Theater

[RoninFox]

Another thing I like is audience participation theater. "Shear Madness" in DC was a lot of fun, as was "Totally Hollywood Abridged," with the Reduced Shakesphere company.

My brother took me to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, performed by some friends of his at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival.  Ever since I've wanted to be in a production of it.  I love the writing in that show.

[Chaos]

Shakespeare Abridged is awesome.

I have 2 contributions to this topic:

Enrico IV, about a man who pretends to go insane and convinces his friends that he believes he is a medieval-era duke, forcing them to "humour" him for fear of causing further psychological damage to him should he find out he isn't really royalty. Featuring some very amusing 4th wall violations.

Coming Attractions, about a man who pretends to be crazy and goes on a rampant killing spree in an attempt to become famous, on the advice of his agent. It's a musical, it's hilarious, and (for some reason) it is falsely attributed to Fanny Flagg (of Match Game and Fried Green Tomatoes fame).

Look them up. Find them. SEE THEM. You will not be disappointed, especially if you enjoy dark humour like I do.

[Reductio_ad_absurdum]

I would love it for one time in my life that I take up the role of Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance.  I probably wouldn't be very good, but still singing "I am the very model of a modern major general" has always sparked an interest ever sense I first heard it.  Plus it would be a spiffy uniform.

[Tripe]

I would love it for one time in my life that I take up the role of Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance.  I probably wouldn't be very good, but still singing "I am the very model of a modern major general" has always sparked an interest ever sense I first heard it.  Plus it would be a spiffy uniform.

Grab a mic and then post the result here.

[mrbasehart]

I may not have gone to see it live, but I did see the original production of Death of a Salesman on DVD.  Lee J Cobb originated the role, and is truly brilliant in it. 

[daltysmilth]

I love musicals: Return to Forbidden Planet is a great one, Miss Saigon was pretty entertaining, though on the whole, I don't really like Andrew Lloyd Webber.  I really want to see Spamalot (especially after hearing the soundtrack), and there's a great production of the 39 Steps which won a bunch of awards recently. 

Miss Saigon wasn't Andrew Lloyd Webber.  It was the guys who did Les Miserables. 

[Tripe]

Miss Saigon wasn't Andrew Lloyd Webber.  It was the guys who did Les Miserables. 

Cameron Mackintosh

[daltysmilth]

He was just the producer, though.  It was written by a couple of French dudes.  I think it even says that on the Playbill.  "Written By A Couple Of French Dudes"

Any chance someone with Photoshop skills could go ahead and come up with a graphical representation of that?  Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks!

[Tripe]

[mrbasehart]

I love musicals: Return to Forbidden Planet is a great one, Miss Saigon was pretty entertaining, though on the whole, I don't really like Andrew Lloyd Webber.  I really want to see Spamalot (especially after hearing the soundtrack), and there's a great production of the 39 Steps which won a bunch of awards recently. 

Miss Saigon wasn't Andrew Lloyd Webber.  It was the guys who did Les Miserables. 

Ah,  that's the reason why I liked it then. 

[Johnny Unusual]

I think there was a more recent thread on plays, but I couldn't find it.  Anyway, I found it so I could post the news that there will be a muppet stage show.  I hope it is less of a play and more of what would happen at an actual muppet show!

from the AV club

With The Muppets... Again! currently filming, the Muppets are already looking ahead to their next project: a potential Broadway musical. On May 31, over 85 Muppets convened at the New Amsterdam Theater to put on a proof-of-concept show for Disney Theater Productions, performing existing material under the direction of Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Pee-Wee Herman Show). Initial audience reaction wasn't terrific, as two unnamed elderly critics declared it “wasn’t half-bad—it was all bad!” before chortling to themselves. Nevertheless, Disney is confident it can overcome a host of obstacles, including drummer-oriented anger management, hiring an experienced chicken wrangler, and potential injuries from karate chops, explosions, science experiments gone wrong, and errant boomerang fish. 

[Tripe]

Absolutely musicals count a theatre.

I really should go and see a play in the Detroit area but the playbills are always so lack-luster. That's one of the things I miss from Stratford.

Ooh how times change: Now I'm on the board of one of the companies in the area and I'm good friends with the creative director of one of the other companies and we might be starting another company just to do plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries (and because she's a blood thirsty lil moppet who wants to bring a touch of the  Grand-Guignol to the Motor City).

I really don't think I've been this happy in years.

[Tripe]

So, on Friday, I went to see the collection of playlettes at a place run by a friend of mine. They were all linked by the fact that they were interpretations of section of the movie Thelma and Lousie.

So we had the opening delivered in the style of a competitive areobics bout, sections acted with box and sghadow puppets as well as the pivotal, Brad shags then robs Geena section acted out with stuffed animals and Barbies, all good stuff until the final bit.

This was a confessional meditation inspired by the car going over the cliff. And it was utter pants, really the performer might as well have just masturbated on stage for ten minutes, which would have be far more entertaining.

Still an otherwise good night really.

[Johnny Unusual]

Was the monologue from the car's point of view?

"Why did I have to die, I wasn't part of your suicide pact."

[Tripe]

Now that would have been fantastic. Sadly, no.

I'm so going to suggest we do this again in a couple of years and I'll do that!