bardolator

It's official!

Stephanie J. Block will be playing the title role in THE PIRATE QUEEN, a new musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg (Les Miserables, Miss Saigon). Set designer Eugene Lee and lighting designer Kenneth Posner, both most recently of Wicked, will also join the creative team. Read more about it here: http://www.suntimes.com/output/theater/cst-ftr-pirate08.html

The official THE PIRATE QUEEN website can be found here: http://www.thepiratequeen.com

It looks great. Congrats, Stephanie J.!

Update--The following roles have also been cast:
Tiernan (Grania's lifelong best friend/lover): Hadley Fraser
Donal O'Flaherty (Grania's husband): Brian d'Arcy James
Elizabeth I: Linda Balgord

The roles of Owen Dubhdara (Grania's father) and Richard Bingham have yet to be cast, though Colm Wilkinson has long been rumored to have accepted the role of Owen.

Tonight will be Stephanie J. Block's last performance as Elphaba in WICKED on the tour.

I had the joy of seeing her--well, actually, hearing her is more accurate (since my seats were waywaywayfaraway)--when the tour came to Tampa. I already have tickets for next year...but of course she won't be in the role.

Steph is one of the kindest, most generous people I have ever met. I posted before about her visit to my high school...and there is story after story about this woman's generosity toward and love for others that shows her to be a genuinely good person (not just "nice").

I can't wait to see what she does next. :)

Click here to listen to her singing "Never Never Land" from the new musical PIECE

Left to right: James Tabeek, Erin Mackey, Timothy Green Anderson, Sebastian Arcelus, Stephanie J. Block

The following is an account of How Certain Members of the Tour Cast of WICKED Completely Won My Heart (Probably Without Even Trying):

I saw WICKED on January 19th, with Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba. It's opened up a whole new world to me: I'd seen CATS (in London), PHANTOM (on tour), and a slew of Little Theatre productions (ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, THE KING AND I, etc.)...but this.... This show just resonates with me in some peculiar (unusually and exceedingly so) way that is altogether quite impossible to describe.

Sorry. But the description is apt!

One of my students came in the morning of the 19th (she'd seen it the evening of the 18th), all aglow with how wonderful the show was, and how incredible the performers were, and how she'd met several of them, including this woman who played Elphaba and who had taken the time to talk to her, and how I MUST go back to the stage door after the performance....

Well. I'm a teacher, and it was a Thursday...and I was with several OTHER teachers. Needless to say, we all hurried home and to bed after the show. I did have a hard time falling asleep, because the show had made such an impression on me.

But my student was persistent. As the days went on, I heard about how she had written to Stephanie J. Block, who had written her back, and how they were corresponding, and how Stephanie was answering all her questions and was just the nicest person....

And so I decided to write, myself--my first "fan mail" ever. I came home from an evening class and sat down and sent her an e-mail, thanking her for her wonderful performance but, more, for taking the time to correspond with one of my students (who also happens to be a member of the Drama Club, of which I am co-sponsor). I also said (and I told her I couldn't even believe I was proposing it) that if she were ever in the area again...and had the time...and the inclination...we'd love to have her come talk to the kids at our school about her experiences. And then I sent it to her, figuring at least she'd know how appreciative I was for her role not only as a performer but as a mentor (I'm a sucker for anyone who has time for kids, especially "my" kids!), and that she'd know I wasn't some crazy stalker type. I hoped that, at most, she'd write back and tell me of some resources we could use with the drama kids.

But....

The next evening, I had an e-mail back from her...saying she felt it was important to pass along what she knew to the "next generation," and would Thursday or Friday afternoon that week be good for us?

The mind, she boggles.

I called first the drama teacher--she was out. Then another teacher who helps with our productions (and who has far more experience than I)...*she* was out! I called FOUR PEOPLE before finally connecting with someone who picked up and had to listen to me incoherently stumbling over my words as I tried to explain what had happened.

Long story short (too late, I know!): on Friday, February 3rd, Steph showed up at our school...in a driving rainstorm...with four other performers (Sebastian Arcelus/Fiyero, James Tabeek/dance captain + Chistery understudy, Tim Anderson/swing, and Erin Mackey/swing) in tow. They spent an hour and a half with our kids, answering questions, giving advice, and even doing the whole picture/autograph thing before they left. AND they were all five on stage that night, less than 3 1/2 hours after they drove off.

Now, when I say "driving rainstorm," what I mean is "a storm accompanied by high winds, tornado warnings (and don't you think THAT was the topic of a "wouldn't it be ironic if" conversation at our school?!?!), flooding, and lightning so bad it knocked out the power in my entire housing area later that evening.

And still, they came.

When I met them, I apologized for the storm in what was supposed to be "the Sunshine State." I had gone outside to wait for them in (at the time) a fairly light drizzle because they'd missed the turn, but by the time they drove up I was soaked. I laughingly gestured to my "drowned-rat look," at which point a very gallant Sebastian Arcelus offered me his umbrella. The girls later told me I was crazy, but...I just couldn't. I mean, I was already wet, and he was going to be ONSTAGE that evening. I know that Steph herself usually does not speak much during the afternoon of a performance, even carrying around a white board to help her communicate.

Which, of course, just highlights her incredible kindness in coming out at all, not to mention in that awful storm--truly the worst I've seen in a long time.

I moderated the question-and-answer session (looking like a drowned-but-drying-out rat the entire time), then tried to control the mob as they swarmed the stage at the end. I could see the performers--especially Steph--starting to get a bit stressed, but I couldn't get the kids to back off. I felt awful about this...and a bit depressed, to be honest. After everything these people had done for us, for it to turn into a melee....

Anyway. My mother (who drove in from out of town after she finished *her* teaching day) and I went down to the Performing Arts Center to try to get tickets in the lottery, but failed, alas. :( Part of me wanted to see the show that night because now I "knew" some of the performers and would get to see them in action, but another part of me (and this is probably going to sound very strange) wanted to make sure they were none the worse for the wear. I did later get to speak with the mother of one of my students, who attended the show that night. She said they were wonderful--and healthy. :) :) :)

I have tickets already for next year when the show comes back. This time, I'll be close enough to actually *see* the acting; the last time, I was so far away that the actors were wee little figures whose faces I never really saw. :( Too bad, as Steph leaves the tour March 5th,in Pittsburgh. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for her after what she did for us...and she'll always be Elphaba, to me. :)

Okay, that's the end of my long, long account. Must go write now (and grade poetry exams--if any of my students are reading this, I only have one period to go)!