The simply fabulous theatre thread

[Drago]

Hello there, kiddies! Thought I'd pop in to spring a new topic on y'all, that of the wonder and splendour of musical theatre! Feel free to discuss anything about the subject, including things you like, things you've seen or are going to see, perhaps even your own upcoming auditions?, etc.

I'll return later to express my current favourites, but I thought I'd kick things off with the proclamation that my dad's bought tickets for my gf and myself to go see Guys & Dolls next year! I'm really excited, I've become a fan of the show since seeing a DVD of her high school musical (in which she stole the show as Adelaide), and I reckon she might be interested to see how she stacks up to the pros!

And while I'm here, allow me to express a niggling regret I've always had in life, never having had the opportunity to do a high school musical (my school was so poor, we didn't have a play of any sort... or even a drama class). Seriously, they look like so much fun, and it doesn't look like I'll have the opportunity to be in any sort of musical any time soon, let alone one where you're surrounded by all your friends... Sigh...

Slightly digressing from the subject matter, but I've taken a couple singing lessons this year (not for a while because it really is unkind to the wallet), and I just can't get my confidence up to be a strong singer just yet. Apparently I've got the voice and the ear, it's all a mental block. Anyone else much of a singer? Any advice?

So yeah. Go at it! lol

[mr_pikachu]

If by "musical theatre" we're using the strict definition of musicals (rather than including plays that merely have music in them), then that's not exactly my favorite genre. Otherwise, I do enjoy the occasional song-and-dance interlude. A recent favorite of mine (recent = within the last five years) is The Producers. Utterly insane, but in a good way.

I've seen a lot of plays, although I haven't been to many big productions since my parents moved. The one exception was Phantom of the Opera, which we saw during the NYC part of my summer vacation. That was truly extraordinary. My only gripe was that there was a little girl and her father sitting directly behind me, and they talked straight through the entire play while eating crunchy food that they snuck in. I've never seen my mother as angry as when she whirled around halfway through and threatened to have them thrown out. Funny and scary at the same time.

And I did get to perform in a couple of high school plays, although our school was so minuscule that we really we're equipped to do so. The English teacher (who directed them) actually begged me to be in the annual production during my senior year; I didn't want to do it that time because I was busy, but one of the actors quit and they had to find someone who could get into a role fast. As it was, only I and another guy actually remembered the script; multiple times we had to improvise prompts for the others to help things progress.

[mistysakura]

Yay to musicals! Some of my lucky friends have seen The Phantom of the Opera on its run in Melbourne; me, being broke (but luckier than them, having spent my money on Muse and Silverchair among other things), will have to give that a miss. I've seen a few professional musicals live -- Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz and The Lion King. The kiddie musicals aren't actually my favourite genre, but the first two were gift tickets and the production for the last one was amazing, so that's what drew me to them. My favourite musical is Rent though; I love its sheer exuberance. Phantom isn't bad either, although Lloyd Webbers do tend to get fairly repetitive.

I've been in some school productions -- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Oliver!, both times just as a chorus part. Can't dance to save my life and my acting's pretty shoddy as well. But I had so much fun doing those. Being on stage is addictive, I tell you. You get to meet some cool people too. It's a shame your school wasn't equipped to do productions, Tony, but does your uni do them? Apparently they're a lot tougher workload-wise than school productions adn people can get really serious, but you could have a look into it anyway. If you're in college, college plays are good too, and apparently a lot more fun.

Incidentally, my school did Guys and Dolls six years ago. It was absolutely amazing, and both Adelaide and Sarah really shone. Ah good times...

About the singing, I took vocal lessons for a while too, but being in year eleven at the time I was lazy and unwilling to spend my time practising or really paying attention to my vocal issues, unfortunately, so they didn't really help me... which sucked. But if it's a confidence issue, I suggest joining a community choir or something. It's good to meet people who are working towards the same thing as you are, especially if you have the same issues. Look for something casual though, because auditioned choirs (and some unauditioned ones, like the one I'm in) are damn intimidating. Preferably one where they say you don't have to read music and they mean it, and definitely one that sings styles of music you like. (Okay, it's pretty hard to find such a specific choir in Melbourne, I know...) But I reckon it helps because hanging around with people who sing makes singing feel so natural you lose your inhibitions.

[Toxicity]

I went to see a stage production of Phantom my junior year. And if I remember correctly, the band back at my high school did a show in marching this past year which included pieces from Phantom, Jekyll and Hyde, and Jesus Christ Superstar. I've come to like Jesus Christ a little more than Phantom, but I don't see how anybody can go wrong with the more comical productions like Spamalot and Avenue Q. I'm in agreement with Ada with Rent as my favorite, too.

As for me, I never got too involved with musical productions, mainly due to the lack of interest at every school I was at. But as a musician, I know from experience that if it's a confidence issue, what Ada said does sum up what can help outside of practicing in and out of lessons. College plays and musicals can be great, too, and probably easy to find if the school you're at excels in and/or supports the arts. Same with community choirs and similar ensembles.

[Magmar]

My favorite musical of all time is the Phantom of the Opera. I have never seen a work that matches the raw emotional power of that musical. I've seen it several times and always catch it when it's in town!

I even named my penis the Phantom of the Opera. "The phantom of the opera is thereeee insiiide your thiiiiighs"

I'm catching Rent next Saturday.

[Toxicity]

So, now that said Saturday has passed (or so I assumed), what did you think of Rent, Magmar? Your nickname made me laugh quite a bit, too.

