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Holiday Standards
Nov. 28th, 2004 11:35 pmSince I had a lot of crafting and household projects that needed to be finished this evening, and since I was too exhausted and frustrated from work to contemplate anything that required more effort than walking across the living room, I decided to spend a decent chunk of tonight watching the new musical version of 'A Christmas Carol.' The cast looked good, the story was one that was familiar enough that it didn't require a lot of attention, and I feel that it kind of is my duty to support musicals in almost any form.
While it wasn't deathless art by any stretch of the imagination, this fell solidly in the realm of 'not bad.' The lyrics were trite, but the imagery was nice, and they managed to add a few details that made it at least a bit more than a generic clone of every other version of the story. However, having watched it, I can only think of one thing.
With special effects and modern stagecraft, they can make a whiz-bang show. They can make amazing and impressive ghosts, they can have ooky-spooky graves and flying fairies and a nigh-magical rejuvenation of Scrooge at the end. But even with the miracles of movie technology, there is a limit to how cute and frail they can make Tiny Tim. There are physical maximums on how big his eyes can be and how waifish he appears and how sweet his sad little voice is. And eventually theatre is going to reach a point where, in order to avoid being outstripped by the rest of the production, and to continue to appear even more pathetic than before, Tiny Tim will need to be played by a three-legged basset hound puppy wearing a floppy hat with a sprig of holly on the brim. It's the only possible outcome, given how things are progressing.
While it wasn't deathless art by any stretch of the imagination, this fell solidly in the realm of 'not bad.' The lyrics were trite, but the imagery was nice, and they managed to add a few details that made it at least a bit more than a generic clone of every other version of the story. However, having watched it, I can only think of one thing.
With special effects and modern stagecraft, they can make a whiz-bang show. They can make amazing and impressive ghosts, they can have ooky-spooky graves and flying fairies and a nigh-magical rejuvenation of Scrooge at the end. But even with the miracles of movie technology, there is a limit to how cute and frail they can make Tiny Tim. There are physical maximums on how big his eyes can be and how waifish he appears and how sweet his sad little voice is. And eventually theatre is going to reach a point where, in order to avoid being outstripped by the rest of the production, and to continue to appear even more pathetic than before, Tiny Tim will need to be played by a three-legged basset hound puppy wearing a floppy hat with a sprig of holly on the brim. It's the only possible outcome, given how things are progressing.
