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  • Locked thread
fabgab
May 31, 2009
What? Theatre doesn't even warrant it's own thread or even it's own post icon here? What kind of elitist hipster website is this without a theatre section? I can't believe there are no other theatre-goers here. Or maybe I'm just a stupid newbie.

I guess I'll give it the good ole college try though...so...

What do people think of this years' Tony nominations? Does anyone else think Exit the King was robbed of a Best Revival of a Play nomination?

Did anyone else think the production of Merchant of Venice set in a men's prison playing at BAM right now sucked?

Is anyone else trying to think of creative ways to get to London to see Fiona Shaw play Mother Courage later this year?

Please tell me I'm not alone here!

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Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
There's a playwriting thread, but that's all I've seen. I always thought a theatre thread was amiss at SA.

Right now I'm a theatre minor, but I'm thinking about changing that since I really don't like the bureaucracy of Physics. I've tried my hand at carpentry, but a carpenter I was not made to be. I'm more of a lighting and design techie. I also write and want to direct eventually.

Unfortunately I live in Arkansas, so I take whatever I can get (which this year was an Avenue Q tour I missed and Chaim Topol's Fiddler tour). I don't get to see alot outside of community and college theatre, but those are the productions worth seeing.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
The only formal theater learnin' I've had was from a teacher who had never heard of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?. I'd be behind a theater thread.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug
A theatre thread would be totally sexy. Oh wait, let's turn THIS into the theatre thread.

I don't know about you clowns, but my favorite show I've done was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. I played Hero, who is a blithering idiot and have never played a more fun part in anything I've ever done.

I'm sewage flavored.

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
The only experience I have during the production is running crew. You have alot of downtime. Being backstage at a show is about a pretty even mix of awesome and boring (and terrifying, when two chairs legs decide to fall off when an actor sits down), but it's a bit disappointing knowing that you never actually get to see your show without looking through curtains that blur everything (our dress rehearsals are private high school shows).

We don't have the best theatre at our school either. It's an old gymnasium building that the school gave us. And we only have two thirds of it, the rest is the school's museum. It's a pain with curtains - we only control one of the two air conditioner units and, without fail, the museum one is always blowing our cyc around like a loving sail.

The auditorium on the other side of campus is worse. It's a proscenium stage, but it has no wings to speak of and it's a pain getting anything through the really cramped and tiny doors. When we did Penzance we were handing (rather large) set units across the threshold to another crew because we couldn't fit in alongside them.

Surely there must be a techie or two on SA.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
I've done tech, specifically rear-projection for the "garden" outside the house in The Innocents (which sucks, by the way). It was in the school district's fancy new black box, and it was really badly designed, especially the backstage. There was no way to get to the light/sound booth without crossing one of two noisy catwalks above the audience, the backstage walls were shiny white, the floor was expensive tile that you had to take your shoes off to cross (or else you'd sound like a drat horse), all the doors were the big office ones that SLAM shut, there were windows... It was ridiculous. We didn't even have a shop to build sets in, we had to use the auto shop halfway across campus, and then we had administrators breathing down our necks "don't spill any paint don't spill any paint". On the last day someone dropped a giant can of hot pink paint and left it there to dry over the summer.

Fantasmo
Dec 19, 2008

by Fistgrrl
I hear they're making a Spider-Man musical.

Blue Outlaw
Nov 4, 2008
I worked in a theatre once it was O.K.

BeeZee142
Sep 26, 2007
Tonys tonight! Who's gonna watch?

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
Why are the Tonys even televised? How much of CBS's market share has seen even one performance of one of the nominated productions?

Daddy Two-Coats
Jul 11, 2006

I AM HULKING UP
Ooh, I like the idea of a theatre thread. I'm part of an Atlanta Theatre company, mostly doing improv but I did just do a run of Jez Butterworth's Mojo this year. So yeah, if anyone wants to talk 'prov in this thing that'd be awesome.

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven

Daddy Two-Coats posted:

Ooh, I like the idea of a theatre thread. I'm part of an Atlanta Theatre company, mostly doing improv but I did just do a run of Jez Butterworth's Mojo this year. So yeah, if anyone wants to talk 'prov in this thing that'd be awesome.
I'll get that question out of the way then: how the christ do you learn improv? Because it certainly isn't that Spolin book.

Also throwing another one out to the thread, what about graduate schools? As much as I'd like to think that my empty portfolio is Yale School of Drama material, I'm going to hedge my bets on some little school that will give me tons of money. It worked as an undergrad.

