ANNOUNCMENT!

Curtain Up Cookies is taking a hiatus from cookie creating to focus on outside endeavors.

Please check out the NEW Curtain Up Crafts etsy store to see what we're up to over there!

Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year! (A Christmas Post)

I certainly did not miss out on the best cookie-making season of the year (not to mention the one where it all began for me - Christmas cookies have been a tradition in my family since I was a little girl, and my passion for cookie decorating stemmed from it), I'm just a little late on posting the delicious pictures! So here is a New Years gift for you all.

For me, the week before Christmas means:



I had a great time using all of the great ideas and tricks I've come across this past year. One I have been meaning to try for a while is from my FAVORITE cookie blog: i am baker. I came across this post when I was looking for sugar cookie recipes and I thought the cookies were stunning and I HAD to try the dots (scroll down the page)! I maybe went a little dot crazy, but I LOVE the tree I made.




And the fun continued!







That last present was also inspired by i am baker.






I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are ready to ring in 2011!



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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

CLOSING COOKIES: A Life in the Theatre



Sunday night marked the closing performance of A Life in the Theatre. Although it was sad to see it go prematurely, it was an amazing experience and an amazing night.

As the PA, I only stayed with the show until it opened in October, so I hadn't been back to the theater in a while. I was able to watch the show from the audience for a change (quite a strange experience as I knew everything that was going on backstage). Before the show T.R. had asked me to come backstage during the curtain call, so after jumping to my feet for the boys at bows, I scooted off to the side and made my way backstage where the entire crew was piled in the wings, watching the closing night speech. Then, Patrick and T.R. brought the entire crew out on stage and we huddled into a line spanning the entire stage (It takes A LOT of people to put on a two-person show!). I looked down the line and felt a jolt of pride and joy to be included in this group of people. They were all so incredible to work with. Then, T.R. went down the line and introduced everyone individually and stated their job. "This is Catherine Lynch. She was our Production Assistant." And when he made it to the end of the line, the audience leapt to their feet. It was unreal to have a Broadway house cheering for us!

Once the curtain came down, we had a champagne toast on stage and it was time to bring out the cookies!


And they were a hit! There were quite a few people there who I had never seen before and even they came up to compliment me on them! I should have brought business cards!





First Broadway endeavor for Curtain Up Cookie Design: Success!
First Broadway show for me: Better than I ever could have asked for.

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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Gobble! Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a little holiday spirit!






UP NEXT: Be on the look out for A Life in the Theatre cookies coming soon! Unfortunately the show closes on Sunday, but at least there will be cookies!
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

RUN AND SEE: The Scottsboro Boys


Last Thursday I saw The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway. It's a new Kander & Ebb musical directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. It transferred from the Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway where it played last Spring.

I missed it off-Broadway, but it played a sold-out run, so I was very excited to see it when it transferred. I didn't know too much about it going in, but I was blown away by the show.

I don't want to give too much away because it was a really powerful theatrical experience full of surprises, but here's a brief synopsis:
"In rural Alabama in 1931, nine young African-American males are arrested and tried for a crime involving two white women. Performed as a minstrel show, the musical gives voice to the persistent theme of justice in America."
It was reminiscent of Chicago in that it approached the storytelling of a dramatic, controversial event through musical theater. Not like a dramatic musical, but flashy song-and-dance numbers that you're not quite comfortable clapping for but can't resist because they were so much fun to watch. While some of the subject matter is almost cringe-worthy and borderline offensive, I think that Susan Stroman did a brilliant job creating just enough tension for the audience, not only on stage, but internally, to make them sit and really think, rather than storm out of the theater in disgust. Finally some real ART on Broadway!

Beyond that, I will tell you that it stars one of the most talented up-and-coming Broadway performers I know: Joshua Henry. I've seen him in ensemble roles in In the Heights and American Idiot where his stunning voice couldn't help but stand out, but I'm so happy to see him in the starring role that he deserves. And did he nail it! I smell a Tony...

