Curtain Calls...

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 6:27pm

I love curtian calls, have you ever done/been in a show where the curtain call was like completely out of whack???

[blackisthisyearspink]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 6:35pm

what do you mean "out of whack"??

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 6:36pm

yes. i have.

[pab]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 6:37pm

The strangest curtain call that I’ve been associated with was for college production I directed of “Six Degrees of Separation”. It was actually the curtain call that never happened.

All of the students lived on campus and when the show was over, the entire cast disappeared to a secret location to attend their cast party. The lights came up on an empty stage as the audience applauded and waited for the actors to come out and take their bows. Not only did the actors not come out but they could not be found anywhere on campus for hours after the production. Needles to say most of their friends were pissed but the cast got a great kick out of the whole thing.

Updated On: 4/30/05 at 06:37 PM

[wildcat]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 6:57pm

And that audience is STILL sitting there...

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:05pm

I mean like where like the order is not what you think it should have been. Like, here is one I was in:

Les Mis

Chorus Group 1
Chorus Group 2
Gavroche and Little Cossette
Fantine
Enjolras
Epoinine
Javert
Thenardiers
Cossette and Marius
Valjean

[wildcat]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:15pm

I saw a production of MARAT/SADE where, at the end of the play, the actors simply stood and stared at the audience. Finally, the audience realised THAT was the curtain call and they left the theatre.

I really hate the new convention of having a "mega-mix" of the show's songs danced frantically by the cast during the curtain calls in an attempt to make the audience think they had a good time...

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:18pm

Me too, wildcat, but more because I'm short and of course, here in the U.S. everyone leaps to their feet at the end of a musical, no matter how much it sucked. So they're doing an entire number, and I can't see it.

[pab]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:22pm

Yeah, some people will stand for anything.

I've seen entire choreographed scenes played out during some curtain calls. There was on production where there was a prologue and a curtain call both of which were better than the actual performance of the play.

Updated On: 4/30/05 at 07:22 PM

[Parks]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:22pm

At Theatre Three (in Dallas), The Medicine Man was showing for a little while...and the curtain call was the cast coming out...and there was really funky like indian music. The cast just sat on the set (couches and whatnot from the hospital waiting room) sitting in seperate corners and...then when it was over...they walked out. Weirdest curtain call I've seen. Wait..do plays have curtain calls or just bows?

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:31pm

Yeah, my first principal role in Fiddler on the Roof. They had the ensemmble bowing after a group of leads. And when our tevye said "um, I don't mean to be rude...but this isn't a curtain call." the director started crying.

We got in trouble and I was asked to be our "female representative" when we spoke to the producer about "why we hate our director". She was like "has she ever done anything to you guys?" and Tevye says "ahhh see thats why we brough sara, sara is the most positive girl in there and she is terrible to her..."

IT WAS A DISASTER

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:33pm

When I was in Sweeney Todd in high school, our director didn't let us have a curtain call saying that, "this show doesn't end in the way that works with a curtain call." So we just never had one. I was sad too, it was my last show and my first big lead.

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 7:36pm

I remember reading a review during Thoroughly Modern Millie where the guy totally bashed the show's curtain call for being staged to highlight sutton. honestly, that's one of my favorite curtain calls for a show, for each character, their "theme" music plays as they come to bow, I think it's very clever really. It's a nice touch.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 8:15pm

God forbid if the STAR of a show is highlighted at any time of the performance...shame on them...

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 8:48pm

Yeah, when I saw Mamma Mia last March, that was the longest curtain ever. The entire set changed and there was a lot of dancing and singing and then some bowning and some singing...I was just like "leave already"

[Plum]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 8:49pm

How puzzling- I never saw Millie, but of course curtain calls highlight the star of the show. What makes this case so egregious?

Posted: 4/30/05 at 8:49pm

If I'm not mistaken, the curtain call for Lend Me A Tenor is scripted and is very intricate. (I hope that's show I'm thinking of)... But most of all, quite funny.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 9:24pm

Buffy--I agree that "Sweeney" should have a curtain call. I can see why there wasn't one, since the audience is supposed to be slightly alienated and so on, but still...

However, I was recently in "Assassins" (the OTHER Sondheim show about killing people), and I didn't think we should have a curtain call given the nature of the show, and especially given the nature of the final number. The director ended up just having the entire cast do a quick group bow, which worked all right I suppose.

[Act4ever]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 9:31pm

Just finished a production of Bye Bye Birdie and our director had us get in tableau - the lights came up, went down - we faced foward - light came up, bow, curtain falls. No highlighting the leads or anything.... it kinda sucked. Great show though.

[alphieboy]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 9:40pm

I also love curtain calls. But yes, I have been in an "out of whack" curtain call. My high school just got done with its run of Beauty and the Beast, and the bows went as following:
Enchantress
Ensemble
Featured Dancers
Silly Girls
D'Arque
Maurice, with the child who was in the invention(she held an axe)each getting separate bow
The wardrobe and chip, each getting separate bow
LeFou and Gaston, each getting separate bow
Cogsworth
Mrs.Potts
Babette
Lumiere
Belle and Beast(Beast getting last bow)

The curtain call was completly messed up, because they played favs. Iam sure you can spot the obvious problems.

Updated On: 4/30/05 at 09:40 PM

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 9:54pm

the only nightmare one that i was involved in was doing shortened versions of 4 1 acts for all the last period english classes, the director wanted each cast to bow together, so we had to join hands in the front win and come out, unfortunately she forgot that our front wing is only about 4 wfeet deep and then theres a wall- i know how sardines feel since there was about 15 people (half my play's cast, another's full cast, and half a third) crammed in that 4 feet.

on a professional level i think the lsoh tour calls are out of whack

it goes;
urchins
plant voice
orin
mushnik
seymore and audrey (seymore gets final)

i feel that it should go;
urchins
mushnik
orin
plant voice
seymore and audrey (seymore gets final)

[MikeH]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 11:01pm

Our recent college production of Cabaret that I worked on didn't have a curtain call. After the finale the cast disappeared into the back of the stage and a giant gate resembling the Auschwitz gate came down from the flys and landed with a sickening thud which echoed into nothing. It was a truly powerful ending that the director had wanted to leave the audience with. So, there was no curtain call. I think it worked great, and it gave me chills every night.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 11:05pm

I was in my HS production of big!THE MUSICAL and I was Mrs.Baskins...that's a major part of the show..all the leads *the joshes, billy, cynthia benson even!* got separate bows but they just threw me in with the chorus! I didn't really think about it then but now it pisses me off!

I saw *was forced to* the Mark Morris Dancers *modern--they are very talented just not my cup of tea!* and they would NOT STOP BOWING!! i was like please....!! they took about 20 bows--no joke.

[WickedShopofQ]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 11:10pm

when i was in JOSEPH< i played the Pharaoh. We did the whole big musical number montage of all the songs curtain call and my director made Joseph bow like 4th and the Narrators bow 5th. After them Myself, the brothers, and portiphar bowed among others. I thought it was odd but when i tryed to protest my director said it was because of how the song went.

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 11:20pm

When I was in "Ragtime", we just had one cast bow and that was it.