Related, there is a complete lack of range. Not even good pop. Where is the world music? The music of decades past? The influence of independent voices that are flooding the subculture now? I suppose Once is of similar character. When I was a younger schmuck trying to get into this business, I got hired to write Parade, and because I got hired, I got to exercise my chops.
Not every show had to be Fiddler on the Roof back then. The demands on musical storytelling today are — and there are always exceptions — much more stringent. Songs must support story, must support character, must support theme must support … Musicals are novels — two and a half hours of story told in song, text, dance, and all the other elements that make up a show.
And novels take a long time. So how am I going to get it out there? Or at least part of it. All that focus on individual songs forces writers to, well, write really good songs. And they do. From where I stand, there is not a dearth of great songwriters or of great songs. But even if you have inspired composers and lyricists, they can be sunk by any number of collaborators along the way. In a musical, even the most amazing song can fizzle without the proper set-up from the book writer.
These do not grow on trees either. I guess my short answer to the question is that this form is a rarified one, requiring unusually skilled and talented people. These special creatures do not roam the earth in huge numbers. Beyond that, I think the theater is inherently protective of tradition, which makes it not so good at adapting to changing circumstances.
When popular music and theater got a divorce a generation ago, the theater tended to stick with old musical forms and idioms. Folks like Jonathan Larson came along, someone who loved the musical theater tradition but wanted it to contemporize. But he was one of the rare birds who could write his music with that elusive dramatic sense — like a Puccini, or Verdi, or Wagner. I feel like this goes for both traditional musical theatre, and even for more freewheeling, nonlinear work.
It can be a very long and dispiriting process. And yet so gratifying when the right idea sparks a group of collaborators. The biggest impediment is that I am more aware of what a huge commitment it is to embark on a new musical, having now been through it, and this makes me trigger-shy. I still believe that something new and good can and will make it. The cream rises to the top.
He knows how to plug fresh content into a traditional structure. There are just certain basics of good songwriting, storytelling, relevance that writers need to maintain, and, if so, I think there will always be room for a good new musical to emerge. The thing that made you want to bring the show to the stage in the first place is sometimes hard to see — you have to keep your eyes on true north.
But Askew said that, for Creation Theatre, staging performances in unexpected locations is what it has always done. Online shows can also make performing arts more accessible, both geographically -- as most theaters are located in urban centers -- and by providing cheaper ways to bring shows to schools, care homes or prisons, Askew said.
On the face of it, it looks like moving online could help extend the reach of an industry often criticized for catering to elite audiences. The problem is that theater, by and large, is geared towards certain socio-economic perspectives, he said. They may think they're creating work that represents the working class, but it isn't for a working-class audience.
It's for the middle or upper class to see their experiences and how they live. When it comes to promoting diversity, theaters have thus far faced public official scrutiny. And this year , British arts organizations, including theaters, will be required to report on the socio-economic spread of their employees, alongside ethnicity, disability and gender statistics, when applying to the Arts Council, a billion-dollar public funding agency.
Rich kids. Javaad Alipoor, whose recent production "Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran" looks at how digital technology has widened the gap between rich and poor, said that while the industry's immediate concern is supporting its workers through the pandemic, he also sees the potential for a shake-up of the status quo.
How hair salons are adapting to the 'new normal' in a transformed landscape. The companies that will successfully widen their reach, he suggests, won't be those that most faithfully replicate their existing season online, but those that consider what will resonate with different audiences and try to meet them where they are. Lekan Lawal, resident director for the London production of "Hamilton" -- the hit musical about America's founding fathers, featuring a multicultural cast and hip hop-inspired soundtrack -- also thinks digital tools could have a place in getting people to access theater.
At times in my life recently — while I am certainly stronger than I was as a sad and lonely high school freshman — I have still felt some moments of depression. Not as extreme as what I went through many years ago, but still enough to make me feel a deep lack of satisfaction with the way certain things are going in my life and a burning desire for me to feel better and happier about myself.
It is those moments that have helped sustain me in the past, and it is the moments that I aim to see happening someday in the near future that motivate me to keep going.
It has given me a reason to wake up in the morning, go out and be willing to try some things that I otherwise might not have been willing to try, and ultimately to keep going even when things get tough. The reason I am sharing all of this is simple: It is my hope that many others out there who suffer from depression, or maybe those who know someone who suffers from depression, will be able to see how I have been sustained and motivated through my years in theatre, and use that as some sort of example for how to get through any hard times that they might be going through now.
If my experience is any indicator at all, I believe that theatre truly can be — if not an outright cure — then certainly a very strong treatment to help someone get through depression. For me, there has been no better medicine than this. OnStage Blog. Cart 0. Back Contact Us Privacy Policy.
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