Review and Thoughts: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! (Quest Theatre Ensemble)

Have you ever experienced the feeling of love in relation to (but not limited to): first dates, sex, marriage, parenthood, divorce, or death? If so, great. 1997’s Off-Broadway hit I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! tackles all of these things. Not interesting enough for you? Let me tell you a little bit about how Chicago’s Quest Theatre Ensemble brings it to life.

Firstly, the most notable thing about Quest Theatre Ensemble is that all of their productions are free. Seriously, no tricks. All. Productions. Are. Completely free. Although, at the end of the show, they do ask for give-what-you-can donations. Of course, you by no means are required to this. Because I thoroughly enjoyed the show, I donated $20. I’d recommend giving at least a small dollar amount out of courtesy, but in the end, it’s up to you. No one will force you to pay anything. For theatre lovers, this is incredibly brilliant. We’ve all heard it before: theatre is “elitist” or “for rich people”. This reputation mainly stems from the fact that theatre hasn’t been a traditionally accessible medium. We can all go to a movie theatre and see a film, go to the library and check out a book, but… where do you go for theatre? Quest Theatre Ensemble is aiming to be that place. In the words of a company member after the show, “Once you put a price on a ticket, you’re excluding a lot of people”. And he’s right. No one should be excluded from theatre, even due to price.

For a free show, the quality of Quest’s I Love You is far beyond what you might expect. Now, there are no crazy lighting effects or any local stars with top billing, but that’s the beauty of this production. With a young, twenty-something cast of four, a few chairs and two tables, the vignettes of many different characters in the midst of a struggling relationship are told. Not necessarily all romantic relationships, mind you. A husband only feels at peace and in control in his car, a new dad comes to terms with loving his son, a recently divorced woman learns to love herself again, etc. There’s a situation for everyone. Quest Theatre Ensemble’s version of the show chooses to change some lines and lyrics to fit the location and time period. The mention of fidget spinners, Tinder, Mariano’s, the movie “Frozen”, to name a few examples. This gave the show an added layer of personality, like it was meant just for me in this small little theatre in the basement of a tiny building in Andersonville.

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The environment was a huge factor in my enjoyment of this production, honestly. Think about it. It’s much easier to get sucked into an intimate, sometimes comedic, portrayal of how we view love throughout life in an intimate space rather than a large, 2,000 seat theater where you’re stuck in row J. The theatre for I Love You consisted of about 50 seats (seating is open), and I was lucky enough to snag a front row seat. A connection with the story and music is much more tangible when you can clearly see the emotion and mannerisms of the cast up close.

If you’re looking for a great way to spend two hours. I could not recommend Quest Theatre Ensemble’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Not Change! enough. Mainly because the shows that instill a great sense of magic in you don’t seem all that magical on the outside until you give them a chance.

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Quest Theatre Ensemble’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! runs now until October 29th. Visit questensemble.org for more information.

PT is back!

Hi everyone! It’s been a while…

To keep a long story short, my intended hiatus lasted longer than expected as a I had severe medical emergency that ended up throwing off my whole summer. But I’m now healthy and ready to get back into this blog!

So to celebrate the return of Project Theatricality and to thank you all for sticking with this blog, a new review is coming out this Tuesday, October 3rd! It’s one I’m sure you’ll all like.

Unfortunately, I can’t promise weekly posts, as I am a senior high school and juggling college planning and time to engage in the theatre community is tricky. But I will promise to post whenever I can! Hope you all can understand where I’m at right now.

I’m hoping to get the Twitter going again, so make sure you’re following! As for the subject of Tuesday’s post, here’s one of my favorite tracks from it…

See you Tuesday!

 

Hiatus!

Hi everyone! Hope you’ve all enjoyed the content I’ve been putting out these last few weeks.

Unfortunately, this next month is crazy busy for me with AP Exams and finals. So, I’ll be taking a hiatus from posting for the next month or so. But I’ll be back with a reaction to the Tony Awards! If you aren’t caught up, nominations came out today.

In the meantime, I’ll still be active on the Project Theatricality Twitter and you can check out last week’s post on how Hamilton became so popular! Thank you for understanding and see you in June.

Why Do Non-Theatre Fans Like Hamilton?

If you’re reading this I assume you have at least an inkling of knowledge about Hamilton and its massive popularity. Based on Ron Chernow’s biography of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, the smart, innovative, Pulitzer Prize and 11 time Tony winning rap musical has garnered thousands of fans and celebrity visits (as well as launching a sit-down production in Chicago and a national tour in San Francisco) since it’s open in August 2015 – and become infamous for not being able to get a ticket to it.

