#theatre discourse

[aboutiroh]

Why would a greengrocer travel the world to sell a single cart of cabbages? Are the cabbages so bad that the news spreads like wildfire (“I heard Sung’s cousin’s skin turned green and that he hasn’t left the house since”), forcing him to move towns every few days? Have we actually ever seen him sell a single cabbage? Or is his cart always full? If he does sell cabbages off-screen and is not travelling with the same cart of cabbages, where does he get new ones? Is it plausible he's first travelled back home every time we encounter him in a new Earth Kingdom town? Is it plausible we just happen to stumble upon him whenever he's gotten new products? Or are the cabbages merely a cover for a larger conspiracy? In this essay I will

[ingravinoveritas]

Look at this. They make me sick 🥹😭.

Oh, this is just...perfection. I've had a few people send this to me and it looked like an edit, but I wanted to be sure before responding. From the source I've spoken with, it seems these were two pictures--one of David, and one of Michael--taken by the same photographer (who was at the performance tonight) and then that person edited the two pictures together.

In addition, according to the photographer, David and Michael were, in fact, looking into each other's eyes. I feel like we could see that from the original photo, but to have it confirmed by someone who was actually in the room leaves me breathless on multiple levels. Knowing that Michael and David are being so public and open about it, seemingly not caring who sees anymore, because they know they have each other. Gorgeous.

I have many other Asks that have come into my inbox tonight, so I am going to save my additional thoughts for those, but thank you so much for sharing this with me. I adore them so...

[can-of-w0rmz]

“Aaron Tveit is a tenor he shouldn’t have been cast in a baritone role”/“Sondheim is rolling in his grave rn”/“He sounds too cute and unthreatening.” Genuinely shut the fuck up oml how does it feel to be boring asf 😭 He played the role extremely well, the songs sounded great in his vocal range, he WAS extremely threatening, and y’all are just being petty and puritanical about this shit. I’m a hardcore fan of Josh Groban and Len Cariou’s interpretations of the character, but Aaron Tveit did just as good of a job playing Sweeney Todd as anyone who came before him.

Sweeney Todd is a show that is and always has been continuously reinterpreted and played around with, while still keeping its core characterisation, plot and themes, which, just saying, were way clearer under Tveit’s portrayal of the character than for example, some of the “classic” baritone portrayals like George Hearn (iconic as his performance was, totally rewatching my 1982 proshot DVD on loop over here). He captured the sympathy and tragedy of the character whilst still being feral, aggressive, passionate and threatening, he’s a great actor and apart from the very mild set-back of his vocal range just being higher, he’s probably the best portrayal of Sweeney Todd I’ve ever seen. And even then, his vocal performance was far from bad — I’d totally stick it on in the background if he had any songs professionally recorded. He just doesn’t have the deep oomf that Josh Groban had, but if we’re going to talk about Tveit’s Todd being too “cute”, I’d totally say the opposite — as much as I absolutely love Groban’s interpretation of the character to bits, he arguably kind of lacks the feral aggression other actors who’ve played Todd have.

And, as for “Sondheim is rolling in his grave”, excuse me?? Sondheim has always been explicit about wanting an actor that can sing over a singer that can act. He reworked the structure of “Send In the Clowns” specifically for Glynis Johns because “she couldn't sustain notes,” his words. Not that either Johns or Tveit can’t sing, but you get the picture — yeah, no, Sondheim would absolutely not be rolling in his grave because a tenor played a baritone role he wrote extremely well and opted a couple notes higher than they were originally written.

Also, while I’m on the subject, listen, ok, I love the original 1979 cast recording so much that Angela Lansbury was my top artist (😭), and Annaleigh Ashford is actually my icon oml I absolutely adore her, but bsfr the hate on Sutton Foster was wayyy out of order. I’m not really a fan of a lot of the stuff she does (no harm to her or anything, just a personal preference 🤷‍♀️), and I think her portrayal of Mrs Lovett was a LITTLE bit surface level at times, (imo she didn’t REALLY have the same super strong characterisation that Ashford brought to the table tbf?), but for the most part she was actually really really funny and her chemistry with Tveit was on point, and she was still really good during those serious scenes too.

