#i think Darren's fun too. for the record

[vae-victis]

Still funny to me remembering the creators being so confused when people liked Pierce and landing on 'it must be because he's hot and charismatic ' like it's a visual medium and that's the only possible explanation instead of just realizing some people like it when characters are morally gray and/or villains

[terranoctis]

I played Hades II a fair bit yesterday during my breaks and free time for Supergiant Games' technical test of the game. Part of me wants to keep playing today, but I got stuff to do and I do want to keep up the excitement for the early access. I wrote a rough, kind of unedited essay about it before I went to sleep last night though below, mostly for me to have record of my memories in written form. Some spoiler-y screenshots and random thoughts/analyses below if you want to read more. I mean it--there are spoilers and the most random long tangents because I like to analyze. (I do recommend playing first if you have a chance to)

First thing I'll say is that the game is pretty phenomenal and so damn fun. The experience reminds me of when I played Hades for the first time in their initial Early Access of the game years ago. Longtime Supergiant Games fan here (since Transistor release)! I remember running into a bug then and reporting it when I froze in-game, but I have not run into any noticeable bugs at all yet for Hades II. I've done some reports for minor bugs, but extremely minor ones that I actually feel bad for even reporting and adding to their list of messages to go through. Supergiant has their QA down, truly. I have so much respect for them and how they've developed the game. Darren Korb did an amazing job on the music again. It has that iconic Hades sound with the strings (that is not a guitar, I forget what it's called) while also being its own distinct soundtrack.

The 4th wall banter moments between Melinoë and Homer (who is revealed as narrator!) have been one of my favorite things about the story/narration execution. Her being cognizant of Homer does make it so there are rather funny moments, but also brings up the question of how that might shape the narrative later on. I'm so curious!

When I first started the game, I had a funny moment where I died almost instantly in the second room because I was testing out Melinoe's skillset and ran out of MP (?) and then got slapped because I wasn't actually doing damage when trying to use her bigger skills, heh. It did take me some time to get used to it, but Mel's skills and cast abilities are so much fun to use when utilized well. Her cast and its ability to hold your enemies for a time is one of the best upgrades to combat, in my opinion. For all I love the first Hades, I remember having to dash like crazy to escape exploding carts coming after me if I didn't have a good boon to mitigate or avoid that. With the cast for Melinoë, it'll change that to placing strategically some casts that can hold quick enemies or enemies that are very dangerous if they get close to you (wailers in this game are one such enemy). In terms of boons, Demeter's, Hestia's, and Apollo's have been some of my favorites. Aphrodite also has a phenomenal one for casts that will gather your enemies into your cast, making it an ideal combination with some devastating other boons that can easily damage groups of enemies all at once. Hephaestus also has a pretty fun one where I think he can explode in a certain proximity with your special or attack, I forget. I do wonder if they'll have to rebalance some of these boons because there are certain ones I can annihilate enemies with--but then again, maybe that is needed for later sections of the game.

The numerous references to the moon in the game are a nice nod to Melinoë's lore in Greek mythology and poetry too. Though she's more associated with being a goddess of ghosts (I find it a nice touch you can salute shades you meet in the Crossroads because of this) and nightmares (I don't think it's a coincidence Hypnos is the only other survivor of Hades' inner sanctum), Melinoë has at some point been referenced as a moon goddess as well of the underworld. Selene is the moon goddess and Artemis has also become known as a goddess of the moon in mythology in addition to being the goddess of the hunt. So that connection between the three and the friendship they share in the game is pretty cool in that regard (Selene calls you the "Silver Sisters.")

Having Artemis become your friend in Hades II, something akin to a friendly rivalry like Thanatos was to Zagreus, is such a fun story--and then you have Selene added into that mix as well. From the few runs I've done, I've gathered that Artemis and Hermes are the first of the Olympus gods who knew of Melinoë's existence in her youth as Hecate's pupil. She helped Hecate hide the truth of Melinoës survival (at least from the Olympus gods)--and when Melinoë was ready, it was only then that Artemis leaked through Apollo that Hades' daughter was coming to fight Chronos and had survived the fall of Hades. So the boons you get are because the twins, Artemis and Apollo, played a role in connecting you to Olympus for the fight against Chronos. There seems to be more in this background that I'm curious to learn about. Just from their banter, it's clear Artemis has spent much time with Melinoë and Selene in some form. I don't know if they have duo boons in this game (or boon-hex? Selene gives you a hex), but I'm curious to see what these two's duo boon(s) would be if they have them.

The game also does that thing the first game did so well of shifting the world as you progress and have changes in the relationships about you. Nemesis is one of the new characters in Hades II who doesn't seem to like you very much initially, but with your dialogue with Odysseus nearby, you get the sense that it wasn't always this way. When you gift her a nectar, Melinoë subtly starts calling her "Nem," and you can tell the two of them are very slowly mending whatever it is they have (Odysseus chuckles nearby probably seeing the progress). You also meet Doom Incarnate (Moros) and have to unlock having him at the Crossroads by invoking him, which is also pretty fun in terms of letting you slowly do more runs and experience the world more in order to gather enough "resources" to call him. It allows a natural progression of characterization and getting to know the people around Melinoë, in my opinion.

Dora's also one of my favorite character already. There's something so funny about Melinoë encouraging Dora as she tries to scare and haunt her as a proper ghost, but then also rather touching that she just accepts that Dora just likes to hang out in her room and not go out much. I love Arachne too, and how she's just chillin' like, I'm bored and alone and just spinning webs, so here Melinoë, have some clothes I made.

This game makes me love it as much as I loved the first one. In some ways, in terms of how they executed establishing background and connections between Melinoë and her companions (Odysseus' calls her a "little goddess" as a child! Hecate plays hide-and-go-seek with her!), I think they've started out much stronger than they did in the first game. And this one already starts with a sort of high-stakes situation from the get-go. Melinoë's entire family has been taken by Chronos and she grew up apart from them. The game does well of letting you step into the world even if you haven't played the first one--and playing on your affection for Hades, Persephone, and Zagreus if you did. After all, considering how hard you worked as Zagreus to bring back together that family in the first game, the second game logically comes back with a vengeance with Melinoë at the loss of such a family and a need for vengeance against Chronos for ruining it. The world feels familiar, yet the cast of characters are so different.

And the designs of all the new gods! And the new designs for the old gods! They're all extremely well-done. I've been a longtime fan of the artists for the characters and the environments. They've done stellar jobs on it again for this one, and there's more touches to icons and designs of the UI I like too. The dialogue log is one of my favorite things too, as someone who might miss a piece of dialogue here and there when I take off my headphones. The voice acting in this game is also a whole notch up from the previous game. Not to knock anyone from the first Hades, since I think they did a great job, but I do feel like the voices have been more professionally recorded this time around. Or something about it is a little more polished. Kudos to Supergiant for another game that's an A+ in my book thus far. Ahh!

