"Futuristic 'Cabaret' "- Page 2

[Kad]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 2:54pm

ABitOnTheSide said: "Please stop being over-dramatic Kad. It's an insult to survivors."

Says the one who declared their stomach churns at the arrogance of these artists.. after writing a paragraph about how fed up you are.

 

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 2:57pm

That's not nearly as over dramatic as comparing what's happening in America today to Nazi Germany. Sorry, that's false equivalency. 

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 2:59pm

 If you don't see the beginnings of fascism in our current administration and the 30+ percent of citizens who support them, well...you're paying attention.  

SonofRobbieJ, I understand your sentiment, but where do you stand on Cabaret being altered like this?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:02pm

I mean...I don't really care.  I wouldn't do it myself because I think it's probably most effective set in its time period.  But as MisterMatt points out, many great works have been set successfully in time periods different from where they are set.  At some point we'll all be dead, everything will be in the public domain and companies and directors will be having at everything everyone thinks is sacred.  So, who cares?  So what?

[Kad]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:18pm

ABitOnTheSide said: "That's not nearly as over dramatic as comparing what's happening in America today to Nazi Germany. Sorry, that's false equivalency."

Nobody knows what will happen in a few years so no one now can definitively say. But I think not drawing comparisons to Weimar Germany- which is actually the comparison point here- is foolish and that is what really does disservice to history and the lessons we supposedly learned from it.

But to dismiss the actual suffering of large populations of people now as "petty" and as lesser than 60+ years of war and genocide, as you actually did here... man, that's just kind of screwed up.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:21pm

SonofRobbieJ said: "I mean...I don't really care. I wouldn't do it myself because I think it's probably most effective set in its time period. But as MisterMatt points out, many great works have been set successfully in time periods different from where they are set. At some point we'll all be dead, everything will be in the public domain and companies and directors will be having at everything everyone thinks is sacred. So, who cares? So what?"

But, I think that pieces written before the 20th Century aren't rooted as much in their times like like current things are. I mean, Romeo and Juliet, Antigone, etc. all work wherever you make it. The King and I, South Pacific, Camelot, etc. don't work.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:23pm

I mean, the very first production took place during a time of huge political turmoil as well, and it had that big mirror that stopped just short of having "YOU COULD BE THIS" written on it in blood.

[Gizmo6]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:29pm

Why do people accept different visions of playtexts but not musicals?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:34pm

'But, I think that pieces written before the 20th Century aren't rooted as much in their times like like current things are.'

I kind of believe that, too...but then I'm someone who was alive for the last quarter of the 20th Century...so my vision of what makes us special is clouded by the fact that I actually think we are special.  Which, in the end, we're not.  I'm certain Antigone had much to say to the Greeks of that day.  And I'm sure if you told one of them that this play would be performed literally thousands of years later, they would have looked at you like you were a mad-person.

 

[John Adams]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 3:47pm

SonofRobbieJ said: "I mean...I don't really care. I wouldn't do it myself because I think it's probably most effective set in its time period. But as MisterMatt points out, many great works have been set successfully in time periods different from where they are set. At some point we'll all be dead, everything will be in the public domain and companies and directors will be having at everything everyone thinks is sacred. So, who cares? So what?"

I'm finding posts like the one above, as well as comment/response (one among many, btw) like...

ABitOnTheSide said: "Nobody will ever convince me that we are living in the same sort of story as the people who died before us 70 something years ago. It is arrogant to believe otherwise."
And Cabaret is literally about people unwilling and unable to believe they are living on the precipice of what you've described.

...to hold much more significance, contemporary relevance, and thought-provoking, enjoyable drama than either the  synopsis of production description notes that were found in the link from the OP, or the coming production itself.

This thread actually is current and relevant, whereas that future production concept seems forced and stagey.

SonofRobbiej's post (above) struck me in a very enjoyable way - like I was hearing a character speak those lines in a contemporary play. I think the reference to Cabaret, exactly how he has written it, and within this contemporary setting of a thread in cyberspace, is much stronger than the concept Boston Conservatory intends to produce. 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 4:00pm

John Adams said: SonofRobbiej's post (above) struck me in avery enjoyable way - like I was hearing a character speak those lines in a contemporary play. 

Well that's because, in my mind, I'm always on stage of the Walter Kerr.  :) :) :) 

 

[John Adams]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 4:10pm

SonofRobbieJ said: "Well that's because, in my mind, I'm always on stage of the Walter Kerr. :) :) :)"

You'll be a phenomenal "contemporary" Fräulein Schneider... 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 4:26pm

If we ever meet, I'll do my impression as Mary Louise Wilson as Schneider.  It's both accurate and terrifying.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 7:27pm

I do a lot of Shakespeare, as both an actor and a director. When I'm coming up with a "concept" for a production, it's usually while trying to answer the question, "What can I do to best help a modern audience connect to this 400 year old play?" Usually, that involves setting it in a different time and place, or giving it some sort of design aesthetic (summer themed, steampunk, etc.). There's really no reason to do any of Shakespeare's plays in Elizabethan dress, etc. unless perhaps you are doing one of the history plays, or you are purposely doing it as a museum piece a la Mark Rylance's Globe productions.

