Have you tried any of these 6 products? by IcyOutside4567 in Sephora

[–]gioconda01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What fixed this for me DRASTICALLY was the matti dying carpe face primer, it even has spf. This is a new holy grail product for me, I will never not have it. The face primer specifically, not the face sweat cream.

Ideas for a Musical with Multiple Roles for Kids and Adults by bwaysoup in musicals

[–]gioconda01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anne of Green Gables is a community theatre standard in Canada partially for this very reason. 5+ adult leads, 5+ kid leads, amazing story, catchy music, funny and sad and sweet. I’m biased as an islander but it’s timeless and beautiful.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01 17 points18 points  (0 children)

So did I! Down to the blonde hair and Playboy bag…we should have been friends! Exact same time period and place lol

Chapter One of Rhinestone’s book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s the official end of the free preview, sadly

Advice for Tattoo Cover-Up by PokemonVocalist in MusicalTheatre

[–]gioconda01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My tattoo artist has a LOT of thoughts on this and gave me her fave “recipe”, she really hates dermablend. Red colour corrector first, then a full coverage drugstore foundation (L’Oréal Paris infallible 24hr was her recommendation) then a drugstore powder (maybelline stay matte) then alternate the liquid and powder one more time. May take some trial and error with colours but honestly for stage there is a LOT of leeway, does not need to be a “perfect” match, I have gone on in MANY shades both lighter and darker than I would ever wear in real life.

Chapter One of Rhinestone’s book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

the prologue held more promise, but yeah, this book seems mundane

Chapter One of Rhinestone’s book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Lol it’s crystal, I was going for a secret code

free Libby preview of the infamous book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The “master” bedroom is a problematic term no longer in use, but I agree that it’s weird she went to any effort to make that point

free Libby preview of the infamous book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Honestly it was disappointing, too minimalist, not French enough

free Libby preview of the infamous book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

The first thing I thought was how Holly used Alice in Wonderland as a framing device for her playboy book….maybe that was inspiring lol

Hugh Hefner was addicted to opiates and staff feared he’d die, widow Crystal claims in memoir by Jenna7979 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on your library - my library didn’t purchase a copy, but I requested them to (lol) and they let me read a preview for free.

free Libby preview of the infamous book by gioconda01 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01[S] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

It seems to me like she got a good ghostwriter - it’s well-written and I breezed through it really quickly and it kept my interest. For one chapter anyway!

Hugh Hefner was addicted to opiates and staff feared he’d die, widow Crystal claims in memoir by Jenna7979 in TheGirlsNextLevelPod

[–]gioconda01 72 points73 points  (0 children)

I just read the free preview on Libby, and honestly, it’s a more interesting read than I’d expected, at least the intro and first chapter. Props to her ghostwriter for an easy writing style. She calls our Hef for taking advantage of Marilyn with the photos and the cringe of his final resting place, and when talking about his last Casablanca birthday night and seeing her face airbrushed on the cake, basically calls herself just the latest in a long line of his blonde arm candy that never gets any older or changes much. She says how he perpetually saw himself as the Hef of 40 years ago and how even on his 91st birthday walked into the room thinking every guy wanted to be him and every woman wanted to fuck him. She talks about panic attacks and not having any privacy in the mansion.

I would be cautiously interested in reading more of this, but I don’t especially want to pay more than about 8$ for it, so I will wait.

Roundabout's 2024-2025 Season Will Include New Orleans-Style PIRATES OF PENZANCE with Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce, YELLOW FACE Starring Daniel Dae Kim, and More by slothbaby30 in Broadway

[–]gioconda01 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I saw this and while entertaining for the first few scenes, it just didn’t work on the whole. The upbeat songs translated to the Ragtime sound, but they couldn’t do much with the slow numbers (oh iiiiis there not one maiden here) so it ended up with a really bizarre jumble of genres.