I could keep going, but honestly, I think it's best to have people experience the game in Early Access. I mostly just wanted a record for myself to look back on for being a small part of Hades II's journey and share some of my excitement and the random analyses I had. It'll be fun for me to look back on how I read some things and how I felt when the finished version of the game comes out eventually.

[kairithemang0]

So I've seen 6 shows this year so far, which I think is a pretty good amount for May. And when I saw Gutenberg I was like "I'm gonna keep a list of them and rank them every time I see them" and I just don't have a list atm. So I've gonna make one now

6. The Great Gatsby

Pretty alright, costumes were good, actors were good, I liked some of the songs although none were really too memorable. I went for Eva and Jordan, Jordan and Eva was pretty good but Sam stole the show for me. Jordan Baker I'd marry you and treat you right <3

5. The Play that Goes Wrong

Funniest shit, I'm not as into physical comedy too much but the gags were great, I loved them so much

4. Wicked

Very excited for the movie, I love the show to death. I'd seen it previously but we wanted to take my sister because she hadn't. I forgot how freaking huge that theater was, like WOW it's huge

3. Little Shop of Horrors

I SAW IT WITH DARREN!!! It was so great it was my first time seeing lsoh in general, I had a great time with it. Dentist how I love you, I'd let him be my dentist

2. The Notebook

I absolutely adore this show, the music is pretty great (I wish they didn't all sorta sound the same) the set was great, the acting was amazing as always and I nearly cried multiple times. Young Allie my beloved, I wish Jordan Tyson a good day.

Gutenberg the musical

I'm still in love with this show, it was so much fun and the cast recording is great. Doug and Bud my beloved <3

[quirrelmorts]

maybe happy ending review! i saw it and it was wonderful and was able to interact with some of the cast! i loved it and want to see it again so badly :')

It was so beautiful! I think the story is just fantastic and I really connected with it. I obviously saw it because of Darren but I still didn’t expect to love his character as much as I did. Oliver is wonderfully written and Darren did a great job playing him. I was amazed at his movements and emotion. Oliver’s genuinely incredibly autistic-coded with his struggle to socialize, strict routine, strong interest in music, and need to plan things exactly. Autistic robots are common but I can’t complain when it means I relate to a character. Helen is wonderful as Claire. I don’t know what to say other than she is utterly essential and so easy to adore.

The sets amazed me. I was so close to the stage that I couldn’t get a full view but I could see the details. I loved the amount of character/backstory that’s shown in the apartments and how they move across the stage. I don’t see many Broadway shows so I can’t compare much but I think they utilized the screen really well with videos. I especially enjoyed how it showed memories. One of the actors sitting reading a book and starting a record before the start of the show felt very immersive. The costuming and makeup is also really nice. You can tell in photos how good the textures are.

I didn’t interact much with the cast but I got my playbill signed by everyone and they were all so sweet. Darrens fans were extremely enthusiastic which was fun to witness but it was quite crowded with pushy security. He made sure to get to everyone and was charismatic even while trying not to talk too much.

I went in knowing very little about the show and having not slept much and I cried more than I could count. It was so impactful. I absolutely would have gone again if I could. I need the album so badly. I know the music was good and I wish I remembered it better. Darren has a perfect voice that I love to hear live. This show needs to thrive. I thoroughly recommend seeing it if you can.

[wrongcaitlyn]

heyy! can you make an apollo time line?? like until before talk your talk starts. i'm so confused

YES okay so i have a very detailed outline in my docs (aka for all the stuff i want to eventually cover in the memoir) but those contain a lot of spoilers so i'm going to give a brief outline of all the main events, just so that the timeline makes sense bc i totally get it - i, too, was very confused by my own timeline when first writing this fic. the amount of shifting and adjustments of it... yeah it was very confusing bc i kept putting off *making* a timeline for apollo and instead just throwing random bits and pieces of lore at him😭

SO here's the official talk your talk apollo timeline

1979

April 8: Apollo is born

1995

July (age 16): Apollo's debut album is released (at this point in time, he has already been in the film industry for years as a child actor, as well as various other smaller gigs/singles. He, before this, has also signed a 5-album contract with his father's record label.)

1998

October - December (age 19): Naomi/Apollo relationship (bonus fun fact: the billboard music awards were on december 7, 1998. This is about nine months before august 23, 1999. do with this information what you will.)

1999

August 23 (age 20): Will Solace is born

2000

June (age 21): at some point, a one night stand with Latricia Lake September 15 - October 1: Sydney Summer Olympics, Darren and Apollo first meeting (they continue to have an on and off relationship from 2000-2003, not really a committed relationship though)

2001

February 28: Austin Lake is born

2003

July (age 24): Darren and Apollo start dating officially

2004

January: Apollo's fifth album is released early March: Apollo and Darren break up mid March: Apollo's tour for the album starts April 1: Kayla Knowles is born late April (age 25): Apollo calls off his contract, doesn't extend his contract, and publicly breaks ties with his father's record label/management. The tour is cancelled, and Apollo disappears from the public eye - but not before "coming out" (this was largely seen as speculation/rumors, not an actual confirmation of his sexuality, and largely forgotten by fans) August 13 - 29: Athens Summer Olympics, Darren and Apollo final meeting (until 2019)

2007

March (age 27): Naomi Solace dies of a stroke before a concert on her tour May (age 28): Will moves in with Apollo

2010

November (age 31): Apollo meets Leo December: Kayla moves in

2011

March: Apollo meets Nico

okay i THINK those are all the important dates/events - hope it all makes sense!! if there are any questions abt apollo's backstory, or just general questions about this timeline (or, if there's an inconsistency that i somehow missed- for some reason, the first time i wrote this timeline, i wrote that kayla was conceived at the 2004 olympics. which makes. zero sense. seeing as she was born in april of that year. so yeah.) but anyway!! i love talking abt apollo and i realize there is a LOT of lore/backstory around him that i haven't gotten around to explaining, and i love rambling. thank you so much for the ask!!

[mr-laveau]

Cu-wip-osity tag game >:D

@cash-n-prizes really told me to get my ass in gear and WELL, here I am so here we go!

rules: reveal the titles of the documents in your WIP folder and tag as many people as there are documents. let others ask questions about the ones that interest them, and post snippets or explain the contents as you see fit!

Tagging: there are too many people to tag and i don’t talk to that many people sooooo whoever wants can tag in. Trust me, I cannot tag that many people for this.

