Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For Karla Boos and Andres Cladera, the vacant repair shop of a former auto dealership is the best of all possible worlds in which to stage a musical.
Boos is the artistic director of Quantum Theatre and the director of 'Candide,' for which Cladera, the artistic director of the Renaissance City Men's and Women's choirs, serves as music director and conductor.
It's the perfect marriage of piece and place, Cladera says. 'It's an incredible space in which to perform.'"
5 comments:
Satire is a genera that mass entertainment, especially the film industry, often skips over on its way to pick up the next humorous parody. The continuing relevance of Voltaire's "Candide" underlines why satire outlives its more crowd pleasing relative. The fact that a play this old can continue to reflect the current human condition and remain sharp in it's humor should remind modern audiences that craftsmanship should be valued just as much as cheap laughs in response to thinly veiled pop culture references.
I never understood the success of shows performed in alternative space or on location. Or perhaps I have just never seen it done well or effectively. I find it only limits the audience pace because now you have to find the theatre and there is something unappealing to non-hardcore-theatre lovers to try a show in an abandoned warehouse. This trend just seems like the theatre company is trying to hard to give the audience a movie-like experience but it never quite does it because people want to be a part of the show...to a degree. Once they in engulfed in the place they remember just how cozy that 4th wall was.
I feel that Quantum is perhaps misguided in their ingenuity. I love Candide - it is wonderfully written and the score is rich and lush with they typical Bernstein flair. However - this show in a grungy run-down garage? I can understand some of the ideas put forth by choosing this location. I have seen this show in this space, and although there are certain elements that make sense with the show, mostly - it seems that they thought 'ooh - it's a old body shop - let's try and include as many car-related gimmicks as possible'. Ingenuity is great when it is justified.
I saw this production last night. While I really did ENJOY the production, I believe that many choices made in no way added to the telling of the story. It took place in a found space that was an old car shop. I believe that this, above other elements, influenced the split world they created between the mechanics and the "players". I love the use of non-traditional spaces, however, as in theatre in a traditional space... being in a car shop does not mean the story has to be set in a car shop.
There were also many other elements that, although they produced a laugh, made no sense in the context of the show. Having the lead soprano in an 80's disco girl dress getting driven around in a shopping buggy was just ridiculous. This was eclipsed only by the product placement SMART car at the end of the show. Now that really added to the story...
Theatre outside of traditional confines has always confused me a bit. I am all for breaking convention and doing something new and fresh (especially when Voltaire is involved, seriously, who else would make their actors read the one of the best thinkers of the 18th century for 'background' purposes?), but the whole atmosphere just seems a little joking to me. Yes, the actors might be doing a bang up job, but when the audience is trying to figure out just why they're in an abandoned auto shop will most certainly detract from the work.
Post a Comment