#and david's gray wig

[mizgnomer]

Behind the Scenes of St. Trinian's 2 with David Tennant and Christian Brassington

Excerpts from the "Book Off!" podcast with Host Joe Haddow, David Tennant, and Christian Brassington:

[ Talking about how they became friends while working on St. Trinian's 2 ] Christian Brassington: We did that and we were just surrounded by girls everywhere. David Tennant: Yeah Joe Haddow: A friendship just blossomed, I assume, from this? DT: Well I think we were both nervous about being seen to be talking to a lot of teenage girls. [ the others laugh ] DT: So we just sort of sat in a corner and talked to each other. CB: Yeah. DT: We were the baddies. We were the villains. CB: I played David's sidekick DT: We were very subtle. Very subtle performances. CB: Oh my goodness! It was almost like a documentary, what we were doing DT: So nuanced, what we did Host: [ Laughing ]

Podcast Source Link [ X ]

[miasiegert]

Some new cossies. Bomb wig is a new style we’re experimenting with.

I always tell people that painting flat with acid dye looks completely different before steamed.

The orange/gray will be what David wears at Algonquin’s production of CATS for Admetus/Rumpus. Ears are floppier than anticipated with a new style experimentation so some brainstorming, but also D and I make wigs differently—I make them much denser because I hate hair spray. He likes looser and styling heavily with spray. No wrong method, just stylistic differences.

Also fun fact: found out their Munk was on the Titanic tour many moons ago.

Today, victoria and try to finish a Macacity and try to work more on Dex-Starr.

[is-she-suffering]

8 April 2000 -Telegraph Magazine

Disturbed and disturbing, Katie Jane Garside fronted the band Daisy Chainsaw, prophesied the end of the world - and then disappeared. Seven years later she’s back, ready to shock again.

QUEEN ADREENA were on stage for only half an hour or so. The audience at London’s Hammersmith Palais had come to see Bush and the collected youths did not know what to make of this support act. It’s lead singer, Katie Jane Garside, is thin, provocative and confrontational. She has uncut Miss Havisham hair and wears pervy Victorian underwear. Twisting and squirming in the dark, often screaming, often prostrate, often turning her back to the audience, she is a performance artist rather than some chart-lipsticked Everywoman. Sexual in a very weird way, she looks as if she is lap-dancing in a gas-chamber. The blokes stare in disbelief. They shuffle about. Then, as the mike goes between her legs, they jump up and down.

Backstage afterwards the band squash into one of those huddles of Marlboro Lights and flushed analysis. There is a sign saying that CCTV is in operation and anyone taking drugs will be handed over to the police immediately. Orson, the bass guitarist, is wearing a long burgundy evening dress and complaining that his shoulder hurts because he fell off his horse. In Surrey. Very rock'n'roll. An individual wearing a jacket which looks as if it was made out of Wombles turns out to be Katie Jane’s boyfriend. She points to a huge man wearing black lipstick.

“That’s Billy Freedom,” she says. “He’s one of the weirdest people I have ever met.”

The lead guitarist, Crispin Gray, turns up. All eye-shadowed and Glam, Gray is from Islington and both his parents were West End actors. He understands theatre and has worn make-up for years, though not so much when he was signing on because he couldn’t face the hassle in the dole office.

“Quite a lot of girls seem to be attracted to the band and I’m sure it is because of Katie rather than me,” he says modestly. “Most guitar bands are still fronted by tough rock chicks trying to beat men at their own game, but Katie is not trying to be tough and I think girls like that.”

Katie Jane, ripped stocking, long lace bloomers, shoes that she has dyed herself, drinks quite a lot of red wine from the bottle and agrees that yes, she has come a long way since the days that she drilled babies’ heads

She used to shave her head. In 1992 she went around as Daisy Chainsaw, a short-lived, explosive act distinguished by the dramatic theatre of self-battery. In seizure to a megaphonic fuzz of electric guitar, she sang I Feel Insane and other loud angry songs coloured by dervish dancing and props - a doll, red paint, stained wedding dresses, wigs and dead flowers.

Those who went to see her perform in Deptford pubs described a grimy child-woman convulsing to ‘grandcore punk riffs’, and quoted scenes of fury. “I hit Crispin and he beats the shit out of me,” she said at the time. “Once he smashed me against a wall and I played a gig with blood running down my face.”

Daisy Chainsaw were managed by an ex-punk named Jason and they did pretty much as they pleased, turning down Glastonbury, Top of the Pops and advances from Madonna’s label, Maverick. “I think Katie is psychotic,” the bassist once said. “She lives through her emotions rather than her brain.”

She was accused of manufacturing her madness in order to merchandise pain, a useful pop trick subsequently deployed by Alanis Morissette et al. But Alanis is acceptable: she likes lipstick, takes a bath and conforms to the dreadful truth that a haircut can make you happy. Katie Jane is more unfathomable than this; she has no labels.

Pressed to explain herself she came up with a range of disparate theories founded on a basic witchy eccentricity that deviated into an offbeat belief system. She took on everything from white magic to David Icke, the former spokesman of the Green Party who announced that he was the Son of God.

“People can laugh,” she said at the time. “But I always realised the insignificance of role-playing and he gave me the courage to stand up for my convictions.”

In essence, she wanted to break down conditioning and communicate some of the terror and disillusion that we all feel. She enacted ugly sadness. Most of all, though, she was a fatalist. She did not think about where she would be when she was 30 because, she said in 1992, the world was due to end in 1998.

Daisy Chainsaw were not commercial and in 1993 they split up. The world did not end and now Katie is 30. She went away for five years, had a nervous breakdown, and now she’s back.

“I had worked really hard for a long time and given too much away. When I look back, Daisy Chainsaw represented a bottleneck of desperation and that is why it came out in such violence.”

The climate is different now. In 1992 the queens of the scene were L7, Babes in Toyland and Courtney Love’s Hole. They were linked by defiant unprettiness, crashing guitars and a Riot Grrrl wildness. But the backdrop was middle-class. Some of them had been high-school cheerleaders; Courtney Love arrived from suburban America.

The contradictions between the rockstar on stage and the real person who created the image caused insoluble tension, and one which arguably destroyed this genre. L7 disappeared; Hole simply sold out. There are no wild women now. No one dares to be odd or to flout the diktats of traditional beauty because they know it won’t get them on magazine covers. That is why Katie Jane is important. She is difficult to manipulate and difficult to package and thus encourages healthy deviance from the universal definitions of 'normality’.

In 1992, Katie Jane signed on, drove her 'patchwork’ Mini on a ley line from Cornwall to Norfolk, recorded the wind on DAT, mucked about with a musician from Test Department (a cutting-edge industrial band), stayed in a haunted house, did some group therapy, had visions, nearly went mad, but avoided prescription drugs.

“The doctor told me that, emotionally, some people have a football pitch and some people have a rocky landscape. I chose to stay with the rocky landscape. It was what I was born with.”

You have to trust nature, she believes. “I don’t think psychotherapy works. It simply creates a new set of crutches.”

She laughs and tells a story about the afternoon she was sitting in the hollow of a tree and all these blue tits flew around her in a huge flock. Very strange things have always happened to her. “I do hear voices,” she admits. “But it’s not a regular thing.”

Her life is full of entities and strange synchronicity. There is a Zulu warrior that watches out for her - “I have seen his face,” she says. She could be psychic or she could simply be someone who looks at a lot of different ideas, feels everything and understands empathy.

One day, a year or so ago, she was walking down a street in Belsize Park and ran into Crispin Gray. They had not seen or spoken to each other since the Daisy Chainsaw days. He had tried to run the band without her and it had not worked. They needed a singer. “It did not end properly,” he says. “And I knew it wasn’t over.”

Katie Jane re-entered the music business in her own inimitable way. One meeting with a record company executive was staged on Hampstead Heath.

“There is a beautiful undergrowth bit,” she says. “My friend Louise led him to this clearing. Then we stood there and did a cappella. I said nothing and he gave me a big lump of money.”

So now they are back with a manager, an agent and a public relations company. Their name, Queen Adreena, arose from Katie’s dream about a warrior queen. Later, looking in a book by Annie Sprinkle (a porn star/performance artist) she noticed that 'Queen Adrena’ was the name of a legendary Californian dominatrix.

There is a new album, Taxidermy, and a CD-ROM of their new songs played to complement a black and white film made by Martina Hoogland-Ivanow, a 25-year-old photographer/director.

Katie Jane Garside grew up in Salisbury, the child of an army background. When she was 12 her father announced that the family were going to live on a 33ft yacht. The sailed around the world for four years. As teenage girls, Katie Jane and her younger sister, Mel, saw deserted islands, ate meals out of tins and disappeared into the realms of imagination.

Finally, they ended up near Poole where Katie attended a rough state school. She was beaten up for many things, but mostly because she had very small bosoms, a memory which transmuted (as these things do) to become a part of her work.

At 17 she arrived in London, penniless but determined. Then she met Crispin Gray when she answered an advertisement in a music paper, and her professional life, from then on, was about working with him.

The voyage around the world had left her feeling different and displaced. She was left with a love of the ocean, and indeed all places that allow a person to be alone. She is still displaced. When you ask her where she lives she says she doesn’t really know. She has lived in a lot of places. She wanders around in her thrift-store chic, with a battered brown leather suitcase containing all her possessions, her pale flesh bruised from falling around on stage. There is an atmosphere of acceptance around her. She will end up where she ends up.

“You might become a major rock icon,” I say, thinking this would be a good thing.

She smiles. “That would be a funny place to be.”

Jessica Berens

[kscosplaycatalog]

No. 17 - 2012

Character: Erza Scarlet (Armorless ver.)  Series: Fairy Tail by Mashima Hiro

Cosplayer Credits: - Natsu : My brother - Gray : Jaiden - Lucy : Kirky

Photog Credits: - Axel - David Ho - Nikki Smith Photography

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This is genuinely one of my absolute favorite costumes, and one of the ones I'm still so proud of today!

Like Shiki, I decided to make this particular version of Erza's because I saw an opportunity to make something I'd always wanted to make: a hakama! Does she actually wear a hakama? Not really, but who cares?! 

==========

My wig is from Epic Cosplay Wigs. The top is two parts. The first was made from white spandex and is essentially a tube top. I then cover it with drug-store gauze that sticks to itself once it's in place. The bottom, which you can't really see, is made from the same white spandex as the top. I made a pattern from a pair of tights I already had only it goes down to just before my knees.

The hakama is made from red denim-like cotton. I used Folkwear pattern 151, Hakama and Kataginu. I used appliqué (HeatnBond Lite) for the flames at the bottom; the fabrics were similar to the red. For my back board, I fused some spare red to a few pieces of 16th of an inch-thick piece of interfacing. It is washable this way but still stiff as a board and bendable like professional hakama.

I originally wanted to do the tattoo with Hollywood Ink Henna pens and a stencil, but when we got to the convention Friday, we saw they had temporary tattoos in all of the colors we needed and we figured that'd be easier and faster. Plus, most of us were wearing things the next day that would've shown the guildmark so we didn't want them to clash. I later bought actual temp tattoo pens from Stargazers.

I made Benizakura to go with this costume in 2017. It is made of 1/4 plywood for the core blade and hilt. The tsuba (guard) is made of 3/4 plywood that I sanded down to about 5/16 of an inch. I also sanded the hilt pieces from 1/4 to about 1/8 so the hilt came to 1/2 an inch. I used thin foam to finish the designs: the over-layer on the tsuba, the swirls on the hilt, and the pummel. Lastly, the tassel is made out of actual tassel, three wooden craft beads painted red, and screw in loop painted gold. The tassel was beaded and then, after strung through the loop, glue into the top bead.

And speaking of late add-ons... I also didn't have the time to make her earrings but I did eventually, so look out for them in some of these shots. They are made out of a half-inch square acrylic rod that I sanded down using a grinder wheel. A friend carefully drilled a small hole for the wire that I twisted, covered with a bead, and attached to a clamp earring, since I don't have pierced ears. Everything was spray painted to match.

Now my brother's costume was also a lot of fun to make. Aside from his height, he really does have a lot in common with Natsu, so it was a lot of fun to be these two. We got the wig from Fantasy Sheep on eBay; came pre-styled.

The scarf was made out of white fleece. Essentially, I made a pillowcase-like piece, inserted a thin layer of polyfoam, sewed the fringes between the "pillowcase"'s sides as it was shut, and sewed the different sections with black thread. I'm very proud of it because it bulges up and sections off like the references.

I used dark navy blue broadcloth for the front fabric and I insisted it should be reversable as per the Tenroujima Arc, I used grey broadcloth as the lining fabric. The trim is gold poly-cotton. I modified a simple shirt pattern I already had as the vest was not very complicated. We actually bought both the belt buckle and interchangeable belt from PiercingPros on Amazon.

