These are frightening times, and we all must take necessary precautions as we social distance and self-isolate. That being said, you deserve a break every now and then. Welcome to Playbill's Daily Distraction.
Day 20: A Pirate for the People
Whether she's defying gravity, breaking down, turning back time, or even playing a Jellicle goat cat, Stephanie J. Block's stakes are in the stratosphere. I challenge you to find a clip where she does not commit to the fullest extent—unleashing a timbre that suggests she could save the world—no matter the role or the setting.
Take this clip from a Feinstein's/54 Below concert. We could say we're choosing it for today's Distraction to mark the anniversary of The Pirate Queen opening, but why lie? We watch it regularly.
Though the musical's Broadway run was short-lived, Grace O'Malley's "I want" song "Woman" has become a standard in Block's repertoire, and deservedly so. It doesn't matter if she's at a ship's helm or watching you eat your saffron risotto: she is in character, just daring you to tell her she just made to milk and to weave.
We may not be able to fly or sail unrestrained or feel the wind on our face right now. But we can listen to Block gloriously belt her way through this song (and go back to replay that phrasing on "not stay below / am I to be just woman"). And for that, we're Stephanie J. Blessed.
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