Movies, sound tracks, timing, expression, lighting can all be used by experts to get most of us feeling sad, pensive or elated, more or less on cue. It's expensive but it can be done.
We lived for two months right beside the Royal College of Music in London. Listening to all that practicing made me more sensitive to the skills mastered by a first class musician. We had attended some fairly advanced plays during the same days, many of which I didn't understand all that well. I knew that London has one of the finest theater districts in the world and decided that before I left, I wanted to attend a mainstream, very popular play. We saw Les Miserables and it wowed my socks off!
The hero's nemesis, Inspector Javert, finally realizes what a monster he has been, how blind he has been, and commits suicide by jumping off a bridge into a raging river. Ok, here you have a man standing on a wooden stage, in front of hundreds in the audience. How can you introduce a river? Zip! The lights change and the little wooden bridge Javert stands on is revealed to span a wide piece of undulating cloth, the river we all realize. Javert jumps onto a rolling treadmill beneath the cloth, tumbling and somersaulting his body along the "water". No problem! Raging river kills man. I saw it happen.
How can a musical show be made from the weird and flaky works of Dr. Seuss? With very peppy songs having a good beat, played by those skilled musicians.
Lynn once told me that I like chocolate because of the sugar and fat in it. I was offended. My sharp tongue relishes taste for taste's sake and does not depend on such ordinary things as fat and sugar. Then, I tasted chocolate without the extras and realized that, again, she was completely right.
Stagecraft, music and composer skill, and kitchen craft can be artfully used to create wonderful experiences like rivers on a stage, and catchy songs about Horton, the elephant, and the Cat in the Hat. I bet chefs could sell me on enjoying sawdust after they add the right fat, flavoring and sugar.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