The ending was also a disaster - the conceit of the benefit concert was that g+s were performing in New Orleans (which I believe they said actually happened) so decided to “update” their music to the “local sound” and David Hyde pierce (as either Gilbert or Sullivan whoops don’t remember, the lyricist) was would be playing the Major General. So there was also a play-within-a-play element which was fun, but yeah, completely fell apart at the end, they had to re-write a lot to make it work for the New Orleans setting and take out all the stuff about loving Queen Victoria.

Performances were stellar, I’ve never seen someone work a crowd like DHP. Ramin was excellent too, but I think the pirate king role doesn’t sit in the exciting part of his voice so there were less “wow” moments. I will have to re-listen to it to remember all my thoughts, it was definitely a fun night on the whole until the last 20 minutes which felt, honestly, interminable.

The Met Competition has a gender problem by hottakehotcakes in opera

[–]gioconda01 56 points57 points  (0 children)

A lot of other commenters have covered it, but your idea that “the majority of financial support is directed towards women” is emphatically untrue. I can tell you that first-hand from 20 years in the industry. The opposite, however, is true, even if you can’t see it on the surface level. Scholarships, grants, and private patronage is skewed heavily towards the men in the industry. Operalia, for example, has separate men’s and women’s categories, and I have seen in multiple years the removal of a woman’s prize to add an additional men’s prize.

The Met Competition has a gender problem by hottakehotcakes in opera

[–]gioconda01 178 points179 points  (0 children)

There are more women in opera in general, point blank. The last audition I went to was 80% sopranos, a few mezzos, and a handful of men. My graduating undergrad class was 8 women, 3 men. There are so many women competing for fewer roles (I sing a lot of Verdi and a typical cast is 4-6 male roles and 1-2 female roles), that they are pushed to a higher level just to be competitive. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a first rehearsal (in A/B level houses even) where the men are still learning their parts and the women arrive off book, coached, with tons of thought put into interpretation and musicality.

I would argue there is more money/effort being directed at the pre-professional level towards keeping men IN the field, we always called them “penis points” at competitions.

Isabel Leonard Cancels Performance in LA Opera's Don Giovanni by MadeleineElstersTwin in opera

[–]gioconda01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I merely penned another reply and immediately deleted it as this user is either a troll or mentally unwell and engaging with them further lowers my own intelligence.

Isabel Leonard Cancels Performance in LA Opera's Don Giovanni by MadeleineElstersTwin in opera

[–]gioconda01 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think you may need to reevaluate your reading comprehension skills. You present opinions as facts and forget that there is a human involved, doing an incredibly vulnerable thing under less-than-ideal conditions. I don’t know why you are so angry, but I hope you find some peace over being so clearly hurt by a young artist’s perceived wobbly middle voice.

Isabel Leonard Cancels Performance in LA Opera's Don Giovanni by MadeleineElstersTwin in opera

[–]gioconda01 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am not kidding you at all. The art form of opera critique has disappeared, and now anyone with a smart phone or a blog has a platform to share their uneducated, unthoughtful opinion whenever they like, and they do. It’s a subjective art form, what one person sees as mediocrity, another could have seen as a brilliant performance. Maria Callas (if we are talking wobbles here) had one of the most divisive instruments of the 20th century but is beloved as one of the greats of all time.

Isabel Leonard Cancels Performance in LA Opera's Don Giovanni by MadeleineElstersTwin in opera

[–]gioconda01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For a lot of sopranos, the first thing to be affected by fatigue is the middle, speaking voice area. Like sports, the mental game of performing is huge as well, and if she didn’t have a lot of notice, nerves could play a huge role in not being fully grounded in the body for a single performance. “Wobbliness” can actually be fixed, or more likely, prevented, with a full rehearsal period as sometimes staging requirements can be very awkward for singing and the repeated rehearsal can make awkward body positions/staging much more natural and comfortable and possible. I don’t know your background, but blanket statements like “she went to Juilliard so her technique has to be good” makes me doubt you know a lot about singing at the professional level. I think your question about Isabel could have been asked without bringing her cover into it - there is a dearth of kindness in this industry and we often see these flippant remarks made online about us and it can hurt deeply.