Okay, first of all I'm really enjoying this web forum.  It's nice to share ideas and get a sense of theatre in other places.

Last night, however; I saw what has to be considered at best a mediocre production of Lend Me a Tenor.  I won't be too negative for several reasons: 1) the production has potential; the cast for the most part is solid, but they lacked direction, and 2) four of the cast members have been directed by me!  While the performances they gave for me were great, some of them have done even better work, so I don't think this is an ego thing for me (the preceding statement makes sense in my head!).  Last night, though, none of them reached anywhere close to their potential.  The show itself was too slow.  It is, after all, a farce.  Several of the characters had no development and at times the show seemed to drag off of the already slow tempo. 

A couple of questions and I'll be done!

1) As I am not familiar with the script, can someone tell me if the end of the show calls for a slapstick, speed through of the visual hightlights of the story?  If so, this is the tempo they should have aimed for.

2) The audience loved...let me repeat!... LOVED it.  As my wife and I left the theatre, we overheard comments ranging from, "That was fabulous!" to "The other theatres in town could learn a few things from these guys."  Granted, we were the youngest people by far in the audience... at least by 10 years (we're in our early 30's.)  But my question is: would community theatre audiences know a good production if they saw one.  Would their expectation level be raised, or would they even care?

Any thoughts?

I sure don't have an answer for you but I agree wholeheartedly.  I have been to absolutely terrible productions - where I would have walked out except that it would have been noticed by others.   At the same time friends have just loved the show.

I have questioned people who just loved the show and tried to pin them down on what they liked about it but got no real answers.  Part of it is the yardstick.  What do they have to compare it to?  Part of it are the friends and neighbors who were in the production.  It is hard to be critical when your best friend is on stage.  Part of it is that we are overly critical.  Bad lighting, poor sound effects (like a recorded phone ringing), late entrances, and actors on stage not being in the moment when they don't have any lines drives me round the bend but others don't seem to notice.

Several years ago I saw George Segal, Buck Henry and Wayne Knight on Broadway in "ART".  Wayne was not in the same league as George and Buck on stage.  There was SUCH a difference in experience and, frankly, ability between them that the show seemed disconnected.  Yet it was Wayne Knight that got the standing ovation.  Go figure - it happens on Broadway too.  Of course being in a popular TV show (at the time) didn't hurt.  And I would think that people who see shows on Broadway would be more sophisticated than that.

We were not the first to notice this:  Go back and re-read the "Speak the Speech" from Hamlet:

"Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve . . ."

1. I haven't seen the script either but my theater did the show last year, and they did do the speed through, so it's either in the script, or the theater you saw copies us! Either way, the scene in our version last around 2 minutes, so they should give you the idea of tempo.

2. This is a deeper question. You sorta see this same thing with movies. A lot of the big summer blockbusters are by no means "good" movies, but they are entertaining. I think most theater going audiances today are just looking for entertainment, and not necessarily looking for "great theater". Of course if you give them "great theater" there will be a better chance of them being entertained by it. I also think if the consistently see "great theater" thier expectations will be raised.

I also see this from the other side. If you have actors who have only worked with so-so directors, they are amazed when they work with a director who is trying to do exceptionally good theater.

Dan