Simon Phillips

Yesterday, the second resignation of a prominent theatre director in Melbourne’s performing arts community was announced.

While Malthouse Theatre’s artistic director Michael Kantor will hand over the reigns to Marion Potts next year, his Melbourne Theatre Company counterpart, Simon Phillips, yesterday revealed he will leave the company in late 2011.

Phillips will be remembered among other things for his hugely successful productions of Richard III this year and Tracey Letts’ masterpiece August: Osage County in 2009. The MTC will now embark on an international search for a replacement.

Meanwhile, Phillips will move on to freelance directing, including commitments with the stage musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert, currently showing at London’s Palace Theatre and due to move to Toronto this October, then Broadway in the Spring of 2011.

A. You get the Sydney Theatre Company’s current production of Eugene O’Neill’s classic play Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

The STC’s much publicised run of what many consider the best American play of the 20th century is an eclectic mess of differing styles. The end product lacks any sense of unified approach to the play between the key elements of acting, direction and design.

The internationalisation of the Sydney Theatre Company continues with Long Day’s Journey Into Night, as this is a co-production between the STC and the Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland’s oldest professional theatre company. The four principal characters consist of two American and two Australian actors, the most notable being William Hurt and Robyn Nevin. The show will play in Portland soon after its Sydney run.

As was the case in the recent Australian tour of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, starring Sir Ian McKellan, there is no guarantee that the stars will shine the brightest of all. In that production, Roger Rees out-performed McKellan and in this show, Australia’s Robyn Nevin outshines William Hurt.

This production by the STC is decorated, indeed. Eugene O’Neill won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936 and was a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, including one for Long Day’s Journey Into Night. William Hurt has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Actor, winning in 1985 for Kiss of the Spider Woman, while Robyn Nevin is the doyenne of Australian theatre and one of our most honoured and skilled stage actors.

Along with all this comes much hype and along with the hype comes responsibility. When you mount a production of this calibre, you can’t afford to produce anything but the very best. But what I witnessed several performances into its four-week season left many unanswered questions.

Why did Michael Scott-Mitchell’s set consist of two large angled beams and a reddish frame downstage? The distortion of line and shape, coupled with an abstract, minimalistic, almost bare stage with only a few set pieces, screamed expressionism. And here lay the problem. O’Neill’s days dabbling in expressionism were over by the time he wrote Long Day’s Journey Into Night and the Sydney Theatre Company’s expressionistic set design jarred awkwardly with the playwright’s naturalistic, often gut-wrenching text. As a result, the set largely failed to render the play’s location for the audience, the Tyrone summer home in Connecticut. A naturalistic drama the quality of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night requires a naturalistic set. Period. (Speaking of period, the costumes, props and dialogue indicated the year 1912, while the set was so abstract it was timeless).

Andrew Upton’s direction also allowed for moments of Brechtian staging thrown in the mix. A reference to the hallway in the set being in the audience was farcical. Edmund running off stage through the house, in the process breaking the fourth wall, was ridiculous, and his returning dialogue to the set on the downstage left apron alienated (no pun intended) many in the dress circle who couldn’t see the action. Sight lines is usually covered in Direction 101. However, I could see William Hurt for twenty minutes side-stage, but off the set, in the final act. The props table was visible, too. Was it a polished performance? With a generous six week rehearsal period, I would have preferred not to have seen dropped props and dropped lines in the play, either.

The final act of Long Day’s Journey Into Night verges on a heightened, slightly melodramatic form of naturalism, where Mary’s addiction to morphine takes her to another place and the men cope by getting drunker and drunker. Yet the acting here was mostly strong and faithful to the text. It was in the first two acts that Todd Van Voris, in particular, overstated the role of James Tyrone Jnr. Here there were far too many instances of melodramatic hand gestures and unimaginative finger-pointing between characters. Upton’s direction also offered numerous occasions where characters jumped suddenly into mini-tantrums that didn’t allow for a natural build up of dramatic tension.