Personally, I had my eye on Hamilton since it’s Off-Broadway run at The Public Theatre in early 2015. With a score by Tony-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda and coming out of a theatre with such a great track record, I knew I was going to have to learn more once it made its inevitable Broadway transfer. I stayed up until midnight to get the cast album when it came out in September later that year. After that first listen, I couldn’t stop talking about it to friends, begging them to listen so I could have someone to talk about it with. I tried to coerce many of my friends who I’ll describe as “non-theatre people” (for purposes of this post, I’ll define as “people who don’t typically like theatre”) into listening by explaining, “It’s all rap, I swear it’s not boring! You learn about this in APUSH!” to no avail. Fast forward a couple months later – it seems like everybody from classmates, celebrities, and people I’ve never seen get excited about theatre in general, owns a T-shirt with the words “Young, scrappy, and hungry.” printed on it and has captioned at least one Instagram post with a lyric from “Wait For It”. How come no one believed me when I said it was good the first time? More to the point of this post, just how did Hamilton explode in popularity so fast?

I’m not sure if anyone else is dying to know the answer to this like I am. And of course, there’s a ton of factors that contribute to Hamilton‘s success. There can’t be just one definitive answer, as we saw with Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Despite this, to aid in my quest of finding a plausible and believable answer at the very least, I created a Google Form that some of you might have taken to see if there’s any correlation between being a theatre fan and a Hamilton fan. The short answer to that is a definite yes. The long answer requires a bit more thought.

Let’s start here. As you can see, 37.3% of people responded “to an extent” when asked about being a theatre fan in general, but when asked about being a Hamilton fan, there was a significant drop, decreasing to 29.9%. Obviously, way more people enjoy theatre in general compared to enjoying Hamilton specifically – a result which was expected, since no one who likes theatre is bound to like everything. But with the people who answered “yes” and “to any extent” to being a Hamilton fan, that’s 76.2% of people who, at the very least, like the show.

When asked to explain their answer choice, those who said they are, or to an extent, a Hamilton fan, cited things like the shows innovative use of rap and the actual history behind it. This I can understand, as younger people who are my age and never really figured they would enjoy stereotypical musicals (as in, golden age musicals that are “long and boring”), but then are introduced to a musical that not only encapsulates a genre of music they find entertaining as well as subject matter that a lot of high schoolers and young adults have to learn about in school, their views change. What better way to study for your AP U.S. History exam than listening to a musical? From here, teens who are new to theatre can continue learning by getting into more contemporary and relatable musicals, like Dear Evan Hansen or The Book of Mormon.

All this can certainly apply to adults and older fans, too. By presenting musicals as something that’s genuinely entertaining, but are still serious enough to make one reflect on their life, it opens the door for new theatrical discoveries outside of Hamilton.

It’s not all in the numbers, though. I believe Hamilton’s popularity was definitely influenced by timing as well. By analyzing Google Search Trends, we can gain some insight.

Google Search Trends for the phrase “Hamilton“

As shown here, there are three main points in time where Hamilton peaked in interest on the Internet. The first being February 14th to February 20th, 2016. In fact, the 58th Grammy Awards where Hamilton performed and won the award for Best Musical Theatre Album took place on the 15th. Due to this, it’s pretty reasonable to assume that that this mainstream exposure is what catapulted Hamilton to recognition outside the theatre community so quickly. The same can be said about the other two spikes on the chart. The highest peak, in the middle, is shown as June 12th to June 18th, 2016; the 70th Tony Awards where Hamilton performed took home 11 awards were held on the 12th. Again, being apart of a mainstream awards show helped to increase talk surrounding Hamilton. Finally, the last and most recent spike in Hamilton interest happened around November 20th to November 26th, 2016. This, as you might recall, was when then Vice President-Elect Mike Pence paid a visit to the show, being booed by audience members and receiving a message from the cast, to which he later responded to. The controversy hit the media hard, even more so when President-Elect Trump tweeted about the event multiple times, rightfully causing people to research the show. While not a surefire way to justify the popularity of Hamilton to theatre outsiders, I think it’s more than possible to believe that some fans were introduced to the show thanks to its moments outside of solely theatre-based news coverage.

Of course, this analysis was an accumulation of the data I collected (which has the possibility of being biased) and search trends, all of which can be interpreted in many different ways. Perhaps Hamilton was just a phase that only briefly raised interest in musicals. Or maybe it did introduce a whole new generation to an underappreciated art form. Whatever you think Hamilton‘s contribution was, there’s no denying it’s a show no one will be able to stop talking about for a long time.

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What you do think about Hamilton and its popularity? Did it introduce you or anyone you know to musical theatre? Tell me in the comments!

Composers Who Starred In Their Own Works

Typically, a composer of a musical will leave the task of bringing their music to life to the talented actors and actresses who get cast in their show. But for a few composers, their role in a show goes off the sheet music and onto the stage.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton (left), as “Usnavi” in In the Heights (right)

It’s no secret that Pulitzer Prize-winner and worldwide celebrity Lin-Manuel Miranda is a man of many talents. So much so that he wrote and starred in not one, but two original works: In The Heights and Hamilton. Both performances earned him a Tony nomination in 2008 and 2016, respectively.

Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles as “Jenna” in Waitress

Well-known singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles made her composing debut last season with Waitress, based on the 2007 film of the same name. Tony-winner Jessie Mueller originated the role of Jenna, but on March 31st earlier this year, she replaced Mueller in the role and will be baking pies and belting out her own songs like the iconic “She Used to Be Mine” until July 11th.

Dave Malloy

Dave Malloy as “Pierre” in Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812

Josh Groban made his Broadway in November 2016 as the “bewildered and awkward” Pierre Bezukhov in the innovative electro-pop musical Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812, which is based on a section of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel War and Peace. But in its earlier Off-Broadway productions in 2012 and 2013, and the subsequent cast album that followed them, composer Dave Malloy and his accordion helped bring to life this complex and beloved character.

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Who’s your favorite composer who starred in their own work? Do you have a composer you think should be in their own show? Let me know in the comments!

 

What Went Wrong With Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark?

“With great power there must also come – great responsibility!” is the infamous quote spoken by the narrator (not Uncle Ben) in the August 1962 issue of the comic book Amazing Fantasy which first chronicled dorky high schooler Peter Parker’s rise to the now instantly recognizable Spider-Man.

This is also the advice that the creative team behind 2010’s rock musical (based on the aforementioned comics) Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark should have taken into consideration during its difficult inception and subsequent reworkings –  that ended up costing $75 million, the most expensive Broadway musical in history.

Is it fair to call Turn Off the Dark a complete and total flop? Well, no. Not in a traditional sense. It did see a few moments of box office success, such in as January 2012 when it made $2,941,790 in ticket sales – the highest single week gross of any Broadway show. And when Turn Off the Dark finally met its demise in early January 2014, it had played 1,066 performances (including it’s 182 performance preview period, the longest in Broadway history). But there’s no denying that somewhere along the way things went very, very wrong.

It’d be impossible to cover everything that led to Turn Off the Dark‘s place in Broadway infamy, because there’s honestly too much to even begin to wrap your head around. Glen Berger, one of Turn Off the Dark’s co-writers has a great memoir out called Song Of Spider-Man that tells his side of the story – it’s where much of the research for this post comes from and I’d highly recommend it if you’re interested in learning more.

A glaringly obvious issue with the idea of a Spider-Man musical you don’t need a book to lay out for you is this: it’s a brand. One of the most recognizable brands in the world. And when you’re as big as Spidey, you have some people to please: Marvel execs, the fans, and most importantly, a general Broadway audience. Director of Turn Off the Dark, the acclaimed Julie Taymor (best known for her innovative work on the Broadway adaptation of The Lion King), had a vision – she wanted to break ground with Turn Off the Dark‘s abundance of aerial tricks, all while turning up the edge factor of the traditional Spider-Man story to 11, and throwing in a bit of Greek mythology for good measure. With music by U2’s Bono and The Edge, Taymor was convinced it’d be a hit. Needless to say, Marvel execs didn’t agree with many of the team’s creative choices. When word got out about what the Broadway elite was doing to their beloved Peter Parker and company, neither did the fans. And come the show’s very first preview in November 2010, the Broadway crowd made their thoughts clear – when after the show had to be put on hold for the fifth time due to tech issues (such as an awkward moment near the end of the first act when Reeve Carney (as Spider-Man) was literally left hanging over the audiences’ heads), the crowd erupted into boos.

Poor audience response and technical glitches akin to what happened at the first preview continued to plague the show, so much so that it forced the show’s official opening night to be delayed six times, finally opening on June 14th, 2011. Despite all the external issues of Turn Off the Dark, the internal issues were arguably the root of all its problems. Glen Berger, book writer, and others on the creative team had come to the conclusion that revisions to the story desperately needed to be made. Previews were closed for about a month from April to May of 2011 in an attempt to repair the show. Unhappy with how her vision was coming to life, Julie Taymor left the project altogether sometime in March. This, on top of the five accidents causing injuries to actors and stunt doubles before the show had even opened, created a ton of bad publicity for the show among both critics and fans. The average review rating was a F+, with the revised incarnation of the show getting a slight bump up to a C-. But no matter the revisions or the reviews, Turn Off the Dark‘s fate was sealed before opening night. The unprecedented amount of negativity surrounding the show that had previously been much anticipated had taken a toll, and although the show had played for a solid two and a half years, losses were estimated at $60 million by its closing.

A scene of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark that caused many issues during production.

Did Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark become the next huge Broadway hit like Julie Taylor had wanted? Obviously, no. Was it ambitious? That’s a definite yes. Mostly to its own fault. But you can’t really blame someone like Julie Taymor and her fellow Turn Off the Dark creatives for having that ambition, right? On page 139 of Song of Spider-Man Glen Berger asks: “Really, what wasn’t ridiculous on a stage?”. And he’s right. In 2017, the biggest musical on Broadway features founding father Alexander Hamilton rapping through early American history for a full two hours. Perhaps Turn Off the Dark would have done better if it had ran now, when people could actually accept and respect an idea like it. Maybe it would’ve had consistent ticket sales if the media weren’t so harsh on it. Or maybe comics just don’t translate on stage like books and films do, and nothing could have saved poor Peter Parker and company. It’s hard to come to a definitive answer aside from “It was just doomed from the start”.

Whatever combination of factors that prevented Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark to “rise above”, the show (and all its mishaps) has left an impact on theatre. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I’ll leave up to you – I’m not really sure what I think. You could interpret it as a cautionary tale; a reminder that not all visions need to be fully realized. Or you could think of it the other way; you’ll never know where an idea will take you unless you pitch it.

Later on page 139 of Song of Spider-Man, Berger says, “Art does voodoo, and we buy it. Except for all the times that we don’t”. Whether or not you buy the messy tale that is Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? That’s for you to decide.

Spring break hiatus!

Hi everyone!

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for the lack of posts yesterday. I’m really busy sorting out other things I have to get done before I leave for vacation tomorrow. I didn’t want to post a lackluster post just to stay on schedule. Hope you all can understand. But in the meantime, check out Tuesday’s post on theatre etiquette!

Secondly, I’ve mentioned briefly in previous posts that there’ll be no posts this coming Tuesday and Friday due to my spring break. But I’ll be back starting April 4th with a post about the controversy surrounding Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and why it failed, then on April 7th with a analysis post on why so many non-theatre fans like Hamilton. That’s actually what I’ll be using the data from my Google survey for! You can still take it until then if you haven’t already.

I’ll try to update you all on the Project Theatricality Twitter, but if not, have a safe and great week! See you in April!

Theatre Etiquette You Need To Know

The word “etiquette” is defined by Google as “the customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group”, which definitely applies to theatre. After all, a night at a theatre is a drastically different environment than a night at the movie theater. But as of late, there have many incidents to suggest that people often forget how to act in a theatre – from a patron trying to charge his phone using a fake outlet on stage, to Patti Lupone famously taking an audience member’s phone and scolding them for texting during a show. So today, I’m going to shed some light on the things you should and shouldn’t do while at the theatre.

Turn off your phone

You saw this one coming. As the cast of An American in Paris says during their Easter Bonnet parody of The Book of Mormon‘s “Turn It Off”, well, audiences seem to be trouble having doing just that. At most shows just before the lights dim, there will typically be an announcement reminding audience members to turn their electronics off, as they can be a distraction to those on stage. A good number of audience members will not take this seriously and completely ignore it, continuing to use their phones up until the overture starts.

What most people don’t realize is that the announcement is right; it is a huge distraction to actors on stage, and other audience members. It’s not just the sound of your default iPhone ringtone if it happens to go off, it’s the light from the screen if you’re texting. Not only can other audience members see it as clear as day, actors can too. The bright stage lights often make things beyond the stage completely dark and difficult to see, helping actors to concentrate on the scene and not so much the audience – but if there’s a phone out, actors can say goodbye to their hyper focus.

This issue has become so common in theaters around the world that a West End theater in London had considered pointing a laser in the faces of those who commit this offense in theater. Even if you’re Snapchatting how you’re at Hamilton and just have to get that last lyric quote in, it can wait. If there’s suddenly an emergency, take it to the lobby. The rest of the audience will thank you.

Don’t leave during the bows

We all understand parking is expensive and you don’t want to get swept up in the rush of people leaving at the same time to get to their cars, or you just have to be first in line to meet your favorite actor at the stage door. But leaving during the bows gives the impression that you are in a rush to get out of there and don’t really have any interest in celebrating the people who entertained you.

You spent just two hours at a show, the least you could do is spend a few more minutes rewarding the actors and band for the their hard work. Plus, pushing past others who are seated around you and want to enjoy the bows in incredible rude. Just calm down and stay put. Your car won’t miss you.

Don’t talk or sing during the show

I don’t care if this is your kid’s 20th time seeing Wicked and just wants to belt out “Defying Gravity” with Elphaba. Singing along with the show while it’s being performed is completely unacceptable in any circumstance. Those who do this take away attention from the actual performers and make it seem as though they aren’t really paying attention to the show in the first place.

The same goes for talking. It’s fine to have an audible reaction to something (like laughing or gasping), but turning to a fellow audience member to ask a question about the show or critique an actor’s looks is inappropriate during the show. If you just have to tell someone, wait until intermission or after the show.

Of course, there is an exception to the no talking/singing rule: if you’re prompted to do so by the actors. The 2013 revival of Pippin is known for its audience participation in the song “No Time At All”. Despite this cases like this, always use your better judgement and remember that there’s a time and a place for everything.

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What’s an instance where you saw someone not following theatre etiquette that made you angry? Should I make another post on theatre etiquette in the future? Tell me in the comments!

PT now has a Twitter!

Hi everyone! I’m back with another announcement – yes, Project Theatricality is now on Twitter! As you’ll also notice, there’s now a widget on the sidebar that shows my recent tweets from the Project Theatricality account. I decided to take a more lax approach in terms of capitalization on there just for fun.

If you don’t have Twitter and can’t follow, I promise you won’t be missing anything on here – posts on Tuesday on Friday will continue as usual. But on Twitter, you can expect some previews of upcoming posts as well as my general thoughts on anything theatrical that I don’t have time to make a full-blown research based post on.

Well, that’s the gist of it. Hope you enjoy as I try to branch out! Here’s the link to the profile again. Make sure you check out yesterday’s post on the censorship of Frank Wedekind’s play Spring Awakening, and if you have a few minutes, I’m still collecting data until April 6th on this Google Form for a secret upcoming post! I still can’t tell you what it is yet, but perhaps I’ll drop some hints on Twitter.

Thanks again and have a great day!

 

The Censorship of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening

Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 play Spring Awakening – which follows a group of young German teens who struggle through their newly discovered sexual feelings without any guidance from their parents, which proves to be fatal for some characters – was subject to censorship for practically a century. It was being banned from being performed in Germany until 1906. It did not receive its first English performance in the U.S. until 1917, to which the city’s Commissioner of Licenses threatened it with closure as he claimed it was too pornographic. Then in England in 1963, it was performed for two nights only under heavy censorship. Even the popular 2006 musical adaptation by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater  – whose staging includes partial nudity – eventually came out with a heavily edited school edition of the show that still causes controversy when it’s performed by colleges and even some high schools.

Due to its suggestive themes like rape, suicide, prostitution, homosexuality and abortion, many may agree with art being censored when it deals with subjects like this – especially when it’s through young characters like those in Spring Awakening. But, in my personal opinion, I believe that a play like Spring Awakening  should never be censored or edited. I can understand why these subjects could possibly be triggering or conflict with an audience member’s moral values. And I do think it’s important to keep performances of Spring Awakening marketed toward its target audience: teens and young adults. But obviously, not every audience member will find these themes as sensitive as some might. Because of this, I don’t feel that censorship does the play’s message any good.

The play’s events are meant to be a cautionary tale to its audience; it’s a story of what can go wrong when there is a lack of communication between parent and child. By censoring scenes that involve rape or violence, you’re doing exactly what the play warns against: being honest and upfront about the truth to children who are coming of age. The same can be said for editing, which is arguably even worse than simply censoring a rape scene versus taking it out altogether. It’s not the play’s responsibility to make you feel comfortable, it’s supposed to do the opposite. That is the genius behind Wedekind’s play, it forces you to step out of your bubble of safety and confront what makes you uncomfortable and consider it – and you how deal with it in your own life.

John Gallagher Jr., Jonathan Groff (center), and Lea Michele in a scene from the 2006 musical adaption of Spring Awakening.

Spring Awakening represents a worst case scenario – how the censoring of content that could be seen as offensive, suggestive, or controversial can kill, if it goes on for too long. While Spring Awakening is only one example of censorship in theatre, there are many others. And if censorship in theatre and other art forms continues, its negative effects on impressionable audiences could be felt sooner than we seemingly thought.

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What do you think about the censorship of Spring Awakening or other similar works? Share with me in the comments!