Hollywood2020

WOMAN IN WHITE ANDREW LOYD WEBBER IN 3D SETS

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S "WOMAN IN WHITE" may just have the most impressive 'virtual' sets in the world. This blogger Joyce Schwarz, author and emerging media consultant was stunned to see the amazing backdrops at a Broadway preview of the play.

WOMAN IN WHITE POSTER can't even hint at the amazingly modern 3D sets the show features on Broadway.

NEW YORK TIMES  SAYS 1ST PLAY WHERE COMPUTER ANIMATED IMAGES DOMINATE STAGE... According to the NEW YORK TIMES reports, "It is the first Broadway show in which computer-animated images completely dominate the stage. Projections appear on six, 16½-foot-tall curved gray screens that move around the edge of the stage in a circle. Think of the computer animation in a Pixar movie like "Toy Story," with a more realistic, less cartoonish look. The setting can change instantly: as two characters tour an estate, the actors stay put as the background dissolves from one room to another. Or, the animation can take the audience through a three-dimensional environment, over fields, houses, churches and graveyards."

THE NEW YORK TIMES quotes: "I want the theater to have some of the visual scope and sense of movement that cinema has," said William Dudley, the show's set and video designer, and the creator of the novel animation effects. "Directors often talk about breaking through the fourth wall. I want to break through the second wall, the back wall."

BEYOND PHYSICAL SETS...

For "Woman in White," adapted from Wilkie Collins's 1860 novel, Lord Lloyd Webber wanted so many locations, Sir Trevor (his famous director) said, that elaborate physical sets would not work. Webber saw Mr. Dudley's animations for Tom Stoppard's 2002 play "The Coast of Utopia" at the National Theater, directed by Sir Trevor, and he was hooked.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT THE SETS: Matt Wolf wrote in Variety that the projection "seems, thank heavens, to have simmered down." Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph "What's required, surely, is an authentically Victorian atmosphere, not something that looks like an out-of-focus video game."

Dudley reportedly got the idea for 3D animations watching his son play a video game. He also thinks that video-game-style animation might attract young people to the theater.

MODERN ZOETROPE:

Dudley is said to have been inspired by a Victorian Zoetrope parlor toy that whirls to create the impression of a moving picture --you've probably seen them in museums or old arcades-- a figure looks like he is boxing or a girl is dancing. It's a bit like a top spinning.

The scenes have been compared to a Merchant and Ivory look. Many of the audience members that this blogger Joyce Schwarz, emerging media consultant talked with at intermission were not impressed. Plus many feel the musical itself is a real "downer" because it is a bit ghoulish. The sets are spectacular-- too much spectacle though that may overpower the story, let's see what the people have to say. Here are some links to other views on this attempt to break the second wall.Woman in White | The Musical, The Woman In White @ Palace Theatre, London The Woman In White @ Palace Theatre, London

He is aided by a visionary set design by William Dudley, which employs huge video walls that engulf the set. Apparently 7 kilometres of video cables are ... www.musicomh.com/theatre/woman-in-white.htm - 20k - Cached The Woman in White The new bit is in director Trevor Nunn's use of vast, Cinerama-style video screens to provide sets and backdrops from mansion houses to grand staircases, ... www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/ review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000652965 - 45k - Nov 15, 2005 - Cached

HOLLYWOOD2020 REVIEWS ODD COUPLE ON LOCATION ON BROADWAY

Hollywood2020 blogger Joyce Schwarz was on location at a preview of the Broadway Play the ODD COUPLE on Broadway...and what an evening it was....5th row stage left Orchestra seat to what is basically a sold out show.

ODD COUPLE BROADWAY POSTER Starring as the classic pair this time is Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in Neil Simon's timeless tale.  See the poster at left-- the poster is just fabulous -- Hollywood2020 blogger Joyce SchwarzI wishes the play was as stunning as the artistic depiction.

BEST ACTOR IN THE PLAY --  Our bet for best actor in the ODD COUPLE is Lee Wilkof, a longtime stage performer with numerous credits to his name, but best known for originating the roles of Seymour Krelbourne in the original production of Little Shop of Horrors and Sam Byck in the original production of Assassins. Click on thumbnail and you'll see Wilkof is on the right of Nathan Lane in the cast photo, he plays a plucky henpecked oldster and walks across the stage with such aplomb to welcome Broderick into the apartment for the first time that he deserves his own round of applause.