This approach can also apply to some modern plays - i.e. David Cromer's Our Town, Ivo Van Hove's...well, anything he directs...

The thing is, this is, I think, much harder to do with musicals. They are just a different animal. Also, although Sam Mendes' made popular the "seedy" Cabaret, which basically upped the shock value, since blatant sexuality and the horrors of the Holocaust are much more familiar to audiences than they were in the 1966 or whatever - he basically changed the aesthetic of the play, but...the 1930's wasn't that long ago. I'd say for most musicals, unless it takes place before the 20th century, it's probably not old enough yet to warrant a change in time and location. It's just too soon for it to really work for most musicals written over the past seventy years. Give it a couple centuries.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 9:41pm

There are two words for this: tacky and un-subtle. How clever are we for making another statement accusing the present administration of fascism? Not very. Yes, Trump's a fascist. So are most of the people in power in America, if you're a radical leftist. People aren't stupid; they don't need it rubbed in their face. You might as well just draw a Hitler mustache on a picture of him and mount it on an easel for three hours; you'd get the same reaction.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 8/29/18 at 10:27pm

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I do a lot of Shakespeare, as both an actor and a director. When I'm coming up with a "concept" for a production, it's usually while trying to answer the question, "What can I do to best help a modern audience connect to this 400 year old play?" Usually, that involves setting it in a different time and place, or giving it some sort of design aesthetic (summer themed, steampunk, etc.). There's really no reason to do any of Shakespeare's plays in Elizabethan dress, etc. unless perhaps you are doing one of the history plays, or you are purposely doing it as a museum piece a la Mark Rylance's Globe productions.

This approach can also apply to some modern plays - i.e. David Cromer'sOur Town,Ivo Van Hove's...well, anything he directs...

The thing is, this is, I think, much harder to do with musicals. They are just a different animal. Also, althoughSam Mendes' made popular the "seedy"Cabaret,which basically upped the shock value, since blatant sexuality and the horrors of the Holocaust are much more familiar to audiences than they were in the 1966 or whatever - he basically changed the aesthetic of the play, but...the 1930's wasn't that long ago. I'd say for most musicals, unless it takes place before the 20th century, it's probably not old enough yet to warrant a change in time and location. It's just too soon for it to really work for most musicals written over the past seventy years. Give it a couple centuries."

For me, this is the perfect answer!

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 7:39am

Why not just do the piece as is instead of spoon feeding everything to your audience? We're not stupid. We'll grasp what's being said. This is just a sign of a bad director who doesn't trust his material.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 1:34pm

My wild guess here is that, much like the Mendes version was "set" in the nightclub, this will be too, with the caveat that it's "futuristic", which sounds like an opportunity to use designs and choreography that you wouldn't usually see in Cabaret. 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 2:06pm

Why not just do the piece as is instead of spoon feeding everything to your audience? We're not stupid. We'll grasp what's being said. This is just a sign of a bad director who doesn't trust his material.

Deploying a concept doesn't mean the director doesn't trust the material or the audience.  It usually means the director wants to explore parallels of modern relevance in the text in lieu of the pedestrian conventional reheat, which is what is too often expected in regional and amateur productions.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  With this particular musical, I think it's far more admirable to attempt the concept than to dismiss even the very notion of it.

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/31/18 at 8:47am

As always 3/4 of the people on these boards are just horrible.  How are you people theatre goers? 

[newintown]

Posted: 8/31/18 at 9:06am

"As always 3/4 of the people on these boards are just horrible.  How are you people theatre goers?"

I imagine, like everyone else, they/we obtain tickets and show up and watch. Isn't it delightful, though, how different people have different opinions? (Although it seems you don't think so...)

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 8/31/18 at 9:39am

Am I the only one who when they saw the headline of “futuristic Cabaret” thought it was going to be something like Cabaret in space?

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 8/31/18 at 9:49am

Am I the only one who when they saw the headline of “futuristic Cabaret” thought it was going to be something like Cabaret in space?

That could be fun!

I'm picturing the cast of Futurama in Cabaret actually...

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 8/31/18 at 10:39am

That is EXACTLY what I thought of!

[Kad]

Posted: 8/31/18 at 11:00am

This is also an academic production, not a professional production. Honestly, I'm not sure why it even got covered on BWW.