As a result, character believability suffered. Robyn Nevin’s commanding portrayal of Mary Tyrone made empathy with her character easy. Not so the case, however, with James Snr or his two sons James Jnr and Edmund. O’Neill’s play, at roughly three and a half hours with interval in the theatre, is difficult enough for a modern audience without struggling to connect with characters. At times, it was a battle identifying and engaging with the men of the Tyrone family. The STC’s decision to have only one interval either side of 90 and 100 minutes respectively, didn’t help much either. Many in the audience became very restless in the final act, some even fell asleep.

All up, the Sydney Theatre Company’s production simply doesn’t do justice to one of the great American plays of the 20th century. William Hurt or not, for those in the audience it truly was a long journey, indeed.

I blogged in September last year on The Drama Teacher about the need for confidence in high school student theatre. As Drama/Theatre teachers, we are perhaps finely tuned to the life of teenagers in the development of theatre pieces. Where our students are in their personal lives – not quite children – not quite adults – can directly affect the theatre-making process.

It’s a myth to think all adult actors are either naturally confident, or find obtaining and maintaining confidence an easy thing. Time and time again we see well-known Hollywood actors interviewed on American talk-shows squirming in their seats, hating the limelight and looking awfully uncomfortable being the centre of attention. On the flip side, however, is Robin Williams. Over the years I have seen Williams so confident on the David Letterman Show, he ran the interviews, not Letterman.

As a teenager myself, I had way too much energy and acting was a method of releasing that energy in a more controlled and rewarding fashion. Confidence was not much of an issue, either. It just seemed to come naturally to me. Yet, Ian McKellan claims that one of the most frustrating aspects for him over many decades acting professionally for stage and screen is the fact that he simply lacks confidence as an actor. It has been the demon inside him his entire career.

So, if you were given one skill to name as the most valuable an actor can possess, what would it be? I’m putting my money on focus. Without focus, an actor is doomed. I’d be interested in other people’s thoughts. Comment below…..

Best Play – Red by John Logan
Best Musical – Memphis
Best Book of a Musical – Joe DiPietro for Memphis
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre – David Bryan for Memphis
Best Revival of a Play – Fences
Best Revival of a Musical – La Cage aux Folles
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play – Denzel Washington in Fences
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play – Viola Davis in Fences
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical – Douglas Hodge in La Cage aux Folles
Best Performance Leading Actress in a Musical – Catherine Zeta-Jones A Little Night Music
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play – Eddie Redmayne in Red
Best Performance Featured Actress in a Play – Scarlett Johansson A View from the Bridge
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical – Levi Kreis in Million Dollar Quartet
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical – Katie Finneran in Promises, Promises
Best Scenic Design of a Play – Christopher Oram for Red
Best Scenic Design of a Musical – Christine Jones for American Idiot
Best Costume Design of a Play – Catherine Zuber for The Royal Family
Best Costume Design of a Musical – Marina Draghici for Fela!
Best Lighting Design of a Play – Neil Austin for Red
Best Lighting Design of a Musical – Kevin Adams for American Idiot
Best Sound Design of a Play – Adam Cork for Red
Best Sound Design of a Musical – Robert Kaplowitz for Fela!
Best Direction of a Play – Michael Grandage for Red
Best Direction of a Musical – Terry Johnson for La Cage aux Folles
Best Choreography – Bill T. Jones for Fela!
Best Orchestrations – Daryl Waters and David Bryan for Memphis

Eddie Perfect and Paul Capsis

Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, in association with the Victorian Opera, are currently performing Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera until June 17.

Freely adapted from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, it was two centuries before the libretto was translated from its original English into German by Brecht’s mistress Elisabeth Hauptmann, in 1927.

Collaborating with opera composer Kurt Weill, Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera debuted in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, soon to become the home of his famous theatre company, The Berliner Ensemble. After a troubled rehearsal period filled with conflict, fleeing actresses and rushed re-writes, the work arguably introduced a new theatre form.

Malthouse Theatre’s The Threepenny Opera became a sellout season before opening night, largely based on the drawing power of its two stars, Eddie Perfect and Paul Capsis. Part play, part cabaret, part opera, part play with music, The Threepenny Opera is a mishmash of splendour and inconsistency.

