Well, I've given it a lot of thought. I've had a night to sleep on it, and I've come to the conclusion that the piece of theater I saw last night was the worst thing I have ever seen. Ever. Even the St. Patrick's Parochial School production of "Anything Goes" I saw when I was ten blew this shameful, shameful embarassment out of the water.
They chose a style, Commedia Dell'arte, but did nothing to back up their choice. Commedia isn't just about chasing people around in circles; it has to happen for a reason, and that reason has to be funny! They completely ignored the basic rules of the style, weren't committed to anything their characters did, mumbled the few joke that were funny, and OH, GOD, it was just so AWFUL. I felt so uncomfortable the whole time. If you're going to do something, do it right, for god's sake. I felt like they were just shitting all over the institution of theater (pronounced "insteeteeewshun of theeeataaaaaah"), and it made me hoppin' mad.
I can't help taking comedy seriously! It's very important to me.
The way I felt about this show made me realize that while I'm no expert, I have learned a lot about what makes exciting and interesting theater. Hopefully I can use this knowledge to create something "good" myself sometime soon.
I just thought of another show I enjoyed more than this: this summer I went to Enchanted Forest and saw a buffoonish musical version of "Hansel and Gretel" featuring a fey, obese male in a curly blonde wig playing the Witch, and two over-the-top Kids Incorporated-style child actors as the title characters. It was a Tony winner compared to the train wreck I saw last night.
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