Community Theater - good, bad, and everything in between

Cafe Society
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Last night, we attended a performance of *Tommy *presented by alocal company. I must confess, I went expecting a snarkful evening, but it turned out to be pretty good. The staging was well done, and except for some really bad English accents, the performances were good. There were some technical glitches, like when all the women’s mics were off or too low so all you heard were the men singing harmonies. (Not gonna rant about the old days when we were taught to project to the back row and didn’t use mics…) Overall, tho, it was a pleasant performance, and the audience didn’t patronize the actors by leaping up for a standing O.

Over the years, I’ve been to a lot of community theater performances, some better than others. I’ll share a few more later in this thread, but I’d love to hear what others have experienced. So, rave or rant or snark away!!

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There are a couple of very good community theaters in this area and I can’t think of a bad performance.

The best are the Albany Civic Players, which are close to professional quality. I saw them do “The Cripple of Innishmaan”; it was set in Ireland and at no point did I not think the actors were Irish.

The Schenectady Civic Players are also very good, as is the Schenectady Light Opera Company for musicals.

The only thing that stood out as bad was a performance of “Sullivan and Gilbert” where the actor singing “The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song” had a speech problem. It’s hard enough following the lyrics when sung clearly, and it was impossible in this case.

3

I’ve actually participated in community theatre for the past 9 years (McGill’s Gilbert and Sullivan society.) I’ve enjoyed it immensely!

Last year I saw a performance of “Beauty and the Beast” (the Disney version, with the songs) put on by kids. It wasn’t all that bad, except when one of the kids sang a song in a completely different key than the accompaniment. But for what it was, it was quite good.

One thing I can’t stand is when an amateur (or professional) performance has canned music for the accompaniment. I’m a musician, and I MUCH prefer live music.

4

Basically I’m an “off off” showcase producer. I’m the assistant artistic director of an acting company in NYC. We are NOT a community theatre but similar.

A year and half ago we did Tennessee Williams In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel. It was the best evening of theatre I’ve ever seen.

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I saw three productions of Tommy in 2009. (City Lights Theater, Ray of Light Theater, and Children’s Musical Theater) They were all competent, but the production that really stood out was by the Children’s Musical Theater. I think they had a larger budget, but what made their version shine was the enthusiasm of the actors and the quality and energy level of the house band.

6

Last week we saw our local university’s summer theater production of “Spamalot.” The kids did a bang-up job and there were a few there who are going to go places, I think. We laughed ourselves goofy.

One rant - they ad-libbed some abrasive political jibes that jarred the light-hearted tone. Not everything has to be political, dear young people.

7

In my hometown there’s a community theater that performs original plays. A relative of mine was involved with this theater for a number of years, so I wound up seeing several shows there.

The one that really stands out in my mind is a biography of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey where the entire cast wore clown costumes. The cast included one of the original Survivor contestants. I realize this sounds totally made up, but I swear it is true.

I also remember seeing a less unusual show that one of the actors had written about his own life. I don’t remember the title, but it could easily have been called The Wonderfulness of Me. I think this sort of thing is why most community theater groups stick to well-known shows.

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When I was in my 20’s, I was in a lot of community theater.
Let me say that at least our group was very dedicated, and most were theater majors at colleges.
There was lots of time spent in rehearsals, lots of prep for costumes and sets and lights, and by the time the shows were up and running, it was pretty damned good stuff! One of the actors went on to make quite a name for himself in theater, and is still doing quiet well!

Granted, I have seen some pretty awful productions - one performance of Cyrano de Bergerac was just wretched…the mustache on Cyrano started to melt half way through the production and slip off (and looked kind of gross hanging from the tip of his nose…), at one point there were to be leaves dropped - indicating Autumn - and they came tumbling down in one big dump and hit the stage so loudly it scared an actor - they forgot lines and you had lots and lots of dead space with actors just looking at each other. I think that production took about 3 hours…and when even parents of the actors are sneaking out, you know it wasn’t good…

I remember a performance of The Mousetrap by a neighboring community theater…it was a stormy night and the show was in a church basement…by the end of the show, the water was about 3 inches deep but the actors plodded on (in every respect) and the audience simply lifted their feet off the floor.

At my university, I saw lots of good shows - but one horrible event was Waiting for Godot…and one actor forgot his line and kept going back to the scene before and it was like watching the same scene loop over and over and over again…by the time the director came in and fed them the lines, the audience was laughing hysterically.

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Ok, I’ll be the mean one.

