I love live theater. In movie or television films they have a million retakes and an editing staff to get the perfect finished product. You can watch final celluloid time after time and nothing will change. The script is delivered the same. The background is always the same. The lighting is the same.
Live theater on the other hand is constantly changing. Each night there is a different audience. The mood of the actors might change since they feed off the energy projected from an audience. The lighting guy may miss a mark. An actor may misread a cue. A mike might short out. All dynamics are in constant flux.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t go to a live show in hopes of something going wrong. Rather, when something doesn’t go as planned I marvel at the talent and quick reflexes of performers to go with the flow, recover from mishaps, turn a negative into a positive, not miss a beat and continue. After all, the show must go on. An audience member actually experiences a live show with the actors, feeling more like a participant than an observer. You can go to the same live show again and again, and each performance will be different.
I’ve seen many live performers through the years – everyone from an eighty-year-old Bob Hope who could still deliver an impeccable laugh line to Colm Wilkinson whose rendition of Bring Him Home in Les Miz never failed to leave me breathless. But I love local theater as well and the talent there can be just as phenomenal.
San Jose, CA has a new place to enjoy live theater at an affordable price called the Retro Dome. It’s really an old movie theater that’s been slightly remodeled to accommodate live productions. I’ve been to a few performances there and highly recommend it. The talent is fantastic and the shows family friendly.
A few weeks ago we had a girls’ afternoon out. A few of us did lunch at Mimi’s and caught a matinee of The Andrews Sisters, a live show tracing the life and times of the famous trio from the 40s and 50s. Imagine our surprise when Maxine slightly tripped on one of the steps during a song and dance routine. The audience gasped but Maxine continued on, only missing a couple of beats before she caught up with Patty and Lavern. When they took their bows at the end of the show, Maxine got the most applause! What a trooper!
Has our society as a whole lost the ability to enjoy a live performance? It seems like we want everything perfect. Let’s take President Obama’s inauguration for example. The world class string quartet consisting of Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill and Gabriela Montero – played instruments to pre-recorded music. Jennifer Hudson lip synced our national anthem at the Super Bowl. A seven year old girl had to lip sync at the opening Olympic ceremonies in 2008 because the real singer wasn’t considered pretty enough. I don’t blame these performers for wanting to appear flawless. I blame fans who expect perfection. Just being good is not good enough anymore.
I’m not saying we as fans should lower our expectations, but perhaps modify them slightly. If you live in a digitally altered voice pitch, air brushed photo, computer generated special effects world long enough, you become out of touch with reality. This spills over into our work and family lives. Our expectations become higher than what anyone can deliver.
I love live theater. It helps me stay real. Learning to enjoy some of the imperfections that come with life can help one keep perspective. After all, whether perfect or not, the show and life must go on!
