O/T: Brecht and Didactic Theatre

Posted on June 24, 2010 by David Fick
Brecht

Brecht in Action

I was recently reading a rather mundane series of posts around the issue of adaptation at Musicals.net, which then delved into the realm of Bertolt Brecht and his vision of theatre. Here’s the bit that I found interesting:

Hans wrote:
There are different levels of how much an adapter contributes with in an adaptation. Just to pick relatively neutral examples, I’d say that the movie adaptations of A Clockwork Orange and The Lord of the Rings respectively can be said to represent two extreme positions of a continuum. The adaptations of The Lord of the Rings are very faithful to the books they are based upon, and recreate as closely as possible the images and moods from the source of adaptation. A Clockwork Orange on the other hand, goes as far as possible in reinterpreting the book it is based upon. The frame of the story is by and large kept, but it serves to a great degree as a vehicle for the agenda of the adapter, who uses a lot of the effects that belong exclusively to the movie genre to crate an end product that stands much further from the source than the The Lord of the Rings adaptation does.

Should an adapter have an agenda he or she wants to illuminate? Or is it OK to merely “illustrate” a story?

Monsieur D’Arque wrote:
The question you ask is an old one. The Clockwork Orange question is related in a way to Brecht, who would reinterpret other stories as either pro-socialist or anti-fascist allegories, regardless of their original position. He believed that all theater should be didactic theater, and should not simply entertain, but strive to create social change by informing the audience.

Hans wrote:
I really believe one can voice one’s opinion and/or treat issues one finds interesting through art without making the art didactic.

My response to this issue around Brecht’s work: of course one can, but that wasn’t Brecht’s intention. Brecht said that the problem with theatre that expressed an issue dramatically left the audience passive and therefore had no real effect socially, politically or economically. I don’t know that Brecht was as dogmatic about all theatre as Monsieur D’Arque makes him out to be, although he did feel this way about theatre that was trying to instigate social reform by approaching contentious and even taboo socio-political and/or economic topics, hence his creation of Epic Theatre in opposition to Dramatic Theatre. Even though he did this, Epic Theatre remains an ideal model for the kind of theatre that Brecht wished to see created in this regard and contemporary criticism holds the view no play has been created that is completely Epic, but that some plays are more Epic than others. In other words, Epic Theatre and Dramatic Theatre are at the extreme ends of a continuum and even Brecht’s own plays don’t achieve every single ideal of Epic Theatre: as drama, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, for example, may be more Epic than Mother Courage and her Children, while both are more Epic than something like A Doll’s House, which could be made more Epic on a theatrical level.

Posted in Commentary, Off Topic, Plays, Theatremaking, Theory and Practice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Original” Musicals

Posted on June 15, 2010 by David Fick
Shrek

Is SHREK drek because of its source material?

As musicals based on movies become more and more frequently produced, discussions on musical theatre forums around the Internet regarding the lack of “original” Musicals” seem to become more and more prominent. Most people seem to forget, however, that truly “original” musicals are rare and that most are based on plays, novels, poetry or other source material. The trend to adapt musicals from film is simply the current trend in terms of adaptation. The unfortunate reality is that many movie-turned-musicals are chosen because of a kind of “brand awareness” created by the original film: the thinking, one supposes, is that if a film has a huge number of fans, then the musical adaptation might sell some tickets based on the film’s reputation. As such, my opinion on the matter is that it is not the source material itself that is the problem here: if that were so, then there would be no musicals based on films that have any value at all. The success of these adaptations lies where it always has done when adapatations are concerned: on the treatment of the source material and the intent behind the adaptation on the part of the creative team behind the show.

Posted in Broadway, Musicals, Theatremaking, Theory and Practice | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

NEWSFLASH: ANNIE Back on Broadway in 2012

Posted on June 7, 2010 by David Fick
ANNIE

Above: ANNIE in its original Broadway production

It’s official! Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie will be back on Broadway in 2012 for a 35th anniversary production. The show will be revised by Meehan, its original librettist, especially for the occasion, tailoring the structure and dialogue to the tastes of modern audiences. There is no word yet on whether there will be any alterations to the standard Broadway score of the show.

So… any ideas regarding who should be in the cast? I have at least one friend who thinks Bernadette Peters should reprise her role as Lily. My response? Perhaps she’s a little old for Lily at this point in time, unless the revival re-imagines the character as a cougar.