And Then there were three - SH, Angel & Baaabe

Roses n’ Thorns - Darlin/Quinn (past) - Darren(Darlin) used to be in a band with Quinn called Rose n’ Thorns. Yes, I did in fact write Darr being in a band with Quinn into his actual backstory, fuck timelines and canon, I do what I want.

Spell slot - Lovely(electro)/Vincent

Gotcha bitch! - Darlin/pack - poly Shaw pack - Darren (Darlin) has a breakdown when the pack throws him a surprise birthday party

In the face of eternity - Lovely(Vampire)

Who’s ya daddy? - SH/Milo (ft. Colm) - Sadhil (SH) realizes that he and Milo have daddy issues, except SH used to work for Milo’s daddy.

Pretty Girl(gn) Walk - Angel/Darlin/David(minor)

Self-portrait - Gavin/FL - Gavin has too many hobbies but this new one is fun.

Stellar Collapse - Starlight

Fed to the Wolves - David/Darlin

The importance of Couch sharing - Poly Shaw Pack - David/Darlin/Asher/Milo

Backup Generator - DAMN Polycule & Lovely(Vampire)/Vincent

Extra Lessons - Sam/FL/Darlin

Come Back to Haunt - David & SH

Do you have an appointment? - Sam/FL - R18

Hate to see em leave, Love to watch em go - Poly Shaw pack - Asher/Milo/David/Darlin - Asher and Milo talk about David & Darren (Darlin) behind their backs but they’re specifically talking about their behinds - R18

Sweet Dreams (are made of this) - Sunshine/Elliott

Dahlia Empowered Records & Profiles Department - audio project - Magnus Archives parody but make it Redacted

Honestly…no - David/Darlin

A Pack of Idiots - Poly Shaw Pack:

"I'm in love with Asher." David said. The room went quiet after that as Sadhil and Milo's eyes locked onto their alpha in disbelief–more specifically disbelief in the fact that David actually said the very thing that everyone in the pack would joke about when they saw him and his beta together in any capacity. The key word there being 'joked' because no one actually expected it to be true. Sadhil had the mind to question the statement further but got beat to the opportunity to speak. "Well no shit, Sherlock." Darren replied. "Took you that long to figure out?" Now eyes were going back and forth between Tank and David, the bigger wolf looking at the usually quiet shifter in bewilderment as they met his gaze with nonchalance. The investigator could already feel the tensions rising and if they knew both of their fellow pack members well enough then there'd be more to this. "What do you mean, long enough?" "–Darr means," Milo is the one to speak up this time, cutting off Tank from making anymore frank remarks and riling the other man up, "that we can all tell." "What?”

Running Memories - Darlin focused

Can You Roll a Charisma Check? - Lasko/Listener (pre-canon listener) - Lasko finds out that someone new has joined his DnD group and he’s definitely gonna have to roll high if he wants to impress them

Out for Blood - Sam/Darlin - R18

What if we all dated each other? - DAMN Polycule

In-Spectre - Yes I know that’s name of an anime, I’m being funny - SH/Milo:

"Why don't I take you dancin' some time?"  "You got two feet shorter than myself there, toots. You think you can keep up?" Sadhil smirks.

Bad Dog - (Dom) Darlin/ Sam - R18:

"Course not." The vampire huffs. "I know you better than that Darlin." "Do you really, doc?" Darren smiles as crosses his arms and slowly strides over to Sam from across the bar with a sly grin. "Because I know for a fact that there's a side to me you haven't met yet and he wants to make you beg like a hungry mutt." Sam Collins has never in his life wanted anything more than just to let his mate have their way with him right now. He doesn't have time to question why when the one thing racing in his mind is to let Darren use and abuse him like a bone for his wolf to chew on, and he'll be damned if he doesn't let tonight be the night for that to happen. "Where?" "As much as I would like to fuck you in one of the stalls here, I want your ass on a bed where I can have it to myself tonight."

Broke Back Mountain - Sam/Huxley

Ghostly Touches - Lasko/SH/Milo - R18

Don’t Hold Your Breath - DAMN Polycule

Two Birds - David/Darlin

Worth of Chance - SH & Colm

Sway - Vincent/Lovely 

Heart Strings - Asher/Baaabe/Darlin

Keeping Track of Things 1 & 2 - Darlin/Sam (feat. BE & Fred) 

Reset Button - Lovely(Vampire) & Sam

Ghosted - SH/Sam/Darlin

Parks & Recreation - Darlin/David

Anyways, have fun~

[sillyname30]

Their matching outfits, him recording her, reaching to grab the mic to sing for a second…it’s too cute. I really enjoy getting to see little glimpses of their life.

Also watching him record her pains me because I just think about all the videos & photos Darren has that he’ll never share. The man films EVERYTHING. If I remember correctly I think he said Mia will take his phone and send them to herself so family & friends can see?? Let us seeeee 😭

I do find it really sweet that he wants those memories just for himself, but come on, leak the iCloud.

I love their outfits. You can tell how much fun they had. They love costumes, they love Broadway, they love partying with friends and/or strangers.

It was in one of the podcast Darren did with Este Haim. First his friends complain, because Darren films and takes pics of everything and weeks later their friends complain, because they haven't gotten anything from him. Then Darren lets Mia do the work: go through everything and decide what to send to friends and send it.

I get that Darren wants to keep the memories for himself, but just one pic of them in their costumes before they leave home would make us so happy and wouldn't give much away.

[drawnaghht]

"Wait hold on is there a Japanese dub? Or am I reading wrong oop"

@freakova Yes! yes there is! :D :D whoever edited that TVtropes page I mentioned is wrong, I'm not sure if they just didn't have the track available bc of region-restrictions on Netflix (like here for example, we don't get some shows) or bc they have some downloaded version which only has other tracks, but whoever recorded/ripped it originally, didn't have the JP dub track. I suspect it might be the latter.

I know I watched a bit of the japanese version in august, so I wonder if it's those 2 options or maybe even that most people don't watch netflix on PCs/laptops on their browsers, and so they miss out on the extra dubs on TV. That's smth that I often miss on our Netflix, i.e. some shows will have a finnish dub (the closest language to estonian where I don't need subtitles myself), but if it's smth super popular, it won't show the option for the finnish dub on the TV version of netflix at all. Japanese is a language very often missing in the TV version for many things, doesn't seem to be related to how J is in the middle of the alphabet, but rather, whatever system of regions Netflix uses to give suggestions to users. But if I switch to finnish on my PC, it will continue that show/other shows with available dub in my selected language. This goes for subs too!

