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Post by theatreian on Nov 18, 2024 8:47:53 GMT
Just the title alone makes me never want to see this. I was always led to believe Mozart was a man! |
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Post by viserys on Nov 18, 2024 8:57:01 GMT
Ummm... this was apparently meant to be about Wolfgang's sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) - there was more than one person bearing the last name Mozart  Clearly the title was meant to evoke just that reaction "Mozart? Her? What?" but it seems the (successful) play "The Other Mozart" got the idea across better. |
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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 18, 2024 15:50:51 GMT
I must have been in a good mood when I watched this, as I enjoyed this much more than the other posters. I was on a discounted ticket, but not a comp. The standard of performances was high and this was such a stellar cast.
The Sunday performance started with a welcome from the director following the Dress Rehearsal the previous day. Perhaps not the best choice of words for previous paying visitors, but good that the situation was addressed. The sound quality was high throughout, with only the occasional microphone delay. There were some very bright side stage lights used at various times which did illuminate the correct person but from a very strange angle, but that is understandable with such a short run.
Some decent songs, well performed. The biggest weakness I thought was the book, which needs substantial rewrites. Otherwise, the plot ticked along, but at three hours with no obvious delays, this does need quite a big trim, especially in the first half. The second half was stronger than the first. The decision to play the featured song (albeit in a form that only lasted for about one minute) after the bows was a bit odd too.
I'm not sure what kind of future life this show will have. I don't immediately picture a big crossover audience between classical music fans and musical theatre fans, and My Lie In April showed that this type of musical is a hard sell. But well done to everyone involved for bringing this story to the stage.
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Post by theatreian on Nov 18, 2024 16:05:37 GMT
Ummm... this was apparently meant to be about Wolfgang's sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) - there was more than one person bearing the last name Mozart It was my feeble attempt at humour!! |
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Post by viserys on Nov 18, 2024 16:21:15 GMT
Ummm... this was apparently meant to be about Wolfgang's sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) - there was more than one person bearing the last name Mozart It was my feeble attempt at humour!! Haha, sorry! |
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2,421 posts
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Post by theatreian on Nov 18, 2024 16:34:51 GMT
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Post by flouise on Nov 18, 2024 17:27:03 GMT
I don't think it's necessarily a bad concept, just poorly executed.
I can understand that it's difficult to write about someone 'lost to history' as they clearly didn't have much to go on whilst writing this and decided to base the major plot points around the minimal things that we know about her.
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Post by forfivemoreminutes on Nov 18, 2024 18:33:13 GMT
Just the title alone makes me never want to see this. Why? |
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Post by badlydrawnhamster on Nov 18, 2024 20:10:46 GMT
Spoiler - They also end with a song “composed” by the protagonist after the curtain call (Ignatius heart - though I’m struggling to find anything that backs this truth up online) either way it regretfully highlighted how bad the rest of the material was 😂 I've struggled to find any mention of the song Ignatius Heart online as well which feels weird. I'm used to this sort of production compressing events or over dramatising something, but to completely make up a piece of music and say it was written by Nan, and then perform it after the play had ended, is a bit off to me. |
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Post by flouise on Nov 18, 2024 20:24:56 GMT
Yes that seems incredibly disingenuous. I do now remember something from the directors speech at the beginning saying that the show would include some of Nan's actual compositions "or are they?", or something to that effect... one of the many many things that were incredibly off the mark.
I guess that's another massive challenge to write a musical about a composer who was 'better than Mozart' with no surviving pieces to use during the show- they were setting themselves a fairly impossible challenge there!
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Post by erik24601 on Nov 18, 2024 20:47:07 GMT
Yes that seems incredibly disingenuous. I do now remember something from the directors speech at the beginning saying that the show would include some of Nan's actual compositions "or are they?", or something to that effect... one of the many many things that were incredibly off the mark. I guess that's another massive challenge to write a musical about a composer who was 'better than Mozart' with no surviving pieces to use during the show- they were setting themselves a fairly impossible challenge there! So what you would/should perhaps do then is use the basis for the setting of the story and write your own version of events. It doesn't HAVE to be factually correct, if you make it clear that it isn't. Les Misérables is set in a very specific period of history but isn't even remotely factual. |
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Post by andypandy on Nov 18, 2024 22:37:33 GMT
While I am all for inclusivity I feel this one way blind colour casting one sided narrative is getting tedious.
