Those quirky moments in community theatre you love

[Urban]

Posted: 8/16/07 at 8:59pm

You know sometimes you get situations that if it was in a big expensive production you pay top dollar to see you'll hate it, but in community theatre, it only adds to the charm of the show?

Okay, I may not be explaining myself correctly but for example I recently saw a community theatre production of CHESS (using the modified London book) and I swear Anatoly looked to be 25 while Svetlana and Florence where looked to be both pushing 50.

So basically I spent the entire show with the amusing thought that Anatoly had a granny-fetish going on. It made me laugh to myself several times (actually it was a pretty good production and Svetlana was sublime, but I got alot more amusement then I thought I would out of it).

Funny thing is asking around afterwards, all 3 actors are of a similar age, but the gentleman playing Anatoly seriously looked younger then me (I'm 27) and Florence & Svetlana... hate to say it... they looked like Barbara Bush (the cranky Barbara not the drunken floosy Barbara).

Florence was actually a last minute replacement when the lady originally cast became a little to visibly pregnant with twins, so I will grant them that. But as said, only in community theatre, which is why I love community theatre... all these little fun things happening.

So anybody got some amusing Community Theatre stories that make you love community theatre even more?

[sally1112]

Posted: 8/16/07 at 9:11pm

When the Jets and the Sharks are so flaming that it is distracting...(even if they're hot!)

[artscallion]

Posted: 8/16/07 at 9:27pm

I saw a production of The Fantasticks in a community dinner theater. This was actually just a big room in the back of a bar. Three long tables set up to eat family style chicken and sides. No stage, just the actors at the end of the room with a piano and the usual few props needed for The Fantasticks.

The action literally took place on the floor right in front of us. I thought, "well, if this can work with any show, it can work with The Fantasticks."

The actor who was to play Matt was snowed in out of town and the director had to fill in. He was so nervous and unprepared that he kept freezing in the middle of his songs. You could tell he'd never performed in his life. He had no idea on how to improvise his way out of it. He just stood there looking at us with the piano playing the same vamp over and over.

Fortunately, because of the cramped set-up, I was sitting at the head of the table just a few feet from him and, knowing the entire score by heart, decided I might as well feed him the lyrics. This happened a good dozen or so times throughout the show.

Keep in mind, I had no connection to this production and no one in it knew me. I was just a helpful little audience member. I've never had so much fun at a show in my life.

[jpbran]

Posted: 8/16/07 at 10:22pm

I saw a riverboat production of the Yeston/Kopit (is that right?) Phantom which had:

• a Phantom with a slight speech impediment ("Chrith-tine!")
• a styrofoam and mardi gras bead chandelier and
• some local teens playing the various background Parisians, including some "special needs" students...

Amusing, but a loooooooong evening.

[singingwendy]

Posted: 8/16/07 at 10:37pm

It was actually a parochial school production of "Godspell" where the Last Supper scence turned into a high Catholic mass, complete with Latin and the "apostles" crossing themselves.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 12:33am

I recently saw a production where the "orchestra" (four pieces) started the overture, then stopped 3/4ths of the way through so the president of the board could come out on stage and pitch the shows for next season. After she was done, they played the rest of the overture.

[moosepower93]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 12:51am

a few years ago i saw a production of footloose in colorado and the person playing "REN" couldn't dance at all.

[Shakespearean]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 11:06am

OK, it was childrens theatre, but that's still community theatre. We had a lovely little outdoor venue where the audience sat on a gentle slope and frequently picnicked... picniced... ate on blankets outside as they watched the shows. It was common practice to have the actors to make entrances and wander through the audience, involve them a bit, that sort of thing. It was also our practice to include a very tongue-in-cheek gaslight melodrama in the repertoire for the parents, so that was often the second show on an afternoon. During one performance, our classic wax-mustachioed, black cape draped villain finished his monologue explaining his dastardly plan, walked out into the crowd, snatched a chicken leg from a plate, exclaiming, "Yoink! Mine!", and wandered away with it, munching and singing, "I'm Henry the Eighth, I am!" To this day, I still think, "Yoink" when I see a large chicken leg.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 11:11am

My favorite was when I saw a local production of MAME and the woman playing the title character was very much overweight. The group had rented her costumes from Books-Van Horn and had been let out as much as humanly possible. Still, Mame had some rather slinky outfits and I spent the entire night staring at the V-Panel in the woman's girdle.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 11:37am

I was in a community theater show when I was quite young and remember some of the mishaps.

It was "A Christmas Carol" and our Bob Cratchit was horrible-he was downright cheerful as he talked about the dead Tiny Tim.

(I was one of the Cratchit children) Anyway-my onstage siblings did their own makeup-and colored their eyes with eyeliner-COLORED THEM, mind you-they looked horrible, not only that but they colored their lips with lipliner, too. (during makeup check the director went beserk.)

