Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
Pittsburgh City Paper: "You may know the etymology of 'politics.' The word combines the Greek 'poli,' meaning 'many,' with 'tics,' which are blood-sucking insects. I love that joke."
FINALLY a good review! I loved IG, and almost all of the people I've spoken with did too. The previous negative reviews were rather shocking. I'm SO glad to see that someone got the joke--instead of taking offense at having their hometown satirized. I didn't remember the mayor telling the audience "The joke's on you" but it's really a marvelous way to bring the audience into the show. The mayor did do an excellent job, as well as Bob Frick and Bob Frack.
I think anytime to want to discuss politics or present a play about it, people are going to be offended or angry, and that's what's great about it. People are so touchy about politics that i am not at all surprised that some critics might be a little offended. I really enjoyed this show for what it was - in your face and unsubtle about everything. It's message was dead obvious, and aside from that almost depressingly funny considering what it's making fun of. Kudos to this critic for giving all the actors the credit i believe they really deserved on this one.
Perhaps I like to be the negative critic, but I cannot help but think that the author of this article can't have seen the same show I did. Yes, people do get offended by shows about politics, but I think most of this missed that point entirely. Yes, there was the constant commentary about politians today, but the show made light of so many issues which is reality are horrible tragedies. Pairing these with slapstick comedy comes a bit too close to the line. Not because I am offended by the actual political humor, but because of the way it was executed.
This is a great review of the show, given credit where it is due. All the actors did a fantastic job in this show, playing up the stereotypes perfectly and creating the necessary humor to balance the real world ugliness. Brian Grego's set is also amazing, it was great to see it come together in person, after working on it in the prop shop and seeing it slowly be build in the scene shop. The cast and crew did a wonderful job on this production and it is nice that was recognized.
I total agree. This show was absolutely great. With all of the reviews that have been coming out recently and them saying that The Inspector General that CMU put on was sub par and not up to the CMU level. I personally love this show and it really relatable to the CMU audience. I think that it is up there with the best show we have done or second best for this 2009-2010 season. The way that the show was directed and designed was great and fit the show so well. I hope that CMU drama continues to put on these types of shows.
I saw this show every performance as a member of run crew, and I still enjoyed it come the very last night. Maybe it is because the play was geared towards the younger crowd that I liked it, but it was definitely a good show.
I noticed in the other reviews how swear words were a big issue. This is ridiculous. My mother is in politics and while I am quietly eves dropping in on the caucuses held at my house, I cannot believe the potty mouths some of those people have, women and men included. Swear words are everywhere: in life, in politics, and rightfully so, in theater. If theater is meant to be a window into humanity, and not just how we want humanity to be, swear words need to be included.
This one came out three days later than the other reviews posted; I wonder if this critic was taking some pity on the student production...
While I can see how the other critics are bashing the new adaptation and directing, I'm glad that at least someone took the time to read the program and give credit to the actors and designers who have poured as much of themselves into the process as did the writer and director. It's not often that designers get credited, but when they do, it's well-deserved.
It's great that IG got such a good review, but I can't help but be disappointed when a review doesn't have a single actually critical thing to say. No show is perfect; just because you enjoyed a show and thought all aspects of it were well executed doesn't mean that you can't point out what could have been more successful.
Personally, I thought it was a good idea to present these tragedies in a light-hearted way; it's one of those situations where you have to laugh, because if you don't you'll cry.
I think that Doc's adaptation of The Inspector General was a great way of doing this play, rather than just having the original performed. I think that it made it much more interesting for todays audience because we all feel like we can actually relate to it, where as I think it would be a lot harder to relate to the original of this play. On the other hand, though, I definitely agree with Sylvianne. I think that it made it hard to swallow when maybe this adaptation made a little bit too much light out of what is going on in our government right now.
I think this review covers the play pretty well. I really enjoyed it and thought it was cleverly put together. They do have a fair point though, that the play took a fairly passive role with respect to the issues it contained - it seemed like the projections, not the script, presented most of the political message. If I was to make any other criticism, it would be that some of the language I thought was too dense for the comedic timing - it seemed like some of the words got lost in the speed. All this said, I was very glad to see a play with a timely point, which I often feel like I can't extract from other SOD shows.
i agree with Hannah and Brian. I liked that the author took notice of the set and stage craft, but i agree no show is perfect. I did like the show. My favorite part of the shows was the projections, but the only thing that bothered me was the fact that the projections were very hard to see in the middle of the set, which was sad cause i had a hard time reading the tweets.
