It's a different animal, being in the audience for a show like a parent watching the kids up there instead of an actual production.
The main difference isn't the performances, choreography or direction. The main difference is the time in between numbers- which seems like days- and the shushing from backstage that is louder than half the show.
It's a nice little theatre but the sound system once again is focused on the audience, so the performers can't hear it and since they are trying to sing with the tracks it sets up the dynamic we had in Evita also where in fast songs the music gets away from the singers. The biggest problem was Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast- and that's because it changes tempo. Getting faster and faster, like Rollin' in Evita- it's just impossible to keep up; even when the dancers were providing rhythm. It's such a small theatre, with no bad seats- why don't they sing without microphones? People tend to listen closely when a show isn't as loud as they expect, anyway.
The audience was overwhelmingly African-American and I was trying to determine what would have been different if that hadn't been the case. There was no printed program to follow or take home, and only half the group received certificates. Does that mean anything? The worst singer got the most applause- and it wasn't because the singer used enthusiasm and fooled anybody. It must have been sympathy. I don't think white people would have done that; although they would have given some charitable applause of course; only because it was a child.
Fortunately the greasers drove a "dream wagon" and I noted how Bye Bye Birdie is set one year before Grease and Hairspray just a couple years after that.(1958, 59 and 62.) I wonder if Dreamgirls has a certain year or not. I was surprised at the others' specificity in that regard.
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