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Focusing on the Portland, Oregon theatre scene in precisely 50-word increments. followspot@hotmail.com
52 comments:
It would be great to see some coverage of Mt. Hood Rep's summer season. They're producing 'On Golden Pond' and 'Luv' this year.
Northwest Classical's As You Like It
and
Blue Monkey/Portland Actors Ensemble Romeo and Juliet
Romeo & Juliet kinda came and went already. I guess nobody noticed with all that obsessive attention being paid to JAW
I second the request for Mt. Hood reviews. Particulary in light of the fact that I was unable to find a listing for "Luv" in today's Oregonian. And yes, I'm biased... a loved one is in the show.
Hamlet with Quintessence is running through August 4th with a likely extension through August 11th at University of Portland!
What about "noises off" at Lakewood?
"The Taming of the Shrew" opens this Saturday and runs through Labor Day each weekend for free. Also, NW Classical is playing "As You Like it" for free for four Saturdays
Noises Off already has a link. You gotta scroll down past all the JAW stuff...followspot is planning on seeing it closing weekend.
Can someone who sees "Zombie Prom" this weekend share their thoughts?
Also -- the musical out at Broadway Rose "No Way to Treat a Lady" ...
Except for a few sound issues the show was great. the dancing was inventive and there are some very talented singers in the cast. i definitely plan on seeing it again
I thought Zombie Prom was full of energy and good intentions, but severely lacking in organization and follow-through.
Half of the mediocre music could have been cut. Sound was a little wonky. Choreography was enthusiastic but sloppy.
Andrew Bray was a pleasure to watch, and I regretted that he didn't have more stage time.
Has anyone seen Das Barbeque?
You have just a few more chances to see Kenneth Lonergan's amazing play THIS IS OUR YOUTH in a top-notch production over at the Shoebox before it closes this weekend. The direction is taut, and makes great use of the tiny venue. Fine performances, too. Highly recommended!
I concur on 'This Is Our Youth.' Lovely work on all counts. See it before it are goes.
Did anyone see As You Like It?
I assume you're speaking of the NW Classical show. I saw it in Terry Shrunk Plaza. Although they wisely moved it out of the brick pit and up the grassy knoll, that didn't do a lot to overcome the oppressive street noise (a lot more buses on Third and Jefferson now, along with the usual sirens, etc.) Leads were acceptable -- Butch Flowers made a sweet and beguiling Orlando. Elizabeth Young offered some of the best nonverbal acting I've seen in a light comedy: at times she held my attention away from the speaking actor in the scene. Daniel Shaw's Jaques was weak; he looked good but fluffed and missed lines -- maybe this improved after the first weekend. Kevin Price was a surprise as Charles and William: new to me, but obviously a smart comic actor. In sum, a decent but not stellar free show. I don't know why NW Classical clings to this awful site.
It's a federal park as opposed to a state or city one.
They don't have to pay to use it.
That's one reason, sure, but surely not the only one. Portland Actors Ensemble gets a waiver on its park fees for the Shakespeare shows each summer. I guess NW Classical wants to present the Bard in a thoroughly unlikely, urban setting at the heart of the business and government district action, which I can applaud, but the pressures on the actors (and the audience) are just too arduous.
No disrespect to Portland Actors Ensemble, but they only produce 2 shows a year. It's easy to imagine that they probably have a far greater amount of time on their hands to go through the hassle of fee waivers for park permits from Portland Parks and Recreation. NW Classical is producing 7 shows this year and 'As You Like It' was actually in 2 different parks. I don't think it's fair to criticize NW Classical for their choice of park putting pressures on the audience. It was a free show. If we had to pay to see it then I can see complaining about the park noise.
In other words, if a theater company chooses conditions that make it harder for the audience to hear, let alone understand the play, it's not something one may criticize? I notice Hallett for one, in the Portland Mercury review, commented on the ambient noise problem.
