Transcript
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Hey everybody.
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How you doing? This is Ray Renati and you have reached Green Room on Air, my little place in the corner of the various Internets edge.
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George W used to say, hope you're doing well.
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It's a beautiful day here in Palo Alto, California, south of San Francisco on the peninsula of the Bay Area in Deedee Rooney.
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Well, what a week it's been.
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What? A week it's been.
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We had Donald Trump on C n n.
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Doing his thing that he does so well.
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Yeah, Donald Trump wooo.
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It, it's very simple that you're a nasty person.
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I'll tell you, you know, it's, it's good for CNN because as much as they try to show how they are the nemesis, the, the truthsayers around.
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Our failed former president.
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They are also a company that makes very much millions because of him, so it's also to their benefit to make sure.
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That he stays in the news and that if he does a town hall, that it's filled with his sink offense, clapping and cheering over all of his insanity.
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We live in a strange world, folks.
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Part of the downside of a free economy, I suppose, although I wouldn't want it any other way.
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Hey, today I want to talk about the Tony Awards, which are scheduled to happen a month from today or around, but may not because of the writer's strike.
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So what I'd like to do is take a look at some articles in the press from New York City, in the New York Post and The New York Times, and comment on them regarding the Tony Awards.
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Hey, if you don't know what the Tony Awards are, get out from under the rock that you've been sleeping under and pull your head out if you're bute.
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No, I'm kidding.
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The Tony Awards are the awards given to.
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Live theater mostly on Broadway theaters that are part of the organizations that host the Tony Awards the American Theater Wing being the main one.
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And also some regional theaters.
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Large regional theaters throughout the country are members of the American Theater Wing, which is the organization that hosts the Tony Awards.
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It's one, it's my favorite award show by far.
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It's the, the people receiving the awards that people nominated are usually extremely grateful because a lot of them aren't big stars like you, you have in on your Oscars.
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And the talent is quite incredible because these are, you know, real stage actors who have studied their craft.
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They're not necessarily just movie stars.
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And the music is always good, of course, because of the Musical theater aspect.
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So anyway in the New York post, an article from today why the 2023 Tony Awards are hanging by a thread and may not happen chances that the 2023 Tony Awards telecast will go on is planned a month from now, are slipping away fast.
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Multiple sources told the post, the complexities of the writer strike, which is still in its early days.
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Have made it virtually impossible for the show.
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Broadway's biggest promotional push of the year to air on June 11th, cbs B.
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So in case you didn't know, there's been a writer's strike, a huge writer's strike in all of entertainment LA and New York and Chicago mostly where most of the riders are cuz they're not getting paid fairly.
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And unions in this industry tend to stick together.
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So it's causing a lot of political problems in terms of whether or not the Tonys should continue.
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The Tonys are hanging on by the fingernails set of source.
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It's a mess.
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The American Theater Wing and the Broadway League, two trig organizations that put on the ceremony are voting Friday.
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That's tomorrow to decide how to move forward.
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The wing, I'm told, would prefer to postpone the broadcast, which is still set to take place at the United Palace in Washington Heights.
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Until the strike is over.
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That option would look something like when the 2020 Tony Awards finally went on in September, 2021 after theaters reopened from Covid shutdowns.
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So the Tony Awards last year were postponed because they just didn't wanna have a bunch of people in a room with masks on trying to have an award show.
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The last writer's strike was in 2007, 2008, and lasted a little more than three months.
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I remember that.
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God.
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That was a long time ago already.
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I feel old.
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I feel old.
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Let's make a musical out of that.
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I feel old, my darling.
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How do you feel? I feel wonderful.
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Okay.
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I don't know what musical that's from, but I'm going to write it.
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The weight would be an eternity for struggling musicals and plays, and frankly, many would make it when he wouldn't make it until then.
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Multiple doc.
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Oh my god, I can't even hear.
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Multiple productions are bleeding money in the lead up to the award show.
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In hopes the visibility might give them a boost at the box office.
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So since Covid, a lot of these shows are having trouble getting audience and they're actually losing money, and then they're hoping that the Tony Awards would help g give them, bring in audience, but, and so they're losing even more money assuming that the Tony Awards are gonna happen.