Lol if u have a friend with Netflix or have it yourself, you can check it out. I have watched it with japanese dub + sub on at the same time to get any interesting language/delivery differences but also just to watch it out of curiosity. this is what I base some of my posts on too like the one's about names, but when I was just curious to see what the JP subtitles were like I got curious abt the dub too and then switched to both. It's

I also added this on the TVtropes page as a source to avoid ppl changing it, but Usagi's japanese VA, Kengo Takanashi, actually tweeted about his involvement for the airing of S2 (for those unfamiliar with voice actors there, like I am, he plays Link in the newer Zelda games. But also, fun TMNT trivia: he plays Donnie in the Bayverse japanese dub hehe x3 )

I think I found this randomly while going through twitter searching for something else. Definitely did not know about this VA before, but it's cool how happy he seemed about tweeting abt this show.

He sounds really nice as Usagi! He has that youthful and curious but annoying quality to it which makes Usagi unique and he sounds just as excited as the original, so the acting is on-point too. I've heard some people say that they like the JP dub over the EN original, but I honestly like both. There is a bit of a difference between Kengo (JP) and Darren (EN) with how different of a timber their voices have, but it's a very subtle difference. I've also watched the finnish and german dubs (both languages which I actually understand/speak more than japanese) and those also had very good Usagi voices. The russian dub versions sounds a bit deeper/ older but otherwise, the acting itself is fine, so it doesn't really bother me. In some versions, either Tetsujin or Gen sound either too young or too old for their roles, but otherwise, most of the dubs for this show at least, sound pretty good and similar to the og.

Anyway, I am not thinking of doing a spring cleaning on TV tropes now to clean up any more old/misleading info hehehe >:3c

[ozyras]

roland as adrion .. i think i might cry. it'd be a really interesting swap considering adrion's forgiving/subservient nature contrasting with roland's harsher, more bitter one. we've seen roland hold grudges before and that was only regarding terrence leaving them to fight on their own against a fakejoker, so itd be definitely different seeing his reaction to sera's whole incident[s].

evil rei oh my god *keels over and dies*. the idea of ice claws is so cool- especially since he's based on some cooler tones [teal hair, bluey grey x-static costume] it works as a good contrast to volcan's fire.

vaughn and keon switching makes a lot of sense too [since theyre both super shady]. i do agree that while having to swap abilities might be unfortunate, it's pretty pertinent to the plot so it makes sense!

im thinking, is it keene and doc who switch? or maybe doc and kayden. since keene isnt super plot relevant? originally i thought leilah, but im pretty sure she swapped with william :]

also! for some reason, the idea of elaine digging up dirt and isen totally at remi's whim is the funniest thing to me because it's so odd yet so already in character for them. i picture elaine to dig up dirt cause she likes making fun of people secretely [with cecile]-- elaine and cecile are unironically such a great duo in this though -v-

heyaaa, so sorry for the late reply spex :( yea i think roland would be a little harsher towards sera and would have a harder time forgiving her compared to adrion but i think they’d at least be on good terms (especially after the u-mart incident) before sera returns to wellston. he’d show his resentment way more when they were in new bostin though, with evie being the one to go easier on sera because she didn’t want to lose her first friend.

EVIL REI YESSS i wanna draw more of him tbh :3 the ice claws are sooo cool thank u mer ( @stingro ) for the idea!

tbh i was thinking of doc and kayden but it can change anytime if a more suitable character appears. if they were to switch, i think kayden would be a newly graduated nurse and darren would be a chemist who’s been working with william in spectre for a long time. kayden has to get involved with spectre some way through william tho, so i think he’d be william’s student/mentee or something? i also thought about going with the original storyline and making them date but kayden and william’s age gap and jane’s role being so ambiguous make things complicated. i’d probably switch kayden and doc’s ages if i were to go with that but i think the first case with kayden being william’s student works kinda better?? i’m a little unsure about this part so i guess i’ll have a more clear idea about them as the story progresses. oh and keene’s swap is probably nadia :) (the lie detector lady)

heheh yes isen and elaine’s swap is so funny to me too. isen just does everything remi asks of him and tries to flirt with her whenever an opportunity arises but remi ignores his attempts completely. i always imagined that she’d ask for sera’s old records from isen because he’s very good at this stuff but wants elaine to question her (idk why i just want that interview scene between them!). but what you said makes so much sense too, considering elaine looks down upon people a lot so she’d probably secretly make fun of people. i think in both ways, that scene would be a good insight on elaine’s character, revealing her prejudiced side. and yea, i love the cecile-elaine duo a lot here, they’re a little less mischievous than blysen (mostly due to elaine’s calmer personality) but they still care about each other sm :>

[notebookmusical]

Hi! Okay this is part 2. Sorry it's a few days late lol. I also wanted to mention how cool the new Playbill styles for the anniversary are! I've seen a few of them and it's awesome that they're all mostly different and creative. I'm not always a fan of the old just black and white style but when it works..it works and sometimes it's pretty cool or matches the vibes haha. I am excited for Gypsy and Sunset Boulevard is getting pretty good reviews too..or at least Nicole. I'm also interested in Maybe Happy Ending with Darren Criss. Anyway yes everyone in the show and the Notebook is soo talented and I hope they have long careers. I could totally see John Cardoza in any of the roles you mentioned. Also I heard some people say that Solea makes a great Satine too.

Oh okay. Did you listen to Urinetown yet? What have you been listening to? I think I have maybe heard a few songs but that's all. But I am familiar with Spelling Bee that they are doing performances of and that also seemed like a great cast. If you haven't listened, I would recommend it.

Omg what did you think of the Death Becomes Her movie? I liked How do you imagine the musical and the songs? It's weird cuz the music in the movie seemed suspenseful but the movie itself didn't have that vibe so I just wonder .how it will be. .especially with the stunts and what the songs will sound like. But I think it has potential and definitely more of a fun show with a good cast so I hope the songs are good. It was fun to imagine where the songs would be.