Episodic in form, Threepenny consists of dozens of small, self-contained scenes that generally keep the pace rolling and audience entertained. But while the plot construction is far from perfect, make no doubt about it, Eddie Perfect definitely is. As the protagonist and uber-criminal, Macheath, Perfect’s strong and versatile voice is well-suited to Brecht’s style of song. Perfect dazzles the audience with his declamatory, larger than life  manner, reminiscent for Australian audiences of the recent television series Underbelly, which glamourises the criminal in society. Capsis is also fabulous as Jenny the prostitute.

Set in a boxing ring, several portable stages rotate to form many locations, ranging from a wedding in a horse stable to a prison and even a strippers’ den. The sordid lowlife of the underworld is all too apparent and the costumes and character make-up are suitably garish and over the top, matching the caricatured personas of those beneath them.

Malthouse Theatre’s production plays homage to Brecht’s Epic Theatre style with placards introducing songs, direct character address to the audience, stage hands in open view, narration, and songs conveying the work’s themes and messages.

But there are also problems. Raimondo Cortese’s adaptation includes many references to Melbourne suburbs and place names. Those in the audience who live in these suburbs briefly giggle at the reference and in this sense, the work has some immediacy and relevance. But in truth, it only cheapens the text and reduces it to farce. If you’re going to talk about a whorehouse in North Bulleen, you better make sure you take out the dozen references in the plot to the upcoming coronation parade the next morning, because there ain’t no King and Queen living in 21st century Melbourne.

The cast also consists of a mixture of classically trained operatic voices, cabaret voices and lesser trained voices. While there were impressive moments where the whole company sung together, the bulk of the singing in this show is solos and duets. Threepenny Opera or not, the operatic voices in this production clashed with voices like those of Perfect and merely added to the work’s inconsistencies. Another issue saw some scenes that were fast and furious, while others were a little slow and tedious. Effective contrast or unevenness?

The Threepenny Opera is no Mother Courage, that’s for sure. Brecht had only begun embracing Marxism in 1926, so Threepenny does not contain his usual potent dose of didacticism. Hurried to the stage or not, it became Brecht’s biggest commercial success. It will likely become Malthouse Theatre’s commercial success of 2010, as well.

Let’s face it, Brecht is idolised by many and loathed by others. His works are so ‘in your face’ and often intellectual, it’s hard to sit back, relax and enjoy. While Brecht’s works are not everyone’s cup of tea, Malthouse Theatre has nevertheless produced an entertaining production of The Threepenny Opera. If you come to the theatre for Eddie Perfect’s performance alone, you will not regret it.

This production marks the final work of Malthouse Theatre’s artistic director Michael Kantor.

I’ve been trying to write this review for ten days now. When your blog is a hobby and Godot’s opening night comes to town in the middle of a school show, I remembered this blog’s title … and so The Drama Teacher put Godot aside until the storm at work settled down.

Something irks me when the purest of non-commercial theatre, Samuel Beckett’s 1953 masterpiece Waiting For Godot, creates box office records in London and goes on an international tour with Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings at its heart. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” cried Hamlet’s Marcellus. This performance has it all … the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good The cast is strong. Many ‘in the know” are disappointed the Australian and New Zealand tour of the Theatre Royal Haymarket production of Godot does not include original London cast members Simon Callow and Patrick Stewart. Nevertheless, this ensemble retains its draw card in Sir Ian McKellan as Estragon, then adds Roger Rees as Vladimir, Matthew Kelly as Pozzo and Brendan O’Hea as Lucky. The actors are uniformly consistent and very skilled. If you’re going along just to see McKellan shine, then be warned there is no star in Beckett’s Godot, nor should there be. Vladimir and Estragon equally share the stage as the play’s twin protagonists and if you want me to nit-pick, I preferred the talent of Roger Rees over Ian McKellan, anyway. For me, McKellan mumbled way too often, was difficult to both hear and understand at times, while Rees’ interpretation of Vladimir was easier to engage. Kelly’s camp, over the top portrayal of Pozzo was a comic delight.

