Darlings, it seems, of late, that interactive theater is the talk of the Season, so far! First, we have "The Tenant," an adaptation of the Roman Polanski film, set on a three tiered set inside an Upper West Side church, where audience members wander from room to room, watching actors do scenes. We also have "Sleep, No More," a retelling of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," set in the McKittrick Hotel, located at 530 West 27th Street.
This one is real bizarre, kiddies!!!!!!!!!!! At "The Tenant," you just walk through. But at "Sleep No More," the rules are a bit stringent.
Audience members have to wear masks when entering the establishment. They cannot speak a word during the two and one half hour presentation. They are required to focus on a particular character, and then follow him/her throughout the course of the evening, which will include everything from genitalia exposure to dance. So far, it sounds like being inserted into Stanley Kubrick's film "Eyes Wide Shut." So I am certain that those who got their jollies from that should go for this in a big way.
However, for all my interest in serial killers and such, borderline torture does not thrill me. Which is one reason why I have never seen any "Saw" or "Hostel" movies. After all, you can witness enough torture on the late night news!!!!!!!!!
I have to admit that all this LIVE Goth and Gore intrigues me, up to a point. But I also have to ask myself--if theater is going in this direction, how soon before we have an Interactive Musical, one that can interject audience members into the numbers themselves???? What an idea!!!!!!! But there are problems!!!!!!
It cannot be an original show, because, while you can rehearse actors, you cannot rehearse audience members quick enough to get them on their feet for performance. It just won't work. So the show has to be a hodgepodge of known musical theater moments that aficionados, the only ones who would come see such a thing, would come to!!!! And, darlings, as the Raving Queen, not to mention a known theater one, at that, I have the perfect concept!!!!!!!!!
The show is entitled "Losing My Mind--The Interior Life Of A Musical Theater Queen!" I am telling you, it can't miss!!!!!! The set design concept, which borrows from the idea behind the 1966 sci-fi film, "Fantastic Voyage," is of a gigantic human brain, broken down and compartmentalized onstage into rooms for the audience to wander through. In each of these rooms, audiences can join in actors performing specific musical theater numbers, which will be charted by following the Playbill diagram.
Of course, the key to all this is the audience's musical theater knowledge. That is, they must already have a working knowledge of each number being performed, from knowing the melody and lyrics, to whatever staging may be required.
And the audience actually has an easier time of it, for, as they go from room to room, the numbers vary. The professional actors in each room are confined to performing that same particular number again and again throughout the evening, until it ends. Though the actors should be skilled enough with the material, so that, in order to give them variation of a sort, they can switch rooms from night to night.
There is an intellectual concept at work to--giving audience participants a sense of the history of musical theater, as the numbers, save for the opening, are done in the yearly chronological order of when first performed on Broadway.
Like many standard musicals, there are 17 numbers. Here is the rundown:
1. The Opening
All That Jazz, from "Chicago" (1975)
2. Steam Heat, from "The Pajama Game" 91954)
3. Standin' On The Corner, from "The Most Happy Fella" (1956)
4. Make Our Garden Grow, from "Candide" (1956)
5. America, from "West Side Story" (1957)
6. Caroline The Cow, from "Gypsy" (1959)
7. So Long, Farewell, from "The Sound Of Music" (1959)
9. Put On Your Sunday Clothes, from "Hello, Dolly!" (1964)
10.Matchmaker, Matchmaker, from "Fiddler On The Roof" (1964)
11.We Need A Little Christmas, from "Mame" (1966)
12.Tomorrow Belongs To Me, from "Cabaret" (1967)
13.The Flesh Failures, from "HAIR" (1968)
14.Who's That Woman? from "Follies" (1971)
15.At The Ballet, from "A Chorus Line" (1975)
16.What I Did For Love, from "A Chorus Line" (1975)
17.The Finale
Mama Mia, from "Mama Mia!" (2001)
Wouldn't this be fun, darlings?????? I know so many of my girls out there who would love to get paying gigs in this. Or certainly come as an audience. And you are guided from room to room by non-singing performers, posing as theater ushers.
I am telling you, it cannot miss. So look over the list, and learn these songs, and staging, because, who knows, someone out there may read this, and think it a good idea. If so, make sure I am on board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So many chances for so many queens to play so many musical theater roles!!!!!!!!!
Break a leg, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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