Final+Exam


 * 1. Identify the features of __Angels in America__ that qualify it to be categorized as an example of theatricalism. In what ways does the play differ from the various video illustrations provided to you on the wiki schedule page for Oct. 23? Provide specific examples to support your opinions. And finally discuss how the video examples from the film demonstrate some of the unique features of the HBO film version of the work linked to Oct. 30 schedule page. **

The theatrical qualities of //Angels in America// fuse to create a play that feels as if it takes place in a dream. One of the most crucial elements which creates this dreamy feel is Kushner’s ignorance of the laws of time. Scenes take place anywhere from an hour to a month after the previous scene. This lack of uniformity in time between scenes forces the viewer to ignore the effect of time in the play. Additionally, Kushner ignores the conventions of time by introducing characters from the past (Prior 1 and Prior 2). Kushner also creates a choppy feel to the play, similar to the disconnected and confusing nature of dreams. The split scenes forcing the viewer’s attention to jump from one dialogue to another add to the choppiness. The fast paced dialogue also develops the choppiness of the play. Characters often cut other characters off while speaking and there are lots of impassioned rants, so the dialogue must be spoken very quickly. An example of the constant interjections permeating the book can be found in scene 6 of act 2 where the characters are interrupted in the middle of their line thirteen different times – mostly by Roy. One of these long rants can be found in the opening of scene 2 of act 3 where Louis rants about the relationship between racism and political agenda in America. Kushner focuses an almost equal amount of attention on most of the characters; there is no one clear protagonist. This makes the play seem very disconnected, similar to the plot of a dream. The play specifies that the director must employ “a pared down style of presentation,” which gives an empty feel, indicative in how we view the setting of most dreams.

Often dreams deal with things or events we fear, and as a result we view them with a slight sense of unease. Kushner matches this unnerving quality of dreams in how uneasy he makes the audience throughout the play. The whole appeal to stories is they provide a vehicle for people to experience things that would otherwise never happen to them. Readers must empathize with a protagonist in a story to feel as if they are experiencing the actions of the story. This is the reason nearly all major blockbuster movies and plays have a main protagonist, whose journey teaches the viewer a lesson. //Angels in America// neglects to focus on one main protagonist, instead granting relatively equal attention to 4 different characters (Prior, Louis, Roy, and Joe). This is new to most viewers, which makes them uncomfortable. Another element of the play that is new and thus uncomfortable to most viewers is how the play follows the struggle of four homosexual men to reconcile their sexuality with the world’s intolerant stance on their sexual orientation. Only roughly 3 percent of the population is homosexual, so most viewers feel uneasy with an unfamiliar topic. The lack of filter on the all the characters except Joe is also off putting to the audience. Prior, Louis, and Roy curse often and Prior often delves into disgusting detail on the brutality of his condition.

Despite the large amount of theatricalism present in //Angels in America//, the play retains many realistic elements which differentiate it from the excerpts of the very Brechtian plays on the wiki. Similar to the videos on the wiki, //Angels in America// deprives the audience of empathizing with a major character and relies on the audience to interpret the meaning of the play through observing its theatrical components; however, //Angels in America// adds this Brechtian element much more subtly because its viewers are not as detached as those watching the videos on the wiki. //Angels in America// has a definite plot, we know exactly what every character is doing when they do it, unlike in all the videos on the wiki, which are just a mesh of people speaking and moving in strange and confusing ways. For this reason, the audience feels much more detached when watching the videos on the wiki. The speech in the plays on the wiki also are not as easy to understand as the speech in //Angels in America//, which further distances the audience of the plays on the wiki. For example, the audience cannot empathize with what is said in //Play// because the people in the urns speak too fast, what is said in Bob Wilson’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s sonnets because the actors speak a foreign language, or what is said in the Apollo lunch counter sequence, //Folded//, and //Pina Bausch// because nothing is said at all. Angels in America puts a much larger emphasis on the actors, partially through its barebones set and partially because the play centers on the dialogue of the characters. However, the excerpts on the wiki put more emphasis on the lighting and set, costumes, and blocking than in //Angels in America//. The set and lighting of Bob Wilson’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s sonnets has elaborate sets and intriguingly dynamic lighting. The costumes in //Folded// and Bob Wilson’s interpretation of Shakspeare’s sonnets are incredibly elaborate and nearly singlehandedly create the character’s personality. The blocking in the Apollo Lunch counter scene defines the plays and singlehandedly comments on racial interactions. This added focus on the non human elements of the play – lighting and set, blocking, and costume design – as opposed to the focus on the actors in //Angels in America// forces the audience to become more detached while watching the excerpts on the wiki. The level of detachment of the audience from the characters characterizes the differences between //Angels in America// and the videos on the wiki.

