Re: Pshychoderelict, Quad and Puppetry on stage

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>re: Quad on stage:  "I'm thinking the movie would be a better starting 
>point for a Broadway show than the rock opera.  It's got a fairly definite 
>progression, if not a plot, and you could hit the high spots on stage. 
>Party, fight with mom and dad, party, vomit at work, party, fight on the 
>beach, party, have sex, party, take train to Brighton, crash, rebirth. 
>How's that?"
>
>If that happens, I may switch over to the Mark Leaman camp of 'OH NO!  
>Don't do that to my Quad!'
>
>This is a huge hole in the movie.  All plot, no depth.  Robbed of the inner 
>turmoil in Jimmy's head, it becomes just a nostalgia piece. >I hope the 
>stage version can avoid this fate.

Words (as in songs) are always a very flexible medium.  You can present all 
sorts of subtleties and the reader's imagination takes off with pictures and 
scenes and interpretations in all directions.  Movies (as they're currently 
made) limit what you can show, because there's no narrative in the sense 
that books or lyrics have.  There's only action, and no commentary.  Plays 
are even more limited, as you have time and special effects constraints that 
you don't have when you're shooting movies, and there are no close ups to 
show subtle facial expression.  So, you always lose something in the 
translation from words to action, but then, you gain an advantage on the 
side of visual art.

The advantage that a traditional musical has is great scenery, colorful 
costumes, entertaining movement, and live music.  All the drama has to be 
painted in broad strokes, as it's seen from a distance by a (hopefully) 
bedazzled audience.  With all that going on, forget dialog--inner turmoil 
has to be represented by the choreography.  A good choreographer is up to 
this--it's their job.

I can see PSYCHODERELICT modern and stripped down.  I think it would play 
very well against stark black and white, with maybe some shades of gray and 
a bright red silk dress for the gal.  There's enough sex and menace in it to 
keep the audience watching even though the cool, detached musical segments.

QUAD is something else, though.  It's conceived as a hot piece, so it needs 
lots of scenery and conflict and movement.  The movie moved very well.  The 
Who's stage production was actually terrific, and the three or four 
characters expressed the basic conflict and resolution extremely well.  But, 
I don't know that they'll find anybody on Broadway who could carry the whole 
thing like Roger did, so if they're going to emphasize any of the deeper 
interpretations of the piece, it will have to be embedded in the action.  
The choreographer had better be really good on this one.  ;)


keets