Amph Live Theater - From the professional to your high school production

Having loved the movie Grease, I always forget just how bad the Broadway soundtrack is... I'd have to wager much of that is because the singing quality has improved because theater sound quality have improved (i.e. on-body mics that can be hidden, etc.) whereas back then people had to project forcibly to the back of the house...

 

A few weeks ago we saw The Boys in the Band a play from 1968 about a group of gay men attending a birthday party in NYC. In 1968 it was nearly impossible to find people to play the characters, and was considered groundbreaking in it's portrayal of gay men. In this production (the 50th anniversary), every man in the show is an out actor including Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, and Jim Parsons

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I really enjoyed it! The description of the play leaves a little bit to be desired, but it's pretty accurate. It's a one act play that doesn't feel too long and keeps you engaged the entire time. The NY Times review said it felt dated, but I disagree. There weren't any jokes that felt really out of their time (and there were a lot of jokes, it was a pretty funny play, though it wasn't a comedy), I don't know if they changed any of them or not. The speed of the play felt pretty current, and the set design was a fantastic split level with glass walls.

It's a play that relies a lot on the timing of the actors for the comedy. Andrew Rannells -the most prolific broadway actor in the cast- had the absolute best timing, at one point making the audience roar with laughter over a simple line of "ANSWER THE PHONE, HANK!"

I personally wanted to see it mostly because I'm a huge Matt Bomer fan, and this was his Broadway debut. He didn't disappoint and I hope he does more Broadway!

I'd say go see it but it was a limited run and closed on August 11th.

 

My wife and I saw Les Misérables over the weekend. It was the first time either of us had seen the play. I know I watched the 2012 film starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, but I don't remember any details or plot points. I must have fallen asleep.

Anyway, this being my first time, I was unaware that it would be about two hours before intermission. As such, I kept thinking after a big musical number that's when intermission would hit. Nope. So, when intermission finally hit, my wife and I looked at end other as asked is it intermission or was that end, because of the amount of time that had passed since the play started.

I was confused a bit with the time jumps that occur because the differences between the child actors and the adult actors, specifically with the characters of Cosette and Éponine. The child actor that played the child version of Cosette was Asian and had black hair, while the adult version of Cosette was played by a White actor with blonde hair. The child actor that played the child version of Éponine was White with black hair and the adult actor that played the adult version of Éponine was Black. It took me a little bit to make the connection as I was thrown off with the diversity of the cast. Those superficial details resolved, the performances with moving with the powerful vocals and emotional conveyances.

Since this was our first experience with Les Misérables we didn't have anything to compare to, but the persons seating behind us commented at intermission this production was darker than an other they've seen. That seemed about right to me, from what I could remember about seeing the film.

It was a great production overall. So much so, my wife and I kind of want to experience again and therefore we'll rent the film in the near future.

Next up is the new production of Phantom of the Opera, but we won't be able use our tickets because of a very good friend's wedding.

 

@Sith_Sensei__Prime -- you couldn't immediately tell that "One Day More" is the greatest first-act closer ever written?!?

Also, what's the comparison for "darker" -- it's always been a pretty heavy show, and I say that as someone who's seen most of the versions, on B'way and West End, from the opening run through recently...

 

Hmmm... yeah I don't know how it could be 'darker' than it already is. It's an emotional show, I start crying earlier every time I see it. When we saw it on Broadway for the most recent revival dp said to me "Are you crying yet?" as the overture started, it was pretty close to accurate. The only show that makes me cry harder is Hamilton.

I can see how it would be really confusing for the children to have different races than their adult version if you don't know the show well. It's a huge cast and can be a bit confusing the first time no matter what.

@Sith_Sensei__Prime - I'd recommend watching the 25th Anniversary production. It's a concert version so not the full production, but since it's basically an opera, you get the entire show. I like the movie (minus the song they added), and there are some things I think they did well, but you really get the great voices with the 25th Anniversary. That's the cast recording I listen to, even over the original West End version that has Colm Wilkinson as Valjean.

 

Which is immediately followed by the single greatest second act opener ever.

 

Ehhhhhhh... ya lost me there.

 

I cry every time I watch the musical Les Mis, film or live production or concert. Last time I saw it live, there was an unfortunate problem during Who Am I? You know how it builds to that astonishing high note at the end of the crescendo: "I'm Jean Valjean . . . TWO FOUR SIX OH . . . OOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE." Well, the Valjean in the production absolutely whiffed on that high note. I mean, it happens and it was, as voice cracks go, pretty epic. But what a shame. I've never heard a note go that terribly wrong live ever in any musical setting: musical theater, concert, etc. But it is a brutal note, so I mostly felt bad for the performer. The fact that he was able to just carry right on was testament to his professionalism. A lot of people would have been on the bathroom floor crying after that note. Otherwise, really great performance.

