star2ballie
|
Help me, please...with NormandySo, guys and gals, I ended up getting Larkin, if you didn't already hear...and I am SO excited. However, at yesterday's read-through, my director approached me about cutting Normandy because he "can't think of anything to do with it"...and also the music director 'doesn't like it'. Now, please, I'm not asking you to comment back about how people shouldn't cut songs, etc., don't be mean to my directors because I do respect his descision. However...he said that if he (or I) can think of a way to make it relavent and funny, he'll put it back in.
So, what I'm asking you guys, is how did you do Normandy so that it was funny? Or, if you didn't do it but know the show, what's a way that you think would make it funny? Any/all advice is much appreciated. I don't want to lose my favorite song!!
Thanks again, everyone...I hope this doesn't constitute flooding the boards...sorry, if it does!
|
Ep-Griz-Reno
|
OMG! TOTALLY my favorite song in the show too!
Alright, first of all, I agree that "to each his own" and everyone should respect your directors decision to cut the number (if he so chooses). Why? Because a director is given the duty of interpreting the show the way he or she wants to-HOWEVER. There are lines to be drawn (in my eyes). Changing a line so that an audience can understand it is one thing. (i.e. in guys and dolls sarah says "rogers pete" and because we were a middle school performing for a younger crowd, we changed it to judge judy because rogers pete was a judge or something). Anyway, cutting a song out is very "out there" in my mind.
Why?
Well, here's the thing: Though it may be that the director should be able to put his vision on stage, he or she shouldn't result in cutting songs because "they don't like or understand them".
In my mind, that person is taking the easy way out-and as said before, I'm not making any blows to their ideas, but to me, it's PART of the show. It's THERE for a REASON.
When I did Mattress, Normany was KEY in the conflict between Larken and Harry. In our show, Larken and the Minstrel had a thing for eachother. They weren't IN LOVE or anything crazy like that, but in close analysis of the script, it's easy to see that the writer(s) intended that the minstrel be an escape for Larken's stress. In the first scene when the Minstrel says "she's a pretty little thing" is just the start of a number of lines in which he talks to her or about her hinting at his crush on the lady in waiting. The way we played it was that he liked her all along-which is why he WANTS her to come to Normandy with him. He wants them to run away together, and without that initial spark of "oh, let's run away", no onw will know that he's out to take larken away,
By the minstrel persuading her to go, he makes her "fall" for him. THEN in the first scene of the second act when the minstrel says "I led her away against her will" (semi-sarcastically) and she says "that's not true"-it's funny and makes TOTAL sense. I mean, the whole fact that their under a mattress together is already questionable. Your director should REALLY look into keeping this song because it establishes the larken-minstrel relationship, and this relationship is NECESSARY in the plot because it's what makes Harry finally realize that he wants Larken back.
The end.
=]
|
LaurelDP
|
We cut it from our show.
Only because the performers didn't know it well enough to perform on stage without embarassing themselves.
We also cut The Minstrel, The Jester, and I.
Which basically cut the role of the minstrel down to shreds.
|
Salome
|
| LaurelDP wrote: | We cut it from our show.
Only because the performers didn't know it well enough to perform on stage without embarassing themselves.
We also cut The Minstrel, The Jester, and I.
Which basically cut the role of the minstrel down to shreds.
|
cutting a song for that reason is ridiculous..why didnt they know it? not enough rehearsal time? in that case its the director's fault.
|
momsterv
|
When my daughter did the show a couple years ago, they had 2 sets of principals and the younger group had a very hard time with the harmonies in the song. The older group did it wonderfully, and it was one of the most fun songs in the show.
We had a female minstrel, so it didn't set up their "relationship", however, it told the whole setup for Larken leaving and then Harry wanting her back.
The bits about the spiders, and the scary side of leaving is hilarious, its a wonderful song to not only sing, but act. Look at the words and you'll see things to play up. Our 3 people were constantly weaving in and out of each other.
Good luck!
|
LaurelDP
|
| Salome wrote: | | LaurelDP wrote: | We cut it from our show.
Only because the performers didn't know it well enough to perform on stage without embarassing themselves.
We also cut The Minstrel, The Jester, and I.
Which basically cut the role of the minstrel down to shreds.
|
cutting a song for that reason is ridiculous..why didnt they know it? not enough rehearsal time? in that case its the director's fault. |
It's highschool.
And we're a more acting based department than singing. We just started doing musicals two years ago.
And we had a nazi-esque music director who wouldn't let them sing the song unless it was completely perfect. And they didn't have enough time to rehearse it, because even though the MD was a nazi, she never worked with the cast enough for any of us to be great. Unless we took private lessons with her, which is $350 a month.
I'm lucky that I had such an easy song to sing and I know a little about music.
I really kind of hate highschool theatre, even though I support it thoroughly.
Especially in our musicals, we HAVE to focus on ourselves to make our show decent. We don't focus on the giving and sharing between actors, which is an essential part of theatre.
In our musicals our female leads are always strong, and have to carry the show. We're basically told to be as great as we can even if the show itself sucks. We're not encouraged to help others achieve greatness. It irks me, badly.
|
Beagle On Stage
|
| LaurelDP wrote: | | And we had a nazi-esque music director ... |
Honey, I've been there. Isn't it the most awful thing?
One MD I've had was anal retentive to the point that he once spent an hour and a half of full-cast rehearsal time on a very brief fourth harmony part that some altos just couldn't get for one reason or another. Bless their hearts, they tried, but it was a very unusual, out-of-nowhere part and it was just over their heads. In his eyes, letting them sing along with another part or even just the melody for the eight bars this part lasted wasn't an option. Is any one of our customers out there in the audience going to care if there is only three part harmony instead of four for eight bars? 
In another song, he spent several rehearsals tearing apart an actress over the rhythm in her character song. She was singing it just fine, but he couldn't bear for those double-dotted-and-flagged notes not to be right on. Get a grip! lol
The list of stuff like this that he did goes on. When in charge of choral direction for a high school musical, you have to choose your battles and not spend $100 on a 1-cent "issue." Long story short, I'm seeing to it that he is not offered the job again this year.
(Honestly, my experience has been that this is often true of professional musicians - not all of them, but many. At work or not, there is no sense of the big picture, and every minor detail of everything becomes the most pressing issue in the western hemisphere. I'm going to regret saying this on here, aren't I?  )
|
star2ballie
|
He cut it. For good.
|
Salome
|
| star2ballie wrote: | He cut it. For good.
|
Fuuucking asshole..thats Larkin's best moment in the show.
I'd report him to R&H.
|
BroadwayBeast
|
allie it will be ok the show is going to rock anyway i mean We're in it. Haha .
|
itsaboutonemoment
|
I'm sorry he cut it. But you will still kick ass!!!!! 
|
JelliclePat
|
I'm sorry to hear that your director cut 'Normandy' for several reasons:
As has been pointed out, without the song, the Larkin-Harry relationship falls flat.
Second, when a group buys the rights to perform a show, they agree to perform it *as written*. If a representative from the company owning the rights attends the performance, the director can get in big trouble for cutting the song without getting written permission first.
Third, if 'he doesn't know what to do with it', maybe he shouldn't have chosen the show in the first place. This reflects badly on his abilities as a director.
The last production I saw was an *awesome* high school production in Kingston, NY. They did *every*thing, with fantastic sets and costumes. It was professional quality show from teenagers. Yes, they did 'Normandy', and I have to say that I cracked up, especially over one line, which I have to explain.
There is a musical from the 1930's (I think) called 'The Vagabond King', which is about the 15th-century French poet and humanist Francois Villon. At this time in history, France was a much smaller country being governed by the rulers of Burgundy, which was a separate county. In the course of the play, Villon rouses the French to rebellion in a stirring song with the following lyrics (as I remember them):
'Sons of toil and danger, will you serve a stranger
And bow down to Burgundy?
Sons of sin and sorrow, will you fear tomorrow
And bow down to Burgundy?
Forward! Forward! Swords against the foe!
Forward! Forward the lily banners go!
Sons of France surround us! Break the chains that bound us
And to hell with Burgundy!'
Well, in 'Normandy', there's a line about saying 'to hell with Normandy', which is a direct reference to 'The Vagabond King'. Unfortunately, not too many people get the joke today, but it would have been instantly recognizable when '...Mattress' was first produced.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy doing the show, even if they did cut a major song. Have fun!!
|