Same fabric and idea as the vest, for the "skirt." I measured his waist, marking the middle, and then halving that measurement to add to it to get the bottom measurement, lining up the middles. (In case that was confusing, here's a formula: W = waist measurement; B = Bottom measurement; W + (W/2) = B) It connects at the top, under the belt with hook-n-eye clasps.

I modified the pants pattern from Kouma. I used white broadcloth held up with an elastic waistband. The calf ties are extra navy broadcloth fashioned like trim after bunching the ends of the pants and have hook and eye clasps on the inside seam. The knots are made separately and then sewn into place They were actually made by my friend Kirky.

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Erza: Cost: $60 Time: 16 hrs

Natsu: Cost: $60 Time: 10 hrs

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This costume has won the following award: - Best Anime Group @ Tate's NOT at ComicCon in 2012

[miasiegert]

So glad you had a great time! I’m really hoping for video but nothing received yet! I might have to text marketing and be like, “hey! About the equity archive…” lol

With licensing, there can be no replicas (generally for choreo and costumes, which is why we get hired since we take that shit way more seriously than anyone else)) but it *absolutely can be set in a Junkyard.* The change was made the day after we were hired. Cowboys was the producer’s idea.

Costume-wise, we did a rental and the day before opening at midnight sent a wig-styling tutorial since it seems there was some confusion so thank you for kindness there. We had nothing to do with the cowboy gear pulled and sent our full rental set, which had alterations made, so we don’t know if anything was actually used. Possibly Gumbie—grizz’s faux fur stole was ours so many will recognize that. Grizz’s wig was not ours—we sent one of our faves with ears styled in and earrings but they elected not to use it.

We found out from social media that we were credited for costume, hair/wig, and make up design at least through stage management. I have no clue what’s in the program. I think a friend is sending me an extra.

It’s super common for costumes to change from promo to opening. Not surprised at all there.

Skimble used David’s Admetus/Rumpus, which originally was a Carbucketty design I made influenced by an old Australian production. I think maybe Plato confusion if that was Skimble was because at the Fulton, Plato is in an orange color palette.

Tumble’s costume was my favorite in the Casa lot—we almost never get to use it so with the theme and sunset colors, we went for it. Love how bright it is. Our Mungo/Rumple were very standard by our designs—they will always have a Mohawk and braids.

Most of Deut’s costume was custom but right before I went to make a new unitard, David reminded me of Katie Gray’s Grizzabella from Interlakes 2022, which was used only 2 weeks plus tech. It literally looked like it was made for him. I’m a bit bummed he didn’t get to use the custom coat I made him but I understand their fear with the Macavity trick. Still kind of a bummer since that was 44 hrs of work on his coat and with the deadlines it was tough. My hands are pretty destroyed now.

Korie and Henry are absolutely sweet as can be, Jackson too. I didn’t meet the whole cast, but they stand out a lot (I always notice when I get thank you notes). Korie’s dream role was Deut and he never had the chance to meet Ken so I was able to tell him genuinely that Ken would have been so proud of him. Because he would have. It was also Korie’s first show back from a horrific injury.

I couldn’t have done this show without the help of @cryptidvoidwritings who stepped in graciously when I was about ready to jump out a window with my hands and some things that happened. She took directions and feedback like a champ, and her Macavity warmers are now at the Fulton should Sammy go on u/s Macavity because she earned it. I’m looking forward to this fall—another show TBA.

Thank you so much for your show report!! You had a dynamite cast that was pretty stacked and some newcomers! Wish I could have been there but The Fulton! :)

I’m so glad you enjoyed the show and also liked the costumes!! :) thank you for sharing!!!!! That means a lot!

Casa Mañana CATS Show Notes

I am seriously so glad I got to see this amazing show in person! I have all of my detailed song-by-song recollections under the cut, but up top I just want to shout out @miasiegert's AMAZING costume and wig work, it was such a pleasure to see the bright colors for myself (and the wigs are just so poofy y'all wouldn't believe). Congrats to the whole cast and crew for making this show come to life, it was really something special.

Before I start, I feel like I need to preface this whole thing by saying that this was my first time seeing Cats live, period, and I also only saw this show once, so if I remember something wrong it's because half the time I was desperately trying to get any actor to make eye contact with me lmao. Also if I don't mention something you're curious about, feel free to drop me an ask or just reply with whatever your question is and I'll try to answer as best as I can! I also still haven't seen all the show footage online, so IDK what's common knowledge or not. I'll put a heading for each section so you can skip around if you want.

Jellicle Songs through Invitation

Sadly, the overture had nothing special going on :(

Jellicle Songs opened with a human worker at the stockyards being watched by the cats as they came onstage one by one, before she "turned off" the lights and left

The singing only started once she left and the lights turned back on after "can you see in the dark," which I thought was a really novel and fun interpretation of the lyrics

Since the cast was limited, Jellylorum sang all of Cassandra's lines, and Jerrie and Teazer picked up the twins' as expected. (They have Jelly listed as "Jellylorum/Cassandra" in the program but it's not a split track or anything, she's just normal Jelly singing Cass' lines)

The "flying trapeze" was replaced by some sort of leather harness(?) on a rope that the actors would stick one foot in and swing on (I have no clue what it actually is but Misto uses it during his song as well. Maybe a stirrup to cat-scale?)

The boot drop was replaced with the railroad crossing light going off, which I was hoping for ever since I saw it before the show

They made the "mystical divinity" section a bit of a national anthem analog, with the actors putting hand over heart and the two big US and Texas flags coming out

Naming went pretty much as expected. I'm not really a fan of when productions overemphasize pointing out who is who and I didn't notice it here, so that was appreciated (although I did think Skimble was Plato for most of the show, so maybe I need it more than I think lol)

Jelly and Gus had a cute moment during "some for the gentlemen, some for the dames" where they did a little bow/curtsy to each other

Victoria's solo was split up among all the girls one by one, starting with her doing an abridged White Cat with a pink cowboy hat

The hat was quickly stolen by Teazer, and they had a little fight over it which Jenny had to break up (loved the bratty vibes of this moment, which was their only big interaction I noticed)

Eventually it got passed along to Demeter, who seemed hesitant to take it, but was urged on by the other girls.

Going into the invitation/Munk's monologue, Raphe played him as serious and dramatic as ever (minus the accent), which was a departure from the other actors who tended to play a bit looser and more relaxed. (Not a slight against anyone of course, it was just interesting to observe.)

Gumbie Cat

Before the song started, Munk got a little distracted with a big spool of rope he was playing with 🥺

The same thing happened with Jenny and one of the hanging string lights on the walkway at the back of the stage during his first verse, which got a big audience laugh

As the trio were getting set up, there was a little (staged) moment where Deme fell over and had to quickly sit back up, which added to the idea that she was supposed to be a new member of the tribe and a little unsure of herself

Jenny's tap costume was SO cute, and she kept the US boots on for the rest of the show, which is a good way to identify her

I was definitely surprised that the cast soft-shoeing in their boots (instead of using tap shoes) was audible from the audience, but it worked like a charm!

Munk and Jenny had a little duet at the end (not quite a tap-off like it used to be, but from what I've seen of the recent Oasis prods Munk doesn't get to tap at all :( so it was nice to have him involved)

The song ended with Jenny going "thanks, y'all!" which I am formally requesting become the button for all non-British versions of the show from now on

The Rum Tum Tugger

The staging and setup of this song was pretty much as normal, but as with all good Tugger stagings, the real gems are from the rest of the cast's reactions

Demeter was very into it and leaned over to tease Misto a couple of times, who was very flustered and kept throwing his hands over his eyes — he delivered the "terrible bore" line like he had something to prove. (I didn't know about the cast headcanon until after the show, but from what I saw, you could read his actions as romantic or "ew Dad, gross" equally easily depending on your preferences.)

Deme almost got a moment with Tugger before Bomba cut in on her

At some point Jenny snuck back onstage to "nap" through the rest of the song

Surprisingly, they didn't go with the overexcited kitten gag — I thought it would've fit great with the setting, but I'm sure they had a good reason to cut it out

Grizabella

Rumpleteazer was the last one of the kittens to approach Grizabella (she was a little more timid, I think she was meant to be one of the youngest) and Griz delivered the first verse of her song directly to her as she was shivering in fear on the ground in front of her. Afterwards, she ran over to hide with her brother — I also saw Jenny huddled over Misto and Victoria

Old Deut made a surprise appearance to lead Griz out with a handkerchief over his hand (which I thought was about the "no touching" thing but he also did it at the end, so I'm a little puzzled about that)

Bomba put her hand on Deme's shoulder for comfort as she was leaving

Bustopher Jones

This song was literally so funny, y'all. They made up for the lack of lyric changes (none of the place names were changed) with a bunch of physical humor and gags that were pitch-perfect to the Texas vibe

Everybody was split up into little groups that each wanted to give Bustopher their food (or at least Jerrie and Teazer, who had the corn dogs, really did)

The first thing he picked up was a Whataburger cup from Munkustrap — for those not in the know, Whataburger has basically the same cultural relevance in Texas as In-n-Out has in California, except you can only get it in-state

I'm so sad I got spoiled about the Real Corn Dogs, because watching him take a bite out of them onstage(!!!) was a thrilling experience

Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer

The song started started with them coming out from behind the cat wanted posters on either side of the stage and sneaking towards the middle (including a moment where Jerrie stuck only his leg out from behind a post which was a great image)

Their solo costumes (raggedy overalls with a bunch of mismatched patches) were so cute

Behind the low wall at about mid-stage were a couple of trampolines which the actors used to do fun tricks and bounce in time to the music. I get the feeling the actors weren't as acrobatic (or the cowboy costumes/boots didn't allow that) so this was a great way to introduce some big energy to the number in a different way

After getting off the trampoline, they did a bit sitting on the edge of the wall where they stacked their legs threaded over each other (I'm bad at describing it but it's like when you and a friend try to stack your fists/hands alternating between each other)

At the end they pulled out a barrel and laid it on its side — both my sister and I thought they were going to walk around on top of it, but instead they made a seesaw with it which was also fun

The barrel ended up having some kind of illusion from which they pulled two big foam cowboy hats (in Texas colors of course). Honestly I'm still not sure how they pulled it off

Surprisingly, there were no loot bags (I think they were supposed to be more like rascals or kids goofing off and trespassing than actual thieves), so they skipped the playoff entirely

I think this was one of my favorite songs of the whole show. I really like this song when the actors are doing something every beat, and I honestly don't mind big props/gimmicks like these as long as they don't take up the whole song. This version threaded that needle really well and it was a great time!

Old Deuteronomy through the Jellicle Ball

Not much to say about Old Deut's song. I did notice a lyric change to "married nine wives" but I think that seems to be par for new shows post-2019?

After the pre-ball Macavity scare, Misto and Vic were huddled together downstage right and Sillabub downstage left to segue into the Song of the Jellicles

Tugger got the line "Jellicle cats are rather small" because there was no Alonzo, but otherwise I didn't make notes on who got which line

The ball had a lot more partner dancing than usual (no lifts unfortunately), which fit the theme really well! I don't know much square dancing lingo but I definitely saw them do a grand left and right at one point, I'm sure there was a lot more but I was too awed to really be picking things apart lol

They did pantomime tipping cowboy hats (which I hate a lot less than the weird crown pantomime Andy came up with, mostly because it's already a thing in Western dancing)

I think at one brief pause there was a small Skimble/Victoria moment? (This may have contributed a lot to the Plato mixup lmao)

There was a whole section where Old D stepped down and everyone was trying to reach for his handkerchief as he waved it around (and yeah, still don't know what was happening with that whole thing, sorry y'all 😅)

At the end of the ball (I think at the "Ecstasy" cue if you're familiar with Gillian's choreo names) the lights swept up over the audience like a field of stars and it was honestly the most magical moment ever

Memory (first time) through Moments of Happiness

For some reason in my program they have "Grizabella: The Glamour Cat" listed as "Entry of Grizabella" and Glamour Cat moved down to where this first Memory iteration goes, which gave me false hope that they were going to do the Jelly reprise. Very mean >:(

Before Griz came out, Old Deut almost presented Victoria with the pink cowboy hat from the white cat solo (which I think means she was about to be the Choice), but then she saw Griz coming and everyone got scared away

I feel like there was an extra 8 or 16 counts of dancing music for Griz before the song started, during which she did part of the partner dance choreo from the ball by herself :(

They used "silence" instead of "midnight" which I'm so mad about (ALW I'm gonna get my revenge one day just you wait old man)

Korie is such a beautiful singer, like he really fits the role to a T. Very old-school brassy bari/bass voice, a lot like Ken Page

Since there were no twins, Sillabub just got up and sang on her own, but it wasn't that jarring

At the end of the song, Rumpleteazer got a little sad and slid over to snuggle up at Old D's feet

Gus the Theatre Cat

Before you ask, yes, I did cry a little at this song (knowing that Michael had played Gus before back during the first Broadway run made me tear up, ok?)

