Who/what/where: Into The Woods, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre/Digital Theatre
Digital Theatre is a clever little company that has arranged with certain theatres to film particular performances and put them online to rent/buy. Unlike most of the other digital versions of shows I own, this is not one I had seen before. As it was easily available, and was a Sondheim (which automatically makes it more appealing) I figured I would give it a whirl. The performance was filmed back in 2010.
For those of you who've been to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre before, it's a fairly open stage. In this case they've done some pretty extensive set-design, with multiple levels and various other features.
The show is a retelling of various fairy tales intertwined within each other. The baker and his wife (Jenna Russell, cropping up in yet another musical, and another Sondheim to boot, because, well, she can, and she's very good at it too) serve to link much of it together - they're one a quest to collect certain items to lift a curse so they can have a child. Along the way they meet and interact with Cinderalla, her prince, Rapunzel, Jack (of "and the beanstalk" fame) and his cow, an interesting take on Red Riding Hood, and so on. Over the course of three nights they help each story along, advising Cinderalla, buying Jack's cow in exchange for magic beans, and so on.
The first act largely resolves itself nicely and serves as a self-contained story in and of itself. The second act builds on the events of the first though is set some time later, everyone is within their "ever after" lives, but not everyone is happy, especially not the giant (voiced by Dame Judi Dench) who has turned up (via some clever set use) to extract revenge on Jack for stealing and killing and all the things that fairy tale heroes get to do with impunity. The cast try to offer the narrator as a sacrifice, which is a nice touch. Eventually the surviving characters work together and best the giant and, once more, things appear to end happily.
As a musical, some of the tunes are not as catchy as we've seen in other Sondheim works, but there are a couple of gems along the way. Though it's not like "Merrily We Roll Along" where I had snippets of "Opening Doors" in my head for weeks afterwards, though part of that might be that I've seen that show more than once.
Showing posts with label Sondheim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sondheim. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Theatre - Merrily We Roll Along
Who/what/where: Merrily We Roll Along, Harold Pinter Theatre/Digital Theatre
The folks at Digital Theatre have a fine idea, organising with the theatre to film certain performances and put them online to rent/buy. They were also behind the live performances of Noel Coward's Private Lives making their way to cinemas recently. It's great if you miss a show, or want to retain a copy, but there's just something about the experience of seeing the shows live that a digital version just cannot capture.
I've seen this version of Merrily We Roll Along three times now, once when it opened at The Menier Chocolate Factory, again at The Harold Pinter Theatre in May 2013, and finally the digital version, so it's a show I've developed a little familiarity with. Plus, your week is almost always improved with a little bit of Stephen Sondheim's work in your life.
Mark Umbers is Franklin Shepard, Jenna Russell, always good value in a musical, gives a fine performance as Mary Flynn, and Damian Humbley is Charles Kringas.
Merrily We Roll Along is a Sondheim musical based upon a play. The show opens at a party in the 70s and, with each scene, moves backward through key moments within the life of Franklin Shepard = initially showing him as a wealthy, but ultimately not that happy, film producer and leading back through how he got to that position, all but abandoning his composing work to get there. Travelling backwards through his life and that of his friends we see him work on a hit musical, live as a penniless composer, marry his lead actress twice and finally go back to the him, in his early 20s, meeting what will become his closest friends.
The simple act of reversing the timeline puts the audience's emotional roller-coaster into reverse with it. Were it to go in a simple chronological order they might otherwise leave drained at watching Fanklin slowly change into the man he becomes, the friends he drifts away from, and the idea that he may make the same mistakes again, potentially marrying his lead actress for a third time. The references to the New York play written by Charles Kringas imply that he stuck to his principles, finished the show he wanted to do with Franklin and that things worked out for him in the end, so it doesn't end poorly for everybody. However, doing it this way round lets the show end on a much more positive note, optimistic about the future and the opportunities it will offer, plus introduces Evelyn, who will become Kringas' wife - giving the audience a further reason to smile at the end.
You can see how each decision led into the next and, as the play progresses, unpick the key turning points of his life. Would a small change in certain decisions make a huge difference to his life? Undoubtedly. Would the show be as interesting if he'd made the right ones? No. Can the audience learn from his actions? I'd hope so, catch up with friends, think about what you're aiming for, what you'll compromise for what benefit, and what decisions you've already made.
Its a fine show and well worth viewing.
The folks at Digital Theatre have a fine idea, organising with the theatre to film certain performances and put them online to rent/buy. They were also behind the live performances of Noel Coward's Private Lives making their way to cinemas recently. It's great if you miss a show, or want to retain a copy, but there's just something about the experience of seeing the shows live that a digital version just cannot capture.
I've seen this version of Merrily We Roll Along three times now, once when it opened at The Menier Chocolate Factory, again at The Harold Pinter Theatre in May 2013, and finally the digital version, so it's a show I've developed a little familiarity with. Plus, your week is almost always improved with a little bit of Stephen Sondheim's work in your life.
Mark Umbers is Franklin Shepard, Jenna Russell, always good value in a musical, gives a fine performance as Mary Flynn, and Damian Humbley is Charles Kringas.
Merrily We Roll Along is a Sondheim musical based upon a play. The show opens at a party in the 70s and, with each scene, moves backward through key moments within the life of Franklin Shepard = initially showing him as a wealthy, but ultimately not that happy, film producer and leading back through how he got to that position, all but abandoning his composing work to get there. Travelling backwards through his life and that of his friends we see him work on a hit musical, live as a penniless composer, marry his lead actress twice and finally go back to the him, in his early 20s, meeting what will become his closest friends.
The simple act of reversing the timeline puts the audience's emotional roller-coaster into reverse with it. Were it to go in a simple chronological order they might otherwise leave drained at watching Fanklin slowly change into the man he becomes, the friends he drifts away from, and the idea that he may make the same mistakes again, potentially marrying his lead actress for a third time. The references to the New York play written by Charles Kringas imply that he stuck to his principles, finished the show he wanted to do with Franklin and that things worked out for him in the end, so it doesn't end poorly for everybody. However, doing it this way round lets the show end on a much more positive note, optimistic about the future and the opportunities it will offer, plus introduces Evelyn, who will become Kringas' wife - giving the audience a further reason to smile at the end.
You can see how each decision led into the next and, as the play progresses, unpick the key turning points of his life. Would a small change in certain decisions make a huge difference to his life? Undoubtedly. Would the show be as interesting if he'd made the right ones? No. Can the audience learn from his actions? I'd hope so, catch up with friends, think about what you're aiming for, what you'll compromise for what benefit, and what decisions you've already made.
Its a fine show and well worth viewing.
