so i was just tooling around on IMDB as one does and looking up my faves to see if they are in anything they haven’t announced yet
and regina comet is on there
i know they filmed the show because they were offering comps (because of obstructed view) and i couldn’t go because i had a photography gig but could they be actually RELEASING it?
(I realize this doesn’t really have anything to do with Newsies other than Ben was Davey but I’m not going to start a whole-ass blog for Regina Comet unless there’s a proshot and a cast recording coming)
Spoilers ahoy.
OK…so I saw Regina Comet.
I loved it.
Now, to be fair, I knew I was going to love it. I’d never seen Alex Wyse perform live before but I knew of his extensive Broadway/tour/off-Broadway history and I had seen his beautiful “Avinu Malkeinu” video with Ben and Samantha Massell, so I knew I was in for a treat. Bryonha Marie Parham was one of my absolute favorite parts of “Prince of Broadway” (she and Brandon Uranowitz basically WERE the show for me) so I knew the role of Regina was in good hands. Ben was already a fave of mine going into the show, so I knew I would love him in the role. I’ve loved Ben in most of the things I’ve seen him in, even if he was not my favorite Davey (I think his voice and his general demeanor/physicality on stage is far more suited to pieces in a modern/contemporary setting).
So.
The show itself was fun and had a satisfying ending. I liked that the two guys (who never get names) were able to provide something for Regina even though it wasn’t what was promised to her in the beginning, and as much as I was rooting for “Man 2” to succeed with Regina personally and professionally, I liked that she finally got the opportunity she had secretly dreamed of her whole life from the REAL first person to really care about what she thought (not that Man 2 wasn’t genuine, he just wasn’t the first). As someone who began to make their first steps to a better life thanks to a friend from a distant past resurfacing and saving the day (and, tbh, my life) with their kindness, the fact that Regina reached out to someone who fostered her first passion and he offered (after decades!) to be the bridge to her achieving that dream gave me so much joy. I also liked that she became comfortable enough with Other Man and Man 2 to admit where her heart really was, and in admitting that she didn’t even believe in the product she was selling (mostly because she was allergic to it), they could free themselves from the project (which they were technically already free from because of what Man 2 did) and showcase what they both really cared about, which was her. They DID write her hit song, it just wasn’t the jingle.
Another thing that I really liked was Ben and Alex’s chemistry. They’ve worked together quite a bit before, and IIRC actually DID grow up together (I know their characters did but I wasn’t sure how far they personally went back). On the one hand, it made everything so much more real (even more so than the fact that they wrote the piece together), but on the other hand, because their chemistry was so good, it honestly feels like a piece that literally only THEY could do. Like, could I see my other favorite Nice Jewish Boys of Broadway/Broadway-adjacent in this show? I mean, I could see them singing the solos, maybe, but I couldn’t see this show working with any other actors (at least in the roles of the men). I think that their friendship and real-life closeness also benefited the solo work they did within the show. I have an inkling that Ben took more of a lead in the songwriting aspect and Alex took more of a lead in the dialogue, and as a writer in all aspects I know there is always a tendency to want to give the best material to oneself, but I felt like whoever was in charge of the songs (which, again, I’m suspecting was Ben) wanted to make both of the solos equally engaging and true to the character/singer. Alex’s song (the name escapes me right now) had big “forced to do the group project by himself” energy that I identified strongly with, and Ben’s song “Conflict of Interest” was the best horny-anxious-thirtysomething-Jewish anthem since…well, since the existence of Mendel in Falsettos. Not to be crass, but that man (Ben) makes sweet love to every song he sings and that one was no exception. Looking back on that sentence, it almost feels like witnessing that song, having been written by him, is like walking in on a private moment. Anyway, he totally owned it.
I also liked that the female lead character was well-rounded (enjoyed the finer things in life but was also proud of her interest in academic matters and not willing to hide that part of herself), not particularly young (I don’t know how old BMP is but I think Regina is supposed to be around 40), not rail-thin, and not a soprano (no shade to sopranos, I just want to be able to sing along with a potential cast recording without sounding like an unbalanced washing machine).
