First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mark Taper
First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mark Taper
#1First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mark Taper
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:29pm
Mark Taper Forum and Deaf West Theatre will present an ASL production of PIPPIN in its upcoming season.
I didn't get to see BIG RIVER but the clips look stunning. I am shamefully unfamilar with PIPPIN but still, I'm anxious to see this.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#2re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mark Taper
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:30pmhttps://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=974756
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#2re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:31pmThis might be a dumb question, but do you need to know sign language to see this production?
#3re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:31pmThat IS a dumb question.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#4re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:34pmsorry, I just have no idea what this is. I've never seen one of their productions.
#5re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:40pmAlong with speaking and singing, they also sign.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#6re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:40pm
No....there is signing for the hearing impaired, but all the lyrics and dialogue is also spoken.
And I really love Pippen....will be curious to see how it's held up over time.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#7re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:43pmBroadway actress Sarah Jessica Parker has a brother named Pippin.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
temms
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/04
#8re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:46pm
No, it's intended for Deaf and hearing audiences - presuming it's done the same way as "Big River" (Deaf West has also done "Oliver" the same way, so it's a logical guess that "Pippin" will be similar.)
The cast is about half-and-half Deaf and hearing. Everyone signs their roles, and the hearing actors speak their part as well (while they sign.) The Deaf actors don't voice their own roles, so one of the hearing actors voices the lines for the Deaf actor, much like dubbing. Sometimes the speaking actor is playing another role in the scene (but only signs their own role) and sometimes the actor isn't in the scene and just stands on the side of the stage to voice the lines. No attempt is made to hide it.
So, for example, in "Big River", Ty Giordano, who is Deaf, played Huck Finn. He did not speak but performed his role in Sign Language (brilliantly, I might add.) Daniel Jenkins, who is hearing, played Mark Twain. As Twain, he performed the role simultaneously speaking and signing. But he also provided the voice for Huck, so whenever Huck had a line, he would stand to the side and deliver it in a slightly different "Huck" voice while Ty signed the part "in the scene".
It's hard to describe - after about five minutes, you forget the person signing isn't necessarily the one talking. The Deaf actors embody the role so thoroughly and the signing/voicing is done so seamlessly that it becomes one performance.
So, no. You absolutely do not have to know sign language going in - but odds are you will come out wanting to learn it.
#9re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:48pm
So, no. You absolutely do not have to know sign language going in - but odds are you will come out wanting to learn it.
I ended up taking two semesters of it afterwards.
I've never actually seen a Deaf West show in LA, so this should be great!
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#10re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:49pmTyrone Giordano was robbed of a Tony Award for his magnificent performance in BIG RIVER. I couldn't believe he wasn't even nominated. That production should have also won Best Direction of a Musical, and wasn't even nominated.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#11re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 12:03am
And if any production was ripe for a PBS broadcast, it was this one.
Hmm...Pippin, then?
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#12re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 8:39am
I agree WannaBe about Giordano and BIG RIVER should have won Best Revival.
I hope Ty and Michael Arden are involved in PIPPIN.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#13re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 12:12pmThere is signing for the hearing impaired, and singing for the sign language impaired.
singingbackup
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/06
#14re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 1:13pm
Actually it's a beautiful combination of singing, acting and signing. Hearing actors sing for the deaf actors as well as sing and sign as different characters, ensemble, etc. I saw Big River and it was glorious how they melded the two. Hopefully Erika Amato will chime in, as she has been a part of a show such as this, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, and could properly explain the experience. (She was outstanding in that, btw)
So happy I am back in LA for this!
#15re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 1:42pm
I still kick myself for missing Big River and I am never going to forgive PBS for not trying to get it on their great performances.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
#16re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 1:44pm
I saw Big River at the Taper - it was fabulous.
#17re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 2:01pm
Theatrefreak, you did not ask a dumb question, you just got a dumb response. How on earth would you know?
I saw the Big River production on Broadway and it was wonderful and inspirational. But I honestly can't think of a better show to do this with than the wonderfully theatrical Pippin. Would love to see it.
#18re: First BIG RIVER, now PIPPIN! Sign Language Meets Musical Theatre @ Mar
Posted: 8/15/08 at 2:31pm
How on earth would you know?
Google and logic?
In 10 minutes, you could...
* Google "big river" and "deaf"
* Learn that Deaf West did Big River
* Learn that this production transferred to the Mark Taper, then on Broadway
* Then toured
* Concluded that since it was playing fairly mainstream venues like the Curran Theatre in SF that it wasn't only going to (non-exclusively oralist) schools for the deaf that there was no way they sustained on that kind of small, entirely ASL-fluent niche audience
* Not only that, read a bunch of reviews that mentioned the show was both in English and ASL, thus prompting the lightbulb over your head.
* You would hope.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Updated On: 8/15/08 at 02:31 PM
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