August 22: Ok--you win--gonna rewrite the Shrew--crap. But it's not gonna be
10 Things..
I'm so stuck on this---can't write. I started the opening scene, and decided WHERE it should start--no Christopher Sly , just another character to gum up the works more actors to recruit, lines to memorize and forget. So I'm starting with Lucentio going off to college with his buddy who can't afford to go yet--who's the intellectual. Gets distracted by Bianca, learns about Big Bad Daddy who sets the curfew.
Stuck. Partially from apathy, even though I love this play
So, To jog myself into caring, I think I need to start with music. I need bad girl theme music, mean girl themes, big bad daddy stuff, drunk crazy guy music for Petruccio. I hate the idea of Americanizing the names, but I might have to.
The Music I keep gravitating towards is the old punk band
The Cramps: would love to use "Like A Bad Girl Should" but it just has too many sexual innuendos for school--love the line "Love the groovy way you spit" maybe I work it in as a line in the play!! I may, though instead use
"All Women Are Bad"--either as intro or final/curtain music...I think that's the ticket.(!!) Ok, maybe I'm getting a little excited.
Google search suggests
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts : "Bad Reputation" (!!good thought!!) It might been in the movie? Also
Avril Lavigne did a version that might appeal to the youngsters more. She also has a songs
"UnWanted" that has the right lyrics. At least she has a good voice, but I'm not a fan. and
"Complicated"?
Salt 'n' Pepa: "None of Your Business" (Maybe just a clip...some bad ideas, here)
Amy Winehouse: Which song? not "Rehab" but maybe "You Know That I'm No Good" (only the first verse, and maybe for Petruccio's character??? eh....
Donna Summers :"Bad Girls"?
Rihanna has a song about "Good Girls Gone Bad"
MIA has a better one : "Bad Girls" with a little middle eastern flavor??
Pink "So What"--the lyrics are better, but, Cheeerist..autotune??
Avril Lavigne: "UnWanted" --not too bad.
Jesse McCartney "Daddy's Little Girl" The lyrics are right. Not my fave, but it's rock-ish.
"Just Like You" by 3 Days Grace---about overbearing parents--but might be a little too angry???
"Daughters" by John Mayer---meh....
Beach Boys "I'm Bugged At My Old Man" just the beginning?? Kinda funny weird.
What About
"Father Figure" by George Michael?? xaxaxa...
Kid Cudi: "Young Lady" !!! hmm. lyrics?? this one will have to be a clip.
Skrillex: "Father Said" for filler.
The Misfits: "Father"--more my style--but.
Bad Boy songs should be easier--there's the
Cops theme song "Bad Boys" for one. For comic intro for Petruccio and co? Haha! By Inner Circle!
There's the Beatles'
"Bad Boy"
Alice Cooper "No More Mr. Nice Guy" for Pet turning Kat "good"
Well, I'm going to have to rely on myself, because the internet, as usual, sucks.
Think, think, think.
Ok---thinking of stealing back my idea of either Pixies'"Subbaculture" or T.Rex "20th Century Boy " (from last year's aborted play) for Petrucchio's theme music----hum. I think "20th Century Boy" will do for that.
Someone suggested Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl" which is a great idea. Maybe "My Friend Goo", too. I also think I might like Yello's "How-How" for the P-K meeting scene--maybe make the whole thing more or less wordless with music--hmm. Think, think. Added "Low-rider" to the garbage truck scene. Yes, I have a garbage truck scene. Repo man, anyone?? I don't know if I have any present AFA boys bad-ass enough to carry off the character I've made/ stolen from Shakespeare...
4 Acts done--the end to go, which is the hardest part--all depend on how dysfunctional I want the family, or how desperate the dad is, or how farcical to make the story. I'm willing to go pretty far with that. Maybe Daddy desperation is one key to the storyline??
Sept 9: Aha! I think I have the ending!! Gnarls Barkley gave me the answer--maybe we're crazy--
Sept 16: Finished. Whew. It's okay, I think--very short-12 pages?
Jan 12: The impromptu, (but extremely well-received !) talent show ended up interfering with my play, and, many want a second show in the spring. Since once again I'm having trouble fielding the right guys for leads (again), and the band teacher is planning a musical, I think I'll just go with the talent show. Now I have two play adaptations I've written that have never been performed!!
Feb 9: I'm getting one of my creative brainstorms, now that I'm off the hook with school for a few months. It would involve mostly outside people, but I'd have to get a big commitment from my friend Mary recently freed from her production company job.. I'd then redo the IBI script to do more original music, etc.
March 25: When we come back from Spring Break we will have the Talent Show #2. Much less going on this time--I had 16 acts in the fall, and beautiful weather. All I have to count on, since Alex won't play, Owen's expelled, Alyx in a prom funk, Coco will still be in China..etc. :
The Girl's cup song
Denise
Hugo playing Sax
Daniel Florez? (No show for practice)
Dancing Alex Gray
Nynn? Maroon 5 "Sunday Morning'
Angela Lo Russo doing Xtine Aguilera
Poetry Girls
Jack Wang?
Very slim.
