I disagree on seat placement! I sat house center 2 rows in front of the sound booth and though one of the leads (who I’d never heard before) had an ugly, strident voice. I saw it again way house right and she sounded great! I also couldn’t hear any adlibs,hubbub, etc from the center! The sound is not good there.
That's an interesting point. I was very much assessing the seating in terms of sight lines. A large part of what feels amateurish about deBessonet's direction to me is her use of the space (or lack thereof). Rather than use the Beaumont's width or thrust layout, it seems like she just shifted her proscenium staging from City Center downstage. The consequence is very center-oriented and spatially flat blocking. The big solo numbers, in particular, seemed not to take the sides of the house into sufficient consideration.
This might just break Jon's heart. I'm still looking forward to seeing it! But I'll also have your voice somewhere in the back of my head during it.
I mean, it was better than Heathers...
I disagree on seat placement! I sat house center 2 rows in front of the sound booth and though one of the leads (who I’d never heard before) had an ugly, strident voice. I saw it again way house right and she sounded great! I also couldn’t hear any adlibs,hubbub, etc from the center! The sound is not good there.
That's an interesting point. I was very much assessing the seating in terms of sight lines. A large part of what feels amateurish about deBessonet's direction to me is her use of the space (or lack thereof). Rather than use the Beaumont's width or thrust layout, it seems like she just shifted her proscenium staging from City Center downstage. The consequence is very center-oriented and spatially flat blocking. The big solo numbers, in particular, seemed not to take the sides of the house into sufficient consideration.