I’ve seen some shitastic community theater. Hell, I’ve* been in* some shitastic community theater. No, 17 year old twats with no knowledge of history should *not *put on their own self-directed verson of *Hair *- especially when the producer insists it be cut into a “G-rated” show. Ugh. At least my costumes looked good. But that was humiliating all 'round.

No, even your own family doesn’t really want to come see a production of Top Girls. Even Caryl Churchill’s family doesn’t really want to come see a production of Top Girls, I’m pretty sure. God, that show is painful. Painful to watch, painful to be in (once you’re on stage, you never leave. Ever try not to pull focus for an hour of doing nothing? Kill me.)

*South Pacific *is the single most boring show ever. It’s almost tolerable when done by professionals with a generous bar in the lobby. By amateurs, we should just cut out what little incomprehensible plot there is, sing “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Wash That Man” and “Bali Hai” and then go for pizza.

10

I just remembered that there’s an old episode of This American Life where the first act is devoted to the story of a small town production of Peter Pan that went horribly, hilariously wrong. I think it’s actually a college theater and not a community theater, though. Anyway, it’s 23 minutes long and very funny.

11

A few months back, we went to another local group’s production of A Lion In Winter. We weren’t expecting Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn, but we also weren’t expecting the equivalent of a lackluster high school-quality show. The actor playing Richard was apparently directed to show rage throughout the entire production, and he did so by keeping his hands tightly clenched while sporting a perpetual scowl. His hands had to have been killing him by the time it was over. And the guy playing John was either having a bad night or he got the part because he was related to someone. I can’t act, and I’m pretty sure I could have been more convincing than he was.

This next one was a dinner theater near Jacksonville, FL, so not exactly community theater, but close. The owner was rather fond of casting himself in plum roles, but he wasn’t that good. He cast his wife as Miss Mona in Best Little Whorehouse, and she was just terrible!! The only thing that redeemed the evening was the dinner portion was quite good.

And only very loosely applicable to this thread: back in the 60s, just after Jesus Christ, Superstar was released, a local church youth group formed a traveling company to perform it for other local churches. By perform, I mean lip-sync to the recording. OK, it was new and they were super-low-budget and I’m sure it was some sort of fundraiser for them, so I won’t snark on that. On the other hand, apparently the director only knew one dramatic hand gesture and he had everyone using every single time they had to be dramatic.

To demonstrate - stand with your feet slightly apart and your hands held in front of you as if you were holding a long, not-too-heavy item about waist height. Now, move your lower arms up and down about 3", with emphasis on the downbeat. Imagine this done over and over and over again - it becomes absurd, and it was very difficult not to laugh. But they were trying, so the audience was nice. Still, I giggle to remember it.

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We subscribe to a Community Theater across the Bay. They mostly do an amazing job with a tiny stage and what they have. We’ve actually seen quite a few productions we saw on Broadway when we lived back east, and the locals are credible. (They’ve been doing it since 1948.)
It might not be as good on average as what we could see in San Francisco, but it is a lot cheaper, and more importantly, a lot closer. And us going supports people who clearly love what they do.

13

Here in eastern Iowa, which is about as far from a cosmopolitan area as you can get, we actually have a range of community theatre options. They run the gamut from the small-town “let’s put on a show!” esthetic where the theatre is crammed into a tiny upstairs space above a bar, to near-professional-quality productions in nicely renovated buildings. I’ve performed in quite a few shows at several different theaters in these parts. I think it is the passion and dedication that makes a show interesting to watch, not the scenery budget or experience of the cast.

Well, allow me to rant instead. I studied acting in my college days. Projection was a key part of study, not just for singing, but for all your dialogue. Play to the back of the house! This isn’t television!

Unfortunately, many audience members think it IS like television, where everything is delivered right to your ears. And many actors now don’t learn about projection, and think a regular speaking voice is just fine for the stage. My local community theatre group (the near pro-quality one) has recently started micing ALL their shows. They’ve used mics for musicals forever, but they’ve gotten complaints from audience members who couldn’t hear during regular dramas and comedies, so now everybody gts electronically amplified. It doesn’t sound right when I’m in the audience (the voices should be coming from the actors, not the speakers), but it’s a lost cause.

Good for your audience! The obligatory standing O is a spreading abomination - something that should be reserved for truly transcendent or especially moving performances is becoming merely commonplace. How can we show our appreciation for a really great performance, if only adequate ones get standing ovations? Leaping ovations? Spinning ovations? Double-time ovations?

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I went to see “A Chorus Line” recently in the Arboretum. I’m not quite sure where the line between community theater and professional theater is, but I think this Summer Festival is in the blurry area. (Also, it’s had a variety of visions and producers over the years-- summer weather makes revenues hard to predict).

