| re: "A musical with no singing" |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 11:16 am EDT 03/29/21 |
| In reply to: "A musical with no singing" - reed23 03:16 am EDT 03/29/21 |
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Thank you for writing the post I wanted to write, and better than I would have done it!
Contact opened shortly before I moved to NYC and began my career in theatre. So I saw it as a tourist on one of my annual trips. It was hands down the best show we saw on our trip that year. It never once occured to me that there was anything wrong with it being outside the box in terms of its storytelling through dance and use of pre-recorded music. Perhaps I would have seen it differently as an "insider" if I had been living in New York and in the biz by then. Perhaps musicians were feeling a squeeze that I wasn't yet aware of, and I want to acknowledge that perspective.
I also think it's important to note that Stroman, Weidman, and Lincoln Center were not trying to eliminate live music or singing from musicals. I could understand the disdain if Contact had opened the door to a spate of future shows that followed its example. But it did not. Contact is an extreme outlier. In fact, we all know that Lincoln Center has famously supported larger orchestras than pretty much anywhere else on Broadway for several of its shows.
Would people have been happier if the creators and producers just threw their hands up and removed the show from the awards circuit because it didn't fit neatly in the existing categories? I can't blame them for wanting to be in the mix with all of that. It was a unique moment. |
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re: "Swan Lake" was not eligible for Best Musical because it existed as a piece for the stage before - Chazwaza 08:21 pm EDT 03/29/21 |
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re: "A musical with no singing" - Ann 12:19 pm EDT 03/29/21 |
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