 

It's certainly a decent Act 2 opener, but that's not very hard to do. Most Act 2 openers are pretty weak because you don't need them to be great and it's hard to start the pace again after people have had that 15-20 minutes.

You need a great opening number to hook the audience, you need a fantastic Act 1 closer to keep the audience and you need a great finale so people leave talking about it.

Les Mis doesn't have a top of my list opening number, I like it but there are much stronger songs in the show. But it certainly tops my Act 1 closer list, and the finale is pretty high up there too.

 

Fun story, during the original run, there was a Young Cosette who had the most nasal singing voice ever. It was really not great, but it's hard to judge since she was likely about 12 - 14 years old or something...

Also, in the last Broadway revival, there was the Gavroche with a lisp which -- given how much he drives the plot and requires a serious delivery -- 100% didn't work, despite him being a good actor. I hope that kid made something of himself, because he was an excellent actor.

But!

We saw Encores! City Center's production of A Chorus Line last night and I don't know why I always forget -- possibly because I only really remember the movie -- but that opening number live is crackling with energy and probably second in my mind to the opening number of Hamilton as opening numbers go. Just the whole way it's structured, there's the undercurrent of electricity building, and building, with the Marvin Hamlisch music being perfect, and then Zack (the director) with "Let's do the whole combination, facing away from the mirror, from the top -- a five six seven eight!" and then the MUSIC and LIGHTS just blow you out the back of the theater, and ending with them on the line with their headshots in front of their faces. DAMN.

Also, not for nothing, but in the live performance the Director is 1000x more sympathetic and immediately establishing of his competence than Michael Douglas is in the movie.

Finally, it's amazing to me -- having now seen the live performance -- just how much this show influences, both in large and small ways. Without this you don't get things like Noises Off, maybe not the originals La Cage aux Folles but certainly The Birdcage, possibly not Fame, Flashdance, etc. The "Music In The Mirror" performance (not in the movie) informs Buffy's near self-immolation in "Once More With Feeling" and likely multiple others of that particular example. I mean so, so many little things picked out...

 

Went to see Billy Bishop Goes To War about a month ago. It's based on the life of Canada's top WW1 flying ace and I first saw it as a teen, decades ago. The first time I saw it the star was a young man who played Billy as a young man at war. The recent production starred an older man who played Billy as an older man remembering his youth at war. It was a very different performance, and I was also watching from a very different perspective, since I had flown many combat missions over Iraq in the years between, so I had a whole new understanding of what it was like.

 

I cried more at A Chorus Line than any other show I've been to. It wasn't ugly crying like what happens with Les Mis and Hamilton, but I cried the vast majority of the time. I grew up in dance and until I was probably 14 or 15 and realized I just wasn't that talented, I wanted to be a dancer, specifically in musical theater. (Well I wanted to be triple threat, but my singing was way under my dance skills). Or a Rockett, which there was some tiny possibility I could have done that, but I wasn't ever going to be tall enough. I grew up listening to the Original Cast Recording and performing it in my living room. I played "I Hope I Get It" before every audition, and still do for every interview I go to.


I'd never seen a professional production of the show, only a community theater production that I'm pretty sure cut a bunch of stuff. Seeing the original choreography, original lighting, staging, etc. It was magical! Not only did it deserve all the Tony's it won at the time, I think it would win them all over again today.


Sarge- That sounds fantastic! I love it when you can see a piece of theater and it changes as your life experiences change.

 

A few weeks ago we went to see To Kill a Mockingbird, play written by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch.

To Kill A Mockingbird was one of my favorite books we were forced to read in school, and normally I'd have been very nervous about it, but it's Aaron Sorkin and he did not disappoint. The story is still the same, but he took a story about the 1930s, written in the 1960s and made it more applicable to today. The biggest way he did that is by giving the people of color a voice, Tom Robinson and Calpurnia both have expanded roles. Calpurnia in particular is spectacular (played by LaTanya Richardson Jackson), she's funny, poignant, and holds Atticus' feet to the fire when the instinct is to make him too perfect.

The story is still told by Scout (and Jem and their friend Dill) but they are played by adults who are telling the story as though it was a memory. They break the 4th wall and talk directly to the audience, but when they are going back to the time of the trial, the 4th wall remains. (There wasn't a linear timeline.) You'd think it would be awkward, adults playing themselves very young, but it worked really well.

Unsurprising given that it's Sorkin, it was not only moving and emotional, but also really, really funny. He has a way of making things funny, yet not losing their seriousness and it does it well in Mockingbird. And for any Sorkin fan, there are a few Sorkin-isms, most notably to me was a post hoc/propter hoc joke.

