Welcome to my evening

Omg, this single low-quality camera angle is torturous, haha. At least the audio is decent.

I went to see this show at Radio City Music Hall when I was a wee bab. We arrived late. I never knew that, after his mom left the house, Ash tried to start his morning with a magical girl transformation set to the anime opening XDDD

Woof, Ash stood up Misty for a date three weeks in a row. Girl, find a better guy, seriously.

FIRST MUSICAL NUMBER TIME TO SING FUCKYEA

Holy shit there was just a VCR band across the screen, dunno what it's called, but violent nostalgia is erupting.

Misty: "I'd do anything for my Pokemon. Same as I would for my human friends." Broadway-level writing, here.
#pokemonlive

Here comes the ballet and interpretive dancing I've wanted my whole life <3

Musical interlude -- let's just bring out all of our Pokemon puppets at once and just randomly shout out their names. Brock is at least trying to keep dancing. And then they literally do a "this is how we do it!" Wtffff

This first musical interlude is WAY too long for the amount of dancing and content they had planned.
#pokemonlive

"ONE WORLD", Ash yells to close out the first musical number, full-speaking-voice and not melodic at all.
Then a musical reprise of a sort, so all the puppets can leave (without turning the lights out), and Misty literally says "Bye guys!" as the puppets and puppeteers leave.

Usually in musicals, it's accepted that the musical numbers are happening in the meta-narrative, and are non-diegetic. In this first number, the 3 main characters leave Ash's bedroom, encounter dozens of Pokemon, and address them and talk to them. Clearly diegetic. WHY.
#pokemon

I swear this whole evening will not be as thick with tweets as it has been so far, but nothing says "stage show made for children" like the plot-reaffirming statement at the very end of the first number:
"Now let's go win that Diamond Badge!"
"For Pokemon!"
"Pika!"

TEAM ROCKET IS HERE MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

......

(Except that James' actor, who in interviews from the time expressed a joy and passion for the show, and also worked on the anime for awhile, now talks about the show with shame and embarassment. Like, get over yourself. Everyone starts somewhere and it's okay to be involved ...

... in entertainment for kids and nerds. Just because you're a big Broadway star now doesn't mean you have to talk shit about your past credits. Honestly it reminds me of being in Elementary school and pretending to hate Barney because I was Too Grown Up For That Now.
....

... At least James' actor acknowledges it tho. Jessie's actress changed her stage name and tried to wipe her involvement with the show from the history of the internet. The show wasn't very good, boo hoo. Again, everyone starts somewhere. And who cares, at least she was ...

... clearly giving her all to that performance. Nothing to be ashamed of, I would think.)

Now back to the actual show and not my personal feelings about two of the actors, lol.

Musical Number #2 apparently means a violently sudden transition to Giovanni in his lair.
I think this was the scene we arrived in the middle of, when I saw this live as a kid.
#pokemonlive #pokemon

I love children's media's tendency to repeat things over and over again, just in case.
The mid-song musical interlude for Giovanni's opening scene features Giovanni talking through everything he just sang about in the first verse, eliminating every ounce of subtlety in the scene.

Jessie: "Whassuup, Giovanni?"
James: "What's the 411 on the 911, Mighty #1???"
I have no commentary on these lines; I just needed to share them with you.
#pokemonlive #Pokemon #TeamRocket

Just going to breeze right past 2000-era James asking about Giovanni's stance on Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell.
#pokemonlive #Pokemon

"I shall command the awesome power in Pikachu's rosey cheeks" might just be my favorite line in the entire show.
.... I wonder how many lines I will say that about. I have a lot of show to get through.
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Holy shit, Jessie and James' dance moves in the back half of this number, while somewhat impressive (considering the full commitment, and also the vocal control they showed while singing and dancing simultaneously), are also PAINFUL to watch.
#pokemonlive #pokemon

Okay, here we go, I think I actually remember seeing this first Pokemon battle when the show was live.
Possibly.
I definitely don't remember "it's not the size of the arsenal that counts."
XDDD
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Mecha-Mewtwo Learns, and then Returns every attack thrown at him in this scene, except the Self Destruct shown by the Electrode, which it just Learns.
Remember this; it is one of the only elements of foreshadowing in the entire show.
#pokemonlive #pokemon

Omg, Brock getting smacked by all three of the girls he tried to hit on within like twenty seconds is very satisfying.
Brock telling Misty "you're kinda cute when you're angry" is not.
Weirdly, it's possibly the only spoken line I actually specifically remember from the play.

