hadn't read. That also happened with a Debbie Macomber book a while back. 

HAVE YOU EVER SPOILED A BOOK FOR SOMEONE?

I try hard not to do it, but one time someone asked a question on Twitter and I answered honestly since it was about an older book that was somewhat more obscure. However, my friend saw my tweet and then went and read the question and called me out on spoiling it. I did reply that if they didn't want to know what the tweet was about, they didn't have to go and read the question. I've had some books spoiled for me when I wasn't being careful about avoiding the spoilers too. 

HAVE YOU EVER DOG EARED A BOOK?

I maybe did as a kid. Like when I was marking pages of steamy scenes in V.C. Andrews books. I dog ear magazines but I always use a bookmark for books. 

HAVE YOU EVER TOLD SOMEONE YOU DON’T OWN A BOOK WHEN YOU DO?

Maybe... **Guilty grin.** Then again, I sometimes forget what books I actually have. Sometimes I've said I own a book when I don't anymore. I also have a lot of books on Kindle, which is harder to loan out anyway. 

HAVE YOU EVER TOLD SOMEONE YOU HAVEN’T READ A BOOK WHEN YOU HAVE?

Again, what's the point in this? Unless it's a really embarrassing book or something...

HAVE YOU EVER SKIPPED A CHAPTER OR A SECTION OF A BOOK?

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult starts out really slow with all this Egyptology background and if I had to keep reading that, I would have quit the book. Someone told me to skip over that part and I did and then the book was much better.

HAVE YOU EVER BAD MOUTHED A BOOK YOU ACTUALLY LIKED?

No, since there are enough haters out there to do it for me. :( I sometimes will go easier on a book that I didn't like, but I won't recommend the book either. 

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Sugar and pumpkin spice: My overtly candid thoughts on Ginny and Georgia

Courtesy of IMDb

I finally got around to watching Ginny and Georgia, after keeping it on the back burner for a while. I mainly was drawn to it because of the actors from Degrassi who were on the show, as well as hearing that Jennifer Robertson (Jocelyn from Schitt's Creek) had a role. All I knew was that it was about a mother and daughter that were close in age, just like on The Gilmore Girls. After that, I didn't know what to expect. All I know now is that I have a LOT of thoughts running through my head and I need to get them out. If you haven't seen the show, I am sharing a trailer, but afterward, please look no further as there will be a lot of SPOILERS. For those of you who have seen it, pull up a comfy chair and grab a cup of coffee (preferably from the Blue Farm Cafe) because we have a lot to discuss!

Here's the trailer I promised:

SPOILER TIME!

I'm just going to share any and all thoughts I have in no particular order. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

* I kept mixing up Ginny and Georgia's names. Usually I expect the mother's name to go first in the title, so that threw me off. Georgia also calls Ginny "peach" and peaches make me think of the state of Georgia, so that's not helpful either. 

*The Degrassi people referenced above were Sara Waisglass (Max, who played Frankie on Degrassi), Chelsea Clark (Norah, who played Esme on Degrassi...I liked her soooo much better on G&G though), and Raymond Ablack (Joe, who played Sav on Degrassi...while he's still attractive, I like him better without the facial hair). Raymond's sister is also on the show, as Padma. The actress who plays Riley was also on Degrassi for a short time.

*When it comes down to Ginny's love interests, I am 100% #TeamMarcus. Hunter (on the left in the picture below) is sweet and all, but I felt like he was too much of a pushover. I actually liked when he got mad at Ginny and stood up to her after the essay contest winner was announced. Even so, he was just too smiley all the time and there was no real chemistry between the two of them. Whereas Marcus (on the right) and Ginny just sizzled together. Maybe it was the clandestine aspect? All I know is that I liked them together. Fun trivia: The actor who played Marcus (Felix Mallard) also played Zoey's cute Australian neighbor on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. Maybe I should get back to watching that to see more of him... 

Image courtesy of Wiredup Report

*As for Georgia's love interests, I do like her with Paul the most, but part of me ships her with Joe, especially now that he knows he was the guy she met when they were teenagers. 

