Naked Boys Singing- Page 2
Naked Boys Singing
#25Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 6:07pm
Statistically speaking how many off-broadway performers ever have "significant" careers?
#26Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 6:24pmJerry Orbach comes to mind.
#27Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 6:40pm
Okay. That is one out of thousands..perhaps tens of thousands who have performed off-broadway.
Statistically speaking.. the cast of NAKED BOYS SINGING doesn't have to worry about losing out on a "significant" career because they have NBS is on their resumes.
Also, the question whether exhibitionism is a factor or not in motivating the performers of NBS... I would point out that ALL performing is a type of exhibitionism and probably steady paying work was as much a motivation as anything else.
#28Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 7:01pmI don't think Jerry Orbach could be considered an "Off-Broadway Actor." He has more Broadway credits, and wasn't known primarily as an "Off-Broadway actor". That's just my opinion.
#29Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 7:07pm
Orbach's career started off-broadway with THREEPENNY OPERA in 1955 which tranfered to Broadway the same year.
He was the original El Gallo in THE FANTASTIKS and later returned to Broadway in CARNIVAL.
So, for the purposes of our discussion: Yes Orbach is an off-broadway actor who had a "significant" "visible" career and did not appear in NAKED BOYS SINGING.
#30Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 7:26pm
What does the Show Curtain look like?
PENIS! A big ole penis plastered on a curtain.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#31Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/14/10 at 7:34pm
^^^^
Okay, that made me scream!
Sorry if I sound so defensive. I know the guy who wrote it and was his assistant when he came up with the idea. I also desinged the costumes for the 10th Ann. production (YES, there ARE costumes! They have to take SOMETHING off!)
I know it's not great piece of work, but I saw it start out as an idea, and has now been running everywhere for a decade.
It just shows you that you never know what will be a hit.
Liza May
Chorus Member Joined: 11/28/05
#32Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:57am
2 things...
In regards to them not having a chance at a real career, and only speaking for the 2007 P-Town cast...Alex Ringler went on the National Tour of A Chorus Line and is doing WSS on Broadway and Zach Clause just played Tobias opposite Harriet Harris. Not bad for 2 young performers who are proud to put it on their resumes.
And from a casting perspective, its a GREAT thing to have on your theater resume (I'd take it off if going in for stuff for Nickelodeon or Disney). Its a wonderful conversation starter and if you have talent NO ONE in the theater industry cares that you've done the show. Its a cute, fun show and everyone I know who has done it (in Ptown) has LOVED it. Its supposedly so much fun to do.
#33Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 9:27am
I've seen the show several times, and of course the cast changes frequently. But the last time I saw it (about a year ago), everyone seemed to be just walking through it and it was so uninspired and lacking energy. It left me -- well -- limp.
#34Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 10:17am
Almira, do you really want a list of every actor who began their career Off-Broadway and then moved on to visible, significant, legit careers? like Al Pacino, Kate Nelligan, Mary Louise Parker, Joe Mantello, Bernadette Peters, etc., etc., etc?
Liza May, that's very nice for the two people you mention, but chorus on a B&T and/or in the third replacement cast, while perfectly legitimate, are also not quite what I meant by "significant" and "visible" (see the names above for that).
Diva, your faithfulness to your friend is admirable, but it might be best not to blind yourself to the fact that, to most of the industry, Naked Boys Singing is an embarrassing piece of tacky, soft-core porn - just like Oh Calcutta and Let My People Come were 20-30 years ago. And the fact that it plays 2 days a week (in NYC at least) hardly qualifies it as a "hit." Discussing the quality of the songwriting is futile, since there's sure to be someone who thinks that it's a good score. But there doesn't seem to be any point in pretending that a parade of penises for its own sake has any theatrical merit, except to cater to puerile voyeurs.
#35Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 1:20pm
Newintown, the operative word in my question is statistically.
Okay you've mentioned 5 names plus Jerry Orbach that makes six - what percentage is that of the thousands upon thousands who have appeared off-broadway? Even if you multiplied that number by a 100 you'd still have a pathetically small percentage.
