This is the final production of CMU’s main-stage season, and it feels like the graduating seniors throw everything they have into it. If you’re gonna go out big, this is the show to do it with.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
The Three Musketeers at Carnegie Mellon Drama
This is the final production of CMU’s main-stage season, and it feels like the graduating seniors throw everything they have into it. If you’re gonna go out big, this is the show to do it with.
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Three musketeers was a great production and pulled off pretty damn well. Some moves were rather bold, like putting in a female musketeer and a female captain, which I respected. In terms of action, it was very exciting and the cast mastered their fight choreography. And the way the cast was dressed was remarkable. I remember hearing about how much the queen's single costume cost to produce and my jaw dropped--but it was worth it to see it on stage. However, there were a few things that disappointed me. The set in particular, although great, was only underwhelming because I saw the preliminary designs and model but budget concerns muffled it. However, the quality was impressive nonetheless--the rose window was a great overarching piece and the paint finishes on the floor were amazing. Another thing that irked me a little was how it ended. I felt as though the ending was a little rushed and could have dragged on for a little bit longer. I thought it was a little too much to go from the return of the diamond studs, to the party, to the arrest of the antagonists, to the ceremony for D'Artagnan; it seemed squished.
I saw Three Musketeers on Saturday night and overall I was very impressed with the production. I agree with the reviewer with that the second act seemed a little rushed, but on the whole I thought the show was very entertaining. During the performance I saw one of the actresses was injured in the Act I finale, and I was impressed by how well the company was able to maintain the same energy despite this in Act II. As much as I appreciated that there were two female musketeers I was little confused about the roles the women played in the world of the play. Captain Treville and Aramis were both very powerful characters but other women like Constance and the Queen fell into the submissive stereotypes that are typical of that time period. I also thought it was interesting that the more "powerful" women were dressed in a masculine style while women who didn't have much control over the world were in feminine dresses. I'm not sure if this was a deliberate decision or just a coincidence but it's something that stood out to me.
I think that the set for this show was really well done. I think that my biggest disappointment with it was that everything is climbable, and they almost never climb on it. I think the set would have been more interesting if the cast had been interacting with it more. And from being backstage, I know that this cast has done a great job with keeping the show going even when things start to go wrong. The have been too many times when cast members come offstage and we have had to have an ice pack ready. I think there is a greater level of difficulty to keep the show going when a trapdoor just came down on your head as opposed to a dropped wig. I did appreciate that this article gave a shout out to the dramaturg. My impression from intents and insights was that this was a much bigger project than a normal production would be and she seems to have done an excellent job with it.
I, like Megan, saw Three Musketeers last Saturday night. Megan and I saw it with Sarah, another stage manager, and my boyfriend who is not in the School of Drama. I thought the show was generally very good, but I also found myself very confused for most of the first act of the play. It felt like there was too much going on at once, but most of that felt cleared up by act two. However, at the performance we saw, one of the performers got stabbed right above her eye with a sword, and had to run offstage during the big fight at the end of act one. This led to kind of a clusterfuck of a final fight scene. We found out immediately after that the actress had been injured, and that's why the fight was such a mess, but the majority of the audience did not know about the injury. Because of this, the beginning of act two felt kind of out o f control, since it seemed like all of the actors were kind of flustered from the previous chaos. However, over the course of the second act, everything came together and they put on a beautiful performance. Overall, the show was very enjoyable, but I was definitely content with just seeing it one time.
I really enjoyed watching Three musketeers last week. One thing that I thought was amazing was the stage combat. I love watching a good sword fight, and this show has plenty of that. When I saw the show, unfortunately one of the cast members got hurt from the fighting. This can happen in a school setting since we are just learning on how to do this. I think CMU does a great job in making sure everyone is safe during fighting sequences. I know fro this show they do about an hour long fight call just to make sure everyone is doing it safely. Just like the article said the set was incredible. I loved Emily’s paint job on the floor of the set. One thing I agree with Sarah is, I wish they would climb on the set more. It looks like a fun jungle gym and for a show about people fighting and saving the day, it would just make sense that they would climb everywhere on it.
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