FOLLIES in High School???- Page 2

[ahmelie]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 4:52pm

BUT I think FOLLIES is probally the worst show a HS could do. There is no point in having the younger versions of the characters, because the main characters are already played by kids! I would never waste my time watching kids around my age trying to interpret the subject matter in FOLLIES. I don't even want to think of a 16 year old Hattie or Carlotta, I'd have to send Elaine Stritch there to give them a talking to! How could these kids know what the characters are feeling, when they've never experienced any of the ups and downs of marriage, etc?

As an actor, a teenage actor at that, I recently played Hamlet. And in spite of the fact that I've never lost a parent, nor would anyone call me insane. Not to mention the fact that I'm a girl, I believe did justice to the part. (I made it to the Finals in a city-wide shakespeare contest of over 1000 people, I don't mean to brag. But I'd like to make a point. At the showcase of finalists I saw some of the most moving a beautiful renditions of the most difficult peices in theater done by 8 year olds that were much better than many professionals that I've seen.)

It's called acting.

Updated On: 2/15/07 at 04:52 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 4:54pm

But I keep envisioning a 16 year old Phyllis talking about the "pleasures" of sex with Kevin, probally played by a 14 year old.

Well - and lord, don't let this turn into a torch burning witch hunt about how we having to contact MTI - there's a very good chance that the lines were excised or cleaned up. If I'm not mistaken (it's been a while since I watched the clips) even lines like "screw around" were changed to "mess around."

[lildogs]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:04pm

It IS called acting, ahmelie, you're right, but I'm sure I thought I was brilliant in HS too, and yes, I won alot of those UIL medals to prove my "talent," but it was only good FOR A HIGH SCHOOL student.

And yes, there are kids who are better than adults, but there's alot of crappy adults too.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:14pm

I don't mean to say that Students in High School are as experienced as professionals, they aren't. I do mean to say that if their performance is lacking it is not because they're not and never have been married.

[Danielm]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:17pm

I love that High Schools try these things and I would encourage them to do so. However, we have to keep things in perspective here. These performances are good for High School. I know when we did Bye Bye Birdie in High School we all thought we were fabulous. We thought we were better than any professional production had ever been and that we were better than Broadway. We even got standing ovations, but I look back now and know that we may have been good--but we were good for high school. Professional theatre is a completely different thing.

On the plus side they're probably better than the Reprise! version with Patty Duke as Phyllis and Vicki Carr as Sally.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:20pm

I used to judge for the Papermill Playhouse's Star Awards, which are presented to HS students as the Tony's are to professionals. I saw a Sweeney Todd in Glen Ridge where the Sweeney was awesome. And I saw a production of "Once on this Island" in Hoboken (HOBOKEN!) that brought me to tears. There are some very talented kids in "Joisey".
In fact, Laura Benanti won Best Actress at the Star Awards about only 2 or 3 years before she got "The Sound of Music" on Broadway.
And Anne Hathaway was nominated for her performance in "Once Upon a Matress" which I saw, and she was terrific.

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:23pm

The only people that seem to be holding these high school shows up to some sort of professional standards are the ones that have their panties in a wad over a high school daring to do FOLLIES.

I'll tell you, one of the greatest experiences I've ever had as an actor was revisiting the first role I ever played in high school (Christopher Wren in THE MOUSETRAP) as a professional actor. Nearly a decade had passed between the performances and, obviously, my 'professional' self approached it entirely differently. But that doesn't change the fact that I learned a great deal in my high school version.

[lildogs]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:24pm

Well, THAT'S 100% right ahmelie--to paraphrase David Mamet, studying Elizabethan history will not help you play Hamlet.

But Hamlet is a young man, confused by his parents and the world in general--that's something with which you CAN identify and it isn't hard to imagine losing your father either, right?

I think the themes in Shakespeare are MUCH more accessible than those in Sondheim.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:32pm

I can imagine being married as well, that's an easier concept to grasp than my father being killed by my uncle and marrying my mother.

I mean, if Follies were so unrelatable to me, why is it my favourite musical?

[Plum]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:35pm

You know what? It's true. Sondheim adults are very, very adult, and teenagers can't comprehend their brand of weariness and regret. But what is the point of a high school production? To teach kids about theater, to provide artistic opportunities for actors, singers, dancers, designers, techies, and musicians; to give the town something to be proud of. Oh, and to put on a decent show. These people aren't pros- they aren't even community theater actors- and as previous posters have been saying, applying the ethos of product-oriented theater to them is incorrect.

[lildogs]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:39pm

There's ALOT more to FOLLIES than being married. And trust me, until you've at least lived in a studio apt. with the person you're dating, you have NO IDEA what marriage is like.

And you can like things that have nothing to do with your personal expeerince--I love JELLY'S LAST JAM despite the fact that I'm not Creole or a musician or a black man trying to pass as white.

