My Opinion on Avengers: Age of Ultron

I'd give it a 6/10. Maaaaybe a 6.5. It wasn’t as good as I’ve been hoping for since the summer of 2012, but it was okay. Here’s why that 6.5 isn’t a 10:

Age of Ultron was written by Joss Whedon, whom I used to really like (most notably for Dr. Horrible, Firefly, and The Avengers), but I recently found out that he was being a whiny man-baby and left Marvel studios after getting bitter about pieces in the MCU that other people wrote and criticisms that people have given him (please correct me if I’m wrong; I may not know the whole story). Anyway, I’d read up a few things on Tumblr about it before I went to see it today, so I was expecting to be a little disappointed. What I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t read anything on Tumblr was that the characters of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are supposed to be Romani Jews but were whitewashed by Joss Whedon and written to be affiliated with HYDRA, which is a Nazi organization. Now that doesn’t make very much sense to me. Minus 2 points right there.

wanda and pietro in the comic books
image courtesy newsarama

i don't see a resemblance
image courtesy kdramastars

   

Now I watched the movie, and I was thoroughly entertained by it. There was action (of course) and some really great character development for Hawkeye. This made me really happy because I often feel like he’s an under-appreciated avenger and that he didn’t get enough screen time in the last movie. I was also really happy with the addition of Wanda, Sam, and Rhodey into the Avengers team at the end of the movie. It made me super excited for the next movie to come out. These are the components that made me give it those 6-6.5 points. 

The main thing that caused me to take away those 1.5-2 points is the way that Joss Whedon handled the characters of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. Steve wasn’t written very well in the first Avengers movie, so I wasn’t really surprised, but Joss Whedon’s writing really diminished since then if you’re looking at the way he wrote Nat. Neither of these characters got nearly enough screen time in AOU, and in both of the movies, it seems like Steve has only been used as joke material. Many of the jokes that he made in The Avengers were out of character, and in Age of Ultron, it seems that he was only used as the running “language!” joke throughout the film.

Natasha Romanoff is one of my favorite characters ever, and I’m really sad about how she was portrayed in this film. She didn’t have much screen time, either, and the time that she did get was either engaging in a really stupid and forced relationship between her and Bruce, or fighting in a way that was probably just there so the straight males in the audience could see how sexy her body is. The small bit of character development we did get regarding Natasha was in her backstory in the Red Room, and I guess that was pretty cool, but I feel like most of that was shown just so she could connect more with Bruce, and it still seemed pretty forced. 

Overall, I’d say that Age of Ultron was entertaining but disappointing. And frankly, I’m kind of glad that Joss Whedon left Marvel. 

So I Saw Newsies This Weekend....

And it was pretty much the best weekend of my life. Holy crap. I live near Salt Lake City, and I saw it in Dallas. Why, you may ask? Well, when Newsies first announced the tour, none of the cities that it had listed were anywhere near where I live, and I HAD to make sure that I was going to get the chance to go, right? The second phase of the tour, which it's coming to Salt Lake City on, wasn't announced until a few weeks ago, when the 2016 Broadway season was announced. Also, my step-niece (?) was at my house in January and we started talking about how much we both love Newsies, and we decided that we needed to go together. She lives in New Jersey, and it was in Dallas near her birthday, so we met in the middle to see an awesome show together.

Now that I've bored you with my ramblings, it's time to get into the meat of what went down on that trip. After going to that museum by where JFK was shot (which was pretty cool too), we headed over to the AT&T Performing Arts Center and it might have been the most beautiful theater I've ever been to, even considering the theaters I've been to on Broadway. It had like 5 floors and our seats were so close I could even see the newsies' faces.

I cannot even begin to describe the feeling in my stomach when the curtain came up and I saw Dan DeLuca and Zachary Sayle on that stage. Newsies has always had a special place in my heart because of all the symbolism of hope involved in it, and finally seeing these characters on a stage in front of me I suddenly felt like something in my world was right. It sounds totally stupid that my main source of inspiration is cheesy musicals about newsboys, but the way that the characters stand up for what they believe in and never give up makes me really hopeful that everything will always be okay (especially since Melissa Steadman Hart played a girlsie in the closing number !!! Thanks for giving me hope, Melissa).

Of course, the music was wonderful, the boys were cute, but what really amazed me was how phenomenal the dancing was. Ben Tyler Cook, who played Race, is only 16 and was, in my opinion, the best dancer up there. He’s already in the touring cast of a major musical and that totally makes me feel bad about what I’ve done so far with my life (I’m just kidding, I love you Ben Tyler Cook <3). Another great dancer was Julian DeGuzman, but that makes more sense since he’s like 25 and has a BFA in dance. 

