I thought I wouldn't like it, but I did like it.
I've seen the movie, which was terribly, and I was familiar with the storyline that thinly holds together the songs. It was what I think is called a "jukebox musical".
Before the show we were taken to lunch at a tourist destination next door to the Winter Garden Theater - Ellies Broadway Diner or some such name. I didn't choose the place and upon entering was greeted by one of the wait staff screaming some pop tune of the past, "Come-onna-my-house". It was one of those singing waiter places. Awful.
What struck me was the feeling that the waiters and waitresses who were entertaining us while ignoring their duty to serve us and get our orders correct, while competent singers, obviously trained and just putting in their time while waiting for that big break, felt themselves to be above the material. Their perfunctory performances lacked any feeling for the soul of the songs. Sure, it's just a bunch of twenty year old kids forced to sing songs written and popularized forty years before they were born - they can be excused, can't they?
Contrast that with the opening number next door - a twenty year old kid singing a song written twenty five years before she was born, she BELIEVED it. She wanted to be on that stage, singing that old song, finding it's soul and the audience never felt her just going through the motions.
That's what separates the stars from the waiters.
Some really good insight. Attitude might make all the difference in the world!
ReplyDeletethe first step in achieving anything is believing it can happen.
ReplyDeleteI think that's true about what separates the stars from the waiters. I also think that if you're going to do something, then do it well. Plus you never know who's eating in your annoying singer waiter cafe! Glad you liked Mamma Mia. It's a fun play.
ReplyDeleteThat's right! You might have just slung a plate of hash down in front of Zeigfeld.
ReplyDelete