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And yet they may not.
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And if they don't, these people will have wasted.
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The producers of these shows will have wasted a ton of money, and they may have to close.
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In case you didn't know, theater in the United States is not a big money-making proposition.
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I'll have, you know, I'm sure you knew that already though.
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And there's not much government support like there are for the theater companies in Europe.
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Yeah, boy.
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So the league meanwhile is said to want the winners to be announced in some other manner on schedule.
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Like the Golden Globes did with a press conference due to the writer's strike in 2008.
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Oh my God, how boring is that? No.
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Telecast means it's meaningless.
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An insider said it will be the end of all these shows that are running at big losses to get to the Tony's.
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Wow, that is sad.
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God, they're running at big losses because they don't have an audience.
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All these people backstage, the producers, the crew, the actors out of a job.
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If this doesn't happen, cuz of the writer's strike, I'm not making a judgment here.
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The writers need to make a living too.
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But why should the workers in the musical industry or in the stage industry, straight place too, you know, lose their, their income.
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Best musical front runner, Kimberly Akimbo.
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There's actually a play called Kimberly Akimbo as well, which I helped produce at the Para theater many years ago.
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But this is a new musical version and la likely best play winner Leopold stat.
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I don't know that yet.
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I'm gonna go to New York though in a little while.
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Couple months and go see these sh shows are both posting troubling weekly grosses.
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Spokespeople for the Tony Awards and American Theater Wing did not respond to the post request for comment, of course.
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Hmm.
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Although a source said a script for the Tony's was written long ago, for every contingency avoiding one major roadblock, playwrights who penned the nominated plays and musicals are members of the W G A and likely wouldn't show up for the big night.
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The W G A is expected to picket the event.
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That's the writer's Union, I believe, writer's Guild of America and most other entertainment industry Union SAG aftra, which I'm a member of, actors Equity, which I'm a member of, and the Director's Guild are all standing lockstep behind the striking writers.
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And that's what always happens in our world here.
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The Insider said, They have to, can it? Nobody will participate.
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No actors will do it.
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Oh boy.
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Multiple sources have said they doubt.
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Tony's host Ariana Debos, who won the Oscar for playing Anita in West Side Story.
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Did you see that? That was great.
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She was wonderful.
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And was the mc last year would go through with the gig? Hmm? Would go through.
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Would go through.
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Oh, okay.
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So she wouldn't strike in a similar situation.
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Last week, drew Barrymore pulled out of hosting the MTV Awards in solidarity, but I guess Debose wouldn't show solidarity with the writers.
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Do I have that right? Multiple sources said they doubt.
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Tony's host Ariana Debos, who won the Oscar for playing Anita in West Side Story, and was the mc last year.
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Would go through with the gig.
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Oh, I read that wrong.
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Okay.
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They doubt she would.
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Okay.
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Yeah, she would look pretty bad if she were to do that.
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And everybody else was striking actors equity.
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The union representing Broadway performers recently encouraged its members to join the picket lines outside H B O and Amazon's offices in Manhattan.
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And that union's President Kate Shindel.
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Told deadline this week, equity stands unequivocally with the Writer's Guild of America in their pursuit of a fair contract.
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But she added, it's too soon to predict whether this will impact the Tony Awards, which are extremely important to our community as we continue to rebuild.
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Wow.
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What a conundrum.
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I mean, you wanna support your fellow artists, the writers, as as a performer.
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Because all of us are underpaid, really underpaid.
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I mean, especially Hollywood stuff and tv.
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I mean, they make ton of money and most of the actors are not making money.
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I mean, your big stars are making money, but the rest of us are not getting paid well and the writers aren't paid well and they need to be, there needs to be some oversight on this, and there needs to be, there needs to be solidarity in all the.
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All of the unions involved.
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So I'm for that.
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But it causes a problem.
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And as Kate Shindel added here, it's too soon to predict whether this will impact the Tony Awards, which are extremely important to our community as we continue to rebuild.
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Yep.
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So there is still a a spark of hope that the show could go on.