Before the song started, Jelly gathered all of the kittens in front of her (unfortunately with the way the blocking ended up Gus was right between us and her for a lot of the song, but he had a much bigger stage presence than replica Guses so it wasn't a big loss)

As Jelly was beginning the first verse, Gus came onstage with a guitar, which he fake-played throughout his verses

Munk got to be Gus' friend at the pub, and they had real beer bottle props which was literally the cutest thing ever

During Gus' verses Michael sang with a much more lyrical tone than normal (as in he was really singing, not talk-singing), and the country accent really fit well with his song

At the Firefrorefiddle part Munk came back and handed Gus an actual fiddle, and how has NOBODY done this before??? It was literally so perfect y'all (I don't think the instrumentation was even changed but it just felt like the exact right thing)

I remembered to check back in on the kittens during their little moment, Rumpleteazer was aptly offended/embarrassed

One of the best lyric changes was definitely "in the days when Hank Williams reigned," I have a feeling if they could have changed more they would but alas

Between the end of the normal song and the lead-in to P&P, Gus ate up the applause (there was a lot!) and sang the next verse like it was an encore

Pekes and Pollicles

Not sure if this is as expected, but Gus sang "the awesome battle" instead of awful (and there was the "heathen" to "foreign" change that I've discussed elsewhere)

Before getting into full Rumpus Cat gear, Gus was dressed as a football referee (complete with real working whistle that he used a couple of times). He also did a coin flip during one of the early verses to decide which cornhole team would throw first

Yes, the actors were really playing cornhole onstage, and they were quite good at it too! I assume a lot of practice was involved lol

During the first barking sequence, Rumpleteazer was on her hands and knees playing one of the dogs and literally jumping off the ground barking, it was so silly-looking

Jenny played the police dog, complete with beer bottle. I think she was off to one corner fake-drinking for most of the song

I think the whole Little Tom Pollicle section was cut, including the bagpipes section

When the Rumpus Cat came out, the "dogs" flipped up the cornhole boards to hide behind. I also spotted Jenny as the police dog with a white-knuckle grip on her beer lmao

All in all, it was a very fun version of the song and I didn't even mind so much that it was moved out of its original spot in the show because it was SO goofy silly

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat

This staging was a little less dynamic than the normal, they made the fake train very early on in the song and then just basically stayed there the whole time. Skimble was bouncing around as normal though

The train's "smokestack" spouted real steam at one point, which was really cool

Misto and Jelly were the card-players, complete with real oversized cards. At one point Skimble stopped to look at both of their hands and swapped some of their cards to complete the game, which I think is just *chef's kiss* perfect characterization for him

Instead of the fake train falling apart at "Skimbleshanks would help them to get out," there was a gag where Jelly was almost falling over and Skimble had to rush over and help her catch her balance

Macavity (scare, song, and fight)

Macavity used a literal lasso to kidnap Old D

This was totally just a personal thing, but I was definitely thrown off at first by the hard-T American pronunciation of Macavity

I can't remember if this happened here or somewhere else, but I feel like I should mention that at one point Bomba slid into a split so smoothly that I didn't even process it was happening until she was all the way down in it 😅

The fight was much different than normal — everyone got in on fighting Mac. I remember Bomba got a big moment getting him in the stomach before he got away

Instead of the jumper cables, Mac swiped at the "Cattlemen" sign and took out all of the lights except the ones that said "Cat"

After the fight, Deme and Bomba took a beat to clean each other off with some casual acrobatics

Magical Mister Mistoffelees

One change I thought was really sweet was at the beginning of the song, the rest of the cast were really disbelieving of Tugger and rolling their eyes at his claims, which I think pairs well with the cast headcanon

For our performance, Misto was not wearing the brown jacket he had in the promo videos — he may have had a black vest on or just his normal chorus outfit, but he still had his sheriff star :)

They had a couple of cans for Misto to knock over as part of his sharpshooting bit, but no squibs or anything onstage

During the "curled up" line, Misto went and cuddled with Vic for a second

There was a moment post-conjuring turns where the actor did a one-handed cartwheel with the toy gun still in his hand and I was just the tiniest bit afraid for his life (he pulled it off though!!!)

Instead of having a volunteer, they just had two people hold an old blanket that they used to cover Old D from one of the wings back to center stage

Misto looked away like he does sometimes after the Old D trick, but sadly they didn't get to hug after :(

During the final chorus Rumpleteazer got back on the trampoline and was bouncing along to the music

Rather than slowly making the spotlight disappear like in some productions, Misto shot it out before making his exit which was a cute touch

Memory (Reprise)

After Munk's monologue, Old D was ready to make Gus the choice, which this time was represented by a spotlight casting a circle on the ground. I was ready to be disappointed about the whole "wrong cat died" situation, but I was pleasantly surprised when Gus stepped back and invited Griz into the spotlight to make her case, it felt like a really good resolution to the issue some people have with that point

Right after Gus gave up the spotlight, he and Jenny had a little mimed conversation where she seemed a little upset/confused at what he did

Jackie did great as Grizabella — you could definitely tell she had played Elphaba in the past too lol

Interestingly, there were a couple of moments where it almost seemed like Skimble would be the first cat to touch Griz after her song, but he ended up backing off so that Vic could give her the pink cowboy hat :)

Journey through Ad-dressing

My sister and I were speculating before the show started where Griz was going to leave the stage (there wasn't a lot of infrastructure up above the stage itself so we were curious), and it ended up being the piece of scaffolding with "Mule Alley" written on it! Totally unexpected

I wish I had caught more of the cast interactions during this song, but I did definitely notice Bomba and Gus arm in arm

Old D was much more lively and light-hearted during The Addressing of Cats than normal (again, really reminding me of Ken Page's Deuteronomy, but even more jovial. I think there's footage of this so if you haven't gone to check it out definitely do!)

Not quite a lyric change, but the address in question was changed to something pronounced more like "aw, cat"

And that's about it for the show! Like I said at the top, feel free to send me asks if there's any part of the show you'd like to know more about! I tried not to assign romantic/platonic designations to any of the pairs throughout the show because it went by much too fast to tell one from the other (which is basically my way of saying go wild with it, y'all — the cast certainly sure have!).

[lenbryant]

It's the last Sondheim...

‘Here We Are’ Review: The Last Sondheim, Cool and Impossibly Chic

This inventive, beguiling and not quite fully solved puzzle of a show is a worthy and loving farewell to the great musical dramatist.

Stephen Sondheim had a genius for genre. Some of his best works were adapted from very niche sources like penny dreadfuls (“Sweeney Todd”), epistolary novels (“Passion”) and Roman comedies (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”). Leaning hard into their specific styles, he mined their expressive potential in songs that could hardly be improved and never sounded alike.

Still, for him and for others, surrealism was often a genre too far. Musical theater is surreal enough already. (Why did that taciturn man suddenly start singing? Who are those dancing women in lingerie?) Building a show on a willfully irrational source risks doubling down on the weirdness, leading to “Huh?” results like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” and Sondheim’s own “Anyone Can Whistle.”

So as we waited what seemed like decades for what would turn out to be his last musical, never quite knowing if he’d ditched it or not, the dribbles of information he and his collaborators let drop suggested that the new show — eventually titled “Here We Are” — might be misbegotten.

Not only are the two Luis Buñuel films that Sondheim and the playwright David Ives took as their inspiration maximally surrealist, they are also surreal in different, seemingly incompatible ways. “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972) is a sunny romp about a group of friends who, seeking a meal, are mysteriously unable to find one. “The Exterminating Angel” (1962) is a much darker affair, about a dinner party no one can leave. Both movies ridicule aristocrats who are underfed yet over-sated: people for whom nothing is ever enough. But one is like the silky tartness of a lemon meringue pie and the other like chicken bones stuck in your throat.

The first act, about an hour long and with perhaps seven numbers — though it’s hard to count because they weave in and out of the dialogue — introduces us to Ives’s American versions of Buñuel’s French gourmands from “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.” Leo Brink (Bobby Cannavale) is a crass tycoon and Marianne Brink (Rachel Bay Jones) a society decorator; their Saturday morning is interrupted when four of their circle arrive at the couple’s hyper-sleek apartment, insisting they’ve been invited for brunch.

The interlopers include Paul Zimmer (Jeremy Shamos), a plastic surgeon celebrating his 1,000th nose job, and his wife, Claudia Bursik-Zimmer (Amber Gray), an agent, she brays, for “a major entertainment entity.” Along with them are Raffael Santello Di Santicci (Steven Pasquale), the horndog ambassador from a Mediterranean country called Moranda, and Fritz (Micaela Diamond), Marianne’s sour younger sister, a revolutionary with champagne tastes.

Ives quickly and amusingly delineates the six with specific and almost universally obnoxious traits. Raffael, who butchers his English, and Claudia, quick to pull rank, have a weekly assignation behind Paul’s back; Paul and Leo run a drug cartel with Raffael’s ambassadorial assistance. Fritz is a pill. As they go on the road in search of a meal, accompanied by a Sondheim vamp that starts out marvelously jaunty and ends like water swirling down a drain, each reveals worse and worse traits, except for Marianne, who is too dim to be venal. When she asks her husband to “buy this perfect day” for her, it seems less acquisitive than sentimental.

The changes of scenery as they visit various establishments featuring outré waiters (Tracie Bennett and Denis O’Hare) in ever more ludicrous wigs (by Robert Pickens and Katie Gell) are accomplished with swift grace on David Zinn’s shiny white box of a set, as neon marquees descend from the flies and then descend further to form tables or banquettes. (Zinn’s costumes are also telegraphic, including Leo’s velour sweatsuit and Claudia’s sky-high purple Fendis.) The theme-and-variations format is enchanting, allowing Sondheim, the great puzzler, to treat songs almost as anagrams. Eventually, along with three other characters they pick up — a colonel (Francois Battiste), a soldier (Jin Ha) and a bishop (David Hyde Pierce) — the crew lands, by now starving, at Raffael’s embassy, where they dine as Act I ends.

Here the musical hinges into “The Exterminating Angel,” only instead of a completely different set of characters (Buñuel’s were presumptively Spanish, living under Franco), Ives, in a neat piece of joinery, continues with Leo and Marianne and the others. It is they who find it impossible to leave after dinner, and wind up, in Act II, sleeping, bickering and eventually fighting over food scraps as their metaphysical entrapment persists for days. Ives also complicates Buñuel’s antifascist, anti-bourgeois glee, in which plutocrats are exposed as pigs, by implicating the revolution as well; Fritz turns out to be less of a threat to her own way of life than she intended.

Had Sondheim written more songs for Act II — there are just a few, bunched at the beginning — that problem might have been eased. In any case, Mantello and Ives decided to reframe the dearth as an opportunity. Before his death, Sondheim apparently agreed with them that the lack of songs in fact made structural sense: Once trapped in a repeating nightmare of deprivation, these characters would have no reason to sing. But then why retain the ones he’d already written?

Perhaps because the songs he did write are everything you could want them to be. There are fewer trick rhymes than usual, but laugh-out-loud jokes nonetheless. A rhapsodic love song for the soldier and a paean to superficiality for Marianne — “I want things to gleam./To be what they seem/And not what they are” — have the familiar Sondheimian depth and luster to crystallize complex insights.

Though we sorely miss that in Act II, and especially at the attempted triple lutz of an ending (which is probably two lutzes too many), Ives, the author of “Venus in Fur” and innumerable clever comedies, has done much to compensate. Some of his dialogue scenes — including a riveting colloquy between the questing Marianne and the questioning bishop — have the shape, rhythm and sorrowful wit of a Sondheim song. (Jones and Pierce are standouts in the excellent cast.) Also lovingly filling in blanks are the musical supervisor, Alexander Gemignani, and Sondheim’s longtime orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, who have arranged themes from the earlier part of the show as instrumental interludes to take up the slack in the later part.

You can understand their care. Pending the discovery of some unpublished juvenilia or yet another iteration of the penultimate “Road Show,” this is the last Sondheim musical we will ever have. That alone makes the production historic, a pressure that happily does not show in the product, which is fleet and flashy. Natasha Katz’s lighting, Tom Gibbons’s sound and Sam Pinkleton’s droll choreography do a lot of the heavy lifting for Mantello’s agenda.

