| Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. | |
| Posted by: | DistantDrumming 06:03 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - MockingbirdGirl 01:00 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| But, I doubt that's going to change. | |
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| re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. | |
| Posted by: | FleetStreetBarber 08:00 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - DistantDrumming 06:03 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| I don't think that the lack of a live audience dictates that the result will be "an odd, sterile affair." There was no live audience for Mary Martin's TV "Peter Pan" or for her telecast of "Annie Get Your Gun", both of which were watched and appreciated by millions of viewers. Same was true of Julie Andrews in "Cinderella," which drew a HUGE audience. | |
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| "Cinderella" was a different story | |
| Posted by: | Greg_M 02:11 pm EST 01/18/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - FleetStreetBarber 08:00 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| "Cinderella" was an original musical written for TV by Rogers and Hammerstein. It was an event, an original R&H show - the others were adaptions and people were at least familiar with the scores. Plus "Cinderella" was aired in Color on the East Coast and that alone would get viewers to tune in who had color sets That's why "Cinderella" drew a huge audience | |
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| re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. | |
| Posted by: | JohnDunlop 07:20 pm EST 01/17/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - FleetStreetBarber 08:00 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| I agree. Mary Martin wrote and talked about her problems getting from stage to stage during commercials in the TV "Annie Get Your Gun." Maybe 60 years later, TV stagehands are able to change the scenery during commercials, or rotate the stage so the theater audience is seeing everything that's happening live. If not, networks could program musicals with very scenery changes. Hopeless, I believe. | |
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| What about a separate audience on each soundstage? | |
| Posted by: | keywslt 01:04 am EST 01/18/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - JohnDunlop 07:20 pm EST 01/17/15 |
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| I'd have been happy to be sitting in the audience watching scenes in the Darling house "live" and watching video screens of Neverland, etc. (for example). It's never hopeless... Until the producers apply "Premium Seating" price tiers. Then all is lost, boys. | |
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| Yeah and if someone were to a produce a sitcom or drama... | |
| Posted by: | DistantDrumming 11:23 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - FleetStreetBarber 08:00 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| ...that resembled one from that era it would look dated and out of place in today's landscape. I truly, honestly appreciate NBC's willingness to take a big risk like this. It's exciting to see them shake things up and to try something new (which, obviously, is actually very old), but in 2015 this type of viewing experience feels so sterile and remote to me. It's so odd to see someone sing a bit showstopper and then there's just nothing. Silence. If you've seen how much they've spent on these last two productions, it would cost just as much to mount a fully staged Broadway quality production with a live audience. As the National Theatre cinema screenings have shown, it is possible to film a production in front of a live audience AND make it engaging on film/video. | |
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| re: Yeah and if someone were to a produce a sitcom or drama... | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 12:01 am EST 01/17/15 |
| In reply to: | Yeah and if someone were to a produce a sitcom or drama... - DistantDrumming 11:23 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| It's so odd to see someone sing a big showstopper and then there's just nothing. Silence. Though if you think about it, that's the same as watching a movie musical at home. You might applaud if you were watching the film with a full audience in a movie theatre, but that's the reaction of the live crowd watching the film, not the reaction of anyone IN the film. But in that case, the applause of the audience in the movie theatre would be sufficient to "fill the gap" that's actually in the movie - applause is applause, no matter where it comes from. If NBC did these as HD film presentations (like the Met or the National Theatre) there might be a spark for applause at the end of songs, even if there wasn't an audience actually on the soundstage. But how many of us tend to applaud the ends of songs in our living rooms, studio audience or not??? | |
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| Well, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of film musicals... | |
| Posted by: | DistantDrumming 03:20 am EST 01/17/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Yeah and if someone were to a produce a sitcom or drama... - Chromolume 12:01 am EST 01/17/15 |
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| ...like Mr. Sondheim (who apparently doesn't mind it when HIS works get adapted), I think the form rarely works in film. But at least in a major (at least, the well made ones) film you have location shots and better production values. Watching a musical on what looks like a daytime soap opera set is just awkward to me. Feels like the life has been sucked out of the thing. Granted, a fantasy set like Peter Pan's works a bit better in this circumstance than a naturalistic set like Sound of Music's. | |
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| re: Well, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of film musicals... | |
| Posted by: | tpdc 12:01 pm EST 01/17/15 |
| In reply to: | Well, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of film musicals... - DistantDrumming 03:20 am EST 01/17/15 |
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| You don't like film musicals or film adaptations of stage musicals? The long success of original film musicals during Hollywood's studio days suggests that film musicals created for the movies can work very well. | |
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| re: Well, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of film musicals... | |
| Posted by: | DistantDrumming 07:20 pm EST 01/17/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Well, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of film musicals... - tpdc 12:01 pm EST 01/17/15 |
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| Both, but stage adaptations are often the most challenging for me. | |
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| re: Yeah and if someone were to a produce a sitcom or drama... | |
| Posted by: | Holland 03:12 am EST 01/17/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Yeah and if someone were to a produce a sitcom or drama... - Chromolume 12:01 am EST 01/17/15 |
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| Just so you know, Chromolume, I just stood up and applauded your post. Just to make a point. | |
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| re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. | |
| Posted by: | simbo 08:38 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - FleetStreetBarber 08:00 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| It would still be somewhat odd. The TV market has changed a lot in 60 years since these shows launched. And certainly live performance when it's seen on TV these days feeds off a live audience in most cases (see also: The Voice, Saturday Night Live, American Idol, any talk show with a live band...) | |
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| re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. | |
| Posted by: | mikem 07:14 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - DistantDrumming 06:03 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| The one circumstance is which it might change is if a family-friendly musical with a big star plays on Broadway (eg, How to Succeed with Daniel Radcliffe). Then they could just film that show, live, with an audience. | |
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| That would require... | |
| Posted by: | MockingbirdGirl 07:50 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Without a live audience, these remain odd, sterile affairs. - mikem 07:14 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| ... either the network to forego commercial breaks -- unlikely, given that its their bread and butter -- or the show to insert them. Better that filming existing live stage shows for television remain the preserve of PBS, IMHO. | |
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| re: That would require... | |
| Posted by: | Singapore/Fling 08:14 pm EST 01/16/15 |
| In reply to: | That would require... - MockingbirdGirl 07:50 pm EST 01/16/15 |
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| If they can do a live stage show every week for "The Voice", they could also do it for "The Wiz". They're just thinking about this the wrong way. | |
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