Theatre Etiquette

Look its me! And my awesome friend Phil

Or at least I think that's how you spell etiquette; the interwebs doesn't seem to know either. So why is this my topic of the day? Well it may have something to do with that I'm sleep deprived, grumpy and suffering from post show blues. Or it might be to do with what happened on Friday.

The finale of Batboy- my first show

For those very few of you who read my blog but aren't part of my daily life I feel the need to fill you with what's been happening for the last couple of months (and my excuse for not posting regularly!). I've just finished a week of performances in Hair for Imperial MTSoc-it was amazing! I've never felt that sort of intense, trippy atmosphere in any musical I've been in. It was hard work but so worth it especially for me as I planted the seed of doing Hair over a year ago so I feel like things have come full circle not just with doing the show but within my musical theatre life at Imperial. My first show here was Batboy, I was 18, young, didn't really know what I was doing, somehow had a lead and developed an amazing support group around me. And here I was three years later having that same support group watching me out there on my own doing my thing and wanting to make them proud. I hope, no, think I succeeded. I don't usually make a point of making blatant, slushy acknowledgments but I did spend some of Saturday's show thinking how much I've grown as a person and an actor and there are three people who I really do owe a lot of it to (despite seeing them not often enough!).

I finally saw Alex for the first time in years on Saturday. Alex played my Mum in Batboy and we did get close. She was this amazingly glamorous belter with a string of amazing performances behind her. When I got ill during show week she was the one to make sure I was able to continue and look after me in this big scary world of theatre. I haven't seen her much since as she goes onto bigger and better things; now at the Royal Academy of Music. But the moment I saw her in the front row on Hair I just felt I had to make her proud and it was so nice to see her afterwards and just show her how much I've grown as a person.

I still see Seb as my pseudo-father despite his leaving Imperial to do his own environmentally thang. Seb came from the same sort of background as me; hadn't done much theatre before Imperial but had spent much of his time whilst there invested in the society and enjoying both the onstage and offstage fun. Despite going through a rough patch after last year's "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum", Seb has always been the person I turn to for advice or just generally to moan at. He's been through the same sort of things as I have and is kind of like that big brother I never had. Seb and Alex always believed in me and I hope in some way that my performance in Hair showed them that their belief was well worth it.

And finally Dale, my original Gay Best Friend (although I don't think he really likes that title). Dale was my director in Batboy and general instigator of drunken fun (mainly consisting of my mentioning of Jason Robert Brown and him going absolutely crazy). I love Dale to pieces, he's one of those people who even after just seeing them you already miss them. He understands my obsession with theatre and we can share (and angrily debate) all things show-based. I always feel that he generally wants to see me and chat and is genuinely interested in what I have to say.

To all three of you, I love you all and we really should have some sort of self-indulgent Batboy reunion. Rob can come too.

Ok, I wasn't expecting all that gushing to come out just then but it did, and I'm glad. And so back to our topic- theatre etiquette

Alex, Seb and Dale weren't the only people to see Hair this week; after much nagging, members of my lab turned up on Friday. In some ways I wish they hadn't. Most of them were well behaved and really enjoyed the show but a few decided to get wasted beforehand and things got a little messy. Literally. The first I knew of Friday's antics was when the director came up to me at the interval and asked if the group at the back were my friends. I replied that they were probably my lab group and what had they done? I had already heard a overly loud amount of cheering after my song but put this down to them trying to make me feel happier. What I didn't know is they had to be told to be quiet by the director after talking through much of the act and that one of them had vomited over the back row. Nice.

The cast of Hair. Not vomitting.

I was mortified by their behaviour and, although they have apologised, I feel that people need to learn to have a bit of respect for the arts. What you do in a rugby match and what you do at a play are completely different things (although I think if I vomited over your pitch you wouldn't be too happy with me). I spend quite a lot of time on the boards at Broadwayworld.com although I post very little, and the subject of audience behaviour comes up fairly often. The standards of theatre behaviour really have gone down since I say my first show at the age of 5. Then, the theatre was still something exciting, for the elite, for the cultured. Now it is starting to become a tourist trap and little else. Lets take the old school rules of theatre and show you how they should be followed now shall we?