HBO’s film version does an excellent job of creating a realistic feel to the play, which helps the audience understand the actions taking place and empathize with the main characters. Because it is a film as opposed to an on stage production, the movie can use many different backdrops to not only help explain the setting but also develop a mood. For example, in Harper’s hallucination, the dimly lit scene is littered with doors and mirrors to express to the audience that this scene is both a hallucination and a dream. Prior telling Louis of his condition actually takes place in Central Park as opposed to some stage with trees painted in the background. The HBO version of the show also does an excellent job of capturing the subtle humor in the dialogue. From merely reading through Louis’s scenes with Joe, Louis comes off as an ass who interrupts Joe willy-nilly to speak his mind. However, in the HBO version of Louis and Joe’s scenes, Ben Shenkman captures Louis’s subtle wit through his sarcastic and playful tone. HBO also did an excellent job of developing the character of Roy Cohn by giving the role to Al Pacino. Al Pacino almost always plays a heartless person, which helped develop Roy’s rough exterior.


 * 2. We spent considerable time in class seeing a DVD about the development, rehearsal, and presentation of 4 Broadway musicals. Discuss some of the major topics that were introduced on the DVD. Next discuss what you learned from the DVD about the making and development of these commercial ventures. How did they differ one from the other? What were some of the unique features of each? What were some similarities that they all seemed to share? **

The DVD we watched in class was an eye-opening journey through the world of producing a major Broadway Blockbuster. Its main focus was not to get into the meticulous details involved in creating the plays, but rather to show how the plays were inspired, some of the difficulties each play encountered, and the massive influence of the critics on the success of the plays. Through this, the documentary exposed the cutthroat business nature of Broadway musicals. Typically, people think of the moment of inspiration for a work as some grand occurrence where the stars of the universe align and some divine being places the idea inside the author’s head. However, the DVD we watched grounded this notion; Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx conceived Avenue Q over during some conversation, while Stephen Schwartz just saw some book and decided it would be a good candidate for a Broadway musical. This made the decision to produce the musicals seem more like a business venture than a pro bono artistic endeavor. The movie also delved into the financial details of the production, spitting out the production costs of each play and how long the plays would have to survive with an audience of a certain size to generate a profit. One of the most crucial “business philosophies” is the customer is always right, and every business should strive to appeal to their customers. The DVD showed me Broadway is no exception to this central philosophy of business, and the way to bring in a large amount of customer was through the good reviews by the critics. The power structure of the critics versus the audience in their influence on which play succeeds resembles that of the Electoral College versus the popular vote in deciding the President of the United States. Technically, the popular vote carries no weight in who will be the next president, it all boils down to the decision of the Electoral College. However, what happens in the popular vote nearly always dictates how the Electoral College votes. Similarly, the critics technically carry no power in deciding which Broadway productions become successful, that decision is based solely upon the audience. However, the critics carry an enormous sway over the audience. Taboo’s failure can be primarily attributed to all the negative reviews criticizing Rosie O’ Donnel’s overbearing presence sent its way.

The major topic introduced by the documentary was the cutthroat business nature of Broadway, yet I learned many other interesting bits of information. I was blown away by the amount of preparation involved in all of the shows. I expected //Wicked// and //Taboo// to have to squeeze out every last second until opening night due to the large cast, set, and musical numbers. However, the amount of preparation involved in both //Caroline or Change// and //Avenue Q// surprised me, as one is essentially a puppet show and the other does not have a very large cast. I was also surprised with the success of Avenue Q, as it was a puppet show originally intended for TV, which differs heavily from the mold set by most Broadway productions.

As //Avenue Q//, //Taboo//, //Wicked//, and //Caroline or Change// were all hugely different productions, the development of each of the four plays was drastically different and faced many different problems. Having seen //Wicked// myself at the Fox many years ago, I witnessed firsthand the ridiculously complicated acrobatics and set in the play. The biggest problem faced by //Wicked// dealt with perfecting all these heavily detailed elements in the production. //Avenue Q// struggled with finding a theatrical medium to use; eventually they decided they would send the play to Broadway. //Taboo// faced the constant interventions in the direction of the play by its celebrity producer Rosie O’ Donnel. //Caroline or Change//’s biggest problem dealt with pulling off the enormous amount of songs in the play. All of these plays faced different difficulties during the process of developing the plays; however, I felt as if the biggest obstacle faced by all the plays was appealing to a large enough audience. //Wicked// was pitched towards pre-teen girls, a seemingly small demographic which //Wicked// would soon learn is not small at all and as a result profit hugely. //Taboo// features quite a bit of drag, which also does not appeal to a wide audience. //Avenue Q// targeted adults who were children during the Sesame Street era, another small demographic. Finally, //Caroline or Change// deals with a black woman living in New Orleans during the civil rights movement, so it is hard for most Broadway audience members to sympathize with her struggle. All the productions except //Taboo// generated a profit due to their ability to reach a wider target audience than initially anticipated.


