Shows that don't work as amateur productions

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 7:39am

I have to say, my top two picks are "Evita" and "Sunset Boulevard." These just can't work on a smaller scale. If the sets, costumes, and staging are badly done, the whole thing falls apart. The music needs to be lush, but more often than not they resort to a 4 piece band or canned midi files. Also, since nepotism is so much more pronounced in semi/amateur companies, casting also tends to be a hot mess.

I guess "Les Miserables" can also be included in that list. What other shows have a track record of being great on Broadway/West End, but are complete disasters when they go regional?

EDIT: Title, to avoid confusion.

Updated On: 7/20/12 at 07:39 AM

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 7:52am

It's always a treat to see a pint sized cardboard cutout of a helicopter, duct taped to a dowel, being lowered into view by a stagehand on a ladder, hidden by a curtain, while an oscillating room fan from Sears whirs around just offstage...though not quite far enough offstage so half the audience can't see it, while Kim, played by the fifty-year-old Samoan wife of the producer screams, "NOOOO" down-stage center facing the audience.

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 8:03am

Ah, yes! I totally forgot "Miss Saigon." It's almost as "good" as seeing a baby faced twink lisp out "Oh, What a Circus" while the director's bestie fag hag in a blonde Norman Bates wig screams, shrieks, and speaks her way through "Rainbow High," but not before being "romanced" by a fey latin cholo Magaldi. Producer's nieces and nephews squealing "Santa Evita" should also get a special mention, as should the midi file backing tracks rendered last weekend on someone's Garage Band trial version.

Updated On: 7/20/12 at 08:03 AM

[kipster]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:08pm

I don't really get why your title brings regional theatres into this- I know that you didn't like the specific production of Sunset Blvd that you saw at Maine State, but basically everything you've said applies to amateur, not to regional theatre. I've seen some spectacular productions of Les Mis and Saigon at places like the CLO, Ogunquit, and Maine State.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:21pm

No one really understands the difference between Regional Theater (Papermill, Atlanta Theater of the Stars, The Muny, Etc) and theaters that happen to be in their region. I always find it tough when I'm at a barbecue and I say I've performed in Regional Theater and the civilian that I'm talking to has no idea that I'm referring to a professional theater where I earn a 4 figure paycheck and not the community theater at the neighborhood JCC.

Updated On: 7/20/12 at 12:21 PM

[Harpz2006]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:23pm

Saw a beautiful production of Miss Saigon at Toby's Dinner Theatre in MD. The woman who played Kim was incredible... her real life husband played Chris. Also thought it was interesting that the actress herself was a "bui-doi" baby who was adopted from Vietnam.

[PattiLover]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:25pm

First of all, regional/amateur should not be considered bad words. There are great theaters keeping the arts alive all over the country, and some of them churn out great work.

Evita has been a community theatre staple for ages. The original Prince production was Brechtian with sparse sets. It's a rather small-scale show, save the fact that the role can exhaust ill-equipped actresses. I've seen decent community theater productions of Evita.

Miss Saigon, however, should be banned from community theatre. Not only is it technically near impossible to pull off with no budget, unless you have an Asian cast you should not attempt it. It is offensive. For proof, check out the picture at the link.
Genisius Theater in Reading PA

[kipster]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:38pm

oh god that Saigon photo is just terrible! Now THAT'S amateur theatre. Compare that to the Saigon that was at the CLO (which I think Ogunquit then rented). BIG difference.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:58pm

Everyday Rapture
PATTI LuPONE: Gypsy
Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway
Kathy Griffin Wants A Tony
Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life

Updated On: 7/20/12 at 12:58 PM

[BwayGeek2]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:10pm

sbflyfan-
http://www.unicorntheatre.org/?page=Everyday_Rapture
I would think it could work!

[JRybka]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:17pm

It really depends on things.
Now if you mean musicals on a smaller scale or high school shows then yes there are some shows that just do not work. Rent for HS is probably one of the worst offenders.

It's like "Diner Theater" -- it gets a bad rap and yet I know some amazingly talented people who started or are still in DT.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:22pm

I saw a marvelously done small production of Evita in Chicago a few years ago.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:54pm

While I would be doubtful to the possibilities of some of these titles done on an amateur stage (and isn't that really what is being referred to?) I've seen some productions that have amazed me that were hs/amateur.

Examples:
Les Mis, complete with turntable, at a public high school, which moved audiences to tears.

Joseph and the Amazing blah, blah (ok, not high tech at all) that I liked when I have despised any professional production I've seen. This was directed/choreographed by young adults (aged 16 to 21) and performed by 8 - 16 year olds.




I think with the right combination of talent and dedication, amazing things can happen on any stage. Not that it always does, however, but it's not always about the end result. (At least at the educational level.)

[Blactor]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 2:02pm

It's absurd and insulting--not to mention condescending--to link regional theatre with amateur theatre.

There've been many shows done at top regional theaters that either matched or bettered their NY premieres...Arena Stage's "Ruined" or the "Scottsboro Boys" tour being recent examples.

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 3:22pm

I guess I started to meld those two into one is because of the Littleton Townhall Arts, representatives of which scream at every corner that they're a professional regional company, yet their productions are musical equivalents of sitting through a Planned Parenthood operating room procedure. I've seen their production of "Gypsy" and thought it was bad, but their recent production of "Evita" actually brought the curb down for Colorado's entire musical industry. Ever since then, the word "regional theatre" makes me wary, though I still attend shows at the Arvada Center.

