I clicked on this thread out of curiosity and read the tale of woe from the student director.
And then I read the first response from Joe(isn't there anything this guy hasn't done)Nation who said pretty much all that needed to be said about where the fault lay.
But I read on and was amazed to see the usual gang responding. I guess I am not surprised. -realjohn(20 years in community theatre)boy.
PS I wished I had learned to sing, johnboy said once. The response was that you either have a voice for singing that you are born with, or you do not. You can't learn to sing, I was told. Forget Bob Dylan. I am taling about singing in a musical. Can you learn to sing, or is it an either you have it or you don't thing?
I saw an article just this week about learning to sing, as there are now some sort of not-so-great-at-singing group things now.
No link...
Musical theater doesn't require singing. You just need a large enough bucket to carry a tune.
I have been told that anyone can learn to sing. (That's what they told me BEFORE I started taking lessons.)
Monotone mamma here. I shut up in the shower so as not to irritate myself.
There was a recent article about how singing is great for your metabolism, endorphins, etc.
Luckily, it also mentioned that hearing music was pretty good too...
I bet RJB can carry a tune, just needs lessons, whereas, I could make him run out and slam the door with an attempt at singing a Beatles song.
But wait, that article, sorry, no source, did make me wonder. I think I've been somewhat affected culturally by not getting how to sing (as a very only child with non singing parents, or mostly non singing) and no comfort zones in my family or outside my family past that for years. This is my way of saying maybe we all can sing, with some nurturing. Surely not for stage, but just to begin to hit notes.
That was an interesting article, sorry I've no immediate link.
In "The Music Man" I was the bumbling Mayor. No singing required. In "Brigadoon" I was the old guy who explained the once a century appearance of the town. No singing required.. In...well you get the idea.
Once, when I tried out for a musical, the director (a military officer from the JAG school) required everyone to act, sing and dance in the auditions. I could act, but the singing and dancing was dreadful for me to do and probably was more so to anyone who was forced to witness it.
rjb, I would have loved to see you play Mayor Shinn and Mr. Lundie. Both are lovely character roles - and from two of my favorite musicals.
Realjohnboy: Have you seen/heard some of the American Idol auditions?
Some people cannot sing, some people think they can sing and cannot. There's a horrible difference. The second group will try and sing for you. Or at you, it's hard to say what is the correct preposition.
I have a theory that the really bad singers must listen to good singers on their ipods and sing along with the music, but because they can only hear the GOOD singers, and not themselves, they think they sound good, when in fact, they sound like they are screaming or shrieking or both. It's the same for people who sing with their car CD players, they really can't hear what they are producing. When I get them to turn down the volume and listen to themselves, it can be a little shocking.
When I worked for the recording studio (people think I'm kidding when I say I've lived 2000 lives, but I'm not.) one of the office staff wanted to learn how to sing. We listened to her try a song. Everyone rolled their eyes and got very very busy trying to find that very very important thing they were looking for ..... . I said "C'mon." and we went into the sound studio. In there, all you can hear is yourself.
I had her sing that McDonald's jingle--"You deserve a break today, so get out and get away to McDonalds... . It's got everything, big breaks in melody and plenty of places to play around even in that short phrase. She thought I was nuts, but, after singing it soft, singing it loud, singing it like a telegram, singing just like the ad, singing like the finish to a Broadway musical..... she could hear what she sounded like.
Turns out she wanted to sing a song at her wedding.
(Wait for it....Yes!)
Bridge over Troubled Waters.
Why not do an almost impossible song to sing well on your wedding day?
Why not?
She practiced without any background music every lunch hour for the next two months. She sang it quietly, she sang it big, she sang it sweet, she sang it sad, she sang it full of brass, she sang it so the birds at the end of the universe turned to listen.
I wasn't at the wedding but I'm told she told the band to hold back so she could hear herself and that by the time she got to 'sail on silver girl...' the whole place was on it's feet and in tears and hugging one another and at the last "I will ease your mind..." the place exploded in applause.
The band was crying. The groom was crying. The waiters were crying.
She told me later, she thought, "Wow, I hope they don't want to hear something else, all I know is this and the McDonald's song."
Joe(Anyway. So listen. And practice. and practice some more. and listen)Nation
This is starting to get really gay.