And the major boo-boos-there was an introduction scene with a modern day child and she was supposed to jump on the bed at the end-luckily it was rehearsal-but the bed started to go from under her. (not because she was overweight but because it was old.)

[gypsy4]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 12:00pm

all the shows i've been in have been top quality we try to run it
like broadway but during our production of the king and i when the stage manager went to turn off the house lights he also turned the lights in the pit off and it was near the end of the overture.and during our production of beauty and the beast our house lights wouldn't turn off so we did the entire first scene with them on. and i don't know why our director did this but
he casted a prince for the finale and he stunck the guy who played the beast was 5times better than him. Updated On: 8/17/07 at 12:00 PM

[artscallion]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 12:12pm

Gypsy, have I ever spoken to you about boarding school?

[me2]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 12:24pm

I have more horrible community theatre experiences than quirky. I saw a production of ANNIE where all the leads were directed as if they had one adjective to their personality. So Annie was chipper. Daddy Warbucks stern. Miss Hanigan was played like an 1800s melodramatic villain, and she was staged so she was constantly turning to the audience and scowling out her lines. It was HORRIBLE.

I saw HELLO, DOLLY! where they added in several lines for Dolly knocking our then governor. Not only did she stumble over the lines, they weren't funny and were flat-our distracting.


Broadway Blog: If You Don’t Like the Way I Look

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 1:16pm

I saw a production of Les Miz and young Cosette was about 20.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 1:23pm

I saw a wretched production of Jekyll & Hyde where Emma looked about 50 and Jekyll was in his mid 20s. Later, I commented on how bad his accent was, too. Then I read his bio. He was actually from England, but had lived the past 8 or so years in the US. Oops!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 1:28pm

Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie, you're always good for a laugh. That's why I make sure I read your posts!!

Thanks.

[Amneris]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 5:32pm

what about watching a show and the curtain gets stuck on a light? and they need to stop the show to get a ladder to pull the curtain down from a light hung by a HS techie? Or The cast running through the aisles? I felt like I was watching "Red White And Blaine".
Also a Production of WSS where the white, jewish boys were so painted, they looked like Tall Umpa Loompas.

[jaybrrd]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 5:43pm

I did a community production of Peter Pan once upon a time, played Captain Hook. It was more a mish-mash of the various incarnations of the show, altered specifically for children and audience participation... for instance, instead of actually physically flying, we gave the kids polyfil clouds on sticks to hold up at the appropriate moments while the actors ran through the audience.

We'd ask the audience questions and occasionally got some great answers. My favorite:

"Those are all great, but think HAPPIER!! Let's ask them. Come on, guys! What are some happy thoughts to help us fly?!"

*momentary silence, and then, in a teeny-tiny voice...

"...Cornbread!"

[justagirl2]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 5:46pm

sally, you must have seen the production of West Side Story that I'm currently in!

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 6:52pm

all the shows i've been in have been top quality we try to run it like broadway

oh God...

[chinto1984]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 6:53pm

I do commmunity theater and we do it a higher leve quality but I know what you are talking about. Sometimes making a casting strech can work but sometimes it is now way believable.

When I did Dolly, I played Ambrose and the lady who played Dolly is phenomanal. She had played the role twice before and a true talent. One night in the beginning of the show where Dolly and Levi discuss being late for the train, she started choking. She couldn't clear her throat and coughing up a storm, so she asked the gentleman at the table next to the stage for a glass of water. That is something you can only get at a dinner theater.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 7:43pm

I'm currently doing a production of a show basically geared towards adults, but we occasionally get some kids in the audience who tend to say the darndest things. For example, during a scene where one of the leads is talking incessantly about her favorite moments in movies, the other snaps at her "OKAY! We get it! You and the prom in high school were a no-go!" Then the movie girl kind of fake-cries for a second and then sort of glares at her partner -

But last night, after said exchange, a little kid in the audience pipes up with -

"Why do you have to make her so sad?!"

Also, you know it's community theatre when a 50-year-old and a 16-year-old play John Lennon and Ringo Starr in a scene from A Hard Day's Night. And you've just gotta love it.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 7:50pm

Oh, and to add to the above - the same production at one point featured scenes from Moulin Rouge in which Satine and Christian were played by, respectively, a 14-year-old with braces and a 45-year-old with a potbelly. It was hilarious - and surprisingly well-sung.

[RyToast1]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 7:53pm

"oh God..."

--my thoughts exactly, COOOOLkid!!

[BruceWayne5148]

Posted: 8/17/07 at 7:54pm

how about an all male, gay version of the fantasticks? that is going on this fall at a community theatre near me.....should be...interesting?