#1
Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:15pm
After seeing LEGALLY BLONDE last night, I thought back to other shows I've seen that have used the "Greek Chorus" method as a way to move the plot along without having to write more real time dialogue.
(**For those of you who have not yet seen LEGALLY BLONDE, all I'm going to talk about here is a trio of sorority sisters in the show that do nothing in particular -- I am NOT revealing any plot spoilers, so you needn't worry**)
THE COLOR PURPLE uses a Greek Chorus of Church Ladies to fill in the blanks, and in my opinion, it takes away from what is otherwise a show telling a beautiful story. Now with THE COLOR PURPLE, I know that the original source material had to be edited up the wazoo in order to fit it into even a 3-hour musical, but I felt that the Greek Chorus was a cop out, and sort of lazy on Martha Norman's behalf because she could not effectively adapt the book.
In LEGALLY BLONDE, I felt like the story would have moved along just fine without the Greek Chorus of Delta Nu's, as stated in the Playbill, popping in from out of reality. It seemed like a method to keep the girly girl tone in the show -- by transporting the sorority sisters from California over to Massachusetts just to give Elle advice, instead of just telling the story smoothly and efficiently, with an arc, set with people in real time in the same place talking and moving the plot along in what would be real scenes that don't put a halt to the storytelling.
Now I'm well aware that this is supposed to be a campy show, but in my opinion, the instances in which camp really 100% works are those in which the writers keep the entire book set in reality, as though they are telling a story from beginning to end, without having to plug in Greek Choruses from out of nowhere.
An example of camp that 100% works, as I described above, is in HAIRSPRAY. The book is written as a story being told from the beginning to end, with no gossipy trios popping in from outer space to fill in parts of the story that the writers were too lazy to WRITE.
Now also, before people attack, I'm well aware that musical theatre is not reality -- I mean, the characters break into song and dance out of nowhere -- but musical theatre, in the case of adapting a story like LEGALLY BLONDE, is about storytelling, which takes effective writing that, in the end, "works" as a cohesive whole. I think that the Greek Chorus in this instance is something that critics are going to take issue with when the reviews come out.
What do you guys think of the Greek Chorus method? Is it just a lazy excuse for writers who find it too difficult to effectively tell a story?
(**For those of you who have not yet seen LEGALLY BLONDE, all I'm going to talk about here is a trio of sorority sisters in the show that do nothing in particular -- I am NOT revealing any plot spoilers, so you needn't worry**)
THE COLOR PURPLE uses a Greek Chorus of Church Ladies to fill in the blanks, and in my opinion, it takes away from what is otherwise a show telling a beautiful story. Now with THE COLOR PURPLE, I know that the original source material had to be edited up the wazoo in order to fit it into even a 3-hour musical, but I felt that the Greek Chorus was a cop out, and sort of lazy on Martha Norman's behalf because she could not effectively adapt the book.
In LEGALLY BLONDE, I felt like the story would have moved along just fine without the Greek Chorus of Delta Nu's, as stated in the Playbill, popping in from out of reality. It seemed like a method to keep the girly girl tone in the show -- by transporting the sorority sisters from California over to Massachusetts just to give Elle advice, instead of just telling the story smoothly and efficiently, with an arc, set with people in real time in the same place talking and moving the plot along in what would be real scenes that don't put a halt to the storytelling.
Now I'm well aware that this is supposed to be a campy show, but in my opinion, the instances in which camp really 100% works are those in which the writers keep the entire book set in reality, as though they are telling a story from beginning to end, without having to plug in Greek Choruses from out of nowhere.
An example of camp that 100% works, as I described above, is in HAIRSPRAY. The book is written as a story being told from the beginning to end, with no gossipy trios popping in from outer space to fill in parts of the story that the writers were too lazy to WRITE.
Now also, before people attack, I'm well aware that musical theatre is not reality -- I mean, the characters break into song and dance out of nowhere -- but musical theatre, in the case of adapting a story like LEGALLY BLONDE, is about storytelling, which takes effective writing that, in the end, "works" as a cohesive whole. I think that the Greek Chorus in this instance is something that critics are going to take issue with when the reviews come out.
What do you guys think of the Greek Chorus method? Is it just a lazy excuse for writers who find it too difficult to effectively tell a story?
"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)
Updated On: 4/4/07 at 09:15 PM