No, it's more like you're complaining about a free show. That cost you nothing. That you didn't have to pay for. That made no impact on your personal wealth. That you didn't need to include for consideration in your weekly spending budget.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
No theatre company owes you a perfect show when you didn't pay for it. And if it didn't occur to you that there may be some noise issues given the location (especially after having read a published review that commented on such) prior to going, whose fault is that? Did you assume that the power of a park performance permit can stop traffic in the area for 2-3 hours? You knew there would be some noise and you went anyway. That's a self-inflicted problem, buddy.
People should be thanking companies like NW Classical and Portland Actors Ensemble for putting on free shows like these instead of criticizing the fact that it wasn't absolutely perfect.
I would like to disambugate any confusion that may arise.
My name is Brian. I was in the cast of As You Like It. I am not, however, the Brian who has been posting about price vs. park noise.
Personally, I think we as a cast owe a good show to the audience for their TIME, regardless of cost. But I also think we provided that, despite the noise.
Just wanted to avoid any confusion.
Thanks,
Brian Allard
To the Brian-not-Allard:
You're blowing my comments all out of proportion. I never asked for perfection. I was well aware of the problems in advance, and I had doubts about going because I don't like to see actors suffer. My comments were couched in terms of what I guessed would be a more average theatergoer's response -- someone who is not thoroughly familiar with the plot, and the speeches . . . and might therefore have need of the ability to hear the actors better than I think one sometimes can at this site.
Whether they paid or not is beside the point. In a sense, you're saying that if the company doesn't take any money from the audience, they have an excuse to offer a less than adequate show. (In which terms I am not defining this one, thank you very much.)
I'd say that however familiar you are with the plot of AYLI, you are not aware of what theatre really is.
Theatre is live performance. This distinquishes it from recorded entertainment. You can't edit out the inevitable small mistakes. Perfection is impossible. Dwelling on the small stuff therefore betrays an insensitivity to the feel, to the emotion of the show. Like sports (another form of live performance) it's whether you come out ahead at the end that counts; not that you allowed imperfection. While you focused on minute imperfections, you missed the catharthis the rest of the audience was enjoying.
Theatre is much more about the heart than the head. In your review it seemed you were distracted by many things, whereas I was not. The actors were able to capture my heart and take me out of the din of that place. They very effectively led the audience into the imaginary forest of Arden that they re-created out of the classic text. That is the power of a great live performance. That the majority of the audience agreed with me tells me that your overly critical heart wasn't able to connect.
You see, here is what you don't understand.
Theatre is live. It's with live people. Live people who breathe and exude their souls through their pores (and sweat too, if the lights are hot and they have to do some physical stuff, so don't sit in the front row unless you like that kind of thing). And they do live stuff. Right in front of you! Really. (It's very cool. They have to memorize stuff and everything.)
It's not film. Film is...film! It's this plastic stuff with pictures on it. It is plastic? It's like plastic. Anyway, it's not live. If you cut film, it doth not bleed. It just kind of, well, cuts. And then it breaks in the projector, and everyone has to wait while they fix it. Which is incredibly annoying, especially if you're paying for it. On the other hand, if you cut an actor, they have to go to the hospital, and that's annoying too. For the audience. I guess it'd be annoying for the actor as well. Look, it's just best not to cut actors. Or film.
I'm afraid you just don't know anything about theatre. It's live, you know?
This is without a doubt the dumbest thread I've ever read. Making an impassioned case for mediocrity explains alot about why 95% of theatre in this town is crap. According to you, mediocrity seems to be the highest attainable goal. I don't care if it comes from your mind, your heart, or your ass, mediocre theatre will kill the art form if given the chance.
If you don't care enough to aim higher, it's your own damn fault. Don't point the finger at me that I just expect too much. You should just do the play in your basement by yourself if the audience doesn't matter. If you prefer they justlower their expectations, why even make them part of the exuation?.
Apparently if you produced MERCHANT on the floor of the stock exchange you should be apploauded for bringing the theatre to the people. If it's any good or whether or not they can hear anything at all is really secondary to whatever the actors have in their hearts. I say, bullshit!
A. 95% of theatre in this town is not crap. If you feel otherwise, I suggest you work with 5% of Portland's theatre community.
B. I believe the post above with satire, however loopy, of those who lecture others on what they already know.
C. Theatre in the park is noisy because parks are noisy. Companies who chose to perform in parks are likely aware of this.
