21/30 Don't modulate the key then not debate with me!
mr. muse and I are back from a few lovely days away in New York, filled with food, sleep, and theater. It is crazy that being in midtown Manhattan is less chaotic than being at home right now, but it was an escape for all of us. The museling got to spend a few wonderful days with his grandparents, and we got to recharge away from contractors. Aah.
We saw three shows in two days: Fiddler on the Roof, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Hamilton.
Fiddler was very nicely done, with spare scenery and moments of wonderful humor and humanity even within the difficult points of the story. The audience was very moved; I was in tears at the end. This Tevye was just the right mix of good humor and deep feeling. The only thing that kept throwing me out of the story was that I couldn't place the woman who played Golde, which kept nudging at me during the first act. It turns out she played Ross's ex-wife's partner on Friends. Mystery solved!
Curious Incident is a play whose main character is autistic, and it is brilliantly staged to show the particular (and different from neurotypical) way his mind works. We as the audience are both watching him and are inside of him. The stage is a black box with a grid, which looks simple but is incredibly complex with lights, projections, and so forth. Pieces open and close, Christopher draws on the walls and floor, and the floor opens. Christopher's experience of London takes him up onto the walls (being held up by other actors as he walks) and down below the stage. Lights and basic moving pieces bring his mind to life in truly complex and thought-provoking ways.
I believe I read that this show was developed within a workshop, and it feels that way. It is a complete piece, but it feels like a lot of creative minds worked together to explore lots of different ways to think outside the narrative box and show just how differently his mind works. They didn't just try one thing but played with lots of different ideas, allowing for such incredibly complex explorations of the mind. I was very impressed.
And then there was Hamilton. We were sitting fourth row orchestra center, right in the middle. Everyone around us was looking for celebrities, which was kind of hilarious. As it turns out, Secretary of State John Kerry was a few rows behind us. Geoffrey Rush was one row behind us. Secret Service were everywhere; as you may remember we saw The Audience with the Clintons last year, so apparently the Secret Service get some nice theater experiences for protecting the people they do! ;)
I know it sounds silly, but since I went in knowing the music and the plot of Hamilton, and given that 99% of the show is on the cast album, I expected to enjoy the performances and staging but didn't think I'd be surprised by them. I was so wrong. I was blown away.
There is so much acting in the music, more than comes across in the album. Their faces and voices were heartbreaking. Watching a tear slide down Burr's face at the end, watching Jefferson mug directly to the audience, watching Madison be shockingly funny, watching Hamilton's body language change throughout the show... it all added so much to the music. I mean, yes, obviously it is a play first, not just an album, but the layers that the actors added to the music even before I talk about the staging made for such a more intense performance for me personally than I thought I would have. I had tears running down my face pretty much the entire second half of act two; it was actually encouraging to me that more than one cast member was still crying during curtain call because of their character's emotions.
Obviously the whole cast was great. There is so much physical humor in the King and in Laurens and Jefferson. All three Schuyler sisters owned the stage. The shift between Mulligan and Madison played by the same actor was beyond impressive. Washington blew me the fuck away; he was magnificent in voice and in character, so full of strength and depth. Hamilton's face broke my heart into a million pieces. We could see the characters age before our eyes. Burr, my personal favorite, was a study in nuance and subtle, brilliant shifts. I could watch "The Room Where it Happens" a million times over, and not just because it is my favorite song and he sang a few lines of it directly into my eyes.
I don't even know how to talk about the staging. The dancing was wonderful: complex, energetic, creative, and emotive. The use of small bits of scenery and props to create new rooms and thoughts was beautifully done. I loved the way actors were up on the upper level a lot even when they weren't in the scenes, and I loved how there were places where the characters were interacting directly with the audience. I would love to be able to see it again to be able to breathe through it all and watch more of the background action, because there was so much I just couldn't take in when I was laser-focused on not missing what the main characters were doing. It was so complex and layered. I loved it. I loved it.
It is also so different seeing it with a live audience, where there is cheering and banter going on, little nods to the people watching. The audience clearly knew the show and cheered not only the entrance of the main actors but certain lines I don't think the average theater-goer would care about ("Hercules Mulligan!").
