Starstuff: It Makes You What You Want to Be

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The Barnes & Noble event with the cast and creative team of Peter and the Starcatcher was really interesting and really fun, and I’m so glad that my plane landed in time so that I could go. Not only did I buy another copy of the book, but I was able to sit in front of my favorite people and listen to them praise each other and tell some stories about how they built something so beautiful and fun. For instance, did you know that before he was cast, Adam Chanler-Berat, sent Rick Elice the song “The Cave” by Mumford & Sons because he wanted the part so much and the song reminded him of the character? Rick Elice listened to it, five or six times he said, and then rewrote part of the script. “Using information from that song, a lot of that appears in the first time that the boy really speaks, in that really Chekovian moment where he says more than three words in a row, and he suddenly has this big speech where he speaks about what it is like to never be outside a tiny little space that’s boarded up and filthy, where life is just so crappy, that it’s much worse than anything you could really imagine. And it was very much inspired by that thing that [Adam] sent me.”

Here are some more great, funny, inspiring and informative quotes from that discussion with Rick Elice, Adam Chanler-Berat, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Christian Borle, and Ridley Pearson.

“One thing I want to say about Adam is…a lot of people talk about the play now, and they associate this sort of magical quality to it, this sort of intangible, magical thing and I really believe that that is Adam. That is what he brings. As a human being, he is sort of magical. And he brings that to the show. That is something that couldn’t be written. The play totally changed when Adam came on board.”

- Celia

“And then, we played invisible basketball. I guess it’s a test of the imagination, right? I hope it wasn’t just humiliation.”

- Adam, talking about his audition process

Rick: “I never knew you auditioned for La Jolla, but I think I know why you weren’t cast-”

Adam: “It was the invisible basketball.”

“As an actor, the great trap is getting caught up in the excitement of performing, and getting people to laugh that sometimes you forget to rein yourself in. And that is what emails from Roger are for.”

- Christian

“Celia has this extraordinary ability in rehearsal to, just with her eyes, look over to where you’re sitting when something isn’t right. So you just circle that and go, ‘Okay, I’ve got to fix that.’ She never actually says anything, she just does a sidelong glance and you just know.”

- Rick

“There was a small window of time where I didn’t think I’d be able to do Starcatcher on Broadway, and when everything lined up, it was when they got the Brooks Atkinson, the timing kind of shifted a little bit, the clouds parted- when I realized I was going to be able to do it, it was one of the happiest days of my life.”

- Christian

Celia: “There were bunnies…”

Christian: “There were bunnies!”

- describing the magic of their rehearsal space in La Jolla

“And it’s been years of me kind of going up to Rick and saying, “This is great, this is great! But just something like…’ And he’ll always end up coming back with something that is one hundred thousand times better than anything I could ever even come up with.”

- Christian

“This is sort of what it feels like to be in the room… I mean, the generosity that sort of overflows from all of us, we’re all a little bit in love with each other, and we like to talk about it.”

- Adam

Rick: “There was a moment, towards the end of the play where there was a new bit between Stache and Smee. And in this particular case, Stache said something and Smee said something, and Christian said his next line, which was a cynical line. And he said, ‘Did you see that? Did you see that, Smee? Genuine heroic sacrifice.’ That was what I typed. ‘Genuine heroic sacrifice.’ Thinking that Stache would be snarky about it. And Christian read that line in a different way. I’m sitting in the back with my script, making notes and drawing things and looking for Celia’s eyes, and I circled that and I thought, ‘That’s the character, right there.’ It was a completely new idea, that I heard because of the way he said three lines.

Christian: “I remember that so specifically, and what it was, it wasn’t because I had somehow brilliantly realized that that’s what this was, it was because of Adam, and this new thing that Adam was. This Boy. And in the moment, in the room, he did something so astonishingly truthful, because he can only be truthful, that it didn’t make sense to do it any other way. What he did was so obviously lovely, that it actually- I didn’t mean to make that choice, it just happened because of what he did. And I remember being really excited by it, because those moments of alchemy in the theatre, and I called Rick the next day. And he picked up the phone. I was like, ‘Hey, I have to talk to you about something.’ And he just went, ‘I know.’ And I said, ‘No, no, I want to talk to you about a moment.’ And he was like, ‘I got it. Don’t say anything else.’”

Rick: “I was actually in front of the computer rewriting the scene.”