I'm sorry you didn't like Lempicka. It seems we have some of the same thoughts. It just didn't stick with me for some reason but I know others liked it. What did your friend like about it so much? and why. But I also watched three bootlegs this week and I'm excited to tell you. That was also part of the reason I was replying late. I think I will have to send another ask though and idk when cuz my phone is so glitchy right now and I don't want stuff to not send again. I promise I will send another one sooner though!

replying under the cut 🤍

i really like the new playbill styles! do you have a ranking of your favorites? i posted this a while ago but i can't remember which ones i ranked at the top, oops! i am so so so excited for gypsy; my best friend and i keep joking that this is a sondheim/gypsy revival family and not a sunset boulevard one (even though i've heard nicole is incredible). i was reading the sunset reviews, and everyone universally seems to love nicole. i just personally am not a fan of jamie lloyd's ... staging ... or the gimmick (i think it's just stupidly arrogant to do in new york). i'm intrigued by maybe happy ending too!! i can't wait to hear more about it. have you seen the reviews for r+j? i was a little shocked at how mixed it was, but also not.

i did listen to urinetown! and it was very easy to picture jordan fisher and stephanie styles as the respective roles they're cast in! i have been listening to a lot of the secret of us deluxe by gracie abrams, and halsey's the great impersonator as of late, but also still listening to a lot of the notebook... and the notebook... and the notebook. i'm going to try to listen to an audio boot of ken cen spelling bee this week, and the new sunset cast recording!

i really liked death becomes her, and i cannot wait to see how things are done on stage! i have so many questions and it just seems SO cool and so fun. ugh i wish i was going to new york again soon so i could see it. i've heard it did pretty well in chicago so i wonder how things will go for them in new york — it looks like megan is sick right now though, poor thing :(

my friend loveees eden! and so it was unsurprising that she loves lempicka as much as she does haha! i was just kind of ~ whatever ~ about it. but i'm happy it resonated with her and she loves the show! will reply to the next part in a bit!!

[tenofthebest]

2023

1. H.C McEntire - Every Acre

The alt-country poet and band leader from North Carolina returns with her strongest work to date on which she explores the meaning of home, both physically and spiritually, while sounding like Neil Young and Tammy Wynette at their languid and guitar-drenched best. It's a rare pleasure nowadays to hear someone making great American music like this.

2. Blur - The Ballad Of Darren

The Britpop icons show up in surprisingly good form on their ninth studio album. Mature songwriting, lush harmonies, and a tight 36-minute run time make this take on middle-aged melancholy some of the best work of their career.

3. Kojaque - Phantom Of The Afters

Irish rapper-producer Kevin Smith delivers fresh, insightful, and poignant takes on immigrant song as he tells modern-day tales of a young Irish person relocating to London to pursue their dreams. If that sounds too specific, it turns out that the struggles are universal.

4. Buck 65 - Super Dope

The self-proclaimed "all-time undisputed king of drum breaks", who made my favorite album of 2022, came right back with another jaw-dropping set that he said is the best work of his career. It was the album I listened to most this year, by far.

5. Cory Hanson - Western Cum

Terrible title and even worse cover art aside, this is an extremely fun take on classic rock that fuses instantly enjoyable guitar shredding with surreal lyrics and a kind of bizarro Neil Young style of songwriting that works far better than you'd think.

6. The Coral - Sea Of Mirrors

20 years in, the Liverpool band are at the peak of their powers on this collection of twangy folk-rock tunes that are laden with all manner of metaphors about the crumbling of modern Britain.

7. Margaret Glaspy - Echo The Diamond

The Brooklyn alt-pop singer-songwriter returns with an album written and recorded under self-imposed time constraints that help capture an arresting immediacy in both the writing and the stripped-down performances.

8. Róisin Murphy - Hit Parade

The Irish singer's full-length collaboration with German DJ Koze is her strongest album yet, full of intentionally off-kilter house, funk, and disco tunes that see both artists giving their all to produce a sound that is truly original.

9. Jape - Endless Thread

Two decades into his career, the Dublin-born, Malmö-based songwriter has come up with his most accomplished and cohesive collection of songs yet, on which he filters his inquisitiveness and introspection through inspiration drawn from the great 1970s solo albums from the likes of Paul McCartney, John Cale, and Judy Sill.

10. Colter Wall - Little Songs

The 28-year old son of a prominent Canadian politician is an unlikely candidate for the second coming of Johnny Cash, but Colter Wall's take on country and western is the real deal.

[moremusic]

This Week guest called “Feed the Fire” certainly know how to write a catchy riff. Their song “Haunted House” has been on my most played list for awhile. Here is the interview.

Tell us a little bit about Feed the Fire? Members, how did you get together etc?

We are a powerhouse trio playing our own brand of guitar driven rock music!!

We formed after another band we were all in was no longer really scratching our musical itch so to speak.

Whilst there was never any guarantee that us three would all end up in a band together again, the stars aligned and the rest is history.

What are you short and long terms goals?

For us I think that they are one and the same. To be continually getting better at our craft and writing the music we enjoy and getting it

out to as many people as possible be it via live shows or on line.

How was it dealing with the Covid Pandemic? Is everything back to normal?

We stayed as busy as we could. Our drummer built our studio. We continued to write and release more music and as soon as we could

we were out there playing live even though it was quite restricted and a bit strange for us to be playing to seated audiences, we definitely didn't lose any drive or love of doing what we do.

What is your career highlight so far?

We’ve been lucky enough to play alongside some pretty big Aussie bands that we look up to and have been on a few big festival stages as well.

Playing third headline at 'Caltowie Chilled Out and Fired up Festival' is definitely up there with some of the most fun we've had!

Your song “Haunted House” is my favourite of all your music releases. I listen to it a lot. What is it about and how did you come up with?

That was the first single off of our debut LP 'Maybe You Need This!?'

One of the main riffs in that song is one that had appeared in different guises in different songs over the years and finally found its home in Haunted House.

I don't really like to delve too much into what a song is about for fear of taking away from what it might mean to a listener. Suffice it to say, it was written whilst going through some dark times and heartache, much like the entire album its from.

Have you got any new music coming out? Or are you still recording?

We most certainly do and we most certainly are! We have one track that we recorded at the same time as our

last two singles 'SHAKE' and 'POLITICS' that will likely be our next release and it won't be too far off. We are currently writing for our second album.

Who are the greatest influences on you? Individually and as a band?

There are a whole lot and they are ever changing.

Individually:

Dan - Vocally it was always Chris Cornell and Axl Rose. For guitar if we go all the way back it was Billie Joe Armstrong, Darren Malakian, Chris Cheney, and Slash. But in more recent times its guys like Joe Bonamassa, Garry Morre and Marcus King.

Paul - Pantera, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath

Keeny - Black Sabbath

You'll find most of those mentioned in some part shaping the band and the songs we write.

If you could invite 4 musicians to dinner dead or alive) who would you invite?

Dan - Joe Bonamassa

Paul - Chris Cornell

Keeny - A couple of muso mates to round out the four

Any gigs coming up you want to promote?

ENIGMA BAR on July first with SISTERS DOLL!!!

If you were given the chance to support one artist in the world, who would you pick?

Dan - BIFFY CLYRO

Paul - STONE SOUR

Keeny - Any band that wants to take us the road and look after us so we can all have a good time bringing rock n roll to

the masses!!

If you were stuck on a deserted island with only one record, what would it be?

Dan - Bringing Down The Horse by The Wallflowers

Paul - Themata by Karnivool

Keeny - Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle

Where can people find out more about you?

