March 31, 2009
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Last Chance for All Shook Up
Folks, this is your last chance to see the only professional production of this fun musical produced to date in the Philadelphia area. Go to http://www.mediatheatre.or
g to get the remaining show times. Audiences have been wowed; standing ovations every night.
I'm not quite ready to write a postmortem yet. I'll wait for next week. It has been generally a great experience. I've not gotten to know many people very well but that's probably as much from hanging back as from the natural distance of being so much older than the rest of the cast. I'm really looking forward to Sweeney where I know the cast will be a mix of older and younger. Speaking of Sweeney, the first meeting is Wednesday night. Seems Pierrot Productions has a tradition of having a party at the start of their spring productions and so we meet on April first. I have no idea who else was cast at this point. Unfortunately, one of the cast of Shook Up is throwing a party after the Wednesday matinee and I will not be able to attend. There's an irony here somewhere.
One of the advantages of not being "in the loop" is that I have not been privy to people's complaints about Media, the hotel, the management, all of which I know are occurring but the details of which I am blissfully unaware. I have felt very good about all of my contacts with the staff of the theater. They are professional and friendly. I'll get more specific next week but suffice to say, I would work for this outfit again in a minute. I do have a general critique, but it applies to all regional non-profits. There has to be a better way of communicating need and soliciting money and tickets than having a pre-curtain speech. It just feels so bush league. Maybe it's just me but I note that, except for some charity appeals, like the Equity AIDS drive, there are not these speeches in the city theatres (NY or Philly). I know that funding is an issue but I favor the kind of appeals I get from Opera Company of Philadelphia; email and direct mail. I know funding is a critical issue. I don't have the magic formula but, is it really necessary to tell people what next season' s schedule is when the audience has that info in their hands and it's posted in the lobby? When I'm an audience member I resent the 10 minutes added to my evening. I come for the show. I want it to start at 8. I actually am less likely to contribute when appealed to in this manner. Then again, I can be a curmudgeon. Perhaps others don't share my feelings.