Daddy Two-Coats
Jul 11, 2006

I AM HULKING UP

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

I'll get that question out of the way then: how the christ do you learn improv? Because it certainly isn't that Spolin book.

Well, I've never read Spolin's book... but I'd tell you if you DO want to use a book the one I've read most is Impro for Storytellers by Keith Johnstone. He's a lunatic and gives a lot of bad ideas in it but the theory is sound as far as improv fundamentals go.

However, the best way to learn is really to take some kind of classes with good, experienced improvisers who know their stuff and can help to teach you the finer points once you've mastered the fundamentals (which are pretty much just listening to your scene partner and the "yes and" principle along with learning not to try to be witty/funny all the time). Think of it like drawing or music: some people are really talented at it naturally, but with enough practice you can make anybody decent at it.

antiloquax
Feb 23, 2008

by Ozma

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

I'll get that question out of the way then: how the christ do you learn improv? Because it certainly isn't that Spolin book.

There are a few books that are viewed as the "Bibles of Improv" out there--Spolin's being one of them. My personal favourite is Mick Napier's "Improvise," but, really, books only do so much.

If you're not in a place with a great improv school or two (Chicago or New York), your best bet is to get a couple of people together and just keep doing scenes. Set a timer and start a new scene every two or three minutes--making completely new choices each time.

Essentially, you want to be doing this:

1. Make a strong choice immediately at the beginning of a scene. Decide you're a perverted pirate, and stammering teacher, a retarded CEO, it doesn't matter, but do it immediately. Don't wait to see what the other guy is doing.

2. Commit to your choice. Don't change it halfway through. Don't suddenly say, "Yes, so that's what a pervert would say." Stick to your decisions: your accent, your body mannerisms, your emotional point of view, your needs and wants, your flaws, your and so on.

3. Don't negate what your scene partner is doing. React to it in the character you've created and committed to. This way, if your partner is lovely and is being a selfish improviser, you're protected because you've made an awesome decision at the top of the scene.


Really, though, you're best off seeking out someone who knows what they're talking about, because otherwise you'll eventually start to improvise scenes where you or your partner(s) try to dictate every beat. I'm sure you've seen those scenes.

Guy 1: I'm so glad you could come to my wedding!

Guy 2: It's not a wedding and I hate you!

Guy 1: But you're the best man at my wedding!

Guy 2: Don't talk to your dad like that!

MythObstacleIV
Oct 27, 2007

640509-040147

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

The only experience I have during the production is running crew. You have alot of downtime. Being backstage at a show is about a pretty even mix of awesome and boring (and terrifying, when two chairs legs decide to fall off when an actor sits down), but it's a bit disappointing knowing that you never actually get to see your show without looking through curtains that blur everything (our dress rehearsals are private high school shows).

Surely there must be a techie or two on SA.

Yeah, I've been a stage hand for nine shows. I've also been stage manager for four shows and have designed two sets, plus built most of the sets and just done a lot of carpentry in general for the various shows. Being a stagehand can be boring at times, but nothing beats the thrill of running on the stage in the dark to move things around. Being a stage manager or even just head crew chief is a lot more exciting, because you are in charge of knowing what everyone else has to do at a specific time and making sure it gets done.

I also designed posters for several of the shows we did, they used them for program covers too. I enjoy being a techie, I'd like to get into doing lighting.

Daddy Two-Coats
Jul 11, 2006

I AM HULKING UP

MythObstacleIV posted:

I enjoy being a techie,

You guys are the best ever. Crew doesn't often get enough praise from actors... so keep bein' awesome, stagehands/SMs/wardrob people of the world.

Fantasmo
Dec 19, 2008

by Fistgrrl
Let's talk some more about the upcoming Spider-Man musical. Who thinks Matthew Broderick should play Peter Parker?

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven

Fantasmo posted:

Let's talk some more about the upcoming Spider-Man musical. Who thinks Matthew Broderick should play Peter Parker?
Not without Nathan Lane as Doc Oc.

SenseLess
May 4, 2007

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

Surely there must be a techie or two on SA.

Techie here, too. I have been doing lighting (and various other things depending on the production including some sound work and also was assistant director twice). I have been doing this as a hobby for a small amateur theatre for almost ten years now.

