Sleepless Night
It's 5:30 AM and I have not been to sleep yet. I tried at midnight to go to sleep for two hours, and failed. So at 2 AM I decided just to stay awake. I have gotten into a weird sleeping pattern that is forcing me to skip history too much. So to correct this I chose to stay up all of tonight and go to bed early all weekend. I'm not really tired, a little maybe, but nothing substantial. My last class ends at 2:30 tomorrow, so I'll probably take a long nap after that before I go out, then come back and go straight to bed. I hope it works, it has to. I cannot miss anymore of my history class. If I've learned anything this semester in college it's not to take any classes at 8:15 in the future - and believe me, I WON'T! I hate mornings!
I saw the ETSU theatre dept.'s production of Forever Plaid last night. I was very disapointed. The set design was pretty good, though. I had been told that, due to an absence of a good scenic artist, the sets were kind of basic and corny: lot's of bright colors and rudimentary box shapes. It was not like this though. Sure they may not have an excellent scenic artist, but the set was very typical of any college with a good theatre department. It was neat and functional. So I was happy to see this. However, the lights didn't thrill me as much. I mean, my God, get someone in there with half of sense of lighting design. I mean, they weren't bad. Instead they were very predictable and basic. They could have been more dramatic and emphasize more. Lights are a very important part of any production, however this fact is often over looked. Contrary to popular belief you cannot just throw four white lights on a stage with a dimmer switch and call it lit, or at least not a production like Forever Plaid at ETSU. So with my choice technicals out of the way, I will now get to the meat: the acting. OH MY GOD! Who cast these people, AND WHY?! For those of you not farmiliar with the show, Forever Plaid features four guys. They are supposed to have been doo-wop singers who died in the '60's on their way to a concert, however they've been brought back to life somehow and given a second chance to perform their concert. That's the jist of the ENTIRE show. THE story line. So needless to say the script is not literary genius to begin with. It just features a bunch of wonderfully harmonized '50's and '60's songs, making the show a wimpy revue at most. Fun, but so what? In between the songs are usually corny bits that we could all do without, referring to the time period from whence they came or making parodies of the goups "plaidness." Even so, this show was hard to swallow, not because of the mediocre script, but more to the credit of lousy acting. To their credit, I will first say that all four of the guys had exceptional voices. They harmonized and blended very well on the songs (save for the druidic entrance number, but it was only their first run). I have been told that they are all music majors, not theatre majors. So thank God for that. But suffice it to say that they ALL need to take some acting classes. I cringed as I sat there and watch them indicate emotions through gestures and RECITE, obviously recite lines!!!! AH! The funny bits were laughed at by the audience, but I felt that it was out of politeness or something to that effect. It's kind of like when I was in high school and people laughed at actors in funny bits because they knew them and it was funny that the actor was doing the bit - not the character. So if you don't know them it's not funny. Such is the case with Plaid. I do not know the people in the play, and don't plan on getting to know them, but I laughed at only one part in the entire show. It was a latin music part, but I think I laughed more out of nervousness because the Plaids pounced off of the stage into the audience, shoved mics into peoples faces, and made them sing the song. Audience participation is another thing that I'm not fond of in the theatre, especially when it's FORCED! I mean MY GOD! I'm there to see a show, not do one. Unless it's The Rocky Horror Show, stay on the stage and leave me the fuck alone! But I guess that's not truly the actors fault, but rather that of the director. Speaking of the director, I don't know if he or she has ever SEEN a show in his or her life! The blocking was rather pointless in most places and I don't think the actors were really given any direction in the way of characters - and believe me, a little character direction WOULD NOT have hurt. Overall, I was unimpressed with the show, and it did nothing but further confirm my wishes to transfer. So it was good that I saw it. Hopefully Picnic will be better since it actually has theatre students in it! I don't think I could bear to run tech for every night of a show like Plaid. Yuck. In short: Music good, bravo to Mellisa and scenic people, GET A LIGHT DESIGNER, we have some soon-to-be starving actors on our hands, the director? there was one?! And on that note, I will let Plaid rest!
SO! My good friend Claudia Kiss is in town (or Abingdon) on break from James Madison University. So I will see her this weekend, and I am looking forward to it. I go to the Barter on Saturday to see The Spitfire Grill and am looking forward to that as well. I really need to see Mother Courage and Her Children at Stage II as well. But I'll take anything! I need to see some good theatre to get the nasty taste of Plaid out of my mouth! Until my next post, take care!
I saw the ETSU theatre dept.'s production of Forever Plaid last night. I was very disapointed. The set design was pretty good, though. I had been told that, due to an absence of a good scenic artist, the sets were kind of basic and corny: lot's of bright colors and rudimentary box shapes. It was not like this though. Sure they may not have an excellent scenic artist, but the set was very typical of any college with a good theatre department. It was neat and functional. So I was happy to see this. However, the lights didn't thrill me as much. I mean, my God, get someone in there with half of sense of lighting design. I mean, they weren't bad. Instead they were very predictable and basic. They could have been more dramatic and emphasize more. Lights are a very important part of any production, however this fact is often over looked. Contrary to popular belief you cannot just throw four white lights on a stage with a dimmer switch and call it lit, or at least not a production like Forever Plaid at ETSU. So with my choice technicals out of the way, I will now get to the meat: the acting. OH MY GOD! Who cast these people, AND WHY?! For those of you not farmiliar with the show, Forever Plaid features four guys. They are supposed to have been doo-wop singers who died in the '60's on their way to a concert, however they've been brought back to life somehow and given a second chance to perform their concert. That's the jist of the ENTIRE show. THE story line. So needless to say the script is not literary genius to begin with. It just features a bunch of wonderfully harmonized '50's and '60's songs, making the show a wimpy revue at most. Fun, but so what? In between the songs are usually corny bits that we could all do without, referring to the time period from whence they came or making parodies of the goups "plaidness." Even so, this show was hard to swallow, not because of the mediocre script, but more to the credit of lousy acting. To their credit, I will first say that all four of the guys had exceptional voices. They harmonized and blended very well on the songs (save for the druidic entrance number, but it was only their first run). I have been told that they are all music majors, not theatre majors. So thank God for that. But suffice it to say that they ALL need to take some acting classes. I cringed as I sat there and watch them indicate emotions through gestures and RECITE, obviously recite lines!!!! AH! The funny bits were laughed at by the audience, but I felt that it was out of politeness or something to that effect. It's kind of like when I was in high school and people laughed at actors in funny bits because they knew them and it was funny that the actor was doing the bit - not the character. So if you don't know them it's not funny. Such is the case with Plaid. I do not know the people in the play, and don't plan on getting to know them, but I laughed at only one part in the entire show. It was a latin music part, but I think I laughed more out of nervousness because the Plaids pounced off of the stage into the audience, shoved mics into peoples faces, and made them sing the song. Audience participation is another thing that I'm not fond of in the theatre, especially when it's FORCED! I mean MY GOD! I'm there to see a show, not do one. Unless it's The Rocky Horror Show, stay on the stage and leave me the fuck alone! But I guess that's not truly the actors fault, but rather that of the director. Speaking of the director, I don't know if he or she has ever SEEN a show in his or her life! The blocking was rather pointless in most places and I don't think the actors were really given any direction in the way of characters - and believe me, a little character direction WOULD NOT have hurt. Overall, I was unimpressed with the show, and it did nothing but further confirm my wishes to transfer. So it was good that I saw it. Hopefully Picnic will be better since it actually has theatre students in it! I don't think I could bear to run tech for every night of a show like Plaid. Yuck. In short: Music good, bravo to Mellisa and scenic people, GET A LIGHT DESIGNER, we have some soon-to-be starving actors on our hands, the director? there was one?! And on that note, I will let Plaid rest!
SO! My good friend Claudia Kiss is in town (or Abingdon) on break from James Madison University. So I will see her this weekend, and I am looking forward to it. I go to the Barter on Saturday to see The Spitfire Grill and am looking forward to that as well. I really need to see Mother Courage and Her Children at Stage II as well. But I'll take anything! I need to see some good theatre to get the nasty taste of Plaid out of my mouth! Until my next post, take care!
posted by ~chase at 5:25 AM
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