"Dark times for all. Trying to find some bright spots."
March 13, 2020 3:24 PM Subscribe
Laura Benanti:
If you were meant to perform in your High School musical and it was cancelled please post yourself singing and tag me. I want to be your audience!! Sending all my love and black market toilet paper. 💛SLTwitter, but not a thread, sorry. There's a hashtag: #SunshineSongs
Speaking as a former theater kid, this is THE SWEETEST AND BEST THING EVER IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:15 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:15 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
See also the Disney+ TV series Encore. Hosted by Kristen Bell, the show reunites the casts of high school musicals from years ago and helps them re-stage their shows with the help of Broadway professionals. It's so delightful.
posted by chrchr at 4:47 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 4:47 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
The youngest Junior Wreckage opened Frozen one night and had the rest of the run postponed the next day. He’s super bummed but they have new tentative dates in May. This is great and we are going to watch these awesome theater kids this weekend instead.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 4:55 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 4:55 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
Forwarded to a friend who had to shut down an after school music program this week and was absolutely gutted. This is giving us many feelings. Thanks for posting. ❤️
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 5:08 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 5:08 PM on March 13, 2020
My daughter was supposed to have a pipe organ recital next week. She won't be posting a home version. : (
posted by straight at 5:31 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by straight at 5:31 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Instagram account TheatreWithoutTheatre popped into existance today to bring laid off Broadway and off-Broadway creatives to the world. They plan to have new content every evening around curtain time. Currently, there's a beautiful performance of a song from Darling Grenadine, a monologue/scene from Harry Potter and an offer of the script from New York Theater Workshop's shuttered production of Endlings.
posted by minervous at 6:00 PM on March 13, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by minervous at 6:00 PM on March 13, 2020 [8 favorites]
My kid was supposed to be at rehearsal tonight getting ready for next week's production of "Troilus & Cressida", but it's been postponed.
posted by mogget at 7:28 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by mogget at 7:28 PM on March 13, 2020
Ohh this is great. Theatre people really are the best people. I teach at a school that just got shut down and as I read the emails last night I was like "sports canceled, ok. math team canceled, eh but ok. SPRING MUSICAL CANCELED, NOOOO!" I was really looking forward to this one, one of my favorite students had the lead and I know she was going to crush it. Really hoping they get a chance to reschedule or perform in some way.
posted by Wulfhere at 8:12 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Wulfhere at 8:12 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm grieving knowing that the theater career I was hoping to have this year is most likely gone. And for my friends in shows now.
Interestingly enough, one theater in Sacramento is still showing Hamlet, saying that they have limited their number of tickets and spread people out enough so that they can be separated by six feet, sanitized everything, etc. I'm not at all sure what to make of that if it's good or bad.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 PM on March 13, 2020
Interestingly enough, one theater in Sacramento is still showing Hamlet, saying that they have limited their number of tickets and spread people out enough so that they can be separated by six feet, sanitized everything, etc. I'm not at all sure what to make of that if it's good or bad.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 PM on March 13, 2020
I don't know why theater lady made me well up, but she did. What a lovely gesture!
posted by Harald74 at 11:04 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by Harald74 at 11:04 PM on March 13, 2020
Our theater group had to reschedule to sometime in the autumn. The kids were bummed out of course. One of the "kids" (I guess she's 18 now) approached my wife, the coordinator, and said that she would have to start her apprenticeship in the autumn and that it would interfere with any theater performances. She continued to say that she was telling us now rather than later so we would have time to find a replacement for her role and bring that person up to speed.
She thereby demonstrated greater maturity than 75% of the parents involved in the theater, in addition to her other qualities. I think any company will be lucky to have her in an apprenticeship.
posted by Harald74 at 11:10 PM on March 13, 2020 [13 favorites]
She thereby demonstrated greater maturity than 75% of the parents involved in the theater, in addition to her other qualities. I think any company will be lucky to have her in an apprenticeship.
posted by Harald74 at 11:10 PM on March 13, 2020 [13 favorites]
My son is in the pit orchestra (postponed) and was in drumline (canceled). They put on a drumline performance for families last night. If his graduation needs to be canceled I think I might throw up.
posted by Brocktoon at 11:22 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by Brocktoon at 11:22 PM on March 13, 2020
For those who didn't realize: Laura Benanti is also the actress who portrays Melania Trump on Stephen Colbert's late-night show. Here she is talking about said role. She's absolutely delightful.
posted by martin q blank at 5:44 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by martin q blank at 5:44 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
As a person whose participation in drama was a major high point of their scholastic career, my heart breaks for every kid who rehearsed for hours and now won’t get to perform. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many and to have everything shut down feels cruel.