Highlight of my 'career' was when we did a Terry Pratchett play and the author came to watch it and was very impressed of the production. He actually posted in alt.fan.pratchett recommending us. Which didn't do pretty much in regard to ticket sales though, as we are located in Germany.

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
Does anyone have any obscure favorites? Our director's on sabbatical for the Fall semester and our TD is taking recommendations. I've already tossed The Seagull into the pot and I'm not sure about Hamlet because it's hard enough getting a consistent audience when our stuff isn't four hours long.

I'm trying to dig through the annals of history to turn up some gems that are overlooked for no reason at all. Die Burgschaft looked interesting, but it doesn't seem to have ever been translated into English.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
What's your repertoire been like lately? Too bad you don't (apparently) do musicals, because Sondheim's Pacific Overtures is fairly modest, staging-wise, and overlooked. If you're going to do a Shakespeare, there's this really great Ask/Tell thread by an English professor who has some amazing insights on several of his works.

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
We do both. We're not very large, but we can still stage basically anything in four weeks. We did the Pirates of Penzance and Earnest last semester and South Pacific over the summer. Last Fall we did Sondheim's Assassins and Brechted the hell out of it (and the school administrators almost cancelled it because of a gunshot).

It was before my time, but we did the Scottish play some years ago. The high school shows were apparently awful for that, there were kids trying to throw coins into the witches' cauldron.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
So I guess Pacific Overtures isn't out of the question. Like I said, it's very modest, in the form of Noh theater (or was it Kabuki?). I think the most elaborate effect is a paper fan "tree" that unfolds, though I guess the music could be considered kinda intimidating, though I guess if you have actors who can do the Major-General's Song then it's not a problem (then again getting any audible lyrics out of that third-to-last verse of Please, Hello is impossible anyways).

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

(and the school administrators almost cancelled it because of a gunshot).

Oy, I know this. We had an administrator when we were working at the new blackbox theater who liked to come in and inspect what we were doing. He was like a crackhead in a police station.

:byodood: What are they doing over there!?
:eng101: Building a set.
:byodood: With hammers!?!?
:eng101: They're insured.
:byodood: What's that!? IT LOOKS DANGEROUS!
:eng101: It's a chandelier.
:byodood: It could fall!
:eng101: It does fall, it's part of the show.
:byodood: What show!?!?!

Thankfully he left about a month later.

Bitey Bunny
May 26, 2009

c h o m p

Fantasmo posted:

I hear they're making a Spider-Man musical.

Dude! I resent that!
Can Broadway writers not come up with original ideas for plays and musicals these days? There's so much to write about that doesn't need to be taken from a movie or television show.
I never really thought Legally Blonde was amazing either.

Has anyone ever done The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 before? I loved working lights on that play!

Symptomless Coma
Mar 30, 2007
for shock value

Magic Hate Ball posted:


:byodood: What are they doing over there!?
:eng101: Building a set.
:byodood: With hammers!?!?
:eng101: They're insured.
:byodood: What's that!? IT LOOKS DANGEROUS!
:eng101: It's a chandelier.
:byodood: It could fall!
:eng101: It does fall, it's part of the show.
:byodood: What show!?!?!


Ha. I was skimming and assumed this was an example of good improv. drat it.

Not exactly theatre but I'm going for a theatrical element... The vacant fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square is currently being curated by artist Antony Gormley's One&Other project (https://www.oneandother.co.uk.) - a new person stands on the plinth for each hour, for 100 days, and does whatever they like. I'm going to be doing a half-character piece about the history of the square - with humour, I hope - on the 21st. It was pretty difficult to get allocated a place so I feel compelled to do it quite well. And what a chance to amuse/confuse tourists... have a look at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109346396626 for details. And suggestions of what to megaphone at unsuspecting watchers are welcome...

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
There's been nothing here in a while. I'm Assistant Stage Manager and Light crew for Alice in Wonderland, Andre Gregory's version (with, thank God, a guest director). I'm going full Jew Stage Manager for our musical and one-acts next semester.

SlightButSteady
Sep 13, 2007

Soiled Meat

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

Does anyone have any obscure favorites? Our director's on sabbatical for the Fall semester and our TD is taking recommendations. I've already tossed The Seagull into the pot and I'm not sure about Hamlet because it's hard enough getting a consistent audience when our stuff isn't four hours long.

I'm trying to dig through the annals of history to turn up some gems that are overlooked for no reason at all. Die Burgschaft looked interesting, but it doesn't seem to have ever been translated into English.

