Had a great weekend...
Saw Medea, For those Who Live in Cities and Danse Macabre II again...
All of them were even better the second time.
I was going to write about why each of them seemed better the second time,
but ya know what? I don't feel like it right now...
eh, whatcha gonna do?
Last night I went to Diverseworks and saw a show I'll only get to see once :(
Diverseworks had one of there "Monday Night Footfalls", and this time it was two theatrical pieces...
The first one, Let There Be Water by Eleanor Colvin, was powerful. Good strong language, and a good strong performance.
The second show was the one I was there for though. Gypsy Baby. Lindsay Kayser's the movement in the bed on the brink of awake or asleep and how it’s all worked out with threadcount . If any of you saw Trappakeepa and Girth at The Axiom a while back then you know why. Lindsay is an absolute wonder with language. I don't have the words to tell you how amazing her words are. It's true. And with the other incredibly talented (and grrrgeous) Gypsy Babies bringing her words and images to life I knew I was in for quite a treat...and then they went and added live music from IBP's on Tony Barilla (he and Lindsay are writing an opera together, and as much as the concept of opera normally makes me cringe, I'm terribly excited by the prospect of this one). I could rave about this piece and the ways it worked, but you'll most likely never get to see it, at least not like this. Lyndsay is moving to Houston to work on the opera, and Gypsy Baby are going their separate ways for now...
bottom line, if you weren't at DiverseWorks last night you REALLY missed out.
Tonight I have Kama Sutra rehearsal, tomorrow Mathletes practice, Thuersday is Kama Sutra again...Friday I'll try to hit Stages for The Mineoala Twins or try to see Theater Collide's newest production of which all details escape me right now...
Saturday is closing night for Medea, so I'll go see it one last time (it really is that good folks, if you don't go then you'll never know...)
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9 comments:
Indeed, gypsy baby is the real deal. It's cool you see shows you like more than once. I would be interested in hearing why you liked them better the second time. Looking forward to your MU debut. -jmillah
A couple of things...
seeing a show twice let's you watch how a show grows over it's run...little things...
it also helps me relate to shows more on their own terms...
that was the biggie with DMII...
I came in with expectations from the first one, and so I didn't always know what to make of the new one...seeing it a second time, knowing what to expect allowed me just to get lost in the show, it's aesthetics, etc...really take it for what it is, not what it is compared to something I think it should be...
With Medea it was easy (I'll be seeing it again closing night)...
Second time I watched it from the back...got a much better picture of the dancers, and how the dance worked in the piece as a whole...
plus just took in some of the other amazing pictures on the stage...
I wanted to see Thirst/The Necklace again too...wanted to sit on the other side of the room and see how that compared...I really thought Karina did a great job of using the space, and I would have liked to see if sitting somewhere else confirmed that...
I think the Dos Chicas show got stronger from opening weekend...
I dug it the first time, but some of the performances REALLY impressed me the second time...
I'm no critic.
I don't take notes or anything...
So all I can do is compare the experience the second time to what I remember the experience being the first time...but I think maybe doing the show in front of an audience helped them tighten it a little and maybe helped the rhythm...
like I said, I could be TOTALLY wrong about that...
but there was something about the second watching of Cities that turned me on in ways the first one didn't...
IBP's got me spoiled...
I see every show they do multiple times, and I always get things out of them I didn't the first time, or second, or third (I must've seen "we have some planes" 7 or 8 times)
After a few years of being involved in theatre I'm trying to really take the whole thing seriously and study it...
Going to shows and seeing what I like, what works, what doesn't is about all I can do in the way of self-training...
the ultimate goal is staging my own show, but I am likely years away from getting there...
but I am learning...
soaking it all up like a sponge.
I agree..I will only see a show multiple times if I really really like it to begin with, and haven't gotten to do it very much in years. Last one was actually Daniel Adame's "Voyage Mars"...but you know me and modern dance...
You're as much a critic as anyone else. That is to say there are no real theater critics left..they all died out and the were replaced with "reviewers". Reviewers suck and one should not pay attention to them one wit..however good or bad it is. Real theatre critics had vision..they were leaders.
As far as studying goes I would recommend Mamets small treatise "True and False". Mamet may be wrong...but I have never read better practical advice to the actor..in particular for somebody getting started or just getting back into it.
BTW:
"it also helps me relate to shows more on their own terms..."
Yes. That's it exactly I think.
I have too many friends in theatre in this town to be a real critic.
I go into shows looking for things I will like.
I think I learn more that way too.
Not that I'm not learning about things that don't work too sometimes,
but those are easy to see...
even the little ones.
I mean I have all sorts of things I'd do differently, that I think might work better, in almost every show I see (there are exceptions - suchu - gypsy baby - some IBP - and others), but, honestly, who cares? why would anyone? who the fuck am I? I'm a student of all this stuff right now and until I prove I can do it, I don't really have the room to speak, at least not negativly.
I've seen shows that stunk. Who would help for me to say it? Not everyone can make great art. That doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't try. Everyone should try.
The only place for real criticism for me right now is all directed inward. I am (at least I feel like I am) often my own worst critic, and I hope I remain so till the day I die. There was a time I loved everything I did. I'm not so easy to please anymore.
I mean I know that my aesthetic (musically anyway) will always lean towards the sloppy and loose and fast and loud (says a man who includes Willie Nelson's "Stardust" among his favorite records...life is full of contradictions) but there's still ways of doing that which suck and ways of doing that which rock, right? The same is true of free jazz, theatre, or anything...
how's that for a ramble?
hah! not enough...
I feel really bad for anyone who did not see Voyage Mars.
Daniel kicks much ass.
I look for the Mamet this weekend...
if I don't find it I'll order it.
I should go to bed now.
Hey Miller! You wanna play drums on the recording of "Cupid!" for the t10 cd?
"I've seen shows that stunk. Who would help for me to say it? Not everyone can make great art. That doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't try. Everyone should try."
Personally, I'm struggling with exactly this right now. A highly respected friend of ours in Medea feels the best policy is to just shut-up, say "good-show" regardless and move on. And I'm beginning to think she's right and will be adopting this policy I think. I LOVE to talk about the shows, but I don't think I will do it anymore with the people actually doing them unless I am specifically asked to critique the show BEFORE I see it. I don't want to wear a critical hat to the theater I want to enjoy it. Those are two different mindsets completely. I personally WANT to know if somebody got something out of the show and my performance or whether thought it was crap and I want to know why they think they way they do if they can articulate it. This is the way we grow..if we do not talk about these things, the good and the bad, how do we grow? We don't need to get our feelings hurt if some of our friends don't like it and say so. But most of us do. I have been in a conundrum about it for sure.
Did you want me to come jam on Sunday? I just do my 4/4 stuff and have fun so if you want I'll swing by and hit stuff. We can work through this Cupid thing too...and see what you think. See you this weekend brutha.
anytime you wanna sit down and talk real about shows/theory/practice, whatever, I'm down...
I think it would be great if everybody wanted honest appraisals of their work...but I'm pretty sure that's not what drives a lot of folks...
of course everybody will say they do, but that don't mean it's true...
eh, gotta work now...
oh boy!
It's a RARITY that somebody does, I think I am just used to it because I had a college mentor who would put me through the meat grinder and I got better. And you are right, even if they say they do, they really don't. It works both ways though..even people that don't know you won't want to tell you what they really think if they think something is not so hot...people think it is being mean and they want to be pleasant. I only know of one guy in the world right now that I can rely on to tell me straight up what he thinks.
This is why our mutual friend is correct.
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