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September 04, 2009

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Interesting idea of all the plays there ever are. As new ones are written, are they added?

Does the story del with archetypes running into variations of themselves found in later plays? If the Théâtre has characters from Burlesque and Vaudeville, it means that the Marx Brothers are around because their early films originally were stage shows. And what of characters from Saturday Night Live skits? ("Huh oh... Toonces just drove the clown car into the orchestra pit.")

Marilee,
I think she didn't think the concept through that deeply, but the implication is that new plays can be added, though how it generally happens is not explained.

Serge,
I think it's limited to the classical sort of theater, not burlesque, vaudeville, or comedy skits.

Susan... I figured, but you know how we engineer types are. You should have been there when, at a con, my wife tried to describe her project of a fantasy novel to a scientist: the latter couldn't get past how the magic system worked. Some scientists are like that. Others, like Bill Higgins (aka Bill Heterodyne), could gloss over such details so that they can enjoy the story. That being said, I will look for Mantchev's book next time I could to a bookstore.

From what's been said, it sounds to me as though new plays are added as they go out of copyright. It would certainly avoid problems publishing the books.

But they have The Little Mermaid, which is Disney and still under copyright even if Disney weren't trying to extend copyright forever.

It seems as if Disney's Little Mermaid being part of the répertoire is the author breaking her own rules for the sake of a homage, either because she liked the play, or because she thought her readers would go "Cool!" upon seeing something that wasn't written by and for old geezers.

Or maybe this is a different, older, stage version of The Little Mermaid. I've been idly poking at the net and not getting any indications that the Disney version contains anybody named Nate.

(But in any case the same objection still applies to Man of La Mancha, if that wasn't just a hypothetical example.)

I was in a stage version of "Sleeping Beauty" that managed to have pirates. There are a lot of stage versions of public domain stories. (Is anything going to go out of copyright ever again?)

Personal note: I've been cast as a townsperson Chorus member (and school principal) in "Carousel." This will be the first theater I've done since I was Larry in "Company" back in 2003. Family duties took precedence, and just when I was allowed to try out again, we moved to a new state where I couldn't crack the existing theater communities. As with CNU, I see chorus membership as an extended audition.

Wish me luck. (Ow! My leg!)

Kip W... Good luck!

Man of La Mancha was mentioned in the book in the context of a scene change, I think. There are a lot of sets that appear for one reason or another.

I think staging The Little Mermaid would be kind of a challenge in general, due to the need for an ocean. That's one of the tougher staging challenges. (Ships sailing on an ocean, yes. People swimming in an ocean, harder.) Maybe a children's theater could stage it with the use of intentionally nonrealistic stagecraft that works fine on small children but is a little harder for adults to process unless there's a lot of acting talent involved (as in the stage version of Coraline, which managed to make it work.)

Kip:
Congrats, and break a leg!

Serge:
AARRRRGH. Let me help you out here with some lyrics from the movie version of the stage musical version of The Producers:

ROGER:
Mr. Bloom, hasn't anyone ever told you...
It's bad luck to say "good luck" on opening night
If you do, I tell you
It is certain by the curtain
You are through!

CARMEN:
It's bad luck to say "good luck" on opening night
Once it's said, you are dead
You will get the worst reviews
You've ever read!

ROGER:
Even at the Comedie-Francaise,
On the opening night they are scared
"Bon chance, mes amis", no one says
The only word you ever hear is...

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
Merde!

FRANZ:
It's verboten, vishing "luck" on opening night
Take advice, don't think twice
Or your show will surely end
Up in the Scheiss!

CARMEN:
At the famous La Scala in Milan
On opening night it's a rule
"In boccu lupa" they say with elan
And just for luck they all shout...

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
"Bah fongool!"

LEO:
I got it!
Now I'll never say "good luck" on opening night
That's the rule, I'm no fool!
What do I say, I beg?

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
What you say is "break a leg"!


Kip,
Which part was Larry? I designed Company way back when (not that it took much designing, except for the wedding dress for the patter song) but I could never keep the names of the various married couples straight.

I am unreasonably fond of "Another Hundred People" and "Getting Married Today" and ended up sardonically muttering "Barcelona!" after my last breakup. (That relationship for me was associated with "Telephone Song" and "A Pineapple for Me" from Cabaret, except that it was books not fruit, as previously described. Why yes, I do view my entire life through the oddly-tinted lenses of Broadway musicals...)

There was a great version of John Barrowman and a another guy doing "Have I Got a Girl for You" on YouTube for awhile, but it seems to have succumbed to a copyright claim. Alas!

Susan... Well, Kip W did ask us to wish him luck. True, he didn't say which kind of luck. Also, I made no reference to the breaking of lower limbs because the last time someone wished me that, that public thing I put together did not go well.

Susan... Why yes, I do view my entire life through the oddly-tinted lenses of Broadway musicals

Meanwhile, when I went to Washington DC in 1990, I looked at it thru my The Day The Earth Stood Still visor.

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