Leah Remini & Corbin Bleu Interviews: Get Excited For DWTS Season 17!

Is it Wednesday yet? I'm dying for the ABC reveal of the Season 17 cast for DWTS. As I was going over the rumored cast list, I realized I had two old interviews with possible cast members: Leah Remini and Corbin Bleu. Coincidentally, the red carpet interviews I have with them were both done at the same event. It was the LA opening of the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus back in July 2011.

Both of the interviews were pretty hilarious. Leah misunderstood my question, so watch have the whole thing goes down...over and over...



My interview with Corbin was kind of awesome because I had tickets to see him in Hairspray at the Hollywood Bowl as Seaweed J. Stubbs...and yes, the boy can dance. I think both Corbin and Leah are going to add a ton of personality to Season 17. Bring it on!

Are you ready for this season? I sure am!

My Life In Instagram

It's Thursday, so I thought I would update you on what's been going on in my little world.  I swear, I've done more than just covering entertainment news and the Olympics this week. Here is my week in photos all courtesy of Instagram:  @KristynBurtt

At my annual musical theatre geeks outing to the Hollywood Bowl with Annie and Pip.

 My favorite shoes from my trip to Paris last year. 

  Me, Pip, and my favorite Crabby!  (You remember him from my trip to Paris, right?)

Obsessed with my ShoeDazzle shoes.  My friend, Amber, had a hot pair from ShoeDazzle too!

My pal, Tabitha Blue, is running a fun Instagram #PROJECTlipstick challenge.  Dig out those old tubes and show off some sexy lips.  This was my Wednesday color:  e.l.f. Rosy Tan.  Visit Tabitha's site for more info and some fun giveaways!

 I have the best friends in the world.  My friend, Cindy, wanted to make sure I was eating well while I am running all over town. She made a "Host-On-The-Go" pack for me.  All gluten-free items too!  Thanks, Cindy, I'm so lucky to have friends like you. 

Disclosure:  Shoes c/o ShoeDazzle.  Lipstick c/o e.l.f.  All opinions are my own.

Happy 4th of July!

Last night at the Hollywood Bowl with Barry Manilow.

We're taking the day off, so be safe and enjoy Independence Day.  I'll be back tomorrow!

Opening Night At The Hollywood Bowl with Reba and Chaka Khan

One of my greatest summer pleasures in Los Angeles is the Hollywood Bowl.  I go every year to catch everything from Hall and Oates to Gustavo Dudamel to the Broadway musical, Hairspray.  I have never been to the Opening Night at the Bowl which always honors the inductees to the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.  My amazing friend, Annie, who was working on the production, offered me two tickets to opening night.  How could I say no?  Well, the seats turned out to be gorgeous box seats with the most incredible view of the stage--a completely different experience for someone like me who normally buys the $10 seats in the last row.  If you live in the LA area and you haven't taken advantage of the Bowl in awhile, check out their schedule here.  It's an affordable entertainment option for the summer season.

Here are a few photos from my evening with my usual inside commentary.....

 Tarrah and I joked about our "terrible" seats all night long.......

 Okay, see that last section all the way in the back?  Yep, that's where I normally sit. By the way, the bathrooms are way nicer and more plentiful by the box seats too.  Higher price=better life?

 This photo makes me giggle--I'm taking a self-portrait on my iPhone while Tarrah is busy Tweeting on her iPhone.  Steve Jobs would be proud.

 The host of the evening, Julie Andrews.  She's a Dame, but prefers to be called, "Julie".

 The super sweet Reba McEntire.  Her awesome fans followed me all night on Twitter.  They love their gal, Reba. 

 Souvenir chocolate bars for the box seats!  We never get this in the bleacher seats.

 I was happy to see there wasn't any corn sugar or high fructose corn syrup in this chocolate bar.  

 Hey, Dawg, it's Randy Jackson!

 The diva-licious Chaka Khan even had a costume change with only a 5-song set.  "Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan!"

The best way to end the night......Hollywood Bowl fireworks.  

Don't forget, it's #RadioBurtt night!  I will be on the Driving With Gass show at 7:35PM PT/10:35PM ET tonight on KWSS.  I hope you join me for the latest in entertainment news.

If you missed my appearance last week with Dara on Radio, click here to listen in about how I got my start in entertainment reporting. You can find most of the archives to other media appearances here.  

Disclosure:  My tickets were complimentary.  I was not asked to post on this event, all opinions are my own.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!  I spent my evening at one of my favorite summer activities in LA at the Hollywood Bowl.   Hall & Oates were the headliners for the holiday concert and I was more than thrilled to hear one of my favorite songs, "You Make My Dreams Come True" played live. Here are a few photos of my weekend.  Be sure to let me know what you did this weekend too!