Mozart was born in January 1756 in Austria.
We cannot have white actors play black roles so really it should work both ways.
Seems diversity and equality isn’t so equal! Especially when it comes to social history.
When it IS part of the mantra of the show (Hamilton) I understand and welcome. Otherwise it’s just positive discrimation no?
Perhaps concerts don’t count?
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Post by max on Nov 19, 2024 0:07:15 GMT
While I am all for inclusivity I feel this one way blind colour casting one sided narrative is getting tedious. Mozart was born in January 1756 in Austria. We cannot have white actors play black roles so really it should work both ways. Seems diversity and equality isn’t so equal! Especially when it comes to social history. When it IS part of the mantra of the show (Hamilton) I understand and welcome. Otherwise it’s just positive discrimation no? Perhaps concerts don’t count? I don't know if this particular casting did or didn't in some way express "the mantra of the show". How did you find it andypandy ? |
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Post by keyspi on Nov 19, 2024 8:43:40 GMT
Perhaps this is a daft question but why wasn't there enough time for rehearsals? Hasn't the theatre been dark since Frozen closed? This was originally meant to be staged at the Lyric Theatre going as far as being officially announced and tickets being put up for sale.....so not sure whether the subsequent change of theatres impacted their prep time |
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Post by Mr Snow on Nov 19, 2024 9:29:49 GMT
I thought the deal was if you accept a seat filler ticket ypu agree to a)stay to the end?
Thats what the organisation tells the theatre!
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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 19, 2024 9:30:27 GMT
Perhaps this is a daft question but why wasn't there enough time for rehearsals? Hasn't the theatre been dark since Frozen closed? I presume they rehearsed, just not in the theatre itself. As to why, I would guess that the costs of hiring and opening the theatre for another day were prohibitive. |
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Post by flouise on Nov 19, 2024 9:36:48 GMT
Re: the casting - I thought this worked very well- it really did work to highlight how so much of the historical art that we have is by white men, and how much we have lost or has never existed because of attitudes in the west towards women and POC.
I'll try not to say something that I regret about some of the comments in this thread on the casting...
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Post by badlydrawnhamster on Nov 19, 2024 13:04:02 GMT
I presume they rehearsed, just not in the theatre itself. As to why, I would guess that the costs of hiring and opening the theatre for another day were prohibitive. That'll definitely be the case, I used to work as a stage manager a couple of decades ago (albeit on much smaller productions) and we'd have weeks if not months of rehearsals, but would only go in to the theatre itself a week beforehand. Edit: Sorry, it won't let me change the name of the person quoted. |
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Post by Paulw on Nov 19, 2024 13:15:59 GMT
Re: the casting - I thought this worked very well- it really did work to highlight how so much of the historical art that we have is by white men, and how much we have lost or has never existed because of attitudes in the west towards women and POC. I'll try not to say something that I regret about some of the comments in this thread on the casting... I’m not saying it’s right or wrong but I am going to highlight something about casting and history, I grew up in the North (in the region Billy Elliott was set) I loved the film and the musical but when they started casting Chinese, Japanese, POC as Billy I stopped going! As I said I grew up in that area and during that historical timeframe (80’s) and was around Billy’s age at that time and I can’t recall lots of Chinese, Japanese, POC at school with me or playing sports outside of school. I say this as it’s supposed to make us believe that character was living, breathing etc… in that period. So for me it became unbelievable and quelled my enjoyment of the show especially when they are cast with white northern parents, it just doesn’t work. I’m all for diversity and understand the context when it is used in certain shows like Hamilton but I have to say if you want people to buy in to the story/character there has to be some consistency in the casting POC son POC parents etc…(Doubtfire I’m looking at you!) in the real world you wouldn’t have white parents and a Chinese/japanese/POC son/daugher/them/they (or whatever they want to identify as) I’m not having a go at any specific show or casting for doing it but just using general real world points as to why people have an opinion on why it could be wrong |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 19, 2024 13:28:18 GMT
Theatre is wonderful when it is not realistic, leave that to telly and films.
