Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Eenie Meanie Miney Moe: How Does LOGON Pick a Show?

The perfect show for LOGON to do would include:  a large cast, great music (including at least one or two Great Hits), high name recognition, roles for actors and actresses across a wide range of ages, a limited number of sets, dancing but not the sort that requires the Bolshoi Ballet, and a family-friendly story.  

Shows such as Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma!, Oliver!, Pajama Game, The Music Man, Carousel, Singin' In the Rain, My Fair Lady - all those great shows that LOGON has already done.  

Now is the time to start thinking about what we'll be doing after our 2014 production of "Man of La Mancha".  No, not sleeping for days and then making Pesach - well, we'll do that too - what i meant was, which show to present in 2015.  


Why don't they just do CATS and be done with it?

Many, many shows have been proposed.  A random selection:  Grease, Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd, Showboat, West Side Story, Flower Drum Song, Paint Your Wagon, Brigadoon, Camelot, Hair, The Rothchilds, Me & My Gal, Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, The Wizard of Oz, Bye Bye Birdie, Sunday in the Park with George .... the list goes on and on.



I can just see LOGON putting on "Hair"

The more we try to come up with good new ideas, the more creative we get.  How about a local version of "Chicago" - we could call it "Beer Sheva", and Roxie can be in jail for ... stealing camels?  We could combine two shows - what do you get if you cross "Fiddler" with "Cats"? "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", right?  But that's not a musical, too bad.

Some of us loyal members of LOGON are, shall we say, past our first bloom..... which would require modifications of some plays.  GREASE - The 40th CLASS REUNION, anyone?  "West Side Retirement Home Story"?

SO!  Here's where you come in, faithful readers.  Please, please tell us what show(s) you would like to see LOGON perform!  What shows would you come to see? Which shows would you be interested in performing?  Could be something we've done before (Gilbert & Sullivan, anyone?), maybe something from the list above, or some fresh new idea.  All suggestions welcome, we'll worry about whether or not rights are available, and whether or not it's a good 'fit' for LOGON.  

This is your chance!  Make a wish - what would you like to see, or even perform in? - and who knows, it could happen..... The Rocky Horror Show..... Milk & Honey...... the mind boggles.......

Leave your comments below, or send an email to me via negevlightopera@gmail.com

That's it for now, time to go practice my flamenco dancing.


Hasta Luego!


flamenco image from blog.awsumgal.com

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Rehearsing the Scene

There are different types of rehearsals.  Sometimes just the main characters (principals) rehearse their lines and interactions. Sometimes the entire chorus works on learning where they are supposed to be,  how they are supposed to react to the principals,  when to move, etc. The real fun starts when these two elements are combined, and the principals and chorus TOGETHER try to run the scene.  The first few times can be ..... interesting. 


Stage left, people, stage left!

Here's a sample, which might have been based on the rehearsal last week but of course is COMPLETELY FICTIONAL, and any resemblance to any actual person or event is simply a coincidence.   

Let's say that the following is written in the script:

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. [chorus waves hello]
All:  Hello Mrs. Smith, hello, hello.
Mother:  Here are some cookies. Please have some cookies.  [passes around plate of cookies]
Jane:  Thank you mother.
All:  Thank you Mrs. Smith.  Yum yum, what good cookies.

Director:  OK, ok.  Dick and Jane are here, Mother is here, chorus - you come in from that way.  Let's try it, ok.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
[chorus waves hello]

No, no, not yet.  Wait.  We try again.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello
[chorus waves hello]

No,  not yet.  Wait for the Mother to say hello.  Go back out and come in again.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello

Where is the chorus?  Chorus, you supposed to come in right away. We try again.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane.
[chorus waves hello]
Mother:  Yes, I see you too, but could you wait til I say hello first?

Chorus goes out. Chorus comes back.  

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. 
[chorus waves hello]

Good!  And when you wave, remember, you all say 'hello Mrs Smith, hello hello".

Chorus member:  How many times do we say hello?
Three, you say hello three times.  OK, we try again.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello ---- 
[chorus shouts "HELLO HELLO HELLO, waves hello]

That's good, that's ok, but you wait for mother to say hello to you.

Prompter:  Hello Mrs Smith hello hello
Mother:  Hello Prompter  (company laughs)

Ok, we try again. Go.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. [chorus waves hello]
All:  Hello Mrs. Smith, hello, hello.  Yum yum, what good cookies.

Nobody gives you cookies yet!  Props, do we have cookies now?
(The intrepid Props Lady brings on a big plate of "cookies".  Everyone is impressed)
Chorus member:  Do we actually, like, eat a cookie?
Props Lady:  You do not!

