What a pity - to lose the two productions ( London and Broadway) practically at the same time.
Maybe ALWebber can throw some of his financial resources towards preserving it for posterity? He has always stated that RUG would want to do this for his musical works - maybe they can record the final performance?
yes she has, her last show was on Saturday! I wouold still rather have her tho, she was AMAZING! And she may be heading over to New York for a visit now that Tim Howar is in RENT! But oh well!
To the person who said its filmed every night, well, its not really, but sort of.
There are 2 camera on the mezz rail of virtually every theatre- one camera is infra-red and one is standard black and white. These images are relayed around the theatre, but particularly to the sound desk, stage management position, lighting position etc. Theres also a camera transmitting the image of the conductor to a monitor so that the cast can see him/her when the md isnt directly in their line of sight.
The images from the house and md cameras are not filmed. There'd be no point, and thats not what their purpose is. Updated On: 2/6/06 at 10:19 AM
And I think the filming done in theatre or even the filming done for Lincoln Center is different than what we're talking about here. "Passion" "Into The Woods" "Sweeney Todd" where all recorded, broadcast and released on DVD/VHS -
Most of ALW's releases are preserving the stage production but done a little more extravagantly - for example Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats & Joseph maintained most elements of the stage show, but were done in soundstages or empty theatres to get more camera angles and better sound.
I think they could do a good job without all the extra expense by filming Woman in White - either with a live theatre audience (like someone suggested - Closing night, which would be a nice book end to the Cast Recording made on Opening Night in London) or contract everyone an extra day or two and film it without the audience there.
Well it's obvious you're feelings on the show - but I wouldn't consider "By Jeeves" to have had huge mass-appeal, yet it was filmed and a THIRD recording of the score was made.
Something tells me Woman in White running over a year and a half in London would demonstrate more appeal than By Jeeves did.
I feel that they only make video copies of performances that the public would want to buy. I loved WIW, but I don't think it would be a big seller to the public eye, at all. They have to think financially, not just for their fans.
I think that a video of the last night on broadway would be great but i don't think that there would be time to organise it unless they already had it planned. I would love to buy it but i don't think it will happen, sorry
I think if the show isn't tapped off the stage they should make a musical movie version of it. It would work beautifully, a chick flicky action film. After seeing it again on saturday i said to my friend that i think it would be an excellent silver screen folm.
You're right, it would make a nice movie-musical - which is why Trevor Nunn (not a fan of his by the way) couldn't envision it any other way than cinematic. It's funny, he did the same thing to Aspects of Love, taking a small, beautiful chamber opera and blowing it ala Les Miz.
At any rate, I doubt they ever would make a cinematic version of it, which is why, since they have all the elements in place, wouldn't it make sense to film what they have now rather than regret it later?
But I suppose ALW and company have filmed versions of all their stuff and could care less about the fans who might want a copy as well. I'd love to have Sunset, Aspects of Love on DVD as well... Jim
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird