Working with a very talented cast I've managed to get over 50% of the musical numbers staged. During the next two days, the goal is to finish the rest of act one. The Arthur arrived into town today and is exceptional - as are all of the principals. That makes life much easier...
Tonight I worked dialogue with some of the cast and had a really interesting time talking about the piece. In order to shorten the musical (it's rather long), I had made some pretty significant cuts. However upon hearing the lines spoken by the players tonight, I decided to open up a number of those cuts. It'll really help the show, and certainly makes me feel good as I love so much of the dialogue - being a fan of the Arthur legends since I was a young boy.
It's getting late, so I'll cut to the chase: I think that musicals AND operas should be treated much more as living entities that need to be reborn each time they are presented. We're currently in a present, operatically speaking, where directors and production designers re-think the operas, but where the music directors strive for note perfect renditions based on critical editions. It presents problems when one is trying to create a whole piece in a genre that is based on sung text.
Just a thought on this late night out in the country in Virginia...
Agreed. If we want our art form to survive, it has to constantly be reborn and adapt. See you soon Patrick!!!!
ReplyDeleteI like this! The living entity of theatre has to be renewed and reborn with each incarnation of a production!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agreed (and very well put). Opera and theater is alive. We should be careful not to present older established works as museum pieces.
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