Well, dear readers, when the movie industry invades Broadway the result can sometimes be interesting, but more often than not the result is not interesting. In the invasion, what happens is that suddenly writers are being dictated to by studios who only know from Screenwriting 101 and the “rules” of the ASCAP and BMI workshops (maybe). Suddenly it becomes about demographics. Suddenly it becomes about “branding.” Let me tell you what Broadway does not need: Branding. If I never hear that word again it will be too soon. So, what we’re now getting is almost every movie studio looking at their recent films (the classic are, of course, of no interest) and adapting them as musicals, no matter how stupid the idea. If they’ve got a title they think is “branded” they go for it. It doesn’t seem to matter that most of these things do not do well, cannot do well. The problem is very obvious – a recent film can be gotten from Netflix for next to nothing. Why pay $130 to see a movie on stage. Because that’s what we’re getting and going to get until hopefully these movie people leave Broadway the hell alone. Amscray, you amateurs. Ghost, The Musical – see the movie onstage! I suppose that’s comfort food for some rube somewhere but not for the likes of me. Dirty Dancing – see the movie onstage! People often delight in telling critics of this practice that it’s always been done. And while I wouldn’t say that’s quite true, the times when it has been done, certainly in days of old, it was NOT about branding. In fact, they went out of their way to change the title of the show so that the show would have its OWN identity. What a concept. Hence, we have Promises, Promises and not The Apartment, The Musical. There actually aren’t all that many examples of movies into musicals from the golden age, nor from the 60s or 70s. I thought of a handful yesterday, but forgot them. There are quite a few musicals adapted from plays that had movie versions, but that doesn’t really count. And you’ll notice that it’s not The Matchmaker, The Musical, or The Rainmaker, The Musical, or Green Grow The Lilacs, The Musical, or Liliom, The Musical. Today, it probably would be. You would be shocked at some of the things that are being written, from big recent hits to middling art films with no following at all. Is this how musical theater has devolved? Yes, occasionally there are musicals that are original or musicals based on novels or plays, but this thing of adapting movies that are barely a decade old is really rancid. But as long as the movie industry keeps putting their grimy hands on Broadway, this trend will continue – it will stop when they feel they’ve lost enough money. Most of the shows won’t get past their workshops. And frankly, it’s not just the studios – it’s the writers – they’re going out and getting things like Sleepless in Seattle or Catch Me If You Can. Not every movie made in the last decade should be a musical. Really. What’s next? Avatar? Taken? The Social Network? As Babs and Donna said, enough is enough. End of rant.
Yesterday was another long day. I got up, did the four-mile jog, had a really nice rehearsal with Alet Taylor (who was just nominated for an Ovation Award for her performance in Having It All), then I had to go directly to the editing room to continue to fine cut our three episodes. We watched two and made some further tiny changes and then got to the third. That one has been somewhat problematic for me – don’t know why, but you can never predict how you’ll react to something once it’s cut together. Everything seems to work when you’re shooting and viewing all the raw footage, but things take on lives of their own when edited and you have to just go with it and do what’s best. The other two episodes run exactly 6:30 with front and end credits. This one ran 7:40 and it’s amazing how one could feel that extra minute and forty seconds. The first thing we did to shorten it was cut a slow introductory verse to one of the songs. That really helped. I really liked the slow verse, but it just wasn’t getting us where we needed to go fast enough. But I still felt it was dragging and so I went into the second musical number (there are three in this episode) and cut the final verse and that really seemed to do the trick. We both felt that you got the joke in the first section and the bridge, and while the final verse did have a funny ending line, it just took too long to get to it – going to the third number directly from the bridge just gave everything the momentum it needed. The good news is that we’ll be putting the full versions of the numbers up on the Outside The Box website. All three episodes have lots o’ laughs, though, and that was and is the point. We then did more work on the Jason Graae episode – its running time was fine, but I felt there were a couple of lines in the set-up scene that weren’t really buying us anything and which actually took us in a somewhat hard to believe direction and my whole point with this series is that as silly as it gets (and it gets plenty silly) it does so in a way where you could almost say, “Yeah, that could happen.” So, I’m glad we took out those lines because they just were a little TOO cutesy and obvious. So, today I’ll be getting a DVD of the final cuts, which I’ll watch and if I’m happy then we’ll lock the video and audio and prepare the Quick Time files for You Tube.
After that, I picked up a couple of packages, and then I finally ate dinner – chicken tenders and a small order of fries. It was just the kind of thing I needed to eat. Then I came home, caught up on e-mails, saw and was disgusted by the new Facebook changes, and then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Red Eye. I’d read some nice comments about the film, which was unfortunately released close to another film that was seemingly very similar (although not really). That film was Flightplan with Jodie Foster. Both films have a woman in jeopardy on an airplane, but that’s about it. Flightplan, as inane as some of the plot was, was a moderate hit, while Red Eye vanished in the blink of a red eye. However, if one looks at the cost of each film, then they kind of did about the same business. Red Eye was a fairly standard-issue thriller of the kind they make every three seconds these days. The difference between Flightplan and Red Eye, for me, is that Flightplan’s director is completely uninteresting, while Red Eye’s director, Wes Craven, at least knows how to film a movie in the classic style and therefore I found Red Eye much more entertaining than Flightplan. There were none of the plot stupidities of Flightplan, like Jodie Foster beginning to doubt her sanity and whether she really had a daughter – I think I’m remembering that pretty well. This one just moves along at a really fast clip and gets the job done without too much inanity.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must be up at six to announce the new Kritzerland title and must try to get some semblance of a beauty sleep.
Today, I shall be up at six to announce the new Kritzerland title and then I will hopefully print out a LOT of orders. I may or may not try to go back to sleep. Then I’ll do the four-mile jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages, do some writing, and eat something light but amusing.
Tomorrow it’s another Alet rehearsal, Friday a dinner, Saturday rest, and Sunday is the Michelle Nicastro event.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all do the Hora or the Lambada (The Forbidden Dance), because today is the birthday of our very own beloved dear reader Laura. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own beloved dear reader Laura. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN BELOVED DEAR READER LAURA!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, announce a new title, print orders, do a four-mile jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up a package or three, write, and eat. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall not be turning any recent movies into musicals.