Thursday, August 26, 2004
Don't Miss "Candide" Sheep, Lindsay Faye, in "A Little Princess"
One of my favorites parts of the show "Candide", and of Foothill's production of it, is the sheep.One of Foothill's intrepid sheep is currently nicely featured i TheatreWorks' World Premiere production of the new musical "A Little Princess."
I saw the first public preview last night; it officially opens Friday and runs through September 19th.
Lyndsay plays Lavinia, who is basically the Nellie Olsen of "A Little Princess." (I'm hoping those of you who don't know "A Little Princess must know "Little House on the Prairie" right?)
Anyway, you can check out everything about the show in, you guessed it, TheatreWorks' blog at:
http://theatreworks.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
New Blog for Foothill's Next Production
As you may know, Foothill Music Theatre is presenting "Ragtime" this summer in the Smithwick Theatre. "Ragtime" will have its very own blog, which you'll be able to find at:http://FMTcurrent.blogspot.com
As you can see from the new blog's URL, we're going to try to keep one blog now for all of FMT's productions. So you'll only have one URL to bookmark.
See you at the new blog!
Monday, March 15, 2004
Candide Has Left The Building
Yes, it's true, "Candide" has closed, the set is struck, and all that's left is the "thank yous".We had a great time with the show and the blog, and hope you all enjoyed it too.
I hope the blog pulled some of you in to see the show, which did end up being sold out from pretty much the 2nd Saturday night all the way to Closing.
And I hope everyone who wanted to was able to get in and see the show!
Don't forget, Foothill Music Theatre is putting on a great American musical, "Ragtime" this summer.
"Ragtime" reaffirms that musical theatre is truly an art form at which we, as a nation, excel. Particularly musical theatre with a plot, a heart and a soul, not just spectacle.
I hope we'll see you all back here for the Foothill "Ragtime" blog this summer.
Monday, March 08, 2004
Ticket Update: Seriously...BUY NOW
"Candide" is on a roll. Every performance has been selling out since the 2nd weekend.Remember, this house seats 126 only, so once word-of-mouth (and word-of-keyboard) got rolling, along with the release of good reviews, it was only a matter of time.
The latest info is:
There is one weekend left, with performances this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.
Of those performances, Saturday Night and the Sunday matinee are essentially sold out, with no more online ticket ordering allowed.
That mean there are three performances left that you can order online (and get your $3 per ticket discount.) The Friday evening performance has only a handful of tickets remaining.
Since the Saturday matinee is an added performance, it and the Thursday evening are your best bets right now.
But if last weekend is any indication, ordering tickets by end of day Tuesday is probably all the time you have left.
You can still call the box office and check whether they have any seats left to release for performances that are unavailable online. 650-949-7360
If you've been lollygagging, now's the time to take action! We hope to see you there.
Can a Bit Get Too Creative?
Okay, I know I just got done writing about how cast members keep it fresh and all; and how bits can develop over time as everyone gets more comfortable. But this may take it too far:-The three ladies-of-the-evening (and any other time of day) in Cartegena are making progress in their attempt to seduce one of the sheep as it is being led away to the Santa Rosalia. The sheep is looking pretty interested, but so far the flock-mentality has kept it following its fellows and the ladies have to settle for seducing Candide.
There are a lot of places I could go with this one, but i've managed to keep it relatively clean throughout the show, so I won't dive into the gutter now.
(I'm just saying, though, are we sure Pangloss got his syphilis from Paquette?)
Overheard During a Recent Performance
Some performances seem to be more "fresh" than others...which is a polite way of saying that the little snafus seem to abound. A recent performance featured these unexpected moments:-The third-best Baronial falcon demonstrated why it is only third-best when seconds after soaring into the sky in search of prey, it came crashing to earth instead of its prey.
-Cunegonde wreaked some small revenge on the Barbary pirate who carries her off to his ship. After throwing her over his shoulder, instead of boldly striding off with his helpless victim crying for rescue, our hapless pirate toppled to the ground and once disentangled, was reduced to herding his apparently not-so-helpless victim to his ship.
Of course, the beauty is, usually when such snafus occur, the cast may think they're obvious (and hysterical) but the audience often thinks they're planned. And these were no different.
Sunday, March 07, 2004
How Do Actors Keep It Fresh?
People wonder how an actor can do the same role in the same show night after night for weeks on end.The answer is that it is rarely exactly the same show.
Every audience is different, for one thing, so every performance has its own rhythm. The laughs may come in different places, and certainly at different levels. And of course sometimes the audience can be audible. And I don't just mean cell phones going off, but audible gasps or comments as the action occurs.
You'd be surprised how often as an actor you can find some meaning or nuance to a line you've performed many times. If you're on your toes and, in actor-speak, in the moment, then it can really feel like each time is the first (or at least NOT the 102nd) time.
The four-week run at Foothill doesn't rank among the longest runs out there, so it's not hard to keep it fresh for such a short run, particularly with so many cast members on stage doing lots of little bits throughout the show.
There's a whole other show happening around the show!
And that gives the show its energy, its life.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Another Great Review...and a Ticket Availability Update
Once again, I'll provide you the link to the Palo Alto Weekly review. I will give you the hint, though, that it is another rave.Which brings me to ticket availability. If you have yet to nail down your attendance to this theatre event of the winter, seeing this string of positive reviews for the show should light a fire under you.
True to form, word-of-mouth (and word-of-keyboard) is accelerating ticket demand for the final two weekends of the show. In fact, last weekend's Saturday and Sunday performances were completely sold out.
The two remaining Sunday Matinee performances are nearly sold-out, so online ticket sales are no longer available for March 7th and 14th. You can still try to call the box office at 650-949-7360.
All other performance continue to have online ticket availability, but time is running out for you to catch this wonderfully brought-to-life, rarely-produced Bernstein masterpiece.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
More Feedback on "Candide"...Consensus? It's a Hit!!
We have a couple more reviews to report, and the consensus is definitely that this is a great opportunity to see a rarely-produced show done exceedingly well.Now, there are some cast members who read this blog, and to protect the sensibilities of those who don't like to see reviews, positive or negative, while a show is running, I will provide you links to these 2 reviews:
The first is from the Alameda Times-Star, which proclaims "Candide" to be "another winner" from Foothill Music Theatre.
The second is really a mini-review from Saratoga Drama Group's Tales & Tidbits newsletter, written by C. Michael Traw. Just a blurb, but a nice one.
Enjoy.
