Fiddler On The Roof Analysis

Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams’ dramatic play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, earned him fame and praise on Broadway in the 1950s. However, Williams’ other works such as Camino Real, A Street Car Named Desire and “…The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway…” put his name out in the world of drama (Biography.com Editors, 2015). Born as Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911, he was raised in Mississippi mostly by his mother due to his father, a salesman, favoring his job and drinking over family. The marriage between his mother and father was in distress and his home was “…a tense place to live;” in consequence their marriage was a factor in Williams taking up writing (Biography.com Editors, 2015). Williams studied journalism in college, later graduating from the University of Iowa and moving to

The scenes and props complimented the attire of the performers, blending together create a magnificent display. The scenery was realistic enough to afford the viewer an escape into depths of the show. The setting was beautiful and the structures almost lifelike, excepting the absence of a front screen door. It seems that almost all plays and television shows I have viewed neglect this detail. The stage lighting played a key role in the show by setting the mood of the performance during soulful, pensive songs. In contrast, the lighting proved to be a detriment by overbearing the performance of the artists, in that one’s attention was drawn to the glare of extreme quantities of makeup rather than the actions of the characters. This was most notable during the final portions of the production.

In creating the world of the play, the collaborates did justice in bringing out the scenery that the piece is set in. However, the collaborators used the stage design, lighting and costumes also to reveal the internal thoughts of the performers. The use of light was huge, it seemed to rely much on templates that created scenes of rain, green pastures and night sky. Though attributing to the play scenery, the use of lighting also brought out the differing emotions Rosemary and Anthony felt. The presence of death and grief were also addressed properly through the use of light, such as when Anthony father went into a bright light, a symbol of the afterlife. It allowed the audience to focus on each performer pivotal lines, which created for further understanding of the

Harper Lee’s Novel To Kill a Mockingbird details the life of young Scout Finch and brother Jem Finch, who is growing up in a time of racial uniqueness. Jem and Scout Finch are what most would call a typical family growing up in the small Alabama town of Maycomb. They encounter many different obstacles during their childhood missions with many characters making the novel an interesting read. Throughout the book, Lee is showing Jem and Scout grow up and become mature young adults. This novel, written by Harper Lee, demonstrates the themes of growing up, Innocence and most importantly, racism.

My mom and I were seated on red felt wooden chairs in the opera box above downstage right; basking in the anticipation of the start of the musical. The smell of the theater was musty, almost like a library. It even had those rays of dust and light that you see in old libraries. Looking onward, I saw the monitor in which Alex Lacamoire, the conductor, directs the actors and musicians. Closer to the balcony, huge metal spotlights hung, all containing the magical power to change a minimalist wooden stage into a bar, then a field, then a closed room in a restaurant, and finally the Weehawken dueling grounds. The feeling of excitement and glee was palpable. I looked at my mother, whose eyes were glued to the stage. In that dim lit arena of instruments,

This past Wednesday, I embarked with my National Honor Society on a field trip to watch the performance of a Christmas classic, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. The performance was a stage musical performed by the cast of the La Comedia dinner theatre. Being a strong performer in the theatre and theatre enthusiast myself, I was excited to watch this Christmas classic come to life on stage. As a child, I made frequent visits to La Comedia with family members, so I find myself very familiar with this theatre. I have always found a love for the atmosphere of the theatre, the food provided, and the performances presented on the stage. At La Comedia, they claim to provide ‘a taste of Broadway’, which immediately sets the standards for each production. I have very high expectations for each performance I attend and this performance of A Christmas Carol did not disappoint. The actors of La Comedia definitely do not lack extraordinary talent, and the entire theatre staff sticks to traditions they have developed over time, giving the entire setting a wonderful, traditional ambiance. The La Comedia performance of A Christmas Carol did an exquisite job of bringing this story to life while sticking to the classic tale, with the additions of great songs from the Broadway version and the overall atmosphere and service provided for an entertaining event.

I am reviewing the University of Colorado’s performance of Karen Zacaria’s play, Legacy of Light, directed by Jennifer Hubbard. I will be focusing on the shifts between time periods and how these convey the overall message of the play, along with analyzing the acting for their overall effect on the performance. The production was complex but I will explore these specific points more closely to understand the overall meaning.