And speaking of, should I call "Best Musical" now or would that be jumping the gun? RUN AND SEE THIS!
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

OPENING NIGHT: A Life in the Theatre

Last night I made my Broadway debut!


 Happy Opening!

I am the Production Assistant on my first Broadway show, A Life in the Theatre by David Mamet, directed by Neil Pepe, starring Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight, which opened last night at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

It has been quite an incredible experience with such an amazing group of people. The show is extremely funny, and quite a love letter to the theatre. Come on down and check it out!


RELATED POST: CLOSING COOKIES!
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

RUN AND SEE: Our Town & BBAJ Round 2



















 



I saw Our Town at Barrow Street Theater a while ago a LOVED it, but it's closing soon, so I wanted to spread the love. This production was a runaway hit that's run for over a year and a half Off-Broadway, but will be closing on September 12. Our Town is one of my favorite plays. I think it's an absolutely beautiful and touching look at American life and how we value it. I love what the Barrow Street Theater does, and this production was wonderful. Check it out before it goes!
 

In other exciting news, if you didn't get a chance to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson before it closed at The Public, it's back and on Broadway! It's starts previews on September 20 and I CANNOT WAIT! Go. See. It.
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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Summer Cookies!

Since I'm not working on a show right now, I thought I'd make some season-appropriate cookies.




I love these. I think they came out great. Exactly as I envisioned them. The other designs... not so much.


 A little summer cocktail :)


The black icing got a little out of hand and these ended up a little wonky but they're still cute! I think the black offset the color scheme, too, so next time I might do it differently, but they were still fun to make!

I got a little bored with the design by then end and got creative.


Overall I think they came out pretty well!



Enjoy your summer!
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Friday, July 23, 2010

CLOSING COOKIES: I'll Be Damned


I just finished working on this great new musical with JARADOA Theater called “I’ll Be Damned.” It was written by Rob Broadhurst and Brent Black, and it’s about a boy named Louis (Jacob Hoffman) who has been home-schooled by his mother (Mary Testa) his entire life and has no friends. On his 19th birthday he sells his soul to the devil in order to get one true friend. Turns out Satan (Kurt Robbins) is that friend and complications ensue (mostly via rousing dance numbers).

The cast was pretty kick-ass and the music was awesome. I had so much fun working on the show, I was really excited to make cookies for it.

Louis is really into comic books, so I thought it would be fun to make comic bubbles with the show title in them.



He also writes his own comic book series called "Friendetta" about a superhero (played by the insanely talented Kenita Miller) whose superpower is finding people friends.

 
Photo by Carol Rosegg                                                   
                                           
Satan brings her to life to enlist her help in finding Louis a friend, and the minute I saw Friendetta's costume I knew I had to make cookies of her superhero symbol.

 It's Friendetttttaaaaa!

The pink in Friendetta's costume was pretty sparkly so I thought it'd be fun to make the cookies sparkly, too. I used bright pink sanding sugar on the pink frosting for the fun effect.


Louis is also a big fan of the comic book character Nightcrawler, who makes the noise "bamf" when he teleports. When Louis finds out that Satan can also teleport, he insists on saying "bamf"each time they travel to look for another friend. I thought to round out the batch I could make some cookies of the comic book "POW" shape (what shape is that?) and put "BAMF" on them!


These were the most difficult to make. I practiced long and hard to get the font right. The icing for the lettering got a little runny, but I think they look pretty cool.


And voila!


This was by far the most complex batch of Closing Cookies I've made thus far, but it was really exciting. I even made my own cookie cutters! I didn't want to go out and buy a comic bubble cookie cutter (yes, they do have them) and I couldn't find a "Pow" cutter anywhere, so I printed out a picture of the shape I wanted for each and made a stencil out of index cards. With chilled dough (in the fridge for about 20 minutes after rolling it out), it was really easy to place the card on the dough and cut around it.


I was pretty pleased with how well it worked!

It was so much fun to bring the cookies in and share them with everyone on the day of our last show. Closing is always a bittersweet time, so I like to add a little happiness to the day. Everyone loved the cookies, and it was a nice way to say "thank you" for all of their AMAZING work.



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