Tagged: Ryan Murphy

May 25, 2017

Untied

It has been brought, quite abruptly, to my attention that I indeed have a type. Me, this self proclaimed and outwardly noticeably, uniquely diverse in taste, person. My taste for telly is distinct yet spans across all genres, not unlike my taste for humans. Let’s play a game of connect the dots shall we:

American Horror Story
Sons of Anarchy
The Golden Girls
Masters of Sex
Wentworth
Black Sails
Breaking Bad
Penny Dreadful
Sex and the City
Law & Order: SVU
Shameless
The Good Wife
The Affair
Grace & Frankie
Younger
Will & Grace
How To Get Away With Murder
The Big Bang Theory
Orange is the New Black
Empire
LOST
Desperate Housewives
Bloodline
Roseanne
Togetherness
Game of Thrones
The Wonder Years
ER
Girls
Weeds
Nip/Tuck
The Sopranos
Friends

Now, what do all of these shows have in common besides being some of my favorites? Some are dramas, some are sitcoms, some are comedies, some are old, others new, some are network, some are cable and some are streaming. It’s really simple actually:

famiglia f (plural famiglie)

family
household

malocchio

Italian slang for ‘the evil eye.’ Basically it has similar meaning to the stink eye, but is scarier because it is given by little Italian women who damn you for eternity for doing them harm, doing their family harm, or going against their will.

Fade to a high school performing arts auditorium circa 1998-2002, where one would find a gaggle of drama geeks belting their hearts out:

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles
In laughter, in strife

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life

How about love?

Of course they were supposed to be in class somewhere, but that auditorium was home and those geeks were my family. Through bullying, loss, life, love, hope and dreams, we stayed family and I am still in contact with almost all of those Rentheads who made me thrive on theater. “Rent” was one of our favorite pieces to meddle with. The meaning behind every lyric Jonathan Larson wrote, the way in which Jonathan suddenly died before ever seeing his creation come to full term and the way it hit every nerve connected to our heartstrings, make “Rent” a very special piece to me, one which has carried it’s meaning over into my full blown adult hood, without an auditorium.

The themes of “Rent” are constants in my taste for entertainment, both on and off screen and behind the camera. I’ll examine some of my telly habits as examples, as someone pointed out that they all have strong themes of family and the meaning of family. “American Horror Story” is one of my favs of all time, and the themes of family that Ryan Murphy explores are brilliantly woven into each season whilst still maintaining the complexity of suspenseful telly:

Murder House: All about family and the consequences of infidelity. Constance had a deeply disturbed connection with her children, but they meant the world to her. Heartbreaking to witness when Addie is struck and killed by a vehicle and Constance fails to get her body on the property in time to ensure she would still see her.
Asylum: Kit constantly fought for his family, the patients had to become a family to survive and take care of each other, even Jude became Kit’s family in her downfall, he went back for her and she helped raise his children.
Coven: The coven is family, the coven will fight like hell for that family. The complex relationships between mothers and daughters, as masterfully portrayed in Cordelia and Fiona.
Freak Show: Freaks band together, kill together, to protect their home and family. The relationship between father and son is explored with Lobster Boy and the Strong Man. Pepper returns and we learn of her family abandonment issues. She becomes maternal with Ma Petite and even attempts to start her own family with Salty, despite their disabilities.
Hotel: All about family, the one that lost a child and their marriage is suffering, the mother who lost a child to drugs, the mother of vamps and then the family that was built between folks such as The Countess and Liz Taylor. Trapped in a Hotel, you can either build a family with those trapped with you, or…
My Roanoke Nightmare: A mother’s child is kidnapped, her brother is involved. The actors on a reality show, as dysfunctional as it may be, are family, bonded.

Besides all of the themes Ryan Patrick Murphy executes, the concept of a pool of actors returning each season to tell a different tale speaks to the idea of a close knit family, bonded by their experiences, and that bleeds through to all of his iterations, from “Scream Queens” to “American Crime Story.”

I will not go through the list of all of my favorite shows, but the common thread is the fight for family and the building of families that are not necessarily related. “Sons of Anarchy” for instance, Gemma was, how to say, hell bent on protecting her family. The club was a family and that family meant everything and was worth killing for. Loyalty meant everything to SAMCRO. Will, Grace, Jack and Karen were a family through and through. “Friends” should have been called “Family.” Frankie and Grace are family through mutual betrayal. “Wentworth” and “Orange is the New Black” are very different shows about female prisons, but it is natural in a prison environment both fictional and factual, that bonds are made and loyalty to that family are of utmost importance, just ask Tony Soprano about loyalty.

