Musicals - how do people stay sane?

[DrPizza]

Ughhh, practice until late in the evening every day for the last few weeks, I fall asleep hearing the same songs in my head... I dream these songs. I wake up and one song or another from the musical (we're doing Cinderella) is the first conscious thought in my head. I can lip synch this entire thing.

How on Earth can people doing Broadway shows for months or years on end manage to do it without going insane?

/blog /whine. (and I haven't forgotten about goat pics/video, just haven't had time.)

 

[darkxshade]

Because they're doing the same thing over and over again and NOT expecting a different result.

 

[Via]

A guy I knew in college played the same show in NY for almost 8 years.

He said it would make you insane if you don't learn how to effectively check your brain at the door every night.

 

[surfsatwerk]

When you’re a Jet,
You’re a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin’ day.
When you’re a Jet,
Let them do what they can,
You got brothers around,
You’re a family man!
You’re never alone,
You’re never disconnected!
You’re home with your own--
When company’s expected,
You’re well protected!
Then you are set
With a capital J,
Which you’ll never forget
Till they cart you away.
When you’re a Jet,
You stay
A Jet!

 

[GagHalfrunt]

How on Earth can people doing Broadway shows for months or years on end manage to do it without going insane?

From my experience with theater people, they don't manage it.

 

[lxskllr]

I heard an interview with stage people once, and they said they broke the monotony by changing the show in subtle, but to them humorous ways.

 

[manimal]

Does labron lament shooting the same sized ball?


After performing for over 20 years I basically did the same shows over and over. Luckily opera isnt as repeat intensive as say broadbway but the same applies for both.
Most do it because they love it and realistically almost every real musician I have ever known would give their left nut/fem appendage to get a gig that lasts years.

Heck for a few years when I started singing the only paying gigs would be student outreach. Living in a van with other divas doing the same childrens show 4 times a day for months on end tested you. Even in those dark days it was the most fun I ever had.
For most musicians its the other 90 percent of their lives they have a problem with.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/400590/wicked-subtext

 

[manimal]

I heard an interview with stage people once, and they said they broke the monotony by changing the show in subtle, but to them humorous ways.

This as well. We would slowly add comedic bits that we incorporated into the shows and evolved the productions in different ways. For instance we once were doing a run of Faust and we added additional blood to the blood backs that Marguerite used during a specific scene. After 2 months she was basically spraying the front row with stigmata shooting out of her arms. Was TOTALLY hilarious till a group of nuns objected.

Practical jokes as well. I had a crazy buddy that would bring sandwiches with him onstage and eat them facing upstage. Doesn't sound very funny but trust me when a 300 pound guy hands you a sandwich when your not expecting it its funny.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

have you seem the family guy or southpark episode about how broadway shows have sublimited messages? (lots of sex references)

 

[AstroManLuca]

They don't. You have to be insane to want to be in, near, or in any way associated with a musical anyway.

 

[DrPizza]

have you seem the family guy or southpark episode about how broadway shows have sublimited messages? (lots of sex references)

Yep, I made a reference to it tonight. When the prince finds that the shoe fits Cinderella, they exit together, but not out the front door. I reminded all the crew on the headsets that "4 scenes ago, that was the way to the bedroom."

 

[BillGates]

Musicals make me want to die; good thing they're avoidable.

 

[sigurros81]

Ughhh, practice until late in the evening every day for the last few weeks, I fall asleep hearing the same songs in my head... I dream these songs. I wake up and one song or another from the musical (we're doing Cinderella) is the first conscious thought in my head. I can lip synch this entire thing.

How on Earth can people doing Broadway shows for months or years on end manage to do it without going insane?

/blog /whine. (and I haven't forgotten about goat pics/video, just haven't had time.)

Didn't southpark cover this?