First up, two photos of fireworks from Saturday at the Toyota Speedway of Irwindale.

And then off to the Hollywood Bowl on Monday night for a little Hall & Oates with my pal, Phillyjo.  Super grainy on my iPhone 4!

We are in the bleacher seats, about 493583449459458 rows away from the stage.

If you squint, you can see Daryl Hall on the video screen.

Take two! Peace out!

Look at all of the lights shimmering in the audience.  It's all of the Smart Phones recording the fireworks.  18,000 Smart Phones.  It's good to be Steve Jobs.

Sometimes it looks like the Hollywood Bowl is on fire versus a night of fireworks. 

"You Make My Dreams Come True" Lyrics:

"What I want, you've got
And it might be hard to handle
But like the flame that burns the candle
The candle feeds the flame
What I've got's full stock of thoughts 
and dreams that scatter
You pull them all together
And how, I can't explain
But You make my dreams come true
On a night when bad dreams become a screamer
When they're messin' with the dreamer
I can laugh it in the face
Twist and shout my way out
And wrape yourself around me
'Cause I ain't the way that you found me
I'll never be the same
'Cause You make my dreams come true
I'm down on the daydream
That sleepwalk should be over by now
I know that You make my dreams come true"

Year in Review: August 2010

I think August has some of the best events, photos, and posts of the entire year.  I only added a couple of photos, but I will link to all of the original posts so you can see how it all went down. You know I love to give you the inside scoop! 

1.  This was my annual trip to the Hollywood Bowl for their summer musical.  This year, Neil Patrick Harris directed Rent with stars like Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Scherzinger, and Wayne Brady.  How did they do?  Oh, you want to read this.  

Me and Melody Freeman before the madness begins.

2.  This is one of the tastiest treats I had all year while I was working the Dew Tour in Portland.  It's a maple bacon bar from Voodoo Doughnuts and it is a "must-eat" the next time you are touring through the Pacific Northwest.  See all of my photos from the trip here.

3.  This is in my Top 3 Favorite Outfits for 2010.  I wore it to cover the red carpet for collidEdance's blink/drEam for Dance Channel TV.  You can see some of your favorite America's Best Dance Crew and So You Think You Can Dance stars in the compilation video.  Enjoy!

All the details about the dress and accessories are here.

4.  Emmys Week!  Gifting suites, celebs, many changes of wardrobe, and oh boy, the photo booth with Phil Keoghan of The Amazing Race.....delicious!  Here are all of the details with Phil and me.  

5.  With the popularity of Mad Men, this photo of me with Kiernan Shipka brought a lot of new readers to Red Carpet Closet.  I appreciate all of the new friends I have made thanks to Kiernan and this is still one of my favorite interviews of the year.  Here it is.

Hollywood Bowl

                                           

Perhaps the best part of a Los Angeles summer is the Hollywood Bowl.  It is a 17,000 seat amphitheatre featuring the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the summer home of the LA Philharmonic, and some of the finest musical offerings in the area.  In my ten years in LA, I have had the opportunity to see great artists like Angela Landsbury, Audra McDonald, John Williams, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Donna Murphy on that massive stage.  I am never disappointed with the atmosphere, the company, and the affordable tickets to enjoy a little culture here in Southern California.

With my pal, Melody Freeman, in the nosebleed seats at the Bowl.

Each year my friends and I hit the Bowl during the first weekend in August for their annual musical theatre selection.  This year was an interesting choice, not only for its racier content, but for its choice of directors, Neil Patrick Harris (NPH). The musical for 2010?  Rent.  NPH is very familiar with the material having played Mark in the National Tour of Rent back in 1997, so he made so unique choices with this production.  He wisely added ten chorus members to fill the cavernous Hollywood Bowl stage so it never felt empty and he had the set designer build a set with levels to fill the vertical height of the the Bowl shell.  When it came to casting, he went in several directions starting with classic musical theatre choices like Gwen Stewart and Tracie Thoms.  Since this is an LA production, you need more star wattage, so Wayne Brady, Vanessa Hudgens, and Nicole Scherzinger rounded out the cast and added the celebrity power.  The real question is, did they deliver the musical theatre goods?

Nighttime at the Bowl with a blurry iPhone camera.

