final other info 2 Flashcards
Arena Conta Zumbi
President Goulart had had liberal sympathies; the regime under Branco did not
in response, Boal and Renato focussed on Brazilian subjects and on the subject of dictatorships, but had to do so in a coded language
they produced a new play: Arena Conta Zumbi, written by Boal and Gianfrancesco Guarieri, directed by Boal and with music by Edu Lobo
the play is based on a true story of man, an ex-slave known as Zumbi de Palmares, who was the organizer and leader of a free Black republic in northeaster Brazil in the late 1600’s
he led the colony for 10 years, defending it successfully against at least two significant attacks staged by the Portuguese
he was eventually defeated in 1694; today, the date of his death is commemorated in Brazil and he is known as a Brazilian hero
with this story as its basis, Arena Conta Zumbi was able to recount a struggle against dictatorship and injustice
in doing so, it offered implicit condemnation of the new dictatorship of Branco
Zumbi drew parallels between the attacks on the 17th century colony of ex-slaves struggling to survive and retain their freedom with the tactics of the military dictatorship and of present-day Brazil
it also celebrated rebellion—and in doing so, hoped to stimulate resistance
borrowing the technique of historification from Brecht, the 17th-century setting of the play protected it from the attentions of the censor
it was very successful: it played for more than a year and toured internationally
Arena Conta Zumbi did not work the way a regular play works
all the actors played all the characters: there was not one set role for any one actor
the title “Arena Conta…” means “Arena speaks of…” On stage, multiple actors shared the narration, emphasizing a collective ownership of the story
the style of the piece drew from farce, melodrama, musical, docudrama
another important aspect of the form of Arena Conta Zumbi was the use of a character called a “wild-card”
the wild card could narrate the play, comment on the play, but also directly intervene in the action
it was a way of telling the story but also examining its meaning at the same time
this wild card character would be important to Boal’s later work
other info that idk if it counts as boals life
the political situation in Brazil quickly began to grow more oppressive
Arena Theatre’s activities became threatened, first by censorship, and then by violence
the theatre community tried to fight back by staging plays that had been banned; the military responded with force
in one incident in the late 60’s, paramilitaries burst in on one performance, destroyed scenery and beat up the cast
In 1971, Boal produced a play by Brecht, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui
Thousands of people were imprisoned and murdered by Garrastazu’s regime
the police began to arrest numerous influential theatre artists, including José Celso of a theatre called Teatro Oficina, and a set designer named Flávio Império
pride parades
Pride Parades had actually begun in the mid-1960’s but by the 1970’s, the parades had become international in scope
at the first Pride Parade in NYC, at the time called Christopher Liberation Day, the crowd was so big that it stretched for 15 blocks
the Rainbow pride flag first flew in San Francisco in 1978
it was in the 1990’s that these parades began changing their names from things like the “Gay Freedom Parade” to Gay Pride Day Parade
President Bill Clinton declared June to be Gay & Lesbian Pride Month in 1999 and 2000
President Barack Obama declared June to be LGBTQ month every year of his presidency.
fall of berlin wall
the end of the Cold War is associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall
built in 1961 by the German Democratic Republic, or the GDR—East Germany
officially, it was built to keep “Western fascists from undermining the socialist state of the GDR,” but really it was to keep people from leaving
people had been leaving East Germany en masse: in June 1961, 19,000 people escaped the GDR through West Berlin. In July 1961, 30,000 people did.
the Wall was built within two weeks.
It went through the city, cutting through courtyards, sometimes buildings—even a graveyard.