One of my favourite plays that hardly ever gets performed is:

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss

I've been lucky enough to see this on 16mm (my projector) performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (Glenda Jackson's first film role, I think). It's a bazaar faux historical play within a play. Very Brecht.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat/Sade

Also, we need a Joe Orton revival. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orton

His plays are a cross between Carry On films and The Angry Young Man theme.

Oh and while I'm here, I just found this the other day: Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre productions can be downloaded here (mostly in mp3) http://www.mercurytheatre.info/

Includes:

  • Dracula (July 11, 1938)
  • Treasure Island (July 18, 1938)
  • A Tale of Two Cities (July 25, 1938)
  • The 39 Steps (August 1, 1938)
  • Three Short Stories: I’m a Fool, The Open Window, and My Little Boy (August 8, 1938)
  • Abraham Lincoln (August 15, 1938)
  • The Affairs of Anatol (August 22, 1938)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (August 29, 1938)
  • The Man Who Was Thursday (September 5, 1938)
  • The Immortal Sherlock Holmes (September 25, 1938)
  • Hell on Ice (October 9, 1938)
  • Seventeen (October 16, 1938)
  • Around the World in 80 Days (October 23, 1938)
  • The War of the Worlds (October 30, 1938)
  • Heart of Darkness / Life with Father (November 6, 1938)
  • A Passenger to Bali (November 13, 1938)
  • The Pickwick Papers (November 20, 1938)
  • Rebecca (December 9, 1938)
  • A Christmas Carol (December 23, 1938)
  • Counselor-at-Law (January 6, 1939)
  • Mutiny on the Bounty (January 13, 1939)
  • I Lost My Girlish Laughter (January 27, 1939)
  • Arrowsmith (February 3, 1939)
  • The Green Goddess (February 10, 1939)
  • The Glass Key (March 10, 1939)
  • Beau Geste (March 17, 1939)
  • Showboat (March 31, 1939)
  • The Patriot (April 14, 1939)
  • Private Lives (April 21, 1939)
  • Wickford Point (May 5, 1939)
  • Our Town (May 12, 1939)
  • The Bad Man (May 19, 1939)
  • Things We Have (May 26, 1939)
  • Victoria Regina (June 2, 1939)
  • Peter Ibbetson (September 10, 1939)
  • Ah, Wilderness (September 17, 1939)
  • What Every Woman Knows (September 24, 1939)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (October 1, 1939)
  • Algiers (October 8, 1939)
  • Escape (October 15, 1939)
  • Liliom (October 22, 1939)
  • The Magnificent Ambersons (October 29, 1939)
  • The Hurricane (November 5, 1939)
  • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (November 12, 1939)
  • The Garden of Allah (November 19, 1939)
  • Dodsworth (November 26, 1939)
  • Lost Horizon (December 3, 1939)
  • Venessa (December 10, 1939)
  • There’s Always a Woman (December 17, 1939)
  • A Christmas Carol (December 24, 1939)
  • Vanity Fair (January 7, 1940)
  • Theodora Goes Wild (January 14, 1940)
  • The Citadel (January 21, 1940)
  • It Happened One Night (January 28, 1940)
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (February 11, 1940)
  • Dinner at Eight (February 18, 1940)
  • Only Angels Have Wings (February 25, 1940)
  • Rabble in Arms (March 3, 1940)
  • Craig’s Wife (March 10, 1940)
  • Huckleberry Finn (March 17, 1940)
  • June Moon (March 24, 1940)

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
So is anyone else nuts about Sondheim? It's driving me crazy that I have nobody to talk to about his works.

Slashie
Mar 24, 2007

by Fistgrrl

Magic Hate Ball posted:

So is anyone else nuts about Sondheim? It's driving me crazy that I have nobody to talk to about his works.

Yes, I love him ever so.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
I've been stuck on Merrily We Roll Along for like two weeks now, and it kills me that there was never a libretto published.

Slashie
Mar 24, 2007

by Fistgrrl

Magic Hate Ball posted:

I've been stuck on Merrily We Roll Along for like two weeks now, and it kills me that there was never a libretto published.

Not yet!

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this

Slashie posted:

Not yet!

:supaburn:

I hope it's not just the songs, I really want to read the whole play. That's what I've been doing with most of his works, getting the libretto and the cast album from the library and reading them. Made Follies really hard, I had to chart out who was married to who but secretly loved/didn't love who.