      This ODD COUPLE rendition is the same story with new characters -one sloppy (rather surprisingly Nathan Lane) and one neat (Broderick)--who according to Broadway.com are arguably the most memorable pair of characters that the successful playwright has ever written. It debuted on Broadway in 1965 and spawned an extremely successful 1968 movie and sitcom that ran for five seasons. BACKSTAGE does a better job than we could ever do -- with an interview with both of the leads-- here's the link for those of you hungry for an insider view: Lane, Broderick, and Mantello Talk About Everything

ODD COUPLE RUN SOLD OUT IN ADVANCE: The run was sold out before opening night, taking in roughly $7 million the day the box office opened and ultimately racking up $21 million in advance sales according the the BACKSTAGE reports. 

FINANCIAL TIMES REVIEW -- I have to agree with this reviewer the laughs are there-- they just don't come off..."While theatregoers will probably leave the Brooks Atkinson happy, anyone hoping for a high-octane evening is likely to be disappointed. Neil Simon’s story, which takes place in 1965, with the newly separated Felix Unger moving into divorced Oscar Madison’s eight-room flat on Manhattan’s Riverside Drive, is as surefire as ever. All the laughs are there; only occasionally are they detonated."

ODD COUPLE SET -- amazingly great and the quick change from slob city to neatnik pad -- is TRULY AWESOME.....but you leave feeling something is missing....is it the casting? Is it the direction? We'll let those other Broadway critics ring in with their opinions as the reviews come in when the play really starts on December 1-- it's just in previews now...

NERDS NEW MUSICAL TAKES GATES & JOBS TO BROADWAY

NERDS:// A MUSICAL SOFTWARE SATIRE hits Broadway Sept. 20 to Oct 1. According to 'Playbill", a new musical about the computer and software revolution, with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as center-stage characters, will play the New York Musical Theatre Festival Sept. 20-Oct. 1. Nerds://A Musical Software Satire was written by composer Hal Goldberg and lyricist-librettists Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner. Allen-Dutton and Weiner co-wrote Off-Broadway's hip-hop-flavored Bomb-itty of Errors, a fresh take on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. Andy Goldberg (Bomb-itty of Errors) directs the production, with choreography by Dan Knechtges (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).

Colon and Back Slashes Part of Play Title:

The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Sharon Fallon, Vicki Halmos and Matt Wolf present Nerds, which includes the colon and forward slashes (typical of a URL) as part of its title.

SONGS INCLUDE:  Stroll Through the PARC," "A Revolution Starts with One," "Let's Merge" and "I've Gotta Lotta Money". The Nerds playing schedule is Sept. 20 at 8 PM, Sept. 24 at 8 PM, Sept. 25 at 8 PM, Sept. 28 at 1 PM, Sept. 29 at 4:30 PM and Oct. 1 at 4:30 PM. For moreinfo: visit www.nerdsthemusical.com.

To see what the press is saying link to:  Nerds://A Musical Software Satire. According to Todd Bishop of the "SEATTLE POST INTELIGENCER"..." A lot of it we remembered firsthand -- our first computer, whether it was a Macintosh, or the first time we used DOS," said Jordan Allen-Dutton, who wrote the musical with fellow 28-year-old Erik Weiner. "A lot of this stuff we have memories of from being kids, but then we filled that in doing a lot of research."

GATES AS RAPPER:

The SEATTLE PI story even reveals some of the lyrics to the musical's rap song which says: One of the songs is the "Windows Rap," in which Dugan, as Gates, raps:

I could buy the whole world now with only just a third

Of my fortune, I'm cool now, haven't you heard?

This Microsoft Office is no longer for a nerd

My Outlook Excels me to my PowerPoint -- Word!

MICRO-SPOOF

Any word from Microsoft or Gates on the depiction? -- Seattle PI reports:

Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said it at least sounded like something people there might like. He pointed out that Microsoft often spoofs itself in irreverent videos starring executives and employees shown at internal events.On the Net:

SONGS ONLINE:

Access online clips of two songs from the musical: www.famouslastnerds.com/work.html