 * 4. The videos that you were assigned to see regarding __Water by the Spoonful__ provide some revealing things about the purpose, development, and presentation of the play on stage. Comment on each of the videos that were assigned to be seen that help shape your opinion about the work. Knowing what you now know about production of a play from the work you’ve done on your final projects, what were some things you wish you could have seen that would have helped you to better understand __Water by the Spoonful__ and the production of it? **

The very first video discusses how in modern society we can still build relationships with people close or afar, while the second video discusses the Coltrane free form jazz flow behind the play. Both videos were incredibly helpful in developing my opinion about an on stage production of the play because they put into precise words the meaning behind two oddities I had noticed within the structure of the play. As the director better understands the meanings behind the play from watching these videos, he can use various theatrical techniques to further this meaning. For example, he could capture the literal separation between the characters on the forum by using a large stage and spreading the actors out.

The third and fourth videos focus less on the analysis of the play and more on the relationships between the characters. As the book crafts these complicated relationships with lots of emotional baggage, these two videos helped break down how each character and the relationships between the characters should be seen. I found the point made by the fourth video with how Elliot’s and Yasmin’s banter in the flower shop scene resembles that of an old married couple an interesting bit of insight into the respectful yet playful affection with which Elliot and Yaz view the other with.

The sixth video consists of a dramaturg outlining the similarities between Hudes’s life and the structure of the play. Hudes was born in Philidelphia, where most of the action takes place; she is Puerto Rican, like Elliot; Yaszmin, and Oddessa; and she is musician and the structure of her plays resemble musical structures. Specifically, //Water by the Spoonful// represents the dissonance and lack of resolution characteristic of Coltrane free form jazz. The content of the first three videos also adds to this notion of Hudes’s life forming a basis for //Water by the Spoonful//. The first three videos consist of Hudes explaining her motivation behind //Water by the Spoonful//. Similar to magicians, playwrights often are unwilling to share the motivation behind their works because they feel as if the work is somehow better and more artistically relevant if people derive many meanings from the play instead of the meaning the author intended – Pinter is notorious for this. However, Hudes confesses her inspirations behind //Water by the Spoonful// for the benefit of the viewer, similar to how Odessa shares her story for the betterment of those on her forum. For this reason and their similarity in age and ethnicity, I have pictured Odessa as Hudes since we first watched these videos.

The fifth and tenth videos are both trailers for productions of the play through different theatre companies. Although in the very beginning of the play it specifies that the background music must be Coltrane’s jazz, while reading the play, I never mentally played jazz in my head, so seeing the characters speak with the jazz softly in the background created a whole different feel than I had initially envisioned. It made the conversations between the characters much more abrasive. The trailer for the Lyric Stage Company of Boston opens with the second scene where Orangutan talks about coming back from Japan. Orangutan comes off as very sarcastic in this scene, and looking back over the script, her sarcasm is much more evident to me after having seen this video. The script is structured so that the online conversations feel like relatively normal conversations, so I began to forget about the physical distance between all the characters while reading the play. However, the dark background in both productions and the use of panels to distinguish each online character’s living space in the second production reminded me of this distance between the characters.

The eighth video depicts the scene where Yaz finds out about Elliot’s addiction, and the ninth video depicts the scene where Odessa finds out about Fountainhead’s crack addiction. While reading the play, I always imagined Yaz a little more reluctant in logging on to her aunt’s computer, yet in the eighth video she seems very giddy. This lack of reluctance when “breaking and entering” demonstrates the incredible respect Yaz holds for Elliot, characteristic of the relationship of an old couple as discussed earlier.

The seventh video is the director of OSF discussing the direction he hopes to take the play. In this video he underlines the similarities between Coltrane jazz and the way we as humans structure our life. He claims that jazz strikes a blanace between definitive structure and improvisation, similar to how humans wish to have structure in our lives, yet every so often we need to deviate from this structure to avoid monotony. Although this video did not necessarily alter how I perceived or interpreted the play, through hearing the aforementioned parallel between how we as humans structure our life and Coltrane jazz, I gained a profound respect for Hudes’s ability to craft a story that was universally relatable. The final video where the two NY theatre critics offer their opinion on the play, did not alter how I perceived the play because the thoughts racing through those two critic’s heads mirrored by thoughts and reactions after reading the play.

After having done the final project, I feel as if the videos provided me a relatively well rounded look into the set, costume design, acting, and concept statement; however, I would like to see a video detailing the location, run time, and target audience. Hudes claims the play is supposed to outline “what is universal and what gets lost in translation,” which most would take to mean the play is universally appealing. However, I believe this does not necessarily imply that everyone will appreciate the play, rather the audience will be able to sympathize with some of the struggles of the characters, but not necessarily enjoy the play. For this reason, I feel as if having a more clearly defined target audience would help provide the play with the proper direction to bring in enough audience members to generate a profit. The venue chosen for the play and how long the play is set to run for are both very informative in how the play is to be interpreted. If the play is taken to Broadway and made to be some grandiose play, audience members will view the play less as a commentary on human relationships and more as some grand story meant to entertain them for two hours. If this happens, they will walk out of the theatre sorely disappointed. How long the play is scheduled to run for can provide insight to how much profit the director expects to reap from the play and thus his confidence in his ability to make the play universally appealing. The longer the director budgets the production to be run, the more money he expects to make from the play.