puppetmaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
puppetmaker) wrote2007-10-21 10:00 am
puppetmaker) wrote2007-10-21 10:00 am
He's Sancho! Yes, he's Sancho!
Ariel and I went last night to see Peter perform as Sancho in "Man of La Mancha." This is the second time that Peter has performed the role. It was a fine, well-directed production. The cast was solid and the leads were wonderful. This was the Bayport Players 100th production. The company has been around since the 60s and has done a whole range of plays. I enjoyed it a lot. Any technical problems were small and I think the only reason I noticed them was because that was part of what I was trained to do as a stage manager.
Peter looked like he was having a lot of fun and he told me later how he had forgotten how much he enjoyed treading the boards. I feel the same way often about stage management. It can be a pain but it also can be fun. And there is a sense of satisfaction once the play is up and running. You know all the stories from rehearsal. You have watched it come from first table read to full blown production and you are sad to see it end most of the time. Occasionally you get that real winner that makes you wish that closing night was the next night so you can get that nightmare off your plate. I think in my career I had a grand total of two of those which, considering the number of shows I did, isn't too bad.
Peter and I also went to a movie in the movie theater which is a first in a long time. I have been wanting to see Across the Universe which Julie Taymor had directed. I really like her work. I really, really like her work. I have seen just about everything that can be seen on tape or film and as many of her live shows as I have been able. There is something about her work that appeals to me a lot like most of Cirque appeals to me. I love the visuals and some of her twisted ideas of the appropriate use of puppetry in the world.
That being said, this movie just didn't quite make it with me. The visuals were stunning. The cast was strong. The camera work was great. But the script was weak. And that was a big problem here. It either needed another pass or one less pass. I don't know which. It was an interesting idea to take Beatles tunes and put a story to them but the story was a bit of a mish-mosh and parts of it just didn't need to be there other than they had cool people in them (those being Bono singing "I am the Walrus" and performing with a really good American accent and Eddie Izzard singing "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" which, frankly, belong in a totally different movie). I am not regretting that I saw it in a movie theater because some of the visuals needed that huge screen for full impact. I'm just not going to be getting the DVD to add to my collection.
I am grateful for all the visual art I saw yesterday.
Peter looked like he was having a lot of fun and he told me later how he had forgotten how much he enjoyed treading the boards. I feel the same way often about stage management. It can be a pain but it also can be fun. And there is a sense of satisfaction once the play is up and running. You know all the stories from rehearsal. You have watched it come from first table read to full blown production and you are sad to see it end most of the time. Occasionally you get that real winner that makes you wish that closing night was the next night so you can get that nightmare off your plate. I think in my career I had a grand total of two of those which, considering the number of shows I did, isn't too bad.
Peter and I also went to a movie in the movie theater which is a first in a long time. I have been wanting to see Across the Universe which Julie Taymor had directed. I really like her work. I really, really like her work. I have seen just about everything that can be seen on tape or film and as many of her live shows as I have been able. There is something about her work that appeals to me a lot like most of Cirque appeals to me. I love the visuals and some of her twisted ideas of the appropriate use of puppetry in the world.
That being said, this movie just didn't quite make it with me. The visuals were stunning. The cast was strong. The camera work was great. But the script was weak. And that was a big problem here. It either needed another pass or one less pass. I don't know which. It was an interesting idea to take Beatles tunes and put a story to them but the story was a bit of a mish-mosh and parts of it just didn't need to be there other than they had cool people in them (those being Bono singing "I am the Walrus" and performing with a really good American accent and Eddie Izzard singing "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" which, frankly, belong in a totally different movie). I am not regretting that I saw it in a movie theater because some of the visuals needed that huge screen for full impact. I'm just not going to be getting the DVD to add to my collection.
I am grateful for all the visual art I saw yesterday.
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I agree. :) The second act of the film — when things go surreal with Bono and Eddie Izzard — belonged in a different film entirely. The parts of the film that worked for me where the first and third acts, when the movie largely played things straight, save for the use of Beatles songs to tell the story. I accepted the film completely on its terms then. But when things start going weird, it lost its emotional hold on me, and when the film refound its footing, maybe about the point where Jude and Lucy have the fight in the laundromat, I'd already been disengaged from the film.
It's an incredible achievement, though. I won't take anything away from the film for that. It needed another pass on the screenplay, I'll agree, and I can't help but wonder if the cuts Joe Roth wanted from the film (he wanted an 80 minute cut of the film as I recall, not the 2 hour five minute cut in the theatres) were largely in the surrealistic middle.
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Not that it was not fun seeing both Bono and Izzard in the film it just didn't feel a part of it. I would of rather seen some more of what was going on with Sadie's journey.
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I am quite fond of that musical :)
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