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Thursday, March 02, 2023
The theatrical curtain call is more than just bows
NPR: You're at the theater, the last scene ends, and the cast comes out for applause. It's pretty standard today. But curtain calls once were eccentric, revealing, funny and just plain effective.
6 comments:
Carly Tamborello
said...
Some shows still do the dramatic curtain calls, or at least have different musical sections to bring in different characters – I know this was true of a production of Matilda I worked on. My favorite bows experience I’ve had was on a production of Mamma Mia during COVID, so at the end we wanted to get the audience outside as fast as possible so they weren’t mingling around in the closed-off theatre. During the bows for Mamma Mia, the cast reprises a couple songs from the show, including Dancing Queen, and then the whole cast would run outside and start performing Waterloo on picnic tables and on the ground, encouraging the audience to follow them for one final outdoors performance. It was a lot of fun, except for the one time that it rained and so they had to do that performance inside anyway. Still, the grandeur of a final curtain call is a lot more fun for the audience – and the performers – than just bowing. It’s a celebration, rather than just a button.
I really enjoyed this article. I have never really realized just how much I long for big, flashy, applause-worthy curtain calls. Similar to the whole thing with big orchestras being replaced with smaller numbers of musicians and technology, so many shows have replaced a big curtain call with a simple bow. Again, that absolutely has a place. Some shows simply work better with a simple bow (or even the rare show with no bow at all). However, at the end of a big, fun, and flashy musical, I would love to see a curtain call that is just as big, fun, and flashy as the rest of the show. Why would you follow a big show with a small ending? In the future, I hope to see more shows with different curtain calls. Whether they’re big and flashy or just different and have an element to them that is unconventional, I think we can do more than just a boring old bow.
I have a family friend who believes that curtain calls should never be more than 90 seconds and I feel that the consensus about curtain calls is split between love it and hate it in the theatrical community. On one hand curtin calls at as a cap and encore to the show, on the other hand at the end of a long play most audience members just want to get out of the theater. I do like the point that came up in one of the interviews that when audience members, especially those who are kids, watch shows it is hard for them to separate what is happening to the actors vs what is happening to the characters. Curtin calls create an opportunity for the audience to see that the villain is not played by an evil actor and the character that died at the top of act two is not really dead.
Curtain calls are something I didn’t really realize I loved as much as I do. One of my favorite curtain calls to watch was when I worked on sound for Jungle Book the ballet. It was a lot of kids running out and doing their cute bows, but at the end, balloo, one of the older male dancers, came out and put on a little show for the audience. Balloo is such an iconic character that I honestly loved watching the entire show, so getting to see him in character one last time during the curtain calls was something I really enjoyed. They’re also equally as important for the dancers. When I was dancing my last show as a senior, we were given special bows after our senior piece, and it gave me so much more closure about my time as a dancer coming to an end. I was given the last bow out of the five seniors, and it was truly such a special feeling.
Yeah I definitely think that bows and curtain calls and applause at the end of a show have definitely changed over time. Mostly I think curtain calls and just how shows end have changed the most. I think it has a lot to do with what kind of shows are being produced now. because in the past there had been a lot of shows produced that had a certain vibe where it was not all that realistic and so doing a big number at the end or a curtain call number where everything kind of gets reprised was a lot more acceptable but now a lot of shows are realistic or adaptations or jukebox musicals where doing something like that would not exactly fit the show which is really interesting to me. There is also the fact that standing ovations are kind of the norm now so shows do not have to do a big flashy number to get the applause that they are looking for.
This should be brought back! Let it be a spectacle! Of course this isn’t necessary for more serious, realistic plays, but I believe every musical should have some sort of fun, dramatic bows. It is also interesting to know that some of these final numbers are supposed to be the curtain call - I adore Chorus Line and had no idea that One is the curtain call. It makes sense now that I think about it, and it truly enhances the message of the show. I think on some level every production has fun little bits a few characters do as they bow, like Jafar giving the audience one final glare or Shakespeare doing a funny entrance in Something Rotten. However, it’s usually just one or two actors getting in one final laugh. I’ve always assumed standing ovations were standard and never realized that some companies had to work for it. I remember seeing Aladdin on Broadway with James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie and the audience leapt to their feet with a roar after Friend Like Me. We just couldn’t get enough.