The Bad We’ll start with the post-apocalyptic-type set, complete with crumbled wall at the rear and ruined mansion pillars downstage left and right. As with Shakespeare’s plays, Waiting For Godot demands a bare stage (in this case with the sole addition of a single tree) and any interpretation that attempts to tart it up, usually fails. It was quite acceptable on one level, but the question remains as to whether it was suitable? Adding to the “bad” was the soundscape by Paul Grothuis. Satisfactory? Yes. Necessary? No. We’ll finish with the overstated direction by Sean Mathias that resulted in several audience gags and a comic theatricality with Vladimir and Estragon that made me shudder (appropriate only for Pozzo). There is indeed a comic side to Godot clear in the text for any good director to interpret, but this was Godot for the masses. If you’re a purest, try The Gate Theatre of Dublin’s interpretation, performed at the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in October 1997. Often hailed by critics as “the definitive Godot” (if there is such as thing), you can now see this performance on DVD in the Beckett box set.

The Ugly Anything that commercialises Beckett’s Waiting For Godot falls into the “ugly” category. The $130 ticket price tag. The $40 signed lithographs of the actors. The $20 programme. Where was my Godot coffee mug, I cry? Damn, I’ve got a whole cabinet of Broadway musical mugs at home! Whoops! My slip. That’s right. This was not Broadway … or was it? We all get sucked in and yes, I bought my programme and signed lithograph of Ian McKellan. True, McKellan was known as one of Britain’s leading stage actors for decades before The Lord of the Rings trilogy opened him up to a whole new generation of audiences. It’s not his fault that much of the opening night audience were really Waiting for Gandalf, not Godot at all. But as skilled as McKellan truly is at treading the boards, one has to worry about what this production of Waiting For Godot was really about … the money or the art?

Melbourne season concludes 23 May 2010.

The Tony’s are Broadway’s highest honor and this year’s ceremony will be held on Sunday June 13.

Nominations for the 2010 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards®
Presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing

Best Play

In the Next Room

Author: Sarah Ruhl
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten

Next Fall

Author: Geoffrey Nauffts
Producers: Elton John and David Furnish, Barbara Manocherian, Richard Willis, Tom Smedes, Carole L. Haber/Chase Mishkin, Ostar, Anthony Barrile, Michael Palitz, Bob Boyett, James Spry/Catherine Schreiber, Probo Productions, Roy Furman, Naked Angels

Red

Author: John Logan
Producers: Arielle Tepper Madover, Stephanie P. McClelland, Matthew Byam Shaw, Neal Street, Fox Theatricals, Ruth Hendel/Barbara Whitman, Philip Hagemann/Murray Rosenthal, The Donmar Warehouse

Time Stands Still

Author: Donald Margulies
Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Nelle Nugent/Wendy Federman

Best Musical

American Idiot

Producers: Tom Hulce & Ira Pittelman, Ruth and Steven Hendel, Vivek J. Tiwary and Gary Kaplan, Aged in Wood and Burnt Umber, Scott Delman, Latitude Link, HOP Theatricals and Jeffrey Finn, Larry Welk, Bensinger Filerman and Moellenberg Taylor, Allan S. Gordon/Elan V. McAllister, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Awaken Entertainment, John Pinckard and John Domo

Fela!

Producers: Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glaser, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky, Knitting Factory Entertainment, Alicia Keys

Memphis

Producers: Junkyard Dog Productions, Barbara and Buddy Freitag, Marleen and Kenny Alhadeff, Latitude Link, Jim and Susan Blair, Demos Bizar Entertainment, Land Line Productions, Apples and Oranges Productions, Dave Copley, Dancap Productions, Inc., Alex and Katya Lukianov, Tony Ponturo, 2 Guys Productions, Richard Winkler, Lauren Doll, Eric and Marsi Gardiner, Linda and Bill Potter, Broadway Across America, Jocko Productions, Patty Baker, Dan Frishwasser, Bob Bartner/Scott and Kaylin Union, Loraine Boyle/Chase Mishkin, Remmel T. Dickinson/Memphis Orpheum Group, ShadowCatcher Entertainment/Vijay and Sita Vashee

Million Dollar Quartet

Producers: Relevant Theatricals, John Cossette Productions, American Pop Anthology, Broadway Across America, James L. Nederlander

Best Book of a Musical

Everyday Rapture

Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott

Fela!

