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Final Rehearsals!

I know this show’s lead-up has been truncated, and I apologize! I threw together some videos from tech, to show you a bit behind the scenes – as well as a quick hello from someone you may recognize if you were part of Page to the Stage last year, for Spider’s Web! If you visit our socials, you can also find a reel from the show that our marketing coordinator made.

I am warning you right now: this show is BANANAS. There are maybe…3 serious moments in the entire thing.

Any questions about the tech process??

[embedyt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQZpPcIT7P8[/embedyt]

Understudies!

Hi!

 

Well, I was planning on making a backstage video for you all today, but I ended up having to go on for one of our leads who was not able to perform. I had 12 hours to prepare…it was a wild time!

We don’t always have understudies, just because of logistics, but let me tell you, I will be finding a way to have them from now on! We had TWO leads out, and aside from myself, a gentleman named Josh had to step in to the leading role of Nick Bottom. He went on “book in hand,” which means he had the script for reference, because this part is HUGE, and he had about 24 hours. Tons of lines, lots of songs, dancing, TAP dancing…it’s a lot. Josh KILLED it. He was great.

I went on off book, because I had enough time between scenes to cram in the lines, (I think playing Sherlock worked my memorization muscles…), and I have a weird brain for music so that worked out.

Then, of course, someone had to cover for Josh, because he’s already in the show, in a supporting role. Soooo we pulled in our new Education Director, Brad. The audience was awesome, and we had a ton of fun, even though it was kinda nerve-wracking!

Here’s a pic of me backstage, getting ready to go on!

Have you ever had a last-minute crazy thing happen on a show day???

Hamlet?

While it isn’t strictly necessary to know the show Hamlet in order to follow this one, (this isn’t Hamlet, but the show plays into the story of Something Rotten), it adds a LOT to have some familiarity.

Hamlet, himself, is a Danish Prince in the story. His father has just died, and his uncle marries his mother basically immediately afterward. A guard, Marcellus, has begun to see strange happenings while atop the castle ramparts at night. While patrolling the castle, guards keep seeing what appears to be a ghostly apparition of the dead King. Marcellus, struggling to reconcile what he is seeing with what he thought was real, says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

Here is a silly but useful video that gives you the story of Hamlet in under 3 minutes. I strongly suggest watching it!

Some other quotes from Hamlet that you may have heard…and a reminder, this show is FOUR HUNDRED years old, still performed all over the world, and still referenced in pop culture.

“O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!”
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 2)

“That one may smile and smile and be a villain.”
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 5)

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
(Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”
(Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)
(This is often summarised or misquoted as: ‘There’s method in his madness’)

“To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
(Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1)

“The lady protests too much, methinks.”
(Gertrude, Act 3 Scene 2)
(This is often misquoted as: ‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much’)

“The rest is silence.”
(Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 2)

“Goodnight, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
(Horatio, Act 5 Scene 2)

And, finally, if you’ve ever seen something in a movie or tv show where a character is doing something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that’s from Hamlet (“Alas, poor Yorick!”)!

Hello Again!!

Hi, everyone!

 

I’ve missed you all since Miss Holmes. Apologies for starting late this year! Let’s crash course this thing.

Welcome to Page to the Stage for Something Rotten! For complete transparency, a lot of this post and the next will be info from other sites. We open the show in a few days, and I’m running crazy tying up loose ends.

First, a quick synopsis of the show!

The show is a musical comedy, set in 1590 – the Elizabethan Era, also known as the English Renaissance (fun fact: the Renaissance wasn’t just in one time and place; it took place in slightly different ways in multiple countries, beginning with Italy in the 1300s).

Our main characters are brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom, along with Nick’s wife, Beatrice (Bea). Nigel lives with them, as a younger unmarried brother. Nick and Nigel run an acting troupe: they write, direct, and perform along with some other troupe members). Nigel is a wonderful writer, and often comes up with great ideas. The problem is, every time they come up with something new, they can’t get it off the ground before Renaissance Rock Star William Shakespeare writes something shiny and new, and everyone’s attention is on that, instead. To add insult to injury, Shakespeare used to be an actor in Nick and Nigel’s troupe, but left to pursue writing and became a massive star.

Their patron, (in those days, that was how you made a living as an artist – you needed a rich patron to fund you) Lord Clapham, is tired of waiting for them to land upon a big hit, and gives them an ultimatum to come up with a show ASAP or else he’s pulling funding – and their jobs. Nick, desperate to support his family and finally feel successful, seeks the help of a soothsayer to see if she can tell him what the Next Big Thing in theatre is going to be. The soothsayer, Nostradamus’ niece, Madonna, (yep), foresees…MUSICALS. But she’s not quite there with the visions of the future, and her information for Nick is missing some key pieces (like the ones that make it make sense).

Meanwhile, we meet Shakespeare himself, basking the glory of fame…and maybe suffering from a bit of writers’ block? He’s just written Rome & Juliet, some sonnets, and a handful of other shows, but has yet to write some of his major hits, like Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

And that’s where I’ll leave it for today! Apologies for text-dense material; I’ve included a video about why Shakespeare still matters, 400 years later. 

 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPA-Drr4iFs[/embedyt]