• What to wear.

The incomparable Rob Felstead as Claude. This is the sad bit!

When I was a kid going to theatre meant going with mum to BHS to buy an entire new outfit because I wanted to show to Shane Richie and Sonia how trendy I was. Ok, this was my first show Grease and I seemed to think that the stars of the show would see me. I'm still that way though, unlike the theatre where you go in when it is dark and leave when it is dark you can actually see everyone around you for prolonged periods of time. I still see the theatre as something special and, just like when I got to a nice restaurant, I want to show those working at the theatre that I do appreciate where I am and the theatre isn't just somewhere to go after a few drinks. Fair enough, I'm not going to go in a full out ballgown like our contemporaries in the the earlier half of last century would. But I'm not going to turn up in what is effectively a long t-shirt (I kid you not, a girl wore that exact outfit to The 39 Steps- not even a pair of tights underneath!). If I am to go to the theatre, even on a comp seat, I'll dress to suit the show. For something a bit more contemporary, like Rent Remixed I'd go for a nice denim skirt/shirt combo. If its a grand show in a grand theatre, maybe a cute little dress. But I don't think I've worn jeans to a theatre, it just doesn't seem right. So, fair enough, Hair was a student show and thus what you wear doesn't particularly affect me but I would prefer if you didn't have that 'just out of the lab and I can't be arsed' look about you.

• What to say

Frankly I don't care what you say before the show or during the interval. Although certain things do annoy me like talking about how much you are obsessed with this show and then getting really simple facts about it wrong. Trust me, I probably know more. I also don't appreciate people who won't take me seriously as a critic because I look like a 16 year old- I know a lot more than you think and probably more than your other critics. During the show you really shouldn't speak at all. It's a well known fact. In the olden days people appreciated the theatre as an artform and came to see a play, not sing/speak along with it. I don't mind the odd remark, I'm guilty of that but running commentaries are most definitely out. Especially if you are one of those people listed above. What is especially rude is if you aren't even talking about the show and are instead going about your everyday conversation as if you were in a cafe. The amazing thing is that we can hear everything as we are the well behaved people who keep quiet.

• What you do

Our future choreographer James going slightly mental

This is the big one as it covers many a sin. Firstly mobiles and blackberries. I hate this enough when I'm in the cinema but at the theatre is just taking the piss. Fair enough I can't turn my phone off as it has some sort of strange problem where when I turn it back on it vibrates like mad and won't stop playing Defying Gravity. So I put it on silent and shove it far into my bag. And check it before the show. And check it at the interview. Not for messages but just to make sure its on silent.

Food. Yes I can be a cheapskate and sneak in my own food from time to time but I'll only eat it surreptitiously during the interval. If I'm not feeling to well I may extend this to having a mint to settle my stomach during the show. But why would you feel the need to start eating crisps and sweets during a show? You only have to wait just over an hour until the interval surely you can manage til then? (Unless you're a diabetic where it is perfectly fine and you are probably used to eating very quietly and understand how disruptive it could be)

Drinking. I know that some theatres will let you take your drinks into the auditorium but please don't leave it in the way for us all to trip over. The other peril is that you have to much drink and turn into my lab group. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE THEATRE BEHAVIOUR. Amazingly we have also paid money to see the show and don't want to feel like we're back in the student union. I've seen many shows I don't like and instead of passing them by getting rat-assed I use my time constructively and critique the show in readiness for a post on this dear blog. You wouldn't get so drunk that you couldn't concentrate at a cinema, so why at a theatre when even the people in the story can see you? Especially when you pay so much money to go to the theatre, it's just a waste of a ticket that someone who longs to go but can't afford to could have used.

Yeah, it's me again

I'm not trying to be a killjoy but you wouldn't behave like this in an art gallery or a museum so why do we take such liberties with another artform? It is fine to enjoy the theatre and indulge in what you are seeing but it's when someone who obviously doesn't want to be there decides to ruin it for the rest of use that I get a bit pissed.

Rant over. Oh, and as there aren't many pictures you can use to illustrate theatre etiquette, I've peppered this piece with pics from our production of Hair (because I can) and maybe one from Batboy. Kudos to http://www.elysemarksphotography.com/.

George, Rosie And Some Dodgy Theatre Choices

Euan Morton as Boy George

As a post exam treat, I finally got round to buying the London cast DVD of Taboo. Please, no mocking. Although it became known as "The Boy George Musical" it was not a jukebox musical, instead Boy George wrote an entire new score (and boy can that man write a mean ballad) and book writer Mark Davies centred his story not only around George but around his contemporaries of the times and also fictional characters. This combination of fact and fiction allowed the viewer to enter this strange world much more easily as it was seen through the eyes of Billy, a normal teenager from Bromley that was more relatable to than say Phillip Salon or Leigh Bowery. The interesting twist was that by the end of play you found yourself more able to identify with these sexually ambiguous self confessed freaks than with the morally ruined Billy who has sold himself out to get ahead in life and taken advantage of everyone he comes in contact with. As good as this outline is, the book itself was quite convoluted with Davies trying to pack too many storylines into one show leading to the audience never really knowing where they are as we flit from Leigh Bowery's art exhibition to Boy George's destructive relationship with Marilyn to Billy's mother going into business with Salon's sister Kim. The show did well and suited the small venue it played at, providing the opportunity for audience to become part of the action (and Paul Baker as Salon to try out some of his one liners).

'Cos everyone loves a urinating man

And then Rosie O Donnell appeared on the scene. (I really should get some sound effects for this- dun dun dun!) This is where things get a little hairy. O'Donnell decided that because she had all the money she could do what she liked with Taboo and so hired book writer Charles Busch to adjust certain things and make the focus of the play the real stories of Bowery, Boy George, Marilyn and so on. This is fair enough; the book needed tightening and Busch obliged. A few bad songs were replaced with better songs and things were generally rejigged. Having seen many a youtube clip of the Broadway production this was mainly for the best; a clear narrative now ran through the piece and superfluous characters had been cut (although I do miss Petal, he was decidedly creepy).

Rosie also decided that if this was her show, it deserved to be on Broadway. Yeah Rosie that's great, lets take a show based in a tiny hall to a giant Broadway sized theatre. It just didn't sit right; the ensemble was bumped up to Broadway type numbers turning intimate club-based songs into large song and dance numbers that didn't particularly fit with the type of music. It also meant that the audience were separated from the performers and so there was a feeling of isolation from the eighties atmosphere. The publicity was also a mess- who puts a giant poster of a guy urinating in Times Square? That was a rhetorical question until I remembered Rosie O' Donnell. Timing was not ideal either, she had just entered into a huge court case which, in hindsight, could have been a blessing as it kept her away from the production. Instead O' Donnell decided to use the case a cheap publicity stunt, plugging the show whenever possible. Not the greatest thing to do when you may end up losing your reputation and lots of money.

Not everything was Rosie's fault; the critics had it in for Taboo right from the start (as shown on Show business: The Road To Broadway- damn you Ben Brantley et al!) and timing was not great- the show was up against Avenue Q and Wicked.

This got me thinking about two things: making changes to shows post opening and the impact the theatre you choose has on the success of your show. Two shows spring to mind: Batboy and Footloose. Batboy was originally played off-Broadway and did really well, I believe it was meant to go to Broadway but 9/11 put a stop to that. Instead it was taken to the Shaftsbury Theatre in the West End. Until recently the Shaftsbury was known as a place where shows go to die and this is what happened to my beloved Batboy. Two songs were replaced in the move but actually the replacement songs were better than the originals and the show even retained its title star, Devin May as Batboy. Yet it still played to weak audiences and did not receive the acclaim it got off-Broadway. This proves that, although we like things to be as big as possible in order to get the most coverage, sometimes things just work better on a smaller scale. For instance, for ages I had dreamed of Zanna Don't receiving a big revival on Broadway or the West End but after seeing it in the tiny Upstairs at the Gatehouse theatre I realised it just wouldn't work on a big stage. The intimacy works with the subtly bittersweet storyline and the small cast would just get lost on a big stage. Plus there aren't that many people who would want to see a gay fairytale no matter how good it is.

