The sporadic ramblings of Emily C. A. Snyder - devoted to God, theatre, writing, and much randominity.
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More Observations
1) Staying up late at night has the benefit of relative chicada quietude.
2) Rental cars are nice. Nicer than my car, but most things in life are. Yak carts may potentially be nicer. But don't tell my car. She runs on flattery.
3) CD players in rental cars are also very nice. Must remember next time, however, to UNWRAP the newly-purchased CD's (Newsies, Funny Girl and Nicholas Nickolby - I'm a sucker for Rachel Portman) before setting out. Fortunately,
4) Sing to me, my Michael Buble of music! I also brought along Down With Love. Sigh. Sing it again, Sam (or Michael or Ewan...)!
5) Even better, is bombing down a winding, twisty side-street in MA with overhanging greenery to form a leafy arcade over hill and dale while the William Tell overture finally cuts to the chase, finishes twiddling around with flutes and white-winged butterflies, and PULLS OUT THE BRASS AND TIMPANI while your rental car system boosts the bass baby and you just SCREAM in sheer delight and headbang with aplomb! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Holy cow, man, see - that's what ought to be playing when I finally come into my Father's presence!
6) A tip to the wise: when purchasing clothes, make sure the cashier remembers to take off those darn security tags that supposedly squirt ink all over your clothes. Do so before returning home.
7) Mimicry is a great gift that God has given us. But like all the greatest gifts, if it is perverted it exacts a terrible price. Thus Plato banned theatre and Aristotle defended it. I will point out that De Poetica is far simpler and reasonable to read than The Republic. It's also written under true colors. One wonders at Plato's insistence against mimicry when his Republic was just that. Perhaps he realized that he wrote a pale copy to his master's subtle inquiries. Regardless, mimicry is a wonderful gift, and we should as adults be aware that what we do will be learnt, and likewise that what we see we will become. Thus, likewise, those greatest gifts God gives us must be bound most carefully in order to be fully free.
8) Things to remember from Peter Pan to steal wholesale: "Split me infinitives!" "By carbonate of soda!" And not from that, but a good exclamation nonetheless: "Codswallop!"
9) Perhaps I'm getting less catty. Perhaps I've been seeing better productions. But I'm overall delighted to have seen Peter Pan (see below) and tonight, Into the Woods. Oh sure, there were lots of things I would have done differently, and I can't quite stop myself from categorizing those parts (heck, I do so during Broadway plays, why should anything else be different?), but it's more a mental exercise than a mental effort to somehow telekinetically alter what I'm watching. Like taking notes on a pleasant subject, rather than feeling the need to rewrite the source material. It helps, too, that those shows had different focuses than what I've been doing lately - so there was thankfully less room for comparison. That, and they are simply good plays, capable of withstanding even mediocrity - which, fortuantely, neither production was guilty of.
Comparing with Julie's report from last weekend's opening night, the energy was certainly up. The main actors worked well together as an ensemble with no one particularly upstaging another. There were moments of greater strength here or there, but overall it was a nice blend. Some curious casting choices, mostly in physical appearance, but vocally everyone was competent. Notable actors include the two step-sisters who I felt played their parts with great vigour which is terrific to see in roles that could be seen as "too minor for inconsideration." The same holds true for the over-the-top foppy-disdainful steward - well done! Rapunzel's Prince was very good - although he was the less pretty of the two (just objectively speaking), he certainly had the greater dosage of charisma, and Colgated whenever he had the opportunity. The Baker was also very good - good voice, good quiet strength, with a great display of competence which could have been difficult to achieve in one so young (the cast was 25 or younger). Jack's mother was enjoyable, esp. her argument with the giant - very convincing.
Then I come to Jack himself, my darling DJ. He said to me after that he had spotted me early on and gotten nervous, afraid that I'd whip out my infamous notebook. Apparently, he kept sneaking glances to see if I was staring - vulture like, one presumes, DARN my jowls! - at him even when the lights were off on his house (great lights, great costumes, great sound, great music, the most amazing make-up I've seen in community theatre). Well, all I can say is - yes, I did sneak glances at him every once in a while when he was "frozen" whilst the action was elsewhere, and didn't think he'd spotted me at all until curtain call! But let me get to the point.