My point being that working off broadway is no guarantee to a "significant" or "visible" career, thusly if some guys appear in NAKED BOYS SINGING statistically speaking they aren't hurting the imagined "significant" or "visible" career they aren't statistically likely to ever have.
You may find NBS puerile, but that doesn't mean having appeared in it prevents anyone from ever working again... let alone having a your so-called "significant" or "visible" career.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#36Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 1:27pm
"to most of the industry, Naked Boys Singing is an embarrassing piece of tacky, soft-core porn"
Really?
I work in the industry, and though you may make fun of it, EVERY theatre I work at says something to the effect of, "I wish I had thought of it. Cheap to produce and it's been running all of these years..."
I am begining to wonder if you've even seen the show...
"But there doesn't seem to be any point in pretending that a parade of penises for its own sake has any theatrical merit, except to cater to puerile voyeurs."
The show has some touching moments in it and it pokes fun at nudity. It's not a "Jeff Styker Production". It's a show that put's butts into seats. That's all any producer could ask for.
#37Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 1:41pm
Diva, I guess we'll just have to agree that we know different people. Perhaps "every theatre" you know wishes they had thought of it, but I'm sure you're aware that most theatres in this country would never put it on - it's definitely a niche show. (I saw the show several times in its early years downtown, because out-of-town friends wanted to see it [as a novelty]; but note: all of them rather regretted paying for it afterwards.) And any touching moments (at least in NYC) have long been cut. It is now only penises on parade, marketing to drunken bachelorette parties who don't realize until too late that they're at a show that's not geared for heterosexual women.
Almira, if I felt so inclined, I'm sure I (or you, or anyone else with a search engine and a bit of knowledge) could name hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of well-known, respected, working actors who started their careers Off-Broadway. My point is this: if your goal is to become a working, respected, known actor, then doing NBS is probably not a good choice for you. If, however, you need a job - any job, or you get a kick out of being looked at by 25 people while naked, then there's no problem. But I am specifically talking here about what the actor wants for himself.
#38Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 1:50pm
And I suppose it might help if I were to add that:
a) I have nothing against nudity in theatre;
b) There may be an interesting, sophisticated way of doing an all-nude gay revue, but this (in my opinion) isn't it - it's a just a cutesified, ultimately prudish strip show, aiming at the lowest vulgar common denominator (like such other Actors Playhouse shows as Making Porn and 10 Naked Men).
#39Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 1:56pm
Almira, if I felt so inclined, I'm sure I (or you, or anyone else with a search engine and a bit of knowledge) could name hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of well-known, respected, working actors who started their careers Off-Broadway.
Once again you disregard the operative word: statistically
For every one of those "hundreds" there are probably hundreds of hundreds more who were not in NBS, did fine, respectable, talented work and were never heard of again.
I thoroughly believe you can appear in NBS and STILL have a successful, repected working career. Even "significant" and "visible."
Newintown, we've been given example of actors who having appeared in NBS went on to get highly sought after roles in well-paying respectable productions. Can you point to any cases where having appeared in NBS cost the actor a role he would have otherwise been offered?
#40Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 2:26pm
I think we're talking at cross purposes here, Almira. Your point is valid, Being in an Off-Broadway show is no guarantee of a career. Getting a Theatre World or Tony Ward is no guarantee.
But my point is different, and it's this - over the 10+ years this show has been going around, none of the cast members have moved on to a legit career as a featured, respected, known player - even one as relatively low-profile as a Kevin Cahoon or a Rob Campbell (two entirely random names). I think that can be taken as an argument that working in NBS may be an impediment towards developing a more advanced career.
#41Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 2:32pmAnd to address another point of yours - late replacement chorus in a critically drubbed but financially respectable late revival of West Side Story, or chorus in a bus and truck of whatever it was mentioned, are not universally considered "highly sought after roles in well-paying respectable productions." Of course, there are some who do seek out these jobs, but they aren't career-making opportunities, so much as lower-profile jobs. If, as I noted earlier, your goal is to take any work at all, fine. But if you want to make a name for yourself, and work as a featured actor in higher profile productions, it might be advisable to avoid NBS (as Aaron Lazar wisely did).
