The New York Times: The cold open: In television, it’s a scene that begins an episode before the title sequence, often without leading characters but almost always with foreshadowing hooks to confound or set a mood.
Theater doesn’t really have much of a cold open tradition. The expectation is that you introduce the main characters and get moving.
3 comments:
I have been a long time fan of the Stranger Things franchise and have love a lot of what that show brought to the science fiction genre and helping reinvigorate in mainstream media and with friends the life of dungeons and dragons, and it is a very creative and well written piece of media (albeit some plot points within the show that I think don’t work well). I was very interested when I heard the creation of the Stranger Things play for the West End a while ago, especially since it was going to be a prequel, though much to my initial dismay I’ve heard a lot of very positive things about the production. And that has not stopped with its recent transition to Broadway. I would be very interested in seeing the show to see what the Duffer Brothers have to say about Creel’s backstory and see the talk about wonderful spectacle effects that are a part of the show. I cannot wait for season 5 of the show, and hope it ends up being a very well done tv show.
Everytime I see something about this production I get this big dopey grin on my face and think “My friend was in that!”, which is something I’m probably going to have to get used to after college. However, as of right now it's still new and fresh that one of my best friends in high school was in the original cast of First Shadow on the West End. Ella Williams, someone who I knew from helping her with quick changes in high school shows as a freshman and as the sweet girl in my AP History classes, portrays Patty Newby in the show and I’m so so proud of her. She graduated a year early, so I only got to work with her for three years, but hopefully our paths will cross again in the future when I am designing and she’s acting. Ella is incredibly talented, and while I never got to see her in Stranger Things I just know she’s amazing.
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow”, a prequel to the hit TV show that opened on Broadway on April 15th, is a technical whirlwind. Looking at the pictures online, it’s hard to believe the dystopian sets of the Upside-Down (complete with massive spider-like webs and dense fog) and the far more quaint, period sets of 1950s Hawkins come from the same production. Sonia Friedman, one of the lead producers on the production, says the following: “I say this without exaggeration or hyperbole: It’s the most technical and challenging physical production that’s probably ever been onstage.” I can’t help but wonder about the budget. Although it isn’t readily available online, Stranger Things Season 4 boasted a budget of 270 million to produce. As TV and movie franchises venture into the world of theatre (think Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), I wonder if we’ll be seeing more high-budget, spectacle-driven plays on Broadway. Studios like Netflix and Warner Bros. are able to funnel far more money than traditional backers and producers for these shows.
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