Tag: Donald Trump

Defying Misery: How WICKED Got Me Through the Election of Donald Trump

Every now and then I get the opportunity to play piano for the Wicked auditions in Los Angeles. I haven’t done it too often, but it struck me this week as I played 16 bars for nearly 200 singers, that the last time I did was a year ago.

A year ago. Election week 2016.

I remember it vividly. I played two days that week. Monday and Wednesday.

When I left on Monday, the mood was exuberant. “See you after we elect our first female president!” I probably said leaving the room, skipping. Everything was possible. I skipped everywhere back in those days.

Sure Hillary wasn’t always a Popular candidate. People feared and mistrusted her simply because of who she was. Some even called her a witch. But though she was guarded, wonkish, and at times inaccessible, one thing she definitely was not is green. She had a lifetime of experience. When it came to running the country, I knew Hillary would be a Wizard and I was so excited to vote for her.

Then Election Night happened. Continue reading Defying Misery: How WICKED Got Me Through the Election of Donald Trump

Streep. Agree or Disagree?

Handout/Getty Images

Last night during the Golden Globes, Meryl Streep was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille award for Lifetime Achievement. There’s hardly an actor more deserving it would seem, as she has been celebrated almost from the day she first emerged on screen. The woman collects award nominations the way most of us collect ugly Christmas sweaters. We don’t ask for them and yet every year, there they are.

Her thank you speech last night was…surprising, I think. While many actors take those opportunities to speak broadly for what they feel their career has meant to them or other people, Meryl took an interestingly more political, and potentially divisive tack. She (quite brilliantly) dissected the phrase ‘Hollywood Foreign Press’ into the people that have been and will doubtless continue to be some of the most vilified people in our current President-Elect’s playbook. Continue reading Streep. Agree or Disagree?