Crazy Concepts of Classic Shows — Page 3

First, RENT's Awakening, is the second photo from a production of 'The Light in the Piazza'?

And jagfkb, It's not that I don't think your idea is creative, but I don't really feel reinterpreting 'Sweeney Todd' in a WWII setting is a good decision. I don't think we really need to relive WWII from a serial killer's point of view, and especially not from the character of Sweeney Todd. Also, the whole Nazi subplot would be distracting and distasteful, don't you think?

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Updated On: 3/10/09 at 07:15 PM

It's not a great book but a good Director will be able to truly find the "meat"... especially with something like THE WIZ.

It bothers me when there's no reason behind the concepts. When there's no significance.

He just thought it'd be fun as a rock concert? Why even do the show in the first place, then?

Our theatre did PICNIC with a Hispanic actor as Hal. It made perfect sense - the character is from Texas, and he went to college on a football scholarship.

We also did 110 in the Shade with a black Starbuck. It added quite a lot. It wasn't a planned gimmick - we lost the actor we had originally cast, and needed someone on very short notice who was dependable, a quick study, and could sing the role. He just happened to be African-American.

I Kindof hve this uncompleted notion of setting INTO THE WOODS in a modern day city. Not any particular one, maybe a "Gotham City" type thing. Hear me out.

All of the Main characters live in the "middle class" part of the city. The "Woods" refers to a neighborhood deeper in the city, the ghetto, the projects, etc. It's a seedy part of town where even the police don't venture.

In this world, though it's modern, all the "fairy tale" aspects still exist quite normally. There are still giants, people still have cows, tree's still drop clothing on young girls, etc. lol.

Cinderella works all day and night at her father's motel, which was once a hot spot in the city. Her father married the Step-Mother and she is slowly spending all his money on her daughters, he is of course oblivious.

Jack is the closeted son of a drug dealer. When his mother sends him out to sell the cow, in the "woods" where he doesn't usually sell, he stumbles across a gay club called "the Sky".

The Baker and His Wife run a small bakery on the bottom floor. They live in an apartment above the bakery, and a crazy old gypsy woman lives in the flat above the. She has lived there since the Baker's father ran the Bakery, and is, for whatever reason, un-evict-able.

Rapunzel lives in a boarded up "vacant building". The Witch climbs her fire escape to her.

Little Red is a 14 year old girl who was molested at age 8 and has been molested several times since then. The constant use of her body for sex has unintentionally caused her to act in a provocative manner, which draws "the Wolf", a registered pedophile who lives around the block from her granny, to her.

The Princes are two heirs to a ritzy hotel. Their father has not decided which of them is going to inherit the "kingdom", sparking their rivalry. Cinderella's father is an old buisness contact of The King and Cinderella's father milks his old connections to get five tickets to the King's Festival.

The Giant is the only part i havn't solved yet.


I know there's holes. But it's my "crazy concept".

wow timessquare01 I seriously love that. Brilliant Ideas

Why, thank you! Your "Into The Woods" idea is pretty interesting, too!

By the way, I think in my version of "Cats," the 'cat that would be reborn' would be the patient who would be discharged to the asylum. The giant tire represents the car taking the Grizabella character home.

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"The Giant is the only part i havn't solved yet."

Godzilla.

I've always wanted to do a super-minimalist production of Into the Woods in which the set begins with a table (the Baker's), a chair (Cinderella's), and an archway/gable type thing (Jack's). As each character is introduced, a new piece is added to create, by the end of act one, a really fantastic, structurally modernist set, which would symbolize the fulfillment of their wishes and so on/so forth. As each of them is killed off during the second act, however, their respective pieces would be taken off as well, so by the end they're back to what they started with.

not a "crazy" concept - but i worked at a small theater years ago and the director put a great, definite concept onto the musical revue "And the World Goes Round".

he placed the show in a bar after hours in the late 70s. each actor was a stereotype/character:
- young sailor on leave
- sexy black bar back (sang the sexiest version of "Sara Lee" I have ever heard)
- sultry torch singer (began the show with "World Goes Round")
- older woman who owned the bar (sang "Class" with torch singer)
- a prostitute (she was dressed like Jodie Foster from "Taxi Driver" but as she sang the song "My Coloring Book" she removed the big floppy hat, sunglasses, and blonde wig - it was chillingly effective)
- her pimp, also a drug dealer (sang "Kiss of the SpiderWoman" as he was shooting up)
- a rich socialite in a gorgeous Halston-esque dress (she sang the **** out of "How Lucky Can You Get" - that was the highlight of the show - the actress is Lisa Gabrielle-Greene and she is PHENOMENAL)

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The Ninjas Of Penzance.

Not sure how I feel about it, but apparently Fosse wanted the ending of "Sweet Charity" to be that, devistated by Oscar's abandonment, Charity throws herself back into the lake and drowns.

No, not kidding.

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Lol, darquegk!

Actually, my production of Pirates was originally going to be set in England-occupied South Africa (or somewhere else, but definitely Africa). Thankfully, the prod staff decided to do it traditionally after really thinking it through.