You And Me And Pokemon is definitely one of my favorite songs from this show.
#pokemonlive #pokemon #pokemonlivetweeting

XDDDDD Random Psyduck, lololol, hey buddy. Nice transition, writers XDD
I honestly kinda love it.

Legit tho, the comedic timing between Delia and Oak in this scene is kinda good.

Should I be including timestamps in this thread, in case anyone wants to follow along? Especially since I keep pausing, so the timing is totally thrown off.
Ftr, I'm currently at 33:15 in the video I linked, and psyched for more dancing and bad lyrics <3

Completely ignoring the tonally dissonant dancing stageright (which tells a tragic love story totally irrelevant to the main narrative of two friends talking about Delia's son growing up), Delia and Oak might have the most dynamic blocking we've seen yet.
34:55
#pokemonlive

The interpretive dance happening stageright is clearly telling a tale of a tragic love triangle, while the actors are singing about Ash growing up and life changing. STAGING MATTERS. YOU CAN'T JUST THROW DANCERS ON STAGE AND LET THEM DO WHATEVER. WHAT IS THIS SHOW.
36:02
#pokemon

GASP! The invite to Oak was a trap?? Giovanni knows Delia?? No way! Craaaazy!
(Spoilers: I know every twist in this show, but I have no memory of the actual dialogue, so this is such a delight)
37:10
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"Professor ACORN!"
OOH, SICK BURN GIOVANNI!!!!
37:32
#pokemonlive #pokemon #TeamRocket

HERE COMES MY FAVORITE SONG OMG I'M SO EXCITED!!!
"I couldn't ask her for directions if I had a map in my hand!" is the signal!
Two Perfect Girls, the song of sleezeball Brock!
38:43
#pokemonlive #pokemon #brock #twoperfectgirls

It seems I misremembered when that song happens . Oh well.
I wonder if the sign-language used by this trainer is real ASL?
40:02

I like "J P Pink Round" as a combined name-sign for Jigglypuff. I also like the idea of a deaf trainer with a Jigglypuff.

I less like the fact that, in the world of this play, EVERY Jigglypuff will draw on your face if you fall asleep while they sing.
#pokemon

I wish this recording also included the clips used in those side-screens; I feel like it's sortof necessary for a lot of the jokes.

Oh snap, Misty's Song happens before Two Perfect Girls??? Welp, suddenly here's my second favorite song instead!!
41:32
#pokemonlive #pokemon #mistyssong

Oh hey a random Mew, flying around and distracting from the content of the song, lol.
Aaaand now some random fish Pokemon (Goldeens, I think? The video quality makes it hard to tell), which MUST be non-diegetic.
So was the Mew actually there, checking out Ash, Brock, and
....

.... and Pikachu while they slept, unnoticed by a preoccupied Misty, or was that just a meta-narrative staging device to keep the children in the audience entertained, too?

This thread is getting pretty long; I think I'll split it at the intermission.

Omg Ash. But also omg writers.
"I had the strangest dream [...] Someone was singing this really pretty song!"
"It was -- ! ... It was probably just one of the side-effects of Jigglypuff."
First, musical numbers happen in the meta-narrative; Misty wasn't literally singing. ....

... Second, it is not strange in the least to think that someone would dream of singing after being knocked out by a Jigglypuff's song.
Third... I dunno, Misty's phrasing, "side effects of Jigglypuff" just sounds clumsy to me.
46:00
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TEAM ROCKET IS STILL DOWN THERE??? I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THEM.
#pokemonlive #pokemon #teamrocket