Stopping short of giving out our home addresses you can find out all the goss on Feed The Fire via all the usual suspects.

https://instagram.com/feedthefireofficial?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[daja-the-hypnokitten]

Jukebox reviews part 33! For context, see my post “A Project”      under this same tag. If you want to see a full list of his EMCSA    stories, they can be found here, sorted alphabetically.And if you want to see some of his drabbles, check out his blog at @jukeboxemcsa

Yes (Means It’s Hard to Say No)

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

12/10/2016                                   mc

This is another Jukebox induction, this time centered around agreement and yes sets. It's a very well-done induction, and I'm sure that if I heard it recorded as it was clearly meant to be, it would likely melt my brain into a happy puddle - though my brain, being the particular flavor of ace it is, would probably shrug at the orgasm suggestion with a 'that sounds fun for people who aren't me, thank you" effectively. But technique wise? this is 10/10 spirals.

 Weak

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

12/17/2016                                   mc mf mm md fd

this feels vaguely serial recruitment-y, and without even consent from Jack for it, and just is a turn-off for me. Add in the race play element (the concept of a "big, black cock" and ... nope. I'm squicked TF out. 

 Joyride

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

12/24/2016                                   mc ff md

Gosh, I don't like Darren at all, and even Odetta irritates me by the end of this. I understand her anger, though, so it's easier to give her a pass. This is more body control than mind control, to me, which is a distinction that matters rather a lot to my enjoyment. Between not liking the characters and it being body control, not mind control? 2/10 spirals. 

 Delirious

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

12/31/2016                                   mc ff

... nope. Pandemic stories just are NOPE. 

 Red Head Vs. the Pretty Red Bracelet

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1/7/2017                                       mc mf md

"which was totally unfair, if either of them had any interest in his being fair" ... I love this line. So much. (I often use the related "who said anything about 'fair'?") And - I've stolen the idea of tying a suggestion to a bracelet from this story, for my favourite redheaded gal, though the suggestion I tied to her bracelet is much sweeter and romantic than this one. (ok, ok, this story doesn't do a trigger so much as an associated anchor, but it still inspired me.) I love all of this story so much though. It's clever and hot and they clearly have a good relationship and just *yes.* If you like consensual, clever hypnokinky shenanigans, give this story a read! 10/10 spirals 

 Entangled

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

1/21/2017                                     mc mf md

Another delightful "these folk are clearly in a happy relationship, and I love seeing them get up to shenanigans" story. The suggestions in play are clever and the way Ellen responds is absolutely wonderful. Joe's pacing and rhythm is spot on, too, and I can just see exactly how easily Ellen lets him into her mind, surrenders to his power, and lets him bind her. It's wonderful and I absolutely *adore* stories like this. 10/10 spirals. 

 Golden Slumbers

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

1/21/2017                                     mc mf md

This is an interesting take on Victorian-era approaches.to hypnosis, and I think I mostly like it. It's truly terrible about consent, of course, but other than that I love how Alexander uses her expectation, her curiosity, and just his force of presence to command her into a trance. The story's focus on just how out of it she is, the way it feels to her, keeps me interested, but it's just missing a little something after the initial induction, for my personal preference. She's so passive, there's not much charge to it, to me. 8/10 spirals. 

 Passenger

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

1/28/2017                                     mc

This reads as an induction to be recorded, but recorded with a specific person in mind - a new partner, being trained to respond, being brainwashed into the sort of pet they want to be for their dominant partner. It feels vaguely like I"m seeing somthing not meant for me, in that way. But at the same time, it's a lot of really good content to consider for any hypnotist playing with a new partner. Things like defining what safewords mean, adding in safeties like "when it's safe and comfortable" and in general how to take care of a hypnotee, while also doing hot things like brainwashing them. 9/10 spirals. 

 His Eyes, Her Eyes

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

2/4/2017                                       mc mf md fd

This is a fun premise, for sure! And they both play into it so well. The sense of the rules we're given, the way they both follow them while being as unfair as they can manage, it's all really good. But the competitive edge feels just a bit ... not quite *meanspirited*, exactly, but something in that space, and that takes me out of it a little. Otherwise, this switch fight is lovely. 7/10 spirals. 

 Out of the Black

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

2/11/2017                                     mc ff

Nope, I can't with an image of swimming that deep underwater. I just can't. *shudder* I had to nope out a paragraph in.

[infinite-wanders]

I'm not gonna pretend to know how the casting procedure works. Because yes, it's not Darren's fault. But also: the mere fact that he has 10/11 years on Maitreyi has people dismissing the ship (which sometimes makes me wish that they cast a Japanese actor closer to Maitreyi's age) because how often do we get an interracial ship without a white person in it? The only example I have so far is Scott and Kira from Teen Wolf. And now Devi x Paxton probably isn't gonna be canon because people fall over the age gap and Mindy Kaling always has her protagonists fall for a white dude. And it's a shame because Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher could really do something here and push the envelope and they're not going to.

The world was not ready for a beautiful ship like Scira in 2011-2017, and they're still doing our poor girl dirty.

Fun fact: Arden Cho is older than Tyler Posey by 6 years and that does not get the same hate.

I think we should stop with the age shaming when everything is above board / legal / a safe environment is made.

If you're part of the JATP fandom, we are forever shipping a teenage girl with a teenage ghost that died 25 years ago! Probably not healthy but idc, it's my comfort show like NHIE. Also the amount of chemistry without kissing, etc *chefs kiss*

I guess ... there is no huge love triangle on that show, so no one feels the need to shit on the actors and drag age into the argument. And then again, maybe because it's another interracial ship with a white boy lol.

I think we've been programmed to believe MK and LF won't give us a Daxton endgame based on MK track record of ships.

Married with the way how the b*nvi community felt they had to push that their ship would be end game, and could only do it by bringing down Daxton and poor Darren Barnet.

Mate if Devi ends up with no one, that's her choice too. Good 4 u girl ✌️

So much has changed in media portrayals and representation is increasing.

But hey, let's give them a chance, they could surprise us. Personally, I know its hard if like me you sat through game of thrones to end up with season 8 lol and still have some lingering trauma and trust issues.

Regardless Daxton will always be canon to me, even if Devi ends up with neither / no one.

If you're a Daxton anon, hope this gives you some hope and light today x

Thanks for chatting. I tend to ramble.

