Hey Tumblr, I know you're a long shot on this one, but I also know that bits of Techblr are still floating around out there, and heck, someone might have a rich dead uncle.
After 10 years of paying my dues as a costumer in the industry, after surviving being a Live Entertainment Professional during COVID, I finally got a chance at my Dream Job: I'm now a costumer working for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
If you're a theater person, you also already know this, but COVID decimated theaters. A lot of small theaters went under entirely, and even the big guys are holding on by their toenails. Despite everything, we're now one of those: we've been told that without a significant amount of help, our season will end this year in the beginning of July, not in October like it's supposed to, and folks are saying "well, there *might* be a 2024 season, we have to see how it goes."
Tumblites, I love this job. I like 95% of the people I work with, I'm the closest I've ever been to my 70+ year old parents, I'm in a union and I'm being paid an actual honest to god living wage. We do really interesting (and important) shows, and set a lot of standards/things to strive for for other theaters as well.
If you have anything you'd be able to give, rich uncle or not, I'd love it if you could.
Wait, Phantom you ask? Well, sort of. More below the cut.
How to Dance in Ohio
This was unplanned. I won the lottery and paid $30 to sit in the front row for this delightful and fun show. Several of us were sobbing happy tears at the end. It was also wonderful to see some of my own experience reflected back as someone who has been figuring out my own neurospiciness as an adult.
2. Same concert I saw in DC but at Carnegie Hall. The chorus was better but the audience not as much.
3. Sleep No More
How I never went to this immersive, experiential fever dream before, I don't know. But now I have. It closes in February now (it was extended). Definitely go. My friend and I agreed to be separated and do our won thing and that was the way to go. We had completely different experiences and saw different stories. We didn't find each other until about 2.5 hours into the three hours.
4. Phantom of the Opera*
I SAW THE ARCHIVAL PROSHOT OF THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY. IT WAS A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. I AM A CHANGED PERSON. I will post about this later.
5. Sweeney Todd (Again)
Totally different cast. My first go, Groban was out with Covid so I had Nicholas Christopher as Sweeney and Jeanna de Waal was on as Beggar Woman. This time, Groban was on, Jeanna de Waal was on as Mrs. Lovett and everyone else was in their principal roles. Groban really does live up to the hype. This show was so much more fun the second time around. Interestingly, Annaleigh Ashford and de Waal make a very different choice at the end. Ashford's "I love you" is more manipulative, de Waal's is genuine.
Honestly cannot wait for them to go to Broadway. I love what they have going on and am excited to see how things go once they have a more permanent set, the vibes are there but I like physicality of a bit more set pieces, however the projection work is top tier, using trees to transition areas during Ease on down the road etc.
It’s also hilarious
Between the airbrushed shirt to commemorate the death of the first witch to
I understand that some things are out of personal control. A car accident on the route someone was taking to the theater, for example, is valid.
However, poor time management on someone's part is just fucking rude and disrespectful. If you can't make it to the theater on time, don't be a prick about having to wait till intermission to be seated. Expecting to be seated during a performance means a blackout has to be held longer. It means the actors have to hold position. It means the tech booth's flow is distrupted. It means a shit ton of communication between the tech booth, stage manager, cast, and ushers. It means making the entire remaining audience has their experience interrupted.
I've always like the Barbiere overture but after last night where i was able to be ON STAGE while a LIVE ORCHESTRA PLAYED IT it is now The Greatest Overture In The World
I saw Beetlejuice the musical last night and can I please talk about how much whiplash I got sobbing my eyes out to Home then going straight into Creepy Old Guy?
This is your local Tech Theatre person letting you know that a lot of us really really appreciate when you come see shows we’re working on! Lots of us have friends and family brush it off since they won’t see us onstage performing, but we work hard to make the shows what they are! Ask us about our shows!! Come see them if you’re able! Maybe give us flowers if you would do the same for a friend onstage! We don’t ever get flowers or anything but I just think it would be So Cute if someone brought a techie something like that
Can a fantasy roleplaying game be presented as entertainment for an audience? That question may have been answered first in Chicago in 1983 by the cast of Dungeonmaster, a live interactive improv stage production. Dungeonmaster ran for four years at the Beacon Street Theater, where it was a side trip offered to attendees of the 1983 World Fantasy Convention:
The show was revived in 2001 in Los Angeles at the Magicopolis Theater (per an article in UCLA’s Daily Bruin) and is still running today at The Vortex (top picture).
The tickets form asks how you heard about the show. I gave the short answer, but long answer is in the dawning years of FB, I'd reconnected with childhood friends from Michigan and someone at UoM posted the original link to A Very Potter Musical. Been following their productions with delight (and a wee bit of jealousy) for years.
We're nearly peers, but I was not originally pursuing theater professionally. They have, in the years since changing careers, remained a major inspiration to the kind of humor and audience connection I'd like to achieve.
It is strange, but also exciting, to live & work where they are producing shows. I don't know that I'll ever have the chance to work with them, but they do continue to inspire and I'm looking forward to seeing a full show (I did also attend & love their anniversary concert) live.
If there’s ever a show you have to see live it’s moulin rouge. Tour, Broadway, west end, however you can. Videos and the cast recording don’t do it justice. It’s one of those shows that has a really deep- feel in your core base (1st song particularly) and a vibe that benefits you being in a room filled to the brim with people. I recommend if you can going in blind— I did and now it lives in my head forever, but also equally recommended to pre existing fans.
Yes, Message In A Bottle is entertaining. But it’s also shattering.
Without uttering a single word, the cast moves along a disturbing and all-too-real narrative through whole-body-movement, body language and simple but essential sets. Even without the music of Sting, you would understand what was going on. But Sting’s music, in some new arrangements, provides the auditory emotion that augments…