This morning, in the comments section, please review Spamalot! What did you think of the production? What did you learn about musicals or writing plays from watching the play?
Please read Alfred Uhry's play Driving Miss Daisy today in groups of 4.
Complete the handout analysis chart and turn in by end of class as participation credit.
If your group finishes early, please return to the lab to continue working on or revising your 2-person scene.
HOMEWORK: None. If you did not finish your 2 person scene or reading/analyzing Driving Miss Daisy, please complete that.
Please read Alfred Uhry's play Driving Miss Daisy today in groups of 4.
Complete the handout analysis chart and turn in by end of class as participation credit.
If your group finishes early, please return to the lab to continue working on or revising your 2-person scene.
HOMEWORK: None. If you did not finish your 2 person scene or reading/analyzing Driving Miss Daisy, please complete that.
14 comments:
Spamolot (or however you spell it) was a very interesting play. Something I learned from watching the play is that you can do a LOT of things with a play if you actually think about it instead of having your average normal, boring play. I also learned that making musicals take longer to produce and cost a lot more than a normal play.
After seeing Spamalot for the second time, I enjoyed it even more. It was nice to have all of the backstage knowledge and information about the show, including the cursor on the opening fly, they hay that slips across the stage and the amount of money and production time that went into creating the show. Regarding the script, I can imagine that just reading it could be quite confusing and not entirely enjoyable. It is not the type of script that can be analyzed, like "Night, Mother" or "Freud's Last Session" because it is so utterly ridiculous. This is why it works so well on the stage. The way that it makes no sense helps it to make sense visually. I also liked how the script worked almost all of the Monty Python famous moments into the script in a way that created a new plot. All of the actors and actresses in the show were amazing and I really liked what Hunter Foster said about how even though the show is crazy and ridiculous, the actors taking it absolutely seriously adds to the hilarity. I think that is the way the script should be approached as well.
After watching Spamalot I learned a lot about the play making process. First and foremost I realized just how expensive shows are, and how much goes into making them. It made me really begin to consider how I set of my scenes and characters in my own shows. Because it became very clear to me that costumes and sets can get very expensive, very quickly. Other than that, it was also really nice to really know that a show does not have to be a very thoughtful to be good, instead a play can be funny. Finally I learned that from the perspective of an actor, scripts should be good at giving the actor an idea of the character without taking away all room for interpretation.
By the way Thomas Jefferson is Cameron. I made a mistake
On Thursday, our class went to watch "Spamalot", a spoof rendition of the famed King Arthur time period. I didn't enjoy the way that this story was set up. To be honest, my favorite play that we've went to see were "Clybourne Park" and "Waiting Until Dark." With both of those, the set was the same as the play progressed. When watching "Spamalot," I learned that I prefer one-set plays, which this was not. It's less awkward, and more interesting. When I write my own plays this year, I'll probably take that into account. Also, I learned that musicals can become boring after too many songs are squeezed in. If there are too many, they seem overdone and unnecessary.
Spam-a-lot was a unique show which was very fun to see. Eric Idle's whimsical dialogue was transferred onto the stage setting well, demonstrating that the writing was fun and entertaining in multiple settings. Many features of the show, from the elaborate costumes to the many mobile set pieces, added to the humor and success of the show. In particular, the use of many different lighting cues was very beneficial to creating a dramatic and upbeat mood. The actors' seriousness throughout the play which was silly made the show even more entertaining, and much more impressive to watch. This production teaches that it is not only playwriting which makes a show successful, but the dedication of the actors to the lines which transform dialogue into a story.
Watching Spamalot taught me the extensive amount of work, and money, that goes into putting on a production. I learned how especially difficult it is to produce a musical, since so much extra work goes into it. As for the writing, Spamalot showed me how to successfully write comedic scripts. The play showed me that making modern references, acting things out literally (the hay scene) and various other techniques help to make the script more detailed and ultimately more funny . I also was very surprised that the actors only had 3 weeks to learn everything; to me that seems like such a short amount of time. Overall, I enjoyed the first act of the play way more than the second because the latter seemed sort of all over the place. Nonetheless, it was a great show!
When we went to go see The Mountain Top last year I learned that there is no pauses during the play. When someone talks the other character talks right back just to keep the play going. Every once in a while they would shoot a few jokes into the play to keep your interest. I always try to put jokes in mine but they are never really funny. Over all the writing of the play is very just sudden and when they feel like they are losing the audience attention they try something like changing the tone or saying something very important.
Spamalot at Geva was a fantastic example of musical theater. Because the cast, set, and costume changes were so huge, the final cost ended up being 700,000 dollars. Although Geva can afford this type of production, many smaller theaters cannot, so it may be a limiting factor for who can put it on. The plot was also based on a well-known movie, so the playwright had to make some choices on what to include, so it would be true to what people were expecting but be a piece in its own right. Due to the costume and character changes, though, people didn't have long stretches of being offstage which maximized the budget and kept the actors energetic.
i thought that the production of Spamalot was very interesting play. I learned that musicals take longer to produce and cost more than a regular play. I learn the writing format for musicals was way different than plays, I considered how i should set my scenes and the dialogue between characters.
From watching the play the Mountain Top,in my perspective I believe plays are very expensive(some) and involve a lot of time, effort, and dedication. From watching the play I learned that the climax part of the play catches the audience and also that if you put knowledge from this age and decade it grabs attention more. The jokes here and there that was in the play livened it up when the actor would talk for a long period of time.
The production "Spamalot" was hilarious and educational in some ways. I learned about the play and its musical is how well it was organized. As also instead of writing a boring play, you can just add some comedy in it to not bore the audience. The fact that musicals take more effort and cost even more and also that the actors only had three weeks to learn everything shocked me. Spamalot was an interesting play in were I learned how to make a well organized and hilarious play.
Spamalot was a hilarious and creative play. I learned that a musical could be acted out the same way as an actor/actress would act out a normal play. Its what makes it funny and makes it even more interesting. It made me realize that a musical could still give the same message as a normal play, the music just make the play a little more interesting and gets the crowd more involved. It also made me realize that musicals do cause a lot more than a normal play because you need a bringer cast and more talent people to actually be involved in the play that's why it cost more than a normal play. It showed me while writing a play I do need to add maybe a little more directions for what the character is doing while he/she is speaking so it just wont be such a boring play to help add a better effect in the play.
I enjoyed the spamalot performance. It was really funny and I loved the idea of it being a sort of parody so that it doesn’t have to be so serious. It wasn’t really focused on anything specific so everything was pretty random which made it as good as it was. I thought the actors did really well also especially having to stay in character withought laughing. My favorite part was when patsy was just randomely falling to the ground extra slowly. Even though it was a comedy the music was written really well.
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