On Mon May 24, at MondayMay 24 5:42 PM, John Howell wrote:
The movie versions are ALWAYS too different to do you any good.
Hah! I wish you could have had that conversation with this one choreographer, who watched the movie for several of our semi-pro productions and insisted that the dance routines (including hits) be altered to match the movie. She even insisted that entire numbers be added or excised to match the movie. She didn't understand how much work it was to transcribe and arrange all that music. In fact, she would come over to the band during rehearsals and say, "No, like this..." and then sing it to us, as if we would just hear her, change our parts on the spot (arranging them spontaneously through telepathy), and play it like the film version as soon as she said, "Got it? 5-6-7-8..."
It was when we injured several dancers during Sweet Charity that I think she finally got the idea that filming Shirley MacLaine in twenty or so cuts with pre-recorded vocals was a completely different thing than performing all that live, dripping with sweat and puffing like a water buffalo during the last chorus of "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This."
Strangely, this group had a curiously low opinion of musical directors. His opinion was completely ignored during casting, in fact, they didn't even invite him to the auditions for one show, presenting him with the casting as a fait accompli at the first rehearsal. The choreographer, however, had the director wrapped around her finger and got priority in all matters, including rehearsal time. The first production that I musical directed for them was the one that she dropped out of after auditions, possibly because I was making sense with my opinions and that didn't bode well for her.
Okay, end of rant. Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