*Speaking of teen Georgia, I loved Nikki Roumel in this part. She reminded me of Natalie Portman at the beginning of Where the Heart Is, at least until she showed a darker side of herself. 

Courtesy of Ultimate Jackets

*As for adult Georgia, she was definitely my favorite on the show. Brianne Howey was so great in that role. At first, I thought she was going to be this irresponsible young mother and Ginny would be the one taking responsibility for everything, but that was not the case. She harbored a lot of dark secrets and she was a mama bear to the core. 

Courtesy of Refinery29

*Here is my main issue with the show...how Ginny and her brother Austin treated Georgia. I get that Georgia is young and that she was a teen mom, but Ginny has no idea what she has to put up with in order to keep her children safe and provide a better life for them than the one she had growing up. Ginny got mad at her for every little thing. I get that it's complicated to be a teenager sometimes, but it's even more complicated to be a teen mom and Georgia did the best she could under a lot of really tough circumstances. Even after she confided to Ginny why she had to keep some parts of her life a secret, Ginny still turned on her! I also hated how ungrateful Ginny was for the fabulous spa day birthday party Georgia threw for her. Her friends were even on board. She also impulsively sent Austin's dad all the letters he wrote when there was obviously a good reason why Georgia kept them hidden. She could have asked Georgia what was going on first, but that would be too easy. I could go on and on ranting about this, but the gist of it is that Ginny treated Georgia like crap. And then she had the audacity to run away from home and take Austin with her. On a motorcycle. I felt so bad for Georgia not knowing what was going on. 

*My other issue with Ginny was how she acted with her friends, like everything revolved around her. While Maxine could be the same way, Ginny couldn't deal with not having all the attention. When Abby was telling MANG about her parents getting a divorce, Ginny started going on about how she had problems too. I don't blame Abby for slapping her. Also, when Sophie broke up with Max, Ginny was more focused on being with Marcus. I don't blame MANG for bailing on Ginny and I also hate how she threw Abby under the bus for accidentally finding out about her and Marcus. 

*I may hate on Ginny a lot, but I did sympathize with her sometimes and I admired her for standing up to the racist teacher. I also loved her poem for the essay contest. And she has great curls.

Courtesy of Vulture

*The character I really hate is Cynthia. She has no redeeming qualities and even sticking in a scene showing that her husband is sick doesn't endear me to her. She could at least try to be a decent person, but she's incapable of that. She also raised her son to be a bully. I don't even get how she was able to break into Paul's office to spy on Georgia's financial records for the campaign. It made me think of Carolyn from Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, where she tells on Sue-Ellen for potentially stealing the petty cash, but then Sue-Ellen had all these backup receipts. In this case, however, I think Nick figured something out and covered for Georgia. I love how Cynthia ended up looking foolish for making accusations about Georgia stealing money. 

*I'm guessing they didn't have the rights to be able to just perform Chicago at the school, since Sing Sing was very similar. I'm clearly not the only one who picked up on this. Too funny!

*There are still a lot of things that need answering. The first is how Georgia accessed her deceased husband's body if he had already been buried. Unless there was a long period of time between his death and when she moved to Wellsbury. Also, how did her sister get connected to Gabriel if her deceased husband's ex-wife is the one launching the investigation. Another mystery is why Georgia had Paul babysit for Austin one time, but then left him home alone at other times. It will be interesting to see what other secrets come out in the second season.

Overall, there was a lot to like about this show, even when some things made me so angry. I look forward to season two!

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Lights Up on Washington Heights: Review of In the Heights

Courtesy of IMDb

When I first started this blog, I posted about how much I love In the Heights. Since seeing it on Broadway in 2009, I've seen it twice more on stage. The first time was at a community college theater, where I took my older son to see it for the first time. I fell in love with it all over again, and he got really into it too. The second time was at a local professional theater, where Robin de Jesus (who I originally saw as Sonny on Broadway) was playing Usnavi. Another wonderful performance! So when I found out it was going to become a movie, I was ecstatic. It was originally slated for last summer, but due to the pandemic, it was postponed. However, I finally got to see it this past weekend....and it was amazing! Anything mentioned below will only be a bit of a spoiler if you've seen it on stage. (And I'm not including some aspects as to not completely spoil the way the movie plays out.)