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The producers of the Tony's have requested a waiver from the Director's Guild to go forward with the re telecast.
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That possible exemption is going to be discussed Thursday if the waiver is shut down.
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It's a heat show.
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She said.
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I sort that.
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Wow.
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Boy, you know, there is so much.
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Arguing in this industry between people who are supposed to be cooperating with one another, and there's so much hate and distrust in this art that we call performance between the different factions, between producers and actors, between producers and writers, between actors and actors.
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Now, Actors of color versus actors of not color.
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And that, and I have grown to learn because I'm now 61 years old, that there is an unspoken one that used to be something that was in the lime line, but it isn't anymore, is ageist stuff.
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I, it's so hard if you're an actor over 60 to get work.
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It's incredible.
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It's like once you pass 59, The amount of work available is incredibly low.
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And, and part of it is, and I was as guilty of this as anybody, when you're casting things and you're in your thirties and forties and even fifties, you have a prejudice against older people.
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I mean, you could cast older people in a lot of roles, and often I would put the age range of what I wanted like.
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40 to 59.
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40 to 55, I would do that myself.
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And now I, I regret that, you know, I can't believe I did that, but I did.
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There's a lot of ageism in our society and it's not being dealt with because we're dealing with other things.
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Yeah.
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Yay.
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I found a really cool article here in the New York Times f five nominated Broadway shows and Five Stagecraft Secrets.
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Oh, I love this.
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So this is a lot more fun, a little more popular.
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This is an article by Michael Paulson who reads theater at its best is a form of magic.
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En chance us transforms us and often makes us wonder, how do they do that On Broadway where craft is polished and spectacle is heightened, there's much at which to marvel.
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So this spring, now that all the 2022 and 2023 plays and musicals have opened, we have once again asked a few of the Tony nominated shows to let us speak behind the metaphorical curtain.
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Exploring how they came up with and pulled off some of the sensational stagecraft that caught our attention this season.
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Warning spoilers ahead.
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Now, I love this kind of stuff because when I was directing a lot, which I hope one day I do again some of the best ideas that come to you for a show are from the most mundane.
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Circumstances and you're sitting there and you and instead and a good director, instead of just throwing it away, we'll say, Hmm, that's interesting.
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I love the fact that she's sitting that way in that chair and it doesn't really fit in the play, but it's extremely interesting to watch.
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Can we make that happen? And when you do things like that, ki things that seem kind of disjointed or not really.
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Part of the, the traditional way of doing a show, that's often where, where genius can manifest itself.
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So anyway, here a Doll's House they're talking about, which is, is on Broadway right now, a, a a.
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A re a revamp of the Ipson Play Doll's House.
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The show begins before the show begins before it begins.
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20 minutes ahead of each performance of a Doll's House.
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As ticket holders are taking their seats at the Hudson Theater, a curtain rises to reveal the star Jessica Chastain, the movie star slumped.
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In an escrow stacking chair, slowly revolving around the bear stage.
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Now, see how cool that is? This is a doll's house.
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She's just sitting in a regular old chair, you know, the kind you have in the auditorium, just sitting there on a revolving stage for 20 minutes, and, and that's, that's incredible for Doll's House, if you know the play you know, she's pondering her future.
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The wordless pre-show, a big Hollywood star silently spinning was born of an impulse.
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Here we go.
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This is what I was talking about before the revivals director, Jamie Lloyd, had long thought.
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He wanted to restrict Chastain's movement in some way as a visual metaphor for the way her character Nora Hemmer, feels stuck as a woman and a wife.
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Now in an early read through in Chastain's apartment planted the seed of this idea, so the, the actors got together with the director and they all met at her apartment.
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This is for a Broadway show.
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Don't you love that? Theater is always just theater.
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I mean, I've done that so many times.
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The first reading you just do at somebody's house.
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Cool.
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It was at Jessica Chastain's apartment.
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Now she did the reading from her armchair prompting a transfixed Lloyd to suggest she considered performing the play that way.
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Now his, to his surprise, she agreed and the one, and, and then one upped him with a joke.
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That turned serious.
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Perhaps she could already be in the chair as if Nora had long been there when the audience arrived.