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming to Bring You: Heaven on Their Minds

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There are several things that pain me in life, but one of them that I wanted to share with you is the fact that the flashy song “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which is yes, catchy, constantly overshadows one of my favorite musical theater songs of all time – “Heaven on Their Minds.” Guys, this song is brilliant. In my opinion it’s one of the single best opening numbers of any show, as it starts off slow and simmering, and then Judas bursts out in a torrent of emotion – “JESUS!!!” It’s amazing. I will never, never understand why producers of this show will insist on having the cast perform “Jesus Christ Superstar” on television and award shows time and again, instead of featuring this brilliant song that sums up so much of the pathos and emotion and themes of the show, and is such a showstopper. [Or they could go with "The Last Supper" if they want to feature more of the cast, but hey - just a thought!]

So in honor of one of my favorite songs of all time, one of the top ten most played songs on my gigantic dinosaur of an iPod, and for all the times I have stopped conversations to talk about how much Norbert Leo Butz should play Judas just to hear him sing this song [it would be amazing!], here are some highlights of outstanding performances of the one, the only: Heaven on Their Minds.

First, let’s focus on the genius of Josh Young, who was nominated for a Tony this year for his performance of Judas. The New York Times this year had an outstanding In Performance series where several actors performed part of their musical or play, and Josh Young was among those featured. I may or may not have audibly screamed when I realized that he was singing Heaven on Their Minds, and then I may or may not have watched it about 300 times the first day. Seriously, visit this link and enjoy.

And update! There is a youtube video of him singing this song at the extra special fan concert this year. Watch this video again and again and again. We don’t judge.

I have also heard from many, many people that what really got them hooked on Jesus Christ Superstar was the outstanding film of it starring Glenn Carter, and an emotional performance by Jerome Pradon as Judas. Below is his version of Heaven on Their Minds – and then for more mind-blowing watch his performance of The Last Supper, where he literally falls to Jesus’ feet in agony, and then runs off to betray him. Outstanding.

If you haven’t heard Zubin Varla sing this song, then you are missing out. I think the 1996 London recording is simply the greatest recording of this show that has received so many recordings, and Zubin Varla as Judas is incredible. Though I couldn’t find any videos of him performing (if you have them send them our way!) here’s the song as recorded on the soundtrack below.

There are a lot of Carl Anderson fans out there, who are obsessed with his performance of Judas – for good reason. (Also, for an interesting way to spend a few hours, type in Heaven on Their Minds into the youtube search engine, and read the comments under every video – basically for some people anyone other than Carl Anderson singing the song are worthless traitors…) Carl Anderson was excellent in the original movie version, and alternated performances in the original Broadway production with Ben Vereen. This first is a video from the 2003 US tour – it’s a pretty awful recording, but just wait for his “…have you forgotten how put down we are?” Incredible – especially for being keeping his performance outstanding 30 years after he immortalized this role onscreen. And the second video is the film version – and what is better than Carl Anderson’s repeated “Listen to me!!” refrains? Answer: nothing.

Tony Party Treats Final Edition – Once

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Wondering what to make if you want something inspired by the show Once? Clear answer – make Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. Seriously, do it. These are amazing. But fair warning – the alcohol in the cupake batter itself will be baked out, but the alcohol in the ganache and the frosting will not. Thus this may not be the best to serve to any small children you have enjoying the Tony festivities, but absolutely amazing to serve to the adults. I got the idea and the overall recipe from the amazing smitten kitchen, and adapted ever so slightly. When making, don’t let the fact that everything is from scratch daunt you – they’re super easy to make, and so worth it! And for me, after FINALLY seeing the magic that is Once last night I am so excited to share these with my friends and celebrate this beautiful show and all the Tonys it is going to win!

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes – makes about 24 cupcakes

  • 1 cup Guinness
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup sour cream


Ganache filling for the cupcakes – optional

  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Baileys buttercream frosting

  • 4 to 4.5 cups confections sugar
  • 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperatue
  • 4 to 4.5 tablespoons Baileys

First, for the cupcakes: preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. On the stove, bring the cup of Guinness and 1 cup butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Once simmering nicely, add in the cocoa powder and whisk for about a minute until smooth. Take off the flame and allow to cool slightly.

While cooling, add the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt to a large bowl and whisk together. In a separate large bowl beat the eggs and the sour cream with an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer until blended. Pour the Guinness mixture into the bowl with the egg mixture and beat until combined, about 10 to 20 seconds. Pour all of the flour mixture into the liquid and beat with the hand/stand mixer on a low speed until totally combined. The mixture will be fairly liquid at this point, and spoon the liquid into the cupcake tins, lined with 24 cupcake liners. Place the cupcakes in the over for about 17-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set on a rack to cool.

