Better late than
never I guess. Also, I’m doing this out
of order. I should have done a post on
my huge job change first. I’ll catch
that another time. For now, Steel Magnolias.
The show went
really well. The audience loved it. The cast was excellent. We had a great venue in the Nancy Howe
Auditorium. (You’d know the story behind
that if I’d done a post on the job change.)
Anyway, the Howe Auditorium is great.
Vintage look, perfect sized stage, huge back stage, cast bathrooms and dressing
rooms! As much as I like the Houghton
Fire Hall (and I really do, that isn’t sarcasm), it was nice to be back in a
traditional theatre space.
All that sounds
great, so why didn’t I like Steel
Magnolias? That’s not quite right,
because I did like it. I just didn’t
love it. There are many factors as to
why, but it boils down to script issues.
Thanks to the far superior movie, the play has become this sentimental
favorite, and because of that the inherent weaknesses in the script get glossed
over. But they are there. First, the format of each scene is nearly
identical. Characters enter one-by-one,
usually in the same order and all scenes end with everyone still in face. There’s no deviation. No one leaves a scene to allow the vibe to
change. It’s tough to work with
that. Also, it is written so that each
of the 5 scenes takes place up to 16 months apart. Which means a lot of the growth and drama
happens off stage in between scenes.
This also causes problems. The
emotional conclusion feels forced to me because I don’t think you ever really
get to the point where you care enough to be moved naturally. In the hands of a capable actress (which I
had) you can still make it work, but you should have the character journey to
back it up, even with a lousy actress (Thankfully I didn’t have any of those!). Bottom-line, it’s a fun show to do, but not
that great to direct. I had trouble
connecting to the story and the characters.
I couldn’t find my hook.
To be fair, I
knew that going in. I just figured I’d
find it or make it work. I think it’s
fair to say that I made it work. It was a good show. I just feel conflicted about it because I
always felt like I was on the outside of it.
I feel strongly that a director shouldn’t direct a play he doesn’t
like. I broke that rule, and learned a
valuable lesson.
Again, let me be
clear, it was a good production. Cast if
you are reading this, you each did an excellent job. Really.
I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.
My issues with Steelymags are with the script and my connection to it.
Anyway, sorry to be such a downy-clowny. On a positive note, I’m really looking forward to finally
starting work on The Odd Couple. That’s about 10 years in the making, so I
can’t wait to dig in.