After the show, we went to the stage door, obviously. I had to meet my baes. They all signed my playbill and I was able to get pictures with some of them: 

Josh Burrage <3

Ben Tyler Cook <33 

Jordan Samuels <3

Jeff Heimbrock <33

Vincent Crocilla (he was wearing an Adventure Time shirt !!)

DeMarius R Copes <33

Zachary Sayle <33

  

I’ve since returned from Dallas, but last night I saw Garett Hawe, who was in the original cast of Newsies, perform in a local production of The Music Man! I still don’t know what he’s doing here, but I got a picture with him, too: 

he was soooo sweet, I can't believe I had the chance to meet him!!

Over the Garden Wall: The Best Cartoon I've Ever Seen

Adventure Time and Gravity Falls follow closely behind (and no, I've never seen Steven Universe so I can't say that's my favorite). Anyway, after my friend Brynn pestered me for an entire dance class to watch it, I gave in and downloaded all the episodes of Over the Garden Wall onto my phone. I watched them all in one night. That being said, there are only 10 episodes, and each is only 10 minutes long, but it may be the best 100 minutes of animation that have ever been on television.

Over the Garden Wall was a miniseries that aired on Cartoon Network last year created by the same artists and writers as Adventure Time. It centers around a pair of brothers named Greg and Wirt who get lost in an unfamiliar forest and have to find their way back out, being challenged along the way by what the forest;s inhabitants refer to as “the beast.” Adventure Time's great, but what I love about OTGW is how much amazingness is packed into such a short time. By the time Jason Funderburker (the frog) had played the seventh note of the opening theme on that spinning piano, I knew I was going to get completely sucked into this beautiful world of "The Unknown."

image courtesy imperial general

The music in this show is just so. Freaking. Good. I didn’t know that cartoons hired amazing composers like that (The Blasting Company), but apparently OTGW could. I legit want the music to be the soundtrack for my life. I don’t even know how to describe it, but the feeling that you get when you listen to it is absolutely magical and it suits the show perfectly. Since I’m bad at explaining things, go listen to the opening theme yourself. It will not disappoint. 

OTGW gives off the same creepy/humor-y vibe and has the same amount of deeper meaning that Gravity Falls does, but in less than two hours of content. You can go back and watch it as many times as you want; you’ll always find something new that you missed the last time. It’s fast-paced, witty, and could appeal to many different groups of viewers of all ages. 

Did I mention that the art is beautiful? It’s cartoony, don’t get me wrong, but you can tell that a lot of time was put into making it meticulous. Just like the music, it matches the theme of the story and enhances the point that the writers are trying to get across. It’s very detailed and the backgrounds look like the kind of watercolor paintings that you’d find in a museum. Since there weren’t as many episodes, the artists could probably put more time into it than they usually do when working on Adventure Time. 

image courtesy adam wilcox

Since watching the show, I’ve developed an intense desire to cosplay Greg and Wirt with a friend. It’ll be easy and I’ll have plenty of opportunities. Anyway, go watch Over the Garden Wall. It’ll only take two hours, and it’ll consume your thoughts for weeks. You’re welcome. 

Jonathan Larson's "Rent" May Quite Possibly Be the Best Musical of All Time

My obsessions usually fade to casual liking within a few months, but not with Rent. I first watched the movie version over a year ago and I still listen to the soundtrack nonstop when I need to get pumped up, which is pretty much every day. "La Vie Boheme" always makes me smile, "I'll Cover You - Reprise" always makes me cry, and I don't even know what "Over the Moon" makes me feel, but I know it's a wonderful roller coaster of emotions.

Every single song in it is my favorite, except maybe "You'll See," but whatever. The music gives off a pretty '80s/'90s vibe (which makes sense since it begins December 24th, 1989) but also seems pretty Broadway at the same time. The lyrics have some real substance to them, and you'll probably notice something new every time you watch it. You'll be inspired by the story and think about the meaning for weeks after you first watch it. But the sad part is that the writer/creator, Jonathan Larson, died the day of the official opening production.

Not only are the book, music, and lyrics extremely well-written, but it also features the most diverse cast of characters that I've ever seen in any mainstream media (does Rent qualify as mainstream???). With seven main protagonists and an antagonist, they accurately represent the people under the poverty level in New York City and debunk the idea that media with a diverse cast doesn't get popular. Rent was one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway, closing under 12 years of productions. Who says diverse can't be amazing??

Roger Davis is a recovering drug addict and musician/songwriter, who can't seem to be able to write one last song. He lives with Mark Cohen, a Jewish filmmaker who wants to show the world what it's actually like to be homeless in New York. Their friend Tom Collins is a gay black man who teaches philosophy at MIT. He meets and falls in love with Angel Dumott-Schunard, a street drummer whose gender we are never told explicitly. We know that she goes by she/her pronouns, but we are left to are own interpretation of her gender. She could be a trans girl or genderfluid, but either way she's important representation for the transgender community. Angel is friends with Mimi Marquez, a lighthearted Latina stripper whom Roger tries to help get off drugs. Maureen Johnson is a bisexual activist who dumped Mark offscreen, but is now dating Joanne Jefferson. Joanne is a black lesbian lawyer who, in my opinion, doesn't get enough credit. She's soooo cute and always KILLS that first solo in "Seasons of Love." The antagonist is Benny. He used to be cool, but then he married a rich lady and now wants to evict the homeless from the area.

EVERYONE IS MY BAE!!! except benny. he sucks
image courtesy crafthubs

Four of the characters have AIDS, and the musical depicts their struggles and how they get through them. I just wish that everything was as awesome as Rent is. That would make life a whole lot better. The movie version is on Netflix and you can watch the pro-shot 2008 cast recording on YouTube. Go! Tell your friends! Make the world a better place by watching Rent!

Life Lessons from Sondheim's Into the Woods

(Major Into the Woods spoiler alert for this post.) The second time I saw the Into the Woods movie I was with my friend Courtney and we went to her house after but her sister was there. After finding out what movie we'd seen, she replied by saying to us, "Oh, that movie was so stupid. There wasn't even any morals." I am here to PROVE HER WRONG!! There are too many life lessons to count from that musical. Here are just a few:

1. Be careful what you wish for. 
This musical is so well-written and it has so much symbolism. Stephen Sondheim is absolutely brilliant for the connections he makes between multiple parts of his musicals. At the end of Act I it seems like everyone's gotten their wish and that there's gonna be a happy ending, but then everything falls to pieces. Jack's mother got the riches that she wished for from the giants, but she ended up getting killed because of the giants going after who stole from them.

2. What you wish isn't always what you want.
Cinderella realized this after going to the festival. Her wish was to dance with the prince, but all she could say afterwards was that it "made a nice change." She wasn't sure if she'd enjoyed the time being there and she ended up having a bad relationship with the prince. She wished to go to the festival, but she didn't want the outcome that came with it.

the movie adaptation had a few flaws, but I have to say it was put together very beautifully
image courtesy Music Theatre International

3. "Nice is different than good."
Here's another lesson that Cinderella had to learn from getting to know the prince. He was a "very nice prince," but he was really just one of those "nice guys" who thinks that just because he was nice to a girl she's automatically obligated to go out with him. He was sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, kind and handsome, but he wasn't good. The character who actually says these words is Red after the wolf eats her. He too, was nice and polite to Red, but his intentions were never good.

4. Sometimes you have to get a new perspective in order to have new experiences. 
It's only when Jack sees his world from the perspective of a giant that he realizes how wonderful it already was. After gaining a new perspective, he was "back again, only different than before." This also applies to Red, because even though the wolf wasn't trying to do any good, he showed her things, "many beautiful things, that [she] hadn't thought to explore." By leading her away from it, the wolf showed Red things that she never would have experienced if she hadn't strayed off the path.

5. Children will listen.
The witch starts out by singing, "Children should listen," then progresses to, "Children won't listen," and finally, "Children will listen." At first she wants Rapunzel to do what she wants her to, then gets frustrated because Rapunzel never does what she wants her to do, then realizes that everything she's ever said and done has stuck in Rapunzel's mind and influenced her. This teaches us that we need to be careful about what we say around little kids because they will take note of everything we do.

6. There is hardly ever a compromise for big decisions.  
During "Moments in the Woods" after the baker's wife kisses the prince, she sings, "Is it always 'or,' is it never 'and?'" She wishes she could have both a life with the prince and a life with the baker, but she can't. This applies not only to her, but also to Cinderella and Jack. Cinderella attempted to not choose whether she stays and gets captured by the prince or if she runs away again. She let the prince choose for her, and we all know how that turned out. Jack also sings that he wished he could live in between a life with the giants and a life at home. When the two worlds collided, everything was chaos and his mother got killed.