There are a bunch of differences between the stage production and the movie, but I thought the movie did a great job of fitting the songs into the story in a different way. The songs were not in the same order as they were in the stage production. I first noticed this with "Benny's Dispatch" coming in before "Breathe." "Paciencia y Fe" was moved to after "Blackout" and before "Alabanza." "It Won't Be Long Now" came in after "No Me Diga." "Piragua" came before "When You're Home", etc. A few songs were taken out altogether, including "Inutil," "Sunrise," "Hundreds of Stories", "Enough," and "Everything I Know." Certain plot points were also changed as a way of excusing the songs from being in the movie. 

What they did with the songs that were included was nothing short of incredible. I loved how "96,000" was set at their local pool and all the choreography in the water. "Carnaval Del Barrio" was a lot of fun too, with Daphne Rubin-Vega (Mimi from the Original Broadway Cast of Rent) leading it as Daniela. I loved Lin-Manuel as the piragua guy singing his one song and somewhat duking it out with Mr. Softee, played by Christopher Jackson (Benny from the OBC of In the Heights and George Washington from the OBC of Hamilton). 

Anthony Ramos was perfect as Usnavi. He almost made me forget that Lin-Manuel originally starred in that role on Broadway. He had a very strong supporting cast and it just felt like everyone enjoyed each other's company the entire time. Most of the cast was new to me, but Olga Merediz played Abuela Claudia once again. I also was familiar with Jimmy Smits and thought he was great as Kevin (Nina's father). The kid who played Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV) was great too. He reminded me of Betty's nephew from Ugly Betty, at least in looks. I found out that he's only 16 in real life, but was probably closer to 14 or 15 when this was filmed. Both Corey Hawkins (Benny) and Melissa Barrera (Vanessa) were great and their voices had a Rent quality to them. I enjoyed watching Leslie Grace as Nina, as well. As I mentioned before, Daphne Rubin-Vega played Daniela and she fit the role better than I was expecting. I liked Stephanie Beatriz and Dascha Polanco (Daya from Orange is the New Black) as Carla and Cuca, respectively. I had no idea until later that Marc Anthony played Sonny's father! While I did miss Nina's mom, I get why they wrote her out of the story. 

The scenery made such a huge difference between seeing it on stage and seeing it on film. They really brought Washington Heights to life. I've never been in that part of NYC, but I enjoyed taking it all in. (I used to think the bodega was outside because of how it looked on stage.) I love how busy everything looked all the time, with people just going about their usual business while singing at the same time and everyone hanging out on their front steps. I really got a sense of community from watching everything play out on film. 

There was also an element of magical realism, which I wasn't expecting. I love how the wig heads were moving around during "No Me Diga" and how they were drawing things with their hands in "96,000." However, dancing and walking sideways on a building in "When the Sun Goes Down" just made me nervous. It had a La La Land quality to it though.

Since I knew all the songs, it was nice to be able to focus on everything else going on, but I still feel like I missed a lot because so much was happening. Like certain cameos from actors who were in the Broadway cast at some point. I did catch the Hamilton Easter egg though. That was hard to miss!

In the Heights is written in such a way that it could take place in a variety of time periods. It's fluid and doesn't have to be stuck in the early 2000s. This time around, there was more focus on Dreamers and being undocumented. This added an extra essence and some more depth to the story. 

Overall, I laughed, cried, tried very, very, VERY hard not to sing along, got caught up in the beauty and chaos, and just loved it so much. I already want to watch it again! If you haven't seen it yet (or if you have and missed doing so), watch to the very end for an extra special treat. ;) 

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The Goldbergs-Season 8 with SPOILERS

Courtesy of The Goldbergs Wiki

I'm keeping up my tradition of mentioning my top 10 favorite episodes of the most recent season. I am looking forward to season NINE! I worry that they're going to run out of references soon. Like I said last year, I hope they'll feature Can't Buy Me Love, Adventures in Babysitting, and maybe some other lesser-known classics like Moving Violations in the next season. Grease 2 is fair game, as well! (I know I'm repeating last year's post, but they still haven't covered these movies.) UHF would be another fun one to do.