Posted in Newsflash | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM Cast Recording

Posted on June 7, 2010 by David Fick

The cast of Sondheim on Sondheim is heading into the studio today to finish recording the cast album of the show. Word is that Sondheim’s commentary from the video footage will be on the album, which is a huge plus point – especially for someone like me who doesn’t see the strident new arrangements popping up on his personal iTunes playlist very often at all, no matter how well the admittedly amazing cast interprets them. However, for those who want to subject themselves to the new arrangements, it might be interesting to hear that there are rumours about the exclusion of several numbers from the album, including: “Do I Hear a Waltz?”, “Ah, But Underneath”, “In Buddy’s Eyes”, “Epiphany” and the “A Weekend in the Country”, “Ever After” and “Sunday” medley that closes the first act of the show.

As an aside – many Sondheim fans across the Internet are clamouring for a DVD release of the show or a DVD to accompany the cast recording with the interview footage on it, but – if we’re going to talk DVDs – I’d rather see that footage interspersed with archival performances from the actual shows or, when that kind of material isn’t available, with filmed reproductions of the songs as they were originally seen in their original productions. This might raise the production budget considerably, but – in my humble opinion – it would be money well spent.

Posted in Broadway, Revues | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

2010 Drama Desk Awards

Posted on May 24, 2010 by David Fick

The Drama Desk Awards were presented last night in a ceremony hosted by Patti LuPone. Memphis won 4 awards, including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Montego Glover tied with Catherine Zeta-Jones), Outstanding Music and Orchestrations. La Cage aux Folles won the award for Outstanding Revival. Here is the complete list of nominees, with the winners in each category indicated in boldface:

Outstanding Play:
Alan Ayckbourn, My Wonderful Day
Annie Baker, Circle Mirror Transformation
Lucinda Coxon, Happy Now?
John Logan, Red
Geoffrey Nauffts, Next Fall
Bruce Norris, Clybourne Park

Outstanding Musical:
American Idiot
Everyday Rapture
Memphis
The Addams Family
The Scottsboro Boys
Yank!

Outstanding Revival of a Play:
A View from the Bridge
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Fences
Hamlet
So Help Me God!
The Boys in the Band

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:
A Little Night Music
Finian’s Rainbow
La Cage Aux Folles
Promises, Promises
Ragtime

Outstanding Actor in a Play:
Bill Heck, The Orphans’ Home Cycle
Jude Law, Hamlet
Alfred Molina, Red
Eddie Redmayne, Red
Liev Schreiber, A View from the Bridge
John Douglas Thompson, The Emperor Jones
Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane

Outstanding Actress in a Play:
Ayesha Antoine, My Wonderful Day
Melissa Errico, Candida
Anne Hathaway, Twelfth Night
Kristen Johnston, So Help Me God!
Laura Linney, Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:
Brandon Victor Dixon, The Scottsboro Boys
Douglas Hodge, La Cage Aux Folles
Cheyenne Jackson, Finian’s Rainbow
Chad Kimball, Memphis
Nathan Lane, The Addams Family
Bobby Steggert, Yank!

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:
Kate Baldwin, Finian’s Rainbow
Montego Glover, Memphis
Jayne Houdyshell, Coraline
Christiane Noll, Ragtime
Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture
Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:
Chris Chalk, Fences
Sean Dugan, Next Fall
Santino Fontana, Brighton Beach Memoirs
Adam James, The Pride
Hamish Linklater, Twelfth Night
Nick Westrate, The Boys in the Band

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:
Victoria Clark, When the Rain Stops Falling
Viola Davis, Fences
Xanthe Elbrick, Candida
Mary Beth Hurt, When the Rain Stops Falling
Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge
Andrea Riseborough, The Pride

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:
Kevin Chamberlin, The Addams Family
Robin De Jesus, La Cage Aux Folles
Jeffry Denman, Yank!
Christopher Fitzgerald, Finian’s Rainbow
Jeremy Morse, Bloodsong of Love
Bobby Steggert, Ragtime

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:
Carolee Carmello, The Addams Family
Carrie Cimma, Lizzie Borden
Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises
Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music
Kenita Miller, Langston in Harlem
Terri White, Finian’s Rainbow

Outstanding Director of a Play:
Jonathan Bank, So Help Me God!
Jack Cummings III, The Boys in the Band
Sam Gold, Circle Mirror Transformation
Michael Grandage, Hamlet
Michael Grandage, Red
Ethan Hawke, A Lie of the Mind

Outstanding Director of a Musical:
Warren Carlyle, Finian’s Rainbow
Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Ragtime
Igor Goldin, Yank!
Terry Johnson, La Cage Aux Folles
Michael Mayer, American Idiot
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys

Outstanding Choreography:
Warren Carlyle, Finian’s Rainbow
Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Ragtime
Lynne Page, La Cage Aux Folles
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys
Twyla Tharp, Come Fly Away
Sergio Trujillo, Memphis

Outstanding Music:
David Bryan, Memphis
Michael Friedman, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Joe Iconis, Bloodsong of Love
John Kander and Fred Ebb, The Scottsboro Boys
Andrew Lippa, The Addams Family
Joseph Zellnik, Yank!