And don’t get me started on that one time I read a comment that said “Sweeney Todd is not a comedy”….bro… some of these people don’t even know what the fuck they’re talking about 😭

[causenessus]

well guys i know where i'm going to college 😍😍😍 (/HEAVY j wtf is this college admissions email)

[mountain-dew-tickledpink]

hey guys I wrote for once

[roseworth]

it’s so hard being a theatre kid and trying to explain that ben platt is genuinely so talented and he was great in dear evan hansen on broadway but he was nepo babied into the role in the movie when he did not deserve it and now that’s how people know his name

[thedailydescent]

Oh, and another thing that felt off about the finale: Louis and Armand fondly reminiscing over Sam escaping and becoming a DJ. "We still don't know how he did it!" ffs he co-wrote the play that killed your daughter maybe you could have also hunted him down (and Bruce too while you're at) and killed them instead of chuckling about his helmet.

[mrsblackruby]

Personally I actually think the mutant mayhem movie ended really sad. I think the turtles will be seen as pawns of the machine more than as actually being truly accepted. The turtles got the fantasy they wanted but they shouldn’t have had to prove themselves like that to be accepted. It felt like a “oh you’re helping me now I’m gonna help you” but what happens when the turtles want something that helps them all but the humans don’t see it that way. I was enjoying the movie up until the end because I see tragedy looming in the air for my boys they aren’t truly free. Living like that under human rule and domination, and I hope one day they see that. Also same for April girl them people fake. The humans haven’t done the actual work yet the turtles shouldn’t have to placate their fears with servitude. If the ending were to actually make me happy Their agency should be respected sometimes the turtles will make mistakes and they shouldn’t have to risk being discriminated against because of that. That ending made me sad but I feel like people would expect it to make me happy personally it did not.

I feel like the turtles are trapped in a box where they’re expected to perfectly fit into how human society works now but what if the way human society works isn’t a prefect fit for them will people just expect them to be grateful they don’t have to live in the sewer system their entire lives anymore? It was a tragic ending for me personally I just don’t see it working out until that situation’s made more clear for the mutants and things didn’t seem cleared up by the end. I still liked the movie. But I don’t have my rose colored glasses on.

[personinthepalace]

I saw a community production of Legally Blonde the Musical over the weekend! Will share my rambling thoughts below the cut:

so I judge lbtm productions by THE DOOR(TM) bc door discourse so let’s talk about that first:

so I've been analyzing the show’s sizzle reel a bit too much haha, but from the staging I figured that there wouldn't be a door during the ballad. I said this to my friend but then she pointed out that the program literally says elle's door so I got excited

however I was right and there was no door :(

so what happened instead was that they wheeled out elle's desk and bed and luggage for her room. (oh and before that they turned on little lights that made it looked like a starry night while elle was singing the first part - very pretty). emmett comes "into" elle's room with the two champagne glasses, they sing, she cries, elle then takes her suitcase and exits through the main stage doors (these doors are the same ones used for harvard, callahan's office, courtroom, paulette's salon etc - it’s the doors seen in the video above)

so we have emmett in elle's room and elle out of her room

emmett sings *what about love* and THEN elle comes out of one of the side doors (like closet doors) and starts singing. so I guess she is still outside?? very hard to tell

but there are some steps so elle is singing from the top step, emmett on the bottom

and by the end of the song, elle has come down the steps and elle and emmett sing the ending back to back (but not touching each other)

also I would like to note that emmett tries to touch elle (to stop her from walking away) but elle flinches which I thought was a good touch

so yeah tldr: no physical door (but elle did walk out some doors), emmett is singing from inside elle's room(?), but at least he didn't confess his love to her face so yay?

——————————

now from the beginning:

there was a lot of the barbie movie soundtrack playing during the preshow haha

so they definitely updated the show to the present day - there was a selfie circle light thing, everyone had iphones and ipads but I feel like they updated it in a very organic way. didn't feel forced or fake which sadly I feel like happens in a few updated versions (say regents park). also the ways they updated certain moments was quite clever - will get into it later

so the beginning has the girls doing the tiktok dance in front of the light circle for elle and then there was no candle lighting instead they said something along the lines of "find your light"

the store manager is a guy

okay clever modern day update! elle gives her phone to one of the restaurant customers so that they could film the "proposal". but then after seeing that warner didn't propose yet, she took her phone back

at "does look like the face of harvard law", the admissions guy is addressing the audience! there was a pause so we all shouted yeah! and he looked at us like we lost our minds haha