If you decide to make the ganache (and I’ve had these cupcakes both ways, so don’t feel as if you have to add it to make the cupcakes delicious, as they taste great with or without!) – first, chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl. Heat the heavy cream over the stove until it is just simmering, and then pour over the chocolate in the bowl. Set aside for a minute for it, and then stir until the mixture is smooth. Add the butter and whiskey, and stir.

To fill the cupcakes, take a 1 inch round cookie cutter (or if you’re like me and don’t have one of these on hand), you can also take a knife and cut a small hole into the cupcake – don’t cut all the way through, aim for about 2/3 of the way through the cupcake. Use the knife or a small spoon to remove the circle of cupcake, and eat those on their own, or with any remaining frosting or ganache you have – even better if mixed in a bowl with vanilla ice cream with a bit of Baileys poured on top! Once the ganache is cooled, ideally you would use a piping bag with a circle tip, or you can also take a plastic baggie, cut the end off the baggie, fill with the ganache and simply pipe into the cupcakes.

Finally, for the frosting – whip the butter with a hand mixer or your stand mixer, for a few minutes until it’s fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing the butter/sugar mixture in between each cup. Once you’ve added two of the cups of powdered sugar, add in three tablespoons of the Baileys. Mix, and then add in the remaining cup of powdered sugar. Mix, and then add the remaining tablespoon of Baileys. If your hand slipped and you added in too much of one of the ingredients then add either more powdered sugar or Baileys until you get the right consistency, which is creamy but also slightly stiff so it holds its shape on the cupcake.

Then, take either your piping bag or a knife, and pipe/smear onto the cupcakes. And that’s it! They are going to taste amazing, and please enjoy!

Delicious.

Tony Party Treats Third Edition – Newsies

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Newsies

My sister, in seeing the posts I was putting together, noted – you need something that’s not a dessert! So even though I prefer parties where all we eat is sugar, my second favorite type of parties serve Mexican food. So in honor of Jack Kelley’s desire to head to Santa Fe, I present Jack Kelly’s Santa Fe Surprise (aka a super easy “7″ layer dip).

Jack Kelly’s Santa Fe Surprise

All these ingredients make up this super tasty party food.

  • 16 ounces refried beans
  • 1 can of black beans
  • 1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning
  • 1 cup/8 oz sour cream
  • 1 cup guacamole – homemade or store bought, either works! If you’ve never made guacamole, chop up avocados with some cilantro and onions and tomatoes, and mix with a bit of lemon or lime juice. Also if you buy the guacamole, I usually add some cilantro and lemon/lime juice to punch up the flavor
  • 1 cup salsa – I prefer freshly made, which you can buy at most grocery stores, or you can make your own with tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and peppers – chop all ingredients and mix together in a bowl, and squeeze some fresh lime on top. I recommend waiting a few minutes if you make it yourself so the flavors blend, and then adding to the dip. Otherwise a brand like Newman’s Own also works for the dip
  • 1 cup shredded cheese, either cheddar or Mexican blend
  • 1 or 2 chopped tomatoes (optional – either to add to the dip separately, or to use in making the salsa and/or guacamole)
  • Handful of cilantro

To make, first open the can of refried beans and spread out on the bottom of the dish. You can use any pan/dish to make it in – I chose an 8 by 8 casserole dish, which will easily serve between 5-8 people.

Next, open the can of black beans and rinse the beans in a colander to get rid of the sodium residue. Spread the black beans over the refried beans in the dish.

Then, mix the sour cream with the taco seasoning in a separate bowl, and spread on top of the black beans with a knife.

Next, pour the salsa on top of the sour cream, and then add the guacamole.

I then added a handful of chopped cilantro – please note in looking at the pictures that to me there is nothing better than as much cilantro as possible on any given dish. If you or any of your guests don’t like cilantro, then either skip this step or edit it down – but my dip definitely ends up looking like a plant!

Next add handfuls of the cheese until the dip is covered – if you have any remaining ingredients, i.e. if you want to add extra chopped tomatoes, do so at this layer. I then tossed some extra cheese on top, basically as you can never have too much cheese.

Finally, I have found this amazing enchilada sauce at Trader Joe’s (in the picture above) and I add that to everything to give it a real “Santa Fe” kick. Serve with tortilla chips, and it’s ready to eat! Enjoy this dip, and enjoy celebrating Newsies on the Tonys tonight!

