Wonder Woman!

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So last night we had an actress friend over for drinks.  She’s currently in a long-running musical production, and was quick to point out her part’s performance challenges.

“I’m doing a number and there’s so much smoke on stage, I can’t see the conductor.  Another time, I’m singing behind a scrim, and have to make these huge movements so I can give the orchestra tempo. I’ve got one exit that is downright terrifying.  I never know if I’m going to be catapulted into a backstage brick wall! And before one entrance, I’m bent over like a hunchback, because my wig is like, four feet tall and I’m crammed into a space half my size, and it’s kinda hurting my injured leg. I’m supposed to be able to act during all this, fer Christ-sake?”

Here’s typical example of how musical performers are frequently overwhelmed by the amount of craft needed for performance. Conducting an orchestra while behind a scrim and suffocating in smoke is a craft! Often, skills required on the musical stage become so numerous that acting becomes secondary, and a far second at that. This topic is rarely if ever discussed in modern dramatic texts or classrooms, yet these are the first problems every musical performer faces once out in the marketplace, and for decades after. In performance, my friend has to prioritize differently than actors in film or on the dramatic stage:

1.) Find oxygen, BE ABLE TO BREATHE! Surrounded by smoke, it sometimes feels like you’re in a steam bath, and frequently difficult to breathe, never mind see.

2.) DON’T GET HURT!  In the musical theater, long before performance excellence, safety is every actor’s first concern.  Like in sports, injury is part of our game. Although often accidental, you don’t  add to those odds ignoring instances that can be made safer. DON’T smash into the wall!

3.) DON’T LOSE TEMPO with the orchestra!  When you’re off, you’re off, and the audience can always tell.

4.) In this chaotic circus, ACT AS WELL AS POSSIBLE.  Even try to have some fun, and improvise a bit (Good luck with that!)

This list defines the difference between libretto performance and acting in other mediums.  Other actors rarely have to deal with this stuff, and never must they handle it eight shows a week, four hundred times a year. My friend is well-crafted.  She has decades of experience, and an array of acting tricks and techniques.  Even with all these tools, at times she finds acting on the musical stage difficult, even impossible at times.

Imagine trying to do her performance without firm grasp of libretto-craft.

This is why it is so important to KNOW craft rules and techniques, rather than to only be able to guess at them. Most performers don’t have firm grasp of craft, and crumble under pressures this actress overcomes eight shows a week.  Without craft to rely upon, even under no duress acting well is impossible. Without craft, acting well while surrounded by a cloud of smoke is doubly impossible (if there is such a thing.) Yet no matter how absurd the obstacles, my crafted friend makes acting well not only possible, but probable.

That’s the importance of craft and experience, and only one of those two performance essentials can be taught: Craft!

-Burke