If she'd only been willful...
If she'd only have fled...
Or a little less skillful...
Insulted, insisting...
In bed...

Immersive design and staging can be tricky, no doubt about it.  I wish I had some sage thoughts on the subject, but my immediate reaction to your post is simply that TGC itself, as far as I can tell, has probably always been stronger on festive atmosphere than on storytelling clarity (no small shortcoming, given that, as you mention, there's a lot of story to cover even in this relatively slim slice of the novel).  I'm tempted to wonder whether this production team was simply playing to the show's strengths, such as they are. ("Did they purposely stage it so nobody had a good view at least some of the time?" sounds almost like a rhetorical question, but it does have a certain logic in an immersive context such as this one, where pure raucous showmanship seems at least as central to the show's DNA as Tolstoy, if not more so).

Speaking of theatergoing, I finally saw Appropriate on Broadway tonight and was as across-the-board impressed as I'd hoped to be; I had been in a bit of an ongoing nitpicky-critical phase for awhile, but recent outings (also including Days of Wine and Roses two weeks ago; and PBS's "Great Performances" airing of Dead Man Walking from the Met last week, though I guess not technically an "outing") have been very gratifying, with excellent -- indeed, sometimes breathtaking -- work tempered only by nits too minor to be worth picking.

Most importantly, all three were blessed with brilliant performances: a flawless ensemble in Appropriate and heartbreaking work from the central pairs in DoWaR and DMW.   If Guettel's and Craig Lucas's libretto for DoWaR impressed me somewhat less than Terrence McNally's for DMW (which should be studied by all would-be opera librettists, imho), or than Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins's laser-sharp writing in Appropriate, it's almost an unfair comparison.  And all three are being given ideal productions:  Ivo van Hove's established style has never felt more at home than in DMW, while Lila Neugebauer and the dots design collective make Jacobs-Jenkins's festering Arkansas plantation house a central character in Appropriate, and Michael Greif and Lizzie Clachan find a pleasing scale and intimacy for DoWaR without skimping on storytelling.

Tomorrow night I'll be seeing Dead Outlaw.  And next on my wish list are An Enemy of the People and Ibsen's Ghost, but they might have to wait until I can cobble together more work.  If things really pick up, who knows: Uncle Vanya,  Illinoise,  Tommy... even by Tony-season standards, this seems like a very busy theatrical year.

The British feel these latest deal-
     ings verge on immorality.
The element of precedent
     imperils our neutrality!
We're rather vexed you're giving ext-
     raterritoriality—
We must insist you offer this t-
     o every nationality.

Nothing much is happening today, but I felt like starting a daily thread. Today I made a long list of all the junk food I need to buy the next time I go to Safeway, because they are having a huge junk food sale. Everything from Cheetos to ice cream sandwiches to a cheesecake platter. They've also got fried chicken and Coke on sale. I think that sometime this weekend sounds good to get a chicken and Cheetos feast.

All the snow that we got on Sunday is gone.

And... guess whose birthday is this Saturday? 

Perpetual anticipation is
Good for the soul
But it's bad for the heart.
It's good for practicing self-control.
It's very good for morals
But bad for morale.

Well, it was an experience.

I actually mostly liked it, but the best thing about the staging and the worst thing about the staging were exactly the same thing--the "immersive staging." There were several rows of cabaret-style table seats that were in front of the regular seating, and the people sitting at these tables got pretty involved in the show--the actors would interact with them, cross in front of them, etc., which was a hoot, even for those of us who weren't sitting there. I was in the front row of the regular seating and had a difficult time seeing a lot of what was happening, because most of what was in my viewing angle were the cabaret tables in front of me. Add to that the plot being very hard to follow (the ushers recommended that we all read the plot synopsis in the program before the start of the show), and I'm not sure I caught a lot of what was going on.  And I'm semi-familiar with the score.

I'm wondering if everybody had equally as bad a seat as I had, or had as difficult a time seeing the action. Did they purposely stage it so nobody had a good view at least some of the time?

It's too bad about the not-being-able-to-see part, because I think the immersive theatre concept is a great choice for the material. Everybody in the audience got involved in "Balaga," which was the definite highlight. The ensemble was very good; many of them played instruments, but only two of them (violin and cello) "really" played them, as in, were part of the underscoring. Pierre played the piano (I think; this was one of the things I couldn't see well) and the accordion, and Natasha played a trombone for all of two minutes.

Overall, I'm glad I went, although I really wish I had gone yesterday instead of today, because it was rain-turning-into-snow when I left, which didn't let up the entire 20 mile drive home. 

Quote from: KathyB on Mar 22, 2024, 02:03 PMWe got about 18 inches. Not much of it is left, except where enormous piles were piled up because of someone trying to clear the streets or a parking lot.

Oh, that makes me nostalgic for the snow mountain in a parking lot near the grocery store I often went to when I lived in CT.  It would last for weeks after all the other snow had melted.  People would make bets as to when it would finally disappear.  

She wasn't no match for such craft, you see,
And everyone thought it so droll!
They figured she had to be daft, you see,
So all of them stood there and laughed, you see—
Poor soul!
Poor thing!

To see them—indiscriminate
Women, it
Pains me more than I can say,
The lack of taste that they display.

Where is style?
Where is skill?
Where is forethought?
Where's discretion of the heart,
Where's passion in the art,
Where's craft?

We got about 18 inches. Not much of it is left, except where enormous piles were piled up because of someone trying to clear the streets or a parking lot.