A Part of us
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Currently doing a production of OOTI jr. It seems to me that the emotional weight of the song A Part of Us has been substantially lessened by the cuts from the original score, and it makes the staging less able to show it as well (The passing of Timoune amongst the gods in the original is kind of glossed over) Any suggestions as to how effectively stage the song and maintain the emotional as the jr show is written? ( The original song brings a lump to my throught every time I hear it!)
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Hi, Arthur. OOTI jr. is one of my favorite B'Way Jr. titles. I agree that "A Part of Us" is an emotional song and scene that should be honored and played to its full potential. Pain and (even death) is a real part of human life. Without pain (death, all types of abuse, deceipt, loss of love, evil, jealousy, greed, etc.) - there would be no subject matter for musical theater, right?
I played the scene with the Gods standing side to side, passing TiMoune's body down the line to Papa Ge (the God of death). He laid her on the ground in front of Mama, Ton Ton Julian and Little TiMoune. They laid her to rest with their vocal as the Gods looked on.
It was heart wrenching every single time - thank God. And, then every time TiMoune turned into "a tree!" The audience was relieved and felt more uplifted than if they had never been sad in the first place.
Break a leg - hope your show is sad and funny and happy and fantastic! cj
Thanks Christine,
That seems the way to go although I wished they had kept the original music in the jr. version. It just seems so much more effective when TiMoune gets passed from god to god with the musical description simultaneously.
In general I think that many of the jr. shows cut a bit too much that the kids can actually handle, and usually make the stories more effective and cohesive. Any thoughts?
Artie
We're a private theater, so we have much more leeway in what we do and say on stage. Some school districts are extremely restricted in what they are able to do and say on stage. I think these materials were created to provide the most opportunity to the most children. I understand the cuts for that reason, but I agree with you that sometimes you just want the real deal. This summer our theater is producing "13" - swearing, making out, and all. A notice went out with ticket order forms that the show was rated PG - 13 for language and subject matter. I'm pretty sure we'll sell more tickets than ever before! ;)