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Cool.
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So this was a collaboration between the director and the actor.
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The only thing that I see here that is different from what would normally happen is that because of Jessica Chastain's celebrity The director had to suggest she consider performing the play that way.
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Oh, Jessica Queen Jessica, would you please consider this? Normally, a director would say, what I would like you to do is this.
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How do you feel about it? And you better say, yeah, I like that.
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But it's Jessica Chastain.
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She can do whatever she wants.
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I wanted to feel like I've been sitting there for years, she said, and haven't fully woken up to the possibilities and why does she rotate? So she rotates on the stage.
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Lloyd said that concept was central to the show's design.
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It's a very political play, that's why it's endured, but it's also very psychological about someone spiraling out of control, he said.
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There is something disorienting about the experience she goes on.
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Now, in case you don't know, the Dolls House.
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A Doll's House.
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So there's a controversy about the actual title, whether it's a Doll's House.
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The Doll's House.
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Doll's House, whatever.
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Nora and her husband live in a house and they have some kids and Nora's disgruntled and she's sort of a feminist.
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When there was no feminism, which makes Ipson a genius.
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And at the end, and this is a spoiler, so if you don't want to hear it, press pause and fast forward, okay.
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I'm giving you the chance right now.
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Okay.
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And she abandons her children at the end of the play, just walks out and that's the end of the show.
209
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That was a huge deal way back in the late 18 hundreds when this play was written and still kind of is when you think about it.
210
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All right.
211
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Yeah.
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The sh the, the pre-show sit and spin, they called it conceived as a metaphor has also paid tangible dividends.
213
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It has a for stalled entrance applause, and it has allowed fans to get their Instagramming out of the way photography is permitted until the show begins.
214
00:19:23,595 --> 00:19:24,025
Oh, cool.
215
00:19:24,495 --> 00:19:24,785
Yeah.
216
00:19:24,805 --> 00:19:44,375
So what they're talking about there is a lot of times if a big movie star is in a play or a musical, When they enter for the first time in the play, the audience stands and applauds them, which is so stupid, but it happens all the time.
217
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So it's not gonna happen in this play because she's already on stage when they walk in.
218
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So there's no opportunity for them to do that.
219
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And it also you know, they can take their pictures of her, which they're gonna want to do and put up on the internet in Instagram or Facebook or whatever.
220
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And get up that out of the way because people would just sneak and do it anyway during the play and they didn't want 'em to do that.
221
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And this was a way of get getting that out of the way so people wouldn't do it.
222
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During the show Genius, everyone has their moment of looking at Jessica Chastain and, and taking pictures and, and then that dissipates.
223
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So by the end of the pre-show, they see Nora, not the movie Star Chastain said.
224
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I'm adding my own commentary on here.
225
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I have to for copyright laws and also I just don't wanna read an article to you.
226
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I want them to let go of the celebrity baggage they are carrying.
227
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Love that She has a lot of self-awareness.
228
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I like that there is admittedly some discomfort and not just because Chastain Fi finds the chair uncomfortable.
229
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I feel like I can't hide.
230
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She said people can film and take pictures and see every part of me, and it takes me and it makes me feel like an object.
231
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They are studying.
232
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Meanwhile, she is studying them back.
233
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The second it starts, I start making eye contact with people and I really connect to them and I actually send them messages.
234
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She says, oh, that is cool.
235
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I love that.
236
00:21:16,465 --> 00:21:20,965
So she as the actor for 20 minutes is on stage.
237
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Making eye contact and communicating with people in the audience.
238
00:21:26,980 --> 00:21:27,970
That is so cool.
239
00:21:28,630 --> 00:21:34,420
On occasion, she'll see someone she recognizes, or someone who tries to get her attention.
240
00:21:34,810 --> 00:21:37,540
Tr she tries hard not to react, at least not visibly.
241
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I don't wave.
242
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I don't change my body position and I don't smile.
243
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She said, I don't do things separate from Nora, but I connect to them.
244
00:21:45,820 --> 00:21:46,510
Well, that's good.
