Tupac!

We spent the last couple of days in the spring of 2012.  Now, we're flipping back to Fall 2011!

My friend, Mindy, is an aspiring actress.  Well, I guess she technically is an actress, but she aspires to do more acting and for more money...a full-time gig, if you will.  I got to see her in a few plays in NYC, but the play about the life of Tupac Shakur was my favorite, by far.  The cast was almost entirely black, of course, but Mindy got cast in the role of Tabitha Soren, the MTV V-Jay who interviewed Tupac.  This was a fun play!  Tupac's life story is pretty interesting and you know I love a true story.  Also, it was exciting to see Mindy in this role.  It was her first Off-Broadway* play and the first play where she got any compensation at all.  She put a lot into her performance and even how she looked.  It was at a respected theatre on the UWS and my friends Alejandra and Stacy went with me to dinner and then to the show - we all enjoyed it a lot!

The show did so well at this theatre that they took it to other theatres.  Until the producers were threatened by Tupac's estate who had not given them the rights to tell his story.  The producers wanted to continue on, but things started to look sketchy so most of the cast, including Mindy, bailed.  And wouldn't you know....right about that time, an announcement was made that a Broadway musical on the life of Tupac Shakur was being created.  It's actually still in creation and I think it is supposed to open sometime this year.

*I might have explained on here before, but I didn't learn until sometime after I moved to NYC how you distinguish a Broadway theatre from an Off-Broadway theatre from an Off-Off-Broadway theatre.  Turns out it has nothing to do with proximity to Broadway, the street.  In fact, there are hardly any Broadway theatres in NYC that are actual located on Broadway.  (Of course, most are within just a couple of blocks).  The true way to determine the type of theatre is by the number of seats it has.  Any theatre with less than 100 seats is Off-Off Broadway.  Theatres with 100-500 seats is Off-Broadway.  And any theatre with more than 500 seats is truly a Broadway show.  I got to see Mindy in her first Off-Off and Off-Broadway shows.  Can't wait to see her Broadway debut!!