Anyway, I loved it. I knew I would, but I feel more surprised and transformed by it than I had expected. I feel energized by creativity, by what we can do, by how we can transform what is in our minds into something far greater. It was a wonderful trip to see three shows that fed me and excited me so well.
We saw three shows in two days: Fiddler on the Roof, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Hamilton.
Fiddler was very nicely done, with spare scenery and moments of wonderful humor and humanity even within the difficult points of the story. The audience was very moved; I was in tears at the end. This Tevye was just the right mix of good humor and deep feeling. The only thing that kept throwing me out of the story was that I couldn't place the woman who played Golde, which kept nudging at me during the first act. It turns out she played Ross's ex-wife's partner on Friends. Mystery solved!
Curious Incident is a play whose main character is autistic, and it is brilliantly staged to show the particular (and different from neurotypical) way his mind works. We as the audience are both watching him and are inside of him. The stage is a black box with a grid, which looks simple but is incredibly complex with lights, projections, and so forth. Pieces open and close, Christopher draws on the walls and floor, and the floor opens. Christopher's experience of London takes him up onto the walls (being held up by other actors as he walks) and down below the stage. Lights and basic moving pieces bring his mind to life in truly complex and thought-provoking ways.
I believe I read that this show was developed within a workshop, and it feels that way. It is a complete piece, but it feels like a lot of creative minds worked together to explore lots of different ways to think outside the narrative box and show just how differently his mind works. They didn't just try one thing but played with lots of different ideas, allowing for such incredibly complex explorations of the mind. I was very impressed.
And then there was Hamilton. We were sitting fourth row orchestra center, right in the middle. Everyone around us was looking for celebrities, which was kind of hilarious. As it turns out, Secretary of State John Kerry was a few rows behind us. Geoffrey Rush was one row behind us. Secret Service were everywhere; as you may remember we saw The Audience with the Clintons last year, so apparently the Secret Service get some nice theater experiences for protecting the people they do! ;)
I know it sounds silly, but since I went in knowing the music and the plot of Hamilton, and given that 99% of the show is on the cast album, I expected to enjoy the performances and staging but didn't think I'd be surprised by them. I was so wrong. I was blown away.
There is so much acting in the music, more than comes across in the album. Their faces and voices were heartbreaking. Watching a tear slide down Burr's face at the end, watching Jefferson mug directly to the audience, watching Madison be shockingly funny, watching Hamilton's body language change throughout the show... it all added so much to the music. I mean, yes, obviously it is a play first, not just an album, but the layers that the actors added to the music even before I talk about the staging made for such a more intense performance for me personally than I thought I would have. I had tears running down my face pretty much the entire second half of act two; it was actually encouraging to me that more than one cast member was still crying during curtain call because of their character's emotions.
Obviously the whole cast was great. There is so much physical humor in the King and in Laurens and Jefferson. All three Schuyler sisters owned the stage. The shift between Mulligan and Madison played by the same actor was beyond impressive. Washington blew me the fuck away; he was magnificent in voice and in character, so full of strength and depth. Hamilton's face broke my heart into a million pieces. We could see the characters age before our eyes. Burr, my personal favorite, was a study in nuance and subtle, brilliant shifts. I could watch "The Room Where it Happens" a million times over, and not just because it is my favorite song and he sang a few lines of it directly into my eyes.
I don't even know how to talk about the staging. The dancing was wonderful: complex, energetic, creative, and emotive. The use of small bits of scenery and props to create new rooms and thoughts was beautifully done. I loved the way actors were up on the upper level a lot even when they weren't in the scenes, and I loved how there were places where the characters were interacting directly with the audience. I would love to be able to see it again to be able to breathe through it all and watch more of the background action, because there was so much I just couldn't take in when I was laser-focused on not missing what the main characters were doing. It was so complex and layered. I loved it. I loved it.
It is also so different seeing it with a live audience, where there is cheering and banter going on, little nods to the people watching. The audience clearly knew the show and cheered not only the entrance of the main actors but certain lines I don't think the average theater-goer would care about ("Hercules Mulligan!").
Anyway, I loved it. I knew I would, but I feel more surprised and transformed by it than I had expected. I feel energized by creativity, by what we can do, by how we can transform what is in our minds into something far greater. It was a wonderful trip to see three shows that fed me and excited me so well.