Well, Wayne Brady was as solid as you would expect him to be in the touching role of Tom Collins. Vanessa Hudgens tried so hard in her role as Mimi.  She acted, danced, and sang with so much effort, it was exhausting to watch.  She really wanted to pull this off, but she was miscast in the role.   It was a definite departure from her role as Gabriella in High School Musical, but it wasn't the right departure.  She needs to think more Fosse, less junkie stripper.  I think a turn in Chicago on Broadway might do the girl good.  The true surprise of the night was Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls performing as Maureen, a role made famous by Wicked veteran, Idina Menzel.  I was not a fan until last night.  Holy cow!  That girl can sing, dance, and act.  I think she was the only one prepared to sing to an audience of 17,000 given her experience in the pop world. If her handlers manage her career properly, expect to see the next Beyoncé level diva on the horizon.  She's THAT good and we need a new diva since Beyoncé can barely sing.  (Yes, I said it.  She can't sing.  I've heard her live, she's a performer, not a singer.)  Overall, this show is always going to be a tribute to the work of Jonathan Larson.  Did it move me the way the original Broadway cast did in 1996?  No, but it certainly offered a great night out for a bunch of musical theatre geeks in Hollywood. 

The crowds exiting the Bowl after a night at Rent.

While Rent wrapped up last night, be sure to grab Hollywood Bowl tickets before the season is over.  It's affordable entertainment, a great date night, and an excuse to dine al fresco with lots of wine.

To read more about Neil Patrick Harris and this production of Rent:  LA Times.

And a photo of me and Melody Freeman made it on to the Hollywood Bowl site.  It's good to know they appreciate their cheap seat customers as much as their box owners.  Thanks!

   

Weekly Wrap-Up

Oh, what a week it has been....ping pong, reality stars, and All That Jazz.  Here's a quick round-up of what happened this week:

Me and my pal, Maria, at the opening night of SPiN Hollywood.  We dressed up that night, but I only got a picture of our shoulder straps.  Oh well.  


1.  A visit to the opening of SPiN Hollywood courtesy of Lexus Dark Ride.  Thanks for the invite, guys!  We saw Susan and Vienna and Michael, oh my! (An Oscar winner and a couple of train wrecks all in one sentence.)

2.  It's week 6 of MoreWireLess and we take you right into High Speed Bluetooth.  Hope you're learning something, kids.  Sponsored by Broadcom:


3. Stupid for Movies:  I was lucky enough to visit the set of Stupid for Movies back in April where I interviewed Mike Rotman, Mark Keizer, and Wade Major for The Web Files.  They kindly invited me back and let me pick a movie to discuss.  So, here's the show, All That Jazz, and the story of my highly inappropriate dance routine in junior high:


4.  While I was on Stupid for Movies, I talked about a website I am obsessed with:  Cupcakes and Cashmere.  The content is definitely for the fashionista who is ultra-girly, but I am a huge fan of the site and its creator, Emily Schuman.

5.  Official Blog Roll Call:  I think I am going to start an official blog roll, so if you are interested in linking together, let me know in the comment section.

Next week, we will have a new episode of The Web Files featuring the talented and handsome, Al Thompson, of Johnny B. Homeless and Lenox Avenue.  I will be covering the Plug-In Conference up in San Jose through Wednesday and then running back down to LA to check out the red carpet of ITVFest.

Enjoy your weekend!  My weekend will be filled with a trunk sale at my favorite store, Roni B., my first show of the season at the Hollywood Bowl (Planet Earth!), and a little yoga to relax the mind, body, and spirit.  Let me know in the comment section what you are doing with your weekend.  See you next week at Red Carpet Closet!

2009 in Review: August

This month will definitely be done in 5 photos although some of you are betting I will break my 5 photo rule again. I have a feeling you are right. August 2009 brought a few of my favorite shoots for The Web Files because we were featuring an international show and one that I picked as an up and comer. (I think I have been proven right on this too! That makes me feel good to see their success.)

Our shoot with Oz Girl in West Hollywood. This was a last minute shoot when we figured it was a great opportunity to grab these talented kids while they were all in from Australia. They were the hit of iTVFest and I look forward to seeing more from the cast. Episode: Oz Girl.

If you know me well enough, you know that I am a musical theatre geek at heart. Here I am with my friend, Crabby, at our annual trip to the Hollywood Bowl to see their musical theatre offering of 2009. This year? Guys and Dolls with Jessica Biel as Sarah Brown. Yes, I said Jessica Biel.

The crew from The Web Files and the crew from Movies You May Have Missed. A show that I pegged as a rising star in the web space and their success has proven me right. With over a million views in December alone, be sure to watch their weekly Wednesday release. Here's our episode with them: MYMHM and the episode I did on their show: Mildred Pierce

Bring your puppy to work day! My puppy loves to hang out on set and she is welcome at Dance Channel TV when I shoot. Here we are shooting a segment for Gotta Dance movie with my puppy at my feet. Here's the segment: Gotta Dance.

Our makeup sponsors came on board in August and we want to thank Ted Rubin at e.l.f. for continuing to offer great support to The Web Files.

See? I did it in 5 today. Find out if I succeed tomorrow with the start of my month long gig in Dallas. Lots of fried food pictures coming your way.