Introducing: Barrett Wilbert Weed

Greetings readers! You may be a tad confused as to what this post is about, but have no fear, all is about to become clear (and yeah, that was supposed to rhyme). You know when you find these awesomely, talented people on the interweb, start stalking their filmographies (or in this case, theatre credits), and feel like you've discovered them, only to find that they become massively famous in the next few months and no one believes you were an original fan? Yeah, it happens to me all the time *cough* Ansel Elgort *cough*. However, I am here today to officially put a stop to this. If you read my recent 'Heathers: The Musical' review, perhaps you remember the name Barrett Wilbert Weed popping up (because to be honest, it's kind of hard to forget).

Of course you guys know I am totally and utterly obsessed with it right now, and therefore, it's not that hard to believe that I've been kinda sorta cyberstalking the girl who originated the role of Veronica Sawyer Off-Broadway. Also, considering it's her birthday today, I thought hey, what better time to prove my fangirling abilities? She may be well and truly known around the theatre community at the moment, but I'm just going to put it out there now, when she makes it really big and becomes a household name (which will totally happen), I knew her first. Strangely long intro over, let's get into it . . .

Who is She?

If you're an uncultured being and still have no idea who I'm talking about, this subheading is definitely for you. Barrett is obviously a musical theatre performer who's starred not only as Veronica in 'Heathers the Musical', but as Nadia in 'Bare', Denise in 'Found: A New Musical' Off Broadway, and was the understudy for the lead in Broadway's Lysistrata Jones in 2011. Not convinced of her experience yet? You have a problem.

Prior to all this stage work, she attended Elon University, and guess what? Majored in Musical Theatre, where she played Maureen in their production of 'Rent'. I know, I can feel all you Broadway fangirls out there getting super excited, because I did exactly the same thing. Seriously, who doesn't love 'Rent'?

Why She's Totally Awesome

Introductions over with, it's time to officially prove to you guys why she is 100% fangirlable (and yes, let's just pretend that's a word). 

She's Got Mega-Talent

As with most musical theatre performers, Barrett happens to have a whole lot of talent at her disposal. Doing 8 live shows a week including strenuous dance routines and some uber belting definitely requires a lot of hard work and natural ability, which handily, Barrett happens to have in spades. I wouldn't say its her voice that totally sets her apart (though don't get me wrong, that's super awesome too), but I really just think it's the whole package. Her more naturalistic style of acting is kind of like a breath of fresh air, and her inherently awesome comic timing really just makes for an immensely enjoyable theatre experience. What can I say? She's got the goods. 

She Has an Awesome Sense of Humour

You know how sometimes you watch people on TV or in musicals and they seem really funny and nice, and then you see them in interviews and they're completely and utterly boring and serious? Yeah, this isn't even close to being the case (thank god). Every interview I've seen her in she comes out with some pretty awesome stuff, and it's obvious that she enjoys fangirling just as much as us mere mortals do. If you decide to do some scoping out on the magical world of Instagram, you'll inevitably come to the same conclusion. Don't believe me? Go right now and check out her rendition of 'I Could Be Jewish For You' and I think you'll change your mind. 

She Loves all her Cast Members

I have to admit, in the productions I've been apart of in my musical theatre experiences, I've found it difficult sometimes to get along with everybody I've had to work alongside. However, Barrett seems like she's just a genuinely nice person, and somehow has managed to befriend just about everyone she's worked with. Of course, us fans can't be certain considering we're not with her every second of her entire life (because seriously, that's even too stalkerish for someone like me), but based on every interview ever and her abundance of Instagram posts, everything seems to be constantly peachy. They have little private jokes that we all try (but fail) to cop on to, and in a few of her tweets, Barrett was pretty heavily encouraging everyone to vote for her 'Heathers' co-star Alice Lee on 'Rising Star'. How cool and awesome is that?

She Worked Really Hard to Get Where She Is

Similar to a lot of people in the business, Barrett hasn't just got all her parts on a whim. Obviously, to make it in the industry and be successful you need to put in a lot of effort, but specifically in Barrett's case, she did a whole lot of ground work before she even got started. She wasn't just like 'hmm, musical theatre sounds fun, I'm going to give that a go', she'd studied a lot and attended university, making sure she got all the training she needed to hopefully make it big. And bam, it worked! Considering that's what I'm planning to do in just over 2 years (how scary is that?!), it's important to have people to look up to. And hey, looks like I just found another one.

Overall guys, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm giving you all a new person to stalk and obsess over. You're welcome. Just when you think the Earth's run out of people to fangirl over to the extreme, a Barrett Wilbert Weed comes out of the woodwork. Now go! Do all the things! Listen to all her covers on Youtube, follow her on Instagram and Twitter, and perhaps most importantly, send her a Happy Birthday message.

Well, I think this post is just about drawing to a close. I bid you all goodbye.

Til' next time . . .

Annabel xx