Throughout the play, it was amazing how they used the lights to transition when tragic events occurred in play like a cliffhanger. In part three, when Shane confesses about the wrong deeds Kippy did, the light shines only at Darren and Kippy to make the event look serious; which made event suspenseful for the audience to capture their attention.

The University Playhouse’s recent production of Smoke on the Mountain incorporated conventions of Restoration and Modern theatre through a combination of representational and presentational elements. Conventions within the productions included the use of character types, a localized setting, and time appropriate costumes. These conventions reflect the influence of many movements from Restoration and Modern theatre including Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, and Expressionism. The musical nature of the production reflected elements of the American Modernist Musical also.

When reading Annie Baker’s “The Flick,” it was difficult to avoid the level of engagement that the author planned for with an audience. It is said that Annie Baker who now lives in New York has become one of the freshest voices in American theater. There are several deliberate choices that Annie Baker arranges in relation to the action and the characters that contributes to the success of the play. “The Flick” acts like a mirror that forces us to reflect and take a profound look at ourselves and the world we live in. In unison, when all of these elements are combined the culminating result is a play that does not necessarily need to be seen to be labeled as exceptional in the way Baker accounts for engagement with an audience.

Wright State University’s November 1, 2017 production of Fiddler on the Roof presented the tale of one family’s balancing act to juggle their time-honored traditions and Jewish faith amidst foreign intrusion, changing times, the whims of the lead’s daughters, and exile from their home in Anatevka. Through its choreography, costume design, and set design, the musical’s central ideas were brought “To Life.” These features supported the story and added to the production value.

For most of the duration of the show, the lighting is a supporting artist, never commanding too much attention, just subtly directing the audience’s eye and enhancing the overall image of the work. However, there are two shining moments of creative lighting that were instrumental to the success of the work overall. Peeping Tom’s penchant for pushing boundaries comes to fruition through their lighting decisions when the main character begins to have a nervous breakdown. The soft strobing of the lights begins to pulsate at a rapidly increasing rate, and the duration continues until the audience is kinesthetically empathizing with the dancer. Their senses are overstimulated to the breaking point. Later, when the lights cut out completely, the audience first must simply listen to the sliding sounds coming from the stage. Then the stage is lit by handheld flashlights, giving the audience just enough of a glimpse of the dancing, but ever increasing their curiosity and anticipation. This choice sets Peeping Tom apart from the norm, it is a dynamic and conscious choice to pinpoint audience attention, in this case physically with a flashlight. These kinds of choices are prevalent throughout the whole work, which is subtly orchestrated so that the audience eye is always simultaneously openly curious yet directed. There is never an awkward unintended transitional pause, the stage is constantly

On the 19th March 2015, my Drama class and I went to the Mayflower theatre in Southampton to see “To Kill a Mockingbird” performed by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. It was a very naturalistic production set in southern Alabama in the early 1930s, during the American great depression. It was performed in an auditorium with raked seating and raked and end on staging.

Without light, the theatre cannot exist, that much is certain. As actors, as audience members, as technical visionaries, we are only as powerful as the light we are given. The extent to which we depend upon light in performance has changed dramatically throughout history, however, as light technology developed and expanded. In the history of performance, the artistic community is constantly victim to the limits of lighting technology, and exponentially altered by breakthroughs. From the utilization of candles and natural light to isolated light and electricity, the histories of illumination and theatre are virtually inseparable, and continue to push the boundaries of live performance.

Chagall in order to continue painting used a patterned tablecloth instead of a canvas. He did not disguise this surface but retained elements of it in his composition. You can see the pattern over the fiddler’s shoulder and on his leg. He has the fiddler floating in mid-air with the town below him above and beside him. The different buildings in the town are arranged in geometric shapes and lines. The most important thing as in all Chagall compositions is the symbolism. The fiddler symbolizes severa!l things at once, a memory from Chagall’s childhood, from his homeland and on a personal level himself. His childhood memory was that of his uncle Neuch who didn’t play the violin very well but who was enthusiastic when he played it. Its wider Russian significance is that of the failed revolution of 1905. The leader of this revolution was a Jewish fiddler named Edouard Sormus, who led workers through the streets to fight for their rights. Chagall saw himself in the fiddler, a solitary individual, isolated by the strangeness and mystery of art. The whole build-up of the painting reinforces the poetical dimension of the picture. This painting was important to Chagall. He used the symbol of the fiddler in other composition, for example The Violinist (1911), and The Green Violinist (1923-24).