#1
Posted: 3/27/11 at 4:05am
I feel like I don't know much about plays. My thing is mostly musicals (as I write this I'm listening to the OBCR of Sunday in the Park with George). I don't mind plays but I don't have a lot of experience with them - I've actually only seen one on broadway so far. (Jason Miller who wrote That Championship Season went to my undergrad so having also been educated by "the Jesuits" I felt it compelled to see this out of loyalty.)
I'm hearing some really wonderful things both here and in the press obviously of some the current plays but I'm kind of confused where to start with what's out there. What play (on or off-broadway) is just such a wonderful performance to see (either by the play itself and/or the staging/actors) that it's something I MUST experience to really understand and branch out of my musical comfort zone? My goal here is to find something that I'd appreciate and enjoy and broaden my horizons.
For example, I've heard Stoppard plays can be a bit... intimidating for lack of a better term so should I stay away from Arcadia until I'm more of a "play" an for lack of a better term? I know there's so many different types of plays out there so I'm looking for recommendations but thinking it over, three things are important to me.
1) Emotional resonance - next to normal is one of my favorite musicals of all time. Yes, the music is part of it but the story of it is what really draws me in time and time again. I don't shy away from "difficult material" that's done in a compelling and truthful way.
2) Black/inappropriate humor is okay with me - however, I'm not sure if I'd like a more traditional comedy if it didn't have some kind of more serious undertone.
3) I'm pretty much a big nerd, which makes me think I could handle a Stoppard play eventually but I'm not sure if that would be the best show for me to jump into.
4) I understand Lombardi is supposed to be excellent but the fact that so much of the play is about football (which is not a subject that interests me is all) might be a turn off for me even if the performances are excellent
I'd love your opinions and recommendations.
I'm hearing some really wonderful things both here and in the press obviously of some the current plays but I'm kind of confused where to start with what's out there. What play (on or off-broadway) is just such a wonderful performance to see (either by the play itself and/or the staging/actors) that it's something I MUST experience to really understand and branch out of my musical comfort zone? My goal here is to find something that I'd appreciate and enjoy and broaden my horizons.
For example, I've heard Stoppard plays can be a bit... intimidating for lack of a better term so should I stay away from Arcadia until I'm more of a "play" an for lack of a better term? I know there's so many different types of plays out there so I'm looking for recommendations but thinking it over, three things are important to me.
1) Emotional resonance - next to normal is one of my favorite musicals of all time. Yes, the music is part of it but the story of it is what really draws me in time and time again. I don't shy away from "difficult material" that's done in a compelling and truthful way.
2) Black/inappropriate humor is okay with me - however, I'm not sure if I'd like a more traditional comedy if it didn't have some kind of more serious undertone.
3) I'm pretty much a big nerd, which makes me think I could handle a Stoppard play eventually but I'm not sure if that would be the best show for me to jump into.
4) I understand Lombardi is supposed to be excellent but the fact that so much of the play is about football (which is not a subject that interests me is all) might be a turn off for me even if the performances are excellent
I'd love your opinions and recommendations.
2010: Next to Normal (May 25), Hair (Jun 9), American Idiot (Sep 10), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Sep 26), The Scottsboro Boys (Oct 17), Fela! (Nov 14), Next to Normal (Dec 30)
2011: That Championship Season (Feb 15), La Cage Aux Folles (Mar 16), The Book of Mormon (Mar 16), Anything Goes (Mar 30)
