Not because I don’t want to continue blogging… but because there is a shift happening. In particular So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Got Talent are both going on and guess who gets to write those?
Yep… me.
But also I have been going back to my writing projects and have been working on a few projects here and there. So the shift of my blogging would probably end up focusing on whatever writing project I am working on…
So what would I reveal?
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Why yes… it has been a while and I am well aware of that. So what have I been doing that has been keeping me from writing and blogging?
I’ve been busy. I was on stage or off stage for various shows. Going to see shows in the area… working on my day job, or attempting to blog for Dancing with the Stars.
Eventually balls needed to get dropped because there has been something else that has been keeping my attention:
Writing.
Or more precisely development. Considering I have a fair number of writing-related projects on back burner and was not able to be a part of any of the summer shows coming up, this has become a rare opportunity to focus on that aspect of my life that I haven’t really touched for years (well more like over a decade and a half but who’s counting really?).
So what does any of this have to deal with the title of this post?
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This was a question that has been percolating in my mind for quite some time and caused a lot of soul searching for a vast multitude of reasons. I go and see shows and support people I know, friends, etc… just like most anyone else, but not everyone writes their thoughts down… so why do it?
I think the better question is “why am I questioning myself?” Afterall I already have a bit of a following on the Pure Dancing with the Stars blog with my predictions and not everyone is going to agree and really opinions shouldn’t have to agree. Take it with a grain of salt and move on that is the constant mantra over there. (You think I’m kidding? There are a lot of passionate fans over there and they get offended by everything big and small… it is getting rather ridiculous if you ask me.)
But predicting who is going to get what score is very different from reviewing a production that your friends and acquaintances are in. There are more (familiar) egos at stake and are much more prone to bruising… everything is so subjective. Over in the Pure TV Network it is a series of media sites with several writers with differing opinions, while this is a blog of my own thoughts.
So how did I get started in reviewing in the first place…?
So technically this was written a month or so ago, and even though it is probably a moot point to post this, I decided instead to just wrap it up and post it anyway since I enjoyed this production regardless:
| Show: GOD OF CARNAGE By: Yasmina Reza Translated By: Christopher Hampton |
Location: BrightSide Theatre Director: Derek Bertelsen |
Several days ago I found myself seated and waiting for BrightSide Theatre‘s God of Carnage to begin. Front row… dead center, which for a lot of stage setups would have been perfect, except for this particular set up it wasn’t, not exactly anyway.
But before I go on… the quick and simple:
Acting: Like
Set Design: Like
Staging: Love
Directing: Love
OVERALL: Like
After this particular production there were so many thoughts running through my brain that I truly couldn’t find a way to organize it all. So for the sake of simplicity before going into detail, here are a little bit of what I was thinking when the show ended:
- The men felt more consistent than the women
- Veronica showed a lot more subtlety and layers
- The gag was obvious than I would have liked
- There was a lot of material added that fleshed out the characters, comedy, and story
- It never once felt like this was on stage and I was watching from the audience. It felt like I was there in the living room with the characters and just watching this unfold in front of me.
That last one is probably the most significant of all the pieces. The feeling that you are a part of the conversation without having to utter a word. That feeling of being a part of the conversation, of the chaos between the two families is what sets this production apart from others…
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Now that I have had a few days to really let Denver’s production of Sense & Sensibility musical by Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton sink in I could give details of what I liked and didn’t like, etc…
CHARACTER / ACTOR BREAKDOWN
The first thing I noticed was that aside from six characters:
- Elinor Dashwood
- Marianne Dashwood
- Mrs Jennings
- Edward Ferrars
- Colonel Brandon
- John Willoughby
Everyone else in the cast was playing dual (if not triple) roles… most as an ensemble-ish group similar to the Liebeslieders (or the Quintet) of A Little Night Music. Though unlike in A Little Night Music, the ensemble fluctuates from as little as four players to as many as eight/nine (I do not remember which).
However, there are two others within the cast who are not necessarily part of the general ensemble but do play multiple roles on stage.
This ingenious casting piqued my interest because it gives performing arts groups the flexibility of having a medium sized cast of 16 actors (maybe less depending on how things break down) to as large as need be for high school groups… and yes I am thinking very far ahead.
Anyway!!!!!
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Wow, it was almost a year ago that I was listening to the music clips on the Sense and Sensibility the Musical website and was drawn into the show… Draw into it enough to want to see the production upon its arrival in Denver.
It has been a year and well… I did end up making that trip to Colorado specifically so I could see this production live. Don’t judge me.
First… the quickies:
- Acting: LOVE
- Vocals: LOVE
- Music / Orchestration: LOVE
- Set Design: LOVE
- Directing: LOVE
- OVERALL: LOVE!!!
I was seriously considering buying another ticket for the matinee production on Sunday but thought better of it.
But where to begin? Well to start the one thing I like is that there isn’t some massive ensemble in addition to the cast, there is a group of five to seven actors/actresses who help move the story along (a la A Little Night Music). Why five to seven? Because not only do they help move the story along, but some of them also play smaller parts in the production when needed:
- Lucy Steele
- Thomas (Dashwoods servant)
- Peter (London servant)
- Miss Grey (Willoughby’s bride)
- John and Fanny Dashwood
And others, but the above are the most “obvious” I would say.
Personally I didn’t notice when each of the above players were in the “ensemble” so to speak until much later in the production… which was a good thing… otherwise I would have to watch the show again just so I could see if I had missed anything.
Since this is my impression / review of the production itself I won’t go into detail about changes from the original novel… that is going to be a post in and of itself. However what I will say is this:
When it comes to the storylines of the Dashwood sisters the stage adaptation is fairly close to the novel (with a few changes here and there). When it comes to where a lot of where particular points of the storyline happens, there are far more changes that a total purist may not be too keen on, but for me being a purist… I find that the changes made were probably the best ones that could have been done.
But again that’s another post for another day.
What is the worst word to apply to this convention…
Regret… And lots of it…
- I regret not arriving until 1am on Saturday morning…
- I regret having to leave by 5pm on Sunday evening…
- I regret letting something so awesome slip my mind so carelessly…
- I regret not being able to stay up beyond my 4am self-imposed bedtime on Sunday morning…
Lots of regrets because the weekend of the Fabletown and Beyond Convention was…
SO INCREDIBLY AMAZING!!!