#42Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 2:38pm
Wow.. now working on the WEST SIDE STORY tour isn't good enough.
#43Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 2:49pm
Are you just being willfully contrary, Almira? I thought it was clear, but I can highlight each aspect of my argument: a chorus role on a bus and truck of a late, less-than-highly respected revival of any show is not seen as a significant career move by the majority of the theatre-aware public.
What do you even mean by "good enough?" I, at least, am using specific adjectives, which you seem to be choosing to ignore...
If you just want to be contrary and say "Any job in any show with any paycheck is a step on the stairway to paradise," go ahead. But it doesn't contribute much to cogent discourse.
Once again - I'm making a distinction between actors who want a long, significant career as a featured individual actor, as opposed to those who will take any job they can until they stop getting jobs and then transition into another line of work (which, of course, describes the vast majority of people who attempt careers working in the arts & entertainment).
#44Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 3:15pm
Okay.. it is clear that we are arguing two different approaches to working in the theatre.
Yours takes the strategy of only working when the role is deemed by yourself and others as "a significant career move".
While I believe, from observation, in the "working begets work" "pay-your-dues" approach. Emma Thompson and Maggie Smith started in sketch comedy. Bette Midler has singing in gay bathhouses on her resume. Many of the most successful careers have humble to embarrassing origins. Clearly there is more than one road to the goal of becoming a "working, respected, known actor."
Remember there was a time when working in movies was BENEATH a true actor.. as was working in vaudeville, musical comedies or television. Actors can really shoot themselves in the foot by not going where the work is.
From observation it seems that you get more "significant career move" choices the more you work. If you aren't working you get NO "career move" choices.
As for working on the WEST SIDE STORY tour. I suspect that there were A LOT of people auditioning for ANY role: therefore it is "highly sought after." "Well paying" and "respectable" are relative terms but I imagine it far more respectable for a performer to be making a living at his chosen craft then waiting tables and hoping for that elusive "significant career move" to drop out of the sky.
Of course at the end of the day...the real point is having worked in NAKED BOYS SINGING will not hurt your career. Perhaps not "help" it, but won't hurt it. And you can always omit it from your resume.
#45Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 3:43pm
You may be right - much would depend upon your definition of "help" and "hurt." There are some who think that any job that doesn't advance a career hurts it.
Your examples of "humble origins" (I'm not sure that I can go with your suggestion that sketch comedy is "humble") may be valid, and yet, it can't be denied that advancing from porn performer (even soft-core) to legitimate featured actor is rare (a few minutes thought brings no one to mind who ever made that jump).
NBS is even a far cry from a show like Take Me Out or Love Valour Compassion, which had relatively brief nudity compared to the amount of clothed legitimate acting that took place. And this is why shows like NBS, Oh Calcutta, and Let My People Come are thought of as porn - a great percentage (most?) of the audience are there primarily to see naked bodies and genitalia, not song, lyrics, dialogue, or character.
Updated On: 12/15/10 at 03:43 PM
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#46Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 4:25pm
NBS has never claimed to be great theatre, so why do you keep comparing it to book shows? It's a review.
It sounds to me like Newintown has their pick of jobs.
Must be nice to only do things that you deem worthwhile...
#47Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 4:41pm
Careful, Diva, your snark is showing.
I'm also, you'll note, comparing it to other revues like Oh Calcutta and Let My People Come. But its salacious lowbrow aspects have nothing to do with it being a revue rather than a book show.
And yes - I do like my job, thank you. It's enjoyable, and there are good people here.
#48Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 4:56pm
Diva's snark is NEVER hidden. It always out and proudly upfront.
Diva, it is just me or doth the lady protest too much? All this sanctimoniously language: "salacious" "puerile" "low brow" "pornography" makes me think of the preacher condemning the local strip club the Sunday morning after beating off to ALL ASIAN GANGBANG VOL. II the night before.
Or maybe someone didn't get a NAKED BOYS SINGING callback?
#49Naked Boys Singing
Posted: 12/15/10 at 5:03pm
That's adorable, Almira! Accuse anyone who has a different opinion than you of dark, sinister motives! Oh, I wish I'd thought of that.
You really are a shayna punim!
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