Broadway Rose Theatre **Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer**June 25 - July 19, 2009
Summary:
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels centers on two con men living on the French Riviera. Suave, sophisticated Lawrence Jameson and a small-time crook named Freddy Benson make lavish livings by talking rich ladies out of their money. They discover that the small French town isn’t big enough for the two of them.
8 comments:
Awesome costumes. Unfortunatly the set design didn't match the skill of the costume design and left a lot to be desired. The color composition of the traveler at the front was garish and The negative space in the right turntable interior was boring as was the lack of ornamentation on the interiors. Also I thought that the exteriors could have benefited from forced perspective to make them more interesting. And the doors and windows needed drop shadows to make them look more realistic.
The sound engineer needs to work on elimiating mic noise. And please turn off the floor mics when the wagons are going on and off stage. Overall I think this show needs a few more tech rehersals.
There was a large wrinkle in the center of the scrim upstage and the traveler and the french door drops need to be weighted down so they don't swing.
The lighting designer needs to watch the lighting cues when the revolves are turning because they get lit up unintentionally as they go around and it looks odd.
Also the theatre was really hot I was sweating and other patrons were waving programs during the show to keep cool.
I thought that Amy Palomino was great.
Sorry if this was somewhat of a techincal critique but that is what area I am trained in.
Thanks for the tech review, Anon 10:03!
I found the chorus costumes scattershot. What era are we in-- 30s? 70's all? none? The chorus costumes were stronger in the "fantasy" sequences such as the "Great Big Stuff" number.
The sets were problematic-- but I heard that was the case on B'way as well.
The book of the show is a mess from a structure point of view and makes ridiculous demands on the set, but even so there seemed to be several times when the audience was simply asked to ignore whatever was upstage because it had nothing to do with the supposed location.
I don't know the nature of the stage rigging, but it seems like a few mid-stage drops would do wonders.
The performers are at the mercy of that terrible book. Wade, Leif, Linsay and company bring charm, chops, and charisma-- but can't overcome the poor structure, lazy writing, and tepid song-craft.
Bright spots? Of course! "Love Is My Legs" is a sublimely silly number well done, Joe & Sharon have several adorable moments-- and whenever you get bored you can entertain yourself by playing "Spot Brian Bartley!"
I feel as though you should get the history before you criticize Broadway Rose. In another article on this show it was listed, that the rehearsals are a total of 3 weeks before the show opens, where most companies have 5 or more.
Also, they rent the Tigard High school auditorium. Remember the snow in winter? Well because that cut school 2 weeks short, the district added on a week, cutting Broadway rose off a week of load-in and tech rehearsals. Giving Broadway Rose 1 FULL tech rehearsal without an audience, and 2 with, before opening. So making a comment like "They needed more tech rehearsals." is just flat out rude.
Another fact, Broadway Rose is a non-profit company who's entire crew is High School interns. They run load-in, set-up, stage crew, spots, ASM, sound assistants and dressers. Cut the kids some slack.
There were some definite design flaws though, I feel as though the Set designer got a faulty layout of the space. The Aqua mid-curtain lands in an awkward place between the onstage sliders and the turntables, making bumping or brushing impossible to avoid. I think that was a bad design. Everything is to big for the space. Also there seems to be to many things that fly, limiting fly space.
Though when the turntables move together it is quite an impressive accomplishment, considering most companies that do this show either only have one, or no turntables at all. I feel as though there was nothing the light designer could do about the turntables being lit up behind the mid-curtain. I feel as though once the 20ft tall building were put up, it was hard to do much to the light design except focus. Like I said everything is to big, leading to big awkward open spaces.
I disagree with some of the costume choices, either that or the lighting designer needed to talk to the costume designers. It's quite distracting when someone's wearing a black suit, vs someone else in a white suit. The spots are at the same intensity but onstage the white suit trumps everything and becomes distracting.
I went on a tour backstage and if you think it's hot in the house you should try to be one of the actors, they have 3 fans that do nothing but move the sauna-like air around. I've heard there's always been problems with the air-conditioning in the building though, it seems to be a utility that's out of their hands.
I agree that overall the story is boring. The big musical numbers are wonderful, "Oklahoma", "Great Big Stuff", "Love is my Legs", "The More We Dance" and so on. But overall if those big fun-numbers weren't there, it'd be a boring show.
However I recommend seeing it.
I'm excited to see what they bring to the table with Evita. I have a feeling that that show will be a couple points better then this one.
"the rehearsals are a total of 3 weeks before the show opens, where most companies have 5 or more."
and yet they charge $30.
it doesn't matter a bit what the circumstances were to the audience.
and it wasn't a week they lost, it was 4 days.
oddly, after you nail someone for being too hard, you then go on to chide the set designer, the costumes and the script.
then you recommned the show!
yikes. not sure what you think.
as for the interns, again, the price is $30 regardelss of who moves the sets.
and as for the heat backstage.
actors have toiled in subhuman conditions for centuries and will continue to do so.
we've been to the moon and yet airconditioning is beyond us.
yes it's hard on the audience, but now add dancing, hot lights, nerves and wool costumes (and often wigs) and you'll get an idea of what an actor goes through for his/her measely paycheck and a shallow review in some hack paper like the WW. (kidding. i love the WW, really, for sure)
frankly i thought it was a good show. tons of fun, talented cast.
and i look forward to evita.
Wow! It looks like these dirty rotten guys can sympathize with The Producers at Lakewood. Who decided that building huge sets and pushing them around under diologue is a good idea? I'm sure all of our beloved tech crews are thrilled.
Judging by the big names in both casts... either show is well worth seeing!
I am excited to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I have not yet but plan on doing so if rehearsals allow. As a member of the Evita cast, all I can saw that Evita will be worth the ticket price and more!
I thought Erin Charles was supposed to be in this?
Erin was in the photo shoot because it happened long ago, and she was available, and pretty easy on the eyes.
Post a Comment