April 8: Talent Show on, for next week-will miss the full moon this time..(
April 9: Agggh. Denise picked this song,"You Don't Know How Much I Love You": Gary Moore (of Skid Row, Thin Lizzy fame--freakin' killer guitar player of the Irish variety--dead.) by way of Amy Winehouse, who later sang it. It looked deceptively simple at first, so I said--sure, I'll play while you sing. Cm-Gm, no big deal. We tried to do it together and it sounded pretty good (it's a super slow song), but then we got to this Em (chart from an online source) and my ear says, that's not even close to being right--I'm hearing descending to F#m maybe to Fm back to Gm: this just sounds ugly.
And then we noticed (I noticed) the key change--fuck. Denise said--maybe we should just get Hugo to do a sax solo for this part--excellent idea, Denise. I told her I would work on it.
So after Guitar club at home I go digging deeper on the internet and find a really well done video (they should all be set up like this) and start writing down the chords--there are
!19!! different chords in this song--mf.sob!! I'm not counting the repeaters.
8 are chords I have never seen or played before. I surrender. There's no way I'm going to learn this by next week. First song in a long time that I've found that I cannot play. Actually, we can salvage it if we let Hugo fill the key change section with sax, because that's where 5 of the 8 crazy chords are.
I played the first section fairly easily by substituting Fm# aug for Fm#, which is on the way to the next Fm chord and only gets played for a second anyway--I can barely notice the difference. Also I can only play 3 strings to be able to do the A#aug and Aaug quickly enough, but that works too. I can't stretch 5 frets in that formation anyway. Sounds terrible. Maybe I can find a different fingering that works. Now I just need Hugo to do some magic improv like only he can.
April 12: Getting the Gary Moore first two sections, even the original A#aug and Aaug. Now I'm even working on those 5 killer chords, but I still think I don't want to do them in the show--Hugo'd be better.
April 19: The Talent Show went fine. Denise bit the bullet, and did Amy Winehouse /Gary Moore--we fine tuned it by eliminating the key change altogether and let Hugo solo over my repeat
of the verse chords on guitar. It was the best piece of the show, and Denise won. Glad I pushed her to do it, and she was ecstatic--not just by the win, but because she knew she nailed it. Wish Hugo could find a little of that.
May 4: Watched two performances of the Band folks' musical, "Into the Woods". I had offered to help but was rejected, not surprising. It's not my kind of thing anyway. Cute, a little boring, dry recorded music, stiff, spotty acting, one great lead with an amazing voice.
Afterwards, one of the leads came to ask me if I would do a play next year. He wanted a musical. Rough. So I gotta start thinking about it , alone again, unless we get a really cool replacement for the band director. Crazy thought?
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May 7: suggested for next year--Harvey. !! Interesting? Small cast?
May 22: Ordered a copy of
Harvey, to see if it will go. Might be interesting updated? 12-13 in cast, bigger than I thought. Wonder if some can play two parts?
June 21: Finished
Harvey a few days back--It's a little old-fashioned, but I think it holds up enough to be due for an update. We'll see what kind of interest we get at school--wonder what the new band teacher will be like--hoping for less Mr T., more Joe T.
July 8: Okay, my walk today gave me some ideas. The obvious way to update
Harvey is by music. This actually may be the play that would work with character theme music. Here's some Ideas I had while listening to good old semi-faithful VK..... also , what about writing some garage band junk? Should discuss with Luke.
Overall opening/ Harvey Character music: Tipsy's " Bunny Kicks" it's newish but retro--goofy, fun, and a little eccentric. It's kinda hard for me to find happy music I like sometimes. Plus, both the title and band name!!!
For Wilson (or maybe Dr. Sanderson?) --Franz Ferdinand "Womanizer"
Generic bumper music? Roysopp's "Easy/ Blue on Blue"--- just because I like it and it can fit anywhere.
Lighthearted Songs about being crazy: (esp. Act I ii?)
"They're Coming To Take Me Away"
"Countin' Flowers On The Wall"
Nirvana- "Marigold"--that's a total abstraction, but has the feel? Luke may be with me...has a weird optimism.
Oh, of course--Конечноююю!!!
Ian Dury and the Blockheads--"Reasons To Be Cheerful--Pt. 3"
Bex contribution!!: "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire--remix"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMOtiFR5n5Y
October 16: So, during the homecoming game three or four kids came up to me asking about doing a play: three or four who hadn't mentioned it before, not my usual gang. Maybe I should get started--have a meeting. Tuesday? Tuesday. Also, Rob had the amazing idea, echoing one I'd fleetingly thought of recently, but his argument was STRONG--to do the GONG SHOW for the next talent show. I am all for that, bad and good acts mixed together!! Two prizes for worst, two for best. Done. Get someone to play the Unknown Comic, and someone to do Gene-Gene The Dancing Machine. We're half finished.
Found a "gong"--really just a huge pot from the mess hall. Some kids came to drama club and floated the idea of doing
The Corpse Bride, which means I'd have to write it. Psssh. I'm not doing that yet unless I get some firm commitment, plus I don't feel this one as strong as the other two I wrote. Found online sheet music, though:
http://pianino.weebly.com/corpse-bride.html
Nov 10: Not enough commitment for a play this year--onto the Gong Show. Found a real, Asian style gong in the band room. Bhhhhashhhhhnnnnnnn........................