A. To you 95% of theatre in this town may not be crap. To me...crap crap crap crappity crap-crap. And I do work with 5%. The really really good 5%.
B. It was and includes my own stupid posting.
C. Then don't bitch about comments regarding your production.
D. I've gotten sucked into the dumbest thread in history and I can't get out!!!
Ah. Well, I'd be hesitant to identify that 5% creme de la creme because, sooner or later, you're likely to end up involved in a production with one of your unfortunate lesser mortals, and they might not appreciate knowing that you think 9.5 out of every 10 theatre practitioners in town otherwise suck.
If you have certain tastes and feel that you don't like 95% of the other work done in town, that's perfectly legitimate. Characterizing that 95% as crap strikes me as indicative of that endearing quality called youth, which lives in an rarefied air so intoxicated by its own ideas that it seldom recognizes that they're already been done. Enjoy it while it lasts.
P.S.: I have absolutely no connection to the aforementioned prodution in the park. Sorry.
With about 100 shows produced a year in Portland, you're saying only 5 are worth seeing?
That's harsh. And people complained about Steffen...
I'm 48; I was responding to the comments that nobody expects perfection; life's too short to settle for what you think you're capable of, and I haven't seen the play either.
A thread like this really points up the need for at least pseudonymous signatures, so one may not only know how many different folks are contributing to the discussion (if it’s only two, then that’s a good hint to give it up – nobody else is interested). For the record, I posted the following comments above:
8/20/07 01:25:00 PM
8/22/07 09:03:00AM
8/23/07 09:06:00 AM
8/23/07 03:04:00 PM
which includes the initial substantive comments about the NW Classical “As You Like It that seems to have gotten at least one person’s panties in a twist.” I am NOT the person who remarked that 95 percent of the theater produced in Portland is crap. Nor do I believe that.
But back to the main topic here: The notion that free theater is above criticism because one hasn’t paid for a ticket is ludicrous. The show may have had “no impact on my personal wealth,” but my time, my love for theater and Shakespeare, my warm feelings for the many people I knew in the cast were all on the line.
Second, to take a criticism – little more than a question of tactics, really – as a sign that one expects “perfection” is equally ludicrous. I didn’t expect perfection, and certainly didn’t ask for it here. The question was merely whether or not the ambient noise posed an insuperable challenge to the actors and audience. To be accurate, it didn’t, but it was formidable, so I asked, why would a theater company do that to itself?
I think what the person you were responding to meant to say (and I could be wrong) is nobody expects perfect conditions when performing in a downtown park. Shooting for perfection is admirable, but dismissing productions as crap that don't meet 100% of your particular standards is kind of silly, particularly when we all have different standards and different artists set out to achieve different goals. Perfection or crap seems a tad absolutist, and may be I'm just a little sick of absolutism in a world that demagogues paint as solely black and white. I like grays. I like colors in different hues. And sometimes I like messy train wrecks of a play when they're full of heart and a spirit of adventure.
You know, it is very easy to choose a pseudonym instead of anonymous. You just hit "other" and enter any name you want. You're still anonymous, but more creatively. I would recommend it.
how is it that northwest classical always seems to cause an explosion of comments on followspot? they're probably the smallest company in town! i'm just trying to figure why people seem to be obsessed with them. i've always found their work to be okay but definitely not worth arguing about. is it the actors in the company that people are riled up about? is it shakespeare? i'm just curious
I've cursed you all to forever have inane conversations about this theatre.
Muhahahahahaha!
I told you I would have my revenge!
it was happening long before that stupid lizard ever showed up
I would appriciate it if people would not use the actual names of actors as their 'pseudonym'. This is in reference to Huxley. Thank you.
All right now, let's settle down. Nobody wants to see a return of "Lizard-gate"!
I think it's funny that all this hoopla is being written about a show (As You Like It) that closed several weeks ago. I know Followspot is busy but I'm not sure why the reviews of As You Like It, Zombie Prom, Romeo and Juliet and This is Our Youth all came out well after those shows had closed. What's the point? They are all distant memories in the minds of their casts and directors who have doubtless moved on to other projects. Theater is a thing of the moment. We can't go see any of these shows now (or avoid them for that matter) and it's far too late for any criticisms or suggestions to have impact on the shows. So what is the point of these comments?
