Check this Out! My Favorite Scene from Sight and Sound Theatres's JONAH on YouTube!

Remember in my piece about Sight and Sound Theatres's production of Jonah where I discussed my favorite song from the musical? Back then I really wished that I could show you my favorite scene or at least let you listen to my favorite song, but I was unable to...

But now I can do both!

Since the DVD is now available, the Sight and Sound Theatres YouTube channel was kind enough to provide a clip from the musical, which happens to be my favorite scene! Cool, right?! I was so excited when I saw this to show you. We bought a copy last week when we went there once again to see their revival production of Noah. What is funny too is that when I first played the DVD at home, I went straight to that scene to watch, which was my plan. And now I see that it's on YouTube for me to finally share with you all! :D

I don't think their channel allows me to embed their videos for some reason, so to watch the scene please click here and enjoy! Now you'll finally get to somewhat experience what I did and get the full effect without just relying on my description of it. I can just let you see for yourself.

Keep in mind that it's not the most epic scene of the musical, but I believe that it's the most fun. I'm so happy that I can actually show this to you so we can share this together because I thought I would never get the chance to. :)

Sight and Sound Theatres Jonah DVD is Now Available! :D

Remember when I wrote that huge piece about Jonah from Sight and Sound Theatres last summer?

Well, it's finally on DVD!!! :D I just saw that they posted the trailer on my Facebook newsfeed. :)

Check it out. Now you'll finally see what I saw haha. I was kind of disappointed what I wrote my blog post about it that I couldn't find footage of it to show you. Now I do!

Last year when we went I noticed that they were selling DVDs of past productions and was disappointed to see that Jonah wasn't being sold. I was so pumped from it that it was a little saddening that the one musical I actually wanted wasn't on DVDs for sale yet. Maybe now I'll find get to obtain my own copy. :)

New Year Brings Good Cheer! January Brings Me Writing Job!!!

Happy Anniversary, "Taking it One 'Stef' at a Time"!

To celebrate "Taking it One 'Stef' at a Time's" second year anniversary, coincidentally Awesome NJ posted my articles I wrote for the site just now!

That's right, I got a writing job!!! I didn't want to say anything until the articles were posted on the site. How "awesome" is it that they were published on the same day? This is so exciting! I am very appreciative. :D

One article is a review of The Sound of Music that was playing at Paper Mill Playhouse. The other is a profile about Erica Cenci, the show's assistant director and choreographer.

I am so proud to finally include both of these articles in my portfolio. They are my first ones for the site and I enjoyed writing them.

Here's to plenty more! :D

To follow Awesome NJ, check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Peak Performances Update :)

The Department of Theatre and Dance 2012-2013 season lineup is now hanging in Life Hall!

Hey, look! There's Equus again!

The  pamphlet for the students productions are also available in the Alexander Kasser Theater. They are now stored in the newly added shelves instead of the table they used to be stored on near the Box Office. I believe you can also get them in other locations on campus or even in the mail.

For tickets to these shows and more, click here. This is another place where you can find the lineups of shows.

Throughout campus the shows are advertised with posters like these and more.

Department of Theatre and Dance Student Productions at MSU 2012-2013 Season Lineup

The Department of Theatre and Dance this season at MSU is a bit behind in advertising the student productions of this season, so I took it upon myself to personally get permission to help out and advertise the shows on this here blog. :)

The following is the lineup I was given by request. :)

Hey, look! There's Equus!

There you have it! Now you're informed! Enjoy the shows if you are able to see them! Also, look forward to some reviews of these shows written by me! :)

Happy Fourth of July From "Taking it One 'Stef' at a Time!" :D

I love this holiday, don't you? It is such a relaxing holiday. It takes place during the summer, where for some people there are less obligations, and not to mention fireworks and barbecue! And, of course, it is the birthday of our great nation when we got our independence from England. Happy Birthday, America! :)

Here is footage of fireworks from Brookdale Park that I took the past two years:

Enjoy your day everyone! :D

Frank Galati's The Grapes of Wrath Now in my Possession (Sort of)

I've been wanting to show you something. A few weeks ago I went to the library and found this book!