Jim Lewis & Bill T. Jones

Memphis

Joe DiPietro

Million Dollar Quartet

Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

The Addams Family

Music & Lyrics: Andrew Lippa

Enron

Music: Adam Cork
Lyrics: Lucy Prebble

Fences

Music: Branford Marsalis

Memphis

Music: David Bryan
Lyrics: Joe DiPietro, David Bryan

Best Revival of a Play

Fences

Producers: Carole Shorenstein Hays and Scott Rudin

Lend Me a Tenor

Producers: The Araca Group, Stuart Thompson, Carl Moellenberg, Rodney Rigby, Olympus Theatricals, Broadway Across America, The Shubert Organization, Wendy Federman/Jamie deRoy/Richard Winkler, Lisa Cartwright, Spring Sirkin, Scott and Brian Zeilinger

The Royal Family

Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove

A View from the Bridge

Producers: Stuart Thompson, The Araca Group, Jeffrey Finn, Broadway Across America, Olympus Theatricals, Marisa Sechrest, The Weinstein Company, Jon B. Platt, Sonia Friedman Productions/Robert G. Bartner, Mort Swinsky/Joseph Deitch, Adam Zotovich/Ruth Hendel/Orin Wolf, Shelter Island Enterprises, The Shubert Organization

Best Revival of a Musical

Finian’s Rainbow

Producers: David Richenthal, Jack Viertel, Alan D. Marks, Michael Speyer, Bernard Abrams, David M. Milch, Stephen Moore, Debbie Bisno/Myla Lerner, Jujamcyn Theaters, Melly Garcia, Jamie deRoy, Jon Bierman, Richard Driehaus, Kevin Spirtas, Jay Binder, StageVentures 2009 Limited Partnership

La Cage aux Folles

Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, David Babani, Barry and Fran Weissler and Edwin W. Schloss, Bob Bartner/Norman Tulchin, Broadway Across America, Matthew Mitchell, Raise The Roof 4 Richard Winkler/Bensinger Taylor/Laudenslager Bergrère, Arelene Scanlan/John O’Boyle, Independent Presenters Network, Olympus Theatricals, Allen Spivak, Jerry Frankel/Bat-Barry Productions, Nederlander Presentations, Inc/Harvey Weinstein, Menier Chocolate Factory

A Little Night Music

Producers: Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, The Menier Chocolate Factory, Roger Berlind, David Babani, Sonia Friedman Productions, Andrew Fell, Daryl Roth/Jane Bergere, Harvey Weinstein/Raise the Roof 3, Beverly Bartner/Dancap Productions, Inc., Nica Burns/Max Weitzenhoffer, Eric Falkenstein/Anna Czekaj, Jerry Frankel/Ronald Frankel, James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyer

Ragtime

Producers: Kevin McCollum, Roy Furman, Scott Delman, Roger Berlind, Max Cooper, Tom Kirdahy/Devin Elliott, Jeffrey A. Sine, Stephanie P. McClelland, Roy Miller, Lams Productions, Jana Robbins, Sharon Karmazin, Eric Falkenstein/Morris Berchard, RialtoGals Productions, Independent Presenters Network, Held-Haffner Productions, HRH Foundation, Emanuel Azenberg, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Michael Kaiser, Max Woodward

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Jude Law, Hamlet
Alfred Molina, Red
Liev Schreiber, A View from the Bridge
Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane
Denzel Washington, Fences

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Viola Davis, Fences
Valerie Harper, Looped
Linda Lavin, Collected Stories
Laura Linney, Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Kelsey Grammer, La Cage aux Folles
Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises
Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles
Chad Kimball, Memphis
Sahr Ngaujah, Fela!

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Kate Baldwin, Finian’s Rainbow
Montego Glover, Memphis
Christiane Noll, Ragtime
Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture
Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

David Alan Grier, Race
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Fences
Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts
Stephen Kunken, Enron
Eddie Redmayne, Red

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Maria Dizzia, In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play
Rosemary Harris, The Royal Family
Jessica Hecht, A View from the Bridge
Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge
Jan Maxwell, Lend Me a Tenor

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

Kevin Chamberlin, The Addams Family
Robin De Jesús, La Cage aux Folles
Christopher Fitzgerald, Finian’s Rainbow
Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet
Bobby Steggert, Ragtime

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Barbara Cook, Sondheim on Sondheim
Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises
Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music
Karine Plantadit, Come Fly Away
Lillias White, Fela!