Two of the best performances I've seen this whole season were Tobias Andersen and Joan Freed in On Golden Pond at Mt. Hood Rep last week. Here are two very talented theater vets at the top of their craft (who could probably take "95%" of the actors in this town to school) doing top notch work, and I don't think hardly anyone saw it. But it's closed now as well.
Oh, and I don't think 95% of Portland Theater is crap. I think about 50% of Portland Theater is crap (and about 50% of the crap has some redeeming qualities while 50% of the good stuff has at least a little crap in it) And I think that's pretty much the national average for theater in general (except maybe for Broadway, where the percentage of crap is a little higher.)
What I find puzzling are the questions and criticisms people have posed about this thread itself.
The discussion about "As You Like It" has centered on an ongoing issue, both for NW Classical and other outfits, year in and year out. Also, the first post that described the production appeared in response to someone else's request.
I think discussion of such topics can be useful whether a particular production is still up or not.
Jon Golding asked why lengthy threads are sparked by NW Classical. It's not the same thing each time, and from what I've seen, it's rarely about the actors or Shakespeare. NW Classical is certainly NOT the smallest company in town, although it probably has the smallest performance space, which is worthy of discussion.
Of late, NW Classical has had the good luck (or appeal) to land some fine leads like Norby and Angelo, which is noteworthy, and some good coverage from the mainstream press. Whether fairly earned or not, that's something for other companies in its league to learn from.
It's a company with few resources, but a lot of heart.
"Of late, NW Classical has had the good luck (or appeal) to land some fine leads like Norby and Angelo, which is noteworthy, and some good coverage...whether fairly earned or not blah blah blah blah blah heart."
Wow, David Lofty, if only I could hear you speak in person, I may fall in love with your voice ever so more than you are…that is, after my illicit relationship with David Milestone’s voice has run its course. Until then, hey...don't you have some pornography “research” to do somewhere?
Let's get down to it. It's not luck that NW Classical has done good work or performed well. Norby and Angelo are not the only fine actors that have worked or still work for NWCTC (whether or not you were trying to say that, I am certain it would have come off pretentious either way...”earned or not”).
Following this thread, and as a fan of NWCTC, I understand what the original anon was saying: that space is too loud. I agree. The audience will forgive many things, but not being able to hear is not at the top of that list. Does that mean that people shouldn't go? No. Does that mean that NWCTC sucks potatoes? No. Does that mean people cannot say, "hey, I would like to hear my actors?" No. It is a valid complaint.
Perhaps the true test will be time. If people keep showing up (which they will), then for most it will not too much of an issue. Buses + Heat + Local Jail + Police Sirens + Mistaken Identity…Shakespeare Gold? Perhaps.
It is a suitable criticism without diminishing the work or the actors.
in re: NWCTC buzz -
how come followspot hasn't scheduled an interview with Grant Turner? It would be interesting seeing as he is the artistic dir. of the most talked about theatre co., by far, on this site.
Umm. . . anyone seen any good shows lately?
I agree - let's talk about more shows, instead of this circular slap-fest. . .
"Umm. . . anyone seen any good shows lately?"
"As You Like It" in the park. It was a pretty good show.
Anyone see PAE's Taming of the Shrew? I'm going next week to Reed and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
If you have people you would like to see interviewed, by all means email your suggestions.
followspot at hotmail dot com
Grant would be a good one, no doubt. The interview schedule is pretty maxed out right now for the next month, but maybe after that.
Also, per the earlier "call for contributors" post, suggestions for interviewees are great, but new interviewers are priceless!
If you have someone you want to interview or profile, write it up and send it in.
Whew. I can't believe I read the whole thing. can I have my hour back?
I can't believe it took you an entire hour to read this thread.
please be aware that NWCTC has opened A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at the Shoebox.
To Will:
I'm most gratified that you agree with me.
95% of math is fractions. one half of fractions is fifty percent or less (the other half isn't).
I like Neal's pants.
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