[gotta-get-back-to-hatchetfield]

Two pieces of 'Its Over Now' trivia for little white lie week:

1) The reason why the Darren version of it on the soundtrack sound super weird is because that is actually the version that plays when they find the video of Kevin (nick) singing it on his website. Yes that's right nick was too anti singing to even sing 30 seconds of a song as a character that didn't even need to be a great singer, so instead he got Darren to record it and then they sped it up so his voice would sound less recognisable (source: an interview of Nick and Darren from 2010 that I watched recently and don't have the link to)

2) Much like lots of this era of starkid this song wasn't originally written for little white lie, it was originally written for a submit a song contest thing (if you haven't seen my earlier post little white lie itself was because they won a make a web series contest so idk man early starkid was just really competitive idk?). But the fun fact here is that Not Alone is in some ways a sequel to it's over now because a few months later Darren was thinking about the song and decided it was too boring and depressing so wrote a more upbeat answer to it which was the first (and based on how 2k09 starkid operated probably the final) demo to Not Alone. A shockingly high quantity of avpm and avps songs were not written for the musicals and just had lyrics changed to make them about Harry Potter. (Source: one of the million hour SK10 livestreams but I forget which and I don't have the time stamp so even if I remembered it wouldn't help sorry)

[d-criss-news]

The Glee star and Emmy winner for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, Darren Criss, 34, will be releasing his first album of Christmas songs, titled A Very Darren Crissmas (October 8). It includes duets with Adam Lambert, Evan Rachel Wood and an original song, “Drunk on Christmas,” featuring Lainey Wilson.

What was your goal with this Christmas album?

To reintroduce familiar songs in a new way. But I also wanted to take lesser-known songs and make those feel more familiar. And, most importantly, I wanted to take songs that people don’t associate with Christmas but I do—like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”—and try to make them feel like Christmas songs.

What inspired you to write “Drunk on Christmas”?

It’s about the end of Christmas when everything’s been done. There’s wrapping on the floor, you’ve cleaned things, the in-laws have left and there’s nothing else to do. It’s two people having a sit-on-the couch moment, sipping a glass of cocoa with some SoCo [Southern Comfort] in it.

What is it about Christmas music? Why did you want to do the Christmas album?

Christmas or the holiday season is something that, whether we like it or not, we experience every year, and that comes with a litany of wonderful songs and music that again, whether you have been proactive about listening to it or not, it’s pretty hard to avoid. It’s permeated our cultural consciousness for our entire lives. So if you happen to be someone like me who consumes music at a hyperactive level, I’ve always adored Christmas music.

People say this because of the way that it makes them feel and the things that it reminds them of. There are so many layers to why people enjoy Christmas music. It’s nostalgic, it is very romantic, at least in the true dictionary meaning of the word romantic. And to me, I’ve always loved it for a much more anthropological reason, which is for one month or several weeks out of the year we suddenly subscribe to a certain sentiment that the other 11 we don’t really dial into. We want it all, then we want it to just go away.

What makes Christmas songs different?

As a musician I’ve always loved that Christmas music can employ certain musical elements that otherwise aren’t very popular. To me, it’s incredible that without a doubt the estates of many artists are guaranteed placement on the radio even though many of them have been deceased for many years. The pop charts are dominated by whatever contemporary, awesome artists there are nowadays, but in December you can guarantee that Burl Ives and Dean Martin will be on the radio with the best of them. I find that so charming. It’s because people really, really love this music.

And those songs don’t sound like the sounds that we’re hearing on the radio, sonically, harmonically, rhythmically. They employ a lot of “classic” sounds that evoke the feeling of Christmas. I’m a self-proclaimed genrephile—this is a term I use for myself throughout all the stuff that I do. I can’t help but be so enchanted by this idea that artists have license, and by license I mean an excuse to do things that you ordinarily wouldn’t be encouraged to do, or that audiences wouldn’t necessarily be as quick to absorb.

So, when you’re talking about classic Christmas writing, for lack of a better word, you use clichéd Christmas terminology, you use certain chords, and harmonies, and instrumentations that you just wouldn’t do throughout the year. It leans on the slightly more sophisticated, slightly more musical, and that is really exciting for someone like me.

How much does the fact that your last name is Criss play into this?

If you play music and your last name is Criss, every year someone says, “You know what you should do?” as if they’re the first person who’s ever thought of this idea. So I’ve always wanted to do this; it was just a matter of time. And I also didn’t want it to be phoned in, I didn’t want it to seem like, “Oh, here’s some songs that you know already.”

I wrote this in my liner notes that my favorite thing to do with art, but particularly music, is curate, interpolate, create and personalize. That’s my main thing. I’m an OK singer, I’m an OK musician, but what I really think I have a yen for is trying to interpolate something new that people didn’t know before.

If you think about a song like “Jingle Bells,” it was not written for Christmas. It was a song from 200-something years ago that bears no mention of Christmas whatsoever, but we associate it so heavily with Christmas. Lately I hear Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” come up on Christmas playlists. I think it must have something to do with the Christian angle of the song and the reverence of the word “hallelujah,” but there’s no mention of Christmas.

So there’s a lot of different things that can make people feel like Christmas if you arrange it a certain way, and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted this cocktail of songs that people didn’t know and I might be able to introduce to them in a really new, interesting way.

You duet with Adam Lambert, Evan Rachel Wood and Lainey Wilson. These people couldn’t be more different. How did you select your song partners for this?

Honestly, people are busy, so I leaned on friends of mine. The album is called A Very Darren Crissmas, and I wanted to make it just that. Songs that are very, very me, doing things that are very me, and using the talents of people who are legitimately in my life. Adam has been a pal for a long time. We’ve known each other from just adventures in Hollywood, but he, of course, was on Glee with me. Evan Rachel is a dear pal of mine; we’ve done some things together. She’s played my festival, and I’ve done comedy sketches with her and stuff. These are all extraordinarily talented singers. As I told them when I asked them to be a part of it, “I’d be very lucky to have you on this record.”

I had not met Lainey Wilson before I started this. But when you’re in Nashville, you are in the Olympic tent of USDA certified prime country singers. And that’s a bit of a blind spot for me as far as who’s on the up and up, who’s somebody that can really give a level of authenticity, legitimacy to a more classic ’50s Nashville sound, which is the song that I wrote called “Drunk on Christmas.” My producer Ron Fair, who has been living in Nashville for a while, suggested Lainey and we got on like a house on fire. She’s an extraordinary talent and I was happy to have her. These were all people that were part of this grassroots friend to friend thing. That’s how I got them and I’m very lucky that they’re on the record.

There are hundreds of Christmas songs. How did you choose what to include?

Choosing was extremely hard. I had a list of about 100 songs. I’m not done; this record is only phase one in my mind. There are so many songs that it will make your head spin. If you go, “Did you think about this song?” The answer is yes, and I absolutely had to deliberate which ones I had to triage out of the sequence.

