Finian’s Rainbow and Flahooley are two renowned musicals created by E.Y Harburg and Fred Saidy, and were played at the Harlem Repertory Theatre located at the 133th street Arts Center. This intimate theatre was founded by Keith Grant, a well known professor at City College of New York. This small center is greatly supported by the Yip Harburg Foundation. The interracial cast of both musicals is something that stood out to me and I appreciated the thought that Grant placed in this entire production. These two musicals have been ongoing and playing at the Harlem Repertory Theatre for nearly two years. Finian’s Rainbow (music by Burton Lane) has been revived many times but Flahooley (music by Sammy Fain) is hardly ever done. However, the songs from Flahooley have been kept alive because its original lead, Barbara Cook, has sung them in many of her cabaret shows.
The 1947 Broadway production For Finian’s Rainbow ran for 725 performances, eventually a film version was released in 1968 and several revivals have followed. It first opened on Broadway on January 10, 1947 at the 46th Street Theatre, where it ran for 725 performances. It was directed by Bretaigne Windust and choreographed by Michael Kidd, with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Don Walker. Finian's Rainbow was revived three times by New York City Center Light Opera Company on Broadway. The short 1955 production was directed by William Hammerstein and choreographed by Onna White. Hebert Ross directed and choreographed a cast as well in 1960. There was a third revival in 1967 staged by the company. Although revivals for the musical have been uncommon, in 2004, the Irish Repertory Theater staged a crowd-pleasing off-Broadway production starring Melissa, Jonathan, a...
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...ht bulbs on the side of the theater; these bulbs were focused on the cast members. Being that we were in an intimate session, the voices of the cast were able to project through the entire room. It was very easy to follow through to what was happening on stage because, Keith Grant, perfected each detail, and with the help of his amazing cast, executed it with great satisfaction to the audience.
Overall the production had a positive effect on me because it made me look at life in a whole different approach. I learned morals and life lessons that I believed I had already lost. In Finian’s rainbow, I took out that love can emerge from all sorts of places and race. In Flahooley, I took out that even the most self centered man can be changed if the right woman is placed in his life. After my amazing experience, I will most certainly recommend this musical to others.
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
In "Constant Star", lighting told much about the play as soon as it began. Low, yellowish lighting and a bit of fog spread by ceiling fans filled the stage as the play started. This gave the stage the look of an old photograph, so the audience immediatly gathered that the show was taking place in the past. The mood was often set by lighting as well. Red lighting gave the audience a sense of foreboding while yellow indicated happy times. Also, lighting could substitute for props. During scenes involving the train, lights would flash on and off, making the stage look as if it was actually moving. This effectively created the illusion that the cast was on a train. Also, lighting was innovatively used to create a "jail" in one of the scenes by creating vertical bars on the stage around the convicts.
The Music Man made interesting use of the technical aspects of theatre. Sound was used appropriately, as music from the monitors did not overpower the voices of the actors. Lights, however, did not leave any sort of impression on me. Hardly any lights were utilized to enhance the mood were present. This caused for less emphasization on spectacle than what would be expected of such a dramatic play. Although, intricate costumes and set made up for the dull lighting techniques.
When individuals are provoked and questioned, it evokes an emotional and intellectual response which prompts them to reflect on their pre existing attitudes and values. Jane Harrison’s play ‘Rainbow’s end’, explores three Aboriginal women provoked by the realisation of the social and psychological barriers which prevent the indigenous Australians to be accepted. Similarly, in Sean Penn’s film ‘into the wild’, exhibits confronting experience of living alone in the wild, forcing him to reconsider his disbelief of needing human interaction in life to be fulfilled. When discoveries are provocative, it can evoke an emotional response to challenge their belief ultimately leading to reconsider and re-evaluate their previously held perspective. In
The lighting played a major role in setting the tone for both the theatre performance and the movie. In both the film and play, the lighting was dimmed and the non-important elements, such as background elements, were often hidden in the shadows. In the film the murky lighting also hid Todd in the shadows, in order to increase the suspense and further emphasize his intimidating demeanor. In the play,
The musical was performed in the Cumberland Hall Auditorium at Fayetteville Technical Community College. It
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre A History. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
This project/presentation was intended to educate on a musical that, despite its importance to the American musical, may be easily glanced over because it doesn’t fit the criteria for what makes a musical in the twenty first century. Shuffle Along adds another layer of history to the New Negro Movement and the civil rights movement. Negro theatre is very much responsible for the creation of the modern musical and it’s important to know where things come from. This topic was interesting because I had previously taken a class in African American Music and now seeing Shuffle Along and understanding how that ties in to something that I love helps put the world into a different perspective for me.
The director’s concept was again realized in a very creative and simple way. The stage crew did not have time to literally place trees on the stage, or to paint a border that elaborate—the light made the slatted walls look real and really allowed the audience to become a part of the experience.
The lights helped the audience determine who was speaking, by putting a spotlight over the actor and dimming the rest of the lights. Also, the color of the lights changed according to each scene and the mood for that particular scene. For instance, a musical number about a character’s tragic past would include soft, golden lighting while a scene about dancing in dance class might include purple lights to show the overall mood of the scene. In addition, the costumes used in the musical added even more life to the musical by providing a visual representation of each character and his or her personality. The costumes allowed the audience to determine the character traits of each character while also deciding the type of homes the characters came from. For instance, one of the characters was dressed in pants and a shirt that would normally be seen worn by an older man or a father. This lead the audience to believe that the character might be an older person who has a family of his own. Later, it was revealed that the character actually had a wife and two kids, proving the audience
From the late 1800’s up through the present date, musical theater has changed. Though customs and love for the theater will always be carried on, origins, trends, and styles will change throughout time.
It added a new effect that I have never experienced. The lighting and projection in this show were amazing. The projections could have thrown off the time of the show, but it was done tastefully and it only helped convey the story more. The lightening seen and heard after the intermission were timed perfectly. The lights of the show helped with the mood changes and transitions from one scene to
In the movie there was not too many scene changes, but because the playwright, Marsha Norman described in the Playbill that she wanted a sense of community and delve more into Francesca’s past so she created more scenes within the musical. They had the ensemble sitting on stage the entire time to change the scenery, this benefited them by not having too many blackouts. As the audience we saw them change the set from act to act, but they did this seemingly. The lighting design was spectacular on how it switched from night to day and really kept the audience focus on the stage. Both the scenic and lighting designers played a critical role in the overall feel of the musical and it turned out
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
I was extremely moved and inspired by the positive message and thematic undertones of the movie Radio. I have personally witnessed many children who have been subjected to discrimination and mistreatment. Needless to say, this had a direct impact upon their self-esteem and well-being.