245
00:21:47,155 --> 00:21:58,715
If you see your mom or your sister or your, your neighbor, if she sees her apartment mate or floor mate or somebody in her reading, Oprah reading club, she doesn't wave at them.
246
00:21:59,045 --> 00:22:07,905
Hey, how you doing? I, I fill myself up with the energy that I'm receiving, and by the end of the pre-show, I am completely open.
247
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She added, I feel so open to the room.
248
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I, I feel so open to the emotions that show up and I feel.
249
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That's because we are all on this psychological journey together.
250
00:22:19,590 --> 00:22:20,400
Very cool.
251
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I, I've done this in a couple of plays that I've directed.
252
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I learned it when I was in London going to Royal Academy in Dramatic Art.
253
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It was a big thing to do there in theater at the time.
254
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In fact, I can't even remember a play that I went to there where that wasn't done.
255
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It was the end thing.
256
00:22:39,250 --> 00:22:41,170
So when I came back to the United States, I did it.
257
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And I remember I directed a, a Fool for Love by Sam Shepherd.
258
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And I had the father sitting on the stage doing exactly what she's doing for like 20 minutes before and in a rocking chair.
259
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And it really, it really for certain plays, it really adds a lot to the experience for the audience.
260
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And so I love this.
261
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I hope I get the chance to see it.
262
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I hope they don't close or anything like that.
263
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And now let's talk about my favorite musical of all time, the Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd, the Work of Genius by Steven Sondheim.
264
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I fill myself up with energy that I'm receiving, and by the end of the pre-show I am completely open.
265
00:23:30,955 --> 00:23:32,415
Oh, wait a second.
266
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That was from the other one.
267
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That was from Doll's House.
268
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Okay.
269
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Sweeney Todd, I've murdered many, many people on Broadway.
270
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Jeremy Chair.
271
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Nick says before clarifying, fake, murdered chair, Nick is the special effects designer for Sweeney Todd.
272
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In which The Vengeful Barber played by Josh Groin.
273
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You know Josh Groin? What a voice that guy has.
274
00:23:56,580 --> 00:24:03,000
You know, I think he did musical theater when he was like high school and college, but he hasn't done it since.
275
00:24:03,005 --> 00:24:04,140
I don't believe.
276
00:24:04,140 --> 00:24:05,730
So this is a cool thing for him.
277
00:24:06,390 --> 00:24:07,921
So Josh Groin kills a bunch of people.
278
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His bodies were then baked into pies by his loving land lady.
279
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Played by Angel Ashford.
280
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Yes.
281
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That's one of the main themes of this musical.
282
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In case you didn't know the gruesome homicides, most of the show's nine deaths are by throat slitting.
283
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These are people who've come in to get a shave and a haircut from Sweeney, and he slits their throats and they go down a shoot, get thrown in an oven for meat pies.
284
00:24:39,195 --> 00:24:39,525
Yeah.
285
00:24:40,455 --> 00:24:40,845
That's right.
286
00:24:41,175 --> 00:24:51,225
The Gruesome Homicides most of the shows nine deaths are by Throat Sledding, provide a series of logistical challenges for any team that stages this classic show, which features songs by Stephen Sondheim.
287
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Here's how this production's creative team address them.
288
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The Chair Sweeney kills his customers and a barber chair then dumps their bodies into a chute that leads to the Pie Shop Oven.
289
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The Revival Set Designer Mimi Land.
290
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Said her top priority was safety because in some earlier productions of the classic musical actors have been injured while being ejected from the chair.
291
00:25:15,870 --> 00:25:16,170
Yes.
292
00:25:16,170 --> 00:25:17,760
That is always a possibility.
293
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:29,970
I have been in this show and yeah, we had a chair that ejected people into a shoot and then they fell down to the bottom and yeah, it's not always perfectly safe.
294
00:25:30,050 --> 00:25:34,910
I've seen productions where they don't do it that way and it kind of takes away from the, the whole thing.
295
00:25:34,910 --> 00:25:37,220
I mean, it's, it's, it's something to see.
296
00:25:37,220 --> 00:25:43,130
So it, I love it when they do it cuz that's how it was designed to be done and it's the way it should be done.
297
00:25:43,580 --> 00:25:45,530
Leanne designed, oh, let me say one thing though.
298
00:25:45,530 --> 00:25:53,360
I did see a production of it where the actors were on stage doing the show and also playing the instruments and singing.
299
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:54,500
So they couldn't do that.
300
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:56,660
But that was amazing in another way.
301
00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:58,610
And that was like 15 years ago.
302
00:25:59,555 --> 00:26:02,645
And I saw it with Judy K here in San Francisco, and she played Mrs.
303
00:26:02,645 --> 00:26:03,035
Lovett.
304
00:26:04,055 --> 00:26:05,135
Loved that show.
305
00:26:05,195 --> 00:26:12,905
Anyway, let's get back to this lean, designed, a Victorian cast iron chair upholstered in ox blood, red sy synthetic leather.
306
00:26:13,745 --> 00:26:16,595
Many of her aesthetic choices were driven by functional concerns.
307
00:26:16,745 --> 00:26:25,715
The fabric needed to be smooth and slippery so the bodies would slide easily, and both the fabric and arms of the chair needed to be simple.
308
00:26:25,895 --> 00:26:33,395
No tufting, for example, or textured leathers to avoid creating opportunities for costumes to snag or blood to pool.
309
00:26:34,595 --> 00:26:39,635
The chair has hinges and levers that allow it to flatten like a gurney.
310
00:26:40,220 --> 00:26:45,890
Each time a customer is killed, Groen flattens the chair, swivels it into place.
311
00:26:46,070 --> 00:26:50,270
The creative team thought body dumping would look best in profile.
312
00:26:50,270 --> 00:26:50,960
I agree.
313
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,450
Otherwise you just see someone falling backwards.
314
00:26:53,450 --> 00:27:01,760
But I like the profile thing cuz you could see the whole body like slide and the bleeding neck into the.
315
00:27:02,540 --> 00:27:05,630
Oven of despair, so yeah.
316
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,110
Swivels into place and raises it to a 45 degree angle.
317
00:27:09,110 --> 00:27:12,680
Releasing the actor through an open trap door, they go feet first.
318
00:27:12,770 --> 00:27:17,660
Leanne thought a headfirst maneuver would look more dramatic, but abandon the idea over safety concerns.
319
00:27:17,665 --> 00:27:18,530
Yeah, good idea.
320
00:27:19,340 --> 00:27:19,490
Yeah.
321
00:27:19,490 --> 00:27:21,410
Feet first is the way it should be done cuz.
322
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,290
Otherwise an actor might land on their head.
323
00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:27,780
The actors fall about four or five feet into a padded area.
324
00:27:27,810 --> 00:27:28,650
Ooh, no wonder.
325
00:27:28,710 --> 00:27:29,820
Okay, that's a big one.
326
00:27:30,090 --> 00:27:38,770
Well, it's Broadway, so it has to be big not visible to the audience where there are crew members waiting to help them off stage and if necessary out of their costumes.
327
00:27:40,330 --> 00:27:43,680
The blood chair neck chose Nick Dud.
328
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:48,480
Man's pigs might fly a sugar based washable stage blood.
329
00:27:49,470 --> 00:27:55,200
Chair, Nick said he, he liked that the blood is sticky rather than slippery To reduce stage hazards.
330
00:27:56,670 --> 00:28:01,920
A huge part of my job is figuring out how the show goes on after blood is everywhere.
331
00:28:02,190 --> 00:28:10,500
So years ago, before you could buy this kind of stuff, that was any good, or if you couldn't afford it, what we used to do was use carro syrup.
332
00:28:10,500 --> 00:28:21,000
If you don't know what that is, it's like, Syrup that some of us used to put on our pancakes as children before we realized that it was so full of a sugar that we would be guaranteed of getting diabetes.
333
00:28:21,450 --> 00:28:23,060
But it's clear syrup.
334
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:24,320
I know that's gross.
335
00:28:24,350 --> 00:28:25,370
I don't know what it's made out of.
336
00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:26,210
It's very sweet.
337
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,940
And you put red dye number two and use Caro syrup and that's what we used to do.
