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"Rules" of live theater?


Miss Peregrine
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I recently went with my girls to Joseph in LA. I've seen it a few times before and I always love it.

 

This time was still great but there were some video elements that I'm not sure I liked.

 

I was talking to my girls about the play and I said I thought the video was cheating. That the limitations of theater make it that much better, when something can be conveyed within the "rules".

 

My daughter said, "There are no rules."

 

What do you think?

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There are conventions, but that's different from rules.

 

I think the only real limitations of theater are of the space you're in, the budget you have, the need to stick to what's actually physically possible, etc. Natural limitations.

 

If you break the conventions, then you have to help the audience come along with you to make it successful. But you could follow all the conventions and not put on a successful show or break a ton and have a wildly successful one, both monetarily and in terms of achieving your point and creating art.

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The beginning of Henry V talks about the limitations of the players to show the full scope of war. This is included in the intro of the Kenneth Branaugh movie version. A movie version might be different than a play, but it is still limited in conveying what war is *really* like.

 

I don't think it is cheating; it is just different than what you were used to. Granted, too many video elements can be distracting during a live performance, IMO.

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I had the same reaction when I went to see phantom live. There was a small pit orchestra but a lot of the music was synthesized. I was annoyed. Really really annoyed. I wanted live music. It just sounds different. But I dislike most synthesized music and could be in the minority.

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I agree with there are no rules.  I thought this was going to be about rules for audience members, and I do agree there are rules for an audience member!

 

We saw this extremely magical version of the Magic Flute Mozart opera last year.  I LOVED it!  The pit and singers were all live and highly skilled professionals, but it was definite multi-media

 

 

My son was in a very high quality version of Les Mis last year with some multi-media stuff.  That was a community theater, but the cast ended up being mostly professionals.

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