I've seen DJ now in, what, five productions. Judas in Godspell for Hudson High, Motel in Fiddler and Cornelius in Hello Dolly! in the same, Bearskin of course, and now Jack. Out of those five, three have been the unfortunate nimrod parts that are written for tenors (poor tenors!). At Hudson High, he was decent, but obviously undirected. There was quite a bit of telegraphing - but realize DJ was not alone - EVERYONE telegraphed because they were trying so desperately to act without any direction. (Notable exception was Godspell - I'm talking Fiddler and Dolly here.) So you resort - or at least those with such roles as Motel and Cornelius resort - to squeaky voices, lots of cowering and the occasional pratfall, and widening your eyes to bovine proportions. All perfectly acceptable. Provided, you've got the character down pat and your character and not you are doing so.
I am thrilled to say that DJ playing Jack, played all and any quirks, vacancies, sqeaks, prats, wimperings, cowerings, sighs, eyes, etc. in the character. It was really a pleasure to watch. Moreso, because in addition to this, DJ gave Jack more depth, which became apparent as the show progressed and Jack went from being merely a Kid and His Cow to being Jack the Giant Slayer. And what was even better was you got bits and pieces and hints here and there on BOTH sides of the change of what was to come and what had been, so that the alteration was completely believable. There was, perhaps, a little more eye-shifting than I would have cared for (just focus your eyes a bit more, Deej, and it'll oomph it just a tad), but it was again obviously a character choice and not an act of willful telegraphing. As always his voice was molten gold. (Silly boy - "Was I alright on that last low note?" "What, oh, I don't remember - you must have been fine." Giants in the Sky forever! The whole thing sounded wonderful - does one pry rubies from the setting or enjoy the thing as a whole?) It was fun to see some slight Bearskin/Judas-y moments that he got to creep in, esp. towards the end, and his affection for his cow was simply charming - the death scene, too funny! (And God bless the cow - and God bless his chiropractor!)
So, yes, I am proud of my DJ. He is becoming a very fine actor indeed.
As for those unfortunate nitpicky things which must be commented on, but which - I want it perfectly clear to my older self who will hopefully still have cause to look in the mirror and declare "prettiness" but will hopefully also have a head that does not swell outside the confines of the glass - still did not detract significantly from the production overall, I'll begin here.
Eye contact! EYE CONTACT!!!
>huff huff<
Right, folks, I'm going to hold up a physical fourth wall in front of the audience. And you remember there is nothing to see here! Main offender: the Baker's Wife. Secondary offender: Little Red Riding Hood. Their performances were good, but you cannot sneak glances at the audience without a reason! Your character looks at the audience and sees them? No prob. My Feste the Jester did. It worked for him. But when he looked at an audience member, he LOOKED at them. There was none of this nervous sneakage of the peripherary! It's amazing - it saps the energy out of the performance, it saps the focus certainly, it saps the motivation, it saps tactic - sappity sap sap. Jules told me what she did with Jess during Bearskin (good method - must remember it). They were going over "Tell me who you are" into "I cannot claim your lover's name" and Jess, having these gorgeous humungous eyes kept fluttering them here and there - and occasionally glancing over DJ's features before settling for a split second on something else in the room. So Julie put her finger on DJ's forehead, right between his brows, and kept yelling, "Look at the finger! Focus on the finger! Here! Here! This spot! Over here! Look look look!" while Jess sang. Apparently it worked. Jess had great focus and eye contact during the show - very good indeed!