This is the script form of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, written by Frank Galati, the one I saw performed at MSU! I had always wanted to read it, and now I am able to! It is actually a pretty quick read as opposed to the actual performance.

I told myself that if I ever got my hands on the script, I would find a particular part and take a picture of it, and that's exactly what I did.

Why this excerpt is relevant...

Isn't it great that this part showed up on a page that is easy to find? I looked for it the night I took it home from the library and found it right away!

I always wanted to find this part written in the script, and now I did it. Another thing I want to do is find this part written in the actual novel and take a picture of that.

I'm going to also see if I can find a copy of the script for myself to own as well. It brings back a lot of memories.

(By the way, in the script, it is actually written that the characters pronounce Rose of Sharon as "Rosasharn." This is something I always wondered as well.)

Heartwarming Animal Stories: Polar Bear and Rhino...Babies!!! :D

I could be writing about humans right now. There are plenty of things I can discuss about humans that need exposure and discussion. However, sometimes humanity has a tendency to annoy me, and frankly, is isn't worth writing about sometimes because of the sheer stupidity it evokes.

I was thinking about writing about stories I've heard lately, especially in regards to the events of child-raising, but I decided to post about something happy to represent my blog for the time being. I've been meaning to show you these anyway, so now is a perfect time.

Here are articles, footage, and pictures of baby polar bears and a newborn rhino! Click on the links below the photos to see the story!

So cute!!! 100 Day Old Polar Bear Cubs!

A baby rhino being born!!! Aww!!

I said this before and I'll say it again. Animal stories that involve only animals are so refreshing from what we normally hear about. They are so natural with each other.

Aren't they precious??? I'm so happy for them! :D I love stories like these and the fact that they are so cheerful compared to the otherwise miserable news we often encounter.

MSU Website Makeover

Just today parts of MSU's website got a makeover. Can we please take a moment to look at the College of the Arts new homepage?:

Isn't it awesome?? When I clicked on it I was like "Whoa!" It's beautful! :D Click here to see for yourself. Click around. There are a lot of artistic changes. Arcadia is actually the background for a lot of the pages!

They redid a lot of the site. It looks really cool. Check it out! :)

The Easter Song

I love this song. It has such a joyful and beautiful sound. I can picture a dance being choreographed to its melody. I even dance to it myself. :)

I found this video last year while I believe looking for Easter jingles and listened to it a lot. I even listened to it awhile ago again. I posted this video last year on Facebook for Easter and planned to post it again this year so I am so glad I remembered and found it again so I decided to dedicate a blog post to it. Originally sung by Keith Green (you can find him singing it on YouTube as well). Enjoy this harmonious, musical celebration! :)

Another video I found last year of the group singing it. :)

Happy Easter Everyone! He is Risen! Alleluia! :D

Merry Christmas Everyone! :D

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Boun Natale! Happy Hanukah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Las Posadas! Happy Holidays Everyone! Enjoy Every Moment! :D

I was thinking about writing a post about some of my Christmas specials like I did with my Thanksgiving post. However, though I have a lot in mind, I thought against it because a) There are so many and writing about them would be time consuming, b) Though it crossed my mind after Thanksgiving as well, I thought of this kind of last minute and didn't necessarily have the muse to write about them all because I have been focusing on school and other blog posts so I want to do it when I have more time to focus on it, and c) I wanted to give my computer a break today. Perhaps I will do it next year leading up to Christmas Day.

