Why I Love Film, TV, & Live Theatre
Tom Cruise opened the 2002 Oscars by talking about how movies had touched him throughout his childhood and teenage years, culminating in his desire to become an actor. Even as one of the biggest film actors on the planet, he watches a movie daily to this day. Not just to study them, but to enjoy them. In an entertainment industry where AI threatens to replace human creative efforts, he fights to keep the old methods of filmmaking alive.
Daniel Craig has expressed more than once that collaboration is the best thing about making movies for him.
Don't get me wrong: I love writing. If I didn't, I wouldn't have taken the time to sit down and write this, any other blog post, or any other piece of creative writing that has found its way onto paper and/or my computer screen. I also love to draw. But for me, writing and drawing are a one person endeavour.
Besides the fact that film, TV, and live theatre are visual and performing mediums, they are also collaborative in nature.
A lot of people go into the production of a film or TV show, and the performance of a play, opera, musical, or ballet.
Writing is just one element in all of them, whether that be a script, screenplay, or music. As an example of the collaboration that goes into these mediums, I will focus on Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. In particular, I will use the stage musical, not the 2004 film or the 25th anniversary video recording.
The Phantom of the Opera ran for 35 years on the Broadway stage before it closed in April of this year, setting the standard for all other Broadway shows. It has run on the London stage for 37 years and is still going strong.
The writing, in the form of music and some spoken words, was not a one person effort. The phemonal music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyrics were written by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. Maria Bjornson (RIP) designed the amazing costumes, sets, and makeup looks. Gillian Lynn (RIP) came up with the choreography and staging.
But there's so much more that goes into the performance of this incredible musical.
Every day, dressers, makeup artists, and hairdressers make sure the performers are attired, groomed (in the form of putting wigs on the performers), and made up. The actor playing the Phantom spends quite a bit of time in the makeup chair, letting the makeup artist apply a ton of makeup and prosthetic pieces to create the deformity on the right side of his face. Phantom Broadway actor Hugh Panaro once said that show designer Maria Bjornson designed the Phantom's cosmetic look after silent film makeup looks. But then, the makeup artist's handiwork is partially covered by the iconic white half-mask that has become so synonymous with the character of the Phantom.
This show has been running so long in London and ran for so long on Broadway that performances of it run like clockwork. But that doesn't mean that aren't ever onstage mishaps. There have been quite a few mishaps.
In 2016, the actor who was on as the Phantom in London experienced what most likely is a stage actor's worst nightmare: his voice gave out towards the end of the show. With only 20-30 minutes in the show remaining, the production team decided it would take too long to get the emergency cover Phantom actor attired, groomed, and made up. So they had the actor who was onstage do the blocking and acting while the emergency cover actor sang the role from the wings.
But beyond dressers, hairdressers, makeup artists, composers, lyricists, choreographers, show designers, performers (actors, dancers, swings), there are also sound technicians, musicians (orchestra), the maestro (conductor), sceneshifters, lighting technicians, costume maintenance personnel, wigmakers, pyrotechnicians, and more.
In an age where technological advances threaten many sectors, are the old methods of producing art and storytelling via human creativity and collaboration valuable? To answer that, I'll borrow a line from TC in his 2002 Oscars monologue: more than ever.