But it is so crucial to have eye-contact, be it big eyes or small eyes or even eyes hidden behind a mask. Third offender (nearly forgot): the witch. Esp. when she was the witch. Like I said - stunning make-up. But consequently, she felt free to unfocus her eyes whilst she acted as the crone witch. *nnnngh* PIERCE with your eyes, GLUE them on! It's like my version of that song: Can't take my eyes off of you/They're stuck on with super glue...I love you baaa-by/And if it'd be alright/I love you baaa-by/Come dance with me tonight/I love you baaa-by/La lala la di daaaaaaaaaah! *dances along the platform in the Munich station much to the consternation of the stolid Germans who are simply attempting to commute home after a long day of work and wondering if the overtired American girl, with the backpack and the bags under her eyes and the mortified pre-theologate in the immaculately starched shirt standing off to the side to disassociate himself, isn't aware that there is no brass band replete with pom-ponned elephants parading after her. Silly Munichians. The elephants are invisible.*
(Sorry. Whoa - it's late at night.)
Other major gripe was the forest set - it just looked - blighted to me. However, loved and lusted after the movable books that turned into towers and trees and characters homes. But like I said, it was a loverly performance overall and....
10) I really ought to lose weight if only to make a bid someday to play the witch. What a character - and of course a good selection of songs. "It's the Last Midnight" being among the best, of course. I'll just have to convince the putative director that blond ubercurly hair really ISN'T required. Really. (Only one really bad costume choice was the witch's sexy dress - it just clung a bit TOO closely to her belly and thighs and wasn't entirely flattering in that area - but then, I think the dress may have been made out of a rubber band, which isn't flattering on anyone really. She did very well in it, but she did seem to be a tad self-conscious. Poor thing.) Anywho - also I think I've got a way to make the second act make sense - it's just a change in inflection, a greater emphasis on the need for an author and for story, lyrical "mistakes" the actors will be required to make during singing that pentultimate stupid song, and - get this - a giant open story book/stage in the back with pages that can turn, and itself can be opened and shut. Oh, and the completely ripped off movable individual story books. Dude - it would be so cool. (Just waxed it. So glad to hear Finding Nemo is #1 for this summer box office!)
11) I am rambling and now in an uneven, prime number. This is unfortunate. I like symmetry.
Mood: Satisfied
Music: A rather confused mental jumble of Into the Woods - oh surprise
More Peter Pan Lyrics: For once you have found your way there/You can never, never grow old./So come with me where dreams are made/And time is never planned/Just think of lovely things/And your heart will fly on wings/Forever/In Never, Neverland! *sigh*
1) Staying up late at night has the benefit of relative chicada quietude.
2) Rental cars are nice. Nicer than my car, but most things in life are. Yak carts may potentially be nicer. But don't tell my car. She runs on flattery.
3) CD players in rental cars are also very nice. Must remember next time, however, to UNWRAP the newly-purchased CD's (Newsies, Funny Girl and Nicholas Nickolby - I'm a sucker for Rachel Portman) before setting out. Fortunately,
4) Sing to me, my Michael Buble of music! I also brought along Down With Love. Sigh. Sing it again, Sam (or Michael or Ewan...)!
5) Even better, is bombing down a winding, twisty side-street in MA with overhanging greenery to form a leafy arcade over hill and dale while the William Tell overture finally cuts to the chase, finishes twiddling around with flutes and white-winged butterflies, and PULLS OUT THE BRASS AND TIMPANI while your rental car system boosts the bass baby and you just SCREAM in sheer delight and headbang with aplomb! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Holy cow, man, see - that's what ought to be playing when I finally come into my Father's presence!
6) A tip to the wise: when purchasing clothes, make sure the cashier remembers to take off those darn security tags that supposedly squirt ink all over your clothes. Do so before returning home.
7) Mimicry is a great gift that God has given us. But like all the greatest gifts, if it is perverted it exacts a terrible price. Thus Plato banned theatre and Aristotle defended it. I will point out that De Poetica is far simpler and reasonable to read than The Republic. It's also written under true colors. One wonders at Plato's insistence against mimicry when his Republic was just that. Perhaps he realized that he wrote a pale copy to his master's subtle inquiries. Regardless, mimicry is a wonderful gift, and we should as adults be aware that what we do will be learnt, and likewise that what we see we will become. Thus, likewise, those greatest gifts God gives us must be bound most carefully in order to be fully free.
8) Things to remember from Peter Pan to steal wholesale: "Split me infinitives!" "By carbonate of soda!" And not from that, but a good exclamation nonetheless: "Codswallop!"
