Reds, Greens, and Blues

Stage Lights.  They can make or break the mood of any play or musical.  When you go to watch a show and it's a night scene, the stage is dark, yet has enough light to see.  The lighting is what creates unity and harmony within the play and like most other things, requires balance on the stage.  Due to the technical difficulties of a show, a lighting director is needed, preferably one who has worked with a lighting board previously.

Lighting boards can vary in size, complexity, control and effects.  Many standard lighting boards are manual but we are moving towards a more computerized lighting board which demands that the lighting director and lighting crew have training in specific computer programs dealing with lighting.

A lighting director takes into account the space, the director's vision, the script and the actors.  Each play requires different lighting and different lighting techniques for effect, however, each space the play or musical will not be designed or have the capabilities the show requires.  The lighting director also must know about basics about manipulating light to do what the play requires.

Now for some lighting background.  The primary colors of light are red, green, and blue. This differs from print colors and colors because print primary colors are cyan, magenta and yellow while primary colors are red, blue and yellow.  Mixing the primary colors of any of the three basic types will give you different colors. For light, the primary colors will give you white light and mixing print primary colors will give you black.

Lighting is an essential part of productions.  Without it and lighting directors fulfilling the directors dream for the show, show would not have the same impact or feel on its audience.

Musicals made Movies

While I was trying to think of a theatre topic to pick for this week's blog I was cleaning my room listening to Pandora Radio (under the radio station of "Glee Cast: Holiday") and the original cast of "Rent" came on singing "Seasons of Love."  As a Broadway buff, I began comparing the original cast and stage production of "Rent" to the movie and movie production of "Rent" which caused me to think of the many other musicals put to the silver screen.

DVD of Rent, the Musical Movie

Musicals on film date all the way back to the 1920's, when film was first developed.  "The Jazz Singer" released by Warner Brothers Studios was actually the first feature film that was also a musical, so musicals taken from the stage and put to film is no new concept.  Throughout the decades, there have been many Broadway stars and productions that have become overwhelmingly popular due to film.  Many who would not have been able to see a Broadway production were introduced stars such as Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Julie Andrews, Matthew Broderick and John Travolta.  As well as popular stars today bringing attention back to Broadway such as Daniel Radcliffe in "Equus", Julia Roberts in "Three Days of Rain" and Antonio Bandaras in "Nine".  Some recent musicals that have been brought to film have been "Rent", "Chicago", "Hairspray", re-releases of classics such as "Oklahoma!", "Sound Of Music", and "State Fair."

Entire Original Cast of Rent

Due to the extreme differences of stage and film, musicals and plays have a different style and feel when placed on these two different media.  Let's take the musical made movie "Rent" (because I have seen it on Broadway and because I have watched it recently!).  The original production was released in 1991 and was written by Jonathan Larson based on the opera "La Boheme" by Giacomo Puccini.  The film was released in 1995 and was directed by Chris Columbus.  The biggest difference between the two is that the Broadway production is mostly sang with very few dialog while the film kept major songs, turned others to dialog and cut out the rest.  The movie however, did try to stick as close to the original production it could  by having most of the original cast members star in the film.  Another obvious difference the sets.  The Broadway production uses a set staged and changes the atmosphere by changing parts of stage or by the lighting changes, leaving a lot of the setting up to the audience imagination.  The movie was able to take it's audience to the setting of the director's vision for the film. It had a New York City set and ability to clearly show where the characters were interacting.  The setting and special effects of musicals to movies will always be significantly different due to film's ability to be easily altered or re-shot.

This was only one of the many musicals put to film and I encourage all of you to take your favorite movie-musical (admit it, there is at least one) and look deeper into it.  Try to see a stage production or find a stage production filmed version of it.

Other musicals you may be interested in:
Chicago
West Side Story
Hairspray
The Phantom of the Opera

RIT Players

Welcome to the wonderful world of theatre! This new blog' sole purpose is to learn more about any type of theatre. Some posts will speak about specific musicals and plays while others will talk about different behind the scenes aspects such as lighting or the public relations work that goes into producing a show; just to give you a taste of what is to come.  In addition, if any of my readers have suggestions about what to write about I will gladly consider them!

RIT Players logo

For my first post, I would like to talk about a club that I am particularly involved in, the RIT Players.  For some quick background, the RIT Players, found in 1995, is completely student run. The RIT Players produce between 3 and 5 shows per academic year.  Like most technical schools, there is no theatre major at RIT or many opportunities to act.  Due to this, the RIT Players provides an outlet for students interested in any aspect of theatre.  

For instance, I am an actress in a lot of the shows the RIT Players produce but I am also the person who does the advertising and public relations for each upcoming show.  Another friend in the RIT Players is the props master as well as a stagehand.

The range of shows the RIT Players produce have included annual "24 Hour Shows", dramas such as "Stage Directions", modernized and traditional Shakespearean works such as "Much Ado About Nothing", comedies such as "Exit the King", musicals such as "Little Shop of Horrors" and even student written work.  The production for this current quarter will be "Exit the King" and will go up week 8 (February 4th - 6th).   

I encourage anyone interested in theatre and at RIT to check them out!  They meet every Tuesday at 8pm in the 1829 room of the SAU.  You can also reach them through Facebook, Twitter, and their website listed below.

http://www.rit.edu/sg/players/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2201602837

http://twitter.com/RITPlayers