338
00:28:32,630 --> 00:28:34,070
And it's gross and sticky though.
339
00:28:34,610 --> 00:28:38,330
So this stuff sounds like it's a lot easier to clean up.
340
00:28:40,460 --> 00:28:40,790
Okay.
341
00:28:40,790 --> 00:28:45,530
Many productions of Sweeney Todd have furnished the tidal character with a razor blade that squirts blood.
342
00:28:45,530 --> 00:28:51,050
But Chernik said the modern audience wants more blood than can fit in a razor blade.
343
00:28:51,410 --> 00:28:57,140
So he chose instead to build a blood vessel into the barber capes worn by the customers.
344
00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:58,850
Oh, that's a good idea.
345
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:00,200
And the actors triggered the.
346
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:09,080
The spurt of blood as their characters are killed, each death requires about a tennis balls, volume of blood.
347
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:10,370
Oh, that's a lot of blood.
348
00:29:10,820 --> 00:29:12,470
Oh, that must be, I can't wait to see this.
349
00:29:12,470 --> 00:29:13,790
I love blood on stage.
350
00:29:13,790 --> 00:29:14,690
It's so cool.
351
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,490
Oh, if you wanna see blood on stage, oh, you gotta see this Irish play by McDonough.
352
00:29:19,490 --> 00:29:25,270
What's it called? Oh, what is the name of that? Oh yes, I remember the Lieutenant of Inish Moore.
353
00:29:25,990 --> 00:29:26,020
Oh.
354
00:29:27,130 --> 00:29:33,400
You ever get a chance to see that play? See it if you like blood on stage as I do.
355
00:29:36,130 --> 00:29:36,640
Yeah.
356
00:29:36,690 --> 00:29:37,080
Cool.
357
00:29:37,110 --> 00:29:37,680
So let's see.
358
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:48,630
We worked on quantity through previews, so quantity of blood churn said to thread the needle between what gets a reaction from the audience and what is distracting and gross.
359
00:29:52,635 --> 00:29:55,215
And gross, distracting and gross.
360
00:29:55,215 --> 00:29:58,335
We don't want distracting and gross and people aren't paying attention anymore.
361
00:29:58,335 --> 00:30:01,365
They're just getting sick and walking out the cleanup.
362
00:30:02,115 --> 00:30:07,755
Once the actors are off stage, their bloody clothing is removed and brought to a laundry room.
363
00:30:07,755 --> 00:30:14,685
In the theater basement, there are three washing machines, three dryers, a slop sink.
364
00:30:14,955 --> 00:30:16,185
What is it? Slop sink.
365
00:30:18,195 --> 00:30:18,585
Hmm.
366
00:30:19,845 --> 00:30:27,405
I guess it's one of those big sinks that you have in a basement, you know, that you throw like paint in and stuff like that.
367
00:30:27,675 --> 00:30:33,015
And tubs where cotton garments are soaked, the blood comes out of the polyester items more easily.
368
00:30:33,555 --> 00:30:37,935
Some of the clothing is hosed down as soon as it comes off of a performer's body.
369
00:30:38,215 --> 00:30:40,815
There are spares for two show days.
370
00:30:40,815 --> 00:30:42,705
Oh yeah, yeah.
371
00:30:42,705 --> 00:30:48,485
You have to have two costumes on Like on Sundays or Saturdays, when or Wednesdays when you have two shows.
372
00:30:49,865 --> 00:30:55,475
Cuz if they're all soaked and getting wet and drying, you're gonna have to have other stuff.
373
00:30:56,825 --> 00:31:02,315
Yeah, I've done many, many Broadway shows, but this is my first show dealing with blood on this scale.
374
00:31:02,375 --> 00:31:07,865
So Jess Galvin, the wardrobe supervisor, it does create some challenges.
375
00:31:08,255 --> 00:31:09,845
Blood splatters.
376
00:31:10,860 --> 00:31:14,910
So we're always on the lookout for blood on costumes in random places.
377
00:31:16,980 --> 00:31:21,060
Gro, when the show stars said the effects are key to making the show work, I agree with him.
