clwcain Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Are any of you fans of live theater? What kind of shows would bring you to a theater? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Our kids are involved with musical theater so we love that, of course. We've seen everything from small high school productions to shows on Broadway...they're all fun. We like musicals best but do see our share of straight plays...usually either comedies or dramas. I'm not really into the artsy stuff, and things like opera don't interest us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Another thespian mom here! In fact I'm off in an hour for an actors workshop. Oldest wants to be an actress, please save me! :lol: We see as much live theater as we can afford. Everything from Shakespeare to local community theater. Dh dislikes musicals, so the girls and I go without him when one is in town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I've only been to kids' productions, but would love to see a real Broadway type musical in person. Wow. By the way, can someone clear something up for me - what is the difference between theater and theatre? My brain auto-types theatre, but then I noticed previous posters both typed theater. I could look it up but I'm to lazy. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I love live theater. Some of my favorite plays I have seen live: almost anything by Neil Simon, especially The Goodbye Girl almost anything by Tom Stoppard, especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Shakespearean plays Greek tragedies But...what's your audience? And what sort of casting do you have available or desire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diannab Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Another thespian here as well! WoooooooooooooT! We love all live theater shows..................We have been to ballet, Shakespearean, comedy, drama and of course the kiddos plays. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katalaska Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I've noticed that as I've gotten older (and had kids--does that have anything to do with it?) that my attention span is shorter and I'm likely to fall asleep during long shows (movies included). Music helps keep my attention! I'm also not a strong auditory learner (words) and even though live performances ARE visual, I need the music to help me comprehend the words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I'm so glad we have the Alley Theatre and Houston Grand Opera. They are one of the best things about living here. I personally like a variety of different genres and the Alley rarely disappoints me even when they do some experimental pieces. HGO is noted for new and less produced operas and sometimes they're great. Last season's Billy Budd was my hand's down favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clwcain Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 But...what's your audience? And what sort of casting do you have available or desire? I haven't decided. But for several years now I've been toying with the idea of starting a new theater in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, since none of the ones currently active, amateur or professional, do the kind of shows I enjoy. It'll initially be amateur, but the goal is a professional stock company that can roll out a variety of shows on demand. I'm a big fan of Mamet, Coward, Stoppard, Ionesco, Pirandello, and Albee for 20th century non-musical shows. I'm a huge fan of Restoration comedies, Jacobean dramas, and the Commedia tradition from the Continent. Shakespeare, and his predecessors in medieval English drama. And I think there's always a need for great musicals, truly the American art form. I might also try to work some Panto in, but that doesn't do well with most US audiences. Something about men dressed as women and women dressed as men... But this is the first public mention I've made of these plans. I thought I'd see what a reasonably random subset of a self-selected sample of educated women might be interested in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clwcain Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 I'm so glad we have the Alley Theatre and Houston Grand Opera. They are one of the best things about living here. I personally like a variety of different genres and the Alley rarely disappoints me even when they do some experimental pieces. HGO is noted for new and less produced operas and sometimes they're great. Last season's Billy Budd was my hand's down favorite. A buddy of mine from college works with the Alley now. I'm hoping to get down Houston way in the next few months to hang out with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibbyl Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 We cherish live theater. However, I plead guilty to an ingrained distaste for musicals. One of our family's holiday traditions is to see David Sedaris's "Holidays on Ice," a one-man play about his experience working as an elf at Macy's in New York. We've also enjoyed the more traditional comedy, "A Tuna Christmas." I lean toward traditional and cutting-edge comedy and drama. Am having trouble remembering titles of some of my favorites, but "Blue Orange" was fascinating. Typically enjoy anything by David Mamet. "Proof" was a good one. Oh yeah, Tennessee Williams with his simmering-beneath-the-surface-repressed-sexuality. August Wilson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 We see pretty much everything we can (except that I have recently sworn off children's theatre . . . for the second or third time). We started buying season tickets for the Shakespeare festival when my daughter was 8, because she fell in love with going. We are also big fans of the annual festival of new plays sponsored by the Shakespeare theatre and try to make it to a few readings and workshops there every year. We have bought season tickets for the Broadway tour series a couple of times, but it's so very expensive. Nonetheless, we usually make it to at least one big touring musical a year. We buy individual tickets for various shows at local theatres as the fancy strikes. We also have season tickets for the ballet, but that's different, I know. And we see an occasional opera, when there's something special. In general, we have tickets to something performance-y once or twice a month. In addition, both of my kids are into performance stuff. My daughter is specifically into musical theatre, although she is still a big Shakespeare fan and will generally see anything "good." My son dances and sings and does some theatre when he can work it into his schedule (or when he can convince me to bend his schedule to accomodate it). Like I said, All of Them! P.S. - I should clarify that by "children's theatre" I mean live theatre specifically targeted to a child-heavy audience. I am consistently irritated by the low quality and low expectations that most of those productions seem to promote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom to Aly Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I love musical and plays, both comedies and tragedies! I love ethnic pieces as well, just not as into some of the performance pieces--I went to one in NY once, a friend in college, where she sat the whole time with an apple in her hand, looking at it, then, in the last five minutes, ate it. NOT my thing! And that wasn't the worst I've seen, sad to say! (not that they're all like that!) My fave has always been London theater--I liked NY, but not as much as London. Right now, I'd take basically anything, though :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Shakespeare, definitely---but I prefer more traditional staging and costumes. Kid's theater---my middle daughter has been in several plays, and I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of them. While some moms may be soccer moms, I got more thrill out of being a "stage mom". Musicals---I really like these! I played piano for a number of years and accompanied two high school musicals: "Guys and Dolls" and "Once Upon a Mattress". I loved the former; the latter was OK. We watched "Singing in the Rain" the other night on TV, and although I can't dance to save my life, we thoroughly enjoyed watching Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Best wishes to you in starting another theater! I love the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jugglin'5 Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I prefer Shakespeare and traditional theater. I don't care for musicals unless it is Gilbert and Sullivan. There are probably other exceptions, but the traditional Broadway musical leaves me cold. Maybe I would like Cats since I like TS Eliot's cat poems. I dunno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clwcain Posted August 29, 2008 Author Share Posted August 29, 2008 Surely we haven't heard from everyone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kzdaisy Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Don't get to go to live theatre to often but I have loved Lion King and Phantom of the Opera!! That was the most recent I have seen. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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