It has nothing to do with what you relate to, but rather with what you can incarnate. I relate to SUNDAY....VERY well, but I simply don't have the tools I'd need to play George. And I like the material enough to want to do it justice, and I simply can't.

Not saying you can't....just saying your perspective is still very narrow.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:45pm

How could these kids know what the characters are feeling, when they've never experienced any of the ups and downs of marriage, etc?

I was mostly responding to this comment.

And I don't like Follies, I looove Follies. I'm not saying you can't like something that has complete foreign concepts to you, I'm saying how could I find this to be one of the greatest, most heart-breaking musicals ever written if there was nothing there that I understood?

I just think it's great that these students are being given the chance to tackle this material that, once they leave highschool, they won't have a chance at playing until they're 50+, if they're lucky. Follies is challenging, and I think having a production with teens in it outher than in a school is completely innapropriate, but a 17 year old with enough talent, drive, and focus could do it justice.

Updated On: 2/15/07 at 05:45 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:50pm

Yes, it's POSSIBLE--nobody is disputing that, and YOU can understand things and still not be able to convey them to an audience.

You perhaps are the exception to the rule, but your inexperience would show and if YOU were in the audience you would probably be disappointed because the material you love isnt being presented in its best light. Because no matter how great a HS FOLLIES can be, it won't ever be as good as a great professional FOLLIES would be.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 5:58pm

In all honesty, if I did see that show I probably would leave the theatre mumbling and grumbling about the oness who didn't get it. But I doubt that many die-hard Follies fans were sitting in that audience grumbling about how their favourite musical was being disgraced. A highschool has limited resources, but it also has a limited audience.

I don't disagree with the idea that a professional production would be better than a HS production, but I do disagree with the idea that the reason for that would be lack of life experience rather than lack of acting experience.

[lildogs]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:00pm

Acting experience IS life experience IMHO.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:02pm

Acting experience IS life experience IMHO.

And we've come to the point where there is nothing left to debate, I respectfully disagree with you.

Yay!

[Craww]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:04pm

There's ALOT more to FOLLIES than being married. And trust me, until you've at least lived in a studio apt. with the person you're dating, you have NO IDEA what marriage is like.

You don't have to approach every concept from a place of relating it to your own life. Even something as emotionally rich or obversely banal as marriage. Besides, I kind of think a smart teenager who has watched their own parents marriage crumble and rebound a million times might be more equippped to relate to the material than someone whose biggest comparison to marriage is their dorm mate.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:04pm

To me, if the performers can make me feel the intended emotion they have done a pretty good job. The songs in FOLLIES ask you to feel rather complicated emotions. And by virtue of their talent and understanding of the material the kids, for me, let it come through.

I applaude them.

[Julian2]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:10pm

I think with high school its important to balance realizing your limitations, but also maybe just going for it. I did an annual Christmas Carol with a woman who directed a high school with one of the bigger arts programs in the area. I asked if she was doing a musical in the spring, and she said she only did them every other year, because she didn't think there was enough for high schoolers to do. Needless to say, I stole her puple highlighter. I mean seriously, what is high school for if you can't do material light years beyond you while still thinking your the next Terrance Mann? Reality will come soon enough, so why not?

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:21pm

I'm reminded of those AMERICAN IDOL auditioners who say "but I got all A's in singing at school" just after they have been rejected.

Instructors have to make it clearer that in the world outside of school "process over product" doesn't count.

Updated On: 2/15/07 at 06:21 PM

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:38pm

That girl is so amazing!
Updated On: 2/15/07 at 06:38 PM

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 8:37pm

Isn't she? I can't get over how rich and mature her sound is.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:34pm

Bump

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:43pm

I do a lot of work with high schools on a pro bono basis, and we never question the age- or gender-appropriateness of a show before tackling it.

Get over it, folks. It's high school theatre, when kids are *supposed* to be learning about theatre. If they feel they can handle FOLLIES, then more power to them. They're not charging a hundred-plus bucks for the seats, so I wouldnt expect anything all that miraculous. And if it gets them interested in shows deeper than NATALIE NEEDS A NIGHTIE, then I'm all for it.

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:47pm

Life experience certainly feeds an actor's 'bag of tricks', if you will. But isn't that all it really is, in the end? After four years of acting school, I got out and basically played a variation of myself for a good, long time. And I never really needed what I learned in acting school. I worked completely on instinct. Then, I was lucky enough to start playing roles that were quite a stretch, and I realized that I had a whole lot of technique that would fill in the blanks of a character that I felt was nothing like me. I mean...I never raped anybody. I never would. I never would attack someone with a razor blade. So...I went back to my bag of tricks and figured out a way to make it work.

Do I expect HS students to be able to do this? No. But it's a pretty interesting discussion, none the less.