Singer-songwriter Julie Foldesi is just what she claims to be: “a country girl livin’ in the city.” Cliché as this may be, Foldesi has an essence about her that is comfortable yet stylish, simple but complicated, and she wears her heart on her sleeve, but is very wise to the world. Her persona has duality; and I think country meets city makes for some pretty amazing music.

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Singer-songwriter Julie Foldesi is just what she claims to be: “a country girl livin’ in the city.”  Cliché as this may be, Foldesi has an essence about her that is comfortable yet stylish, simple but complicated, and she wears her heart on her sleeve, but is very wise to the world.  Her persona has duality; and I think country meets city makes for some pretty amazing music.

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So, sometimes things happen that are worthy of attention and comment. Basically the news. Well, some of the news. Here’s how it works: we read/see/hear something of interest and if we’re still interested in by the time we get to our computer/open a writing application then we’ll post about it. This page will be updated everyday (sometimes multiple times a day!) with all the news that’s fit for print- and witty commentary.

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Tony award winner Victoria Clark just finished her run in the Roundabout’s off-Broadway production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo.  Up next, Clark will be appearing in Prayer for My Enemy at Playwrights Horizons.  The very busy actress took some time between these projects to answer a few questions for The 8th Avenue Observer about her career, family, and how she keeps it all together.

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Megan Sikora recently garnered a lot of attention for playing Bambi, the ambitious daughter of Debra Monk, in Curtains. However, it wasn’t just Sikora’s acrobatic dancing in her solo number that left people talking, but also her funny and charming performance. She is a true triple threat. Megan also recently played Bonnie in City Center’s Applause (she even rehearsed Applause during the day and did Curtains at night) and stole the show leading the title number. Now she’s preparing to play Ado Annie in Oklahoma at the Papermill Playhouse, and took some time to answer a few questions about Oklahoma and her career.

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Tony Roberts is currently starring in the hilarious Xanadu as Danny (and briefly as Zeus) the foil of Sonny and Kira. He took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about what it’s like to be in Xanadu a year later.

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An Interview with Heidi Blickenstaff

When I told friends that The 8th Avenue Observer was interviewing Heidi Blickenstaff uniformly their responses were a variation on, “Oh my God! I love her!” (or a variation on “omg I loooooove her” from those told via AIM). It’s not often that a performance, and a show, so viscerally reaches its audience, but Heidi and her [title of show] castmates have become that rare phenomenon: a show that crosses the chasm from good entertainment to something that permeates the psyche of its audience. Heidi Blickenstaff has become a rockstar to theatre fans, and the opportunity to interview a rockstar is, for lack of a better phrase, pretty freaking cool. Heidi shared her thoughts on the personal nature of [title of show], what it was like developing into an artist, and how doing [title of show] has affected her. Plus, she talks about shoes. Throughout the interview Heidi was either describing someone else (and you’ll have to read the interview to find out who) as being “quirky and gorgeous and funny” or as being “very bright, funny, sensitive, thoughtful, communicative people,” and although she might be too humble to say so, these are all also descriptions of Heidi. To put it simply: not only does she do an amazing job onstage, but we at The 8th Avenue Observer think she’s pretty amazing off-stage as well, and more than a little deserving of all that love (and loooooove).

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Grease’s new “Danny Zuko”, Derek Keeling, is making quite an entrance on the Great White Way, but this certainly isn’t his first go-around with this character.  Keeling has portrayed “Danny” numerous times across the country and was a contestant on NBC’s You’re the One That I Want.  We had the chance to ask Derek about his experience competing for a role via reality television and his newfound Broadway stardom.

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Perhaps some of you missed the big news, but last week archaeologists in London discovered the remains of a theatre where many of Shakespeare’s early plays were first performed. There’s also been a violent conflict in Georgia, there’s still a war in Iraq, and Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer have broken up. But, anyway, back to the big news of Shakespeare and his really old theatre. In Sunday’s New York Times Charles Isherwood wrote a piece bemoaning the lack of a New York Theatre entirely dedicated to Shakespeare, because, as every English teacher since the sixth grade has been telling us, “Shakespeare was the greatest English language playwright to ever live.” I have never understood this statement.
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