Outstanding Lyrics:
Rick Crom, Newsical The Musical
Kevin Del Aguila, Click, Clack, Moo
John Kander and Fred Ebb, The Scottsboro Boys
Dillie Keane and Adèle Anderson, Fascinating Aïda Absolutely Miraculous!
Andrew Lippa, The Addams Family
David Zellnik, Yank!

Outstanding Book of a Musical:
Joe DiPietro, Memphis
Joe Iconis, Bloodsong of Love
Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture
David Thompson, The Scottsboro Boys
Alex Timbers, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
David Zellnik, Yank!

Outstanding Orchestrations:
Larry Hochman, The Scottsboro Boys
Tom Kitt, American Idiot
Tom Kitt, Everyday Rapture
John Oddo, All About Me
Daryl Waters and David Bryan, Memphis

Outstanding Musical Revue:
Fascinating Aïda Absolutely Miraculous!
Million Dollar Quartet
Newsical The Musical
Simon Green: Traveling Light
Sondheim on Sondheim

Outstanding Music in a Play:
Adam Cochran, A Play on War
Adam Cork, Red
Gaines, A Lie of the Mind
Philip Glass, The Bacchae
<em, Twelfth Night
Branford Marsalis, Fences

Outstanding Set Design:
Sandra Goldmark, The Boys in the Band
Phelim McDermott, Julian Crouch and Basil Twist, The Addams Family
Derek McLane, Ragtime
Christopher Oram, Red
Jay Rohloff, Underground
Karen Tennent, Hansel and Gretel

Outstanding Costume Design:
Antonia Ford-Roberts and Bob Flanagan, The Emperor Jones
Clint Ramos, So Help Me God!
Bobby Frederick Tilley II, Lizzie Borden
Matthew Wright, La Cage Aux Folles
David Zinn, In the Next Room or the vibrator play

Outstanding Lighting Design:
Neil Austin, Hamlet
Neil Austin, Red
Christian M. DeAngelis, Lizzie Borden
Maruti Evans, John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night
Natasha Katz, The Addams Family
Dane Laffrey, The Boys in the Band

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical:
Acme Sound Partners, Ragtime
Jonathan Deans, La Cage Aux Folles
Ashley Hanson, Kurt Eric Fischer & Brian Ronan, Everyday Rapture
Peter Hylenski, The Scottsboro Boys
Scott Lehrer, Finian’s Rainbow
Brian Ronan, Promises, Promises

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play:
Dan Bianchi & Wes Shippee, Frankenstein
Dale Bigall, Underground
Adam Cork, Enron
Lindsay Jones and Jamie McElhinney, Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers
Fitz Patton, When the Rain Stops Falling
Elizabeth Rhodes, John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night

Outstanding Solo Performance:
Theodore Bikel, Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears
Jim Brochu, Zero Hour
Colman Domingo, A Boy and his Soul
Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking
Judith Ivey, The Lady With All the Answers
Anna Deavere Smith, Let Me Down Easy

Unique Theatrical Experience:
Charles L. Mee’s Fêtes de la Nuit
Hansel and Gretel
John Tartaglia’s Imaginocean
Love, Loss, and What I Wore
Stuffed and Unstrung
The Provenance of Beauty

Special awards were also presented to the cast, creative team and producers of Horton Foote’s The Orphan’s Home Cycle, to composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, to the Godlight Theatre Company and to the Ma-Yi Theater Company.

So how’s everyone feeling about those Tony Awards now?

Posted in Broadway, Musicals, Off Broadway, Tony Awards | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Musical Notes: 23 May 2010

Posted on May 23, 2010 by David Fick

Miranda/Miranda “Audition”: Spring Awakening … p.2
TV Talk … p.2

Pages: 1 2
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NEWSFLASH: Pee-Wee Herman is Broadway Bound

Posted on May 20, 2010 by David Fick
PEE-WEE HERMAN

To purchase THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW on DVD, click on the image above.