As a black sheep, outsider, freak and overall lost soul, the concept of building family through experience is something I’ve always been enamored with. My blood family is tight, we are close but as an adult finding her own way, I’ve long since sought out my adult family. My roots remain but in the process of growth and experiencing as much of this world as possible before I leave it, I am not a foreigner to being free to have other families. My theater years afforded me many families of that era. Theater families are so special and yet so short lived.

It is increasingly difficult as I get older to build families because through the years the innocent trust we are all born with decays and the true irony is that the moments where you find yourself fresh out of trust and feel alone, are the moments when you need a family the most. The epiphany that writing this has manifested, is that creativity and art are the core of my families. When I find a family I can express my creativity in I become the girl in the plastic bubble and nothing else matters. My loyalty shines through regardless of what brought me and my families together. La Vie Boheme. When the bonds break within one of my artistic families however, that is the single most painful thing I can and have experienced. Those situations leave me the rawest, the most broken and they steal any sort of faith I have left in my reservoir.

Perhaps my part in all of it, is that I assume the word “family” means to everyone out in the world what it means to me. Maybe I trust my pseudo families to the extent that I refuse to believe they don’t possess my vision of what loyalty should look like. For me, it truly is in the midnights and cups of coffee I share with people. It is certainly in the inches and miles I would travel for family and the inches and miles in which I grow from absorbing the ideals of others to better understand my own ideals. Not necessarily in the strife of everyday life in this fucked up world we find ourselves, but MOST importantly, it is in the laughter I share with other beings, without which, myself and a lot of them would cease to live.

What family represents for me:

No Day But Today

Jonathan Larson said it best:

The heart may freeze or it can burn
The pain will ease if I can learn

There is no future
There is no past
I live each moment as my last

There’s only us
There’s only this
Forget regret– or life is yours to miss.
No other road
No other way
No day but today

There’s only yes
Only tonight
We must let go
To know what is right
No other course
No other way
No day but today

I can’t control
My destiny
I trust my soul
My only hope
is just to be

There’s only now
There’s only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear it
No other path
No other way
No day but today

Note: Someone said some words to me today that really stuck, “Family will never be the ones asking you to leave. They are always the ones hoping you’ll stay.”

Today also happens to be my late grandfather’s birthday. Speaking strictly biologically, what with DNA and everything, not unlike Forrest and Bubba, we were of no relation. My grandpa did not ever tell me what family is, was or should be. He showed me, every single day what that word meant to him and I carry THAT with me in everything I am. His heart.

July 16, 2015

My Latest Obsession: #JeanetteDawson and @Quastinator

Back in April, me and the bestie had the privilage of seeing Side Show down at Plummer. I went into it pretty damn excited because it had been a show I was long familiar with and the revival of 2014 was still fresh on my playlists. I knew I would like the music, it’s honestly a beautiful book. I knew I would enjoy the visuals, I mean, it’s fucking Side Show. And I knew I would enjoy the production value because 3DTheatricals was in charge, and they have never let me down. What I wasn’t expecting, was to fall in love so hard and so fast with the two leads that I would forget what Erin Davie, Emily Padgett, Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley sounded like on their cast albums. From the get, the second Afton Quast and Jeanette Dawson opened their mouths, I was in complete awe.

I sat in awe, applauding emphatically throughout the show. And then it happened, we got to my favorite number in the show, “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” Something happened that’s never happened to me during a show, I actually teared up and may have slightly cried. You’d think it was the first time I’d ever heard the lyrics, and Afton and Jeanette made it seem that way. I kept my composure and then we get to the girls’ eleven o’clock number, “I Will Never Leave You.” Boy oh boy, it was like being kicked in the stomach a second time. The show ended and the response from the audience was uproarious. Curtain call propelled the entire house to their feet immediately and when Jeanette and Afton hit that stage for their bows, you could feel the heat and energy emanating from the crowd. Between the shouting, whooping, and vigorous clapping, I swear to G, you felt like you were in the presence of greatness. And here we are three months later and I’m discussing it, which only solidifies the greatness that I witnessed that night.

So what is it about “Who Will Love Me As I am?” Let me start with the lyrics, in case you are not familiar with the song:

Violet:
Like a fish plucked from the ocean
Tossed into a foreign stream
Always knew that I was different
Often fled into a dream
I ignored the raging current
Right against the tide I swam
But I floated with the question
Who will love me as I am?

Daisy:
Like an odd exotic creature
On display inside a zoo
Hearing children asking questions
Makes me ask some questions too
Could we bend the laws of nature?
Could a lion love a lamb?
Who could see beyond this surface?
Who will love me as I am?

Daisy & Violet:
Who will ever call to say I love you?
Send me flowers or a telegram?
Who could proudly stand beside me?
Who will love me as I am?