I would love to see some of the performances that won’t happen now. It would be the perfect entertainment for the rest of us stuck at home.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:25 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
I would love to see some of the performances that won’t happen now. It would be the perfect entertainment for the rest of us stuck at home.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:25 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
The university I teach at had to cancel our show and it is heartbreaking.
But the educational theatre community has come together in such an amazing way, you guys.
There are google docs springing up with links, and facebook posts about how to teach technical theatre remotely. People are asking for help about designing a project where students make puppets out of trash and getting dozens of comments with suggestions. There's a spreadsheet where folks are volunteering to be virtual guest speakers, and there are a couple hundred people signed up to speak for free to any class who contacts them, people from every imaginable specialty.
Theatre is inherently difficult in a time like this- it's a collaborative, physical medium. Its something we make in a room together. But we're figuring it out, kind of.
MeMail me if you need help accessing any of this. Three days ago I thought I'd have to figure this our more or less on my own, with just the couple of other instructors in my tiny program, but there's so many people out here in the same boat, and we're helping each other.
posted by Adridne at 7:32 AM on March 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
But the educational theatre community has come together in such an amazing way, you guys.
There are google docs springing up with links, and facebook posts about how to teach technical theatre remotely. People are asking for help about designing a project where students make puppets out of trash and getting dozens of comments with suggestions. There's a spreadsheet where folks are volunteering to be virtual guest speakers, and there are a couple hundred people signed up to speak for free to any class who contacts them, people from every imaginable specialty.
Theatre is inherently difficult in a time like this- it's a collaborative, physical medium. Its something we make in a room together. But we're figuring it out, kind of.
MeMail me if you need help accessing any of this. Three days ago I thought I'd have to figure this our more or less on my own, with just the couple of other instructors in my tiny program, but there's so many people out here in the same boat, and we're helping each other.
posted by Adridne at 7:32 AM on March 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
Sicily has figured out this whole self-isolation thing
posted by growabrain at 8:56 AM on March 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 8:56 AM on March 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
"meant to perform" as in scheduled? Or, "I could have been a contender"?
posted by thelonius at 8:58 AM on March 14, 2020
posted by thelonius at 8:58 AM on March 14, 2020
Aw man it's dusty in here. I remember it being about this time my senior year of high school when every day I basically went straight from class to judo or weight training, then to set construction, where I was rapidly developing an allergy to sawdust. I'm still proud of the trees I designed for that show. I'm not sure when I found time to practice my parts for Reed I for the pit. The King & I is indeed an orientalist relic of a show, but working on it was a huge part of my life that spring. Meanwhile, the guy I was seeing was enmeshed in some kind of drama in re his school's production of Godspell... Some friends from that time have gone on to work as production managers, opera singers, actors, professional musicians, TV producers, instrument makers, etc.
Thespian love. This will always be part of my world. Love to all the theater kids, theater pros, musicians, and other artisans who aren't able to collaborate or work right now.
posted by limeonaire at 10:06 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Thespian love. This will always be part of my world. Love to all the theater kids, theater pros, musicians, and other artisans who aren't able to collaborate or work right now.
posted by limeonaire at 10:06 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
All of these are fun and many of them are very, very good. Like, I would watch the whole thing if it were available. High school productions were never this good at my high school.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:44 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jacquilynne at 11:44 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
jacquilynne, high school productions are AMAZING these days. My daughter's school put on Our Town her Senior year (she was Emily, *parent brag*) and the students did ALL of the work. The director and the tech director were only ever there for mentoring and guidance. The assistant director, one of the students, designed the set and special effects by himself. They did the first 2 acts in the traditional, minimalist way, down to drab colors for costumes and no props (like the milkman didn't carry milk bottles). But the third act. Oh my goodness. Suddenly, everyone was wearing colors. The milkman had milk bottles in a wire carrier. And the most amazing part: when Emily's mother starts cooking breakfast, SHE ACTUALLY STARTED COOKING BREAKFAST. They made a completely working kitchen. Eggs and bacon in a cast iron pan, water from a pump. It was breathtaking.
High school. Amazing.
posted by cooker girl at 3:16 PM on March 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
High school. Amazing.
posted by cooker girl at 3:16 PM on March 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Catching up on this a few days late, this is lovely. Thanks for posting it.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:37 PM on March 17, 2020
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:37 PM on March 17, 2020
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posted by clawsoon at 4:02 PM on March 13, 2020 [11 favorites]