Synopses courtesy of IMDb. 

1. Episode 1: Airplane!
Beverly surprises the family with an end-of-summer vacation to Miami; Geoff accidentally spills to Erica the real reason for the trip.

Airplane! is one of my favorite comedy films and I love how they paid homage to it. 


2. Episode 7: Hanukkah on the Seas
Pops surprises the family with an ill-advised winter cruise to Canada; Erica stirs up holiday trouble at home.

It's about Hanukkah. Need I say more? 

3. Episode 9: Cocoon
Beverly enlists Erica's help to sue her cookbook publisher after finding her book in the bargain bin at a bookstore; Adam and Pops bond while taking a trip on the wild side.

Pops was such a great character. RIP George Segal. Check out the tribute they did for him.

4. Episode 13: Mr. Ships Ahoy
Beverly is thrilled to have co-workers for the first time and sets out to make them all love her; Geoff competes in a beauty pageant to prove to Erica that he can be seen as desirable by other women.

5. Episode 14: Love Triangle
As Adam's girlfriend, Brea, heads to visit her cousin at the University of Virginia, Beverly projects her own insecurity onto Adam, convincing him to make a grand gesture to prevent Brea from choosing UVA for college.

I love how Barry and Joanne join forces in this episode. It's so funny to watch them together.

6. Episode 18: The Dating Game
Erica goes on a date with a guy from the coffee shop, while Geoff ends up on an episode of "The Dating Game"; Beverly is thrilled to learn that Murray has spontaneously purchased a shore house.

Geoff was really funny on The Dating Game! I also love how Beverly was trying to pretend the beach house was better than it actually was. 

7. Episode 19: Daddy Daughter Day 2

Following Erica and Geoff's breakup, Murray decides to take Erica out on a daddy-daughter date to cheer her up. Meanwhile, Adam is excited to participate in the school senior prank until his conscience catches up with him and he enlists Beverly's help to get him out of it.

While working on this post, I realized that I somehow missed this episode. That was remedied and I'm glad I finally saw it. So cute and funny!

8. Episode 20: Poker Night
In order to take her mind off of her heartbreak, Erica takes a trip to to see her best friend; after getting caught taking part in an underground poker game, Adam gets sentenced to Pop-Pop duty, which turns out better than expected.

I loved seeing Lainey again!

9. Episode 21: Alligator Schwartz
Erica fears that Geoff has moved on from their breakup and started dating someone else. Meanwhile, Adam decides to find Dave Kim a date to prom, once he remembers his pact with Dave that they won't go to prom if they both don't have dates.

The Paula Hogan mix-up was great! 

10. Episode 22: The Proposal
Geoff shares with the JTP that he is planning on asking Erica to marry him and gives them the engagement ring for safekeeping. Like any good romantic comedy, several miscommunications and misunderstandings between Geoff and Erica's friends and family result in a potential derailing of the proposal, forcing Adam to step in to keep the couple's special moment alive.

Such a sweet and fun episode. I also loved the huge misunderstanding.

A cozy little cabin

 A long time ago, I posted about a camping trip I took with my family. (It was part of a longer post about holidays and other stuff.) Well, over Memorial Day weekend, we decided to take a different kind of camping trip. This time, we went glamping! 

We stayed at a place I found on Vrbo, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Weirdly enough, I had been looking at another place at the same time that we were also interested in (due to the location), but I accidentally reserved this place instead of the other one. It ended up being a happy accident because we all loved it. It was so cozy and rustic, but had lots of amenities, such as a kitchen, TV, bathrooms, etc. There was a fire pit outside, as well. Alexis Rose would have said the cabin was so cute and done her trademark facial expression and hand gestures.

My husband took this picture and dolled it up a bit

After we settled in, we took a walk to a nearby lake. We were the only people at the lake, so it was nice and peaceful. My husband and younger son busied themselves with skipping stones across the lake. The rest of us enjoyed taking pictures and enjoying the scenery.

When we got back to the cabin, we had a cookout over the fire pit, with hot dogs and s'mores. It was a lot of fun. It started raining a bit after we had finished our meal and then we spent the rest of the evening playing Loaded Questions. It was a long game, but we love it and usually come up with a lot of inside jokes each time we play. We stayed up pretty late, but we were able to sleep in a little bit the next morning before we had to pack up. 