There were only a few things that weakened the show for me. One was that a lot of the songs that weren’t solos started to sound the same to me. Not so much musically, but narratively. Like, we get it, you have writers’ block and one of you is an overthinker and the other one is a bit of a hornball who isn’t pulling his weight. Most of the songs felt like one big reprise that was interrupted by a song that sounded different every once in a while and then went back to exactly what they were talking about before. Another thing that was weird for me was the joke about Regina taking the collective virginities of the Hanson brothers, and how whatever she did with them inspired them to write “Mmmbop.” Now, assuming the story takes place in the present and assuming Regina is approaching 40, that puts her date of birth in the early 1980s, so somewhere between the ages of the two eldest members of the band. Both Isaac and Taylor would have been age-appropriate crushes for someone born in, say, 1982. However, “Mmmbop” was first recorded in 1995. If whatever she did with the boys happened in 1995, Regina would have schtupped a nine-year-old (Zac’s birthday is in late 1985 so he was probably still 9 when they recorded it) and a twelve-year-old and that would make her a child predator. Not that schtupping a 15 year old (Isaac) isn’t creepy, but if she were 13 at the time, it would make him the creeper. I think they could keep the joke if they switched it to a different song that didn’t come out at the beginning of their career (like if they implied that she was responsible for a comeback album).
That being said, I do highly recommend the show. I think it speaks to a lot of people even if you’re not explicity represented by any of the characters.
These Asks have probably been there for a while I really haven’t used social media a whole lot over the last 2 years. I’ve started to get better, but I still haven’t spent a lot of time on my @/13mtm80 socials (which includes my personal Facebook and Instagram; and my public Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube).
So, where have I been? Almost 3 years ago I suddenly stopped captioning dwsa/dwsa cast videos when I started to have a persistent migraine that refused to leave or lessen. The migraine then decided to make it difficult for my brain to send messages to my right side. Making it so I no longer had use of my dominate right hand (I couldn’t open/close my hand or hold anything, and I had no grip). Lot’s of examinations later: Atypical Chronic Migraine. Now I take medicine to lessen the migraine.
With the migraine lessened from a 10 on the 1-10 pain scale to an 8 with medication, my hand and the rest had almost returned to somewhat normal over several months.
When I can type again, I started a transcription course. I was doing that for about 4 months when my migraine decided it was going to be bad again and not work with my medicine. And my right hand got non-functional again. Some more trial and error, found a new medicine that lessens my migraine. Right when I was supposed to start physical therapy on my hand Covid happened. Therapy never happened but my hand is mostly useful for everyday use, but fine-motor skill tasks are still challenging. Like typing.
My typing ability is why I haven’t gone back to my course, and why I’m not captioning anymore. My right hand is able to type on computer keyboard, it took time to get there, but I can. The problem is, is that my right hand is delayed at the typing speed my right hand is used to typing at. This causes words to be typed rearranged. For example: SPRING AWAKENING, typed on the computer comes out as Srping Awaekening.
Despite this typing issue, 8 months ago I did caption the dwsa reunion interview at Gallaudet. It took me a WHOLE lot longer than it used too, but I did get it done. But 6 months ago when when Sandra did an interview alone at Gallaudet I had been stressed from stuff in my family and my head briefly got bad again (no worse hand issues, just migraine) for about a month. But at this point I still haven’t captioned it. My right hand is still delayed.
For 2021, I’ve started new ventures. I’ve been focusing on my art. My art was something that I worked on in days I couldn’t leave my darkened bedroom. My art style changes depending on my my head or hand let’s me do, whether it’s: painting, drawing, or photography. At some point soon I want to sell some of it.
This is not self promotion follow me if you want (I know someone will ask): @/13mtm80_Designs on all the social media platforms that I already have (Facebook, Twitter Instagram, Tumblr).
Also in 2021, I did have Covid. But not when you asked (that was migraine sickness). I had Covid about a month ago. Caught it from someone in my house, all three of us had mild symptoms. It lasted the average mild length of 2 weeks. I’m fine now though.
So, yes I’m still apart of the dwsa fandom and I’m going to try and reacquaint myself back into my 13mtm80 accounts. All the apps are still on my phone. It’s just recently when I’ve been on them I was on my other account.
I’ll try to be more involved on social media, though I don’t know if I will be able to do any more captioning.
