Broadway Assignment 10/3

Kevin Wagenheim

Broadway Assignment

10/3


The first clip I found myself watching was the Fidler on the Roof's "To Life" (2016). I decided to watch this clip because I remember seeing this play preformed at one of my childhood schools. Within the first few seconds I realized they were not preforming on a stage. They were preforming at a parade on Thanksgiving. I thought this was really unique because they have people watching them from two sides instead of just one. So, the scene had to be manipulated a little bit to make sure both sides got a nice view. I also thought it was cool how the scene did not have many stage props and was on a green floor; however, the costumes and acting made the scene come to life.

The next show I found was City of Angels (2015). This one had a few more clips to watch so I was able to see a few different scenes as well as older and newer versions. What really surprised me about this show was how the story was actually two different stories in one - the stage was split. The story was about an author who was writing a novel indirectly about himself and his wife. So, the stage was split, one side for the author and his wife, the other side for his two story characters. They would basically be living the same lives, so they would incorporate songs together and I thought it was really clever. One of the clips I watched, the wives on both sides sung a song together, without even being in the same story. I just thought the idea was brilliant and it actually really worked out.

The last show I wanted to comment on was The Color Purple (2016). I thought these clips were really interesting because the story was actually a movie before the broadway show came out.  I watched the first clip and began thinking that it was like a broadway-movie mix. However, after reading the blog and looking at the remaining clips, I learned that it was a film turned into a broadway musical. I thought the costumes and settings were actually pretty close to the film. There were also pretty cool projections on the stage, and good dancing that the movie may not have shown. In my opinion, I probably would have liked the film a little more, but for people that are into broadway, this could be a good show to catch if you have seen The Color Purple.