Directing Journal Entry 7: Legally Blonde

This week I finished the blocking for both scenes, and went to see a show! I saw Legally Blonde at the JPJ a few nights ago, and loved it. One of my favorite parts were how smooth the scene changes were. Elle would be on stage at the end of one scene, and the set would change around her without a blackout, and then she would just keep going. It was all very artfully done. My favorite scene change was when her boyfriend came to pick her up at her sorority house, and as they kissed, the scene changed into the restaurant that they were going to. While it seems that to pull off a beautiful change like that, you would need wither a lot of crew, or you would need to train the actors to do it well, and it seems like it could be difficult to orchestrate, depending on how loud the furniture is, and how much backstage space one has, I would love to try something like that. It was impressive.
Another thing I noticed was the large number of times someone changed clothes on stage. Elle changed dresses a couple of times, and one of the boys changed into a different suit as well. I think it must take a lot of specific planning and choreographing just of the change to make it so that the changes are seamless, don’t take too long, and don’t malfunction, causing the actor to flash the audience.
I also noticed throughout the show that there were a few bumps where things did not quite go as planned. The actress playing Elle was supposed to tie one of the men’s ties, but she got the sides confused, and eventually just let him do it. However, the way she covered made it a lot less noticeable. Also, the biggest blip in the show was when the power flickered out and all the lights and sound cut midway through a song. The actress just stopped singing, and she and her partner stood frozen, like a dear in the headlights for a moment or two until they received some sort of signal, probably from backstage, and then they ran off in semi-darkness. Moments later, an announcer came on and told the audience that the show would return in a few minutes. They had to heat back up their lights, cue up their sound track, and check the all of the speakers for potential damage. The process ran smoothly and relatively quickly, and when the actors returned to the stage, they seemed to have had their confidence restored. I think that the situation probably fell directly to the director, and the actors probably sought him or her out as soon as they got offstage to try to figure out what was going on. The director had to figure out what to do with the actors, where to start the show up again, get someone to test and warm up all of the electronics, and communicate everything to everyone. I have absolutely no idea how I would deal with such an issue if presented with it, but their solution seemed to be pretty professional. To have the actress continue to sing without her music, lights, or microphone would be absurd in such a large space, though it might make sense on our stage, if everything was acoustic, and if there was enough light to see the actors.
Besides the blips in the show, small and large, It was well done, the colors and costumes were coordinated perfectly, the lights complimented everything beautifully, the actors never seemed to move without meaning, nor did they ever do anything that seemed out of place or out of character. The dogs were trained well and were used sparingly enough that they did not distract the audience from the play. The sets were simple yet beautiful and convincing. They all shared the same backdrop, lighted differently for different times of day, and had only a few pieces of furniture each, sometimes only a door, but the way the actors lived in the space convinced the audience of its reality. The songs were very funny and catchy, and the dances were great as well. Overall, it was a great play, and I think the director as well as the actors did a very nice job.