I'm sure there are many more, but that's all I can think of right now. If you think of some, feel free to discuss in the comments!

Sexism In SuperWhoLock-- Doctor Who

I hate Steven Moffat. Not just because he kills all my favorite characters (although that does play a big part in it), but because he's really sexist and annoying. His male characters are interesting with complicated backstories, but his women are perfect and sometimes treated like objects. The male historical figures that he's written into the show (Winston Churchill, Vincent Van Gogh) have all been treated as interesting, complex characters with important roles in the universe. All of his female historical figures (Queen Nefertiti, Madame De Pompadour, Queen Elizabeth I. Madame de Pompadour was in the Russell T. Davies area, but the episode she was in was written by Moffat.), while awesome, have been treated as two-dimensional women acting as little more than love interests for the Doctor.

Exhibit A
Image courtesy of Screenrant

There are lots of things I enjoy about Peter Capaldi's doctor; he's different, more serious, a little bit edgy, and to-the-point. But what I really don't like about him is the way he treats Clara. He insults her appearance frequently, calling her fat in at least half of his episodes. And another thing: most of this isn't Moffat's doing, but don't you find it a little strange that time lords can change their entire appearance when they regenerate, but the Doctor has always been played by a white man? Now that the master is a woman and we've found out for sure that time lords can switch sexes, there's no excuse to not make the next regeneration of the Doctor a woman. Russell T. Davies treated his female characters a lot better than Moffat, sexualizing them less and having more developed stories for them (Agatha Christie, Queen Victoria).

There have been about three major characters who are people of color in New Who (Mickey, Martha, and Danny), and every single one of them has been black. The thing is, nobody seems to remember Mickey, everyone hates Martha for some reason, and Danny got killed off after about 5 episodes. The way the episode Turn Left treated the Asian character was pretty dang racist, and the two main black characters in the Russell T. Davies era were married off to each other (Martha and Mickey), despite having no previous connection to each other besides the Doctor.

Another thing that RTD wasn't much better than Moffat as was queer representation. He had slightly more canon characters, but they still weren't treated very well. There was that one couple of two old ladies in Gridlock, but they were only in one episode. And of course we have Capt. Jack Harkness who is a super rad character, but he fulfills that bisexual stereotype of flirting with everyone, which is harmful in that it promotes a false stereotype. The only queer representation we've gotten with Moffat is Jenny and Vastra, which is a little, um... weird. Vastra isn't human, first of all, which kind of reduces a lesbian relationship to something that isn't normal. The way it's portrayed also gives off a pretty abusive vibe. Vastra usually acts dominant over Jenny and orders her around in everyday life, and this is heteronormative because it perpetuates the idea that in a queer relationship one person has to be more "masculine," and the other must be more "feminine." Jenny always calls Vastra "ma'am" and has referred to her as her master on multiple occasions.

Despite RTD's flaws, I still like him a lot better than Moffat because I believe that he would have progressed with these issues over time, compared to Moffat laughing it off and making rude remarks and invalid excuses when someone calls him out on his crap. I just really want Doctor Who to get a new showrunner. Although I enjoy some of Moffat's writing, I think the show would really benefit from a new head honcho.

I get all of my Doctor Who statistics and stuff from Who-ology, which is a really great objective look at trivia from all 50 years of Who.

Sexism in SuperWhoLock-- Supernatural

Before I get into anything, I'd just like to add a disclaimer: 

I love all three of these shows. In fact, they're three of my all-time favorites. However, sometimes when I'm watching them I notice that there are lots of things about them that I don't agree with. I feel like in order to be a good fan of something you have to be able to criticize it and accept that it has flaws. 

Also, please note that this series isn't only about sexism. It's about many forms of prejudice-- I only named it "Sexism in SuperWhoLock" because that title is hella catchy.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, it's time for the real juicy part. I'll be making three posts on this topic, one for each show. Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock are super rad shows, but none of them are very inclusive or positive when it comes to anyone who isn't an abled, cisgendered, heterosexual, white man. 

