Actors as orchestra -- getting tired — Page 2

I do & miss them

---

I do not "blame" anyone for it

I simply do not care for the idea

---

Amen

---

But MB, it's not just quantity (though that's an issue), it's also quality. I'm sorry, but how many quadruple performers are there in the NY work pool EQUALLY excellent in all the necessary disciplines: acting, singing, movement, AND musician? Very few, if any. The first consideration in hiring performers will always be for their type and vocal/dramatic strengths, as it must be (you don't see them hiring Diana Krall or Martha Argerich, do you??), which means something along the way has got to suffer, in this case, instrumental musicianship. So Patti Lupone can squawk out a few notes on a tuba: BFD. Even if they supplement the onstage band with hardcore sidemen (like the bass player in ST, for example), it will always be a compromise and a sorry one at that.
And THE PAJAMA GAME suffers from the opposite problem: its leading man is a superb musician but, however attractive, a wooden actor and awkward stage presence. He's in the wrong damn show! (I'm kidding). But you get my point.


Tootie 'The Most Horrible' Smith
St. Louis, MO

Well, I guess its a matter of ear, Hunter, because I thought the actor/musicians played the score to SWEENEY beautifully all 5 performances I attended.

I understand your point, but the economics of Broadway have shrunk orchestras on Broadway. It's just a matter of fact. As I say above, the Broadway sound is never going to be what it was - even if its coming from the pit, because so much of it is now electronic and amplified.

We are also never going to see productions that replicate the original Broadway sets and costumes of most shows older than twenty either. It's just not financially feasible.

I understand the frustration at that, but it's a problem that has nothing to do with Doyle's concept - as others have said - this is one man's theatrical conceit. I don't see a flock of producers rushing to put up their two man trombone version of WEST SIDE STORY. Doyle's had two shows planned for Broadway, and I still maintain that SWEENEY will close to make way for COMPANY. If anything, producers of the show are aware of a potential backlash against the actor/musician concept.

If Doyle's show's were playing at BAM, the ROUNDABOUT or weren't turning a profit, there wouldn't be this debate. Isn't it at least worth celebrating that Broadway is being exposed to something experimental and thought provoking other than the 12th stock revival of GUYS AND DOLLS?

People bitch that all we have on Broadway is jukebox musicals and poorly directed unimaginative productions, and then complain about John Doyle? He may not be the new Tommy Tune or Michael Bennett, but he's at least bringing something unique to the current Broadway seasons and I think that's fantastic.

Updated On: 4/19/06 at 11:32 PM

Well, of course, he's gonna approve. He would have approved a transfer of the tatty production of COMPANY the Roundabout produced years back if the producer had gotten his act together. What author doesn't want to keep his work before the public?

"Well, I guess its a matter of ear, Hunter, because I thought the actor/musicians played the score to SWEENEY beautifully all 5 performances I attended."

So, given that attitude and by extension, it's only a matter of time before we excuse (on financial grounds) a performance of Beethoven's 9th performed by the New York Philharmonic on kazoos and claves. What a concept! 'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper.' Amen, T.S.

Vivian Darkbloom
Ramsdale, New England

Almost every show has an actor/musician or two - most Links in Hairspray play the guitar, 17 of the actors in Jersey Boys also play an instrument, the Rogers in Rent usually play guitar....they're not just as shown as Doyle's productions.

I'm hoping that this doesn't become a huge trend. Pit orchestras are great, and let's keep them working.

Actually the Doyle version of Cabaret will have the Kit Kat girls not playing instruments.

---

It's overdone already. It worked for Sweeney so now he's gonna do it more and more, but it won't work for others.

---

What do you mean by "the blocking isn't good," exactly? It's weird, but you have to remember that it's entirely purposeful, even if it doesn't work for you, it's not sloppy or haphazard.

---

even if it doesn't work for you, it's not sloppy or haphazard

No, that was my problem. The blocking in that production WAS sloppy and haphazzard. (Then again, I went to see the production in previews. Perhaps the blocking changed since then but I wasn't impressed enough to see SWEENEY a second time.) For instance, one of the characters stood behind a ladder while singing his solo. He was out-of-view of half the audience and his vocals didn't come through particularly clearly. If there had been any artistic merit AT ALL to this decision, I would accept the decision. But there wasn't.

Also: the ending. I brought a friend (from Columbia University) to see the production. Unlike me, she wasn't familiar with the SWEENEY storyline and she kept saying: "Where were they? What was happening?" Because the blocking doesn't provide any locational transitions and makes the production even more difficult to follow. In addition, Doyle should have told the designers that he wanted more levels. In a venue that size, not having more than 3-4 levels makes the production a) difficult to follow and b) difficult to see (especially from the front of the orchestra which is where we were sitting).

Hopefully, Doyle will get his act (no pun intended) together for COMPANY. Although I also agree that if he keeps recycling this concept, it's going to lose all of its appeal.

I got back from seeing Sweeney again just a few hours ago. I don't agree. To me, sloppy, bad blocking would be actors with backs to the audience, or blocking that was so poorly calculated that it would cause you not to be able to see things, etc.

I think Sweeney's blocking is *extremely* calculated, but it's done so in a way that not everybody's going to like, you know? I was reading an interview with Doyle where he spoke about his blocking as a tactic of meta-theatricality, and if you think about it that way, to me, it works. I'm not going to be pretentious and say that there's artisitc merit to each and every move the actors make, because I don't know that, and some of it has to be logistical, but I highly hesitate to think that things like the example you gave were done for kicks, and not thought out. There are so, so many nuances in the staging that you can tell are extremely well-thought out.

The concept works ten times better for Company. But, who knows? Blocking could become an issues on a proscenium stage, but I've said more than enough about that.

Tonight, when I saw the show, the guy in front of me was complaining that he didn't know what was going on, because the spotlight wasn't shining on the actors who were speaking, or who were central, etc. I thought that was interesting.

Also, I was unfamiliar with Sweeney when I saw the show *and* I attend Columbia University; so, I don't really know what divulging that information about your friend proves. Affiliation with CU doesn't make you perpetually correct, or make your opinions invincible, nor does it allow your opinions to be taken for fact. Ivy League affilliate or not, it works for some people, doesn't work for others. Point blank.

---

Updated On: 4/21/06 at 01:13 AM