Nov 17: The Boss today asked me to put on a real show for Sem II, something besides the Gong. I'm thinking existential. I looked into Pirandello
6 Characters Looking For an Author, thinking it only has 6 characters, but no, more like 13+. So, maybe we can tweak
Waiting For Godot. I always sorta wanted to do it, and maybe with Luke, Simon, and David K. at the core? It's one play that doesn't care what gender or ethnicity you are. Rereading it.
--Now someone wants
Pygmalion/MFL..
Dec 3: Forgive me in heaven, GBS--I'm gonna chop up your play. I can't manage 3 hrs with this bunch. What the hell are we gonna do for the background music? Live piano? Who do I get for that? The readymade Asians.
Dec 7: Ok, the kids are sticking with this Idee-yar so far--that is,
Pygmalion/MFL. I think it's the challenges of accents plus the girls wanting to do the music. It's one of the few acceptable modern princess stories, because it's based on girl intelligence, not looks. It has fun characters who fight a lot. Might not be too bad to do-a bit of fun...
I need to start thinking about sets. I have some fake chandeliers leftover from the Cinderella play to use. That's all we need for the ballroom. The outdoor scenes can all be done in front of the curtain w/o set dressing. It's Higgins' study that should take up the most time/energy/ thought. I could go with the plain boring, wood bookshelves, ladders, Victorian overkill, but I noticed some of the scenes in the movie was borrowing what would have been extremely modern, bohemian, art nouveau/Frank Lloyd Wright/ William Morris style---that's way more interesting, I think.
Pictures?? Here:
A whole page of William Morris Fabric:
William Morris prints
Frank Lloyd Wright:
url
I know it seems too modern, but it was period for Higgins who was rich and thought of himself as a modern man.....and our stage is low slung.
this one's 1895:
Some famous FLW Stained Glass: very mathematical and logical for HH:
A centerpiece of the stage that can change with the light?
December 27: For preparation Thursday I went through all of
Pygmalion, skimming mostly, just to mark out what parts to repeat in the story. Made me realize the meat of the story is Act II--you can basically skip everything else and narrate the rest if necessary--if I get no others to play in it than the four I already auditioned. My big problem is no 'Enry... I mean, Luke knows I want him to play it, but he's "This year's model" of rebellious senior (so of course my fave). He claims he just doesn't like the play's premise (not sure he really knows it) and keeps pushing for things like Hitchcock's
39 Steps--he's not a fan of musicals, which I can relate to with most musicals.
See, the thing is, Luke claims he wants to go to a performing arts college. He's from a theatrical family, and has an eye for the good, old classic movies. He plays guitar and sings, neither particularly great, but with feeling, and he has time to improve. He skulks around my old stomping grounds in downtown St. Pete, doing graffiti and whatnot. He was one of my promising ones in my Drama class two years ago, and we've been pretty close ever since. I keep telling him playing Higgins would be a good resume builder for what he wants. I think I can talk him into it, in the end. Maybe I'll bargain, to do something else he likes later. I also tried to sell him earlier on something existential, like Godot, but I think he's still too young to understand the depth in it.
Also, one of my Russian friends sent me this old clip, in English, of some funny little British piece--called "Dinner for One". It's extremely do-able, one set, two actors: and old demented lady having a dinner for her imaginary international friends , and her servant who is indulging her fantasy by doing the voices of all the guests. The joke is she keeps toasting all the guests, and the servant gets increasingly drunk--it's basically ripe for all sorts of physical comedy on the part of the servant. Chaplin or Buster Keaton would have been great in it. Maybe Luke would like it?
Anyway, back to planning:
MFL's a given, Luke's reluctance be damned--I have too many other people willing to put in the time for it. Even adults willing to sing backstage for lip sincers onstage. The lead girl already knows all the solo songs--sang them for me a cappella for a tryout--missed a few notes, but with music she'll be perfect. She'll carry the whole show, and the only question is how much more of the show can we do beyond Act II (
Pygmalion has V). the question is will it be merely a
good show with D, or a
great show with a fully invested
Henry Higgins to play off of???? Come on, Luke, don't make me hex you..which might involve taking everyone to the Tampa Theatre's happily timed showing of the musical in January. If anything can cast a spell it's the very atmospheric Tampa Theatre.
Act I can be totally skipped--
Act II can end with "The Rain in Spain" seguing into "I Could Have Danced All Night".
Act III I would like to do if I can transfer KT's interest from the lead to HH's wonderful mother--a real sarcastic spitfire. It also includes the scene of Eliza's practice with The Eynsford -Hills, and Freddy's subsequent crush on Eliza--setting up the conflict between he and HH which finally goes for nought. Then the Ball scene, which could be done quickly with big fanfare and little payoff. Otherwise it will have to be narrated. It has the most people in it.
