Heidi Scheuermann - Page 2

I love movies. I love funny movies. And I especially love quoting funny movies. School of Rock is one of those movies for my family and me. We absolutely love it. I think we may laugh harder the more times we watch it. It just doesn't get old. And now, it's a musical! I mean, does it get better than this?!

I remember the first time I saw Disney's Aladdin in the movie theatre as a kid. I was only 4 years old, and I was both mystified, entertained, in love with the music, and terrified. So much wrapped up into one movie! A street rat who at heart is a really good guy, but just a little lost and trying to find his place in the world. A princess who teaches us that all the money and comforts in the world don't necessarily bring you joy and that we should always stand up for ourselves. A Genie who grants wishes and ultimately earns his freedom. An evil sorcerer and his trusted sidekick who want nothing more than to rule the world and destroy anyone in their path. But also, there's amazing music and lots of dancing. How could you NOT love this story?!

Sugar, butter, flour! Sara Bareilles' musical WAITRESS opens at the Saenger Theatre tonight! It's about a young woman named Jenna who works at a bakery and is trying to figure out her life. She's in an abusive marriage, finds out she's pregnant, and it forces her to take a look at what she really wants. With the help of her best friends, an unexpected romance with a doctor, and a pie-baking contest her future starts to look a whole lot brighter.

AN ACT OF GOD gives quite a twist to religion as we know it. God decides to set the record straight and tell us what he really thinks about the 10 commandments, and gives us a few... we'll call them "edits." Apparently, us humans have distorted what God actually meant when he originally wrote his top 10, and he feels the need at this time in history to explain to clear some things up and tell us what he really expects of us.

Nearly 10 years after the movie, some geniuses decided to turn the show into a Broadway musical starring Aaron Tveit and Norbert Leo Butz. Honestly, what more do we need in life? While the show didn't have a long run on Broadway, it is now being played in regional theatres, and the New Orleans area was lucky enough to have the opportunity to experience the fun at Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS).

This week is going to be great! Do you know why? It's because the 20th Anniversary tour of one of the best modern musicals is headed to the Saenger tonight! RENT, written by Jonathan Larson, follows a group of artists as they face life living in East Village as they deal with love and loss at the height of the AIDS epidemic. It's a story that teaches audience how to live their life in the present because tomorrow isn't guaranteed. What a lesson!

PHANTOM fans get excited, because the national tour of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is in New Orleans right now! That's right. Through March 25th you have the opportunity to get yourselves over to the Saenger Theatre and experience one of the most classic shows of all time. This year marks 30 years that the show has been on Broadway and what better way to celebrate than to go see the show in your own hometown?

This score was something I didn't appreciate as a kid because I was too scared to watch the movie again, and I'm glad she had the sense to make me sing it. It's just gorgeous. Fast forward again to this past weekend when I saw THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME presented live at Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS). Stunning is the word that comes to mind.

Every once in a while we have the opportunity to experience a piece of theatre that not only is a beautiful work of art and technically incredible, but is also deeply moving and makes us think about our lives in a way we haven't before. We have that opportunity beginning tonight when THE COLOR PURPLE opens at the Saenger Theatre.

Calling all humans! Tonight, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS opens at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, and this is a show you absolutely don't want to miss. With music by the Gershwin brothers, book by Craig Lucas, and with the choreography and direction of Christopher Wheeldon, this show brings beauty and light to the aftermath of World War II in Paris. We follow three young men who are on a journey to find love and to find their way in the world through making art in a time when the world was struggling to recover.

If someone told you they had the secret to eternal life and they wanted to share it with you, would you take them up on the offer? It sounds pretty good, right? Living forever. Getting to see the highs and lows of humanity, travel the world, experience different cultures, live through every period of time to ever exist, have the most diverse wardrobe imaginable (gotta keep up with the times, right?), maybe even solve some of the world's greatest mysteries or cure a disease, and all the while avoid what we fear the most... death. If you could, would you?

This year, New Orleans has had just about as white of a Christmas as we've seen in quite a while. With the excitement of last week's snowfall and Christmas coming up on Monday, the touring production of Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS couldn't have come to the Saenger Theater at a more perfect time.

Ok, so here's the deal THE LAST FIVE YEARS is one of my favorite shows of all time, and I kid you not this production at Le Petit is way more than I ever expected it to be! Truly. It's very difficult to love an original cast recording with all your heart, and then to go see a regional production of that same show without being disappointed. However, under the brilliant direction of Michael E. McKelvey, Meredith Owens (Cathy) and Adair Watkins (Jamie) completely won me over!

Great title for a show, right? It definitely had me intrigued from the start. When I walked into the 30 x Ninety's intimate little theater (which, by the way, has been souped up since last time I was there raked seating and all) and saw the set, I had a feeling this wasn't going to be anything like what I was expecting. Honestly, I don't even know what I was expecting, but I could tell anything that I could've ever imagined to expect out of a play called THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM was the complete opposite of everything this show would be about. And, I was right.

Opening tonight at the Saenger Theatre is the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic THE KING AND I. It's the story of an English governess who is brought to the court of Siam to educate the king's children and wives at a time when Siam is in danger of Western colonialism and women are still used as a peace offering between nations. With familiar songs like Getting to Know You and Shall We Dance, this is a gorgeous show with an incredible message of compassion, compromise, and empowerment that audiences of all ages can learn from and enjoy.

Calling all Parrotheads! This week the musical starting the music of Jimmy Buffett, ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE, opens at the Saenger Theatre! If you need to escape reality for a couple of hours, sink your toes in the sand, and breathe in that fresh island air, this is the show for you. As New Orleanians, we have sort of laid claim on Jimmy Buffett, although he is originally from Pascagoula, Mississippi, because over the course of his entire career he has brought his music and lifestyle straight to our hometown.

I love musicals. I love most all musicals. There's hardly ever a musical I come across that I don't like. For the most part, musicals are usually lively, fun, and lighthearted stories set to upbeat music with killer dance numbers. FUN HOME isn't really that type of musical, but it does happen to be among the musicals that I truly think are going to change the world.

Friday night marked opening night of The NOLA Project's first musical in years. What did they choose? URINETOWN, THE MUSICAL of course. What else would/could a cutting edge theatre company who is known for occasionally pushing the envelope invite its audience members to experience other than a perfectly dystopian and a hilariously dark musical about a town whose residents must pay to pee? Yes, you heard that right. Pay. To. Pee.

Alright y'all, here's the deal. Once in a while I have tickets to a show that I've only vaguely heard of before much less know what it's about. Sometimes I walk out of the theatre shaking my head, but then there's times I walk out of the theatre thinking, 'Ok, why have I never seen this before? Everyone needs to know about this!' ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at Le Petit Theatre prompted that second reaction out of me.

This past weekend, Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS) in partnership with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), created the most magical and beautiful synergy of cinema and music that I have ever experienced.  I'm not even exaggerating!  I think I can speak for the rest of the audience as well when I say this the very best way (not only way, because it doesn't happen often enough) to experience the world that author J.K. Rowling created.  While Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone played on the big screen, the LPO was dressed in black with their instruments held high as they played the ENTIRE score from the very first twinkle to the end credits.