378
00:31:21,630 --> 00:31:25,950
Sweeney Todd needs effects and it needs blood and it needs violence.
379
00:31:26,250 --> 00:31:34,200
The thing is, the reason it needs blood is because most of the time you see a lot of blood like that When he is slitting throats.
380
00:31:34,500 --> 00:31:37,250
He's also singing this, this beautiful ballad.
381
00:31:38,085 --> 00:31:44,615
And the, the, the contrast is hilarious.
382
00:31:45,195 --> 00:31:51,105
It really, it's funny because he's slitting their throats while he's singing this beautiful song.
383
00:31:51,105 --> 00:31:53,505
And the more blood there is, the more contrast there is.
384
00:31:53,595 --> 00:31:56,205
And, and the funnier it is.
385
00:31:56,745 --> 00:31:58,005
It, it's, it's incredible.
386
00:31:58,345 --> 00:32:00,895
I know it doesn't sound funny, but it's funny.
387
00:32:01,435 --> 00:32:05,635
Yeah, so Groin, the show Star said the effects are key to making the show work.
388
00:32:05,725 --> 00:32:10,285
It's such an amazing reaction when people see the chair happening for the first time.
389
00:32:10,285 --> 00:32:16,405
See, this is what I was saying, or the blood coming out for the first time, he said, and it's a lot of fun for me.
390
00:32:16,735 --> 00:32:21,745
My hands are doing these dark, twisted things while this singing is pretty romantic.
391
00:32:21,865 --> 00:32:24,475
Hey, am I a genius? I didn't even read this before.
392
00:32:25,615 --> 00:32:28,105
See? That's why this is my job.
393
00:32:28,465 --> 00:32:31,975
And I think that's the rub that Sondheim had in mind.
394
00:32:31,975 --> 00:32:33,235
Thank you Josh.
395
00:32:33,235 --> 00:32:33,505
Grin.
396
00:32:34,585 --> 00:32:35,335
Oh my God.
397
00:32:36,565 --> 00:32:41,485
See, I didn't even read that, and that's exactly what I said, isn't it? You heard it for yourself and I swear to God I didn't read it.
398
00:32:43,075 --> 00:32:45,315
And there's a couple other plays on here, but I think that's good for today.
399
00:32:45,715 --> 00:32:46,745
That was a lot of fun.
400
00:32:46,750 --> 00:32:47,915
I wanna do that more often.
401
00:32:48,005 --> 00:32:51,395
I, I really enjoy doing this because I, I get to.
402
00:32:52,340 --> 00:33:01,100
Read something I find interesting and then I get to give you my little takes on it, given my incredibly vast experience in the theater.
403
00:33:01,100 --> 00:33:07,700
Ah, all righty folks, thank you so much for listening, and if you enjoyed this show, please tell your friends.
404
00:33:07,705 --> 00:33:08,570
It really, I'm not kidding.
405
00:33:08,570 --> 00:33:12,230
I mean, it, it, it really helps if you tell people about this show.
406
00:33:13,100 --> 00:33:19,370
Forward link, a link to them, to the webpage or a link from your favorite podcasting platform.
407
00:33:19,370 --> 00:33:21,560
And if you could give me a review, it would really help.
408
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,495
Just go into Apple Podcast.
409
00:33:24,075 --> 00:33:32,265
If you're on your phone, you just go down to the bottom of the podcast page and you can leave a review or just give it five stars or four or three or two or one.
410
00:33:32,265 --> 00:33:33,855
But don't do that, just five.
411
00:33:34,125 --> 00:33:37,535
And yeah, please, please do that when you get a chance.
412
00:33:37,655 --> 00:33:43,935
And if you would like to correspond with me, just send me an email to greenroom OnAir gmail.com
413
00:33:45,795 --> 00:33:48,125
and I'd be happy to to chat with you.
414
00:33:49,625 --> 00:33:50,615
All right, folks.
415
00:33:50,705 --> 00:33:52,145
Thanks so much for listening.
416
00:33:53,015 --> 00:34:01,650
Have a great week, UN and until next time, as always, I will see you on the boards.
417
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:03,370
Take care everybody.
