Gunmetal Blues review

[David Akin]

At 11:42 AM 2/2/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Is money really the problem, or is it the use of it, the vision behind
>the money, that counts?
>
 Clearly, money, per se, is not the problem and neither is it the solution.
The problem, be it a lacklustre regional theatre show or a LivEnt musical,
is that the resources don't match the artistic vision. Harold Prince's
artistic vision of Show Boat, for instance, largely matched the mammoth
resources applied to it. Similarly, Richard Rose's spritely Comedy of Errors
was appropriate to the resources allocated to it at Sratford in 94 and 95.
 
There is, I believe, a more fundamental problem many producers encounter
with musicals that have everything to do with marketing and economics and
very little to do with a lively theatre event.
 
Musicals, for most theatres, are immensely more popular with most
theatre-goers than non-musicals. Producers know this and likely want to
program a musical or two during their seasons. But despite the revenue
potential, musicals are significantly more expensive to produce. Just an
extra piano player adds to the week's bills.
Too often, I've seen producers cheat themselves, their artists, and an
audience in an attempt to produce a musical as cheaply as possible and
thereby maximize profits. I've seen The Music Man produced with that ethos
and the result was a band that consisted of a synthesizer, a piano and
drums. (Can you imagine "76 Trombones" without the trombones?) Usually,
you'll see the cheapest set of the set of the season at a musical but it
might be something else - the costumes, the number of performers, taped
music instead of musicians - whatever.
 
Thus, if a musical - or a drama, comedy, or whatever - is going to be done,
an artist should be given the resources to do the job. If the resources
aren't there and it was clearly apparent that an artist's vision suffered
because of the lack of proper financial, artistic, or intellectural
resources, then the show can't be successful and no one should pretend that
it is or that it should get extra marks for effort.
 
David Akin                      jdakin at foxnet.net
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