This year has been one of my favorite Christmas seasons. I did a lot to celebrate this season and I'm happy about that because I feel like all I have done this year has revived the exciting spirit of Christmas that I had experienced when I was a kid. These include:

Riding the carousal and walking around seeing the Christmas cheer at the Paramus Park Mall

My friend Janis's Christmas Concert

White Christmas at Paper Mill Playhouse 

St. Thomas the Apostle 17th Annual Christmas Concert featuring the Garden State Concert Band

Christmas Dinners at Charlie Brown's Steakhouse

The Holiday Lights Spectacular at the Turtleback Zoo

Baking Struffolis

Helping my family decorate the house for Christmas

Going to Church (especially when the church is dim and quiet playing choral angelic Christmas music)

Helping my mom prepare for and cook the traditional Italian seafood Christmas Eve dinner (and eating it! It was delicious!)

Exchanging presents Christmas Day

Watching Christmas specials
Wearing Christmas attire
Wishing people Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc.
Listening to Christmas music and eating Christmas food
Taking pictures of everything (lol)

All in all, it was one of my best Christmas celebrations ever. I found myself very cheerful and am happy I got to celebrate it with wonderful people by doing a nice list of experiences to remember it! It was also very relaxing.

Here's some footage of the production of White Christmas I saw at the Paper Mill. It's funny because a week later I had to take a final for my class "Introduction to the Theatrical Medium" and I wrote about this! I also like how it was advertised around Montclair's campus. It was a very heartwarming, Christmasy show!

During intermission, this happened. I took my own video of it, but this is one I found on YouTube.

I finally got my photo with Santa! I had been wanting to do this to relive my childhood and seeing him at the Paramus Park Mall a few weeks ago had inspired me. I got it out of my system by doing this. He was an awesome Santa Clause as well. He was really joyful and even asked me what I wanted for Christmas! This photo was taken at the Turtleback Zoo by my Aunt Ea.

I also wanted to extend my wishes to you, my faithful readers! Merry Christmas! I hope you and your families have a blessed holiday! <3

Happy Birthday to Jesus Christ, our Savior! :D

Yet Another Version of The Nutcracker...

I just found out tonight that "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Adam Shankman will be directing a gothic version of The Nutcracker that will be released in 2013. See? This is exactly what I was talking about when I wrote my other piece about this very idea!

I'm sure that all of these different versions are interesting and it's nice to see different perspectives and versions of the same story. It shows creativity, enriching The Nutcracker so that it never dies out and is always a new experience. A part of me wants to see this movie when it comes out and I am interested in seeing what is done with it. But still, I have my opinions and reservations on the matter. I just find this ironic considering I just posted a full essay about the subject so I just had to post it here. It's also ironic that a man involved with one of my favorite TV shows is directing it. Click here to learn more about Shankman's film.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Let's Celebrate with Some of my Favorite Thanksgiving TV Specials!

This is the cover of this week's parish bulletin hanging on our refrigerator. I made the border around it in 4th grade for art class. What it is is a cardboard border attached to a plastic bag and in this plastic bag you display artwork, etc. If I remember correctly, the border is made from pieces I cut out from a magazine pasted on the cardboard with a brush on glue. You brush the glue underneath it and a top of it. I think the whole set up looks very Thanksgiving. :)

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday, isn't it? I think it is one of the few times of the year I am actually relaxed. There are plenty of traditions that I still live by, such as the days off from school and work, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Purina National Dog Show following it, and then the main attraction: dinner with family with the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and veggies. And, of course, the reason for the season, being thankful for what you have.

Recently, people have been peeved by how Thanksgiving seems to be totally skipped over and often disregarded as a holiday, and I've noticed it as well. This article in The Monclarion states it pretty well. It is almost considered the "Pre-Christmas Eve" rather than its own holiday. Everywhere you go there are more Christmas decorations than Thanksgiving ones right after Halloween ends. I have always associated Thanksgiving with Christmas in a sense because it is the leeway into the Christmas season, but it never seems to stand on its own or have its own spotlight.

Well, one obvious reason for this is commercialism. Thanksgiving doesn't sell as much as other holidays, so therefore it's going be somewhat ignored. Also, if you notice, there aren't many Thanksgiving TV specials. Well, not as much as other holidays anyway. However, I do recall a select few, and those are the "Peanuts" and "Winnie the Pooh." Both of these series have a tendency to cover everything.