9) Perhaps I'm getting less catty. Perhaps I've been seeing better productions. But I'm overall delighted to have seen Peter Pan (see below) and tonight, Into the Woods. Oh sure, there were lots of things I would have done differently, and I can't quite stop myself from categorizing those parts (heck, I do so during Broadway plays, why should anything else be different?), but it's more a mental exercise than a mental effort to somehow telekinetically alter what I'm watching. Like taking notes on a pleasant subject, rather than feeling the need to rewrite the source material. It helps, too, that those shows had different focuses than what I've been doing lately - so there was thankfully less room for comparison. That, and they are simply good plays, capable of withstanding even mediocrity - which, fortuantely, neither production was guilty of.
Comparing with Julie's report from last weekend's opening night, the energy was certainly up. The main actors worked well together as an ensemble with no one particularly upstaging another. There were moments of greater strength here or there, but overall it was a nice blend. Some curious casting choices, mostly in physical appearance, but vocally everyone was competent. Notable actors include the two step-sisters who I felt played their parts with great vigour which is terrific to see in roles that could be seen as "too minor for inconsideration." The same holds true for the over-the-top foppy-disdainful steward - well done! Rapunzel's Prince was very good - although he was the less pretty of the two (just objectively speaking), he certainly had the greater dosage of charisma, and Colgated whenever he had the opportunity. The Baker was also very good - good voice, good quiet strength, with a great display of competence which could have been difficult to achieve in one so young (the cast was 25 or younger). Jack's mother was enjoyable, esp. her argument with the giant - very convincing.
Then I come to Jack himself, my darling DJ. He said to me after that he had spotted me early on and gotten nervous, afraid that I'd whip out my infamous notebook. Apparently, he kept sneaking glances to see if I was staring - vulture like, one presumes, DARN my jowls! - at him even when the lights were off on his house (great lights, great costumes, great sound, great music, the most amazing make-up I've seen in community theatre). Well, all I can say is - yes, I did sneak glances at him every once in a while when he was "frozen" whilst the action was elsewhere, and didn't think he'd spotted me at all until curtain call! But let me get to the point.
I've seen DJ now in, what, five productions. Judas in Godspell for Hudson High, Motel in Fiddler and Cornelius in Hello Dolly! in the same, Bearskin of course, and now Jack. Out of those five, three have been the unfortunate nimrod parts that are written for tenors (poor tenors!). At Hudson High, he was decent, but obviously undirected. There was quite a bit of telegraphing - but realize DJ was not alone - EVERYONE telegraphed because they were trying so desperately to act without any direction. (Notable exception was Godspell - I'm talking Fiddler and Dolly here.) So you resort - or at least those with such roles as Motel and Cornelius resort - to squeaky voices, lots of cowering and the occasional pratfall, and widening your eyes to bovine proportions. All perfectly acceptable. Provided, you've got the character down pat and your character and not you are doing so.
I am thrilled to say that DJ playing Jack, played all and any quirks, vacancies, sqeaks, prats, wimperings, cowerings, sighs, eyes, etc. in the character. It was really a pleasure to watch. Moreso, because in addition to this, DJ gave Jack more depth, which became apparent as the show progressed and Jack went from being merely a Kid and His Cow to being Jack the Giant Slayer. And what was even better was you got bits and pieces and hints here and there on BOTH sides of the change of what was to come and what had been, so that the alteration was completely believable. There was, perhaps, a little more eye-shifting than I would have cared for (just focus your eyes a bit more, Deej, and it'll oomph it just a tad), but it was again obviously a character choice and not an act of willful telegraphing. As always his voice was molten gold. (Silly boy - "Was I alright on that last low note?" "What, oh, I don't remember - you must have been fine." Giants in the Sky forever! The whole thing sounded wonderful - does one pry rubies from the setting or enjoy the thing as a whole?) It was fun to see some slight Bearskin/Judas-y moments that he got to creep in, esp. towards the end, and his affection for his cow was simply charming - the death scene, too funny! (And God bless the cow - and God bless his chiropractor!)