Let's start with Supernatural:
Okay. Let's be honest here. Is there really any way you can argue that this show ISN'T sexist?? I mean, one of Dean's main character traits is the fact that he objectifies women so much. There are countless female characters who have only shown up for a few seconds just to be a distraction to Dean, and most of the bigger parts women that appear in the show are just there to be another love interest for him or Sam. There are only four episodes so far this season out of thirteen (that I can think of) that have passed the Bechdel Test, there are ZERO female main characters, and only like four female recurring characters (Charlie, Jodie, and Rowena--I'm not including Hannah or Donna because I'm assuming that we probably won't be seeing any more of them). How many main characters are there? Four: Dean, Sam, Cas, and Crowley. And they're all white men. All of the women who aren't evil are stereotypical "tomboys," which is a problem because that perpetuates the idea that feminine qualities can't go with heroism. All of the more feminine characters are either love interests for the boys or villains. Does anyone remember Ellen and Jo? Because I sure do, and I miss them like heck. They were strong, female characters with big parts in the show and Jo was always calling Dean out on his sexist crap. But of course, they got killed off, and that was partly the fault of the fanbase. The majority of the fans hated Ellen and Jo, so the writers decided to make their fans happy and kill them off. Thanks a lot, guys.

jo is judging all the misogynists in the world
image courtesy of fun_like_that

Supernatural is also a major culprit of queerbaiting, usually done with Dean and Castiel. Some examples of this are Balthazar saying to Dean, "where's the angel in a trenchcoat who's in love with you?" (or something like that), Dean telling Cas how to fix his clothes for his date in that one car scene, and many more "gay jokes" that have come up. I find this disgusting, not because the writers are hinting at the characters being gay, but because they're not CANONICALLY gay or bisexual. There have been a total of eight gay characters in 209 episodes of the show, and five of them have only showed up for one. Charlie is the only one who's been in more than one, and she's totally rad, but she's kind of a lesbian stereotype and one of the only women who hasn't been a love interest for the boys ("Oh, I know! Let's make her gay so she can't fall in love with Dean!!" -Robert Singer probably). There were also the two girls in the 200th episode "Fan Fiction" (which, btw, is like my favorite episode because it passed the Bechdel test pretty well and Dean quOTED RENT), there were two girls who were said to be dating, but they weren't in it for very long. There were also those dudes in the episode "Slash Fiction" who came out as gay at the end, which was cool, but they quite obviously made Dean uncomfortable. One really good character was the gay woman in "All Hell Breaks loose-- Part 1!!" She had a developed story and a pretty big part And then there was the intern in the Ghostfacers episode, whose character was nothing but a disappointing joke ("You gotta go be gay for that poor dead intern!") and a fail at representation.

There have never been any canonically transgender or disabled characters in Supernatural. Ever. And Sam and Dean make fun of mentally disabled people all the freakin time. The extremely low number of non-white characters (who are almost all African-American besides Kevin and his mom) are almost all dead. In multiple episodes of the show, Sam and Dean kill gods and beings from other cultures, despite it being a very Christian-centric show.

I'm sure there are lots of other things that can be pointed out about this show, but that's all I'll talk about now. Just make sure that when talking about Supernatural you don't defend it mercilessly, because it, like everything else, has flaws.

I hope you all have a lovely day!! <3

Everyone Should Aspire to be Like Peggy Carter

Agent Carter is Marvel’s first female-led cinematic piece, and it certainly hasn’t disappointed so far. With at least five instances in Tuesday’s episodes that have shattered the Bechdel Test, I’m going to start expecting more from Marvel. None of their other TV/Movie productions that I remember besides Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has passed it.

courtesy of Screenrant

Shortly after Captain America is frozen in the ice, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is working for Strategic Science Research (SSR) which is under the alias of a phone company. Although she is officially an agent, her all-male group of coworkers is extremely sexist to her and they harass her when she tries to defend Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), who is wanted for treason. Later that day, Peggy gets lunch and leaves into an alleyway where she meets a man (it’s Jarvis omg) whose driver turns out to be Howard. He tells her some fun scary stuff that’s going down and the rest of the show is basically Peggy beating down the patriarchy of 1940s America while simultaneously saving the world.

One of my favorite things about this show so far is Peggy’s fighting style. While other Marvel women like Natasha Romanoff fight by punching and kicking and doing backflips, Peggy pretty much just whacks the dude with whatever she has on her until either he’s unconscious or she can pin him down. She also doesn’t do that completely overused superhero woman thing where they seduce some guy and then kill him while he’s not paying attention. Rather, she either storms in and demands stuff or just puts on a disguise to be trusted.

According to my grandma, the historical accuracy was on point. The clothing, hair, makeup, decoration styles, music, and basically everything else (I totes want Peggy’s red hat and lipstick now) were perfectly comparable to the actual post-World-War-Two era.

The plot was interesting and made you want to keep watching, and you’ll love it especially if you’re a long-time Marvel fan. I mean, Jarvis??? In the flesh??? Hanging out with Peggy Carter??? How fricking rad is that?? It also doesn’t rely too much on violence or romancey-type stuff to make it interesting; I think there’s a perfect amount of each.