I have taken it upon myself to share these traditional favorites with you for your Thanksgiving enjoyment!

This clip of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" actually includes one scene that is excluded from the made for TV version, and this is the scene when Snoopy and Woodstock set the table for their own Thanksgiving dinner after Charlie and his friends leave for Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother's house. After we see the kids in the car, it would go to commercial and return to the end credits with Snoopy and Woodstock. My father would always tell me about the excluded scene and even showed it to me once on YouTube, so I am thankful I found this version to include on this post!

Unfortunately I can't seem to find "A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving" in its entirety, but at least I found this trailer for the "Seasons of Giving" VHS it is on. It's heartwarming in itself. <3

Oh, and here's a trailer for Disney Pixar's The Incredibles. I don't know if they still do this, but back in high school I noticed that every Thanksgiving night this movie would play on television, so I consider it a Thanksgiving TV special memory and thought I'd acknoweldge it as well.

And who can forget about this holiday favorite? Like The Incredibles, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's version of March of the Wooden Soldiers pretty much has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but yet it is played on television every Thanksgiving Day. The only thing with this one is that its time conflicts with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so I have to keep changing channels back and forth. However, this is also a holiday favorite of my father's and he has shared the tradition with me, especially the final battle scene between the boogie men and the wooden soldiers. For the color version, click here. I am thankful that I found both versions in their entirety. ;)

So there you have it, a collection of some of my favorite Thanksgiving television specials and traditions for your enjoyment this Thanksgiving Day. 

I am thankful for where I am at in my life right now. I am thankful for my family, friends, and everything I have. I am thankful for my experiences, talents, and interests so far and look forward to what more life has in store for me.

What are you thankful for? I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving! :D

Heartwarming Animal Stories: A Chimp Feeds Baby Tigers Bottles of Milk at a Zoo in Thailand

You know, I was thinking about posting a piece today for my "The Intelligent News on AOL.com" series about how Ashton Kutcher is getting cozy in his new surroundings on the set of "Two and a Half Men"...

But who cares about them? What we really want to read about is how a chimpanzee feeds baby tigers bottles of milk! According to this article, at a zoo in Thailand a chimpanzee named Do Do grew fond of the baby tigers so the trainers decided to teach him how to give them their milk bottles!

That's the story! Now, isn't that refreshing compared to the other forms of news we constantly hear about? The only downside to this story is that the tigers grow up, so they have to be moved to another facility and can no longer be fed by Do Do.

Who cares?! This is so cute that you don't even notice that one bad side! And the bad side isn't even bad! It's just apart of life. The tigers have to grow up sometime and Do Do must let them "leave the nest." If you watch the video, you can actually feel yourself at peace. It's so happy, which is such a rarity nowadays. Even the people in the video and the guy narrating it look and sound cheerful. It's such a simple, positive story, making it so enjoyable for everyone. It certainly has the "Aww!" Factor.

Isn't it kind of ironic how the ONE story in the news that DOESN'T have a negative connotation does NOT involve the human race?

Heh, funny.

Animal stories are always so heartwarming. They just make life better. :)

Celebrating National Dance Day July 2011!

Last year my favorite TV show, FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance," (SYTYCD) invented a special day dedicated to dance called "National Dance Day," which now takes place the last Saturday of every July. I didn't do much for the very first one, so this year I really wanted to celebrate with my friends.

l-r: Janis, Cara, Me, Lauren

My friends Lauren, Janis, Cara, and I worked really hard to choreograph and perform two routines in three hours. I am so proud of what we accomplished! None of us often do things like this, so we realized what choreographers and dancers have to go through to prepare and perform routines, thus causing us to respect and appreciate these artists even more! I felt so healthy as well, and the exercise derived from dance is something National Dance Day tries to promote. I really like how it is a fun way to get in shape.

I'm actually considering using our dances as part of my morning workout routine!