I really am not worried about our first performance this Wednesday. I think my actors will pull themselves together. Sure, there are things I could have done differently and I totally admit that. It is a learning experience for just as much as it is for them. Most of them don't even know what a farce is. Well they have some idea now that I have grilled it into them. Luckily in my department the only thing I will be looked at is my choices in blocking and how I set up the scene. If my actors screw up their lines (which they wont cause they have gotten really good) it looks bad on them, not me. I can't memorize thier lines for them, only kick em in the ass if they don't learn them.
Isnt a director some sort of leader? When it goes well, he's only half the reason, when it goes bad hes all of it.
I read this thread more thoroughly. You have gotten, kitkat, some great advice from folks who know from experience what they are talking about.
Comments about how you need to lay down the rules early on about what you expect of your actors and the backstage folks. You need to be mercilously strict in enforcing that.
Parados also commented that, in exchange, the director needs to be "kind" to the actors in thinking out the rehearsal schedule. The failure to do that eventually sucked the enjoyment of community theatre out of me. They were supposed to start at 7 pm and we would dutifully be there but the director was talking with the lighting guy and we wouldn't get started until 7:30. After several repetitions of this, we started showing up at 7:20 and the rehearsal would start at 7:45. It was a downward spiral of folks feeling that the director's lack of organization was wasting our time.
Yes, it is all a learning experience. I hope your faculty understands that and will help you become better at learning how to direct.
Speaking of nightmares or disasters or whatever the title of this is, I was in a play once called Flowers for Algernon. I really wanted the lead role. I really wanted it. But I didn't get it, instead getting a secondary role. I mention that because, as many of yall know, egos in theatre get bruised very easily. Another thing a director has to deal with. The guy who got the role, though, did a fine job. Except for one show...
My character was (my memory of this is very vague) a psychiatrist and I and another character (played by Fred, a retired high-executive with JC Penney) were seated at a table, stage right. We had lines to speak. Stage left was the lead character. And he had lines. Our lines were intertwined but not directed from right to left. The lead actor suddenly skipped ahead with lines from the second act (we were in the first act). Fred-he was a proper British guy- looked at me with terror in his eyes and muttered under his breath: what the fu**.
We stayed in character but it took about 30-seconds of ad-libing to get back to where we were supposed to be. I don't think any of the 500 audience members realized how close they had come to witnessing three actors crash and burn.
Things seem to be coming together well now. I have hustled my way around the many connections I have and was able to get help with the lights that were giving me nightmares. As for my actors, I am really kicking them in the ass and telling them what I expect of them come monday. I think I will see a definate improvement.
kitkat_bar wrote:I really am not worried about our first performance this Wednesday. I think my actors will pull themselves together.
So (tap, tap, tap). How did things go?
The show is great. My actors are phenomenal. The only issue is the time. We are going over the 45minutes by a few minutes. I find this the most frustrating thing of all. The time limit is the most stupidest thing I have ever come across. The class (technically the showcase plays are listed as a class) is from 12:00-12:50 but the next class in that room doesn't start until 1:00pm. They open the doors to let people in just before 12 and then there are student reps that go up and make some announcments. The announcements are usually stupid and pretty much just take up five minutes of time I could be utilizing. The play is running around 50 minutes. If I open the doors early and we skip the announcements, thats 10 minutes left over that kids can clear out and go to their next classes. The only reason it is 45 min is so the student reps can say their stupid announcements. Other than that, we had our first showing yesturday. Everyone knew that the play was going to start at 11:00. At 11, my stage manager came to me and said we were going to start. She turned off the lights and I got up to say a small speech about thanking everyone for comming to support us and blah blah blah..then a few minutes after that we started the show. About five minutes into the show one of the student reps walk in to see it. Of all the places he could have walked in....he walked in at a part where there cannot be any light.
During the show, two people walked out. Then a couple of minutes later one came back in. Very rude. Then after the show the student rep walked in and was pissed that I didn't wait for him to start the show. I told him we started right at eleven even though he told me that he thought he was there at 11 (which couldn't have been the case because we spent at least 10 minutes with my speech and then the five minutes into the play that he arrived).
Who are student reps and what kind of annoucements do they make that strike you as stupid, and they get angry about if they don't get to make them? And how long was your welcome? 10 minutes? um....egos on parade?
Nother definition of theater, that!
(My ex, still friend, is directing/writing a series of plays where he casts some folks who are local people of 'position' to do certain parts. It's a kick...)