12 comments:
FINALLY a good review! I loved IG, and almost all of the people I've spoken with did too. The previous negative reviews were rather shocking. I'm SO glad to see that someone got the joke--instead of taking offense at having their hometown satirized. I didn't remember the mayor telling the audience "The joke's on you" but it's really a marvelous way to bring the audience into the show. The mayor did do an excellent job, as well as Bob Frick and Bob Frack.
I think anytime to want to discuss politics or present a play about it, people are going to be offended or angry, and that's what's great about it. People are so touchy about politics that i am not at all surprised that some critics might be a little offended. I really enjoyed this show for what it was - in your face and unsubtle about everything. It's message was dead obvious, and aside from that almost depressingly funny considering what it's making fun of. Kudos to this critic for giving all the actors the credit i believe they really deserved on this one.
Perhaps I like to be the negative critic, but I cannot help but think that the author of this article can't have seen the same show I did.
Yes, people do get offended by shows about politics, but I think most of this missed that point entirely. Yes, there was the constant commentary about politians today, but the show made light of so many issues which is reality are horrible tragedies. Pairing these with slapstick comedy comes a bit too close to the line. Not because I am offended by the actual political humor, but because of the way it was executed.
This is a great review of the show, given credit where it is due. All the actors did a fantastic job in this show, playing up the stereotypes perfectly and creating the necessary humor to balance the real world ugliness. Brian Grego's set is also amazing, it was great to see it come together in person, after working on it in the prop shop and seeing it slowly be build in the scene shop. The cast and crew did a wonderful job on this production and it is nice that was recognized.
I total agree. This show was absolutely great. With all of the reviews that have been coming out recently and them saying that The Inspector General that CMU put on was sub par and not up to the CMU level. I personally love this show and it really relatable to the CMU audience. I think that it is up there with the best show we have done or second best for this 2009-2010 season. The way that the show was directed and designed was great and fit the show so well. I hope that CMU drama continues to put on these types of shows.
I saw this show every performance as a member of run crew, and I still enjoyed it come the very last night. Maybe it is because the play was geared towards the younger crowd that I liked it, but it was definitely a good show.
I noticed in the other reviews how swear words were a big issue. This is ridiculous. My mother is in politics and while I am quietly eves dropping in on the caucuses held at my house, I cannot believe the potty mouths some of those people have, women and men included. Swear words are everywhere: in life, in politics, and rightfully so, in theater. If theater is meant to be a window into humanity, and not just how we want humanity to be, swear words need to be included.
Only one good review?
This one came out three days later than the other reviews posted; I wonder if this critic was taking some pity on the student production...
While I can see how the other critics are bashing the new adaptation and directing, I'm glad that at least someone took the time to read the program and give credit to the actors and designers who have poured as much of themselves into the process as did the writer and director. It's not often that designers get credited, but when they do, it's well-deserved.
It's great that IG got such a good review, but I can't help but be disappointed when a review doesn't have a single actually critical thing to say. No show is perfect; just because you enjoyed a show and thought all aspects of it were well executed doesn't mean that you can't point out what could have been more successful.
Personally, I thought it was a good idea to present these tragedies in a light-hearted way; it's one of those situations where you have to laugh, because if you don't you'll cry.
I think that Doc's adaptation of The Inspector General was a great way of doing this play, rather than just having the original performed. I think that it made it much more interesting for todays audience because we all feel like we can actually relate to it, where as I think it would be a lot harder to relate to the original of this play.
On the other hand, though, I definitely agree with Sylvianne. I think that it made it hard to swallow when maybe this adaptation made a little bit too much light out of what is going on in our government right now.
I think this review covers the play pretty well. I really enjoyed it and thought it was cleverly put together. They do have a fair point though, that the play took a fairly passive role with respect to the issues it contained - it seemed like the projections, not the script, presented most of the political message. If I was to make any other criticism, it would be that some of the language I thought was too dense for the comedic timing - it seemed like some of the words got lost in the speed. All this said, I was very glad to see a play with a timely point, which I often feel like I can't extract from other SOD shows.
i agree with Hannah and Brian. I liked that the author took notice of the set and stage craft, but i agree no show is perfect.
I did like the show. My favorite part of the shows was the projections, but the only thing that bothered me was the fact that the projections were very hard to see in the middle of the set, which was sad cause i had a hard time reading the tweets.
Post a Comment