Rashomon
Jun 21, 2006

This machine kills fascists
"Merrily" is a pretty bad play I think, and I don't think it's ever worked on stage. But some of those songs are pretty incredible.

I had a gigantic phase where I was really into "Merrily" when I was like 15. The original cast recording is great -- apparently they were all pissed because their show had been panned and closed so fast, and they recorded it the day after closing. So they put all their energy into KILLING the cast recording, and you can tell.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
Sondheim's shows do tend to have pretty weak books, I mean, I think Sweeney Todd is his strongest show simply because there's so little talking. Company has the issue of a mediocre ending, Follies is too much of the same thing (bitching), Pacific Overtures is often downright boring, Sunday In The Park's second act simply can't live up to the first (but on the whole it's a really fantastic piece of drama and totally worthy of the Pulitzer), Into The Woods totally crashes in the second act...and all of them have the issue of the writer trying to compete with Sondheim's brilliant songs. I'm not trying to give him a blowjob here, but there's nothing in the book of Pacific Overtures that is half as good as Someone In A Tree.

Rashomon posted:

I had a gigantic phase where I was really into "Merrily" when I was like 15. The original cast recording is great -- apparently they were all pissed because their show had been panned and closed so fast, and they recorded it the day after closing. So they put all their energy into KILLING the cast recording, and you can tell.

In Sondheim & Co. they talk about how they really wanted the album to sound professional and slick, as opposed to rough and amateurish on-stage. Mostly I want to read it out of curiosity ("is it really that bad?"), because you're right, some of those songs are absolutely incredible, particularly Franklin Shepard Inc. (which hurts the play even more, having its most powerful song right there at the front). If you watch the Youtube videos of the original cast (Jason Alexander with hair!) the issues are pretty obvious in that they're all acting pretty badly on a huge set. It might have worked off-Broadway, but you just can't do the "fake amateur" thing in such a huge auditorium, because then it feels like bad actors auditioning.

Apparently they've reworked the play a lot over the years but never to any real satisfaction. Would it have to be redone from the ground up? What works and what doesn't?

Rashomon
Jun 21, 2006

This machine kills fascists
I could go into a lot of detail (since at one point I knew pretty much everything about that show) but the main issue is pretty much that Frank is an rear end in a top hat when you meet him, so it takes until halfway through the show until you sympathize with him or understand where he's coming from. (For those who are unfamiliar, the show runs backwards in time). Also, the plot lines are rather thin and have never been satisfactorily addressed -- basically it consists of "Frank is a sellout!" "No I'm not!" "But you said you'd never give up your dreams!" It gets preachy at times, when it's coherent at all. Really great score though -- "Opening Doors," "Our Time," "Franklin Shepard Inc.," "Not A Day Goes By." Really good overture too, if you like that sort of thing.

Here, here is a "Merrily" present for you:


The problem with most Sondheim shows is they get dominated by him because he IS a great songwriter, and he was such a force of nature in his heyday (70s-80s). So the shows end up being all about the great Sondheim songs, and not so much about the SHOW being a good piece of theater. Even something as good as "A Little Night Music" has a very flimsy book -- particularly Henrik and Anne are pretty badly written. (Charlotte is terrific, though). "Sweeney Todd" is really well constructed and definitely the best of his shows, and even the other FANTASTIC shows of his that I adore ("Sunday...", "Into The Woods," "Company," and "Follies") have flaws. I'm also actually a "Pacific Overtures" fan, but it's very weird and sort of bad in certain ways. I actually liked the Roundabout revival, too.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this

Rashomon posted:

I could go into a lot of detail

Please do! (I'm hijacking this thread and taking it to Cuba.)

Rashomon posted:

...but the main issue is pretty much that Frank is an rear end in a top hat when you meet him, so it takes until halfway through the show until you sympathize with him or understand where he's coming from. (For those who are unfamiliar, the show runs backwards in time). Also, the plot lines are rather thin and have never been satisfactorily addressed -- basically it consists of "Frank is a sellout!" "No I'm not!" "But you said you'd never give up your dreams!" It gets preachy at times, when it's coherent at all. Really great score though -- "Opening Doors," "Our Time," "Franklin Shepard Inc.," "Not A Day Goes By." Really good overture too, if you like that sort of thing.

Do you think even more rewrites would save it, or would it have to be done from the ground up? I've also heard of it being performed chronologically and, apparently, in an "Annie Hall" fashion, where it goes back and forth. It sounds like the same problem Follies has, except Follies gets a foot ahead with the Loveland sequence. Definitely great songs, though. Raul Esparza is pretty good at this.

