As I post this, Director Diane is winging her way to SXSW; if you see her, say hi (she’s the elegant blonde in the witty t-shirt. Yes, that elegant blonde). Or perhaps you’ll be sitting next to her at the Like A Pascha screening …. Not all brothels are the same, of course, and surely such tacky dollar store masks will never be glimpsed at the Poppy.
And while we’re on the subject of film, interesting to see, in last Sunday’s New York Times, this overview of the use of onstage projections in the theatre. Michael Mayer, director of the Green Day musical “American Idiot” about to open on Broadway, is quoted as noting that the growing popularity of projections reflects “a whole generation’s response to the media” and that generation’s comfort with that media’s ubiquity. Which is not, as such, a reason to include projections, film, anything, to a story onstage, unless it suits that story’s story, which ours emphatically do.
Good to see Diane Paulus in the paper, she who did everybody a lasting favor by bringing the one and only Punchdrunk to Boston. The question of what is art and what is entertainment and whence those Venn diagrams intersect is a vexing and eternal one; irresistible, too, maybe. But one man’s Champagne is another man’s three buck Chuck (or Mountain Dew, ewww). is another man’s No thanks, I’m not drinking tonight. Trying to decide what other people will like enough to pay for is not a task for the wishy-washy …. And Randy Weiner is part of The Box, too, the idea of which resonates/rhymes with immersive theatre in a different way. [Thanks to DN for the young ladies.]
What a hipster, eh? And what a writer. Saw a production of The Seagull the other night, and was struck anew by the apparent simplicity of the language, just like the simplicity of the Atlantic, until you put your toe in.
Down these stairs shall pass the finest floozies in the world ….
Venue-casting for the show. [All photos DC.]
Were the Sisters Mulleavy available for costume design, either for the players or the audience, I’d muscle my demure way to the head of the line: Wallpaper quotes them describing their fashion as “decayed, ruined, delicate and destroyed.” I wouldn’t mind being in line for this exhibit, either.
There is something so sexy about decay.
And this article talks about only three of the theatre companies in town; there are more (hey there, Demetri and BreatheArt!), all busy doing, as Igor Gozman says, what artists always do, in good times, tough times, for all time: thriving and surviving by making their art. [Photo: Model D.]
Should you feel like getting your lights Punched out, and you’re in NYC, go see Gretchen Van Lente’s curatorial slate of actors human and non-. (Like this beauty in blue.) One of the things that’s so hardcore fun about puppets is their variety; custom does not stale, etc., and that’s worth the entrance fee all by itself.
Haven’t yet seen the movie, but the rights tangle sounds like a jolly mess it would take Sherlock’s meth-addicted lawyers to unravel, so thank goodness Holmes and Watson have only their fashion sense to worry about. The deerstalker doesn’t really make it, but those little round glasses, zowie…Costuming will play a big role, no pun intended, in our production – as it does on the novel itself, rather. Those cravats!
Reading sideways, as I work, about the task, perils, and thrills of adapting one form into another: not always a cakewalk, a fact that relieves me. Then again, there’s this, starting from the summit and walking off into thin air, looks like.
