Close shaves and script cuts
Feb. 22nd, 2006 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herewiss13Finally said goodbye to the goatee and sideburns. I no longer look Amish, which is a pity, because I could really pull it off. It is, in fact, the first time I've seen my chin in almost a year and I can't say I'm all that impressed. The goatee had been there for a reason*, but *shrug* John Hancock was clean-shaven, so what can you do?
Mostly I'm bummed about the fact that, last week, no one could tell if I didn't shave, whereas this week, it shows quite dramatically when I haven't shaved. It's a double-standard.
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Speaking tangentially of 1776, I've got to say I'm rather disappointed in our director for making all the cuts he has in the script. Any place two or more lines are gathered together in the name of a sub-plot or humorous aside, out they go! I'm annoyed in general with directors who do this (2 out of 5 by memory so far). We did "The Odd Couple" in High School and she exed out a whole meaty passage on divorce...which is why they're the odd couple in the first place! This is the same director who decided that "Lullaby of Broadway", the signature tune from 42nd Street needed to be cut in half (I'm only half bitter because my solo was turned into a medley...she also removed all the group portion that raised the tension until the heroine succumbs. "I'll do it!" came out of nowhere). But I digress.
The material in a show is there for a reason...and while certain cosmetic changes might be ok for reasons of staging, practicality, etc...there's no call to delete every line that is inconvenient, or doesn't personally appeal, or isn't quite working. If the line isn't working then you have to _work_ on it. Polish the bit, rework the interpretation. But I don't think it's the director's job to say "These three lines aren't funny. So they're gone."
Our situation with this particular show is a bit exagerated because not all the roles were finally cast until just this week. So he started cutting early and often, just in case we never managed to acquire, say, an entire Colony. But now that we're up to full strength, there's no returning lines to the people who should have had them from the start and shouldn't have been cut in the first place. For those in the know, Ceasar Rodney has suffered horribly and essentially comes out of nowhere to collapse dramatically. Then entire tension of the Delaware trio has been folded into a much-less dramatic duology, even though the third actor now exists.
Our director goes on and on about how loooong this show is and how clunky. But he's been wanting to do it forever. The goal is to turn a three hour show into a two hour one (I think he overstates the case). What doesn't get pointed out is that the show he apparently loves, the show that became famous, wasn't this stripped-down, abridged version he's creating now. It rose to prominence on it's own merits...merits that came from the _full_ text with all it's history, digressions and meaderings.
Personally, I've hardly suffered at all. But it galls, nonetheless to see him but himself above the playwright and all the other directors who came before, who managed to make do with the entire work...and to _make_ it work. So much of the nuance, the side-plots, the humor is gone because you cannot, apparently, enjoy a scene for what it is.
...and least if the scene is over 10 minutes in length.
I hate to think what he'd do to Shakespeare.
And that's the rant for tonight. Someday I'll have enough prominence, chutzpah, etc. to actually _mention_ these opinions, at length, to a director. But at this point, it'd be like hurling BBs at a brickwall...one that would happily fall on me for my presumption.
*actually, the reason for the goatee is that my chin is topographically challenging and I prefer not to traverse it. I don't neglect shaving in principle...the upper lip, for example, is denuded on a regular basis because nothing looks so ridiculous as a half-grown mustache.
Mostly I'm bummed about the fact that, last week, no one could tell if I didn't shave, whereas this week, it shows quite dramatically when I haven't shaved. It's a double-standard.
*****************************
Speaking tangentially of 1776, I've got to say I'm rather disappointed in our director for making all the cuts he has in the script. Any place two or more lines are gathered together in the name of a sub-plot or humorous aside, out they go! I'm annoyed in general with directors who do this (2 out of 5 by memory so far). We did "The Odd Couple" in High School and she exed out a whole meaty passage on divorce...which is why they're the odd couple in the first place! This is the same director who decided that "Lullaby of Broadway", the signature tune from 42nd Street needed to be cut in half (I'm only half bitter because my solo was turned into a medley...she also removed all the group portion that raised the tension until the heroine succumbs. "I'll do it!" came out of nowhere). But I digress.
The material in a show is there for a reason...and while certain cosmetic changes might be ok for reasons of staging, practicality, etc...there's no call to delete every line that is inconvenient, or doesn't personally appeal, or isn't quite working. If the line isn't working then you have to _work_ on it. Polish the bit, rework the interpretation. But I don't think it's the director's job to say "These three lines aren't funny. So they're gone."
Our situation with this particular show is a bit exagerated because not all the roles were finally cast until just this week. So he started cutting early and often, just in case we never managed to acquire, say, an entire Colony. But now that we're up to full strength, there's no returning lines to the people who should have had them from the start and shouldn't have been cut in the first place. For those in the know, Ceasar Rodney has suffered horribly and essentially comes out of nowhere to collapse dramatically. Then entire tension of the Delaware trio has been folded into a much-less dramatic duology, even though the third actor now exists.
Our director goes on and on about how loooong this show is and how clunky. But he's been wanting to do it forever. The goal is to turn a three hour show into a two hour one (I think he overstates the case). What doesn't get pointed out is that the show he apparently loves, the show that became famous, wasn't this stripped-down, abridged version he's creating now. It rose to prominence on it's own merits...merits that came from the _full_ text with all it's history, digressions and meaderings.
Personally, I've hardly suffered at all. But it galls, nonetheless to see him but himself above the playwright and all the other directors who came before, who managed to make do with the entire work...and to _make_ it work. So much of the nuance, the side-plots, the humor is gone because you cannot, apparently, enjoy a scene for what it is.
...and least if the scene is over 10 minutes in length.
I hate to think what he'd do to Shakespeare.
And that's the rant for tonight. Someday I'll have enough prominence, chutzpah, etc. to actually _mention_ these opinions, at length, to a director. But at this point, it'd be like hurling BBs at a brickwall...one that would happily fall on me for my presumption.
*actually, the reason for the goatee is that my chin is topographically challenging and I prefer not to traverse it. I don't neglect shaving in principle...the upper lip, for example, is denuded on a regular basis because nothing looks so ridiculous as a half-grown mustache.
