Theatre for Thought, July 16, 2011

Repercussion's upcoming Macbeth

NOT By Shakespeare

Or How to Succeed in Disrespecting Writers Without Really Trying

joel fishbane

Last week I made a passing reference to the relative lawless nature of the non-professional world – how many community or school groups will alter the text of a show to suit logistical or artistic whims, both without consulting the author and without informing audiences of the changes. Sadly, this lack of artistic respect is not confined to the non-professional world: it can be prevalent in the professional theatre too. 

To witness the most recent case of this, head on down to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival where at least two shows, to my knowledge, have been quietly changed. One is their gender-bending production of Richard III (actress Seana McKenna plays Richard); the other is Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe’s musical Camelot. In the case of Richard III, dialogue from Henry VI, Part III has been interpolated into the script. In Camelot, one song was cut while another was moved to the beginning of Act II.

Theatre For Thought, May 3, 2011

I Have a (Musical) Dream…

joel fishbane

Montreal continues its new-found love for song-and-dance spectaculars this week with the opening of Lies My Father Told Me, a quasi-new musical. Quasi-new? Well, basically they’ve taken previously written material and, without changing a word of the script, have added a load of new songs (all written by wunderkind Elan Kunin). Meanwhile, over at Centaur, the vaudevillian show about smoked meat is finishing up its extended run and subscribers are hopefully lining up to get seats to Sidemart’s new musical, Haunted Hillbilly, due in 2011. 

Is this the start of a Renaissance for musical theatre in English Montreal? Being a rabid fan of the genre, the possibility makes my little musical heart start to, er, sing. But while we wait for new geniuses to put forth Café Cleopatra: The Musical, it may be a good idea for companies to whet their whistles (pun intended) on a few shows from the canon of established shows. With this in mind, here are my suggestions for musicals which would suit the mandates of several local companies. Call it my musical dream season, if you like.