Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Big musicals you'd like to see done small
#0Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 12:22am
As we've seen by the recent work of John Doyle on Sweeney Todd, Company, and Mack and Mabel, often a show really benefits from being stripped down to a minimalist, intimate production. Ever seen a show done on a mammoth scale and feel that it would benefit from a much more intimate setting, with lesser production requirements? What shows would you like to see stripped down sometime?
I would love to see Carousel, JC Superstar, Miss Saigon, Evita, Gypsy, and Oklahoma! done in this fashion.
Anyone else?
bigrab1018
Leading Actor Joined: 10/9/05
#1re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 12:51am
Wicked
Elphaba: Violin
Glinda: Flute
Wizard: Bassoon
Fiyero: Harmonica
Morrible: Glockenspiel
Boq: Clarinet
Nessarose: Cello on Wheels
"Billy, put down that phylactery...we're Episcopalian." - Spelling Bee
Updated On: 6/6/06 at 12:51 AM
FosseBoi
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/30/04
#2re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 12:57am
I did a VERY minimalist JCS last summer. It was really good! It was one of those "once you see it done this way you cant imagin doing it in a different way" kind of things. However, it was my first experiance with the show, so...yeah.
Btw, Bigrab, your list for WICKED could possibly work! I have o admit that I laughed whenI read "Nessarose: Cello on Wheels"!haha!
"I've always secretly longed for an actress to get to the top of the cherry picker and projectile vomit all over the guards below."- Wonderwaiter in the "Defy Gravity?" thread.
~~~~~~~~My dream? Sutton Foster as Cassie in A Chorus Line
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#3re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:01amDon't know if either of these have been done small, but OLIVER! and SWEET CHARITY
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#4re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:03amDouble Post Updated On: 6/6/06 at 01:03 AM
FoscasBohemianDream
Broadway Star Joined: 1/20/06
#5re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:04amI would love to see a minimalist commercial production of Kiss of the Spider Woman. And another minimalist production of Ragtime, it just really works.
Parks
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/5/04
#6re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:06am
Of course, Wicked is the first joke. 
"If it walks like a Parks, if it wobbles like a Parks, then it's definitely fat and nobody loves it." --MA
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#7re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:06am
I agree with Ragtime.
I liked Little Shop of Horrors better as a minimalist/stripped down type show rather than a big Broadway blow-out.
#8re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:09amI think Gypsy would be really amazing if it was done on a scaled down production. Or perhaps Into The Woods, I think Into The Woods would gain a lot with a stripped down production.
http://theaterfag.blogspot.com/
Reviews and the like
Parks
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/5/04
#10re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:11amITW was also the first one that came to mind...but I honestly just can't imagine it being scaled down.
"If it walks like a Parks, if it wobbles like a Parks, then it's definitely fat and nobody loves it." --MA
#11re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:15amIt would work well with a bare stage and few props, and with a string quartet instead of a full orchestra. It could be amazing
http://theaterfag.blogspot.com/
Reviews and the like
clarkstallings
Leading Actor Joined: 1/9/05
#12re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 1:16amI have an obsession with "Beauty and the Beast's" score. For me, the score carries the show and could carry the show in my mind in a stripped down version. I even had an epiphany on how to stage it in a stripped down version the other day. However, I worry that the show might not be able to carry itself for others who aren't such rabid fans of the music. I hate seeing all of these amateur and even regional productions of the show that try to emulate the multi-million dollar Broadway production with a few thousand dollars. Folks need to get creative with the show and scale it down and do it well rather than doing a piss poor job copying Disney.
alwy15
Stand-by Joined: 4/26/04
#13re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 2:04am
i dont think ragtime could work scaled down. i saw a production that was inbetween huge and small... i guess that would make it a medium production, hah. and it just didnt work at all. but perhaps it needs to be a huge broadway blowout or a minimalist production to work. no in betweens.
in response to an earlier post, i have seen a scaled down carousel and it was stunning.
Over_the_Moon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/05
#14re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 2:46amLast summer I was in a sort of minimalist production of Ragtime. The only set piece we had was the car, and there was minimal blocking, and it really focused on the music. It was the best production in the area that season.
"what have we learned? Don't smoke... don't do drugs and don't sing 'Defying Gravity'." -CATSNYRevival
jam_man
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/25/05
#15re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 3:04amI've always thought that a small production of Les Miz could work - and very well. But it would have to be considerably re-imagined and likely wouldn't be accepted - no matter how good - for quite some time. It could work.
"Who is Stephen Sondheim?" -roninjoey
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
#16re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 9:10am
I would like to see Les Mis done on a small scale.
I also think the Lion King could be done smaller.
Facebook...ME !!!
leeinlondon
Leading Actor Joined: 5/22/03
#17re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 9:30am
"i dont think ragtime could work scaled down"
Oh boy it does work SO well scaled down. They did a version in London that didn't have any huge moving scenery and nor a cast of thousands and it was MUCH more moving than the Broadway version.
Broadway felt like it was all about the spectacle, cold, sterile and distant, in london you REALY conected with the characters.
Maria Friendman was Mother in this by the way.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#18re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 9:54amI don't want to see the minimalist version of anything.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#19re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 10:15ami saw a minimalist production of Kiss of the Spider Woman and i HATED it. it loses so much without the lighting...
gustof777
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/8/04
#20re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 10:42amWhy would a small wicked be a joke...the book is very dark and when I read that they were doing a musical of it and I hadn't heard that Schwartz was attached...I figured it would be a very chamber like show based on how dark and complex the book is. I think a scaled down Wicked would be very interesting.
RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~
#21re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 10:43ama scaled down Wicked seems to me like it'd just be a bunch of screaming...
#22re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 11:07amI must jump on the ITW bandwagon. I think it could be an excellent production, especially if done with a string quartet such as mentioned below.
"Wherever you go... I'll be right there. When you get your own private kick in the ass, just remember: it's a present from me to you."
Rose's dying words to Louise
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#23re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 11:12am
ITW would be very cool scaled down, though it might come off as weird since you still have to incorporate some of the "magic" in the show like the witch's transformation.
philcrosby
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/04
#24re: Big musicals you'd like to see done small
Posted: 6/6/06 at 2:25pmI'm on the board of a small theatre here in Richmond, VA. We did KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN in a 65-seat theatre and it works extremely well, especially in focusing the story back on Molina and Valentin, and less on the spectacle associated with Aurora. The only regret is that the entire score had to be pre-recorded, or we would have had to do it with piano only. But it was an amazing production.
Videos