Ok, from the beginning. Go.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. [chorus waves hello]
All:  Hello hello hello Mrs. Smith, hello, hello.

Prompter:  Hello Mrs Smith hello hello

Mother:  Here are some cookies. Where are the cookies?  How do I get the cookies? Who gives them to me?

You bring them on with you.  Let's try again.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. [chorus waves hello] 

Not yet, you wave when Mrs Smith says hello to you and you say hello back.

Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. 
All:  Hello hello hello  Mrs. Smith, hello, hello hello. [chorus waves hello] 

Prompter:  Hello Mrs Smith hello hello

All:  Hello hello hello  Mrs. Smith, hello, hello hello hello hello.

And wave!  

[chorus waves hello]

Mother:  Here are some cookies. Please have some cookies.  [passes around plate of cookies]
Jane:  Thank you mother.
All:  Thank you Mrs. Smith.  [chorus waves hello]

Prompter: Yum yum what good cookies.

Chorus member:  But we haven't tasted the cookies yet!

After you taste the cookies, then you say 'yum yum'.  Ok, good, we take it from the beginning. Go.

Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. Dick:  Hello Jane, hello, hello.
Jane:  Hello Dick, hello.  [chorus waves hello]
Mother: I see Dick and Jane. They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. 
All:  Hello Mrs. Smith, hello, hello. Yum yum, what good cookies. 
Mother:  Here are some cookies. Please have some cookies.  [passes around plate of cookies]
Jane:  Thank you mother.
All:  Thank you Mrs. Smith. Hello hello hello.  [chorus waves hello again] Yum yum, what good cookies.They have many friends. Hello Dick, hello Jane, hello friends. [chorus waves hello]
All:  Hello Mrs. Smith, hello, hello.
Mother:  Here are - where are the cookies?  Give me the plate.  Here are some cookies. Please have some cookies.  [passes around plate of cookies] [Chorus drops plate of cookies. Props lady turns pale, sits down]
Jane:  Thank you mother.
All:  Thank you Mrs. Smith.  Yum yum, what good cookies. [chorus waves hello]
Dick:  Do I have a cookie, too?  Do I say thank you?   What is my motivation for taking a cookie?
[chorus waves hello]

I think we take a break now.  We do it again after the break.  Ok, break now!




By now we all need a cup of coffee. Break, yay! 


After the break, we will start all over again, because somehow drinking coffee seems to erase all short-term memories.



Wednesday, November 6, 2013

It's Complicated - Part III

Continuing the story of Sir Ulrich and his courtly love:

In his next adventure, Sir Ulrich manages to out-Quixote Don Quixote - by embarking on a jousting quest from Venice to Bohemia, while dressed as Venus, in one of a dozen custom-made white gowns.          
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                






From which we learn that cross-dressing was a 'thing' back in 1227. And have we mentioned yet that good Sir Ulrich was married?                

Anyway, let us continue:

"Having completed his epochal feat [see above] of love service, Ulrich waited for his reward, and at long last it came:  the [Lady] sent word that he might visit her.  Yet he was to expect no warm welcome; she specified that he must come in the disguise of a leper and and take his place among the lepers who would be visiting her to beg for alms. But of course this monstrous indignity fazed the faithful Ulrich not in the least. Nor did he falter when she knowingly let him, disguised in his rags, spend that night in a ditch in the rain. Nor was he outraged when, the next night, he was finally allowed to climb a rope up the castle wall to her chamber, only to find it lit by a hundred tapers [candles] and staffed by eight maids-in-waiting who hovered about her where she lay in bed."

But fear not!  This blog stays PG, since, after all,

"... [S]exual outlet was not really the point of all this. Ulrich had not been laboring nearly 15 years for so ordinary a commodity; his real reward had always been in his suffering, striving, and yearning."


And that, dear reader, brings us to the conclusion of Sir Ulrich's adventures, or at least as much as you're going to find here.  Remember that this story only predates Cervantes' "Man of La Mancha" by about 300 years!  The chivalry that Cervantes was making fun of had almost - but not quite - died out by then.  In the novel, Aldonza is not a kitchen slut, but simply a local farm girl with whom Don Quixote has never actually spoken.  Transforming her into a prostitute only sharpens the satire, while staying loyal to the spirit of the novel.  Think of it as "The Onion Does 'Don Quixote'".   So now do you understand the relationship between Don Quixote and Dulcinea/Aldonza?  Oh well, it's complicated.  See? There's a Facebook status for everything.


Source:   abridged from The Natural History of Love by Morton M. Hunt (New York: Knopf, 1959), pp 133-138, as presented in Sociology: a text with adapted readings by L. Broom & P. Selznick (New York: Harper & Row, 5th ed 1973) pp 331-333.

photos courtesy of http://www.alfredangelo.com