More important, “Here We Are” is as experimental as Sondheim throughout his career wanted everything to be. To swim through its currents of echoes of earlier work — some “Anyone Can Whistle,” some “Passion,” some “Merrily We Roll Along” — is to understand the characters’ monstrous insatiability. We, too, will always want more, even when we’ve had what by any reasonable standards should already be more than enough.

Here We Are Through Jan. 21 at the Shed, Manhattan; theshed.org. Running time: 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. His latest book is “Shy,” with and about the composer Mary Rodgers. He is also the author of a novel, “O Beautiful,” and a memoir, “The Velveteen Father.” More about Jesse Green

[studykac]

YES I am an English Literature Student NO I can't tell you what my favourite book is YES I can tell you what my favourite episode of Criminal Minds is.

[periodplaybyprovider]

David Bradley in Les Miserables

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

GOTHAM 5X12

THE LAST EPISODE OF GOTHAM EVER LET'S GOOOO

drink: a truly nefarious "punch" made by my friend Kelsey; the base is hard cider and everything else is various flavored vodkas that were sitting around their house

man Bruce Wayne is always losing himself among a crowd of anonymous East Asian people to Find Himself

TEN YEAR TIME SKIP

genuinely I didn't think the flash forward was going to be like this I assumed it was like a 10-15 minute thing at the end of a normal last episode not. you know. the actual whole last episode.

THIS MAN IS STILL THE MAYOR!!!! HOW????

Gordon being gray + rocking a mustache vs Harvey still looking exactly the same is so funny

oh sure Barbara's a redhead now why not

OH NO THEY MADE CORY MICHAEL SMITH WEAR ANOTHER WIG

oh my god that actually has nothing on what they've done to Cameron Monaghan

shout out to Lee's sexy red hair streaks she remains hot

you're not Cameron Bicondova :/

Nygma has been in Arkham for the entire ten year timeskip... this bitch got arrested again IMMEDIATELY after he helped SAVE GOTHAM... my dude what the fuck...

oh they're cockteasing Batman HARD

that didn't come out right

they're teasing you with the REVEAL of Batman hard

don't quote me but I think? maybe? they're still having sweet baby David Mazouz do the voice even though he's been cruelly recast with an adult (the biggest misstep of this whole ill-advised flash forward if I do say so myself)

I hate to say it but Robin Lord Taylor is kind of working that Burgess Meredith Penguin 60s Batman tribute costume

OSWALD ALSO GOT ARRESTED SIX MONTHS AFTER THEY SAVED GOTHAM YOU FUCKING BUFFOON. YOU GAY LITTLE SIMPLETON.

Barbara's wig is BAD fyi

god. jesus. give Cory Michael Smith the emmy for "it's a CALLBACK"

the Riddler is really walking around in shiny little silver boots... cunty!

Pengriddler about to have middle aged sex in the back of this car

"we have Harley Quinn at home" the Harley Quinn we have at home

I don't want to talk about the makeup they put Cameron Monaghan in tbh we're just not discussing it

fuckin always ace chemicals

anyway Barbara was briefly but notably the head of the league of shadows and she wasn't GOOD at it but I can't believe she couldn't win a fight against two clowns, one of whom must be suffering severe muscle atrophy

the hoops they're jumping through to not call him the Joker. unbelievable.

this woman is no Camren Bicondova btw. I know I already said that but christ this is hollow. they were so focused on finding someone with a vague resemblance to Michelle Pfeiffer that they forgot to find someone who could sell the performance

OH THAT BATMAN JUMPING CGI WAS VILE

Pengriddler going home to have gross middle aged sex instead of fucking with Batman twice in one night

WOW BRUCIE BABY YOU LOOK AWFUL!!!!!!

OKAY THAT'S THE END EVERYONE GO HOME!!!!!!!!

FUCK!!!!!!!

WHAT'S UP GAMERS IT'S GOTHAM TIME

Gotham 5x09

drink: simply spiked lemonade (5% alcohol)

Lee asked if she's supposed to stay at home to raise Jim's baby with Barbara while Jim's out playing cowboy cop and like... maybe. personally I would like to see it

I love the spirit halloween costumes the gangs are wearing they're so fun. also quoth my wife they're all "bouncing in an idle animation" and they really are

baby batcat date!!!

Ben McKenzie got to write an episode and the first thing he did was shoot Jim... even Jim is sick of Jim

and Erin Richards is directing they really were just outsourcing episodes to the cast at this point

Robin Lord Taylor is dialing the performance up to like a 20 out of 10 today. full male hysteria moment. and good for him!

unexpected Ivy return! ma'am please step away from that underage boy!

my wife, watching Jim Gordon prosecute himself at his own hallucinatory trial, unimpressed: "that's just what it's like to be Catholic."

cannot believe Zsasz may have finally pulled off a hit on a main character good job baby boy.

Ben McKenzie I am hugging you warmly for writing a moment where Alfred talks about how much he loves Bruce and Is his father. perhaps a tiny Alfred redemption arc with four episodes to go.

Ivy and Zsasz should just fuck, actually

Lucius baby you've been Poison Ivy'd before you cannot fall for this so easy I'm in hell

Jim hallucinating Oswald and Ed cozily playing the piano singing together... what does it all mean

Bruce and Selina fighting:

I cannot believe I'm going to say this but Ben McKenzie should have written more episodes. this one is so dumb it rules.

actually genuinely extremely fucked up the degree to which Jim and Lee seem to be planning to raise this child without Barbara entirely what's the plan gamers

HOLY TIMESKIP BATMAN

NOT THE WEDDING AT THE GCPD BEN MCKENZIE YOU MADMAN

Harvey officiating... shut the fuck up...

Selina wearing a studded leather jacket and her cat gloves to a wedding is so fucking funny. iconic. she IS Catwoman.

my wife, watching Jim and Lee get married: "she should kill him right now. take him out in the happiest moment of his life."

my wife understands this show perfectly, reader

[miasiegert]

Preview from Algonquin, opening tomorrow Manasquan, NJ.

EDIT I'M AN IDIOT AND ACCIDENTALLY WROTE CARBUCKETTY. HE'S ADMETUS!!!! OMG. Sorry, I screencapped a promo video so quality's not great but wanted to preview a few costumes before opening tomorrow! Costumes by us, many never debuted onstage so some very fun colors. To my understanding, no one realized video would be taken so wigs were not styled. There are a few of the obvious cats we always recognize, some favorites, I screencapped David's Admetus (will also do Rumpus Cat)--orange/gray with black and brown hatching, and blue bandanna--front/center in all three pics. To my understanding, Munkustrap was on the Titanic national tour in the past. He's a great singer. Asparagus (who is pink and gray with a mohawk (there also is Gus)) I believe was a choreographer and by fluke both of them were in one of the most notorious CATS productions out there. I met a few people briefly but will be going in early tomorrow and volunteered to spruce up some wigs before go-time. They're an interesting trio, where Munk is Munk, Admetus is more Alonzo-ish, second-in-command for sure, and Admetus "is just there. He tries his hardest, but he's just there." I'm actually really nervous since I've only met part of the cast (briefly) and usually if I meet the cast at all, I *really* get to know them. Hoping I don't have any foot-in-mouth comments. Break a Paw, Merde, and Toi Toi Toi to the cast.

[hxzxrdous]

WAitt omggg how about a student working as an apprentice or smth at CIA and Lorraine is her mentor ???

Atomic Blonde

Platonic Lorraine Broughton x teen!reader

TW: A smol panic attack, :) maybe a warning that I was trying to be funny but failed?

Summary: Basically the plot of the whole movie except the reader unknowingly saves the day, yaay ‼

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

"Well, ladies, I hope you're ready for this," The MI6 superior, Eric Gray said, taking a deep breath as he began to brief Lorraine and you on the situation in Berlin and the death of Gasciogne.

"...We promised Spyglass immunity in exchange for a document on microfilm, code-named The List." Gray spoke, pointing behind him at the projected images.

"Hidden in a Swiss watch, no less." Head of MI6, James Faulkner added, shifting in the leather armchair.

"The list contains every active clandenstine officer, all their shady deals. It's an atomic bomb of information that could extend the Cold War for another 40 years. You two will fly over to Berlin and connect with our man, David Percival. Get the list, bring it here and trust no one."

Lorrained looked over at you and back at Gray. "What's the deal with the kid? She'll have to go with me?"

"Indeed she will. Y/N's fresh out of high school, she applied through the new undergraduate scholarship program we're offering. She's going to be your intern and you're going to be her mentor." Gray replied giving Lorraine a file.

"You should know that sending somebody so young and inexperienced into a job like this puts all our lives at risk, especially hers. She's not ready to be here and I won't have her anywhere near me, especially while I'm working." Lorraine spoke in her distinct British accent, her grip tightening around the file. "And I didn't sign up to be a babysitter."

Gray maintained his composure and replied, "She may not have extensive experience, but she received training from her father, Emmet Kurzfeld." He gestured for Lorraine to open the file, emphasizing the information contained within.

"Y/N Kurzfeld?" Lorraine mused and lifted her eyebrow as she glanced at the file. "Nepotism on a whole another level." She muttered. You gulped down nervously, your eyes fixed on the floor.

Lorraine sighed, pointing to you with her index finger. "You're going to watch me while I work. You are not going to get involved and you are not going to do anything without my explicit permission. Is that perfectly clear? I need to know you understand what I'm saying, Y/N."

"Yes, ma'am, I understand. I won't cause any troubles, I promise," you quickly replied, nodding your head.

"You're Elizabeth Lloyd, a Cambridge-educated lawyer sent by James Gasciogne's family." Gray handed Lorraine the forged ID and passport and then turned his attention towards you.

"You, Y/N, you will recieve your cover documentation tomorrow. You'll go to Berlin two days after agent Broughton, you'll communicate with eachother only if necessary. Your role will be to observe her activities from a distance."

"And keep an eye out for Satchel, a KBD double agent who has been MI6's problem for years." 'C' added, tapping the armrest in frustration. "An absolute pain in the ass."

Two days later; location: Berlin - airport

Arriving in Berlin in the evening, Lorraine picked you up from the airport. "Brown suits you, ma'am," you remarked, admiring her wig. "Thank you, Y/N. And feel free to call me Lorraine," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "Come along now, I'll arrange for a taxi to take us to the hotel," she added, taking hold of your suitcase. "Will I have my own room?" you asked as you got into the taxi. "Certainly. But don't get too excited; it's right next to mine. If you cause any trouble, I'll be the first to know," Lorraine responded, casting a stern look your way before adjusting her sunglasses.

Upon entering the hotel, Lorraine immediately parted ways with you in the lobby. You glanced around, taking in the surroundings, while she headed off. Your gaze fell to the vibrant green carpet, marred slightly by the presence of an eye-catching orange couch. "Um, I have a room reservation under Monika Weber." You showed the girl at the front desk the forged ID, offering an innocent smile. The receptionist handed you the room keys, her feet finding their way back up onto the desk. "Enjoy your stay," she replied, her attention drifting back to the Bravo magazine, or more accurately, the captivating image of Modern Talking gracing its cover.

Walking down the hallway and into your room, you closed the curtains and began unpacking your suitcase. Startled by a knock at the door, you called out, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Lorraine," came the reply from the hallway. "Oh, right," you responded, opening the door and finding yourself taken aback by the sight of Lorraine in an elegant black dress.

"Are you going out? Can I come with you?" you asked, hoping for a positive response. "No, pumpkin. The club I'm heading to is strictly for those above 18 years old," she explained, placing her room keys behind the red lava lamp on your table.

"Haha, so funny... I thought people can't drink while working." You replied sarcastically. "Besides... I'm not really into partying anyway. Maybe you could at least read me a bedtime story before you go?" you suggested, crossing your arms and adopting a sarcastic tone again.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Lorraine smirked before turning and leaving. Rolling your eyes, you moved the lava lamp when something caught your attention—Lorraine had forgotten her room keys. Observing her blonde hair disappearing swiftly out of the hotel, you contemplated for a moment before deciding to seize the opportunity. Quietly, you tiptoed towards her room, clutching the keys.

"I bet she has a rad wardrobe." You thought to yourself. With a sense of curiosity, you opened the closet, tempted to try on some of Lorraine's coats. The black ones, in particular were really bitchin', bad to the bone. You chose the first one that caught your eye, slipping it on and relishing the feel of the fabric against your skin. However, as you explored the coat's pockets, your hands accidentally came into contact with a wire-like object, causing it to snap. Panic coursed through you as you hurriedly returned the coat to its place, desperately hoping that Lorraine wouldn't discover the damage you had caused to her spying equipment. With a sense of guilt, you retraced your steps back to your room, carefully returning the keys to the spot where Lorraine had left them, before climbing into bed.

