#tptads

incl my notes on Thank God, Experience This Song Via Performances On Youtube, b/c i was already duly charmed by those (& the faux Behind The Scenes: Cut Versions Of Said Scenes video) but then also plot is of interest (no idea how it really ended for one, or of course more specific events) & dialogue kept making me laugh imagining it. engaging to compare to bmc (though the plants in this case (while ofc references within & without are made to lsoh) are all but the opposite of the squip as it were, & not much like audrey ii either: representing the boys themselves & their Particular Weirdness, being actively tended to by: the boys themselves) such as just a couple moments of: the finale stretch of song ending on Ready? Go! [La La La ensues rather than Na Na Na] or of course the "all your nerdiness is ugly" "i thought i was more of a geek?" vs "i was not being geeky; i was being nerd-ish. big, huge difference." while also norman is the Weird Loser Loner Picky Eater Not-Understanding-It Nerd etc but the one who is more, on principle, fine with himself, vs michael trying to Be Cool & Liked & have the best year ever. and that Sorta Kinda Not So Bad happens when michael is also helping norman Chill Out from panicking & thus increasingly Aye-Yay-Yaying like basically made me emotional with the surprise of thus increasing autistic steez thrown at me right into this arc culminating. Second Place For Everyoooone 😭

fuck it: excerpts from "the plant that ate dirty socks" (not real excerpts but there's still indirectly real info & directly real antics)

fuck it, plants make wonderful pets

be more chill

there's also a) an Unpolished recording of a full show & b) a printed script! i'm not sure exactly how availably. like probably not readily sitting online but it's sitting in my head b/c i read it at the library. it's so fun. had me laughing at jokes just reading them

Described often by critics as one of the rising stars to watch, one wonders what it is exactly everyone is waiting for Joe Iconis to do or to be. Since 2006, the now 31-year old writer/composer has been staging oft well-reviewed musicals and productions from The Blacks Suits to The Plant That Ate the Dirty Socks to The Bloodsong of Love, just to name a few.  Also sprouting regularly at legendary venues like Joe’s Pub, 54 Below and the Laurie Beechman Theatre are the “Joe Iconis and The Family” performances, the musical extravaganzas in which he performs his compositions together with his handpicked well-known and soon-to-be-well-known performers including Jason SweetTooth Williams, Lance Rubin, Katrina Rose Dideriksen (Hairspray), Krysta Rodriguez (Spring Awakening, In the Heights), Eric William Morris, Lorinda Lisitza, Badia Farha, Lauren Marcus, Matt Hinkley, Nick Blaemire, Jason Tam, Sarah Glendening, Jared Weiss, Jeremy Morse, Liz Lark Brown, MK Lawson, and musical theater icon Annie Golden (Assassins, Hair, Xanadu).  He has also worked in musical productions with original casts of Rent Anthony Rapp and Daphne Rubin-Vega, and from Spring Awakening & Greenday’s American Idiot, John Gallagher, Jr. And then, of course, there is his perennially anticipated Joe Iconis Christmas Spectacular. Staged around the season that he loves, it is a musical feast that includes a buffet of talent in familial banter, musical or otherwise --the kind of evening that echoes gatherings when all of one’s own extended family descends en masse, and the managed chaos results in an unfiltered, unforgettable night of merrymaking. He has already received three Drama Desk nominations and has won the Jonathan Larson award, The Lucille Lortell Award, the Ed Kleban award and “several other fancy sounding awards.” Beloved.  Respected.  What else is there left to measure one’s success by? What is that indisputable mark that one needs before a rising star like Iconis becomes simply an accepted star? Who gets to declare it official? Or does it even matter? The latter is a question that resurfaces frequently in Joe Iconis’s work.  His hit ballad, ‘Broadway, Here I Come!,” for example, tells a story of someone who jumps off a ledge, plummeting towards the avenue that is considered the ultimate destination for theater performers and audiences alike.   And while “falling through the sky” the singer wonders (note the double entendre in the lyrics) “Will I retain my name when I’m the biggest, hugest hit? Or will I blend in the with the rest of the street?”. Gruesome. Vivid. Funny. Sobering.  Iconis frequently works all of these into his work.  This unexpected play of emotions is not easier to understand even after one is told that the Garden City-born, Hell’s Kitchen resident is a fan of Quentin Tarantino/Robert Altman movies and the Muppets, Dolly Parton and the Rolling Stones, and whiskey. Well, maybe ‘whiskey’ makes easier sense. The “real” Joe Iconis isn’t easily pegged.  The self-described ‘hat-wearing fella with big eyebrows’ wears a warm casual smile, is down to earth, and has a deliciously arid and unorthodox sense of humor. He exhibits a profound intellect and describes his musical passion and work ethic with seriousness and intensity. Yet he frequently switches a vapid conversation into a witty, punchy droll -- a la Muppet – at unexpected turns.