6 comments:
Some shows still do the dramatic curtain calls, or at least have different musical sections to bring in different characters – I know this was true of a production of Matilda I worked on. My favorite bows experience I’ve had was on a production of Mamma Mia during COVID, so at the end we wanted to get the audience outside as fast as possible so they weren’t mingling around in the closed-off theatre. During the bows for Mamma Mia, the cast reprises a couple songs from the show, including Dancing Queen, and then the whole cast would run outside and start performing Waterloo on picnic tables and on the ground, encouraging the audience to follow them for one final outdoors performance. It was a lot of fun, except for the one time that it rained and so they had to do that performance inside anyway. Still, the grandeur of a final curtain call is a lot more fun for the audience – and the performers – than just bowing. It’s a celebration, rather than just a button.
I really enjoyed this article. I have never really realized just how much I long for big, flashy, applause-worthy curtain calls. Similar to the whole thing with big orchestras being replaced with smaller numbers of musicians and technology, so many shows have replaced a big curtain call with a simple bow. Again, that absolutely has a place. Some shows simply work better with a simple bow (or even the rare show with no bow at all). However, at the end of a big, fun, and flashy musical, I would love to see a curtain call that is just as big, fun, and flashy as the rest of the show. Why would you follow a big show with a small ending? In the future, I hope to see more shows with different curtain calls. Whether they’re big and flashy or just different and have an element to them that is unconventional, I think we can do more than just a boring old bow.
I have a family friend who believes that curtain calls should never be more than 90 seconds and I feel that the consensus about curtain calls is split between love it and hate it in the theatrical community. On one hand curtin calls at as a cap and encore to the show, on the other hand at the end of a long play most audience members just want to get out of the theater. I do like the point that came up in one of the interviews that when audience members, especially those who are kids, watch shows it is hard for them to separate what is happening to the actors vs what is happening to the characters. Curtin calls create an opportunity for the audience to see that the villain is not played by an evil actor and the character that died at the top of act two is not really dead.
Theo
Curtain calls are something I didn’t really realize I loved as much as I do. One of my favorite curtain calls to watch was when I worked on sound for Jungle Book the ballet. It was a lot of kids running out and doing their cute bows, but at the end, balloo, one of the older male dancers, came out and put on a little show for the audience. Balloo is such an iconic character that I honestly loved watching the entire show, so getting to see him in character one last time during the curtain calls was something I really enjoyed. They’re also equally as important for the dancers. When I was dancing my last show as a senior, we were given special bows after our senior piece, and it gave me so much more closure about my time as a dancer coming to an end. I was given the last bow out of the five seniors, and it was truly such a special feeling.
Yeah I definitely think that bows and curtain calls and applause at the end of a show have definitely changed over time. Mostly I think curtain calls and just how shows end have changed the most. I think it has a lot to do with what kind of shows are being produced now. because in the past there had been a lot of shows produced that had a certain vibe where it was not all that realistic and so doing a big number at the end or a curtain call number where everything kind of gets reprised was a lot more acceptable but now a lot of shows are realistic or adaptations or jukebox musicals where doing something like that would not exactly fit the show which is really interesting to me. There is also the fact that standing ovations are kind of the norm now so shows do not have to do a big flashy number to get the applause that they are looking for.
This should be brought back! Let it be a spectacle! Of course this isn’t necessary for more serious, realistic plays, but I believe every musical should have some sort of fun, dramatic bows.
It is also interesting to know that some of these final numbers are supposed to be the curtain call - I adore Chorus Line and had no idea that One is the curtain call. It makes sense now that I think about it, and it truly enhances the message of the show. I think on some level every production has fun little bits a few characters do as they bow, like Jafar giving the audience one final glare or Shakespeare doing a funny entrance in Something Rotten. However, it’s usually just one or two actors getting in one final laugh.
I’ve always assumed standing ovations were standard and never realized that some companies had to work for it. I remember seeing Aladdin on Broadway with James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie and the audience leapt to their feet with a roar after Friend Like Me. We just couldn’t get enough.
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