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Broadway Fetishes

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#1

Broadway 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

#2

re: 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

#3

re: 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.

)

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

#4

re: 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

#5

re: 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

#6

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/28/08 at 7:59pm

A brass section

#7

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/28/08 at 8:08pm

Tenors and really great duet harmonies (especially with two tenors!)

Dancing through life... For the next ten minutes

#8

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/28/08 at 8:22pm

Alternate colored people....green especially.

#9

re: 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

#10

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/28/08 at 8:43pm

Boobies

Obama/Biden 08

#11

re: 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.

#12

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:06pm

Actor-musicians.

A work of art is an invitation to love.

#13

re: 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.

#14

re: 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.

#15

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:03pm

Stunning Overtures.

"Light the candles! Get the ice out! Roll the rug up, it's today!"

#16

re: 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

#17

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/29/08 at 3:21pm

What does fetish mean here, if not its actual definition - just something someone likes?

#18

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/29/08 at 3:42pm

I 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

#19

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/29/08 at 3:54pm

Crazy. Do you guys jerk in the bathroom at intermission or do you wait till you get home?

#20

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:13pm

Speaking 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

#21

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/29/08 at 4:16pm

I guess I still don't understand fetish in this context. Oh well. Carry on.

#22

re: 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

#23

re: 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

#24

re: 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)

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

#25

re: Broadway Fetishes

Posted: 9/29/08 at 5:15pm

It's probably easier for us gents to take care of it on the spot. :)

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