Tony Party Treats Continued – Evita

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If you are ecstatic that Evita is back on Broadway (I am, it was the first show I ever saw!), or  you’re a huge Michael Cerveris or Ricky Martin fan, celebrate Evita’s nominations and bust out the following during their performance of “And The Money Kept Rolling In”:

Evita 

There are basically two things I think of when I think of Argentina – Evita and dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is super easy to make, but it’s very time consuming – so rather than give you the recipe (though if you have the time the Huffington Post has a few methods here) I will just recommend buying a can of it (Whole Foods has an excellent brand, but you can get it at most supermarkets made by Nestle and called La Lechera). Stock up on this amazing sugary goodness, and here are a few thoughts on how to use it:

  • Just eat it straight. Best suggestion ever.
  • Dulce de leche can also be drizzled over anything – my favorites are fruit, ice cream, fruit, cookies, fruit. You can just put a bowl of it next to the other treats you’re serving, as it basically tastes good on anything because sugar makes everything taste better. If it’s from a can it will have a better consistency when you heat it, so heat it up in a glass bowl and set it out on the table with a bunch of spoons to enjoy.
  • Make shortbread dulce de leche sandwiches – take store bought shortbread cookies (Walker’s are the best, but any will do), spread a bunch of dulce de leche in the middle, and place another shortbread cookie on top. Dust with cocoa powder, or cinnamon, if desired. Or, you know, more dulce de leche. That also works.
  • Milkshakes – take any ice cream (I kept it simple and went with vanilla) and milk, dump it in a blender and then pour it in a cup with the dulce de leche. I like to either pour the dulce de leche over the sides of the cups first and then drizzle on top, or you can alternate layers of milkshake and dulce de leche – whatever you prefer! The dulce de leche is better if heated – you can do this in the microwave or even better is to put it on a pot on the stove and reheat slowly so it gets really caramelly and excellent.

Piping the store bought dulce de leche onto the glass

Adding the milkshake and topping it with even more dulce de leche. And then adding more topping so it sinks all the way through…yes.

My roommates and I experimented with piping the dulce de leche along the sides of glasses and adding the vanilla milkshake. We also decided what would taste amazing is to fill half the glass with milkshake, and then pour coffee on top and mix, and then dust with cinnamon. It was pretty outstanding.

Coffee milkshake with dulce de leche. Sugar and caffeine = perfect.

Broadway Inspired Treats for Your Amazing Tony Party – First Edition: Peter and the Starcatcher

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Of course June 10 is starred on your calendar, and you’re getting ready to plan a huge party with all your Broadway-obssessed friends gathering around the TV and celebrating each Tony win. I’m right now buying obscene amounts of Prosecco (of course!) and trying to think of a menu for my personal Tonys party. I thought this year I would up the ante by making personalized treats and snacks inspired by a few of my favorite nominees, which I’ve shared below and in the next few posts. Fair warning, one of my favorite things to do, besides go to the theatre, is to bake desserts. Thus my parties always tend to be very dessert heavy – but a celebration such as the Tonys deserves a lot of sugar, so enjoy!

No matter what you decide to do, hopefully these recipes provide a few great ideas to get you started. If you (like my sister, my co-contributor on this blog) are not super adept in the kitchen, it’s not a problem! These are very easy, straightforward recipes, and I’ve included a few options for how to edit each of them to make them simpler or just to play around with them. So go ahead and have fun with them, and if you make any please send us pictures!

Peter and the Starcatcher

I’m obsessed with fruity cupcakes, fruity desserts, or any type of fruit in general. And this makes perfect sense for Peter and the Starcatcher inspired treats given the tropical theme of future Neverland. I decided to go with something that I can imagine anyone immersed in starstuff would love: lime cupcakes with a mojito mint buttercream frosting. You can also very easily change it up and make it a margarita cupcake with tequila buttercream frosting – both amazing options that I’m sure the mermaids of Neverland would enjoy!

Delicious lime cupcakes with mojito mint buttercream frosting.

Lime Cupcakes with Mint Mojito Buttercream Frosting

Lime cupcakes – makes about 30 cupcakes. Adapted slightly from baked perfection.

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 5 tablespoons lime juice (can be fresh or store bought – if fresh it’s fine if there’s some lime pulp in the juice, it makes it taste better!)
  • zest of three limes
  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups sour cream

Oven must be pre-heated to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a different large bowl, use a hand beater or stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Then use your hand beater to mix in the eggs, adding one at a time. Pour in the vanilla, lime juice and lime zest and mix well with either the beater or with a spoon. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture bit by bit, alternating with the sour cream, meaning add in about 1/2 cup of the flour mixture, mix, and then add in 1/2 a cup of the sour cream and mix, repeat until it’s all mixed together. Bake at 350 degrees F for 23 minutes or until the middle is no longer mushy – this can be determined by sticking a toothpick and the center, if any of the batter is sticking to the toothpick then place the cupcakes back in the over for another minute or two.

