Last night I took my Betrothed off to see one of the great spectaculars of the modern stage - the Phantom of the Opera. We were fortunate that our friend, The Star, is one of the principals and managed to get us house seats at short notice. So we trooped off to join the madding crowds for a great night of entertainment ... we thought.
It was crap. Pure unadulterated crap. The extent of its awfulness almost defies description, it was just that crappy.
And why, you may ask, would one deliver such a harsh judgement on possibly the most successful musical of all time?
Well, it wasn't the cast. The Star was fabulous and the great Anthony Warlow brilliant.
It wasn't the production as staging and effects were of the highest order and costumes spectacular.
It wasn't the music which, while not to everyone's taste (certainly not my Betrothed's) was well played and effective.
No. It was the venue.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING PUTTING A STAGE PRODUCTION IN A BARN!!!!!!!!
Now I have seen Phantom some 11 or 12 times over the last 15 years, in 4 countries and at least 6 cities. It has always been brilliant and I have always enjoyed it. But then, it has always been in a theatre.
The decision by the producers to stage Phantom in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre - a venue perfectly designed for rock concerts and basketball matches - was borne out of pure greed. Cram as many people as possible into the space, halve the length of the run (hence having to pay your artists for 50% less performances) and to hell with Art.
The normally spectacular stage was, from our vantage point, like a pimple on a pumpkin. About 90% of the effect of the performance was lost simply due to perspective and scale.
Obviously the producers had realised that of the 3,000 people crammed into the venue, 2,500 would be unable to see what was going on so 2 giant screens had been erected to broadcast the live action. These were incredibly distracting and made you feel like you had paid $120 to go to a really bad drive in. Unfortunately, you had to watch the screens if you wanted to have any idea what was going on as the actors were so far away from the majority of the audience that features and expressions were impossible to see, costumes were simply a colourful blur and the masterpiece of staging completely compromised.
It was a disgrace.
Arena spectaculars may be fine for shows specifically designed for that forum. But please, Mr Producers, never, never, never do this to another great show. We will certtainly stay well away.
3 comments:
Greedy producers! Who'd a thunk it?
BTW, love to the Star.
How strange that we should have such different experiences at the same show in the same venue but then we were in 'B' section just slightly left of centre. I must agree that the low resolution screens were somewhat irritating but I assumed that they were low res because we were too close. Apparently not.
I must concur with your assessment of the performaces of both 'The Star' and Mr Warlow. Stunning.
Ooops. that was me! That's what happens when you read your friend's blog at your friend's house on your friend's computer/account :-)
*sheepish grin*
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