Paige Eight

                          As an all things musical theatre and Disney nerd, I was so excited to find out the National Tour cast of Disney’s Aladdin was hosting an cabaret event at Sidetrack Video Bar in Chicago’s Boystown, fittingly dubbed “Club Agrabah,” as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA). I jumped at the chance to be a part of this event and all of the fun mixing and mingling with the cast and hearing them belt out a killer mix of their favorite pop hits, show tunes, and Disney Classics as soon as I heard about it – and, boy, am I glad I did.                                                   After being greeted by one of the hosts for the evening, the fantastic "Fairy Bradshaw," the three genies of the Aladdin cast Anthony Murphy, Korie Lee Blossey, and Ell...

As I write these words, Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan is preparing to take his last bow as Pierre Bezukhov in  Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 , almost certainly the most underrated and Tony-robbed musical in recent history. Oak, as he is fondly known and likes people to refer to him as, is leaving the glitz and glamour of 19 th  Century Moscow and  Great Comet  as a result of botched casting and conflict resolution attempts on the behalf of the show’s producers. The little Ars Nova, Off-Broadway production that could has erupted into a novella as intricate as that unfolding on the  Great Comet  stage 8 times a week, and as a result has recently been on the lips of all remotely invested in the Broadway community as intricate as that unfolding on To quote the show’s “Prologue,” you’re “gonna’ have to study up a little bit if you wanna’ keep with the plot, ‘cuz it’s a complicated Russian novel.” Allow me to illuminate you...