Act IV must be done with the fight that occurs between HH and Eliza and her running off to his mother's--which resolves in
Act V and with Doolittle reappearing to "get married in the morning". Then this is where
Pygmalion diverges from
MFL: the musical at this point goes into Freddy meeting Eliza and singing "The Street Where You Live". It's implied she and Higgins remain colleagues and friends on a more equal level. There is a wiff of regret from Pygmalion/Henry when he sings "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face". Which is not really the same as love--and not sure we need to use that song. I'm not keen on it, although to me it would make a more fitting ending the GBS's story than Freddy's song.
The musical ends with Freddy, I think, to keep it on a more romantic, upbeat, traditional happy ending--but this story in all it's versions never totally convinces you Eliza loves Freddy --in the way she should-- in a fairy tale.
Jan 13: First rehearsal/read-through this Sunday..
Jan 21: Read-through went pretty well, although I had to do Luke's part (Luke's in BTW, and supposedly will help with sets too??) It was a long weekend for MLK, so frankly I was surprised I had any come.. this Sunday we are going to the fab Tampa Theatre cos by coincidence the movie is showing there! Fates, you like me this month?
Jan 24: Tampa Theatre showing went well! 5 kids came, one out for work, another sick. I got lots of good ideas for where to cut, what to stage, the set, the songs, the ending..
Jan 27: (моя сестра) Her birthday--This Sunday we will read ACT I iv and v--the scene with Doolittle and Henry.
Jan 30: Watched an old British version of
Pygmalion starring Leslie Howard--Ashley from
Gone With The Wind. It was good--won an Academy award back when that meant something. More ideas.
Jan 31: Luke was the only one who came to practice today, so we worked on reading through his two biggest scenes--he read well. I told him my idea about Higgin's having a stutter--tendency to word-trip. I thought that would make Luke less nervous about his own, and it lends motivation to Higgin's obsession with articulation. He just goes too fast sometimes. As usual, everybody's wanting to throw their two cents into the casting --I'd only be willing to change if both parties are happy with that. It's early.
Feb 23: Practices have been pretty well attended, and we even got some music started during the last two. I taught Nynn an easy version of "The Rain in Spain" on guitar, and we even worked quite a bit on the timing with the singing--by the end we weren't bad. I think Dani wants to sing with canned music, but that's not happening. Her voice is perfect for the song, but she occasionally had a hard time hitting the right note, or starting in the wrong place. She'll have it with some practice--we also figured out the spoken parts also had to be timed perfectly--Luke was in a bad mood, but eventually he came around. We worked on blocking some, too, but it was pretty weak--will have to give some signature quirks out for stagev business--maybe some props--particularly Col Pickering who just tends to sit. He needs a pipe, paper, and tea or something.
I'm starting to think more about the set--definitely need a desk and chairs. I found some great free turn of the century posters online from the NY Public Library--dunno if it would be possible to blow them up, or possibly have someone copy them. The ones I like most are ECHO, MARS, one that asks, "Is Polite Society Really Polite?" that seems perfect for HH. Anyway, the link for NYPL poster archive is here:
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/turn-of-the-century-posters?format=html&id=turn-of-the-century-posters&per_page=250&page=9#/?tab=navigation&scroll=24
April 5: Just got offered help with the artsy stuff from a former theater student--much welcomed! I feel a little burned out on ideas for this play. Practice turnout has been low, Considering Luke's blackbox idea for simplicity.
April 9: This is great! I just got a random jolt from the upper gods to keep me in the arts game--a random post of my usual silly optimistic variety netted me not one but 3! adult set designer helpers, past students with quirky artistic bents. So needful am I at this moment-feels godsent. And then In my sleep-deprived state, I see this random red/white calico couch on the back of a truck and sleepily think--for some odd reason--"Sherlock." Then I wake up--"Sherlock! Eureka, that's it! Cool Inspiration for the set: Sherlock's rather comfortable, quasi-old lady goth flat at 221B Baker Street--the BBC show with that weird graphic black and white wall paper, saggng leather, the Skull Painting, the controlled piles of paper chaos--that's my set! Yay!!--I texted AG right away, and she got it too, and told me about her two recruits-- The gods, smiling, on you know who..
April 11: Not now. Trouble.
April 20: Cancelled last week, per headmaster, after an insane rush and push. Due to a medical emergency, plus excessive stress. Difficult to get these kids thinking clearly about what is needed and what is realistic. I am relieved and disappointed. It is impossible to start such a big project so late.
May 4: Well, maybe you gotta hit bottom to start up fresh. I got an e-mail from a student who was involved in the play this year, but only showed up for two-three practices, because --like most of them, he had problems getting to practice. He wants to start a Thespian Society at school, and is already thinking about next year. Me too, although with trepidation, for me. I already stated my provisos and quid pro quos. I must have adult collaboration, and student involvement in more than just showing up for an hour of rehearsal: set designers, art, music. Time. Planning well in advance. This would be facilitated by actually being told a play should be organized in a timely fashion. I told the kid all this, if things are going to work.
I passed on this e-mail to the boss, hoping it would help him see what is wanted and what is needed. What is frustrating for me is, I could, in the abstract, do most of this all by myself,
if I had no other job taking up my time.
