Tag: Burlesque

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Burlesque!

If you’re looking for good acting, great dialogue, and a believable storyline, don’t go see Burlesque. But if you want to shut your mind off and hear the amazing voices of Cher and Christina Aguilera while watching fun musical numbers, definitely go see it.

Elise, of Elise’s Ramblings, and I bought tickets to the premiere at a charity auction for Autism Speaks earlier this month. I could hardly talk about anything else. Cher! Christina!, Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming!

But where WAS Alan Cumming? He was completely cut out. I don’t know why he was even in the previews. What a waste. He’s an incredibly talented performer and singer but he barely had two lines.

What we did get to see was Christina playing a young woman who comes to LA from a small town and tries to make it big. She talks her way into a job as a waitress and then a performer in the Burlsque nightclub. Meanwhile, Cher is struggling to keep her club after losing money year after year. The rest of the plot is nonsensical. (How did Kristen Bell’s character and Cher’s start Burlesque together when Bell is 30 and Cher is 64?)

But it’s not about the plot. The movie is fun to watch. Beautiful people, beautiful voices, and the dance numbers are amazing. Cher sings 2 songs and she sounds unbelievable. And I have to say I love Christina’s voice, too. It would have been a much better movie if Stanley Tucci was the only one allowed to talk. He’s fabulous, but the rest of the cast, not so much.

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Autism Speaks: Acts of Love

Last week I was lucky enough to attend Acts of Love: Parenthood, a wonderful benefit and award ceremony for Autism Speaks. Some of the actors from the show Parenthood performed along with John Doe on the acoustic guitar.

There were many touching and funny essays during the performance at Creative Artists Agency, but the one that struck me most was read by Mary McDonnell (Claire in Grand Canyon). It was about the mother of a grown son with autism. The character talked about her son and failed marriage, but when she was asked about herself, she paused. She said something about how there was no her. It was taken up by caring for other people.

That struck me because it’s so true with many women I know, especially those who are dealing with more than just your average frustrations of being a mother, including having kids with autism and childhood illness.

Jason Katims, the creator of Parenthood, touched on part of that theme a bit when he accepted The Acts of Love Awareness Award. His son has Aspergers and was the inspiration for a character on the show. Katims said he almost wrote the character out because it was taking over the pilot. He said when “Autism comes into your home, it’s rarely a C story… Like in life, it’s an A story.”

He also said that the night the pilot aired “Aspergers” was the most searched word on Google.

Parenthood is one of the few shows I’m watching these days so it was amazing to see some of the cast perform live including Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Craig T. Nelson, and Max Burkholder who plays Max on the show.

Almost as amazing was meeting Olivia Munn of the Daily Show. She was very nice and genuine. I went to the benefit with Elise of Elise’s Ramblings and we chatted up Stacy Citron who was just on the reality show Thintervention and Jessica Lowndes of 90210.

Acts of Love also had a silent auction to benefit Autism Speaks and Elise and I bid on tickets to the premiere of Burlesque. And we won!!! We get to go see Cher!! Stanley Tucci!! Christina Aguilera!! and Alan Cumming!!