the admissions guy saying *ethnic movement* was followed by a pause and a big gasp from the audience for some reason

there was no marching band just cheer leaders and there were two guys in skirts

oh one of the guys has a character called kiki later (the gay guy in paulette's salon) and he is basically the best background character - he had the best outfits and omigod walking around in heels and later wore the cutest boots. yeah best background character

emmett is now a class of 2019. also he hasn't slept since 2016 (it should have been more haha)

aaron tries to shake enid's hand when she introduces herself but then she gets very enid and then he just backs away haha

bruiser watches rupaul drag race. oh yeah they had actual dogs on stage! very small very cute

elle pulls out a hydroflask and an E statue thing to put on her desk

emmett didn't sing along during blood in the water which I really like

paulette has a playlist instead of a cd. vivienne came into the salon and paid kiki for a gift bag of sorts

elle has a hello kitty toy and emmett threatened to throw it in the trash haha

no more redbull they drink celsius now. also I love that they drink from the same can

another clever update! elle texts warner during chip on your shoulder. so things like *and grandma bootsie!* is sent as like a second text. (we can hear the text sound). and the christmas message is a voice memo

oh yeah and when elle introduces emmett to paulette, she takes him by the hand and walks him towards paulette which I thought was cute

omigod so during the part where elle and paulette try to communicate behind emmett's back - paulette holds the shampoo bottle like it's a dick and we all lost it hahaha

after elle gives callahan her resume, she walks towards emmett and circle around him and they're both silenting squealing and then elle walks off stage squealing haha

they did not have a handshake during chip on my shoulder. nor did emmett do any silly dance

so much better - callahan sends out the results by email so everyone is looking at their phone

also I didn't catch if warner gave his phone to someone to film or someone was just filming on their own phone but someone was filming warner's proposal to vivienne

emmett was on stage for most of so much better and when he left with the rest of the people he gave elle two thumbs up

brooke now has an app, callahan does not speak twitter or tiktok

brooke was doing the long jumprope at one point - I forget what it's called like two people are holding the rope and brooke is jumping

emmett: we are here to whip up your legal defense *does some awkward dancing* it was very funny haha

okay so emmett was wearing his bag during this whole time and during take it like a man, he gives it to elle and then she wears it for the rest of the number (I just love that addition haha)

also this emmett wears glasses and it took me a while to notice/realize but after his makeover, he no longer wears glasses for the rest of the show

this kyle had a lot of kyle swagger haha. he walks through the audience, he freaking adjusts his belt, holds the package like *that* obviously, bends over a lot - a lot of kyle haha

and then when he comes back for his stylist, and elle is like do it - elle and paulette look at each other, nod, and then jump and did a chest bump - I was totally not expecting that and everyone was laughing at that haha

during the bend and snap scene, elle says that it works on straight and bi men

the news reporter reporting the trial is now replace with the delta nus watching the news coverage on a phone (and the reporter is a voice over) - I thought it was a nice addition!

my friend said that a fun update that they should have done was paulette and kyle taking an uber instead of an ambulance to the hospital haha

when elle tests the bend and snap on nikkos, there is a guard standing next to him and the guard’s eyes bulges out (he reacts haha) every time elle does it (and nikkos doesn’t) and it was very funny

I didn't notice it but my friend pointed out that elle doesn't sing during gay or european. I figured that it was so she can rest for a song. my friend said that it's bc elle already knows that she's right and doesn't need to reason it out like everyone else. I guess both can be true haha

I completely forgot to look out for carlos during the song but there was no need bc he wasn't sitting with the cast - he busted in through the stage doors haha

my friend said it would have been funny if carlos was sitting in the audience and honestly now I want that to happen in a production now hahaha

also carlos and nikkos are both dressed in black

callahan actually pushes elle against the wall (side of the stage) when he kisses her - it is like a full on make out but then she pushes him off her and then slaps him

warner walks and sees them kissing and then immediately walks out. vivienne stays long enough to see the slap

okay talked about the ballad already haha

when emmett says *and I don’t have to hit on interns professor*, elle’s dad rises a bit but elle’s mom pulls him down and they talk - really like that detail. gotta love parents concerned for their daughter

oh instead of it being just like apprentice, the delta nus call brooke a girlboss

the scene of the crime now comes with pink caution tape - very funny seeing them pulling it across the front of the stage haha

the court stenographer is a guy! The way he sang back *omigod we rock!* was very funny haha

during find my way, callahan comes out and glares at emmett when it’s said that his wife hired emmett to handle their messy divorce

paulette gives her cards to audience members in the front row!