My prediction is that it will get Tony noms for Best Play, Best Director, Best Lead Actor-Play (Daniels), Best Scenic Design, and I'm hoping for Best Featured Actress-Play (Richardson Jackson).


This may be my second favorite play I've seen, The Audience still holds the number one place.

 

Late to the conversation here, but as much as Les Mis is my favorite musical, I would disagree that "One Day More" is the best end of act song. Maybe it's because I like about a half dozen other songs from Les Mis better that jades me, or maybe it's because I like a "triumph of the moment song", but for my money, the best end of act song is "Defying Gravity" from Wicked.

 

You're entitled to your wrong opinion.

But I agree, "Defying Gravity" is a hell of an ender -- but two things bring it down. 1) I just don't think it's as rousing as "One Day More" in general (no layering of song, not the whole cast, etc.), and 2) when it's not Idina Menzel it's... not as good. A multitude of voices can cover a lot of sins.

 

@DarthIntegral

I have a long story about wicked though...it involves Idina Menzel

I haven't seen Les Miserables on stage yet, but I've seen the PBS 25th anniversary performance, the movie with Liam Neeson, the 2012 version (which I like and hate), and clips from other performances online. I'd say its probably my favorite musical due to it having biblical themes and it being a living historical document in a way. Phantom was my favorite for the longest time.

For my part, shows I've seen: A Christmas Carol play, part of a Peter Pan play, and this spiderman play too.

Musicals: Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Fiddler on the Roof which was part of Topel's farewell tour but he got hurt and dropped out so for Tevye we had Harvey Feirstein...

Now the high school I went to was a school that had a specialty in performing arts and I joined that side my junior year in drama, with tech also my senior year. We did Rasin in the Sun, Durang Me which was a combination of Robert Durang stories, As You Like It, and Three Sisters.

Now Three Sisters and AYLI I tried out for with no luck. But even though I wasn't on the list I had a callback for three sisters. Funny thing though he said get rid of the British accent which confused me because I can't do a British accent to save my life. It was a fun thing though. They set it in the WW2 era and having watched many movies from that period I actually picked some clothing for it from the costume department.

Now musicals they did Joseph and the technicolor coat, Aida, Pirates of Penzance, and Fame. I helped tech Pirates and Aida of which I messed up opening night by bringing the net too far to the ground...but we didn't mark the ropes, didn't know I had too. Felt really bad about it though.

Now the year before they did the Secret Garden which although I would say it's not the best musical I liked a lot. The girl who played the passed away wife I was friends with and I never heard her sing till that moment and man could she. I actually cried because it was beautiful. She was too but besides the point...

After my senior year I went back to see a play they did called The Last night of Ballyhoo, about Jews living in the south during 1939.

In my drama class of course we did stuff, and it was there I learned I don't do well directing people for film. We did different play segments and had others act them out, so I tried directing a few in a Doubt short film which I never put online. Yeah, I learned writing is my better suit not directing.

 

I agree. But One Day More isn't even the best song from Les Mes involving a multitude of voices!

 

Yeah there is

 

'Defying Gravity' is an excellent act closer, and may be my second favorite, though 'Non-Stop' from Hamilton might take that over, I'm not 100% sure. 'One Day More' is my hands down 1st act closer favorite, though it's not my favorite song Les Mis, that would be the Finale for me (One Day More is my second favorite song). I just don't think one person can match most of a cast for giving you the power you want from an act closer, no matter how high the note. (And by the way, it's not that high of a note.)

But like everything, it also depends on the cast you get. When I've seen Wicked (twice) the Elphaba's were good, but when you write a part on Idina Menzel, there aren't many people who can match it. We saw THIS cast of Les Mis on Broadway (minus this Eponine, who made some poor choices I think, because she's much better in other shows) and it just blows you away.

This reminds me of the time I was at work, in a precaution gown, gloved and I forgot a sign I had to put on the door that told people they'd need to wear a mask while the antibiotic I was giving was running. I didn't want to take all the crap off so I went to the door to see if my coworker was there to give me one. He wasn't but the nursing manager was walking by and asked if I need something. I said, "I need a sign." and then after a beat I sang "To rally the people, to call them to arms, to bring them in linnnnneeeee." Clearly not a Les Mis fan, she looked at me like I'd totally lost my mind. I just took the crap off and got it myself.

 

Theater people outside their natural habitat can be disconcerting to "normals."

 

Disconcerting normals is considered good fun among medieval reenactors.

 

High school drama club gets high marks for 'Alien' musical


The following bits were noted in the video above, but since just in case people skip the video...

 

Yeah, it seems like they did a fantastic job. That Alien costume is amazing!

 

That's me the year I played a soldier in a church play.

 

So, like last year?