Worskshops

[Rockette_Blondie]

Posted: 7/22/04 at 6:21pm

I've been involved with musical theatre for a long time, but I've never understood the concepts of workshops?

What exactly are they? How do see them?

[Plum]

Posted: 7/22/04 at 10:49pm

I'm not that well-qualified to answer the question, but as far as I know workshops are usually in-town tryouts for a musical. They differ from previews because they don't charge admission, and the creators can control who gets to see it. So usually only industry insiders get to see the show. Their feedback and reactions are used to determine how to change the show. Workshopping was conceived as a less visible and pressure-filled way to develop a show than the overly-scrutinised preview period.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/22/04 at 10:58pm

Workshops can happen anywhere. It's more or less a time to work on the script without the pressures of production. It's an incredible way to work on the material before deadlines, budgets, etc. enter the picture.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 12:13am

Are there costumes or any technical aspects of the show in workshops? Do the actors have blocking and dance? I know a reading is usually just the actors standing there with a script reading the lines and singing the songs.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 12:47am

no design (usually), but there is blocking and choreography.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 2:44am

They're also a dodge for "producers" who can't raise money to actually mount a show but want to keep their mitts on the property by keeping it in 'development.'

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 8:25am

There may be times when a workshop is not being done for the right reasons as MusicMan alludes to, but generally workshops are not the devil as some people have tried to declare in past debates over this topic.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 8:39am

I've never seen one with costumes or things of that nature, i.e. sets,props etc... I think they're more about working out the kinks in "private".

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 8:44am

Though many include time in front of an audience as that is the last component of theatre.

I like the idea of workshopping as you really have to focus on the writing--no one can "fix" it with a big set piece or lighting or special effect. If a show can't work dramatically in a rehearsal room, then there isn't enough meat to it.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 8:46am

I will have to agree with you for a change, JRB.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 10:37am

The workshop for Dance of the Vampires was a literary masterpiece... then they hired Crawford and Ives and sabotaged the book

[MusicMan]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 10:50am

I'm not saying workshops are the devil's tool, JRB, just that some producers misuse the process. But it's also true that having an audience of primarily industry people teaches you nothing about the piece unless the creative team is ruthlessly honest with themselves (very rare) and have the sense to rely on only the sagest advice from their peers (even rarer). Considering that most musicals today are workshopped and that the majority of them ultimately fail speaks volumes about the workshop process. Witness the debacle of SEUSSICAL or any other number of stinkeroos which went to Broadway via the workshop process.
Updated On: 7/23/04 at 10:50 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 11:00am

See...I do have a little bit of a problem with workshopping. I think the languid pace afforded does not necessarily allow for the best product. It gives one too much time to think and to second-guess. When a brilliant tyrant like Michael Bennett was running the show, there was an overarching vision that superceded everything in the room (including the writers). Unfortunately, there are no more Michael Bennetts.

The out-of-town tryout put everyone under the gun...and in front of a paying audience. Decisions were made quickly and in direct response to those audiences. Now, it's 'insiders' who are giving feedback...many with an agenda.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 11:04am

Absolutely true, Robbiej.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/23/04 at 1:14pm

I would def consider that a misuse of workshopping. My ideal situation comes from the models that Stuart Ostrow, Edward Albee, and the Alley Theatre used while I was in Houston--a time to rehearse and perform a new work without pressure and with honest feedback from the cast, from those aforementioned pros and from average joe audience members. There weren't any industry people involved. In fact, Ostrow had the chance to workshop several high profile new musicals at the University of Houston, but turned them down as he felt the people involved had the wrong intentions--intentions described by MusicMan and robbiej.