171 people were killed trying to escape; over 5000 people managed to escape
things had been changing in Europe, especially in communist countries.
mass protests had occurred in Poland, resulting in free elections
travel restrictions through Hungary and Czechoslovakia had been eased in 1989, and thousands of East Germans had fled
The GDR was an oppressive place, one which spied much of its population
by November 1989, there were mass protests every day in Berlin as people demanded easing restrictions through the city
the fall of the wall was actually a mistake: at a press conference, an GDR leader, when asked when travel restrictions would be eased, mumbled: “It takes effect, as far as I know…immediately.”
people took him at his word. Masses of people went to the three checkpoints, demanding to be let through
at one of the checkpoints, a young guard defied his superiors and opened the checkpoint
soon that same night, all three checkpoints opened; thousands of people surged through
people began climbing on top of the wall, popping champagne bottles
late 70
in the late 70’s, there was an economic down turn, and this made theatre more difficult to produce - it was more expensive but there was less money
new composers and writers were emerging who were not American, including English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had been active since the early 70’s (Jesus Super Star)
Director/Producer Hal Prince began working with Webber and their partnership would largely define musical theatre on the 1980’s
They would generate some of the biggest crowds that theatre had ever seen
because of their work, as well as the work of British producer Cameron Mackintosh, the 80’s were sometimes called the Second British Invasion
Cameron mackintoshs other musicals
Mackintosh’s musicals were all marketed with a single, striking image with the show’s title. No stars, no reviews, no producer names.
the strategy worked. The four top shows produced by Cameron Mackintosh: Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Miss Saigon, had (at least by 2004) grossed over $8b world-wide, which was more than Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and Titanic combined
les miserable
Les Miserables was written (primarily) & composed by two French artists: Alain Boublil (lyrics) and Claude-Michel Schonberg (music)
The original work was a concept album, performed as a concert in Paris, where it had over 1000 performances
the novel upon which it’s based, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, was originally published in 1862
It is one of France’s most cherished novels.
mackintosh
in the fall of 1981, a friend brought the recording of the original concept album to British producer Cameron Mackintosh, who had produced, among others, Cats
Mackintosh instantly decided that Les Miz (as it was soon nicknamed) should be produced as a full musical
“It was an instant combustible decision,” Mackintosh said later. “By the fourth track I was wildly excited.”
he recruited Trevor Nunn (who directed Cats)
the English team couldn’t assume that their audiences would be as familiar with the material as the French audiences had been
They hired writers to adapt the 1200-page novel
their work helped to make the narrative clearer, and to develop character
they also added the prologue, set on the day of Jean Valjean’s release from prison, which helped explain the context of the story to non-French audiences
within three days of opening, ticket sales skyrocketed
the day the bad reviews came out, the box office broke all previous sales records, selling 5000 tickets in the first three hours of the day
the show transferred to the West End in December 1986; it moved to Broadway in March 1987
before the show closed 16 years later in 2003, 46 professional companies had toured Les Miz in a total of 23 countries and 203 cities; there have been 31 cast recordings made
in London, it eventually broke the record for the longest-running show on the West End, beating out Cats
in spite of the original bad reviews, Les Miz won awards everywhere it performed
audiences were wowed by the remarkable spectacle, which included the barricade that moved by theatrical magic and hydraulics
the set helped to tell the story by creating vivid stage pictures that conveyed very clearly what was going on in the story
The emphasis in Les Miz is on the singing: the chorus is a singing chorus, more like opera than American musical theatre
beauty and the beast
When the movie Beauty & the Beast was released in 1991, a reviewer called it “the best musical in New York.”
this made the Disney company venture into stage musicals, and they premiered the stage version of Beauty & the Beast in 1994
Its initial Broadway run ran for 5,464 performances (13 years)
people who never went to theatre happily paid top dollar for tickets
The show won no awards, but it went on tour around the world and was performed in multiple languages.
it was the most expensive production ever mounted on Broadway at the time, but it still made billions
this was the beginning of what are now called corporate musicals
the success of Beauty and the Beast had an unexpected side effect on Broadway, which began when Disney CEO Michael Eisner visited the New Amsterdam Theatre
the theatre had once been the crown jewel of Broadway. It had been owned by Florenz Zeigfeld: Show Boat had premiered there
with assurances from NYC mayor Rudolph Guiliani that the neighborhood would be “cleaned up,” the company restored the theatre
corporate musical
the corporate musical may be created by an individual, but is ultimately developed through the corporate body of an entertainment company
these musicals can then be replicated, either on tour, or through royalties paid for by individual companies
Individual companies, for example, will pay additional fees to rent costumes
like mega-musicals, the show is the star
The shows include heavy auxiliary marketing
