Don't you just hate working on a really great show?

David Ashton

Well-Known Member
Well we're all professionals, right, just there to do a job and do our cues on time, right, then along comes a really hilarious comedy and you're in tears of laughter and can't hear the cues with the audience screaming with mirth, the early Barry Humphries shows were like that and he wasn't a forgiving person, on or off stage.An English production of "in Praise of Love" with a fine actress Sylvia Simms would bring tears to my eyes every night without fail, and when I first operated "the Elocution of Benjamin Franklin I thought what a load of rubbish, but as the weeks went on I fell deeper and deeper into the plot.The other 300 or more shows I have done were mainly just jobs, but has anyone else been unprofessional enough to fall under the spell of a performance?
 
Well we're all professionals, right, just there to do a job and do our cues on time, right, then along comes a really hilarious comedy and you're in tears of laughter and can't hear the cues with the audience screaming with mirth, the early Barry Humphries shows were like that and he wasn't a forgiving person, on or off stage.An English production of "in Praise of Love" with a fine actress Sylvia Simms would bring tears to my eyes every night without fail, and when I first operated "the Elocution of Benjamin Franklin I thought what a load of rubbish, but as the weeks went on I fell deeper and deeper into the plot.The other 300 or more shows I have done were mainly just jobs, but has anyone else been unprofessional enough to fall under the spell of a performance?

Oh, there have been a number of shows that I never wanted to end - last one was "Nunsensations!" It was silly, it was fluffy and it was just plain fun. Any of the Ray Cooney shows are always greeted with tears when they are over. In fact, the SM for "Charlie Brown" was in tears yesterday becasue she didn't want the show to end.

I've got another question to feed off of that one though. Has anyone been broken up over a strike? When we did "Time of Your Life", the set was so *&^#$$ beautiful, I ripped, tore and unscrewed with tears in my eyes. Same was true with "Oklahoma!" - but only because it was my first BIG set design.


Charlie
 
I did the last leg of a 2 year Godspell tour which finished in Kalgoorlie, the emotion of the final scene was incredibly powerfull, even though its not a favourite of mine, it was one of those performances you can't forget.
 
I have a friend at UMD who told me that when he was working a spot for a Dane Cook show, he felt badly about doing a bad job because the spot was always shaking from his laughter.
 
usually when everyone else is laughing in histeria, no one notices the spot bouncing a little. Now if its tilting from floor to ceiling thats a different story. I have done several shows that i never wanted to end. I have done plenty of others where i'm ready for the show to be over so i can start striking so i can go home.
 
Oh, there have been a number of shows that I never wanted to end - last one was "Nunsensations!" It was silly, it was fluffy and it was just plain fun. Any of the Ray Cooney shows are always greeted with tears when they are over. In fact, the SM for "Charlie Brown" was in tears yesterday becasue she didn't want the show to end.
I've got another question to feed off of that one though. Has anyone been broken up over a strike? When we did "Time of Your Life", the set was so *&^#$$ beautiful, I ripped, tore and unscrewed with tears in my eyes. Same was true with "Oklahoma!" - but only because it was my first BIG set design.
Charlie

They came out with another of those blasted things? I thought it was over when they made the western version....
 
I fell in love with a show I just finished up a month ago called, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. To me all other shows were just jobs but this show was the love of my life. I am still trying to get over it. I felt very sad when it had to end. I wouldn't have minded working it a few more months. Fun show, great crew, awesome theatre. I don't know if a show will ever be that good again. :( I wasn't there for strike luckily I started loading in a new show elsewhere the very next morning after closing. I don't think I could've made it through strike without crying. Lame right? :lol:

I hate it when someone says something funny on Com when they know darn well I'm trying to hold my spot steady:!::twisted:;)
 
I'm usually the one cracking the jokes on com :D.

The team lead on our video team is always cracking jokes over com. Except when his superiors are in the booth =). One time he even was making fun of some sleeping men in the audience while watching them over our robotic camera =O. Crazy people...
 
I did 'Little Shop Of Horrors' as my last HS show... I was pretty attached :) we did the whole, all the crew(students) on stage after the last show, me and the lead were best friends and both in year 12 (final year) and we both cried taking the set apart the next day... pretty darn attached we were to the show! I'm sure we both have hoarded a copy of the script away XD
 
They came out with another of those blasted things? I thought it was over when they made the western version....

Actually, there are two more with another in the works. The Artistic Committee hates them, but they pack the house like nobody's business. Our theater is only about an hour away from a theater that does nothing but play them in cycles -all year long. I don't know why, but they made enough money doing that to build a brand new theater AND theater museum AND have the original author come to direct the PREMIER of the next show. I loved it, but it was nice to close it while I was still enjoying it.

Usually, since I'm calling the show, I don't complain if the spots bouncing (a little). I'd rather have a happy crew than a disgruntled one.

Charlie
 
Ray would come to Perth with his shows and his lighting requirements were always, all lights o/w, up at the opening down at the end, no problem seeing the actors or the action.It worked we made money.
 
I think you laugh at the jokes the first few times around then they get old and you can just predict laughter.
 
Ray would come to Perth with his shows and his lighting requirements were always, all lights o/w, up at the opening down at the end, no problem seeing the actors or the action.It worked we made money.

Ray Cooney is another 'seat filler' that the head of the Artistic Committee hates. She keeps saying that we can't decide on show based upon our personal feelings, but then she nixes every one she doesn't personally like. Since she's our connection to the Board, who approves or disapproves of our season, we are occasionally held at gunpoint for our choices.

I'd frankly love to see us to the 'Run for your Wife' trilogy - we did "Caught in the Net" and had to extend the run, it did that well.

Yes, Hughesie, but that's only if you're in the audience. There's a lot more that's funny backstage (or on the headsets) than in the house at times.

Charlie
 
Yes, Hughesie, but that's only if you're in the audience. There's a lot more that's funny backstage (or on the headsets) than in the house at times.

Charlie

as a sound operator that works with a student crew and has an in ear style of can monitoring system i can agree with you on that front..

also thank you for spelling my name right, otherwise don't take the time to so i respect that.:mrgreen:
 
As someone how get her name spelt in a variety of ways, I try - besides I lost first place in a journalism competition because I spelt a name wrong. I try really hard to get names right now
 
There are two shows that I never wanted to end, one was Picasso at the Lapin Agile. That show was great in every way, great cast, crew, script, and I only had 14 cues total, so I got to really enjoy the show. The next show was Ragtime. That show was a huge pain in the rear, and dispite it being that and a cues till the end of time, I didn't want to see it go. All the time put into it and how great the show was made it seem like it was a waste, so I was sorry to see it go.

The show I am working on now, I am sure will turn out the same way. Great cast and show again. Can't wait to get into tech this weekend.
 
For me it amounts to the commitment of everyone that makes a show special. Every once in a while a show comes along where genuinely everybody on board shares the vision and the commitment completely. This means that in many ways that company becomes a family. This has happened to me a few times. I remember one occasion when as the producer the designer/scenic artist came to me in tears because his work on the set had not reached his own high standard and he felt that he was letting people down. This was a professional artist who I thought was as case hardened as anyone. What really surprised me though was that two members of the cast who barely knew him took him to one side and talked him through it. The work he was doing by the way was fantastic.
That show was special.
I know we all give our best all the time but occasionally I find that my heart joins the rest of me and takes my soul with it. That's special.
 
I just ended "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" last night. It was an awesome show. I got to see it about thirteen times, but each time it was great.
 

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