Best Scenic Design of a Play

John Lee Beatty, The Royal Family
Alexander Dodge, Present Laughter
Santo Loquasto, Fences
Christopher Oram, Red

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Marina Draghici, Fela!
Christine Jones, American Idiot
Derek McLane, Ragtime
Tim Shortall, La Cage aux Folles

Best Costume Design of a Play

Martin Pakledinaz, Lend Me a Tenor
Constanza Romero, Fences
David Zinn, In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play
Catherine Zuber, The Royal Family

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Marina Draghici, Fela!
Santo Loquasto, Ragtime
Paul Tazewell, Memphis
Matthew Wright, La Cage aux Folles

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Neil Austin, Hamlet
Neil Austin, Red
Mark Henderson, Enron
Brian MacDevitt, Fences

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, American Idiot
Donald Holder, Ragtime
Nick Richings, La Cage aux Folles
Robert Wierzel, Fela!

Best Sound Design of a Play

Acme Sound Partners, Fences
Adam Cork, Enron
Adam Cork, Red
Scott Lehrer, A View from the Bridge

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Jonathan Deans, La Cage aux Folles
Robert Kaplowitz, Fela!
Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen, A Little Night Music
Dan Moses Schreier, Sondheim on Sondheim

Best Direction of a Play

Michael Grandage, Red
Sheryl Kaller, Next Fall
Kenny Leon, Fences
Gregory Mosher, A View from the Bridge

Best Direction of a Musical

Christopher Ashley, Memphis
Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Ragtime
Terry Johnson, La Cage aux Folles
Bill T. Jones, Fela!

Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, Promises, Promises
Bill T. Jones, Fela!
Lynne Page, La Cage aux Folles
Twyla Tharp, Come Fly Away

Best Orchestrations

Jason Carr, La Cage aux Folles
Aaron Johnson, Fela!
Jonathan Tunick, Promises, Promises

Daryl Waters & David Bryan, Memphis

*     *     *

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

Alan Ayckbourn

Marian Seldes

Regional Theatre Tony Award

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford, Connecticut

Isabelle Stevenson Award

David Hyde Pierce

Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre

Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York

B.H. Barry

Tom Viola

Tony Nominations by Production

Fela! – 11

La Cage aux Folles – 11

Fences – 10

Memphis – 8

Ragtime – 7

Red – 7

A View from the Bridge – 6

The Royal Family – 5

Enron – 4

A Little Night Music – 4

Promises, Promises – 4

American Idiot – 3

Finian’s Rainbow – 3

In the Next Room – 3

Lend Me a Tenor – 3

Million Dollar Quartet – 3

The Addams Family – 2

Come Fly Away – 2

Everyday Rapture – 2

Hamlet – 2

Next Fall – 2

Sondheim on Sondheim – 2

Time Stands Still – 2

A Behanding in Spokane – 1

Collected Stories – 1

Looped – 1

Present Laughter – 1

Race – 1

Superior Donuts – 1

www.TonyAwards.com

Depending on the age of students you are taking to the theatre, offensive language can sometimes be a concern. The F word is very common in the theatre these days, but I wonder if readers of The Drama Teacher have noticed as I have in recent years the increasing acceptance of the C word in contemporary theatre?

On occasions, nudity is another issue, but thankfully not that common. Of course, it all depends what shows one attends. In my experience, genuine displays of violence are rare in mainstream theatre, most likely because the special effects of film do not always translate to the live theatre stage.

At first glance, adult themes in theatre shows may not appear unsuitable or offensive for teenage drama students. Sometimes these themes are displayed indirectly, with offensive action occurring offstage (as in Greek and Roman theatre) and merely referred to on stage. But recently I saw a mainstream contemporary play with the themes of adultery, (unkowing) incest and murder in the plot. The makings of a great tragedy are also sometimes too much too for teenage audience members to handle comfortably.

While no one would deny the responsibility of ensuring the suitability of shows school students attend rests with the teacher, it also lies with the theatre companies themselves. Notices of suitability should be advertised on theatre company websites and in communications with teachers in the case of school group bookings. But shouldn’t general suitability information regarding plays in a theatre company’s season be on the main pages of their website, as well? This is sometimes, but not always, the case.

So why the absence of industry standards for live theatre suitability? While films are released to government classification authorities in advance of general release, the same may prove difficult for live theatre shows.