Rashomon posted:

Here, here is a "Merrily" present for you:


Wow, it's even worse in color! :v:

Rashomon posted:

The problem with most Sondheim shows is they get dominated by him because he IS a great songwriter, and he was such a force of nature in his heyday (70s-80s). So the shows end up being all about the great Sondheim songs, and not so much about the SHOW being a good piece of theater. Even something as good as "A Little Night Music" has a very flimsy book -- particularly Henrik and Anne are pretty badly written. (Charlotte is terrific, though). "Sweeney Todd" is really well constructed and definitely the best of his shows, and even the other FANTASTIC shows of his that I adore ("Sunday...", "Into The Woods," "Company," and "Follies") have flaws. I'm also actually a "Pacific Overtures" fan, but it's very weird and sort of bad in certain ways. I actually liked the Roundabout revival, too.

Pacific Overtures has some amazing songs but some very awkward book segments. Most of Sondheim's other shows can get from song to song fairly well (or at least a well as they can) but with this it just kind of stumbles along until the orchestra starts up again. I really don't know of any musicals that give just as much weight to the book as the songs that aren't Sondheim shows, and I think in some respects the slack that's given in "dramatic weight" is taken up by sheer creativity. But then again, how many people want to see something like Pacific Overtures, particularly considering the Disneyland climate of modern Broadway?

Wolfgang Pauli
Mar 26, 2008

One Three Seven
My Fall production ended up being Alice in Wonderland. Andre Gregory's Alice in Wonderland. It was pretty god drat incredible, especially since Andre Gregory is responsible for my being there in the first place. God, I need to finish The Little Prince.

Next semester we're doing Shakespeare, the Music department got kicked out of our budget and they're doing A Little Night Music by themselves (I'll probably stage manage that, though), and then one-acts (I'm writing at least one of them, possibly two). Since one-acts is probably going to be split into two shows, that's four shows I get to stage manage, and train two ASMs, too. That's probably all I'm ever going to stage manage here before I move on to Lighting.

I really want to do Pacific Overtures and I really want to do Hamlet and I really want to do a Chekhov. Since our school has three categories of show (play, musical, and Shakespeare), this is what I'm lobbying for until I graduate. I think I've got a shot at it, since I have five more semesters here.

Since Pacific Overtures is so minimalist anyway, it'd probably work better as a concert piece than fully staged play. There simply aren't non-singing roles and the book just carries the viewer from song to song. It's not like you can't put casters on a tree and roll it out onto a stage for that one song.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

It's not like you can't put casters on a tree and roll it out onto a stage for that one song.

That's pretty much what they did (ugh why does that not have a release). I've always thought Pacific Overtures would work really well in a black box, probably thrust, because it requires that kind of intimacy. Or maybe I'm horribly wrong. One of the issues with Pacific Overtures is finding the right balance between Western and Eastern instruments in the orchestra. The OBC gets the second half right, the 2004 revival nails the first half, but the former is too brassy in the first half and the latter is too skeletal in the second. But then again, it's the lush Western orchestrations that make Chrysanthemum Tea, Poems, and There Is No Other Way so beautiful on the OBC. I guess the answer is to sit there with the orchestra and remove the Western instruments one by one for each song until equilibrium, or something.

Buggerlugs
Aug 27, 2003

"All right, Bellamy came on at Liverpool and did well, but everybody
thinks that he's the saviour, he's Jesus Christ. He's not Jesus Christ"
On a non-musical note (see what I did there?), does anyone know of a decent play (full length) that would accomodate a mostly (as in only one guy) female cast, and isn't called Steel Magnolias?

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Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
'night Mother comes to mind, but that's a two-female no-male play. Miss Julie (ooh do that one) is two females, one male. I guess you could sexually invert Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice. Here's a list, here's one of all-female casts, here's one with the limit of one male and any female (so you'll get a lot of one-man shows)...the Dramatists Play Service playfinder is a good place to start.

edit: So is the 2004 revival recording of Assassins really crappy? It's the only one I've got and either I just don't like the music or it's just a bad version. Why is Guiteau played so gay? Of course I take the same issue with the 2004 revival recording of Pacific Overtures in that most of the singing is really...what, overwrought? It sounds goofy, like they're cut songs from Seussical or something.

Magic Hate Ball fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Nov 7, 2009

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