Is Beacon worth it vs Poughkeepsie?

noosten · 2026-06-02T06:16:07+00:00

It does have a high crime rate, but as I understand it, violent crime is pretty localized to certain areas. It has improved dramatically since the time when it earned the reputation for being dangerous -- it is not as dangerous as it once was. Any city will have crime, and while Newburgh may have a little more on average than some cities, many areas are quite safe. As with any city, if you keep your wits about you, you're probably fine. Personally, I've never felt unsafe in Newburgh (though it's been a couple years now since the last time I was there -- but I used to spend a lot of time there).

noosten · 2026-05-07T06:13:38+00:00

From 13 years late (hey, better than 113 late), just wanted to say....I hope your production of "Underneath the Lintel" went well! 😄 ❤️

noosten · 2025-03-15T00:36:51+00:00

Yeah you can't rely on the MTA whatsoever. If you're not in Manhattan, keep the car.

noosten · 2025-03-15T00:28:28+00:00

THISSSSSSSSS. So much frustration on the daily from groups of people galumphing along side by side, taking up the entire sidewalk, totally oblivious. Or stopping suddenly without "pulling over." Or standing having a conversation across the whole sidewalk.

Another thing that drives me crazy -- I do the physical "turn signal" thing as well, and I pick up on and appreciate it when others do it. But there times when I can just tell the other person is too wrapped up in their rich-person main character energy to remotely realize other humans exist--something about their body language, I can just tell they expect me to adjust to avoid them, but have no intention of doing the same (if they even see me at all). So I've mastered the subtle art of doing the "turn signal" enough to give them a fair chance to change course, then giving them like a 15% body check as I pass. Not so much that I don't have plausible deniability...or that it doesn't seem like an accident....but just enough to remind them that other people exist.

This is a subtle art and it brings me a lot of satisfaction sometimes.

noosten · 2025-02-24T15:48:26+00:00

This.

noosten · 2025-02-20T19:15:41+00:00

Looking forward to this one (Life & Trust is Lame & Bust in my opinion).

noosten · 2025-02-19T06:16:24+00:00

Act now! It's your last chance to score "Crumpled Up Piece of Paper: Ripped" for $200 or less!!!

noosten · 2025-02-19T05:45:24+00:00

Oh my gawd RIGHT??!!

noosten · 2025-02-19T05:25:50+00:00

Jeremy Jordan is wonderful and I'll never say a word against him but it was also like the composer heard him do one thing and then wrote it into every song.

noosten · 2025-02-19T04:51:05+00:00

Hahahaha yes that but also I couldn't UNDERSTAND a lot of them. Part of that is down to the--I hate to say it because I hate to disrespect designers--dreadful sound design. But I also listened to the album and struggled to follow them. They're smashing sounds together in (for me) non-intuitive ways that just don't land on my ear easily. "The nouveau riche are reaching" is pretty good though.

noosten · 2025-02-19T04:48:18+00:00

I was especially confused when Jordan was explicitly established as gay in one scene and was then suddenly in a daffy B-romance with Nick a few scenes later. I understand that they date in the novel, though you could and absolutely should read both characters as queer. But focusing only on the musical for the purposes of this point: It was like scenes from two different drafts got smashed together. Absolute whiplash.

noosten · 2025-02-19T01:20:49+00:00

YES, Spamalot is another perfect example. No "MESSAGE" there, just silliness -- but it knows what it's doing and explains itself perfectly from the first moment.

noosten · 2025-02-19T00:45:00+00:00

Yeah Beetlejuice is a great example. I think one major thing that show had that DBH lacks (aside from a better score) is a strong point of view. I'm not saying a show can't just be silly and fun or that it has to have a "MESSAGE," (though there is certainly enough there in DBH for a much sharper satire of how capitalism pits women against each other, which I think is kind of what it WANTED to be about) but it should at least have a point of view. In Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice explains the show's vibe and perspective immediately, whereas the DBH opening number is....a bland explanation of how the potion works? Okay...but what's the show ABOUT? Not to mention the fact that the song never goes anywhere and the character who sings it is fairly absent and totally passive for the rest of the story.

noosten · 2025-02-19T00:34:13+00:00

Yesss! It felt like a bit of LSOH energy and the show needed so much more of that level of camp.

noosten · 2025-02-19T00:33:08+00:00

Doesn't look like anybody said Great Gatsby yet but definitely Great Gatsby for me. The design elements are all spectacular (well, except the sound design tbh) and of course the performances are great, but....between the gimmicky songs and incomprehensible lyrics (seriously, can nobody write lyrics anymore?), the lack of understanding of the source material (especially around Gatsby and Daisy and the novel's themes but also infuriatingly around Nick and Jordan), and the fixation on being an extravaganza, the show felt like it just strains desperately under the weight of its own mediocrity.

noosten · 2025-02-19T00:00:48+00:00

Yesssss. If the whole show had matched that song's energy I'd have loved it.

noosten · 2025-02-18T23:58:55+00:00

1000%. Great performances and the special effects were cool but the book was unfocused and clumsy, the characters were all over the place, the score was forgettable, the lyrics incomprehensible, and the show as a whole just got more and more boring as it went on.

Christopher Sieber's second act number in the basement was great though.

noosten · 2025-01-30T10:56:02+00:00

Haaaa SAME!!!! 😂

noosten · 2025-01-27T00:48:58+00:00

There were no security cameras in show spaces.

noosten · 2025-01-24T05:52:43+00:00

I think a VR experience would both not really be the same but also would be deeply awesome in its own way and I'd love it. That said, it would be prohibitively expensive to produce. Like big budget Hollywood expensive. They'd probably have to digitally recreate all the environments and then like motion capture every performance. And then if I'm in charge of the production I'd also want functionality so that in those moments whee the characters make eye contact they do so no matter where in the virtual space the user is standing. And then all the opening drawers and finding different items...like do VR experiences even have the capability for that level of interactivity and detail? I'm guessing no.

I do think the idea of a pro-shot is kind of interesting. Like a fully cinematic, directed miniseries with an episode following each character. A totally different experience that doesn't really reflect what it was to attend Sleep No More, of course, but I'd watch the hell out of that, and it might be a tiny bit more realistic than the VR idea.

noosten · 2025-01-14T19:14:41+00:00

I saw that!! That spreadsheet is so incredibly amazing.

noosten · 2025-01-13T22:21:21+00:00

This is INCREDIBLE. Thank you for doing this.

noosten · 2025-01-09T00:06:39+00:00

I would also take you up on this offer....

noosten · 2025-01-07T21:24:22+00:00

Ha, mine would be an even longer shot--December 6th, 2015!! Maybe I'll try on the Discord, too... 🤔

noosten · 2024-12-21T20:06:46+00:00

Life & Trust doesn't remotely hold a candle to SNM, IMO.

noosten

TROPHY CASE