If I only had to do one of these: I could paint the sets single-handedly, probably better than the present art dept.(not the old one, though)). I could do the music myself, if I had time. Acting, blocking, sure, if the actors show up, and even better if the sets are done. But I cannot. Do it. Alone. All of it. And I won't. We need some reality--how's that coming from me, of all people?!
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Onto a new year, new deal, whilst recycling the old:
May 5: Here's some weirdness. I had a conversation with my boss, where he said to ignore the e-mail said student sent about Thespian society, etc. Said, once again, this is a student who is a big idea man, and let him do the work if he wants. Good to know. This conversation also told me the following. I have a Drama class next year. There are 25 (oh god) signed up.
Later? Maybe not 25. That my troubled child is likely not one of the 20+ (phew!) Classes should be in the chapel (Sidenote: which the headmaster implied will soon be demolished?) That possibly ALL my classes are in the chapel? I said, ESOL? He kinda looked strange, then said--well depends how many ESOLs you'll have next year. (What?) So now I'm wondering what is happening next year. So, I guess one thing I really need to do is start organizing a play for next year.
SHERLOCK HOLMES:
I'll probably use the Thespian Society info as a blueprint for making crews for the show--different titles to hand out and divide responsibility...
I think this one might really go.
May 12: Ideas for Sherlock songs:
(BTW--had a great meeting with band--he's definitely my kind, I think! I think we will work well together, and I'm psyched about life again!!) It will be nice to have a partner who gets the idea...)
The Specials: "Ghost Town"
Misfits: "Die, Die My Darling" or "London Dungeon?"
Radiohead: "Creep", "Karma Police", "Spooks"? "How To Disappear Completely"
David Bowie: "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)"
Killing Joke: "Eighties" (Why? Dunno--like the energy)
Tangerine Dream: "Love on a Real Train" (Instrumental filler for time passing)
Leonard Cohen: "Everybody Knows" Intro or intermission
Franz Ferdinand: (recycled!): "Shopping For Blood"--isn't it nice that music has the quality of being abstract enough that it works on several levels and in multiple places??
Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand"--Sorry Renata...
Tipsy "Bunny Kick"--random filler
Royksopp: "Remind Me"--just seems like it might fit somewhere?? Scene change?
The Kinks: Something? "Village Green" or "Victoria"? Maybe Victoria--more fun...
The Clash: "London Calling"
The Who: "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
* "New Vaudeville Band: Winchester Cathedral"--good instrumental with muted horns!
Gerry Rafferty: Baker Street
The Kinks : "Waterloo Sunset"
Bex gave me some ideas too: Blur, her fave Oddfellows Casino "The Day The Devil Slipped Away" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__PL-X7qsK4
and a guy named Nick Drake--mostly guitar.
This rap stuff: Dizzee Rascal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPpxxrl0xhM
Random inspirations:
The jokes about the deerstalker hat. The modern graffix: headlines, screens moving in and out, like on an apple laptop, phone apps, computer noises, texts onscreen (how to do that?), skyping/ text noises ...beep beep beep beep
Piccadilly Circus backdrop? with the bright lights, big city?
Newspaper headlines stapled all over the chapel walls (busy work for the drama outliers...)
Front door saying 221B Baker Street....
That weird beehive looking, twirly building in London? The Gherkin, is it?
The Ferris Wheel --The London Eye< is it called?
The Cheese grater Skyscraper? The Shard? The Electric Razor?
Do we do the running joke about Watson and Holmes being lovers? (If very subtle?)
A portrait with a spray-painted line over the eyes, the (ancient) Chinese number character?
----"I'd be lost without my blogger."
How to do the electronic messaging, to simulate how they do it on-screen?
- Use a flat screen TV or smart board on stage (or on a different wall?)
- preprogram text messages, sounds on a slide show?
- do it on the lights somehow? Dedicate 2-3 to messages?
- projector projecting on the wall? or curtain?
- a portrait with a spray-painted line over the eyes, the (ancient) Chinese number character
Should the costumes be like the old Sherlock, or the TV show?
Old Sherlock: Tweeds, deerstalker, raincoat New Sherlock: Stylish Dark wool greatcoat, scarf
Old Sherlock the musician-- plays violin New Sh: whatever instrument band is good at
Old Sh: smokes a pipe New Sh: vapes?
May 19: I was listening to moy droog BG today, and he was doing a whole show about London (#145) that gave me some great ideas for songs for the Sherlock play--he even mentioned Sherlock in his podcast! I added them to my list: Clash "London Calling" Early Who--"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", The Stranglers "Golden Brown", The New Vaudeville Band!! He had some obscure song of theirs, but I recognized the sound from an old song from my childhood that's perfect, even partly instrumental for filler? "Winchester Cathedral". A boady oh doh, a boady oh doh...The Kinks "Afternoon Tea" and XTC "Towers of London".
Here's most of the lyrics for "Towers of London", which I think will work with my idea of making drawings of the London Skyscrapers to hang on the walls of the chapel for atmosphere:
Towers of London
When they had built you
Did you watch over the men who fell
Towers of London
When they had built you
Victoria's gem found in somebody's hell
Pavements of gold leading to the underground
Grenadier Guardsmen walking pretty ladies around
Fog is the sweat of the never never navvies who pound, pound, pound, pound, pound
Spikes in the rails to their very own heaven
Towers of London
When they had built you
Did you watch over the men who fell
Towers of London
When they had built you
Victoria's gem found in somebody's hell
Merchants from Stepney walking pretty ladies by
Rain is the tears of the never never navvies who cry
For the bridge that doesn't go
In the direction of Dublin
This album suggested by Leo is full of great ambient stuff: Arabian Horse--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvBiXxGYUc
I also asked Adam if he would be interested in doing some original stuff. That's what I'd really like.
Definitely Intermission: Public Service Announcement--"London Can Take It" !!!!!!!!!!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu4Rr07bgVQ
July 18: Considering this for one of the bad guy scenes. Flying Lizards covering theBeatles' "Money".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-P2qL3qkzk
I need to add this in: Jeff Beck's "A Day in The Life". I think I can get somebody to do a live pit band version--the guitar is not terribly hard, but a little complicated with the various parts. I found some specific sheet music/tabs for the Beck version. I want it as a instrumental for curtain calls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhHNzNO17UM
also considering a song I heard on БГ: Tori Amos'--didn't catch the name, but I think it's probably "Welcome to England" based on the lyric I remember.
A student suggested a great song "Blood" by My Chemical Romance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCKyM50G5e4
By the way, Adam did make some impromptu music for me. I just happened to catch him feeling creative on a day with nothing to do, and he knocked off a few guitar instrumentals with a spooky feel, plus made up a chord pattern and sang! For the drunken street person Irish ballad--works fine! I only have it on a FB link for now, so I have to figure out to make it into a more usable form.
London Graffiti.....check.
October 10:
Set out the Cast/Job Titles list today. Somber reaction so far, although I thought I had my usual last minute solution to a potential conflict:
I had two great kids to play Sherlock, each bringing something different to the part. Bad problem, huh? Well, potential hurt feelings. So I made one of the kids, the more responsible one, a student director and made him Watson. I hope he is happy with this, and I hope it also puts some pressure on the other to stay focused. I've really delegated out more assignments this year than I ever have, and everything feels much more organized already. I have a lot of willing workers, it seems!
5th period seemed to get reinvigorated by the announcements, and there was very little grousing. George seemed mildly unhappy about Watson, but I told him I liked his crazy James Mason for Larrabee more--fit the character more. Hope he's ok with that.
I am cautiously excited about all this!!
Oct 21--almost finished rewriting Act I. This time i had the kids do it with me in class. Working pretty good, because this way I get feedback from kids who'll play the parts, and what feels natural to them
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Can't believe this happened again. The Chapel's going down for real. They cut down trees, took out the seats. There's a demolition fence around it. I have the worst luck of any drama teacher I know. Instead, another piecemeal skit show. Okay.
April 3: Last week's variety show turned out like 5 times better than I expected--everyone put in high quality energy --top game all around considering how sad all are practices were. Amazing what an enthusiast audience will do to an actor's performance and confidence! The band was great, the magic and skits funny--even Vanessa's last minute bottle gag was hilarious and well timed--you would have sworn we had worked on the timing for weeks. PAPP was a hit! I loved every minute. Even the mock trial seemed tense rather than slow...
Um, new performance venue scheduled to open 2018-19 school year.......!!
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May 21: Next year's show: 2017-18 school year.
Limitations: No lights, no indoor stage, no sets. Can have: Sound, music, dancing.
Therefore: an outdoor musical based on my fave "Taming of the Shrew" (probably not called that).
It has never been a very successful musical, historically (
Kiss Me Kate is based on
Shrew, but one of those where the characters are producing the play and plot mirrors it
). I am thinking of salvaging one song from
KMK that has some possible resonance: "Too Darned Hot". I like a Django Reinhardt like Gypsy Jazz version I heard. I want a more modern take, but not quite
10 Things I Hate About You. I want the feel to be more ethnic, for lack of a better word, ala
West Side Story with Latino and Hip-hop sounds and dances. I'm looking at the
Glee mash-up of "Off With Your Heads"/Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I want two of the dances to be reminiscent of the French Apache Dances: Dance fights with a romantic? edge--can't exactly be erotic at school....
I'm thinking of very little dialogue, letting the story be told basically in 5 songs via dance and lyrics, focusing on the beginning of the story, and letting the story sort of hang, Especially the 2nd sister's romance--asking the audience, do you think this relationship will work out? There may be, therefore, a narrator, who punctuates the dances with a few sentences to set the stage.
Jun 21: Lucky score--when I went to Sam Ash this past weekend I found out they have these
Glee songbooks, by season, and I found the one with the Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Off With Your Head"/"Thriller mash-up: Saves me time, thought i'd have to work that all out myself! Now I can just give Shang the book to work out the bassline--hope he can do that...I might have to change the key of what I've already made in GB?
GB change (to Dm Key, I think?) easily done.--July. Now that I'll have my big room back I won't have another layer of problems about where to work. The dance stuff, though, we'll have to find a space outside or in the gym.
The
Glee book has a few other good songs too, like the Zombies.. "She's Not There."
Sept 7( my oldest's birthday). My drama kids are really super good this year--very enthusiastic, smart, hard working. Half of them even loovvve Shakespeare, and understand it! Our play may not be brilliant, due to inexperience, but it will happen! I got a little bit of everything, singers dancers, actors. My weak spot is a crazy male lead. I think we're gonna pull it off, even without a venue. Just gotta get the base for the music....."Too Darned Hot" is awful hard to do live.
Oct 10: I can't play it on guitar--it just doesn't sound right. I must be missing something.
Dec 9: About to be time to get this thing organized--the writing, the music. I've been trying to get my lower end drama kids (the athletes taking drama not out of love, but for an "easy" grade) to get on board with making some electronic music--since we're updating the setting to modern high school. I think I need to get a list of back up ideas--I already told them inspiration should be that early hip-hop thing "Apache" and "Jump Around" sorta stuff--high energy with a fighting edge?
Feb 9: So everyone has their job assignments, and I only have a handful of slackers in both classes--so good! The guys who I prodded into acting actually seem to be owning the idea--Tai keeps asking--should I sing the duet in a high octave or low? Good question! Let's try both and see what works! So I have one purchased Karaoke song ("Lovefool") for our Scene VI duet battle, because I realized doing it on guitar with backup vocals and everything that makes the song great would be an overwhelming chore--and potential disaster--so the easy out. Karaoke.
The Response song:"This Is Not A Love Song", especially if we do it in the Nouvelle Vague style, will be quite easy--3 easy chords on guitar, and that's what the original has anyway. Some percussion-y stuff in the back that maybe we can do with some simple stuff I can borrow from band or home.
Since I have such responsible kids this year, I gave them the job of picking out their own music, so that makes my job easier--I've been able to delegate a lot more work to good kids this year, and I'm hoping that--since the core group is pretty young! ..that I'm going to have a good run with these guys for a few years. Another girl I put in charge of bumper music, entré and outré music for the beginning and end of the show. I feel strangely organized this year--hope it holds. Still no date, but should be coming soon.
Also had this crazy idea for a prom dress for the rebel character, made out of school girl parochial red plaid skirt--found a great one for $1.61! at the thrift store with extra material, and Mrs. P seems to understand my design idea, and thinks she can do it crazy as it sounds--plus the girl whose going to wear it loves the idea--thank god she's a bean pole. She's also going to make her daughter a dress.
Had to suck up and make one of the girls a male lead--because she's the third best singer and a great dancer (my choreographer, in fact). How about that depth, my "third best" singer!!!!! We'll hopefully disguise her with an outrageous Petruchio costume. Her acting is so-so unfortunately.
We have been working on the set design--very minimalistic set this due to the limits of space--everything has to be conveyed via the backdrop. It's a perspective drawing with a mid vanishing point that I found on -line and copied the basics, but I think we improved it by upping the mind-warp by putting in a checkerboard floor and making it disappear into the center. Also our colors are more trippy--the original was blah cartoon pale purple, green and peach--I think it was probably a computer generated drawing. I really like how its turning out, and proud of how the kids are cooperating to put it together, with minimal mess, in fact. (I suppose that has nothing to do with the fact that I threatened to ban them permanently from Drama if they got silly with paint. Nice that I have enough depth to get away with that.)
Oh, yeah, and the girls found this velvet corset belt that will be perfect to cinch in the waist of that red plaid prom dress--can't wait to see how that turns out. I made Lily sew up the arm hole of a dress she tried on and will probably wear as the wonky receptionist--she swears it was already ripped, (it probably was) but she was generous enough to fix it. It's a recycled costume from the Agatha Christie play--Mrs. Boyle's. She did a good job!
PLAY DATE!! April 19th.......................
set so far.. I added a few more details Friday where those black holes are.
May 1: Play is done, gone the sun....
Yeah, we actually made it through one--I made it super short and straight-forward, minimum dialogue, let music and dance numbers tell the story. the two throw-away scenes we added on when we couldn't decide how to end things ended up being the best part. I had a filler minor character who actually stole the show with his Souljah Boy, Cat-in-the-Hat Rap. That boy's a keeper--he knows how to work a stage! My girl as a boy lead worked out okay: the audience was cheering her on so she was kinda hamming it up. She was no Petrucchio, but it went way better than I'd hoped. Two of the B-ball players jumped into the final dance scene, which added to the fun! The singing was fantastic and got lots of respect.
Best of all, the kids went away thinking it was
their play: I really laid back this year and let them come up with their own ideas, which they followed through on! They changed up all the music I had suggested, and that was a good move. This can only work with a really good group, but I hope I gave them some good memories of the ol' Academy. Seems like the biggest problems we had, we kept trouble-shooting and coming up with something better to fix it. Like when the big easel notebook thing kept blowing away in the wind during dress/tech rehearsal, we just took the notebook apart, stapled it to cardboard, and sent Katrina (who looks like someone out of G
oonies) out Vannah White style, where she ran crazily around the whole stage with the signboard, and for some reason this was a big hit with the boarders. And best of all it was her idea to do it--and she's kinda contrary by nature--they were all just feeling it. Kids came up afterwards telling me they want to be in Drama next year!