As you were beginning to drift off to sleep, several hours later, you heard the sound of Lorraine entering your hotel room and retrieving her keys. "Goodnight, Y/N," she whispered softly before leaving.

Next, morning; location: Your hotel room

You awoke early in the morning, still battling with jet lag and feeling a lingering sense of tiredness. As you opened your eyes, you were greeted by the sight of a brown-haired woman standing at the foot of your bed. "Jesus, Lorraine, barf me out." You sat up, rubbing your eyes.

"I apologize, dear. It's just force of habit," Lorraine responded, her voice carrying a hint of amusement. She placed some snacks and money on your bedside table. "I brought you some snacks from the lobby. If you get hungry or thirsty, just call for room service."

"Do you have brown eye contacts?" You squinted at her, tilting your head curiosly. "Yeah, I have to go see what I'm up against in the east, therefore the disguise." She explained with a smirk. "That's really not fair. Everything suits you," you remarked, a tinge of envy in your voice.

"Um... Lorraine- would you be angry if I like... accidentally... broke... the wire in your coat?" you finally mustered the courage to confess, averting your gaze and staring at the floor.

"The wire? What wire?" Lorraine inquired, raising an eyebrow. However, after a moment, she sighed. "Well, no, I'm not mad. Accidents happen. I'll be back in the evening. Stay here, watch some TV, or maybe go chat with that girl at the front desk. I think she's around your age," she suggested before leaving once again.

"Internship, bullshit. More like boringship. Scam. Bogus." You muttered under your breath. You walked into the lobby, sitting down beside the front desk girl who was listening to her walkman on the tacky orange couch.

"Want a gummi?" she offered, extending a red pack of Hitschler's bubble gum to you. With a shrug of your shoulders, you nodded and accepted. "My name's Klara," she introduced herself with a slight smile. "So, what brings you here all alone?" Klara inquired, her German accent coloring her words.

"My father's side of the family is German, but due to the Cold War, I haven't been able to see my grandparents for a long time. I decided to... you know... get to know Berlin before they come to pick me up next week," you explained. "Get to know Berlin," she echoed, blowing a bubble with her gum and popping it. "Berlin ist eine Stadt, verdammt dazu, ewig zu werden, niemals zu sein," she said cryptically. "Thank God we have music." Klara stood up, offering you her walkman. "Need Your Passion by Sweet Connection." She pointed at the walkman before you listened to the tape. You spent your whole day talking about music with Klara, while enjoying the snacks left behind by Lorraine, and watching MTV in the lobby.

Morning; location: Still your hotel room, hun

You woke up in the morning with a pounding headache. "Hey, Lorraine, I think I have a migr-" Your words trailed off as you took in the unexpected sight before you. Your hand flew to your mouth in surprise as you saw Lorraine in bed with a young woman. "Uh... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry... Please... continue?" you stammered, your face flushing with embarrassment. You quickly closed the door, berating yourself for your poor choice of words, and retreated back to your room. Anticipating an uncomfortable conversation, you locked the door, hoping Lorraine wouldn't bother you.

"Y/N?" you heard her call after you. "I don't want to talk!" you replied from inside the room, your voice laced with frustration. "Y/N, please..." Lorraine's voice carried a mix of sternness and tenderness. "Is this some new spying technique or something?" you couldn't help but inject sarcasm into your words.

"I... Her name's Delphine Lasalle. She's a new French agent. We can trust her," Lorraine explained. "You know, I'm not bothered by her... I just feel embarrassed that I saw..." you began, your voice trailing off.

"It's fine. It's not your fault. I forgot to lock the doors and change the 'do not disturb' sign. It just happened so quickly... and... yeah," Lorraine interjected, understanding the mix of emotions swirling within you.

"Could you at least introduce me to your new 'source'?" you asked, deciding to open the door and unlock it. Lorraine smiled and nodded. "I'm meeting with your father later. If you want, you can come with me?" she offered.

"Good for you, but I'd rather stay here," you replied, choosing to remain in the room.

"That's alright. Tomorrow, I'll be busy again. I have to get Spyglass across the border. The Russians are after him because he memorized the whole list." Lorraine ruffled your hair before saying goodbye.

 

Next day; location: Hotel lobby

Amidst your daydreams, Klara's voice jolted you back to reality. "East Berlin peace leaders have organized a demonstration today at Alexanderplatz. Want to come with me?" she asked. "Sure," you nodded, grateful for the distraction. Klara noticed your pensive expression and inquired, "What's on your mind, Monika?"

You paused for a moment, contemplating your response. "I don't know... I guess I can't wait to see my grandparents again. I miss them so much," you hated lying, but that was your work. You can't trust anybody. Sensing your longing, Klara offered her support. "I'm just about to finish my shift. Let me distract you and help you get ready for the protest," she suggested, standing up from her desk.

Later, the same day; location: Alexanderplatz

"So many people-" you looked around the crowded street. "I don't like it one bit, I can't see sh*t." You said to Klara when you noticed the familiar blonde a few meters before you, walking along with Spyglass. Suddenly, a piercing whistle cut through the air, prompting everyone to open their umbrellas. You sensed that something was about to happen, and your anxiety began to rise. The crowd seemed to close in around you, intensifying the feeling of being trapped.

"Not now- not now- Christ-" you thought to yourself, your vision getting blurry from the tears that threatened to fall when you bumped into a guy, recognizig him as Percival. "I'm so sorry, sir!" you blurted out, realizing that he was aiming the gun towards Spyglass, you noticed hus gun had fallen out of his pocket. Overwhelmed by panic, you made a split-second decision and decided to run in the opposite direction, making your way back to the hotel.

"What the f*ck," you whispered to yourself, trying to steady your breathing, but finding little success. You picked up the lava lamp from the table, fixating your gaze on it as a means of distraction. Sinking down to the floor, you leaned against the wall, hugging your knees tightly. Exhaustion washed over you, and before you knew it, you drifted off to sleep right there.

"Y/N?" Lorraine knocked on the door, entering inside when she didn't hear your answer. "Y/N?" She crouched down infront of you. "What happened, Lorraine?" You asked, lifting your head up, rubbing your eyes. "I'm fine. You saved Spyglass from a bullet, I was able to get him across safely. You're going to tell MI6 he is dead, alright? But now it's my turn to ask: what happened to you?"." Lorraine expression turned to worry.

You shrugged your shoulders, unsure of how to put your emotions into words. "A friend invited me to the protest, but I started feeling overwhelmed by the crowd and the umbrellas," you explained.

Lorraine's concern deepened as she assessed your well-being. "Are you feeling better now?" she inquired gently.

"Yeah, I think so... You should go retrieve The List. I think we both know who has it," you responded, mustering determination. Slowly standing up, you added, "Maybe I'll go spend some time with Delphine in the meantime?"

Later in the evening; location: Delphine's apartment

"Um- where's the toilet, Delphine?" You asked, clutching your lower belly. Feeling a chill, you closed the window that was wide open. "Right there on the left." Delphine replied, pointing the way. As you entered the toilet, the realization dawned upon you, explaining both your migraine and emotional state.

"Um, Delphine, do you have any pads!?" you called out, feeling a slight blush creeping up your cheeks.

"No, I'm sorry. Want me to go to the store to buy them for you?" She offered. "Yes, please, I'll just wait here..."

About hundred years later; location: Still in the WC-

"f*cking sh*t..." you cursed under your breath as you waited in the toilet for God knows how long. What was taking her so long? Finally you heard Delphine come back, with Lorraine. You cracked the door open enough for Delphine to pass the pad through.

"I've got the list. Percival is dead." Lorraine said, her voice carrying through the hallway as she spoke with Delphine.

"And I can provide you with the photos and tapes that prove Percival was Satchel." Delphine responded. You rolled your eyes, knowing damn well who the true Satchel was.

"I would have never guessed it was Percival," you commented as you stepped out of the toilet. "Can we leave Berlin now?"

Lorraine considered your question before nodding. "Yes, it's time to get out of here. We have what we need, and it's best to make our move."

 A week later; location: MI6 headquarters - interrogation room

"Percival was Satchel." Lorraine said. You observed the tense atmosphere in the interrogation room as Gray pressed Lorraine about the whereabouts of The List. "Where's the list? Where's the list Lorraine?" Gray asked. Lorraine remained defiant, responding with a simple "I don't know."

Faulkner, stood up, stopping the recorder, entering the interrogation room. "We're choosing to bury this one, Lorraine," Faulkner declared firmly. "Your mission never took place. This conversation... never happened. We're putting you on leave. We'll start the next decade well rested... And as for Y/N, she informed us, she'll get a new internship elsewhere."

Three days later; location: Paris - plane

"No way- you killed Bremovych and his henchmen, and you managed for MI6 not to get The List?" you asked, looking out of the porthole, down at Paris and back at Lorraine. You couldn't help but reflect on the events that had unfolded. "Yes I did. You weren't that bad either." Lorraine spoke in her American accent. "She must've gotten that after you, boss." The blonde turned to your dad.

"Breaking the wire that Percival planted in my coat and saving Spyglass and Delphine." She smiled.

"Huh? I know about Spyglass but-" You tilted your head in confusion. "Percival was infront of Delphine's building, trying to get in throught the window, but he saw she wasn't inside. Percival had been on the hunt for Delphine, waiting for an opportunity to strike, knowing she was collecting proof that he was a traitor. He was waiting outside when I found him. Delphine arrived right after I killed him, told me they were out of 'lady products' in the store so she had to drive with her motorbike to a different one." Lorraine explained.

Delphine's unexpected detour to another store for supplies had unknowingly spared her from a potentially dangerous encounter. It was a reminder of how unpredictable and interconnected events could be, and how small actions could have significant consequences.

"That's rad... I still hate womanhood, though." You crossed your arms, frowning.

Lorraine chuckled softly at your comment. "Well, womanhood can be challenging at times, but it also comes with its own strengths and advantages," she said, her voice filled with a hint of wisdom. "You've already shown great courage and resourcefulness, Y/N. Don't let the challenges of womanhood discourage you. Embrace who you are and use it to your advantage." She spoke. "Like you." You added.

Notes: Need yourr passionnn, need yourrr loveee

[prentisstownrp]

Wendell Pleakley

Pleakley • 38 • Alien • Local • Matthew Gray Gubler

Pleakley loved Earth. For as long as he could remember, he was obsessed with everything about it, even down to mosquitos. An Earth expert, they called him -- though he really didn’t know that much. Getting mixed up with Jumba was the best accident he ever made. He was horrified when he was ordered to leave his home planet to assist the other in capturing a fugitive, but it was also the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him. A dream he never thought would come true. The humans had such an interesting culture, more than he’d realized from his home planet. Their fashion, especially the dresses and wigs, their food, their music and television shows, all of it was so different than what he knew. It was thrilling! He thought he was an expert on them, but he realized upon landing there was so much to learn. And he wasn't ready for it to end. Not going back to his family was heartbreaking, but he was also relieved to be left behind. What better place to study Earth than Earth itself? And what better place to reside than a town full of misfits when he'd never fit in?

Wendell is: fanatic, excessive, ditzy, worrying, assertive, self-assured

David Kawena: David is eye candy. Pleakley doesn’t actually want to date him or anything, but sometimes he can’t help but be a little flirty... Lilo Pelekai: Such a strange little girl, even though she’s not so little anymore. Pleakley would do absolutely anything for her and Nani. Phineas Esquire: Peas in a pod, they are. Meeting Bobble shortly after moving to Prentiss, they became quick friends.

Wendell Pleakley is AVAILABLE

[raviposting]

Hey guys! I have a fic that’s based off of @niamaggie ‘s prompt list, the prompt is as follows: 

Prompt: There’s more to Alex’s story with his family outside of what Luke said. They don’t just disapprove of him, they outright pretend he doesn’t exist. It gets to a point where he completely breaks down in the studio after having a bad practice day (the kind of day where nothing is going right). Being a ghost, is like what his family did to him, but on a much bigger scale. It’s much harder to deal with...Just want the band to comfort him, please.

Huge thank you to @superbandnerd99 for beta-reading! I’ve tagged people under the cut who liked my excerpt post; please let me know if you want to be untagged!

Crossposted to AO3 (properly formatted here) 

Fic:  Ghost in the Family 

Alex had told himself that he was going to be fine being in his old home. It was fine. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t stepped foot in the house in twenty-five and a half years. It was fine. It was fine. 

Sure, his stomach was twisting in knots and he felt like his heart could beat out of his nonexistent chest - actually, wait. Could it do that? He still wasn’t sure how much their new solidity worked and the thought of his chest literally beating out of his chest was almost as terrifying as the thought of stepping back into his family home was. 