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Post by max on Nov 19, 2024 13:37:46 GMT
Re: the casting - I thought this worked very well- it really did work to highlight how so much of the historical art that we have is by white men, and how much we have lost or has never existed because of attitudes in the west towards women and POC. I'll try not to say something that I regret about some of the comments in this thread on the casting... I’m not saying it’s right or wrong but I am going to highlight something about casting and history, I grew up in the North (in the region Billy Elliott was set) I loved the film and the musical but when they started casting Chinese, Japanese, POC as Billy I stopped going! As I said I grew up in that area and during that historical timeframe (80’s) and was around Billy’s age at that time and I can’t recall lots of Chinese, Japanese, POC at school with me or playing sports outside of school. I say this as it’s supposed to make us believe that character was living, breathing etc… in that period. So for me it became unbelievable and quelled my enjoyment of the show especially when they are cast with white northern parents, it just doesn’t work. I’m all for diversity and understand the context when it is used in certain shows like Hamilton but I have to say if you want people to buy in to the story/character there has to be some consistency in the casting POC son POC parents etc…(Doubtfire I’m looking at you!) in the real world you wouldn’t have white parents and a Chinese/japanese/POC son/daugher/them/they (or whatever they want to identify as) I’m not having a go at any specific show or casting for doing it but just using general real world points as to why people have an opinion on why it could be wrong I don't know if the person who started the ball rolling on this issue on this specific show had actually seen it. I have asked for their view presuming they had seen it - otherwise why use phrases like "positive discrimination" when this show might actually fit the criteria they will accept for "blind colour casting" - which is that it can work if it expresses something about the story/situation (as in 'Hamilton' which you also quote). In describing the 'wrongness' that spoiled "Billy Elliot for you, it could be argued that the casting powerfully expresses outsider status Billy feels, and is projected onto him, by those who shun a boy who dances. Just as another poster said the casting spoke more widely in this particular show/concert. It's one facet, and shouldn't be the only criteria under which Black performers are 'allowed' to express their talent and tell stories. Personally, 'Billy Elliot' was ruined for me even when White people were playing the correct roles. I've been to Customer Complaints at Primark because the clothes I bought don't dance around the room like they do in 'Billy Elliot'. Also - children can't fly, however electric they think they are - ridiculous. We MUST have absolute realism in theatre otherwise what's the point of it? I'm going to keep up my campaign to stop White performers flying. Other people have already got it covered when it comes to stopping Black performers flying. |
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Post by flouise on Nov 19, 2024 15:52:36 GMT
It's a slippery slope, people will be dressing up as cats or even trains next!
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Post by forfivemoreminutes on Nov 19, 2024 22:42:31 GMT
Are people really still questioning why representation matters in 2024? If you want to see something historically accurate watch a documentary, the theatre industry is finally moving on
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Post by forfivemoreminutes on Nov 19, 2024 22:45:31 GMT
also ‘poc’ isn’t an adjective…
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Post by osdtdg on Nov 19, 2024 22:47:43 GMT
Just because it doesn't "reflect real life", doesn't make the story less powerful? There are plenty of powerful fantasy stories on stage, film, and books. Why does theatre get held to a standard that those don't? Theatre is a story telling medium - let it do its work however it chooses to do so?
As an example, in N2N Gabe is canonically blue eyed. Jack Wolfe isn't. I don't mean to correlate race and eye colour; but sometimes you take liberties with how things are represented. Sometimes there is deeper meaning and power and othertimes, it is because they are the right person for the job.
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