Seriously, this was the only picture I could find of the Broadway cast

Footloose is a tale of where changing a show can make it a perennial hit. On Broadway, it did alright but not amazingly- fair enough. When it came to the West End it was a pretty big hit, staying around for ages, going on tour, coming back, going on tour again...you get the picture. Only small changes had been made but I think they just made the production more like the film that people know and love and more coherent as a piece of storytelling. The writers realised that, although musicals are renowned for people singing rather than talking, sometimes dialogue can be more effective than song. The pretty dire excuse for a rap "Dancing is Not A Crime" was replaced by a speech by Ren to the town council, much like that in the film. Another song was also removed to allow for an emotional scene between Reverend Shaw and Ren.

Again, the choice of theatre also had a part to play in Footloose's English success. Instead of heading straight to the West End where it could get chewed up in the sheer number of film based shows on offer, Footloose toured Britain. This works twofold- first, the general public who would not normally bother going to London to see a show could see something new and exciting rather than a tired rehash of a West End show. Secondly, tours are cheaper to run and do not have to rely so heavily on star names to sell them so more risks can be taken without losing so much money. When it did finally hit the West End, there was a premade audience of those who had heard from friends who had seen it on tour. Perfect.

My beloved Title of Show

So there we have it, the cautionary Tale of Two Theatres. Other examples that prove the choice of theatre can really affect the success of a show include Next To Normal and Title of Show. Next to Normal started off-Broadway, played out of town and then finally went to Broadway. The key in its success on Broadway was its choice of the Booth Theatre. Originally destined for another theatre, the producers snapped up the Booth as soon as The Story Of My Life flopped. The Booth is one of the more intimate spaces on Broadway which suited this intimate show. Title of Show followed a similar route; originally conceived for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, it was snapped up by producers and put on at The Vineyard before playing a commercial off-Broadway run to rave reviews. I personally love the little show- its full of so much heart and hope of following your dreams yet is sassy and sarcastic at the same time. What followed was a huge campaign by Hunter, Jeff, Heidi and Susan to get the show to Broadway. And it worked! Unfortunately their dreams were dashed by the choice of the Lyceum theatre- it was just too big for only four chairs and a keyboard and so, again, the intimacy of the piece was lost and [TOS] closed after a few months.

Well back to the Chemistry for me, I'll try and update this blog a bit more regularly although this term is looking even busier than last. Oops.

Putting It Together- Connecting stories

The Man and Swallow- Paedophilia anyone?

So I've started a proper Summer job which unfortunately keeps me away from London for most of the week and thus unable to see much theatre. But it does provide me with a fifteen minute walk to and from the office each day (and by office I mean my employer's loft conversion). Accompanying this fifteen minute walk is my mobile phone/mp3 player, now with 8 gb of memory and my entire music collection. Hence we arrive at my favourite pastime which I have christened bus directing in honour of my year of commuting into College from the edge of Shepherds Bush- nearly an hour's journey with sometimes two changes of bus. Combine an mp3 player full of musical cast recordings and daydreaming and I start blocking musical numbers in my head. If you're lucky you may even catch me dancing along as I walk, I usually have to remind myself that this is not normal practice, especially not in the middle of the Bedfordshire countryside. I've been increasingly feeling that I don't belong here in conservative, middle class middle England. My dress sense is too bohemian, I walk with a headphone permanently plugged in my ear, I don't want to talk about the weather, or the Gypsies that want to move onto some wasteland at the edge of the town and I don't care that Andy Murray is in the semifinals of Wimbledon. All in all, I miss London.

Anyway, back to the theatre-talk. As I was walking home today I was listening to Whistle Down The Wind. I know I've always had a distaste for Andrew Lloyd Webber but the combination of a return to the Rock Opera style and the insertion of a part I'd love to play (Swallow) means I'm drawn to it. And here is where the connections start; it appears I seem to only like Lloyd Webber musicals that have had a concept album. Perhaps this is because he is writing the musical for the love of the art form and not to make money from the populous. A concept album allows the music to be perfected and a greater depth to be achieved from it- Jesus Christ Superstar was the same.

