Broadway Fetishes
Broadway Fetishes
#1Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 6:57pm
Do YOU have a fetish?
Maybe it's a Closing Night fetish (cooolkid)...
Maybe it's a Sondheim fetish...
Maybe it's a screen-to-stage adaption fetish...
What really turns your cranks and pulls your levers when it comes to Broadway?
"I don't see that many plays, and for me, musicals are rarely pleasing. I feel the actors are being put through a kind of nightmarish labor. They're like animals being forced to pull heavy carts of vegetables at incredible speeds." --- Wallace Shawn
#2re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 7:04pm
Chorus Boys
But in all seriousness...
Large ensemble numbers (aka The Whole Town Singing kinds of songs)
Stringed instruments (especially the cello) getting orchestral attention
Masses of people in perfectly synchronized choreography (all doing the same dance-move) for an extended period of time
Updated On: 9/28/08 at 07:04 PM
#2re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 7:10pm
I'd point out that the dictionary definition of 'fetish' is generally along the lines of "Something, such as a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification". 
And now that my inner pedant has arrived, that paragraph is REALLY going to put my response in a whole new light...
I like sword-fighting, I like fake blood, and I like severed heads. Michael Boyd's Histories Cycle spoiled me rotten with all the action and all the gore flying all over the place. 
Generally, these things are MUCH more likely to turn up in plays than musicals, but 'Betwixt' had a severed head for a character, and 'Zorro' was FILLED with sword-fighting and had some quite nifty usage of fake blood too, so it does happen.
(I also really like it when hot guys aren't wearing shirts. Again, 'Zorro' was pretty good for this, especially as they managed to combine it with the fake blood and the sword-fighting. )
#3re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 7:14pm
Chorus Boys! Yes, good one. 
"I don't see that many plays, and for me, musicals are rarely pleasing. I feel the actors are being put through a kind of nightmarish labor. They're like animals being forced to pull heavy carts of vegetables at incredible speeds." --- Wallace Shawn
#4re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 7:56pm
High belting with immediate vibrato, no straight toning in between.
*chills*
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
geekgirl06
Featured Actor Joined: 11/9/06
#6re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 8:08pmTenors and really great duet harmonies (especially with two tenors!)
Dancing through life...
For the next ten minutes
cheapcoloredlights3
Swing Joined: 9/23/08
#8re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 8:40pm
Conversational lyrics.
1920s-style orchestrations.
A clarinet solo.
Lots of people singing at one time, in the monophonic style (one melodic line only [THE MORE YOU KNOW...]).
Lots of people singing at one time, with rich harmonies.
Epic-scale music.
Certain synthesizer effects, a la ADDING MACHINE.
(PS. I really hate you right now, for using the word 'fetish'... "So what do you want to try tonight?" "Well, I got a synthesizer...")
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
bwayfan9
Broadway Star Joined: 9/14/08
#10re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:02pm
Unexpected and FIERCE riffing that isn't written in the music (I'm not talking Shoshana Bean style here...)
Cello solos.
#11re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:06pmActor-musicians.
#12re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:41pm
Different people singing different songs at the same time. It just makes me so excited.
Examples:
"96,000" towards the end.
"In the Same Boat"
And my personal favorite: the finale of DROWSY CHAPERONE.
I love it.
#13re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:59pm
curtain calls
powerful brass solos (especially the one at the beginning of Rose's Turn)
onstage seating
I know you.
I know you.
I know you.
#14re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:03pmStunning Overtures.
"Light the candles! Get the ice out! Roll the rug up, it's today!"
#16re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 2:58pm
Key changes
Counterpoint
Basses singing in their high registers
Attractive guys in tight pants, waiscoats, and ponytails
Songs where multiple main characters sing solos (like "One Day More," "If Only," "Johanna Quartet," "You Can't Stop The Beat.")
...Norm Lewis
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#17re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 3:21pmWhat does fetish mean here, if not its actual definition - just something someone likes?
#18re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 3:42pmI assumed it meant Broadway-related things you're obsessed with that have the side effect of turning you on.
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#19re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 3:54pmCrazy. Do you guys jerk in the bathroom at intermission or do you wait till you get home?
#20re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:13pmSpeaking as a girl, I can't say for sure. I guess my judging criteria is, if it weren't against common etiquette to stand up and yell 'squeee!', would I do it? If I would, it goes on my list.
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#21re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:16pmI guess I still don't understand fetish in this context. Oh well. Carry on.
SNLMedia
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/6/05
#22re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:16pm
Overtures, overtures, overtures.
And huge-ass finales! You just can't beat "You Can't Stop the Beat"!
"The world is a better place because of hairspray." - Michael Ball
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#23re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:17pm
Almost any score from a 70s sounding show...but two specific moments:
Music and the Mirror (ACL)
Tick-Tock (Company)
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#24re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:31pm
In this case, I'd say it means "things that make you happy. I mean REALLY happy. I mean possibly TOO happy". Sword-fights, pools of blood, and severed heads definitely count. :3
(And I wait until I get home. :P)
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#25re: Broadway Fetishes
Posted: 9/29/08 at 5:15pmIt's probably easier for us gents to take care of it on the spot. :)
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