The Music Man Book Report

The technical aspects of the production such as scenery, properties and costumes also played a keynote in the productions success. The scenery was fabulous it truly made the play. It was very realistic and extremely vibrant. Almost the entire play was performed in one setting, except for the railcar and dance scenes. The house, the main setting, was magnificent with painstakingly placed detail in every corner. All elements in the house matched wonderfully, for example the furniture, the photos on the wall, the telephone and even the trash can. Little bits of detail were everywhere adding to the beautification of the set, for example the lace decorations on the chairs, the etched glass above the front door and even the Christmas tree.

One of the main magic’s of the theatre is for the audience to go into it unaware of what they will see, and exit with a whole new view in mind. This is still possible in jukebox musicals even if the audience member is familiar with some of the songs. Songs, text, and all literature can be interpreted in different ways based on the individual. Theatre is meant for all different people to enjoy. Some may like going to a show featuring songs that their favorite artists wrote or that speak to a memorable time of their life. It becomes a discussion about how the audience can relate to the characters.

The performance space was in a cafetorium and the stage was on the smaller side. The back of the stage was set up as if it was an old abandon graveyard, with dead trees, old crumbly headstones, and a large black entry gate. Then when it was time for the scene set in and out of the house they had movable walls, and door set on wheels. This gave the illusion that we were now indoors or outside of the house depending on the scene. When we were inside they had furniture such as tables, chairs, and a couch. When we were outside they had trees, bushes, and dead plants. The lighting of the play was on the darker side to help create the Addams Family come to life. The loss of the scenery would have completely destroy the whole story.

The movie and the play are made in two different time periods. Since the movie is in a more recent time period, the clothes worn by the characters in the movie are more modern. The clothes in the play are more elegant and reflect the 16th century era.

Nearly every piece on the program highlighted the Cleveland Orchestra string section’s unique richness of sound, as well as its flexibility. From the soaring, expressive passages of “Marion’s Theme” (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) to the sparkling, dancing melody of “Harry Potter’s Wondrous World,” to the flowing accompaniment in “Hymn to the Fallen,” and the countermelody in “Midway March,” reminiscent of something John Philip Sousa once wrote for the piccolo, every song was handled with unrivaled artistry. No, none of it was Mozart, but some of it could well have been, given the rapidity and complexity of the technical passages. It’s often overlooked that film composers don’t pull any punches. Their music is extraordinarily difficult on many levels, and Williams’ is more difficult than most. Like their counterparts in the brass section, the string players more than did him

Before being able to completely appreciate musical films, one must be aware of their remarkable history and how they came into existence. According to an article written by Cara Schreffler:

Stacy Wolfe's manifesto offers eleven ideas for studying musicals. Out of the eleven ideas I belive two and nine are the more apparent ideas, but for this discussion I will emphasize on the nineth idea. This idea states that the work is made up of several artists and in order to truly understand this work one must also understand the influences and biographies of this artists. This docuementary put a lot of emphasize on the artist behind the production and reasons why they created a certain character or scene a certain wa and how Green day play a role in shaping the production.

The spectacle use of costumes is accurate, and the lights and sound usage help shape the mood of the play, while the song (especially during Act I) made the mood more lively and dramatic, at the same time. It captures the journey that the young woman was going through, so the instrumental pieces fit the setting just right.

How characters are dressed can reveal quite a bit about what they are supposed to be like. For instance, Macreedy is almost always seen dressed nicely in a suit and looks put together. This pushes the viewer to see that he is clearly an outsider in the place that he has chosen to visit, because everyone else around him is dressed in a much more casual manner. What is interesting is the fact that Macreedy’s style of dress is also much darker than most of the people around him. Even characters that would be labeled as antagonists are dressed in lighter colored clothes.

One challenge that I faced as a costume designer was of course choosing a style that would show both the time and the characters specific culture. In the play, time was set in the year of 1929. Through the playwright one can see how the Great Depression has affected the main characters in the book, for instance, Cheche noted he was worried his brothers factory would close like many others. Therefore I knew I wanted to apply the clothing style used in the early

The lighting of any production is the most important part in my thought. the lighting puts you in the mood that you have to be in, in order to fully understand that part of the show and to actually live it like they do. For example, when they were in the park and it was raining, they had their umbrellas, and the background effects of rain made it really seem as if it was raining in the theatre. The lighting was always focused on every part of the stage, especially on those who were the main parts in that scene.

In a typical Broadway show, it may seem as if the stage will have many different props occupying the stage to show the audience more realistic scenes. Yet, in this play the stage was a smaller, and had less props. The atmosphere was loud with different distracting noises, but it was a creative setting with a good use of technology. As Christopher was going to the platform and waiting for the subway, all the actors moved around the stage in a formation, but abruptly. They made it seem as if that was the real subway, with everyone rushing to go somewhere. The set had used a minimal amount of props, but in the end it seemed much bigger with the use of technology. Sets were a main touch to the beginning of exploring every little detail, but costumes should also be considered to be a main part in evaluating the

Although the props they brought on were small, they allowed the characters to create the illusion of a setting. For example, the handcuffs and telephones alluded to a prison, and the cocktail glasses in the scene “EX” that simulated a bar. They did not bring on large set pieces, and instead opted for smaller items to distinguish setting and characters. The small-scale props allowed the audience to assume the environment and assisted with understanding the character’s relationships. The script lacked setting and character descriptions, and even the cast size at times.

While going to see the play there was a display that basically introduces what was going to be seen throughout the production. The lobby display consisted of multiple pictures and information that was very helpful to have. The first piece of information I was subjected to was how they made the costumes. The clothing was comprised of, how the ideal person dressed in biblical times. Like the baggy pants, multicolored tops or vests. Typically they wore no shoes or sandals, another thing that I noticed about the lobby display was that for each scene there was a different background. Something that I learned from reading the display was the ballet section, and how it was all improve like the snake during rehearsals was a lot of random moves that once was sequenced out each actor mimicked.

First, the costumes and set design of the show. There were a total of four characters in this show and each character had their own uniqueness. The three girls in the play all had different costumes. These costumes were fine, but the problem was that I had no idea which character was which. It was so confusing and frustrating now knowing why that specific character was wearing those types of clothes. Throughout the play, I was able to get a read on why the characters were wearing what they were. It helped explained what type of character they were trying to portray in the story. The three women in the story wore jeans, leggings, boots, jackets, and long dresses.