Sunday, June 26, 2011

off off off off off off Broadway

Let me first start by saying I am pretty realistic about my position as director of a community youth theater...oops I mean theatre.  I know we have limited resources, but we have a lot of talent and even more enthusiasm. I take my job seriously... quite seriously...I even have  the occasional "the show is not ready" nightmare. But I know my job is mainly to facilitate a bunch of  wonderful kids who love theatre as much as I do and want to put on a great show.   But like I said, I'm realistic.  We are as far off Broadway as you can get (we're not even close to the Broadway market) but that's okay...that's the reality.  I think we do a great job with what we got...and I am in no way talking about the talent. These kids blow me away sometimes...they are truly awesome.  The trick of surrounding yourself with talented people works like a charm.

 I guess the point I'm trying to make is that in my almost 4 years as director I have encountered the occasional eye roll,  more than one phony polite smile/nods  from some snobs after the show...let's see, there was the question about my credentials ( I will address that later) and recently, I was FaceBook slammed.
I was blatantly dissed on a FaceBook page.  I was accused of butchering a show ..it was suggested "they' get rid of me...(who ever "they" are)..and even attacked my choreographer ( who happens to be my wildly talented daughter who has been doing this waaaaay longer than I have).  Not since Julie Taymor and the whole Spider Man musical mess, has a director been so abused!!! (yes..I am making that comparison... I'm being realistic, remember)  But like the multi-million dollar Broadway debacle...the "bad press" has caused a windfall of interest and tons and tons of support from theatre lovers near and far.  So there...if I can verbally stick my tongue out at my critic ...I would!!!!!

Now I am empowered to put on a the BEST  SHOW  EVER (which is my intention every year anyway).  When I was the"director" of my kids talent show in elementary school, I was up at all hours trying to figure out the right line up of acts to make the show more entertaining. And we are talking about acts like a boy standing on the stage telling us everything he knows about snakes....I kid you not, that was an act.

 So you see...I do take my job as director very seriously!  So what if it's an off off off off off off Broadway musical...I think we do a great job...hey I've seen shitty shows at Shea's  (alliteration... bonus!!!).  I do appreciate all the support form people who enjoy the process as well as the product. It's all about the journey ...this one just happens to be down a yellow brick road... And as for my credentials.... I have sat through a lot of  BAD shows ( but would never dream of criticizing them publicly).....AND I have Shea's season tickets...so suck on that haters..... just saying...

No comments:

Post a Comment