A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

June 2, 2014

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

Filed under: Rochester Civic Theatre,Theatre — Tony Drumm @ 11:14 am

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The final show at Rochester Civic Theatre this season was Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor. The final performance was yesterday afternoon – I’ve been a bit slow to write up a blog post about it!

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The show is a wild comedy in the Neil Simon tradition which he wrote as a fictionalized retelling of his time as a staff writer on Sid Caeser’s Your Show of Shows in the 1950s. It was an early time in television when TV was finding its footing. Simon’s co-writers included Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner. I’ve been watching some old Dick Van Dyke Show episodes on Netflix where Rob’s job was a similar variety show comedy writer. Most of the episodes were written by Carl Reiner and the similarity of the office interplay is amazing.

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RCT’s cast for the show was terrific, topped off by Greg Miller, the artistic director at the Civic. Quoting a line from the show spoken about Max Prince (the fictional center of the show, and Greg’s role), “He does comedy.” We see Greg on stage occasionally, sometimes doing improv, and his skills are top-notch. Greg directed the show as well, and he surrounded himself with a cast who all know and perform comedy at a superb level.

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On opening night, there were some prop issues – really, I guess you’d have to call them set decoration issues. Watching this cast deal with the unexpected, all in character, all reacting almost exactly together, it couldn’t have been scripted any better.

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The show was great, but what about the photo-taking? I shot almost all of these during the final dress rehearsal before preview. Typical box set – the writers’ office – and pretty typical box set lighting with a few moments of lighting variation. So, the technical part of the shooting was not as challenging as, say, Les Mis. But we had nearly the whole cast on stage nearly all the time and all spread out. So finding a good angle and capturing the many interactions among the players on opposite sides was the challenge of the day.

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When I return home and upload the photos onto the computer, I always wonder what I’ll find and if I’ll like what I did. Doesn’t matter how many of these shows I photograph. But I was pleased. I have a good number that I think capture the essence.

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There were, however, a couple moments I just missed and wished I had caught. Usually, that’s just the way it goes. But, this time, I was able to attend the final performance, sit up close (third row) on the end and pull out the camera to grab a couple shots. One was Jim Preiss as Milt scrambling out the door holding all the coats that had been on the coat rack as he attempts to cover his white suit (which Max hates). I’m really happy with the one I grabbed, shown here. Milt’s face and expression, the looks from the other writers, all seems to work.

Another season done. Lots of summer fun will be happening at the theatre until the 2014-15 season begins in September. Most Fridays, we’ll be there listening to the free music and sipping some wine!

 

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