| re: Could the original have run longer with bigger star replacements? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:07 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Could the original have run longer with bigger star replacements? - Michael_Portantiere 12:35 pm EDT 06/22/18 | |
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| Couldn't agree more about the comments about a small "intimate" version working better... and never did it annoy me as much as the Ragtime revival, which claiming that stripping away the sets would help us focus on the text, as if the magnificent original staging did anything but compliment and emphasis and showcase the text. It's such a cop-out. Especially for Ragtime which is not at all written to be a small intimate show. I don't know where people think that a set dwarfs a musical to the point of distracting from characters and scenes and story... it makes no sense. The original Ragtime didn't close (after over two years) because the show was lost in the "spectacle" it closed because its producer was a crook. If you want to or need to do a small, more intimately conceived production that's great, but don't make excuses for it as if you're doing the show and audience a favor by finally "trusting" the material. Great shows will be great stripped down or not because the material is strong ... but the smaller productions won't work BECAUSE they are small only. And if there were any shows written to be epic they are Ragtime and Sweeney Todd. Also wanted to add that if Sondheim had meant to write the small intimate scary revenge tale people now claim the show is meant to be, it would have been 90 minutes without an intermission, rather than the 2 and a half hour epic with an intermission. Sondheim knows as well as anyone how an intermission can kill momentum and tension. If he really intended to create that kind of work, that is what he'd have done. To me, nothing about this piece as its written says he meant it that way. Including all of the comedy and commentary on society and religion. |
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| Previous: | re: Could the original have run longer with bigger star replacements? - Michael_Portantiere 12:35 pm EDT 06/22/18 |
| Next: | re: Could the original have run longer with bigger star replacements? - Michael_Portantiere 04:03 pm EDT 06/22/18 |
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