On the way back home, we stopped in downtown Frederick. It's a nice town with lots of art displays and a river running down the middle. We even saw some ducks. :) It was a gorgeous day out. Only half the people walking around, including us, were wearing masks, but no one bothered anyone else either way.

We had a really nice overnight stay and we already want to do it again! 

Two great books I read this week

Since I was offline for the beginning half of the week, I got to read two great LGBTQ young adult novels that I had my eye on for a while: Camp by L.C. Rosen and Can't Take That Away by Steven Salvatore. (Synopses of both are courtesy of Amazon.) I think David Rose would love both novels for different reasons. Camp Outland is a safe place for people to be out and express themselves without judgment, just like the town of Schitt's Creek. He'd also love L.C. Rosen's shirt. And Mariah Carey was a huge focus in the latter novel. In any case, I recommend both novels, especially if you are into this genre like I am.

Set in a summer camp, this sweet and sharp screwball comedy set in a summer camp for queer teens examines the nature of toxic masculinity and self-acceptance.

Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It's where he met his best friends. It's where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it's where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim—who's only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.

This year, however, it's going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as 'Del'—buff, masculine, and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he's determined to get Hudson to fall for him.

But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself: How much is he willing to change for love? And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn't know who he truly is?

Even though I am straight, I probably would have had the best time at a place like Camp Outland. It sounded like so much fun and it seemed like everyone fit in in some way or another. 

I was actually sad for Randy when he chose not to be in the musical in order to hold the attention and affection from Hudson. I kept wishing he could have his cake and eat it too. However, I also enjoyed his connection with Hudson and how they got to know each other on a deeper level than just being masc. Hudson started to reveal more about himself and the reasons behind why he only liked masc guys. I felt bad for him when I learned about his background. The side characters were a lot of fun too, especially George. 

Overall, this was a really good story about being true to yourself, with the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack playing in the background. (And the unicorn themed nail polish sounded like a lot of fun too.) While this novel seems geared toward young adult audiences, there are some mature scenes to be aware of. I wasn't expecting them, but I didn't mind that they were there either. 

An empowering and emotional debut about a genderqueer teen who finds the courage to stand up and speak out for equality when they are discriminated against by their high school administration.

Carey Parker dreams of being a diva, and bringing the house down with song. They can hit every note of all the top pop and Broadway hits. But despite their talent, emotional scars from an incident with a homophobic classmate and their grandmother's spiraling dementia make it harder and harder for Carey to find their voice.

Then Carey meets Cris, a singer/guitarist who makes Carey feel seen for the first time in their life. With the rush of a promising new romantic relationship, Carey finds the confidence to audition for the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the school musical, setting off a chain reaction of prejudice by Carey's tormentor and others in the school. It's up to Carey, Cris, and their friends to defend their rights--and they refuse to be silenced.

Told in alternating chapters with identifying pronouns, debut author Steven Salvatore's Can't Take That Away conducts a powerful, uplifting anthem, a swoony romance, and an affirmation of self-identity that will ignite the activist in all of us.

The first thing that drew me to this novel was that they were going to perform Wicked. However, it was a captivating story throughout with a great soundtrack to go along with it. (The playlist is in the back of the book.) 

Carey had to put up with a lot between dealing with a horrible bully to having a rude and homophobic teacher getting in their face and misgendering them on purpose. They also were watching their beloved grandma slowly fade away from dementia and one of their best friends has barely spoken to them since they came out. 

However, Carey had the attentions of a really cute boy and the support of another fun and interesting best friend. They also made a new friend and instant ally. And they had an amazing singing voice that I most definitely envied. 

Then everything came together to make Carey's romantic and school life that much more complicated. I love what Carey and their friends did in response. I don't want to say anything more as to not spoil it.

Carey's favorite teacher, Mr. Kelly, reminds me so much of my favorite teacher from high school. 

I don't often cast young adult novels as it's too hard to find actors to fit these roles, but if this novel had been published ten years ago, Chris Colfer would have totally played Carey to perfection. 

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