These Asks have probably been there for a while I really haven’t used social media a whole lot over the last 2 years. I’ve started to get better, but I still haven’t spent a lot of time on my @/13mtm80 socials (which includes my personal Facebook and Instagram; and my public Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube).
So, where have I been? Almost 3 years ago I suddenly stopped captioning dwsa/dwsa cast videos when I started to have a persistent migraine that refused to leave or lessen. The migraine then decided to make it difficult for my brain to send messages to my right side. Making it so I no longer had use of my dominate right hand (I couldn’t open/close my hand or hold anything, and I had no grip). Lot’s of examinations later: Atypical Chronic Migraine. Now I take medicine to lessen the migraine.
With the migraine lessened from a 10 on the 1-10 pain scale to an 8 with medication, my hand and the rest had almost returned to somewhat normal over several months.
When I can type again, I started a transcription course. I was doing that for about 4 months when my migraine decided it was going to be bad again and not work with my medicine. And my right hand got non-functional again. Some more trial and error, found a new medicine that lessens my migraine. Right when I was supposed to start physical therapy on my hand Covid happened. Therapy never happened but my hand is mostly useful for everyday use, but fine-motor skill tasks are still challenging. Like typing.
My typing ability is why I haven’t gone back to my course, and why I’m not captioning anymore. My right hand is able to type on computer keyboard, it took time to get there, but I can. The problem is, is that my right hand is delayed at the typing speed my right hand is used to typing at. This causes words to be typed rearranged. For example: SPRING AWAKENING, typed on the computer comes out as Srping Awaekening.
Despite this typing issue, 8 months ago I did caption the dwsa reunion interview at Gallaudet. It took me a WHOLE lot longer than it used too, but I did get it done. But 6 months ago when when Sandra did an interview alone at Gallaudet I had been stressed from stuff in my family and my head briefly got bad again (no worse hand issues, just migraine) for about a month. But at this point I still haven’t captioned it. My right hand is still delayed.
For 2021, I’ve started new ventures. I’ve been focusing on my art. My art was something that I worked on in days I couldn’t leave my darkened bedroom. My art style changes depending on my my head or hand let’s me do, whether it’s: painting, drawing, or photography. At some point soon I want to sell some of it.
This is not self promotion follow me if you want (I know someone will ask): @/13mtm80_Designs on all the social media platforms that I already have (Facebook, Twitter Instagram, Tumblr).
Also in 2021, I did have Covid. But not when you asked (that was migraine sickness). I had Covid about a month ago. Caught it from someone in my house, all three of us had mild symptoms. It lasted the average mild length of 2 weeks. I’m fine now though.
So, yes I’m still apart of the dwsa fandom and I’m going to try and reacquaint myself back into my 13mtm80 accounts. All the apps are still on my phone. It’s just recently when I’ve been on them I was on my other account.
I’ll try to be more involved on social media, though I don’t know if I will be able to do any more captioning.
YouTube videos can be captioned or translated into 193 languages.
Sign for:
Deaf or Hard of Hearing people
People with sensory processing disorders (& autism, ADHD, ADD, dyslexia, etc)
People who want to watch a video not in their native language.
Some people used YouTube’s Community Contributions as a way to add spam, memes, & other things no one said in the video.
So they decide to remove the option completely (rather than find a way to sort spam from actual captions).
Most the time a video is ONLY captioned because of Com. Captions. With the removal of this feature, billions of videos will not be accessible for ALL people.
Sign the petition to tell YouTube not to remove Community Captions.
People all around the world worked together to make the videos accessible for EVERYONE. Not just for Deaf & Hard of Hearing people, but also people with sensory processing disorders, and people who’s language is not the same as the video.
Most the time a video is ONLY captioned because of Community Captions.
With the removal of this feature, billions of videos will not be accessible for ALL people.
Sign the petition to tell @YouTube not to remove Community Captions.
People all around the world worked together to make the videos accessible for EVERYONE. Not just for Deaf & Hard of Hearing people, but also people with sensory processing disorders, and people who’s language is not the same as the video.
Most the time a video is ONLY captioned because of Community Captions.
With the removal of this feature, billions of videos will not be accessible for ALL people.
Sign the petition to tell @YouTube not to remove Community Captions.
![DWSA [CC] Videos](https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_ff64f1c5e1f4_30.png){kind=avatar}