elle is in a pink graduation gown

elle gets the ring from paulette and then proposes to emmett. he spins her around

curtain call: they all stood in one line and sang while doing different poses

overall it was great!! better than we expected haha - my friend and I have our nitpicks haha but we had a great time :) (main letdown was no door haha) also yay for filipino elle :)

also! some random thoughts that we had from watching this production:

- how did warner get the internship? like he didn't work as hard as the other people (we're assuming). we now figure that it might be that warner's dad called in a favor

- callahan's wife getting a divorce - that means that elle and emmett must have told her? And they must have reported him to the school so did harvard fire him? does he still have his law firm? my friend thinks that he is a slimy enough lawyer - that he got to keep both positions. I like to think that he got fired

- patrick page would make a great callahan

[riacte]

Wait, are people actually complaining about Ren being "bullied"? Omg is this another jimmy solidarity situation in which fans keep sating his friends are mean to him as if he wasn t an adult who has been close to his "bullies" for years? People, friends like annoying each other 😭 If there was any real problem they would talk privately. I swear this type of behaviour is incredibly parasocial and it probably annoys the ccs how fans keep doing assumptions about them. But fr people can be so weird about a goddamn block game, just look at the life series for the opposite side of the spectrum. Gem had to deal with soo much shit during secret life! Martyn got people psycho analysing him and telling him to k!ll himself after lim life! I wasn t around in the fandom by that time but I ve heard Pearl also had to deal with that kind of shit in double life? God, mcyt fans are so incredibly terrible sometimes, and honestly it is no wonder we have such a bad reputation, even if it s just bc of a 1% of the fandom (sorry for the rant)

Yeah, and I mean everyone can feel whatever they want to and stop interacting with the content if that’s what they want, the problem is when people start being annoying in public spaces like CC comments and Reddit. And I trust no one on here is being annoying in comments.

Personally I unironically think this is Ren’s best starter neighbourhoods and this is a season in which he’s received the most obvious and visible (to the audience) love. Or maybe I’m just excited about the neighbourhood in general (because we clowned / manifested / guessed it). And it’s like. Iskall and False are there. Two of his self proclaimed best friends over the years. I’m very happy to see all the interactions.

[ingravinoveritas]

Absolutely thrilled that David has finally gone to see Michael in Nye tonight, but potentially controversial opinion: I'm almost hoping we don't get a recreation of the Macbeth photo.

For one thing, I think the NT is too big for it and doesn't have the same atmosphere as the Donmar, so I'm not even sure the photo would be possible from a logistical standpoint. But I'd also rather David just be left alone and get to enjoy the play and Michael. I know we're all hyped up for a potential photo at the end of the night, but I'd rather it be from them and something they've chosen to share more than anything else. Just my opinion, at least...

[communistfries]

A watched fic never updates or however that saying goes

[lowkeystarpng]

It really interesting being a theater kid and listening to online theater discourse but nothing is funny then hearing my former theater kid mom's hot takes on musicals from the 80s

Like we've been fighting about this crap for ages

[reztruck]

I need to make a new watchlist because tbh i actually don't want to watch Guadagnino's filmography anymore....Like Challengers hyped me up when I saw it and afterwards, i love the soundtrack but I haven't thought about it since.....

[sandinthepipes]

I don't understand people who throw a tantrum over any Arthurian media with black people.

There is a new netflix show where I think Arthur????? Is portrayed by a black actor. You know, a person who's job is to portray something they're not? And I heard a looot of things

Like immagine how few problems in life you must have to get annoyed that in a media with a fake world, in a fake kingdom where magic and dragons exist, you are distressed that black people are just people.

Is somebody forcing you to watch this show? Did they kidnap you and tied you to a chair and taped your eyeballs open in front of a TV with that show on?

[femslashedtires]

conundrum where, on an industry-wide former entertainment professional level, i disagree with BOC'S handling of minors and explicit material + exec. prod./intimacy coordinator combo. but, on a watched all of THC level individual level, i don't have any issue with fuaiz (specifically) in this role.