Artistic Director - YOU

#1

Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/12/08 at 11:53pm

So a theater has just handed over the artistic director reigns to you. You must plan a 5 show season. What are your 5 picks and in what order would you do them?


Crimes of the Heart
Once on This Island
Summer and Smoke
Shenandoah
Noises Off

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If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

#2

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:09am

Hmmm..

Cabaret
You Can't Take It with You
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Our Town
Little Shop of Horrors

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"I have this mental image of Patti barreling down the street and pushing tourists out of her way." -colleen_lee

#3

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:12am

Sweeney Todd
Chicago
The Little Dog Laughed
The Pajama Game
Doubt

#4

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:18am

My theatre would have a color blind casting policy.


Lulu - Peter Barnes' adaptation of the Wedekind plays

Love's Labor's Lost - Shakespeare

Mrs. Warren's Profession - Shaw

The Father - Strinberg

My Fair Lady - Lerner & Loewe

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What great ones do the less will prattle of

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 12:18 AM

#5

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:21am

Hard to say because location, plays/musicals, subscriber age-bracket and the rest have a lot to do with it.

However, if I had to choose without any of those being a factor and I was, let's say, in a suburban city in America with people of all ages and could choose ANY shows:

1. Into the Woods
2. The Royal Family of Broadway
3. Carousel
4. Kimberly Akimbo
5. The Baker's Wife

#6

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 1:59am

Been there . .. done that.

Let's see what I might do now . . . with an unlimited budget, huge casting pool and no problems with rights acquisition:

Silly Cow by Ben Elton
Racing Demon by David Hare
Waiting for Godot
Follies
Ulysses in Traction by Albert Innaurato

or, if it were a rotating rep house . . .

The Wakefield Plays by Horovitz
Mourning Becomes Electra
The Norman Conquest by Ayckbourn
A Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones
Night Baseball by Gabriel Tissian/Lou Gehrig Did Not Die of Cancer by Jason Miller

Or if I could commission works . . .

Marjorie Morningstar - The Musical
Medea by David Mamet
New work by Lanford Wilson
New work by Edward Albee
New work by David Hare

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"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett

#7

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 2:09am

This is assuming I'd also get to direct and choreograph. I guess I'd be busy.

42nd Street
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Sweet Charity
Evita
All My Sons

Two big dance shows of contrasting styles, a male star vehicle and female star vehicle, and a classic play for good measure.

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"...and in a bed."

#8

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 2:10am

1. Dreamgirls

2. Into The Woods

3. Face The Music

4. Merrily We Roll Along

5. The Importance Of Being Earnest

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#9

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 2:31am

With factoring in location (as far as audience and casting go) and the typical budget of shows around here, I'd pick:

Hay Fever
The Rocky Horror Show
Company
Little Shop of Horrors
Funny Girl

If I had a huge budget, and an insanely great talent pool, I'd do:

Noises Off
The Rocky Horror Show
Gypsy
Dreamgirls
The Who's: Tommy

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"Who says you can't bend over backwards and eat bugs if you want to? I guess the bugs would probably say you can't do that that, but assuming that they are willing and consenting bugs, then there's no problem. Let's wig out eating bugs." -RuPaul

#10

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 7:42am

Gypsy
Follies
Mack and Mabel
Love Valour Compassion!
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

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"Love the Art in Yourself. Not Yourself in the Art." -- Stanislavski

#11

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 7:50am

Mines would celebrate the great and little known works from the '60s:

Promises, Promises
Cactus Flower
Your Own Thing
Butterflies Are Free

#12

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 8:04am

Assuming it's a Broadway non-profit:

The Man Who Came to Dinner - Kaufman and Hart, starring Kelsey Grammar as Whiteside and Scarlett Johansen as Lorraine

How I Learned to Drive - Vogel, starring Mary-Louise Parker, since she can do that role 'til kingdom come

Ah! Wilderness - O'Neill
Guys and Dolls - Loesser

Private Lives - Coward, starring Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 08:04 AM

#13

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 11:41am

well...this is a tough one..

1.) On the Town
2.) Grease
3.) The Sounds of Music
4.) Jekyll and Hyde
5.) Spirng Awakening (the play- not the musical..)

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"that's what my date said."

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 11:41 AM

#14

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 11:47am

Cabaret
Pygmalion
42nd Street
Company
Carousel

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http://www.beintheheights.com/katnicole1 (Please click and help me win!) I chose, and my world was shaken- So what?
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda "And when Idina Menzel is singing, I'm always slightly worried that her teeth are going to jump out of her mouth and chase me." - Schmerg_the_Impaler

#15

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:02pm

Good Question:

The Me Nobody Knows
The Crucible
Vanities
Extremities
Sunday in the Park w/ George

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#16

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:13pm

1. Little Shop of Horrors
2. Merrily We Roll Along
3. The Rocky Horror Show
4. Carousel
5. Chess

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Now, mother always said that whenever you hear a strange, frightening, and potentially life-threatening ghostly chant coming from the dark woods that there's one thing that you should do: Not wake the others and go investigate it alone...

#17

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:20pm

If it's all musicals:

Camelot
Fiddler on the Roof
Guys and Dolls
Cabaret
The Scarlet Pimpernel

#18

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:23pm

I always thought it'd be cool to do a season where one show featured the same three black women playing the roles in Hairspray,
Little Shop of Horrors & Dreamgirls. So, with that in consideration, my season would be...

1) Gypsy
2) Little Shop of Horrors
3) Hairspray
4) bare
5) Dreamgirls

#19

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 2:33pm

Broadway Mouth Musical Theatre:

Fall: Jane Eyre (with Chuck Wagner)
Winter: Dreamgirls
Mid-Winter: Bells are Ringing
Spring: 1776
Summer: Aida (with Merle Dandridge)
Broadway Blog: An Ode to New York City

#20

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 2:49pm

Before planning your season - check the financial status of the company.

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#21

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 3:12pm

Hmmm.

I figure mine would consist of the following:


The Man Who Came to Dinner (Kaufman & Hart)
December '07-February '08

Our Town (Thorton Wilder)
February '08-April '08

Camelot (Alan Jay Lener and Fredric Loewe)
April '08-June '08

Side Show (Henry Krieger and Bill Russell)
June '08-August '08

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Rupert Holmes)
September '08 - December '08

Aaaannd, that's dream-booking for you!

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 03:12 PM

#22

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:26pm

If the rights were out the opening would be GREY GARDENS and the closing would be SPRING AWAKENING. Otherwise it would go like this:

1. Company
2. Fiddler on the Roof
3. Applause
4. Inro the Woods
5. Gypsy

If I had to have a drama as opposed to five musicals, I would replace FIDDLER with THE GLASS MENAGERIE.

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You look absolutely terrific, honestly.

#23

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:16pm

My season would be:

Assassins
Noises Off
Jesus Christ Superstar (A New Modern version...)
Deathtrap
Sweeney Todd

A lot of death for one season!

4/5 shows, don't think it would go over to well...???

#24

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:35pm

Are we allowed to commission new work?

#25

re: Artistic Director - YOU

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:47pm

I think it can not be chosen until you know what the size of the house is and how long the runs have to be. If you are in a 1,000 seat theatre running 8 shows a week for 3 weeks you pick a very different schedule than a 200 seat theatre running 6 shows a week for 2-3 weeks.