A stage production of the The Pee-Wee Herman Show will play the Sondheim Theatre from 11th November – 5th December this year. Directed by Alex Timbers, the show features Paul Reubens as Pee-Wee Herman in the role that made him a household name. Featuring original music by Jay Cotton, the show – according to publicity materials – packs a day in the life of our bow-tied hero into 90 minutes of subversive humor and childlike wonder, reuniting Pee-Wee Herman with many of the original Playhouse cast of characters – including Miss Yvonne, Cowboy Curtis, Pterri the Pterodactyl, Jambi the Genie, and Chairry. The show will feature original music.

I guess this is the first of the onslaught of shows for the holiday season?

Posted in Jay Cotton | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Musical Notes: 20 May 2010

Posted on May 20, 2010 by David Fick

The Scottsboro Boys Sets Broadway Dates

The Scottsboro Boys, the new John Kander-Fred Ebb-David Thompson musical based on the infamous Scottsboro case in the 1930s, will open on Broadway at the Lyceum theatre on 31st October 2010, following a preview period that begins October 7th. Looks like this might be the best Hallowe’en ever!

The Company of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS

The Company of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS

Trav’lin’ Reading

The next reading in The York Theatre Company’s Developmental Reading Series will be the musical Trav’lin’. Ben West directs a cast including Pilin Anice, Jonathan Burke, Randy Donaldson, Darryl Rueben Hall, Jannie Jones, Vanessa A. Jones and John Kurzynowski in the show, which showcases the work of obscure 1920s songwriter J.C. Johnson, whose musical collaborators included Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters and Ella Fitzgerald. The show, which also incorporates additional music by Gary Holmes and Alvin Shapiro, tells tell following tale according to the press release:

This warm-hearted musical follows the romantic travails of three couples in 1930’s Harlem. The story centers on George, an older gentleman and a self-proclaimed expert on love, who meets his match when he befriends a down-on-her-luck stranger only to find she is not the person she seems to be.

The reading will take place tonight at 19:00. Entrance is free, but reservations are required. For further information, visit the York Theatre Company’s website.

Awards for Frank Wildhorn and Bobby Steggert

Tommy Award Winner Frank Wildhorn

Tommy Award Winner Frank Wildhorn

Frank Wildhorn will receive a Tommy Award in June this year. The awards acknowledge the achievements of alumni of the University of Southern California. Wildhorn is the composer of Broadway musicals like Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Civil War. Well, I suppose if one can’t score a Tony, a Tommy will have to do…

Bobby Steggert has been awarded the Dorothy Loudon Starbaby Award for a Broadway or Off-Broadway performance for his performances in Ragtime and Yank! The award will be presented to him on 8th June.

On the CD Rack

Something else to keep an eye out for – potentially – is the forthcoming cover version of “Over the Rainbow” which will be recorded by the winner of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Over the Rainbow starsearch competition that will cast the lead role of Dorothy in his new revised stage adaptation of the classic 1937 film. Proceeds will benefit Prostate UK and The BBC Performing Arts Fund. The cover will be available to download from 23rd May and in a rather more 3-dimensional form from May 31st. Lloyd Webber has made it clear that he is looking for a ‘modern Dorothy, who can take the role much further’ – whatever that means – and so chances are that the release might be a modern take on the song too. But who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see…

For the DVD Shelf

The complete first season of Glee, the television series that’s part-musical, part-comedy and all fabulous, will hit the streets in September this year. Known for its energetic performances of songs from both musical theatre and popular music, the DVD set is likely to please fans of the show and as yet uninitiated musical theatre fans alike. The first half of the season is already available on DVD.

Posted in Newsflash, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

FELA! Cast Album Available for Pre-Order

Posted on May 20, 2010 by David Fick
FELA!

FELA!

The original cast recording of Fela!, the new jukebox bio-musical chronicling the life of Nigerian activist-muso Fela Anikulapo-Kuti will be released in June and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. With 16 funky Afrobeat tracks and a super performance from Lillias White, is there any reason not to add this to your musical theatre collection?

Posted in Broadway, General News, Musicals | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Musical Notes: 19 May 2010

Posted on May 19, 2010 by David Fick

Index

MAMMA MIA!

MAMMA MIA! site launch

Paradise Found at the Menier Chocolate Factory … p.2
Charles Strouse in Hospital … p.3
Reading of Alyss Cancelled … p.3
New Mamma Mia! Website Launched … p.3

Pages: 1 2 3
Posted in Broadway, Classical Music, General News, Musicals, Off Broadway, Readings, Tours, West End | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment