She was very much into making "artistic choices".
Regardless of their effects on the play.
The results were way too surreal and artsy-fartsy.
There is nothing surreal about this play.
It is totally steeped in realism.
There is a joke right at the beginning of the play that establishes it's locale as Los Angeles.
Outside the apartment window, at a proper distance, is the "Hollywood" sign.
But all that can be seen are the last three letters: O-O-D. Ood.
There are actual locations in L.A. that have this view.
The set decorator's "artistic choice" was to have the O-O-D sign appear right outside the window.
In huge letters.
There are no interior locations in that area that are that close to the "Hollywood" sign.
So it was totally surreal.
But it was too late to do anything about it.
It was horrible.
A major prop in the play is a ceramic giraffe.
The "artistic choice" here was to create a ceramic giraffe that was one color: dark brown.
I asked the prop person "How many dark brown giraffes have you seen in life?"
She, of course, replied "It's my artistic choice",
I replied "Your artistic choice doesn't inform anyone in the audience the opportunity to realize that it is a giraffe".
I had to insist that she turn it into a traditional two-toned giraffe.
Which she did, quite grudgingly.
If you come to the upcoming production in Detroit at the end of the month, you will see an O-O-D
in proper proportion and a two toned giraffe.
And we'll have a prop person with absolutely no ego.
How refreshing.
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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
The phone number for tickets for my play, "Who Wants Fame?" beginning July 30th in Detroit, is 248-579-3365. If you're in the area, you'll have a great time.
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Posts
Mike, I accidentally deleted your comment before I read it. Please repost it.
ReplyDeleteSilly Alert:
ReplyDeleteSomeone calling himself 'ammar' (herself? itself? themselves?) put up a lengthy post, written entirely in Arabic.
Spam, most likely (Arabian spam? Now that's funny).
Anyway, I saw this late last night, and was hit by what passes for inspiration, after midnight.
To the massed Arabic, I replied thusly:
"To ammar:
Oh sure, that's easy for you to say ..."
Hey, after 12am, anything seems funny ...
As to your current subject, my knowledge of stagecraft is pretty much nil.
To show you just how nil, here's a dumb question I actually considered asking:
I get that only the "OOD" of the HOLLYWOOD sign should be visible to the audience through the window.
What I'm curious about:
If one of the actors were to look out the window during the play, would he see a scale replica of the entire sign, or just the OOD?
Or is that too Method?
See? Silly question (even sillier than the Arabic filibuster).
Late at night, I get silly ...
He or she might see some of the "W" ,even though it isn't painted.
ReplyDelete