So, yes, I am proud of my DJ. He is becoming a very fine actor indeed.
As for those unfortunate nitpicky things which must be commented on, but which - I want it perfectly clear to my older self who will hopefully still have cause to look in the mirror and declare "prettiness" but will hopefully also have a head that does not swell outside the confines of the glass - still did not detract significantly from the production overall, I'll begin here.
Eye contact! EYE CONTACT!!!
>huff huff<
Right, folks, I'm going to hold up a physical fourth wall in front of the audience. And you remember there is nothing to see here! Main offender: the Baker's Wife. Secondary offender: Little Red Riding Hood. Their performances were good, but you cannot sneak glances at the audience without a reason! Your character looks at the audience and sees them? No prob. My Feste the Jester did. It worked for him. But when he looked at an audience member, he LOOKED at them. There was none of this nervous sneakage of the peripherary! It's amazing - it saps the energy out of the performance, it saps the focus certainly, it saps the motivation, it saps tactic - sappity sap sap. Jules told me what she did with Jess during Bearskin (good method - must remember it). They were going over "Tell me who you are" into "I cannot claim your lover's name" and Jess, having these gorgeous humungous eyes kept fluttering them here and there - and occasionally glancing over DJ's features before settling for a split second on something else in the room. So Julie put her finger on DJ's forehead, right between his brows, and kept yelling, "Look at the finger! Focus on the finger! Here! Here! This spot! Over here! Look look look!" while Jess sang. Apparently it worked. Jess had great focus and eye contact during the show - very good indeed!
But it is so crucial to have eye-contact, be it big eyes or small eyes or even eyes hidden behind a mask. Third offender (nearly forgot): the witch. Esp. when she was the witch. Like I said - stunning make-up. But consequently, she felt free to unfocus her eyes whilst she acted as the crone witch. *nnnngh* PIERCE with your eyes, GLUE them on! It's like my version of that song: Can't take my eyes off of you/They're stuck on with super glue...I love you baaa-by/And if it'd be alright/I love you baaa-by/Come dance with me tonight/I love you baaa-by/La lala la di daaaaaaaaaah! *dances along the platform in the Munich station much to the consternation of the stolid Germans who are simply attempting to commute home after a long day of work and wondering if the overtired American girl, with the backpack and the bags under her eyes and the mortified pre-theologate in the immaculately starched shirt standing off to the side to disassociate himself, isn't aware that there is no brass band replete with pom-ponned elephants parading after her. Silly Munichians. The elephants are invisible.*
(Sorry. Whoa - it's late at night.)
Other major gripe was the forest set - it just looked - blighted to me. However, loved and lusted after the movable books that turned into towers and trees and characters homes. But like I said, it was a loverly performance overall and....
10) I really ought to lose weight if only to make a bid someday to play the witch. What a character - and of course a good selection of songs. "It's the Last Midnight" being among the best, of course. I'll just have to convince the putative director that blond ubercurly hair really ISN'T required. Really. (Only one really bad costume choice was the witch's sexy dress - it just clung a bit TOO closely to her belly and thighs and wasn't entirely flattering in that area - but then, I think the dress may have been made out of a rubber band, which isn't flattering on anyone really. She did very well in it, but she did seem to be a tad self-conscious. Poor thing.) Anywho - also I think I've got a way to make the second act make sense - it's just a change in inflection, a greater emphasis on the need for an author and for story, lyrical "mistakes" the actors will be required to make during singing that pentultimate stupid song, and - get this - a giant open story book/stage in the back with pages that can turn, and itself can be opened and shut. Oh, and the completely ripped off movable individual story books. Dude - it would be so cool. (Just waxed it. So glad to hear Finding Nemo is #1 for this summer box office!)
11) I am rambling and now in an uneven, prime number. This is unfortunate. I like symmetry.
Mood: Satisfied
Music: A rather confused mental jumble of Into the Woods - oh surprise
More Peter Pan Lyrics: For once you have found your way there/You can never, never grow old./So come with me where dreams are made/And time is never planned/Just think of lovely things/And your heart will fly on wings/Forever/In Never, Neverland! *sigh*
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