Daisy:
Like a clown whose tears cause laughter
Trapped inside the center ring

Violet:
Even seeing smiling faces
I am lonely pondering

Daisy & Violet:
Who would want to join this madness?
Who would change my monogram?
Who will be part of my circus?
Who will love me as I am?
Who will ever call to say I love you?
Send me flowers or a telegram?
Who could proudly stand beside me?
Who will love me as I am?

Company:
Who could proudly stand beside me?
Who will love me as I am?

This song is something everybody can identify with. It was always a song that I felt Ryan Murphy should have utilized on “Glee.” Hello, the glee club is all about acceptance and feeling outcast in a world of adversity. Imagine Unique and maybe Santana belting it out. I digress, I have a whole list of “Glee” songs that I imagined in my head, but I’ll save it for another blog at another time. “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” is powerful lyrically, and the emotion that has been brought to it by the leading ladies of Broadway is something very special. I am here to tell you, Afton and Jeanette brought so much to this piece, it really took me off guard.

Naturally, after the show I began googling, tweeting and searching high and low for more information from these wonderful ladies. I was successful in finding a lot of information and even succeeded in getting a tweet from Afton. I don’t know how I found it or what channels I twisted my way through, but I came across some video of the girls singing “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” on good ol Tube of You. I was again blown the fuck away. I think it is important to support local theater and I have discovered many a talented person in my experience with local shows. I cannot say enough good things and there are not enough positive adjectives in the dictionary to describe Jeanette and Afton. I was fortunate to see Jeanette in “Ragtime” and most recently “Tarzan.” 3DTheatricals takes good care of Orange County. I also found videos of Jeanette in “The Wild Party” and her Queenie is to die five! I leave you all with a video of “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” I will never see “Side Show” again, that’s the true bummer of live theater! Word of mouth is such an extremely important aspect of theater. These words, exit my mouth, I share with you my new obsession! I am so grateful to have been witness to “Side Show” as an audience member, it was a theatrical adventure I will never forget! (PS I think 3DTheatricals needs to hook a sister up with some footage from the show, I know there’s footage in existence!)

April 17, 2015

How @MrRPMurphy Can Save My Life: Checking Me Into #Hotel With @ladygaga and @MsSarahPaulson

I was surprised to find that when I proposed going on a hunger strike to garner Mr. Murphy’s attention enough to give me a shot, that people were all for it! I was half joking when I tweeted it, however, due to the positive response, I went on a research mission. Here is what I found:

A. Ways to prep for such a thing

2. I should consult with a doctor and take necessary precautions

Here’s the problem with that:

1. I need sufficient time to prep my body for such a drastic practice

B. I don’t have a doctor with which to consult, nor do I have the means to acquire one

So, here’s the goal: GET RYAN MURPHY TO BOOK ME AT THE @AHSFX Hotel

Again, I was half joking when I started proposing this ridiculous thought. Through much encouragement via social media as well as close friends of mine, this preposterous idea has slowly manifested itself into a mission and a project. I could do things old school and make a video and hope it finds its way into the hands of the appropriate casting people and what not. Boring boring boring. Hashtag boring. That’s not enough to get noticed or make any semblance of an impact in the way of standing out. That’s not my style and anyone who knows me can attest to that statement. Basically, the hunger strike is not a safe thing for me to do at this time nor am I prepared enough to take on that challenge. Ideas, I need ideas. That’s where my awesome followers and peers mixed in with my friends and confidants come in. Do I run around naked at the shooting locations from Asylum and Murder House? Shall I shout from the top of the Roosevelt?

Listen, Sarah Paulson is one of my all time favorite actors and I mean that from a fangirl perspective as well as a personal one. Seriously, I think we share DNA (Side bar: Never met my biological father.) Shall I go through the list:

Afraid of flying (I’m entirely phobic) and sharks (I am afraid to swim in the ocean for this reason) oh and bees (I’m allergic)
Milk duds and popcorn
Kristen Wiig bits in our arsenal
Dips it in the lady pond
Hypochondriacal (Today alone I was convinced that I have kidney stones and Sjogren’s syndrome)
Have inadvertently made out with an albino snake
Have worked with Chiwetel Eljiofor
Randomly quote “The First Wives Club”
Have embarrassingly played with a celebrity’s hair (I did not use my nose in my scenario so this one only halfway counts
Vegetables and tummies don’t get along
Lobsters and shrimp are the mother fucking roaches of the sea
Textural sensitivity to food
My lips swell up like Julia Roberts when I cry but only if you look at me from the side
Old lady voice, for whatever reason, comes out southern
I annoy people with my constant analysis of how #Asylum was brilliant and Lana Winters is one of the best characters ever on the telly

Whatever I could keep going but it’s embarrassing. And anyone who has ever met me, knows of the proud little monster that I am so that covers my fangirl status over Gaga.

♦Weigh in peeps! Be creative and tell me how you think I should tackle this thing! ♦