When it rains, at least you find the rainbow

It's pretty safe to say that my sanity has held on by a thin thread the past month or so.  Truthfully, this year has been trying for me and my friends (some of them have had FAR worse years than me, but I'm the type of person who cares too much, heart on her sleeve, close friends are like family, etc).  Every now and then Murphy's Law comes into play and I start to wonder where the hidden cameras are.

Take Tuesday afternoon for example.

I had big plans for Tuesday night, so I wore my favorite work dress to look classy and fantastic.  I wasn't completely pleased with my hair, but when you're blessed with a lot of naturally curly hair, you learn that it has a mind of its own and you should learn to live with it.  Anyway, I was gearing up for an afternoon of errands.  These errands included a personal trip to bring donations for families who lost everything in wild fires across the state last week.  I drove to one of the burbs, dropped off donations from a coworker, and headed back into the city to finish running errands.

Now, it's kind of a running joke how awful my luck is with cars.  Read this for example. . .

So I'm driving toward the highway and all of the sudden my car doesn't want to keep going.  I've had a few experiences this summer in which I was driving around in the crazy heat and my car was reluctant.  I thought maybe it was the battery being affected by the gross triple digit plus moderate humidity summer.  It usually restarts, but not this time.  I'm in the middle of the road, barely out of an intersection, and I'm kind of panicking.  So I called the troops, got a push from some strangers (and an offer for a push start, which I declined so someone could check out my engine) and start the waiting game.

Well, it was too darn hot to wait outside in a nice, mostly black suit dress, so I went into the nearest shop for A/C.  Turns out it was a natural herb store with a lot of witch references and a robe.  That was weird, but I guess it's quirky and adds to the story.  Suffice it to say, the men folk showed up, tinkered under the hood, tried replacing a part, etc.  I tried very hard to keep a decent attitude (and not have a road side mental break down) and not get crazy and cranky thanks to the heat.  If you know much about how I deal with stress, conflict, and bumps in the road, keeping my mouth in check was quite a feat. 

Two hours after the initial car betrayal I was home to clean up, find a new outfit, go out to dinner and recoup.  My big plans included a show and after party featuring a Broadway legend.  I'll be honest, I was almost so fed up that I wanted to curl up on my couch and reschedule, but I needed to keep moving to not really break down.

The show was AMAZING.  As a dancer and musical theatre lover (I swear my inner monologue is a song and dance) I couldn't help but feel blessed to experience this show.  It was Chita Rivera in concert!  I would say I smiled the entire show, but there was one number that was kind of a crazy song and in my hyper-anxious mood it was almost enough to set me into an attack. (The song is called "Carousel" and was done extremely well.  I think my almost panic attack is a testament to how effectively it showed the emotion of crazy, frantic carousel rides as a metaphor).

 At the after party, I got to meet Chita briefly.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I want to be as vibrant as she is when I grow up.  She literally made my day.  I think that when I'm overwhelmed for the rest of the year I'll just look at this picture and remember how blessed my life really is:

It's the little things.  Seriously though, this is how musical theatre can totally turn your day around.  This woman can move, sing, and fully embrace life at an age when most people are well into retirement.  Truly an inspiration.  So much so, that she really deserves her own post.  Perhaps later, but for now I'm just so grateful for the happy moments that can be the rainbow after the storm.

Everybody cut FOOTLOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I know and acknowledge that the original version of "Footloose" is a classic and there are many people out there who feel it should not have been remade (I'm looking at you Pioneer Woman), I still felt the need to see it.  Well ok, maybe it wasn't the top of my list of things to do until a friend offered to take me to see it for my birthday, but it still somehow felt RIGHT to watch this movie.  Now, I had to do my preparation mind you.  I'd only seen "Footloose" on stage at my university, not the hit movie.  I assure you, I watched the movie BEFORE seeing the remake so of course the 2011 version had some mighty big shoes to fill.

Let me also say that because I work in the theatre, it is not uncommon for works to be revisited.  Ever heard of revivals on Broadway?  They are especially secure for producers in hard economic times because a lot of the revivals are classic, feel good shows that are proven to resonate with audiences.  The thing about movies is that you can take them home and watch them over and over again.  For the price of a DVD or Netflix subscription you can feel good watching your favorite movie hundereds of times if you choose.  The thing about theatre is it's never the same show twice.  Each no production breathes new life into a script.  Even a different performance of the same production is never quite exaclty the same!  With an old movies, well you always know what you're going to get.  It's always the same. . .

My point is, don't knock the fact that a new creative team is taking on the challenge of a classic movie.  I had high expectations for this movie and boy, did it rise to the occasion!  Original dialogue, similar wardrobe, props, settings, etc. were all included  in this movie, all without making it set in 1984.  While there were some tweaks to the story and how it was presented, it was not (in my opinion) greivous and detrimental to the entire point of the movie.  In fact, I think it made the story and the characters stronger because of the choices made by the writers, director, actors, whomever.  Choreography was updated, and I felt that some of the choices did a better job of telling the emotional story of what was going on for the characters.  There was still enough cheesy dance moves to make it fun and light hearted though.  Random jazz squares anyone?

Most of all, I think I fell in love with this movie because it was easier for me to fall in love with Ren.  That might be because Kenny Wormald looks like a young Johnny Depp a la 21 Jump Street

 See what I mean?

In all seriousness though,  it's his character development over the course of the movie that won me over.  From the moment he steps off the bus and hugs his cousins (who are the cutest girls on the planet btw), to the moment he refuses to let Ariel play games with him, to the moment he has a mature, sincere, almost bonding sort of moment with Reverend Moore, Ren is a strong character that makes me say "Where as that guy at MY high school?"  Kevin Bacon also did a great job and I definitely loved his version of Ren.  I think the real champion of 2011 Ren's character development lies in the choices of the writer, director, and of course Kenny in how Ren was presented and portrayed.

Anyway. . . that's my rave about 2011's "Footloose."  While I am tempted to join the petition to save "Dirty Dancing" from a remake, I'm quite pleased with how this film turned out.  I actually think that if the generation who fell in love with this movie orignially gave it a shot and went with younger family members to see it, they might be pleasantly surprised and a good time shall be had by all.

One more thing though:  In searching images of "Footloose" (trying to find a good compare and contrast picture to show how they diversified the cast in 2011) I remembered that Zac Effron was originally considered for the role of Ren.  While I do love Zac and his dreamy blue eyes, I think he already got his fair share of angsty song and dance.  "Never" definitely gave birth to "Scream" from High School Musical 3: