Productions I Viewed
Many people say that there are three main theater districts in the world. New York USA , Toronto Canada, and London England. I have had the pleasure of going to all of them, and here is what I have to say.
I have been lucky enough to have had the chance to see the world. Well, not the entire world. My travels have taken my to many interesting places, and in many cases I have been able to see what the theater has to offer.
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New York
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Cats
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What visit to New York would be complete without a trip to see cats. My parents had raised me listening to the music of Cats. They had gone to see it many years before and had always wanted to take the rest of the family to see it when we were old enough. This was the first professional production that I had ever seen.
I remember just as the lights went down and the music started, the feeling of anticipation that I felt. I had heard the music, had ideas in my head, and now was my chance to see the real thing. I saw the actors dressed as cats circulating throughout the theater, and suddenly there was one infront of us, the green eyes on the costume came to life for a second, then she was gone again. Sitting in my seat all I could think of during the entire show was WOW.
The use of the props was excellent, from having a ship fold down from the wall, to building a train out of what moments before were just scraps of metal, to the over sized pieces of trash that were used as steps around the edge of the theater for the cats to climb around and get out into the audience.
Finally, if you are going to see cats, don't forget to go down during intermission to have Old Deuteronomy sign you Play Bill!
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Toronto
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The Phantom Of The Opera
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Another musical that I was raised listening to was The Phantom Of The Opera. It was in Toronto where I had the chance to see this production. The old run down Pantages theater was restored to glory for this spectacle. In fact, I would say that the theater itself was worth going for. It was just so beautiful.
Once inside and in your seat you could see the puffy curtains covering what was later revealed to be some of the most fantastic carving work I have ever seen. The artistic talent that went into the design and building of the set was very impressive.
If there is one thing that I must compliment about this musical is the way that they changed the scenes. One part that still stays in my mind is the way they changed you perspective simply with a change of lighting. Christine is out performing on the stage and when she is finished she bows to the audience. She bows once, turns around, and suddenly you see things from back stage, then she bows again. You just couldn't see the change, one minute you are the audience, the next minute your back stage!
The other part that people always talk about is the way they have burning candles come out of the stage, in front of an iron fence, and a boat floats across the stage. I still don't know how they could do this.
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London
My family went to London and took the theater package. I must say that we chose three very different forms of the theater on that trip. We saw Macbeth, Oliver!, and Laughter on The 23rd Floor
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Macbeth
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Macbeth, possibly one of the strangest plays I've ever seen. Perhaps it was because it was my first experience with Shakespeare , I don't know. I was used to seeing these huge productions with elaborate sets and costuming, suddenly I was at a play that had a set which was minimal. It was a very modern style set, It was on a tilt, and had several ramps around the place.
The costuming also struck me as odd, they were not wearing anything that would strike me as Elizabethan style. The acting was good, perhaps now that I have learned a little bit more about Shakespeare I would enjoy it more.
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Oliver!
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We saw Oliver at the Palladium. It was very well done, my compliments to the cast and the crew. The night that we went, as far as we were concerned, was no different than any other night. We later discovered that it was a very special night indeed. You see, children can only perform for a certain length of time, then the cast has to be changed. We were there on the last night that the group of children were performing. At the end, the actor who played Fagin came out and explained this to the audience.
My dad takes his time getting into things, and wasn't clapping quite as loud as other people at first. He noticed that the lady beside him was quite annoyed at this. Later on as he got more involved in the story she seemed pleased. When it was over she pointed to Oliver and said, it's his last night. He had been sitting next to Oliver's mother the entire time.
I loved the music, and the singing. The part about the set that I found to be the best, was the sewer that the children lived in. When a scene would involve this area, the sewer would come right out of the stage. FANTASTIC!
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Laughter on The 23rd Floor
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This play featured Gene Wilder as the star. It was very odd. I think that after seeing this I can safely say that I prefer musicals to plays, when it comes to big productions. It had its moments, but I didn't really see anything that made it very good. Sorry Gene, but this one didn't do anything for me.
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