Welcome, Anthony Rapp! — Page 17

Edited with my sincere apology to Star2b. Please disreguard this message's previous contents. She is gorgeous and brilliant and her question did not deserve to be demeaned by my evil sense of humor. ::bows down to Star2b::

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Updated On: 11/1/04 at 09:49 PM

Yes-- credit to insomniak for bring up the staticness... :) thanks

"I wouldn't call him entirely static, he does have a revelation in the end (What You Own) and learns a little about living life. But when you compare him to the usual criteria of a dynamic character, he doesn't fit the bill. "

Yeah, he definitely realizes how he must and will be able to develop once all have broken up in Goodbye Love and when he sees that he has to take action with his life and do something, in What You Own. It is up until then he seems to remain detached and to me even possibly sees himself as one who has to be this sort of narrator, not realizing he has to live what he narrates, not just watch it pass by. He isn't an overtly dynamic character throghout the piece, but is dynamic in his subtleties (and is dynamic in the big picture if one compared the beginning Mark to the end result Mark). Just my 2 cents type thing though...

Perhaps it could be said he's deceptively static? I think there's potentially (and in my opinion there is) a lot going on inside his mind we don't see as obviously as the character has internal conflict not addressed in such an overt manner... It's there but it's not screaming at the audience...

"I thought it was me who brought up the staticicicity? Meh...ah wells.
I agree about everything, I think Mark's a *wonderful* character. I was just wondering if that contributed to Anthony's enjoyment of playing him. "

Well credit to you too, then :) (Sorry I didn't keep track when I went to reply to the idea...)

Mark is probably my favorite character in a musical or any other work, well, I'm hesitant to say favorite of all time though as I haven't seen every musical or literary work or movie or play, etc, ever. Oh, fine, I'll say favorite character in a musical (especially if we speak of those 'normal' and not those special characters like you'd find in The Producers)
I too love the character. Anyone else think Mark tries to please everyone to some degree, at times trying to be Mr. Mediator (as in Goodbye Love, the beginning section), but in this maybe he forgets himself more oft than he should. He gets left behind or outoftheloop more than he wishes, but it's just that air about him that causes this. Like I said before, it's not that he means to create the situation, it just happens.
Anyone? Anyone? (hehe Bueller allusion...couldn't resisist...)

I dont know...maybe I'm starting not to make sense and rambling a bit..it's on the slightly late side and I have school tomorrow...(and I have to wake up to finish my English hw I've been avoiding finishing thoroughly, so I must thorough it up before school...)

Truman Capote once advised writers that it's better to overwrite and edit down rather than underwrite. Stacey, I feel as if I have seen several drowned woodland creatures float away in your lengthy streams of concsciousness.

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Hi all --

I got home late from the party and am a little too sleepy to get to the multitudes of questions that have piled up, but I will get to them soon.

Tomorrow is a travel day -- we're off to Seattle -- so be patient with me...

Take care, talk to you all soon --

Anthony

"Truman Capote once advised writers that it's better to overwrite and edit down rather than underwrite. Stacey, I feel as if I have seen several drowned woodland creatures float away in your lengthy streams of concsciousness. "

I don't mean to kill every thought I write and woodland creatures in the process, sorry. I'll stop posting long streams of consciousness (and perhaps even full sentences because that'd help more). Everyone'll be more happy that way.
(I can't help that I was kinda taught to write in full sentences, I'll try to stop making such long ones.)



Have a nice trip:)

i tend to think of Mark as outwardly static, but inwardly dynamic. He participates by observing, and doesn't realize that by doing so he isn't really participating. It's happened to me many times, where I've been out with a group and i'm listening to the conversation and laughing and nodding and whatnot, without realizing I haven't said a word the whole time. I've also used sunglasses as defense mechanism against life/people/whatever, a way to separate myself even if it's only mentally. And i see Mark being behind his camera as doing pretty much the same thing, it's a safty net and i guess a way of living vicariously, even if you don't completely realize you're doing it. But no matter how much one becomes an observer, you still feel the pain of your friends, the circumstances of the world, and your own inner turmoil- and eventually you learn from it, and in the play you see the beginning of change in Mark at the end of the show.

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"I'll just wait around, all drugged up from having my wisdom teeth pulled. :["

Ew. Sucks to be you right now.

Hope you had fun at the party, Anthony. Have a good trip!

Alix

"He participates by observing, and doesn't realize that by doing so he isn't really participating....But no matter how much one becomes an observer, you still feel the pain of your friends, the circumstances of the world, and your own inner turmoil- and eventually you learn from it, and in the play you see the beginning of change in Mark at the end of the show. "

That expresses the relation between static/dynamic beautifully, thanks! Agree 100% :) It's by the end of the show he kinda realizes the difference between his observational experience and actually experiencing an event, etc. (An expert view would be interesting with all this amateur character analyisis hehe) Mark's a pretty interesting topic, to me at least.

have a good trip, dude....tell us how the seattle engagement goes

in answer to your question anthony, your answers have been great and thorough. thanks!

i would say mark is more static than dynamic. while there is a lot going on inside of him, he has not really changed from the beginning of the play to the end. he remains the commentator making movies and although he briefly thought about giving in, he remains true to his values. while his character has a lot of depth, i do not think it is dynamic.
i can definitely relate to his character as somelse else said too. i often find myself on the outskirts nodding along and feeling like i've been participating but not having really participated. i've never thought about it that way before, but i guess that is a quality i often end up sharing with mark.
when roger says "for somebody who longs for a community of his own, who's with his camera, alone?" that is true when he says it and still true at the end of the play. mark definitely has a support group of friends, but he's still alone at the end not having made true connections, only witnessing roger and mimi's. i'd love to hear your take on this.

there is also another issue i am curious about your take on. i guess it's kind of an obscure topic but how "hollywood actors" are payed so much and an incredible amount more than theater people who, obviously most people on this board i think would agree, deserve to be payed a whole lot more, at least as much as hollywood actors. i know this is partially because of the lack of funding and interest in the arts lately by the general public which is hurting theater a lot. when asked about this, matt leblanc said that from his point of view, whenever somebody knows that they can get more money, anybody, they are going to take it. he acknowledged that they probably don't deserve all the millions of dollars but since it's being offered, they'd be stupid not to take it. i was wondering what you thought about this problem and if you think that there is a solution. if the actors were to say no, you don't have to pay me that much to make a movie for some reason, the money wouldn't end up in a better place most likely. so then is the problem with the studio who just wants to make the best movie they can so that they can make money? i know this same issue applies to teachers, doctors, etc, but i was wondering your take within theater. sorry if nobody finds this relevant. just something i was thinking about this morning.

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