Besides being about a super progressive 1940s woman, it also has more supporting disabled characters than most media you see nowadays. The only actually nice guy in Strategic Science research walks with a crutch, and another supporting character is mute. The only criticism I’ll give about this show is how overwhelmingly white the cast is. There was only one supporting person of color, and a few people of color in the background, so I hope to see more representation in future episodes.

Basically, everyone should aim to be as cool as Peggy Carter. Marvel, my standards have been raised. Don’t let me down in the future. 

A Short Review of Every Musical I've Seen Live

I really really really like Broadway musicals and I try to see them live every chance I get (but not necessarily on Broadway), so here's a review on each of the fourteen I've been to.

Image courtesy of Mashable

Into the Woods:
This was the first musical I ever saw live, so I was pretty little when I saw it and I don't really remember it that much. However, I do remember loving it and being starstruck when the actors came out into the lobby after the show (I saw it at Hale Centre Theatre--West Valley). I can't wait for the movie adaptation and I'm really excited to see Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine together!

A Christmas Carol:
Again, this was a long time ago, so I don't remember it very much. I remember liking it, but not loving it, and this one I saw at Hale, too.

Phantom of the Opera (2): 
I saw this one at Hale Centre Theatre quite a few years ago and, even though I don't remember much about it, I remember thinking it was pretty dang sweet. I saw it again on Broadway last April with Samantha Hill and Hugh Panaro who have some of the best voices ever and it was so incredibly powerful. Not quite as wonderful as the 25th anniversary cast, but still really rad.

She Loves Me:
She Loves Me is the most recent live musical I've seen. I saw this one at Hale as well and it was really cute, but somewhat dated and sexist. Fun, but not one of my favorites.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat:
Ok now I thought this one really sucked. It could have just been that the performers weren't very good singers or actors (I saw it at local Centerpoint Theatre which had just barely opened so it didn't attract very many people), but I wasn't crazy about the music or the execution of the story, either, even though it's composed by the brilliant Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Man of La Mancha:
Don Quixote is a little bit cray cray, but the music from this musical is beautiful. "The Impossible Dream" is undoubtedly one of my favorite songs from a musical ever. I saw this one at Centerpoint Theatre too but by then it had become more well-known and the performers were much better. One point that I must make, however, is that in both of the musicals I've seen there, the costumes have looked like they came out of a dress-up box. In Joseph, you could clearly see t-shirts layered under badly-constructred dresses, and in Man of La Mancha, the corsets were ill-fitting and ugly.

Les Misérables (2):
I'm pretty sure Les Mis will always be my favorite musical. Seeing the movie adaptation was what really got me into musical theatre. I saw it at Pioneer Theatre last year and this made me realize how much the movie cast sucked. The performers at this one had great voices and played very convincing characters, while most of the main actors in the movie were just picked for their fame and can't really sing (Éponine and the Barricade Boys were really awesome though). After finding out that Carrie Hope Fletcher would be playing Éponine on the West End, I begged my mom and finally got the opportunity to go see her (along with the drool-worthy Rob Houchen) in April. The West End of 2013-2014 is the best ever cast of Les Mis and I will argue that to the death. The only things that could have made my experience better would have been: a) Enjolras being played by Anton Zetterholm instead of first cover Oliver Savile, b) my sister not complaining the entire time, and c) more actors than just Rob showing up at stagedoor for autographs.

West Side Story:
I've loved the movie with Natalie Wood for a long time, so I saw it on the national tour in SLC with my grandparents. It was just as good, if not better, than the movie and we had really awesome seats so it was a pretty fun time.

A Chorus Line: 
While I was watching this at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City this summer I just wanted to be dancing in the story with the characters. It was SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Paul is my bae, and no one else can have him. I expected it to be dated, considering it premiered in the 1970s, but it's just as relevant today as it was then and I understood almost every single reference.

Annie Get Your Gun:
The music was cute, the story was cute, the performers' voices at the Sundance Theatre were great, and I enjoyed it. It just wasn't, like, THAT spectacular.

The Lion King:
During "Circle of Life" when all the animals are walking through the audience and onto the stage is the best part of the whole thing. It's sO COOL and pretty much everyone would enjoy seeing it. The costumes and the music are amazing and I love the fact that Rafiki is played by a woman.

Wicked:
It deserves all the hype it's been getting for the past 10 years. 'Nuff said.