Musical review
Went to see Little Shop of Horrors in Riihimäki yesterday. It was performed by non professional, so the quality ofsinging and acting was mediocre mostly, but still the show was quite enjoyable and I had very much fun from time to time.
The music was well done. I know the woman behind the arranging and conducting, and she does a marvelous job every time. She really is a find! I hope I get to work with her sometime.
The dancing was... bad... I mean, I don't mind seeing easy dance steps. But easy doesn't have to be boring. Four steps left, four steps right, then four steps to the right again, and surprise, surprise, four steps - you guessed it! - left. Boooring. And since the steps were the same for everyone, I can see why some of the better dancers were kinda frustrated at the same time as some of the boys couldn't even get those right. =_=
The plant! Ooooo~!!! It was magnificently done! And his voice. <3 I didn't know that the freshly crowned Miss Drag Queen 2007 could sing THAT well. The duet between Seymour and Audrey II (the plant) was pure rock'n'roll. Absolutely the best part of the whole show! With Audrey's (the female lead) touching solo "Sowhere That's Green".
One thing that always ticks me when watching musicals in Finland is that when the singing starts, acting usually stops. And then I'm in the audience going "Hello! The things you say in the song are things that your character is saying! Stop performing a song, act it!". But I'm not blaming the actors. I blame the directors for not directing the songs. I mean, songs are mostly monologues, so you can direct them as ones. The only thing different in the long run is that the music shows the timing. Or duets - they're like a normal dialogue in a spoken scene. What is it in te first place that makes people so afraid of the music?!
Often, the music conductor and the choreogrpah both may have some visions about the songs. The person in charge of the music may want more expression, and the person in charge of the movement may want something visual to happen during the song. But often they are afraid of stepping on the director's feet by suggesting things or making bold choices for the songs. But when no one is doing anything to help the actors and their songs maintain the atmosphere... Well... You have people on stage, looking straight forward over the audience and opening their mouth. The audience hears the lyrics, so they can follow the plot (if there is a plot twist during the song), but the performers aren't acting the plot... It's kinda frustrtaing. A play turns into a concert.
But this is just my usual rant about Finland lacking directors that can direct musicals. We don't have them yet since the whole music theater genre is still in baby shoes here. But it's growing all the time, so... We just need to wait. As much as the music theater performers must know their singing, dancing and acting, the directors should know about these three too. I'm not saying that a person should direct all three on stage for one show, but the one person in charge of the show should at least undrstand these three. You can't have three independent artistic minds working for a show. You need one combined mind.
That's my three cents for this issue.
The music was well done. I know the woman behind the arranging and conducting, and she does a marvelous job every time. She really is a find! I hope I get to work with her sometime.
The dancing was... bad... I mean, I don't mind seeing easy dance steps. But easy doesn't have to be boring. Four steps left, four steps right, then four steps to the right again, and surprise, surprise, four steps - you guessed it! - left. Boooring. And since the steps were the same for everyone, I can see why some of the better dancers were kinda frustrated at the same time as some of the boys couldn't even get those right. =_=
The plant! Ooooo~!!! It was magnificently done! And his voice. <3 I didn't know that the freshly crowned Miss Drag Queen 2007 could sing THAT well. The duet between Seymour and Audrey II (the plant) was pure rock'n'roll. Absolutely the best part of the whole show! With Audrey's (the female lead) touching solo "Sowhere That's Green".
One thing that always ticks me when watching musicals in Finland is that when the singing starts, acting usually stops. And then I'm in the audience going "Hello! The things you say in the song are things that your character is saying! Stop performing a song, act it!". But I'm not blaming the actors. I blame the directors for not directing the songs. I mean, songs are mostly monologues, so you can direct them as ones. The only thing different in the long run is that the music shows the timing. Or duets - they're like a normal dialogue in a spoken scene. What is it in te first place that makes people so afraid of the music?!
Often, the music conductor and the choreogrpah both may have some visions about the songs. The person in charge of the music may want more expression, and the person in charge of the movement may want something visual to happen during the song. But often they are afraid of stepping on the director's feet by suggesting things or making bold choices for the songs. But when no one is doing anything to help the actors and their songs maintain the atmosphere... Well... You have people on stage, looking straight forward over the audience and opening their mouth. The audience hears the lyrics, so they can follow the plot (if there is a plot twist during the song), but the performers aren't acting the plot... It's kinda frustrtaing. A play turns into a concert.
But this is just my usual rant about Finland lacking directors that can direct musicals. We don't have them yet since the whole music theater genre is still in baby shoes here. But it's growing all the time, so... We just need to wait. As much as the music theater performers must know their singing, dancing and acting, the directors should know about these three too. I'm not saying that a person should direct all three on stage for one show, but the one person in charge of the show should at least undrstand these three. You can't have three independent artistic minds working for a show. You need one combined mind.
That's my three cents for this issue.