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 3:26pm

"I know that you didn't like the specific production of Sunset Blvd that you saw at Maine State"
---------

WHEN did I say this? All I said was that I didn't like their set design, I didn't see the show, though I did see the press reels recently and was not impressed.

[kipster]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 3:51pm

Sorry- just assumed you had. I think it's pretty hard to get a good idea of the set from those little clips. It looked a lot different in person, and definitely not as dark.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 4:07pm

A good play or musical, to me, must be able to work on a bare stage with rudimentary lighting and suggestions of costumes. The play's the thing. The show does not have to be done like this, but it really has to be able to be done bare bones. Production values can compliment a show, but really cannot cover up so-so writing.

As you watch any show, ask yourself, "Can this be done with limited values?" If the answer is no, there is a problem with the show and not necessarily in the production.

Some shows must have specific pieces of complicated scenery to work. There must be money for these production values. Falling chandeliers, anyone? Without that scenic effect, Phantom has a problem. That however is in the writing. The scenery does the work of the writing.

Sunset Blvd., again, to me, needs that huge production to cover up how unmusical some of those characters and scenes are. I think every time the story leaves 10086 Sunset Blvd. the musical sputters and limps and becomes very forced. No one really sings metaphorically except Norma and the butler/ex-husband.

Other shows that might be thought of as scenically heavy could actually work with tables and chairs. Les Miz is one of those. You'd need some specific props, but you don't need all that 'stuff'. Cats would have been a hundred times better if they had trusted the material and the audience and not over-produced what is really a small show.

The revival of Ragtime worked far better for me than the original because there was less, and the audience could figure out where they were supposed to look.

So it does not become merely a case of amateur versus regional versus non-regional, but of imagination versus spelling everything out for the audience.

And Billy said it best, "The play's the thing."

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 4:16pm

There was a highly acclaimed regional production of Miss Saigon at the Marriott Lincolnshire near Chicago in 2001. It was the first to venture outside the original staging.

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 4:24pm

Actually, Fulton released a detailed CG model of the set on YouTube, and that's when the "Beauty and the Beast" association hit me.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 4:50pm

emlodik, you really like the phrase "fag hag," don't you?

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 4:55pm

Fag hag.

[kipster]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 5:11pm

yeah that cg isn't very flattering. set looked a lot better w/ lighting and what not

[My Oh My]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 5:12pm

I saw such an Evita production. *sigh*

The children in the cast all appeared to be related. The dancers consisted of a middle aged woman and a teenaged girl who was trying to look middle aged (garish lipstick smeared on and oversized old lady clothes). Peron looked like the children's gandpa and the Eva Peron was a LATINA.

Nothing wrong with a LATINA Eva Peron but it's just that this LATINA was an ANITA style LATINA with the characterization to match.

Worst of all, her blonde 'do looked like a yellow turban.

Updated On: 7/20/12 at 05:12 PM

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 6:02pm

Here's a review I wrote for another forum a while back (and it was actually well received there), I know the language I use will probably piss off a lot of overly PC people who post on here, but I stand by what I wrote as the truth about the Littleton Town Hall Production of "Evita:"

[Evita is] A laughingly bad incompetent production done in Denver by Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, which claims to be a "professional theatre." The whole production is basically an ego trip and a vanity project for an obnoxious director who thinks he's more talented and artistic than he really is JUST because he happens to be a homosexual. The cast consists of his fag hag as Evita (who screams and shrieks her way through the complex score, she speaks in rhythm for majority of "Rainbow High"), a baby faced twink as Che (who can't possibly tackle the role with such limited experience and a poorly hidden gay lisp. Gee, I wonder how he got the role. Casting couch much?), and I'm pretty sure Magaldi (a super gay fey "latin cholo") and the less-than-competent ensemble team consisted of said auteur's ex-boyfriends and one night stands.

The wigs were horrific, Eva looked like Mrs. Bates, and the less said about the costumes and sets, the better. Our nineteen year old Che couldn't manage to grow a full beard, it's just "patches," Peron looks and acts like a Southern Baptist doofus (which I think perfectly describes the actor), Eva resembles an anorexic melting wax statue of Patti LuPone, and the Mistress... Well, she was such a non-entity, I can't recall a single thing about her. What I do recall well is a repulsively obese non-talent in the chorus that creeped out myself and the friends that accompanied me.

They tried to mimic Hal Prince's staging, but since it's a borderline black box theatre in an old Town Hall, it proved to be a huge mistake and the staging/choreography was a cluttered mess. Since there was no room (or budget?) for a bed, Eva and Peron, and the Mistress seem to be awkwardly taking turns "dry humping" a small sofa in their respective scenes. The Peronist flags looks like they were out sourced to a 2nd grade art class... That's pretty much all there is to the "sets."

The music is canned, virtually midi files someone rendered on their laptop over the weekend, I can't believe the program actually states that they were "proud" of recording their own canned music. On top of all that, Peron's microphone was defective. In another moment of hilarity, the idiots who printed the program accidentally listed "The Lady's Got Potential" as one of the songs, leading me to think they just cut and pasted it from Wikipedia. Also, if there was going to be one more "...would like to thank Jesus" proclamation in the program, I would've puked right then and there on Eva's trailer trash prom dress--- Err, "inauguration gown."

Mysteriously, not a single review for this show was posted in any of the Colorado theatre sites/papers, which hardly ever happens with Littleton Town Hall shows. More proof that this was just a casting couch driven ego trip that went awry and the theatre was desperately trying to do damage control.

This is truly a production from the most putrid bowels of hell; an engrossing disaster all the way through.