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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 11:50 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:31 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - BroadwayTonyJ 10:18 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| Don't worry I know that we are both just working with anecdotal observation and personal intake/memory of that intake of this kind of info. I was definitely speaking mainly about the last 5-10 years, not since 1989, ha. I will say that Assassins seems to be done by nearly every community theater (at least the ones who don't cater to kids and families primarily), and every college (be it a MainStage or a student production), and I seeing casting notices or ads for productions regularly. The hot button topic and the small cast, evenly split in gender, that doesn't require extraordinary singing ability, doesn't use choreography (more what I'd call musical staging), doesn't inherently present a design challenge for sets or costumes, is small and intimate and buzz worthy... has made Assassins extremely popular to produce as far as the shows you wouldn't expect to be popular go (I'm sure it doesn't compare to Seussical or Addams Family or Sound of Music... or even Into the Woods, but it seems to be very firmly in the national theater repertoire now, especially since the 2004 revival -- but we've also had 2 major NYC revivals since the 2004 Broadway, one of which even garnered a cast album). I think for any given person like me who feels like he sees Merrily produced regularly but not ALNM, there's a person like you who has seen the opposite trend. But I think ITW, Sweeney, and Company and in the top 5 without question, and Assassins is very popular - whether it makes top 5 against ALNM and Sunday I don't know. I bet ALNM had a surge after the revival, and then a dip, and I bet it will see a surge now with Sondheim's passing. In the Los Angeles area alone there was already one ALNM production this season (which I hated) and there's a high profile production of it coming up at Pasadena Playhouse in the Spring. That's already double the frequency I'm used to for this show. |
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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Posted by: WWriter 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - Chazwaza 11:31 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| Assassins evenly split in gender? 8 main men to 2 main women? I'm confused | |
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| my bad | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 04:56 pm EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - WWriter 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| Sorry I don't know why I said that, I know it's not. Ha. But it has an ensemble that includes women, so it's not just 2 women. But yes, it's not evenly split. However it has character roles for all of the men (except perhaps the desire to cast a more leading man type as Wilkes), so I think it offers flexibility and opportunity for a lot of male actors in any given area for a regional/community or school production, which can be helpful for casting effectively when doing a musical in those venues. |
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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Posted by: bmc 11:23 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - WWriter 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| I attended an undergrad performance of ASSASSINS in which as female student was cast as the Balladeer so they could another girl in the cast | |
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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 01:25 pm EDT 08/27/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - bmc 11:23 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| I saw a collegeAssassins years ago that cast a female Proprietor. But she was very much a "soprano" and the music sounded awful in her voice up there. No sense of "bite" that you'd potentially get with a lower voice. I think if you're going to cast like that, you HAVE to find a way to transpose the music so it keeps a "talkier" feel. | |
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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 12:04 am EDT 08/27/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - bmc 11:23 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| That's still a relatively unbalanced gender split. And then the ensemble is 5 men (if we count the Proprietor) and 2 women. | |
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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 08:40 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - Chazwaza 11:31 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| [Assassins]...doesn't require extraordinary singing ability Ok, that got to me. As a music director who's done 3 productions of Assassins, I respectfully have to ask, what the hell are you talking about? :-) |
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| re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 04:54 pm EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: re: is it possible Merrily is in Sondheim's top 5 most produced shows? - Chromolume 08:40 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| I stand very much by this statement... and I am also quite intimately familiar with it. While it benefits from excellent and/or very skilled singers, it is not required for the score to be pulled off effectively the way Sunday, Passion, and Sweeney are, for example. |
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