I even said no to “The Christmas Song,” which is on the album. I didn’t want to do it because I was like, “Everybody knows it; it’s perfect by Nat King Cole,” and Mel Tormé [who wrote it] is one of my favorite artists of all time, much less songwriters and musicians. So I was like, “I don’t want to have to do that.” And on the day when we were there, we just had a guitar and said, “Let’s just do it for fun,” because I love singing that song. But I was like, “It’s been done perfectly too many times, I really don’t want to have to put myself up against that.” But we had a nice take, it’s live in the room. And hey, come on, it’s Christmas. So I left it on there.

If we were to come to your house during the holidays, what would you be listening to?

I’d probably sit you down and play you my favorite songs that you’ve never heard that I think are great Christmas songs. But what’s nice is I’ve now put those songs on this album, hopefully, in a perhaps delusional effort to standardize these songs in the Christmas pantheon. There has to be an air of delusion to being an artist in the first place. If one of these songs that no one’s ever heard before catches on with a family or a person and becomes part of their Christmas playlist every year, then I will have succeeded in my efforts.

What did the Emmy you won for The Assassination of Gianni Versace do for your career?

Although the Emmy has just my name on it, the number one thing that I’m most proud of is it’s more symbolic and representative of the work of the whole team. It is a validation and celebration of the really hard work of people that I spent a lot of time and energy with creating this role.

You have a couple voice roles coming up—in Trese and Yasuke—but what are we going to see you in next, not just hear you?

I don’t know. Let me know if there’s any opportunities. A huge reason for why this album was made was because I had the time. Making records takes a lot of time, and I’m envious of people who are just singers. I don’t know how people do that, that’s just not who I am. I’m a producer, I’m a writer, I’m a musician. It takes so much out of me to make a body of music because someone doesn’t say, “OK, here are the songs, show up on a Tuesday, you sing it and then you leave.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Some of my favorite artists can do that and are blessed enough to be able to just do that. I can’t.

It takes so much time for me to really get in the weeds, arrange, edit vocals, edit instrumentation, mix tracks, really getting in the jungle of music production. I can’t function any other way and that takes an extraordinary amount of time. Even when there was a global pandemic, I still had deadlines that we could barely make to finish this album because that’s just how my brain works.

So I haven’t been able to act. I haven’t had an acting job in almost two years. That’s not entirely true. I’ve had little bit things during the pandemic, but no big series or films or anything like that. It’s just been mostly working from home and being as proactive as I can be. I started a weekly podcast with a friend of mine, I put out an EP. I’ve been extremely busy with high output and low visibility. I’m waiting for the next thing, but I’m not one to sit still. If you give me time, I’m going to fill all the spaces out. So I did that with music this past two years.

Are you going to go back to Broadway now that it’s opening again?

I don’t want to say anything that is not perhaps confirmed 100 percent, but I will say with full confidence that I have always had the intention of going back exactly where we started. I’ll let them announce what’s happening because every show is in its own unique holding pattern. But, yes, right before the shutdown I was doing American Buffalo in New York, and talk about the actor’s dream, that is right up there. Doing a great American play that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve had a long history with that show, and I finally get to do it for real with two of my favorite actors—Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne. They are two acting heroes of mine.

So I was in rehearsals for that. We were about to go into tech, and things got shut down. But we’re in a very fortunate position where you’ve got two huge movie stars, you have a very well-known play and you have a fixed set and just three guys. There are musicals that have orchestras, big choruses and huge set pieces, and the overhead and upkeep of these productions is quite complicated. And a lot of them, for that reason, fell by the wayside during the pandemic, and it’s an awful tragedy. But our set and our billboard and our posters are exactly where we left them. It’s kind of a trip. If you go to Circle in the Square, I keep telling people it’s the longest I’ve ever been on Broadway because it’s just sitting there dormant, waiting to be resurrected.

I think all of us are planning on going back. I think the show is scheduled to reopen almost to the day that it was supposed to open in 2020. We’ll see how the schedule ends up, but you have three guys whose heart and soul is the theater. I don’t want to speak for the other two guys, but I’m almost positive that all three of us would rather be doing that play on Broadway than anything else. So when I say I haven’t had an acting gig in two years, it’s been a comfort to know that that was waiting for me on the other end. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to do it. We’ll have to make sure that everything is hunky-dory with theater audiences, et cetera, et cetera, but that’s the idea.

How did Ryan Murphy casting you in Glee change your life?

I said during my Emmy speech that actors are only as good as the moments they get. I used to say actors are only as good as the parts they get. Take that with a huge grain of salt, obviously, it’s not entirely true. But in context of that moment, certainly you can understand what I meant. Acting is a proactive craft, but in many respects it’s a passive career, where you have to hope and wait for a benefactor, a patron, a supporter to say, “OK, all right, kid, you’re up. I think you can do it.”

I think any artist’s life is a constant compromise between knowing what you can do and what you want to do, and having other people, audiences and creative authorities alike, have an idea of what you can do. You have to have that balance of somewhere in the middle, where hopefully you can rise to an occasion that you know you can do, that somebody’s going to give you the opportunity to do. But you’re not in control of that relationship, and so you have to sit and hope and pray that someone is going to give you that moment and that opportunity. That was something that I’m fully indebted to with Ryan.

Because he did say, “All right, kid, you’re up,” and gave me that shot. We talked about the The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story series for years before we did it. I didn’t think he was ever going to do it. By the time we started shooting, he probably mentioned it to me three or four years prior. And I kept asking about it like, “Hey, you still want to do this thing?” I think he was just always obsessed with the fact that I was half Filipino and that I bore a certain resemblance to the guy. Age and everything, it seems pretty spot-on. But he was a man of his word, and he really did end up making it. So I’m incredibly indebted to him and I’ve always been very effusive about that.

Now that you have this modicum of fame, what would you like to use it to accomplish?

For me, there are so many things that I love in this world that I don’t think other people are familiar with. One of the things about having a modicum of a platform is hopefully embracing that to use it as a gateway drug for stuff that people might not be familiar with. I don’t know if they’re going to like it as much as I do, but I’m looking at this track list and there are songs that I guarantee that you don’t know.

These are all things where I go, “OK, I have this moment of people’s attention, hopefully, this is a fun way to have them have eyes on something that I think is deserving of eyes, and not because of me, but because of other people who have made something amazing.” And, hopefully, they have the same proactive curiosity that I had growing up where I look at the liner notes and see who wrote the songs and where they came from. But we’ll see. We’ll see if people have that reaction.

You’ve accomplished so much. What’s the dream going forward?

The dream is to keep doing me, really. I think all you can do is be as true to yourself and try and do as accessible and as valuable work as you can. And, hopefully, in so doing, represent people, giving them visibility and encouragement towards their own place in the cultural conversation.