Okay. He was doing it again. Spiraling, as Julie liked to call it. Or totally wigging out, dude, as Reggie liked to call it. Or haha, wow, look at this dude lose it, guys, as Carlos liked to - okay. Alex sighed, shaking out his hands and staring at his house. It hadn’t changed a bit over the past 25 years, save for a new white mailbox with an American flag emblazoned on the side. Alex couldn’t remember their old one, but he was pretty sure it was better than that. 

He walked up the steps slowly, each step closer feeling like another step towards his doom - which was dumb, of course, he had been the one to say he wanted to just check up on his parents, he was the one who told the rest of the band and Willie (and Carlos, who followed them around everywhere he physically could) to not come with him, he was the one who got it into this head that he needed to see his family again. 

He closed his eyes and took three deep breaths, trying to center himself. Relax, he told himself. They can’t see you. You’ll be fine. He breathed in deep again before opening his eyes and ringing the bell. 

The door opened, and Alex looked at the woman in front of him. “Mom?” he asked - a stupid question, because she was looking right through him and obviously wasn’t going to answer, and because if this woman was mom, she would have to be a ghost too. He squinted as the realization hit him. “Lizzie?” he asked this time. 

His sister looked around in confusion, for a millisecond looking right at him, and when he heard an old woman’s voice ask who was there, his sister shrugged and said, “Doorbell must be on the fritz.” 

Alex slipped in before she closed the door, and stared at the place he used to call his home. 

It hadn’t changed a bit. Well, it had changed a little since the day he had left. They had stripped away the carpet and there was a mahogany floor now. Alex wondered when that had happened. Certainly after he had left. He remembered the carpet covered with bits of glass after his father had thrown the family photos on the floor with such a force that the frames had cracked. Alex could remember the stony silence as he had stood there, staring at the pieces of glass glistening on the carpet, barely registering Luke’s hand on his own as he pulled him out the door. He had mumbled something about his clothes, only for Luke to say he had grabbed some, but when Alex was in the backseat of Reggie’s car looking through the duffel Luke had packed, the David Bowie sweatshirt he had borrowed from Reggie hadn’t been there alongside his favorite puka-shell necklace and Alex had tried to tell himself that it was okay even as the tears had run down his face and the pressure in his chest tightened so much that he felt like he was going to choke. 

Maybe that was his unfinished business, to give Reggie his shirt back? He wondered if it was still around, somewhere, but his thought was interrupted when he felt his sister walk through him. God, what a weird thing to experience, Alex could always feel people’s emotions when they passed through and it unnerved him whenever it happened. As she passed through him there was a hint of - anxiety? No, not quite, he told himself. It felt a bit like his anxiety creeping up, but while he would feel like there was something in his chest tightening as it tried to get out, this felt heavier somehow, like a great big nothing that could swallow him whole if he let it. But there was a warmth there too, slow and steady, that let him know without a doubt that this was his older sister. 

He wondered where Nina, his younger sister was, but one look at the family photos on the wall answered his question. An unfamiliar woman was on the wall, side-by-side with a brown-haired man, two smiling babies on their laps. Nina must have moved out ages ago. His eyes flitted to the photo next to it. Nina and Lizzie were there, their arms around an older woman with long graying hair and an old man with his mouth set in a straight line but a smile in his eyes. The family photos littering the staircase didn’t seem to have him on it at all, just photos of Lizzie and Nina and his parents. It was as if every trace of him was gone from their lives, down to the pictures. 

Two figures walked down the stairs, and Alex backed up quickly, giving them a wide berth. He knew they could pass through them and could already hear Reggie and Luke’s voices in his head reminding him that he was a ghost, it was fine, but the thought of Alex’s parents passing through him made Alex feel sick in a way that he couldn’t quite explain. He followed his parents as they sat down in the living room, his mother on her phone and his father turning on the television to watch some sitcom. His mother leaned towards his dad, showing him something funny on her phone, and the two laughed, and when Lizzie came over and peered at the image and joined in, the sounds mixing in with the canned laughter of the unseen audience from the sitcom. 

Alex tried peering over their shoulders to peek at the phone, but his dad’s frame kept blocking his view. “Just move for a second,” he said absentmindedly to his dad. “I want to see.” 

His father, of course, didn’t respond, and then the phone was put back into his mother’s pocket, Lizzie went towards the kitchen, and the house was quiet, besides the commercial about some discount furniture store playing on the screen. Alex stood in front of the television, watching his parents look through him. He would accompany Luke and Reggie to see their families from time to time. Luke’s parents always walked around like living ghosts, as if a little bit of the light had gone out of their eyes. Reggie’s would laugh and smile but stare off into the distance when they thought nobody was paying attention. 

Mom looked a little bored. Dad yawned. 

Alex felt the crushing anxiety switch to a feeling similar to anger, and it welled up in him as he slammed the wall in frustration. At the last second, he thought, No, maybe I should just phase through but his hand was already making contact and he could only soften the blow, making just a sad pitiful thump on the wall. 

His mother’s eyes went to the wall and furrowed in confusion, but his father waved his hand. “Bird probably hit the window again,” he said, and his mother shrugged, turning her attention back to the screen. 

“I - okay,” Alex sighed, the angry-adjacent feeling gone. He suddenly felt tired, and he walked out the door, leaving his unaware family behind. 

He moved past the people strolling down the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding bumping into people as he walked by. “Excuse me,” he muttered as he moved around a group of kids riding their bikes. He sidestepped one house’s sprinkles a second too late and he flinched slightly as the water shot out towards him until it passed through him and he sighed. Right. Ghost. 

It wasn’t until he had gotten to the garage door that he realized he could have just poofed home, and he blinked back tears. He couldn’t even be a ghost correctly. He squared up his shoulders and tried to make his face as light and casual as possible, and he poofed inside, where the band was already setting up for their next practice. 

“Alex!” Julie said, lighting up, though her eyes filled with concern when she saw his face. “Are you okay?” 

Well. There went light and casual. Yet another thing Alex couldn’t do, apparently. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Alex said, though even to himself it sounded like an obvious lie, but besides Luke and Reggie sharing a look that they thought he didn’t see, there were no further comments, and Alex sat down in front of his drums. 

Practice was a disaster. 

Alex tried staying on beat, but with every measure of the song, a new memory would come to him. 

Him locking eyes with Luke whenever Luke would turn during a performance, the way his heart would flutter when Luke winked at him.

Stuttering out a confession to Luke, only for Luke to lean in and kiss him on the lips, Alex staring at Luke and asking, “Does - does that mean you like me too?” 

Him telling his parents that he was gay, watching his father’s eyes glass over and just...getting up, ignoring Alex’s frantic, “Dad?” 

Of the one time his Dad had acknowledged him in months when he said he liked that young man Luke in his band, something that Alex thought was Dad was secretly telling him that he knew they were dating and was proud, and that they could tell him, that he was finally ready to see Alex. 

When his father slammed all the family photos and threw them on the ground, and Alex realized he had been so desperate for acceptance that he’d misunderstood his father’s comment, which meant nothing. Just like him. 

Him breaking down in the garage one month into living there, telling Luke that he didn’t think he could do this, any of it, and the hurt in Luke’s eyes before he told Alex that he had to do whatever was best for him. 

Alex was aware that the band had stopped playing and were staring back at him, concern clear in their eyes. 

I can’t even get it together for my band, he thought, and he threw his drumsticks down in frustration. They were moving towards him, and Alex felt the crushing feeling in his chest again except ten times stronger and the tears that had been threatening to flow ever since he had entered his parent’s home were now freely streaming down his cheeks. 

“Hey, hey, hey,” Julie said, and he felt three pairs of arms around him. “Tell us what’s wrong,” she said. “Don’t keep it in.” 

“I never gave you back your sweatshirt, Reggie,” Alex sobbed into what he thought was Reggie’s chest. 

“Uh, well, that’s fine,” Reggie said, a bit of confusion mixing in with his sympathy. “All of you always stole my clothes. I’m pretty sure Bobby’s still wearing my jeans, which honestly? Super dumb. We’ve been dead for 25 years, what’s his excuse for wearing the same clothes?” 

Alex laughed, and the group broke their hug, smiling along with him. Julie’s arm was on his back, Reggie still had his arm around Alex’s waist in a semi hug, and Luke was holding onto Alex’s hand. Alex looked down at their intertwined hands and then back at Luke, but instead of withdrawing, Luke simply squeezed his hand. 

“I’m guessing the family visit didn’t go so hot?” Reggie asked. It was blunt, but his tone was kind and he unconsciously gripped a little tighter onto Alex’s waist. 

“No,” Alex admitted. “I haven’t been there since...well you know, since I left, and it just…” he trailed off, not knowing how to continue. 

“Did it remind you of the day you left?” Julie asked, rubbing small circles on his back. His mom used to do the same for him as a kid whenever he came home sobbing because he messed up a performance or had answered a question wrong in class. The motion made him feel safe and comforted, even as it caused a heavy ache to spread across his chest. 

“No,” Alex said, wiping at his tears. “Or, kind of. It was definitely part of it, but being there just reminded me that…” he trailed off again, trying to think of the words.

Alex had hated the day he had left, but a sick part of him had been relieved when his father had thrown down all their photos and raved at how upset he was, at his mother sitting on the couch massaging her temple, saying that she was disappointed. 

It had been awful, but nothing compared to the months before. Throughout the day it was bearable - they all had their own things going on and it was easier to pretend like everyone was just busy instead of actively ignoring him - but whenever they sat down to eat was always the worst. Only Lizzie and Nina would be asked questions about their day and Alex would have to grab a plate because there were only four set on the table. Nina was so little that she thought it was a game and she’d grin with delight every time Alex asked for someone to pass the salt, giving her the chance to ask, “Did you guys hear something?” and lighting up every time their dad said, “No, I don’t think I did.” Lizzie would sigh at it and pass it to him, but even with her distaste at the petty shunning, she still wouldn’t look at him. He had asked her once, to look at him, and she had said, I am, all the while avoiding eye contact. 

“Me being a ghost and me being alive is the same thing,” he finally said. “That’s what it feels like. Every song we had was stolen by Bobby, nobody sees me if Julie’s not around, and there’s not a single picture of me up back home.” He gave a humorless laugh as a thought came to him. “I always felt like a ghost in my own home, and now I literally am.” 

“No, you’re not,” Luke said. 

“Well, you are a ghost,” Reggie added, and Julie nudged him. “Ow, what?”

“Okay, well you’re a ghost, true,” Luke amended. “But this is your home.” 

“And we see you,” Julie said. 

“And Willie, Flynn, Carlos, and Ray now too,” Reggie chimed in. “You may be dead, but your social life has never been better.” 

“And I don’t know how yet, but I will find a way to make sure everyone else can see you too,” Julie said, moving her hand from his back and holding on to his other free hand. “Not just when we’re performing. Always.” 

Alex looked into her eyes, wide and earnest, and he nodded. “Okay,” he said. It didn’t encompass what he thought - that he knew without a doubt that Julie was telling the truth, that she’d spend the rest of her life figuring out how to do it, that even if she couldn’t it still meant the world to Alex that she was going to try, no matter what. 

Luke spoke next. “And they may be your family on paper,” he said in the same carefully gentle voice he always used when he spoke about Alex’s family. “But we’re your family too. You’re our family.” 

“Nothing is ever going to change that,” Reggie said, and he got up. Alex looked up at him, expecting a mini-pep talk, but Reggie’s eyes filled with tears and he tackled Alex into a hug, knocking Alex back, chair and all. Julie and Luke shrieked as they fell backwards with him on the floor. 

Alex laughed and sat up (not easy, with Reggie still clinging onto him, but he got it done). He wrapped his now free hands around Reggie. “Okay, okay,” he said. “I know. We’re family.” 

“We definitely are,” Luke said, practically throwing himself onto the both of them and enveloping them both in a hug. 

Alex smiled at the two of them and then looked over at Julie, who had sat up and was smiling at the group, an unsure look on his face. 

“Julie,” Alex said lightly, “I think I need one more person hugging me to feel better.” 

She rolled her eyes, but the smile grew and the unsure look in her eyes disappeared, and she joined in on the group hug. 

The garage doors squeaked open, and Alex heard a sigh. 

“You guys are having another crying session?” Carlos asked, and the group broke apart.

“No,” Luke said, wiping at his eyes. 

“Sure,” Carlos said in a voice that yelled, I definitely don’t believe you. “Well, when you’re done not crying, Dad said it’s time for dinner, so hurry up.” 

With that, he was gone, and Julie got up from her spot on the floor. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go have dinner.”

“Your dad remembers we’re ghosts, right?” Luke asked. 