My biggest complaint about the show really is that it just doesn’t have any plot, and some of the subject matter is more than a little depressing, even if presented humorously.

And most of the music is meh.

(The paper grumbled about the cast not matching the characters-- complaining about the blond teenager who danced “I can do this” and expressing the opinion that the performer for “Dance 10, Looks 3” (who started being cast after she got implants and cosmetic surgery) was insufficiently Barbie-like in appearance. I was annoyed by this–I’m willing to suspend some disbelief if the performance is enjoyable, and it mostly was).

But my other complaint is one that I think they should have worked harder to fix-- given the distance between the audience and the performers at an outdoor theater, you need to take extraordinary measures to make it clear which person is the featured performer for various songs. It wasn’t as bad overall as Macbeth a few years back (where all the men in kilts looked alike, and rain beforehand messed up planned lighting changes) but it wasn’t good, and I think better staging and better lighting could have helped a lot.

Re: Standing Ovations-- I think the persons seated behind us were disappointed that there wasn’t more applause and more curtain calls, and an encore, but it was the night after Opening Night, it was a Thursday, the audience was small, and frankly, the performance was enjoyable but forgettable. So we applauded, but I don’t think a Standing Ovation was appropriate.

Also, given the late timing of outdoor theater in this area, encores and such can make a show end really tediously late–which was a problem when I went to see RENT a few years back. The show was better overall–more plot, more catchy music, less of the cast all standing in a line . . . – the audience was packed, and much as I love the song . . . I was tired and ready to go home, and they wanted to give me a public service announcement about at risk teens in the community. No. Just no.

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I went to a small production of “Top Gun - The Musical” a few years ago, because a friend of mine was in it. Small…as in maybe 25 people could fit in the audience.
I thought it was better than decent. Good even, if you go in expecting bad theater.

There was a review in the paper from opening night, and it just ripped the show apart. Having seen it…yeah, it isn’t Broadway. But you really shouldn’t review that level of community theater the same way. IMHO, you don’t go to community theater because you need the best voices, best dancing, best acting. You go because it’s good, and fun, and supports the local arts scene. Anything above that is a bonus.

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I kinda agree and kinda don’t. I know there’s a huge difference between the $20 we paid and whatever a ticket for a Broadway show goes for today, but I feel like if I’m paying, it shouldn’t suck. It should be better than your typical high school production. And you don’t cast an alto to sing something in a first soprano’s range. And I should be able to hear what’s being said or sung.

I think something else that makes a huge difference - I think you can tell when the performers are enjoying what they’re doing and when they’re just going thru the motions. That, more than anything, seems to mark a bad community theater experience.

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I’ll give you that. I guess my point was “don’t be disappointed because you expected Broadway caliber.” Yeah..I don’t expect it to suck. But I’m happy to accept something a little less than perfect.

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Years ago, I went to see The Lion in Winter at a community theater in New Jersey, mostly because it starred my English teacher as Henry II. He (along with the rest of the cast) was great–in fact, he was a much better actor than English teacher.

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I just remembered another sort of community theater that I’ve experienced. My in-laws live in a retirement community that has a little theater group. The director writes original playlets/revues and there are residents who play the parts. My father-in-law loves doing these shows. He’s played a Barney Fife type of character, a Fuller Brush Man, and he was in an old-time radio show revue playing several parts. We happened to be visiting when they had a final rehearsal, so we got to see *almost *what was to presented the next weekend.

It was hilarious! Apart from the surreal nature of a white-haired retiree playing a child, you had some folks who either couldn’t or wouldn’t learn their lines and cues. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt since they’re mostly in their 80s and 90s, and memory can be an issue. My mother-in-law sits off stage and feeds lines to actors who get stuck, but because hearing is also an issue, it’s not exactly a whispered cue. :smiley: And my FIL and others like to ad-lib, which I’m sure just thrills the director and screws up the other actors.

It’s terrible theater but it’s fun entertainment. The performers have fun, the audience gets lots of laughs, and the community raises a little bit of money for the general fund. I think tickets are $3. And according to my MIL, the shows are very popular and are always sold out. No one expects Tony-worthy performances but everyone has a good time. What more could one want??

20

I’ve seen a lot of community theater, and was in a few productions back in my 20’s. Most were good, there was a production of A Man For All Seasons that was amazingly well acted. For the worst I’ve seen:

There was a production of West Side Story where the director/choreographer decided the best way to choreograph the fight scenes was: have 'em really fight. Between that and having a lead actress whose voice was too timid to be heard, it was a long evening.