Mojito mint buttercream frosting

  • 2 sticks of butter, softened
  • pinch of salt
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon mint extract (note – mint extract is not the same as peppermint extract, so make sure to buy the former if you want it to taste like a mojito, and not like how I first made them – they tasted like weird mojitos with a peppermint lifesavers kick at the end….avoid at all costs)
  • 5 tablespoons white rum
  • 2 – 4 tablespoons milk
  • optional: thinly diced fresh mint leaves – full mint leaves can also be used as a garnish to decorate
  • optional: green food coloring

First, cream the softened butter, salt, mint extract and chopped mint with a hand or stand mixer until smooth. Note – if you add the mint make sure it is very finely diced – when I added it to mine it turned dark brown, which while not attractive, definitely tastes good so to me it was worth. But don’t stress if you don’t want to buy any mint leaves for the cupcakes, it tastes great either way!

Next add one cup of powdered sugar at a time, beating with the mixer between each cup. When all six cups have been added you can add milk if needed – it’s optional if you haven’t reached the consistency you want, which is a stiff buttercream, similar to what you find at most cupcake shops. You can add the milk to make it smoother, and if you accidentally add too much go ahead and add some more powdered sugar until you are happy with the results.

I piped the buttercream on with a pastry tool, but you can also just smear it on with a knife. Decorate with mint leaves or to be even more creative, melt some chocolate chips in a pot on the stove (Ghiradelli chocolate chips are available at a ton of grocery stores and are so good), and pour the melted chocolate into a pastry bag or even a plastic baggie. Snip a tiny bit of the end off the baggie and pipe the chocolate onto wax or parchment paper into the shape of Black Staches in keeping with the theme. Once they’re cooled you can place them on the cupcakes – or basically anywhere you want. Feel free to also just eat them, that’s always a really good idea.

To edit the cupcakes and make them margarita flavored instead of mojito, substitute margarita mix for the lime juice in the cupcakes, and add tequila to the buttercream instead of rum and 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract instead of mint extract. And garnish with some margarita salt on the rim of the cupcake and you will have a pretty amazing cupcake.

Black Stache Cookies

Finally, I decided that in honor of Peter and the Starcatcher’s awesome twitter account putting a Stache on everything, I needed to do the same. So I made vanilla sugar cookies in the shape of mustaches, and decorated them with a chocolate glaze.  I would normally bake the sugar cookies from scratch (for a great recipe visit sweet sugar belle), but to save time I used the Toll House sugar cookie dough from the refrigerator section of the supermarket, which works just as well, saves time, and also still tastes great. If you do use store bought cookie dough make sure to knead it a few times and then roll out on wax or parchment paper on your counter. Store bought dough tends to spread quite a bit, so make sure your moustaches are thinner as they will swell when cooking.

Here are a couple of the moustaches I made in the picture below.

Moustaches of every shape and size

I unfortunately didn’t have a cookie cutter so I made them by hand with a toothpick which is why some look like moustaches and some look like black blobs – you can draw out the shape by basically running the toothpick through the dough. I added small bamboo skewers to the cookies so we could play around with them and get the full “Stached” effect.

For the “frosting” I made a super easy chocolate glaze so that it would harden and not smear everywhere when taking photos. The glaze recipe was adapted from the blog Created by Diane, and I loved it because I didn’t have to use my hand mixer. Store bought chocolate frosting also works, but it just won’t harden or give it the same shiny quality as this glaze.

Chocolate glaze

  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon corn syrup
  • 4 tablespoons milk
Mix all ingredients with a spoon or spatula until smooth and creamy. Note that when mixing the cocoa powder you need to pay attention that all the pockets of cocoa are fully mixed – in my first few glazed cookies I kept getting explosions of cocoa powder because I hadn’t fully stirred, so make sure you do that before frosting. And make sure the cookies are fully cooled before applying the glaze, otherwise it will melt and get everywhere.

A couple of the cookies I also decorated with chocolate that I grated (thank you leftover Easter bunny!) though they can also be decorated with chocolate sprinkles or you can pipe the frosting in all types of fun patterns.

And then, the only thing left to do is play with the cookies and share with all your friends! These would be great Tony party memories or favors, and here’s hoping that Peter and the Starcatcher takes home quite a few on Sunday!

Everyone loves being Stached…

Always Bring a Sharpie: Peter and the Starcatcher Stagedoor

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Just a lovely day outside the Brooks Atkinson theatre! After the matinee of Peter and the Starcatcher, all the amazing actors in the show made a trip through the stagedoor. On a two show day, it was so nice to … Continue reading →