There is something different about watching a movie–a real movie with film and sprockets and grainy lines–than watching that same movie on a TV screen. And there is something about watching a movie in the company of 600 people in a darkened theatre, rather than in your living room with your spouse and dog curled up on the couch. I got a chance to experience the difference this weekend as the Victoria Theatre Association presented The Music Man as part of the Michelob Ultra Cool Films Series.

Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man is undoubtedly a classic of the American Musical Theatre. My personal history with this show goes back to when I was a child and the movie’s soundtrack LP was a fixture in my family home–it was one of the few record albums we owned and I think it had to do with the fact that there was a barbershop quartet in the show and my father was a devoted member of the SPEBSQSA! Over the course of my theatre career, I have seen the show several times and stage managed it for a run at a community theatre. It’s a good show with some great songs and Professor Harold Hill is a great character.

The movie certainly didn’t disappoint. But the thrill for me was how much the audience was into it. It was a real collective experience that you only get when you are in a full theatre with the big screen, good sound, and the smell of popcorn wafting up from the lobby.

I think our film series is one of the best programs we have. It’s a real grass roots experience–whole families come, the organ concert by the inimitable Martin Beavis is too much fun, and the whole experience harkens back to a time when going to the movies was a big event. I know that I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of the flicks this summer–and even if it’s not your favorite movie up on the screen, the popcorn’s free and the air conditioning is ON!

-Ken

It’s an amazing feeling seeing the last curtain of the last show of the season come down. And, in this case it was a pretty big curtain—The Phantom of the Opera just closed Sunday night, June 27, after 24 performances in Dayton. That’s 24 standing ovations, 24 perilous falling chandeliers, and 24 disappearing Phantoms—surely we could have predicted a sequel. But, when Phantom first came out, it was a different time and place.

I first saw Phantom in the mid-to-late 1980s in Vancouver, Canada where I was living at the time. I can remember that the theatre community was given FREE tickets to attend opening night and we were seated in the top balcony of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre—a barnlike structure downtown. There was a lot of buzz around the performance because Phantom was being played by Jeff Hyslop, a local boy from Vancouver who would go on to play the role for three years in Toronto. And, it was the Phantom—and we had all heard about the technical wizardry and special effects. The show certainly lived up to the hype and even the assembled guests of the theatre community were impressed—not an easy thing to do!

Flash forward to my next view of Phantom, which was the Friday opening in Dayton. A couple of things struck me as I watched. First, I realized that I didn’t remember much about the plot. I mean I remember the gist of the situation, but vast parts of the show were like new. I would also say that I thought the staging of the show, while still effective, was quite “old fashioned.” There were “black outs” for transitions from scene to scene which made the show a little slow in sections, and the effects were not nearly as “effective” as I had remembered from the initial viewing. Having just gotten back from seeing a lot of shows on Broadway, I don’t think I saw one “black out” amongst them. Today, transitions are much faster and seamless with newer computer controlled technology helping to make this happen. And I think that audiences are looking for a more film like quality to the stage pictures they are looking at in the theatre.

I think it would be really interesting to restage Phantom using today’s technology and sensibilities. It would no doubt be a different show in some ways—different at least technically—but the amazing and timeless songs and story of unrequited love would certainly remain.

-Ken