It's Show Time
“It’s time to put on make up, it’s time to dress up right, it’s time to get things started….” For many of us, theatre is our church. It’s everything, our hopes and dreams. It’s where our spirit lives. The Broadway Musical is the pinnacle for an actor. It says, “I’ve arrived! I was good enough to play with the best of them, in a live performance. The bus ticket, sore feet and struggling were worth it.
Manhattan has a festival for everything, Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, TriBeCa Film Festival and in annual recognition of theatre, The Tonys! Time to celebrate the bright lights of Broadway and the best shows of the year.
So many shows to see, interviews to do and hands to shake. Tonys are to New York what the Oscars are to LA. When we think of Broadway, we think of singing, dancing and lights. Its story telling at it’s finest. Both coasts produce film, but there is only one Broadway and it’s right here, just up the street.
If we knew our neighbors, we would step into the elevator, say ‘hello’ and ask how the show is going. In this town, the guy or girl next door, is the sound engineer, lighting designer, prop master, set designer, costume designer, director, choreographer, producer, playwright and of course ‘the talent’. These pretty people, are often triple threats, who sing, dance and act their hearts out for a shot at performing on our stages. Who knows what talent lurks in your building, unassumingly washing their socks like everybody else in the laundry room.
The word “play” in English has a wonderful connotation. It’s no accident that a painting is called a ‘work’ but a piece of theatre is ‘play.’ The actors are playing a game of make believe, feeding off each other’s energy on a grand scale, but in this game there are no ‘do overs’, no retakes. No matter what happens, the show must go on. The adrenaline rush of playing to an audience, the interaction with the other players and trance like immersion into a character is everything. Here is where cast and audience simultaneously share moments in real time.
Sometimes it feels as though just getting ready for the Tony’s is a production in itself. Emerging oneself in the shows, discovering backstage intrigue, keeping up with what’s going on in this world, consumes many of my colleagues. Just like a show, it requires, wardrobe, makeup, heels you can move in and plenty of energy.
There are four kinds of theatregoers:
Students of the performing arts, who will gladly stand all the way in the back through any performance just to be able to see it.
Tourists, that buy tickets to the biggest, most commercial spectaculars because it’s their chance to say they I saw some theatre, satisfied that they took in some culture and yet still might not get what all the hype is about.
Critics, both professional and amateur alike. The expert whose seen it all, ‘with I dare you to impress me’ attitude. They take the fun out of exploring that new restaurant you been hearing about.
Theatre fans, who are the dreamers, begging you to suspend our disbelief for an hour and a half. We go to support friends who have been working on the show or who are in it. We are thrilled to be invited to the theatre, a luxury we appreciate deeply. For the theatre lover, it’s one of the reasons we live here. Even if we could have a much more comfortable life somewhere else, but someplace else is not here. The summer stock barn or community theatre is simply not Broadway.
So we prepare for the Tonys. We see as many shows as possible and know we are privileged to do so. We watch with unabashed glee as some of the worlds best talent give they’re all, to dazzle us, as we consider the best of the best in live theatre. Here’s to another great year in New York.
Tags:BroadwayFashion