It's kind of amazing that we wrote a play across two different class periods, had no venue or even practices together until this week--I dunno how we did it, but I was laying the constant, low-grade pressure on them to trouble shoot and communicate. It was a bit of a minor miracle, really.
when I think about it, it was a lot like those old, home-made plays I did in the early days at AFA with no lights, bedsheet curtains, completely DIY...just all soul. No budget. Something out of nothing, only there's a lot more talent for me to work with these days..And the kids were so proud of our DIY vibe! My kind of kids..no prima donna complaints.
Oh, and one more, very cute, very sweet detail. Dennis, my extraordinary sound master, asked if he could play a song over the PA--he had recorded Jack and Shang's band live from last year's talent show, and had saved it to play--he had been much taken with their band's sound, and even told them he could get them a gig! Unfortunately, none of the kids in the audience recognized it, but, after a few minutes listening, I did. What a cool thing for him to do.
I'm so happy--it's over!
May 16: So, watching the walls of this so-called arts building go up behind me--I realize that there are logistics/location issues. First, I'm looking for the walls that should enclose the theatre space--it shouldn't have windows, right? All enclosed? I've been thinking, this back wall--has no windows--that must be the footprint of the theatre. The other parts have doors, windows..can't be. But I look at it from the side, and it's ridiculously narrow, As bad as our old stage which had no height and no depth. No one ever asked my opinion about this. Even the drawing looks kind of shallow. They couldn't have been that shortsighted?---yes they could!. It looks more like one of those auditoriums built for high tech presentations--like Steve Jobs with a wireless mike, with a big screen projection of himself on the wall--fuck. Now, in some iterations of this building, there is a room marked "Theatre Classroom". Right? But the latest ad says: Multi-purpose, Arts, Music, Art Studio Space. No mention of drama. Is this just a case of poor writing, or should I be worried? On the other hand, anything will be an improvement from no space, or the old stable space. But will this really satisfy the future theatre kids we want to attract who can plainly see that other schools have a better facility? Well, we'll see.
Sept 14: This year's mess--
So, I had this great opportunity to have our play repeated at a venue downtown. Two problems--admin shot it down to do it there, and most of my kids from last year weren't able to schedule Drama in their class schedule. Some committed anyway, but not enough.
So I decided to stick to the Shakespeare theme the Arts festival required, and made plans to do it outside on campus--
MacBeth! Which I've never done a full performance of, just those goofy 10 minute classroom things back when I taught seniors--we did weird things like
Office Space MacBeth, Star Wars MacBeth and a Flower-Power
Taming of the Shrew wedding scene musical number with "Let the Sunshine In/Aquarius" as the background music--loved that stuff.
Anyway, the Gilberts who are hosting the Shakespeare Arts Fest , came on campus to advise about venue and smooth-talk admin, which didn't work. They don't want us to have the stress of being involved--possibly next year. In the meantime, it almost feels like what I have left is being sabotaged by admin --6 kids have been removed from class--the majority made up of SSide kids, some with difficult reps. However, they seem into the idea of doing the Scottish play, so we'll see what plays out. I have some vague ideas for staging, inspired partly by a video of Theater Design I saw by accident on Netflix--a famous designer named Es Devlin. She does a lot of things with lighting, mirrors, gauze or scrim, and boxes. She did the staging and lights for some really cool music shows--Beyonce and Pet Shop Boys, plus some pretty interesting runway shows that featured a mirror that was placed in such an angle as to make it look like twins of the models were walking off into infinity. I'm trying to get the video through the school's Plex server so I can show it--have to bleep one swear at the 8:22 minute---
So, at least I have less pressure to deliver greatness this year. And maybe next year I'll have my singers back, with our new stage. We'll see--no counting chickens. This place @@...
Nov 27, 2018:
Ok, we'v got two ideas brewing for
Macbeth-one serious, one silly.
The serious one will have a modern setting at a college, maybe involving a fraternity, to justify the hierarchy element. The idea is to do a bonfire or fire pit at the waterfront, with torches, etc., for atmosphere. This one would probably have to stick closer to the real
Macbeth. My mean girls like this idea with them playing the witches.
However, the second idea is growing on me, even though it seemed totally dumb yesterday. But, I'm a goofball at heart--rather do a joke than anything...
Spongebob Macbeth: the Killings in Bikini Bottom.
I wrote the first scene with the kids before lunch today, something where the witches become sharks and plan to meet Plankton.
Yeah, so in this version Plankton takes Macbeth's part, the motive being not his desire to be king, but to get the Krabby Patty Recipe, with Karen's help. I just started writing and already got through to the first murder, and I can kind of picture the whole thing in my head now. Instead of blood on their hands Plankton and Karen will have crab claw mitts. Squidward gets accused of the murder (false squid-ink!, and runs off. Plankton offers to take over the Krusty Krab...maybe Spongebob should go after Squidward, while Plankton gets paranoid and kills Patrick/Banquo...(he can come back by regenerating one of his starfish arms?) The Flying Dutchman can be the ghost. SB as MacDuff with Squidward comes back to save the day, and the secret recipe...
The costumes might be a pain.. but the sets will be pretty easy!
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