Thank you so much to my friends and our families for putting together such a fun time for us all! Thank you also to the creator of National Dance Day Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer of "So You Think You Can Dance" and founder of the Dizzy Feet Foundation, and to all those who recognize National Dance Day as a national holiday. I really admire how a lot of people celebrate National Dance Day in so many different ways.

Dance and the arts is something we should all truly appreciate, so I'm really happy that National Dance Day exists to give it the credit it deserves. :)

Happy National Dance Day Everyone! :D

Click here to see our original routines and some "behind the scenes" material! I love our creativity! :D I chose "It Was All in Your Mind" by Wade Robson because I had first heard it on SYTYCD for a group routine in Season 3 and then Twitch from Season 4 did a solo to it so I have been wanting to choreograph a routine to it myself. I often listen to it and love how unique and intricate it sounds! The beginning of our "Party Rock Anthem" routine is roughly based on the July 2011 National Dance Day choreography of Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo. I figured that since "Party Rock Anthem" seemed to be the theme song for this year's National Dance Day, we should use it and some of their choreography as well so it wasn't like we totally didn't acknowledge it. We could've learned their routine along with the others created specifically for National Dance Day, but we decided to test our skills and do our own thing. :)

I also want to point out that I got the top I wore today at the So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2011 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ! It says "dance" written all over it vertically in different colors, the word "DANCE" written in huge gray letters towards the left, and also has the So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2011 logo on the bottom left! And, it's a V-neck and I love V-necks! I wore it special for today!

Happy National Dance Day Everyone! Hope you all enjoyed it! I know we were very happy and excited celebrating today! It was a blast and one of the best days of my life! We were all looking forward to this day and are already looking forward to next year!

The New and Exciting Feminism and Theater Things Coming to You at MSU!!!

This just might be my very first feminism/theater combined blog post! I received a lot of cool information about both Femvolution: MSU and Peak Performances today and I couldn't wait to share them with you!

Today I was on MSU's campus for the first time since May for to the Femvolution "Mid-Summer Zine Meeting" and found out that since we are now affiliated with the Student Government Association Class III on campus we now have our own website! Check it out!

At our meeting we discussed the many different activities we have planned for the upcoming school year, the likes for which I am very excited! Watch out for them!

During break I decided to take a walk and naturally I visited Life Hall and took some pics. They are doing some renovations there and Memorial Auditorium.

However, I also saw something extremely awesome hanging up in this building...

It's the 2011-2012 Season Lineup!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!! So Excited!!!!!!!!

I actually saw this list awhile ago on the website and when I first saw it I was ecstatic! The fact that the list is now hanging up in Life Hall, replacing last season's, and that this season's Peak Performances are now listed on their website as well, makes it that much more official! I'm really looking forward to this season!

An update: I will begin publishing "Peak Performances and their Awkward Sexual Moments" in August. I am almost done with them.

I also made some additions and changes to "Meet the Theaters of MSU". Go check 'em out! :D

Peak Performances @ MSU Facebook Fan Page

Photo of the beautiful Alexander Kasser Theater from the Facebook fan page

I can't believe I never thought to post this before but here is the Peak Performances @ Montclair State University Facebook fan page and Facebook group. Here you can find out more about the shows at MSU. There are a lot more shows that play on campus than I cover on this blog, so if you'd like now you can become a fan to be more informed! :)

On the Town Video Montage I Just Found

So you may remember one of my original postings back in January called A Blast from the Past: On the Town, about the show On the Town that played at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Just now actually I found a montage of the show on Paper Mill Playhouse's YouTube channel, so I decided to post it here to give you some visuals of the show of what I saw and what I described in my piece. I also think that Patti Colombo's choreography is showcased pretty well here. The cavemen scene in the Museum of Natural History was my personal favorite when I saw the show. It was amazingly well done and exciting to watch. Check out the video and you'll see what I mean. ;) Enjoy!

As an added bonus, I also just discovered this video interview with Patti Colombo and Bill Berry, the director of On the Town. Credit goes to its respective owner.