If the public believe ratings for theatre shows is necessary, then they should be implemented. Guidelines can be borrowed from existing examples for film and television, such as language, violence, adult themes and nudity warnings. Perhaps age suitability needs introducing also?

In the words of one of my students, “If video games have advisory warnings for adult content, then why can’t live theatre shows have the same?

So from Day 1 of my Drama teaching career, I have always instilled those values in my students when we go to the theatre. I make no apologies or excuses for it and in the hundreds of theatre shows I have taken students to over the years, I have probably only been embarrassed by my students’ behaviour a couple of times.

For me, it’s all about respect. Let’s face it, buying a ticket to the theatre these days isn’t cheap. People have paid good money to sit in the theatre and they deserve the right to enjoy the show without interruptions.

To this end, I have always avoided “student matinees” and wherever possible I go to the theatre with my students at night. I usually find the behaviour of adults in the audience something my own students can learn from. Plus, it’s great to see regular adult theatre-goers pleasantly surprised at the end of a show by the good behaviour of students around them.

Apart from not putting your feet on seats, chewing gum, talking during the show, having your mobile phone on or listening to your Ipod, my biggest beef is eating during a theatre show. I have no problem with people munching quietly away, but I do have issues with their food wrappers!

So, why oh why (in Australia at least) do we allow food and drinks to be taken into the theatre for the blockbuster stage musicals like Wicked, Jersey Boys and the like? What sort of message are we sending to the general public about proper theatre etiquette when we allow potato crisp wrappers, ice cream wrappers and lolly/candy wrappers to be the cause of constant noise in the audience?

I understand the big stage musicals are not always aimed at the astute theatre-goer. It’s theatre for the masses and along with that comes many people who have never been to a theatre show before. I’m sure this is something we all encourage in the theatre industry worldwide, but these are the very people we should be sending the right message to about theatre etiquette, surely?

My experience of Billy Elliot was ruined last year by the noise of food wrappers and people in the audience talking all around me. My experience of a Cats revival was also ruined a few weeks ago by a 6 year-old girl jumping up and down in front of me and wriggling in her seat most of the show (umm … perhaps going to a matinee performance may have been a better idea for someone so young attending a 3-hour show). As soon as I blocked this out, her parents leaned over to each other and talked every two minutes. But that was nothing compared to the man behind me who decided the back of my seat needed a good kicking every time he changed crossing his legs!

Adding weight to my complaint is that most of these problems occur at shows we are asked to pay twice the price for. The average international musical here in Melbourne is around A$120, but you can easily pay A$160 for the good seats in the stalls. Why would I want to pay this sort of price for my theatre experience to be ruined by those around me talking through the show and making noise with their food wrappers? And why do we allow food and beverages into the auditoriums of large-scale musicals, while it is banned from regular mainstream theatre shows and venues, elsewhere?

The first rule I give all my Drama students attending the theatre for the first time, no matter what their age, is that the theatre is not the cinema. For starters, it is rarely as loud as the movies and is often deadly quiet in parts, demanding absolute silence in the audience. We don’t eat, don’t talk, don’t put our feet on seats in front of us and don’t play on our mobile phones during a theatre show. Put simply, we don’t distract those around us in the audience while watching a theatre performance. If the show is intimate, talking members of the audience can also distract the actors on stage. Unlike the movies that are cut up on an editing board and distributed on a reel to cinemas across the world, the theatre is a living art and demands a higher respect from those watching it.

Someone needs to remind the promoters and venue managers hosting blockbuster international stage musicals that when we pay $120+ for a ticket, we don’t expect food in the auditorium, the noise that goes with it or audience members talking throughout the show. Here’s a thought – how about a few points explaining proper theatre etiquette on the website at time of purchase and inside the envelope accompanying theatre tickets that get sent out in the mail? Most theatre companies have been doing this for some years in Melbourne for teachers to prepare their students for theatre shows (and I’m sure there are many examples in other cities and countries as well), but the general adult public needs this information, too.

I can’t recall whether food and beverages are allowed into the auditorium for Broadway shows? I’d love to know from anyone out there reading this post.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m just an old hag whinging about this topic. But then again, if we don’t protest, nothing is going to change for the better in the future.