Well, it was, but it certainly didn't seem like it. The only point of my weekend that I enjoyed myself at all was Thursday, ironically. The rest was full of work and sitting at home with nothing better to do. Well, I went to see Into the Woods at Millard North on Saturday. And for the most part, the experience was good. But there were other things there besides the show that I'll get into later.
Fuck, it's almost 4:00. I really ought to get to bed. So I'm going to make this short. I hope. Fuck, I'm not going to get to everything tonight. Ohhhh, let's see how far we do get, then.
First of all, I've finally gotten around to cleaning up the links up there. I've finally changed Peter's blog's name. Deleted some things that are no longer being updated, and even added a blog of a friend of mine, Alex. Now all I need is a new template so all those things will be in their own column instead of cluttering up the top of my screen . . . blegh.
I got to hang out with people on Thursday. It was great. Steve came to get me and we hung out at UNO for a few hours. And after Steve dropped me off, I ended up abducting my brother's car to go back to UNO and spend the night with Tony. Good times, good times. Of course I can never seem to get out of Tony's bed whenever I make my way into (for reasons I don't need to go into detail about here), so while I planned on being home around 7:00 in the morning, I actually got home around 2:00 in the afternoon. And, even though it was Fall Break, my brother still had soccer practice (what the fuck!?) at 2:00, and didn't have a ride, so my father had to take him, and was thus pissed at me, and I got into a shit load of trouble once again. So, Friday was spent at home with people pissed at me. I wanted to go see Into the Woods that night, but no one would take me and I was banned from cars. I also wanted to go meet Peter and Jen at the airport, but no one called me, and I was not able to use cars as mentioned before. Thus, I sat at home and did nothing. I actually fell asleep around 10:00 (gasp!). But then I woke up again around 3:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I commandeered my little brother's Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (god, I love that game) and played until I had to go to work at 8. I worked from 8-4. Sat at home until my mother took me to see Into the Woods.
Now, I had just seen Into the Woods at Millard South the weekend before, so there were bound to be comparisons running through my mind. Previous to the evening, I had bragged to all my friends how the Millard North production would be soooooooo much better than the Millard South one. I even threw it in the face of the Millard South grad at my school. Well, no offense to the cast, but I spoke faaaar too soon, and now I'm going to look like a jack ass tomorrow when I see the kid (he saw Friday night's performance, by the way).
First of all, I enjoyed the show, I really did. I don't want to make this seem as though I didn't like it. The set was utterly amazing. Leaps and bounds over the pitiful, though servicable MS set. And the music was penomenal too. It was very, very professionally done. The whole production aspect of the MN version was faaaar superior to the MS one.
But, as we all know, the technical things are important, but they are not what the audience pays attention to during the play. The audience watches the performers. And this is where I am sorry to say, but the MS show outshined the MN one.
Now, Mr. Peterson, for some obscure reason, decided to double cast the entire cast. The entire cast. So, basically, there were two different productions of this musical at Millard North. Each production just used the same set and orchestra. But for all intents and purposes, they were two different shows. Now, when you have two completely different casts performing the same show, each cast only gets half the rehearsal time. Now, regardless of the talent of the people involved, this shows through. And it did show through. A lot.
Millard South did not double cast their show, and the result was a very polished production. Surprisingly perfessional. Millard North, on the other hand . . . well, I really hate to say it, but looking back on it, it seemed like I was watching a dress rehearsal. People going up on lines, people getting out of beat with the orchestra, etc. Now, I probably only noticed half these things because I'm currently being trained to be critical of theater as I'm going into it, but, well, they are also things that would never have occured if these people hadn't been forced to give up their rehearsal time.
Now, I know that the entire purpose of the double casting is to give more kids a chance to be on stage. And for a musical with no chorus, they had to try and include as many people as possible, and they did this by double casting the entire freaking cast. As a result, there were numerous underclassman being given prominent roles. Now, I love underclassmen just as much as the next guy, but when you have an entire cast made up of kids in 10th and 9th grade . . . it's hard to compare the performances of these inexperienced kids with the performances of much more experienced seniors at Millard South. It just really disagree with the way the double casting worked on this production. I could understand double casting the principle roles of the Baker, his wife, Jack, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and the Witch, but to double cast Cinderella's father who speaks twice in the entire play? That just seems ludicrous to me.
Now, as for my other little tick with the show . . . I did not agree with the casting. At all. Most of the principle leads were . . . weak. However, almost all of the minor characters really, really shined. In fact, I would have to say that the minor/supporting characters were better in MN's production than the ones in MS's.
I seriously think P was drunk when he cast this show. How else can you explain Elizabeth getting an itty bitty part as LRRH's grandmother instead of the Baker's Wife, or Witch, or even Cinderella, all of which she could've performed magnificently. As it was, she was a fabulous grandmother and voice of the giant. But all that talent could've been put to better use. Another example was Melissa Smigelsky, cast as Jack's mother, but would've been even better as Cinderella. And Tyler Fry. He played the wolf, and was the only non-doublecast person in the show. And it showed. His performance was very, very good. It was the most polished thing in the entire show. Now, is there any reason he couldn't have been Jack? And, yeah, she's my sister. But I happen to honestly beleive that Corie is a pretty damn decent performer, and she didn't get cast. She's an upperclassman, and there were mediocre sophomores crowding the stage. What is up with that? I simply don't understand it. Granted, she may not have deserved a principle role, but good god, she could've at least been a wicked step sister. (She'd be very, very natural at being one of those. I love ya Corie).
It just burns me that all this talent was wasted, all these people weren't given the practice time they deserved, and the result was something less than what I was hoping for. Millard North has a history of great theater, and my friends didn't get to see that with this show. I just think it's too bad that this was their first experience with it. MN can do better, and it would have if it wasn't for odd casting of this show. I really believe that. I guess it really shows that P is retiring.
Holy shit, I went on about that for faaaar longer than I had expected to. I guess I'll finish about my weekend tomorrow.