Batboy- *sigh* the memories...

I was thinking about the storyline of Whistle Down The Wind and realised how it was almost identical to Batboy!-The Musical- a forbidden relationship between a teenage girl and the outcast of society, religious townsfolk in the deep South up in arms about said outcast and blaming him for their woes, and a climatic finish resulting in the death of the outcast after a terrible secret has been revealed. This theme can be seen throughout theatre, for example The Phantom of the Opera places the outcast in the society of an opera company. Parallels can even be drawn to West Side Story (and hence Romeo and Juliet) where Tony and Maria are pacifistic outcasts of a violence-driven society.

Of course the idea of "borrowing" stories isn't new but does give an insight into which shows will work- by keeping to similar themes, book writers are playing it safe and keeping to what they know works. Every so often you do get a completely new plot line, every story has to start somewhere, but these are few and far between. In the 2008-2009 Broadway season (Sorry West End, I didn't really keep tabs on you last year) I can only think of two shows based on original stories- Title of Show and Next To Normal, and I shouldn't really count Title of Show as it takes the age old "show within a show" idea.

I think we owe much of this theory to our friend Vladimir Propp. Propp's theory is the basis of all storytelling, the idea that there are 12 basic plots each with specific plot points to be followed. See, although I'm a Chemistry student I'm not completely inept in the teachings of media and drama. As a child I spent my Saturdays playing "wanky improvisation games" and my sisters both took Drama A level so I picked up one or two of the theories and laws from their textbooks (I know, I didn't think Drama had textbooks either).

The Wild Party- the version where Mandy Patinkin doesn't pretend to slap Toni Collette

Back to Mr Propp. The basic format has 31 plot points (which I am not going to divulge here as I frankly can't be bothered to list 31 things you could easily find on wikipedia). So perhaps we aren't cheating by recycling story lines but in fact have actually run out of original plots. There are only so many times you can alter the 31 parts of 12 different things, in fact (runs to a calculator) there are 2.48 x 10³³ combinations. OK, that was more than I expected but still, we have to remember there are 6 billion people in the world. Lets say at any point half the world is telling a story and even if it takes 10 minutes to tell that story that's 157680000000000 stories within a year. As wikipedia tells me that humans have been around for 500, 000 years that's going to be a huge number that I don't think Windows Calculator can cope with.

The Wild Party- the version with less sex but better music.

I digress. I think my main point is that, although a recycled story is inevitable, it doesn't have to be obviously recycled. I'm talking to you jukebox musicals and film-based rip offs. Batboy and Whistle Down the Wind manage to take the same plot and take it in two completely different directions. In 1999, Michael John La Chiusa and Andrew Lippa took this one stage further, both using the same source material; The Wild Party, an epic poem setting in the Bohemian 1920s. One was a great, accessible show taking musical themes from Salsa to Jazz whilst keeping the depth of a story about sex, drugs, violence within the 1920s. The other was a sultry, dark tale of underage rape and heightened emotions set to a more authentic 1920s style score.

This is where theatre should be heading- making the exciting out of the mundane and taking the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Normal service will resume shortly...

After my exams are over. Sorry, I can't think of anything to write about other than solvent systems, polymers, photochemistry, semiconductors, Gaussian, symmetry and spectroscopy, carbohydrates, bioinorganics and actinides and lanthanides. No that wasn't meant to be a list of impressive big chemistry words, more me checking I've remembered to revise everything. And there will be nothing more said of the matter as chemistry makes for a boring blog. Unless you specifically go out of your way to find chemistry blogs. Which would be a bit sad.

On slightly better news (and worse at the same time), I just watched the Batboy video with my American friend and I still love it! More about that some other time (Batboy was my first show, and first (and only) lead role), the worse part is that said American friend will be leaving for Michigan half way through my exams and so that was the last time I'll be seeing her until next year.
Anyway, should really go to bed soon so I can get up and do more revision tomorrow. Sigh