“Nuh-uh, not this argument again,” Julie said, struggling and failing to keep her face serious. “You remember what Dad said last time you said that, family time -” 

“-is family time, whether you eat or not,” the rest of the boys finished, and Julie grinned.

“Exactly,” she said. “So come on.” 

“Just give me a second,” Alex said, and at the worried looks from his bandmates he gave them a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I just want to clean up the equipment a bit and then I’ll be in.” 

Reggie patted him on the back and then he was out the door, yelling that he wanted to sit next to Ray, while Julie laughed and trailed after him. Luke reached over to squeeze Alex’s hand, and then he poofed away. Alex could already see Ray jump as Luke poofed into his usual seat next to Reggie and Julie, and Carlos’s eyes light up at the sight. They’d have the gluten-free-paleo-whatever tía Victoria had brought over for the week and Julie would absentmindedly pass him the salt to season his food. They’d say grace, and Ray would say thanks for the wonderful five kids in his house, something that had thrown Alex off the first time he had heard it but was grateful for each time. Afterwards, Carlos would show them some of those ghost hunting shows he liked to watch on you-tune or whatever - maybe Willie could even come by, if he was free, and they’d all circle around the screen and laugh as one of the guys fell over himself with every random noise. Julie would video call tía Victoria, who’d fawn over her niece and nephew and ask about the rest of the band, talking about how she had just seen yet another new performance of theirs and had loved it. 

Unbidden, an image of his sister and her family popped up in his head. It occurred to him, briefly, that he never got to see Nina and his nephews or nieces, wherever they were. Maybe he’d try again, this time bringing his entire family along. They never made the crushing feeling in his chest go away, but it didn’t feel like it was choking him and they made everything all the more bearable. Maybe he could go visit, he thought, getting up from the floor. Maybe it’d be good for him, maybe it wouldn’t, but they’d face it together and he knew they’d gladly come with him if he asked. Maybe he’d even take another visit to his parent’s house, and try to get closure much like Luke had some time ago. 

“Yo,” Carlos said, reappearing at the door and looking around the room. “You coming?” He stared just to the left of Alex (he was getting better at figuring out where the boys were without Julie, Alex had to give him that). 

Alex tapped his drum cymbal in response and Carlos grinned. “Oh that’s so cool,” he said. “And perfect, because I’m starving.” 

Alex grinned at the younger Molina and followed him out the door, his thoughts of his parents and his sister disappearing into the background. Maybe he’d do it, maybe he wouldn’t. He wasn’t sure yet. 

For now, though, he was going to have dinner with his family.

Tagging: @random-nerd-3 @glgrdsklechhh4 @thewickedandthehufflepuff @isnt-that-wizard @ellicxr @kymwitthaus @starryseavey @kristallbluemchen @fanficfighter @mariechensterntaler @iamtiredofmydreams @rubyblaze22 @speedycubed @tyrantlizard-king

[nuflashprose]

It was a Who's Who of the East Village scene—the legends of Post Pop Art gathered at the Pyramid Club in New York on September 4, 1986. Among the guests were Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Marcus Leatherdale, Ann Magnuson, Karen Finley, John Sex, Wendy Wild, Steve Rubell, Andy Warhol and, of course, Madonna. They were gathered to celebrate and support one of their own, the artist, Martin Burgoyne.

Though a central figure in the scene that would become the hallmark of the era, and a contemporary of many of the leading names in art and music of his generation, Burgoyne is little known outside the Madonna fandom. Shortly after arriving in New York to attend the Pratt Institute, Burgoyne met Madonna and the two moved in together after Madonna was robbed by neighborhood kids who stole her music equipment and Burgoyne (who lived in an adjoining apartment) was robbed two days later. Burgoyne was instrumental in the early stages of Madonna's career: According to Edo Bertoglio, whose film, New York Beat, resurfaced years later as the indie hit Downtown81, starring Jean-Michal Basquiat and Debbie Harry, "Martin Burgoyne... always advised [Madonna] on where to go, how to dress, with whom to go out, what were the right places." Burgoyne did the art work for the cover of the single, "Burning Up," which later appeared on Madonna's first album. The first album was originally called, Lucky Star, and Burgoyne designed the original art work (it was abandoned in favor of the famous black and white photo that graced the cover). Later, Burgoyne designed album covers for DJ Jellybean Benitez, the Jamaica Girls and General Public. He worked as Madonna's road manager for a brief tour promoting her first singles and was a dancer for Madonna's first live performance of her single "Everybody," at Haoui Montaug's No Entiendes, a cabaret show Montaug hosted at Danceteria.

Like many artists who went on to become famous, Madonna and Burgoyne worked and played at Danceteria in the early 80's, where among the crowd of then-unknowns was another Who's Who of the era: Madonna worked the coat check, the Beastie Boys were waiters, Keith Haring painted Danceteria's interior and worked as a bus boy as did David Wojnarowicz; while LL Cool J and Debi Mazar worked the elevators and Sade tended bar. By that time, circa 1982, Danceteria eclipsed its predecessors as the hub of the art/club scene of the day, and Madonna and Burgoyne were regular fixtures. "They were like fraternal twins," wrote Jordan Levin in the Miami Herald "Cherubic urban imps with identical curly blond hair and precisely ragged, tight black clothing." Though Madonna's irrepressible energy and unrelenting ambition were off-putting to most, Burgoyne, by all accounts, was universally liked and admired. "He was... much beloved and lusted after," wrote Levin, "an incandescent boy even in the darkest after-hours club."

When Madonna was practicing her pirouettes at Martha Graham, modeling nude at the New School and playing at Max's Kansas City, CBGB's and dives in New Jersey—striking her best Pat Benatar pose while doing her Chrissie Hynde imitation—the punks and art students of the East Village were gathering at Club 57 and the Mudd Club. Sibling clubs with a fair amount of sibling rivalry, each was a Warholian mix of art, theatre, film and music. The clubs held the first showings by soon-to-be-renowned figures like Kenny Scharf (whose first show was at Club 57 in September '79), Keith Haring (his Erotic Art Show premiered in August 1980), and Jean-Michel Basquiat (whose No Wave band, Gray, played at the Mudd Club) amid live music by punk and New Wave bands, screenings of No Wave films by Amos Poe (among others) and a constant rotation of New Wave cabaret acts like John Sex (whose Acts of Live Art premiered in April 1980) Wendy Wild, Karen Finley and Ann Magnuson who was also the manager of Club 57.

Born of the vestiges of the punk scene at CBGB's, Mudd Club was the anti-Studio 54, albeit with its own door policy and just enough star power (Bowie, Warhol, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg frequented the club; Bowie filmed the video for his song "Fashion," there) to give it a celebrity sheen while maintaining its street cred. Mudd Club was the darker twin to the decadent free-for-all and campy shenanigans of Club 57, which, in addition to art and cabaret shows, hosted Ladies Mud Wrestling and a Monster Movie Night. Still, enough competition existed to inspire Steve Mass, owner of the Mudd Club, to lure Ann Magnuson to come to work for him in 1981 and where Magnuson went, others followed. Haring became curator of Mudd Club's fourth floor art gallery, though by that time (after the New York/New Wave show at PS 1 that year, often regarded as the Armory Show of the 80's) Basquiat, among others, was commanding thousands of dollars and selling to wealthy collectors despite considerable debate over whether the work was worthy or mere novelty. At the same time, the music in the clubs was also changing. Many of the East Village artists were graffiti artists themselves or were in with the graffiti artists like Fab Five Freddy and Futura 2000 who in turn were familiar with both the punk/New Wave bands of downtown and the rappers and break dancers of the emerging Hip Hop scene in the South Bronx. That the seemingly disparate groups—artists, musicians, rappers—of seemingly disparate styles would eventually converge was all but inevitable.

Anita Sarko began her stint as DJ at the Mudd Club shortly after arriving in New York in 1979, spinning an eclectic mix of oldies, rarities, punk and New Wave, playing anything that got people moving. Sarko eventually left Mudd Club for Danceteria in 1983 and there she co-hosted No Entiendes with Haoui Montaug, famed door man of Hurrah, the Mudd Club and Danceteria. Like Club 57 and the Mudd Club, Danceteria was a Factory-like mix of art, film and music and was also one of the first clubs to have a video lounge on its third floor, modeled after the video monitors that were installed at the Ritz (arguably the first club, in 1980, to have videos) and Hurrah, the club now credited as the birthplace of the video VJ. It is due in part to the performances that were filmed at the club and then played in Danceteria's video lounge (and earlier at Hurrah) that many of those early performances by Madonna, New Order and the Beastie Boys as well as Wojnarowicz's band, 3 Teens Kill 4, are available on YouTube and social media today, not to mention an installation at MOMA.

In videos and photos of Burgoyne and Madonna taken at the time the two are nearly identical due in no small part to Burgoyne's androgyny and gender-shifting fluidity. The two appear like an inversion of early photos of Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Both blond, seraphic and playful where Patti and Robert were shabby, dark and brooding; New Wave chic where Patti and Robert were gothic proto-punk. In one set of pictures Burgoyne and Madonna are dressed identically in ripped denim and white T's, arms covered in black rubber bracelets, a mop of gold hair spilling out of the caps they are both wearing. In another, they both don pink punk wigs (Madonna wore hers on an early appearance on British television). In another set—taken during the filming of Desperately Seeking Susan—Madonna sits on Burgoyne's lap, both dressed in identical jeans, leather boots and leather jackets. What is most striking in the photos, however, is Burgoyne's blatant femininity: Like Madonna, he dons armfuls of rubber bracelets, large hoop earrings and wears nail polish, black eyeliner and lip gloss, his lips pursed—like Madonna's—kissing at the camera. Though he was fond of the leather attire common to the clone and S & M scenes of the gay community at that time, he also cultivated an androgynous look more common among the British New Romantics (who in turn were inspired by the glam rockers of the previous decade), a gender-fluid look that even at the time set him apart from the other downtown denizens of New York’s Lower East Side of the early 80’s. Though certainly, even at that time, artists like Mapplethorpe, Peter Hujar, and Wojnarowicz and performance artists like Jobriath, Klaus Nomi and Stephen Varble incorporated homo-aesthetics in their work, for Burgoyne it was more than a performance or a pose or even mere fashion; it seems—even in the most casual or private of photos—to have been his way of being in the world. Madonna’s own homo-aesthetic—and her influence on the artists who subsequently followed her—owe a debt to Burgoyne’s early influence on the fledgling diva who, clearly—given the mirroring of Burgoyne evident in the photos—took much of her own homo-aesthetic directly from Burgoyne (among others). According to Christopher Ciccone, in his admittedly trashy biography of his famous sister, it was Burgoyne who introduced Madonna to the seedier side of gay life, an edgy underworld that would become a prominent feature of her later, post-Sean Penn work. “He openly [played] on the dark side and [liked] it,” wrote Ciccone. “Perhaps due to her friendship with Marty, S&M [became] one of the leitmotifs of Madonna’s career.” Further, observed Ciccone:

“Marty [introduced] Madonna to photographer Edo Bertoglio and his girlfriend, French jewelry designer Maripol, who designed those seminal colored rubber bracelets that everyone else in the Village is now wearing as well. However mainstream and oft-imitated her concepts would later become, Maripol’s influence on Madonna’s image can’t be understated, as she is responsible for creating her punk-plus-lace look.”

 Neither, then, can Burgoyne’s influence be underestimated. However, like many anonymous gay men who dressed, shaped and helped form a Diva who would go on to, in Madonna’s own words, “rule the world,” Burgoyne has gone virtually unheard of and—like his own work—remained all but obscured.  

There are photos of Burgoyne clubbing with Keith Haring and a later photo of Burgoyne riding in the limo with Warhol on the way to Madonna's wedding to Sean Penn (Warhol was Burgoyne's plus-one at the wedding according to Warhol's diary); in all the photos of Burgoyne from that time it is clear that these legends adored him; both Haring and Warhol wrote in their diaries of their devastation at Burgoyne’s death. However, Burgoyne remains elusive in most of the candid pictures taken at Danceteria or the Mudd Club or such celebrity gatherings; he is there but immersed in the crowd or just off to the side. In one photo, for example, Burgoyne peeks out from the edge of the picture, eyes locked with Madonna as she commands the center of a dancefloor. In the video of Madonna's performance at Live Aid, Burgoyne is there just off stage while Madonna sings a medley of her hits. Sean Penn and Keith Haring are just off stage to her left; Burgoyne is opposite, crouched on the floor nearby to Madonna's right, watching from the wings.