I haven't seen anything upcoming in my area that strikes as interesting, unfortunately.

[Drago]

As it was, only I and another guy actually remembered the script; multiple times we had to improvise prompts for the others to help things progress.

Ahh, improv. Either an actor's best friend or worst enemy... Though I've had extensive improv experience, I've only ever had one chance to actually improv on-stage, and even then it was only a minor alteration to a line. It was when I was playing Zac in Cosi. Originally, the lines were (abridged),
Cherry: You said you were a painter. (etc)
Zac: I was a house painter...

We'd done the lines so many times, the girl playing Cherry had inadvertently pre-empted my line and said 'You said you were a house painter', effectively killing the humour in my next line. It was funny, right after she said 'house' she kinda stopped, realising what she had done, and tinkered slightly with the next sentence, to which I just looked at her flatly, and snapped 'I WAS a house painter.' lol good times.

Yay to musicals! Some of my lucky friends have seen The Phantom of the Opera on its run in Melbourne; me, being broke (but luckier than them, having spent my money on Muse and Silverchair among other things), will have to give that a miss.

I got to see Phantom when it hit Melbourne (gf bought tickets for me and my father), and I was absolutely wrapt. The stagecraft was just absolutely fantastic, everything just looked wonderful; such a visual splendour, and I'm not usually the kind of guy who gets hung up on the aesthetic aspect. Anthony Warlow wasn't performing on the night I attended, it was Roy Weisensteinner (the announcement of which at the beginning of the show garnered a collective groan from the audience), and I'm quite happy that it was Roy. He really was excellent, it must suck for him to have to put up with those disappointed reactions every time it's announced, but by the end he had the audience in the palm of his hand. Good on him!

My favourite musical is Rent though; I love its sheer exuberance. Phantom isn't bad either, although Lloyd Webbers do tend to get fairly repetitive.

I've liked what I've seen of Rent, but that's only been the first half of the movie, since I keep getting interrupted before I can catch the whole thing. And I wholeheartedly agree with ALW's works getting repetitive, I love Les Mis to death but the fact that it actually recycles tunes for different songs is a mite irksome.

It's a shame your school wasn't equipped to do productions, Tony, but does your uni do them?

That's an interesting question which I never considered... I don't see why they wouldn't, I've just never heard anything about it. That's a great suggestion, thanks! I'll look into that. Also, wow, it took seven years for someone to actually call me Tony on TPM. lol I like it! I feel like somebody.

But if it's a confidence issue, I suggest joining a community choir or something.

Another good idea! You're good at this, you know. I oughta look into it, it just might be a bit of a hassle because I live in the western suburbs, also known as the place creativity goes to die. Looks like a lot of commute lies ahead. Ho-hum.

I've come to like Jesus Christ a little more than Phantom, but I don't see how anybody can go wrong with the more comical productions like Spamalot and Avenue Q.

I saw Jesus Christ Superstar on DVD a week or so ago, and I have to say I was rather disappointed. Not that many songs appealed to me, and it wasn't at all what I expected. That'd be my fault though, because I was expecting a campy, fun Joseph-like experience (though I don't really like Joseph much either), but it was actually a lot more depressing. Yeah, I guess that'd be what you should expect from a story about Jesus. On the plus side, Rik Mayall was very much Rik Mayall, and I really liked Fred Johanson, even if I never expect to see him again.

...And Maggy, I expect to hear reactions to Rent! I command it, dare I say.

On a final note, I saw the movie version of Sweeney Todd yesterday. (I'll keep my opinions limited, as it isn't exactly musical theatre...)
1. Quite good, though Alan Rickman is definitely not a singer. 2. Three Harry Potter actors, eh? 3. It was random seeing Anthony Stewart Head in such a miniscule cameo. 4. Johnny Depp continues to amaze me. 5. Sacha Baron Cohen proves (Spoiler:) after he drops the Pirelli facade that he can do serious acting. Hopefully this means he won't be forever limited to character roles.
The only annoying thing for me now, is that every kid and his dog knows about Sweeney Todd, and not the full history, either. Just that it was a Johnny Depp movie. The stage production is something of an afterthought to these kids, if they are aware it even exists.
Additionally, now this kills any chance of doing an amateur production of Sweeney Todd, it was aging in obscurity rather nicely, but now everyone is gonna want to do it, the rights are going to shoot skyward. We find it hard enough to afford obscure crap, let alone mainstream musical theatre.

And finally, I just want to say how much I miss Parlor Songs. I always loved Parlor Songs, but after hearing Timothy Spall sing Ladies and Their Sensitivities, I knew Parlor would get the chop, for the better no doubt (would've been completely out of context in the themes of the movie, too), but it seems that most Sweeney soundtracks omit the piece anyway.

[Drago]

Alright kindelah, I thought long and hard (for about a couple seconds) and decided to drop the 'musical' aspect of this thread in order to allow for all theatre discussion to be welcome. After all, it's not like we have enough activity to separate the two.

For my newest production, we're doing excerpts from Shakespeare in a little piece called Shakespeare's Shorts, and guess what? I absolutely and entirely DETEST Shakespeare. He's the most overrated git to have ever put quill to paper. His characters are all samey, his monologues are painfully lengthy and largely irrelevant, and whatever he considers to classify as humour is certainly a laughable concept in itself.

I know... not his fault it didn't age well, but I don't see why I should have to suffer through his rubbish. Anyhow, if anyone in the Melbourne area wants to see it, PM me and I'll forward you the details (or could I just do it here? Would that go against TPM's advertising rule?)