My disclaimer in an earlier post about not being a professional theater critic turns out to have been well-founded. I've just read Tom Strini's colorful, comprehensive review of The Milwaukee Rep's season-opening production of Cabaret in Third Coast Digest. It seems that if you immerse yourself in the performing arts for nearly 30 years, you get pretty good at writing about it. My hat's off to the true Schreibenmeister!
I now want to go back and see the show again, if only to look for and absorb all the wonderful movement, musical, and staging elements that Tom Strini identified and I'd failed to see beneath the surface. I'm also curious to see if I'll be able to discern any further sculpting and shaping of the production by The Rep's Director Mark Clements since the Preview Night performance that I saw. No doubt, Strini could tell me where to look -- and Clements could tell me where to go!
8 years ago
But as a theatre director and theatre-goer, I would say you shouldn't dismiss your initial reactions too quickly. If certain characters or musical numbers didn't click for you, then they didn't click for you. Theatre is such a wonderfully, horrifyingly subjective experience that it's impossible for every audience member to experience it in the same way. Of course as a director or performer you like to hope that everything you do contains the magic we all aim for. But it's simply not going to happen. Some nights go better than others. Some actors remind us of a person we don't like. As audience members, we each come to the theatre in a different frame of mind, with a different expectation and a different history.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, it could be instructive to go again to the play and see if what Tom raved about hits you in a different way this time. But it might not, and that's OK too :-)
Thanks, Judy! Appreciate your supportive comments. We look forward to seeing one of your fine productions in Portland someday -- and we'll see what you say THEN! [lol]
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Bob
I doubt you'd be much worse than the newspaper that posted a 2 line critique of one of our shows without even seeing it!
ReplyDeleteThis year's production is the 1st 3 weekends in December - hint, hint ;-)
But you really should see Cabaret again -- I thought it was wonderful!
ReplyDelete