I went and saw a musical production last night, 'Singin' In The Rain', and I shouldn't have seen it. I really shouldn't have.
Oh, the play was good. The lead actor was very capable. His singing wasn't so hot but he could dance pretty well and he carried off his lines with aplomb which made me again think "How do they remember all of those lines/lyrics to songs?"
The two lead female actresses were good too, and you could see in one the possibility of stardom because she looked like she was born to be on stage, she had that quality that says that she was comfortable there, had found her place, and would only get better in time. The other actress was older and heavily made up in order to play her over-the-top part. To me she was just alright but some members of the audience liked her more than her younger counterpart. The main bit player/sidekick/supporting actor was one of those kinds of people that would find a stage even if it was in Siberia. He had been born to act.
In addition to these players, there were many others that played small but critical roles. They looked like they were having a great deal of fun.
I feel so at home here
Alessia Cocconi- Unsplash.com
And that's the rub. Theatre to me just looks like a little bit of concentration and practice followed by a whole lot of fun. If I were to be around actors ('thespians') too much, I'm afraid I would become addicted to theatre, which isn't a bad thing at all, but it doesn't pay the bills. Even so, I've always thought that were I to be in a position where I could be part of a production I would find myself in good company. In that company I would choose to play a bit part. I don't know if I could play a lead role, that's one of the big 'if's in life that I've always wondered about. Do I have the right stuff? Could I pull it off? Playing the lead means a lot of practice and you have to remember a lot of lines. Maybe you'd have to sing and dance. For sure you'd be up on stage solo at times. It's one of those really challenging things that I wonder about, especially after seeing this latest play.
I used to see Shakespeare plays a lot at a summer venue outside of a city in which I lived, and those actors were good. They had been in many productions before being chosen to play roles in those plays. Their lines were difficult to even recite, much less remember, but they were able to perform with degrees of believability and professionalism that made me think "Remarkable!". Exposure to this I found inspiring, and after observing many performances it became solidified in my being that this was something, that someday, I would (again) like to do, because I knew that I had done this before. Somewhere, somewhen.
Supposing that that was to happen, I think that after my initial foray into easy, light fare would come darker plays, swordfighting, romantic or comedy parts, long speeches under the spotlight, with me, the lone figure on stage.....
It could still happen. The dormant seed, long ago planted, had again received water.
But, coming back to my senses and flights of fancy aside, the bottom line far as I'm concerned is that theatre is just plain fun, and the audience is included in that fun. There is an energy that passes between the actors and the audience, there is immediate and very telling feedback.
For example, when the young actress that I (and many in the audience) admired started showing hints of ego during one dance number the audience sensed it and the mood darkened in the theatre some but when she went back to just being ebullient ('having or showing liveliness or enthusiasm'), the audience again loved her. I could read that subtle shift in energy and I think good thespians can too. They ride these waves of feedback and adjust their performances accordingly.
Because, when you're doing your thing and the audience is with you, a wave builds and builds and when it breaks everybody is satisfied. It's primal, it's human, and what a charge it is! You NEVER get that from watching TV. You might approach 'it' at times in a movie theatre, 'it' happens sometimes at rock concerts and sporting events, but 'it' really takes off in intimate venues like live theatre. I guess in such a setting 'it' happens because you deeply relate to and identify with the issues that the actors are facing and they represent those issues to you, like they're almost family! They're really not but for a while they are and then the bubble breaks, the show is over, and after applauding wildly everybody files out of the theatre and there is a strange after-the-play glow that quickly dissipates but never really leaves you as you walk back to your car, amongst others that are climbing into theirs, in the parking lot.
"Back to the world!" you think, and sigh.