Like Warhol and the Warhol superstars, this generation of young artists, writers and performers coveted celebrity and were eager for the riches and success that were the zeitgeist of the greed-is-good 80's. After Basquiat's first showing at Nosei in '81, and Haring's first showing at Tony Shafrazi in '82, the art world took notice. The Whitney Biennial in '83 legitimized the East Village art scene and with legitimization came money and the beginnings of the gentrification that has left New York homogenized and unrecognizable; unlivable for anyone but the wealthy even to this day. When Haring was attacked at his '85 showing at Shafrazi by purist horrified by the gentrification in the Village brought on by the influx of money and notoriety, the East Village Eye declared that the scene was officially over before it started: "We, who were the first to take credit for the birth of East Village art," wrote Carlo McCormick, "now want to take credit for killing it."  Then, in February 1987, Michael Musto of the Village Voice issued the final blow when he wrote about what he called, “The Death of Downtown,” following Warhol's passing. Martin Burgoyne died three months earlier of complications from AIDS surrounded by his parents and friends, including Haoui Montaug and Madonna, who held his hand while he died. In 2015, 2017, and again in 2018 to commemorate World AIDS Day, Madonna tweeted photos of herself and Burgoyne from the old days. "If we only knew then," she wrote "all the things that would happen."

According to Keith Haring's journal, he saw Burgoyne on the Fourth of July 1986 and Martin told him that he recently tested negative for the HIV virus. "But when I saw him," wrote Haring, "I saw death." Jordan Levin saw Burgoyne around that time outside the Pyramid Club, complaining of exhaustion and recurring bouts of the flu. “When I got sick," Burgoyne later told Michael Schnayerson from Vanity Fair, "they thought I had measles, so I stayed in for a month.” By August, according to Warhol in his diary, Burgoyne was sick and preparing to return to Florida where his parents lived: "[W]hat they thought was the measles wasn't," Warhol wrote, “And I said that the people we knew who had "it" had had the best care money can buy, and they were the first to go, so I didn't know what to say.”  

By late August, when Warhol saw Burgoyne backstage after Madonna's play,Goose and TomTom, Burgoyne's face was covered with sores. He asked Warhol to draw a picture of him for a party to raise money for his medical costs to be held at the Pyramid Club in September. Warhol drew the picture and Keith Haring designed the invitations for the benefit, held on September fourth.

A feature about the party and the group of artists gathered there appeared in the New York Times. Hosted by Burgoyne's friends and caregivers Deb Parker and Jody Kurilla, guests and performers included Madonna, Haring, Warhol, John Sex and Wendy Wild, Haoui Montaug, and Walter Durcatz (DJ at Danceteria and the Pyramid Club who left Danceteria when someone fell down an elevator shaft). Marcus Leatherdale did a slide show. Karen Finley—the poet and performance artist who was later one of the notorious NEA Four—also performed. According to the New York Times, Burgoyne was told three weeks prior that he had ARC (AIDS related complex) and was too weak to dance, but joined in, "kissing and hugging his friends." ''We have all been friends for years and years," Haring told the New York Times, "since the days at Club 57.'' Six thousand dollars was raised that night to help pay Burgoyne's living expenses. Steve Rubell noted, "We know many AIDS patients who have been deserted, treated like lepers by their own families.'' AIDS had, by 1986, become an all-too-common occurrence for most in the once thriving East Village scene. Most at the party knew several friends who had already died. ''It's like a war is going on,'' said designer, Katy K. Reports leaked in The New York Post and the National Enquirer that Madonna's former roommate was dying of AIDS and that her support of her friend had caused strife in the notoriously volatile marriage of the Poison Penns. Sean Penn is often portrayed by Madonna's biographers as homophobic and paranoid about AIDS, but not so, according to Jordan Levin: "Martin was frantic," when the stories came out according to Levin, "[H]e'd been publicly branded a plague outcast who horrified his best friend's husband.”  "`Sean isn't angry at me,'” Burgoyne assured Levin, “'I saw them last week and he hugged me. How can they do this?'" It was Sean Penn, in fact, according to Madonna biographer, J. Randy Taraborrelli, who traveled to Mexico at Madonna’s behest to obtained experimental drugs they hoped would prolong Burgoyne's life. By October, however, he was too sick with "cancer," Warhol wrote in his diary, to attend Kenny Scharf's Halloween party with Warhol. On November tenth, Madonna appeared in an auction at Barney's in which denim jackets designed by various artists and modeled by various celebrities were sold to raise money for St. Vincent's AIDS ward. The model, Iman, wore a jacket designed by Keith Haring; Madonna wore a jacket designed by Martin Burgoyne who was, himself, receiving treatment at St. Vincent’s. "I had a dream last night," Burgoyne told Vanity Fair two weeks before his death, "that I went to the art-supply store and there were so many things I wanted. But I couldn’t have any of them. All I want to do is work, work, work," he said, "And I can’t, can’t, can’t."Before 1980, there were fifteen AIDS-related deaths in NYC; by 1981 there were seventy-four AIDS related deaths when The New York Times reported on page twenty that year about a "rare cancer" afflicting gay men. In 1982, there were two hundred and seventy-six AIDS deaths and eight hundred and sixty-four AIDS deaths the following year. "Health Chief Calls AIDS Battle 'No. 1 Priority'," read a headline in the New York Times on May 24, 1983—the first time AIDS made the front page of the paper. By 1984 there were one thousand nine hundred and sixty AIDS deaths in New York City and by 1985 the number of deaths doubled. President Ronald Reagan, in a response to questions at the National Institute of Health that year, mentioned AIDS publicly for the first time, stating that he did not think children with AIDS should be allowed to attend school until it was certain the virus could not be passed by casual contact. He did not mention the epidemic publicly again until 1987. By 1986 there were six thousand four hundred and fifty-eight AIDS deaths in New York City alone. Martin Burgoyne died on November 30th, 1986. He was twenty-three years old.            

[modafactor]

THE BEATLEMANIA: THE IMPACT OF BEATLES ON FASHION

The Beatles is one of the most iconic and popular English rock bands of all time and was formed back in the 1960s. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were the band members who took the band to a great height making it one of the most influential bands of all time.

The band believed that all they need is love and had an accepting and receiving way of life. Their music predominantly focused on rock and roll, but it had shades of ballads, classical music, psychedelic rock, Indian music and others.

The iconic band influenced fashion in myriad ways. Along with the Rolling Stones, the Beatles inspired thousands of young men to wear pop art-themed designs. In the late 1960s, the band's adoption of Nehru jackets and other Indian-style clothing was highly influential on Western fashion.

Following are few styles that the Beatles donned and popularized- 

1.The mop-top

Also known as The Beatle haircut, the mop-top gets its name because of its resemblance to a wet mop. It made a splash in 1964 when The Beatles came to America. Soon, manufacturers cashed in on the trend with Beatle wigs in the shape of the haircut.

2. The collarless suit

After The Beatles wore the same Edwardian collarless suit to concerts, it became common attire for new bands and trickled down to teens of the time. It might be a dapper version of a Star Trek captain's uniform, but their matching Edwardian collarless suits became synonymous with the mod youth of the '60s.

3. Beatle boots

The band's manager Brian Epstein spotted Chelsea boots while browsing at show company Anello & Davide in London. He commissioned four pairs with Cuban heels to go with the band's new suit-and-drainpipe-trousers image. Since then, the tight-fitting, ankle-length, Cuban-heeld boots are known as Beatles boots.

4. Peacock style

The 1967 cover of their best-selling album Sgt. Pepper defined the psychedelic movement of that time. Gender boundaries were blurring and men dressed with flair. The Beatles headed this style revolution with flamboyance — floral shirts, paisley scarves, velvet jackets and acid colors.

5. John Lennon glasses

International labels like Givenchy still popularize John Lennon's trademark glasses that he adopted for his near-sightedness. The round thin-rimmed "teashade glasses" became a signature element of the legendary musician's look, and are still recognized by his name.

The four lads from Liverpool were not only rock 'n' roll royalty in the 1960s, they were also sartorial trendsetters; transforming from clean-cut mods with mop-top haircuts and tailored, collarless suits in their early days to bearded hippies wearing Indian-inspired apparel and brightly colored paisley, striped and floral patterns on their shirts, bell-bottoms and costumes by decade's end.

Few other outfits worn and popularized by Beatles:

Tan military-style jacket and gold-star badge

Long black Edwardian-style "crosswalk" jacket

Black Chesterfield suit with velvet collar

Brown suede jacket

Silver-gray sharkskin suit

The black suit with double-breasted coat and green taffeta lapel inserts

Snap up ‘Beatles’ products at- https://amzn.to/37TOdMQ

Also check out Fashion essentials at- https://amzn.to/3ncGQXh

[the-city-at-nyctophilia]

(Photo: “People Dancing Inside Building” Mauricio Mascaro. Photo Source)

By: Jasmine Mrenica

Within my group’s project theme; performance, I decided to focus specifically on theatre. In this playlist I focused mostly on the musical theatre genre, which was born out of theatre. Included are songs from Broadway musicals, or movies that were adapted from those musicals. There are a few songs from Disney musicals, and two honorable mentions from Mitski, an artist who I feel captures the beauty within the loneliness people tend to feel at night perfectly. I tried to recreate the ‘ups and downs’ of a night out in the city. Beginning with a need for escape, we are then travelling out to the city and excitement builds. We are dazzled by all the beauty that the city at night has to offer. This beauty is created mostly by the performers, the entertainers, and those who work within the nighttime economy. During our night, we might get into trouble, we might find romance or we might romanticize, and finally towards the end of the night we return home. The duration of the playlist is one hour and thirteen minutes.

Below, are the songs that are included in the playlist. We begin with “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera, one of the most popular and longest running musicals in the history of Broadway. This song is entirely about discovering how splendid night can be. We can see this in many of the lyrics, for example, “Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation / Darkness wakes and stirs imagination / Silently, the senses abandon their defenses.” (Weber, 1987) , and it is a perfect opener for our playlist.

The next four songs give us the feeling of making the decision to venture out into the night. “Wig in a Box” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the story of a drag queen as they get into drag. One of the many performative subcultures that thrives in nighttime, before the popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race propelled many drag queens to major celebrity status. “Out Tonight” from Rent tells of the danger and excitement, the transgressions one is more likely to commit once darkness falls; “I wanna commit a crime / Wanna be the cause of a fight / I wanna put on a tight skirt / and flirt with a stranger” (Larson, 1996).

Once we figuratively arrive in the city, we enjoy some songs highlighting the work of performers, labourers, and entertainers. Burlesque performers and sex workers from “Welcome to Burlesque” sung by Cher, to “Lady Marmalade” sung by Christina Aguilera. “Our Lady of the Underground” from Hadestown features the goddess Persephone as she deals illegal substances, like sunlight or rainfall, to members of the underworld. Dr. Facilier, played by Keith David, in “I Got Friends on the Other Side” plays a similar role. Both of which profit heavily on the nighttime economy where the trade of illegal substances or occult happenings are more popular.

From “Tonight” in the musical West Side Story to “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show we focus on songs that tell of a certain romance. These songs don’t necessarily feature performers and labourers of the nighttime economy, but fleeting romances may take place at night nonetheless, and I felt that songs that perform such a feeling were important to include. Socializing and attempting to find love is a large reason why people go out at night.

The remaining four songs in the playlist are slower. The energy winds down as the hours start to dwindle into the early morning. They are songs that reminisce and that try to capture a memory. Night is ephemeral, and once it is over we have our splendid memories to ruminate on until we have the chance to experience it again.

Songs on this Playlist

Castle on a Cloud by Isabelle Allen (Les Miserables)

The Music of the Night by Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera)

Wig in a Box by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch)

Road to Hell by Andre De Shields, Hadestown Original Broadway Company, Anais Mitchell (Hadestown)

Out Tonight by Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent)

Townie by Mitski (Bury Me at Makeout Creek)

Welcome to Burlesque by Cher (Burlesque)

Sweet Charity: Big Spender by Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity)

Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera (Moulin Rouge)

Our Lady of the Underground by Amber Gray, Anais Mitchell, Hadestown Original Broadway Company (Hadestown)

Don’t Tell Mama by Natasha Richardson, Alan Cumming, Cabaret Ensemble (Cabaret)

Friends on the Other Side by Keith David (Princess and the Frog)

Time Warp by Little Nell, Patricia Quinn, Richard O’Brien (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)

We Built This City / We’re Not Gonna Take It by Russel Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones (Rock of Ages)

Tonight by Matt Cavenaugh, Josefina Scaglione (West Side Story)

A Whole New World by Adam Jacobs, Courtney Reed (Aladdin)

Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me by Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Shadows of the Night / Harden my Heart by Mary J. Blige, Julianne Hough (Rock of Ages)

Complainte de la Butte by Rufus Wainwright (Moulin Rouge)

Two Slow Dancers by Mitski (Be The Cowboy)