The Theater

[Yves]

I'm curious to know if any of you are theater buffs. Not movies but live plays. My girlfriend bought us some tickets to see a play last Saturday. It was a black comedy called "Terminus", set in the dark underbelly of Dublin. It was a minimalistic set with only 3 actors interweaving monologues until the story all comes together. It was nothing short of brilliant and I'm now looking forward to returning to the theater to see similar type plays.

I'd be curious to read comments on plays some of you have seen in case there are any productions of said plays coming to Montreal. I want to explore this art further but the bar has already been set very high with "Terminus".

[Chain]

This is the theatre compnay I do volunteer work for http://www.theatreinq.com/

[Yves]

I'm a little surprised that nobody goes to live theater. Of course, I never used to go either so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

[JKL2000]

I used to go to a ton of Broadway shows because my father voted for the TONY awards so he got free tickets to every Broadway show for years. Also, he just always took us to a lot of shows. Since he passed away (7 years ago) we only go to a couple a year.

The last show we saw was The Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which was a lot of fun. It's a musical based on the same book that the movie Kind Hearts and Coronets is based on. If you haven't seen that movie, see it. Alec Guinness plays a bunch of roles - all relatives the main character must murder in order to inherit his rightful family fortune.

Back in the day my wife and I had fun seeing a lot of cheap off-off Broadway shows (very small productions) and some of them were a riot.

This is such a large topic though that it's hard to know where to start.

[winkersnufs]

Hello There Yves!

Closest I've been to live theater, other than a few hack roles while in public school, was a recent visit with my girlfriend to see the 'Nutcracker Ballet' back in December. It was performed over in Burlington Vermont, and as one who REALLY enjoys the music of the Nutcracker - it was my first experience of the Ballet. VERY enjoyable.........

Chris Buckley

[Jack in Wilmington]

We have a couple of close friends who are actors, so we do go to anything that they are performing in, but recently we did go into Philly to see Elf the Musical and we're hoping to get tickets to "Kinky Boots" in May in Philly. We also go to local theater depending on what's playing.

[beano]

Have been to live theater/Broadway/Off Broadway/Off Off Broadway etc. since 1979..1st show I saw was PS: Your Cat Is Dead @ Circle In The Square Theater in NYC..Was hooked and never turned back..have seen over 40 shows since..The last 4 I saw while living in NY were Annie, A Night With Janis Joplin, The Cripple Of Insihmaan , and Rocky on Broadway..Since moving to NC, I have seen my first Opera (Turandot) , and have upcoming tickets to Peter Pan (ballet) and Lucia Di Lammermoor(Opera)...I am coming into the stage of life now where shows like these are becoming more rewarding to me then concerts..(better sound, smaller theaters, more behaved/respectful patrons, and a much more mature crowd age wise..

[bill g]

I've only been to the theatre a few times, but always enjoyed it. Best thing I've seen is probably 'Noises Off', a few years ago, which was pretty amazing, but then so is the Carol Burnett/John Ritter movie.

[SteveSly]

Back when I was much younger I used to play French Horn and played in the pit orchestra for several musicals, so I got an appreciation for theater back at the time. I would not call myself a total theater buff, but do like to go on occasion and it is something my wife and I can both enjoy. The city I live in is only about 100,000 people, but it is a University Town so we get a lot of travelling Broadway productions at the University’s Miller Auditorium. We also have several very good local theater groups. My favorite is The Farmer’s Alley Theater. It is a really small, almost in the round, theater that does a lot of more off the wall productions of things not necessarily popular (although they do have to do the popular stuff to pay the bills as well).

We also have a summer stock theater in the little town of Augusta just outside of Kalamazoo that my wife and I used to be season ticket holders (http://www.barntheatre.com/). This little theater called The Barn is known all around the world as a starting place for a lot of people who have gone on to bigger things including Lauren Graham, Tom Wopat, Broadway star Marien Mazzie, comedian Stephen Lynch, soap opera stars Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman, actress Becky Baker, actress Dana Delany, actress Jennifer Garner, and many others we saw before they became famous, and many of them come back to do plays / musicals. This theater has also been a starting off acting point for some fairly famous singers getting into acting including Fee Waybill of The Tubes, Gary Cherone of Extreme, and former teen heartthrob Leif Garret. We are no longer season ticket holders, but still like to get out to The Barn a time or two every summer.

The wife and I also occasionally catch theatrical productions in Chicago (about 2 hours away). We have not done that in a while, but have seen some really good stuff there.

[markwoll]

I used to do HS theater tech back in the 70's. Fun times. My folks took us to musicals and such. Not so much Drama.
Got to go to the Folger theater and Carter Baron for Shakespeare.
A few Broadway shows and a couple of off b-way in NYC. More fun stuff, and some rather grim.
My Wife and I used to go to a lot of local DC theater, big local groups in dingy warehouse spaces.
Had subscriptions to a few Kennedy Center seasons, Signature Theater, and Shakespeare Theater too.
Plus lots of one off's. and Wolf Trap, and National Theater touring shows.
I have varying degrees of tolerance for theater. I have walked out of more prog shows than theater.
But some of the local scene has burned me out a bit.
I enjoy comedy and absurdist stuff the most. The wife likes a different mix so we 'compromise'
If you ever have a chance to see The Mystery of Irma Vep, you will see one I liked. Assassins is another. Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is fun.

One more tortured ( sometimes literally ) Irish play ( The Lieutenant of Innishmore ( a comedy of the blackest sort )) or Tennessee Williams trying to explain himself .....argh!
Yet another tortured ( there I go again ) gay/mentally ill/religiously tainted playwright who takes out his/her issues on an audience. Not so much.

Did see a new play that was not too bad, If/Then. We saw the tech previews at the National Theater in DC before it went to Broadway.
I understand the B-Way version was different in a better way than what we saw. It closes in a couple of weeks in NY.

Yea , so anyway. Theater. I do that, from the audience side.

[Yves]

Glad to see some of you enjoy live theatre. I will admit that this was only my 2nd time ever seeing a play. It got me interested in these smaller productions. The play I saw was entirely actor-driven as there were no real sets or props of any kind. The story took place in the imagination.

[moecurlythanu]

The story took place in the imagination.

So it was like Ed's football season?

[Yves]

yes.. and just as dark and twisted!

[JKL2000]

I had the distinct honor of being one of the few who saw this show:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose_Murders

[JKL2000]

One of the best shows I've seen was a Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey into Night. Dig the cast:

Jack Lemmon
Katherine Hepburn
And unknown at the time,
Kevin Spacey
Peter Gallagher

[markwoll]

One of the best shows I've seen was a Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey into Night. Dig the cast:

Jack Lemmon
Katherine Hepburn
And unknown at the time,
Kevin Spacey
Peter Gallagher

Wow, that is quite a cast. Lucky you!

[Oreb]

I only go to operas and musicals.

I'm with Dr. Johnson: rather read plays than watch them