You know those moments when you’re in tech week and you’re all sitting in the wings, exhausted and loopy, and you really want to go home but you’re whispering and laughing hysterically over something silly and you kind of just want to live in that moment because theatre provides this certain kind of connection you can’t get anywhere else??
I didn’t think Ninjas were real, just spy’s and sometimes assassins but no one you’d specifically call “ninja”
Ninja is something of an affectation from later eras being backwards projected onto history. However, there were a number of groups that specialized in infiltration, sabotage, assassination, espionage and other “irregular warfare” tactics, often passed down in familial lines. The Iga clan of the Tokugawa period is a notable example.
The general distinction for the historical ninja groups as opposed to someone who just performed irregular warfare (like a guerrilla or a spy), was that the ninja in question had to be a mercenary, operating outside of the feudal hierarchy, and had to be a professional, so no slitting throats as a side-hobby.
Hey, wanna know why the modern idea of ninja is “wears black clothes”?
These are “Kuroko”.
Kuroko are men and women fully dressed in black and that wear tabi on their feet. They are Kabuki theater stagehands. When they are on stage, the audience is supposed to ignore them, pretend they aren’t there, as they are “special effects”, not people per se on the stage.
Well, see, some Kabuki plays liked to play with this idea.
In certain plays, a notorious character will suddenly get stabbed by a Kuroko and die. This is shocking to the audience because Kuroko are just straight up not supposed to exist as people or characters in the play, but suddenly, one of these special effects just murdered someone. Then, they’d remove the face covering veil and reveal they were one of the characters all along.
It was a meta manner of narrative, basically. A plot twist, if you will.
That’s why the modern image of Ninja was derived from Kuroko: Unexpected Assassins, striking when no one is supposed to strike, and gone like the wind, just like that.
“Ninja” actually looked like this:
Just your regular run of the mill peasant.
That was the entire point.
To not be noticed. To be one with the crowd.
Espionage history !
As both a ninja AND a theater kid- this pleases me
I love the picture from the stage up there – your eyes do sort of just slide right over the Kuroko helping the actress stand and show off.
often seen when: the main character is either royalty or deeply socially disadvantaged; their struggles play out on an epic, mythic, and/or archetypical scale. The musical tracks the character’s rise/fall (or both).
2. the character’s title, but not their name
examples: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Fiddler on the Roof, Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Waitress
often seen when:the titular character is marginalized due to an aspect of their identity.
3. place name
examples: A Bronx Tale, Chicago, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Memphis, West Side Story
often seen when: the story involves systemically disadvantaged characters.
4. metaphorical/double meaning
examples: Bare,Falsettos, Next to Normal, Rent, Spring Awakening
often seen when: focus is on complex relationships between characters. Drama is created not so much by external events, but by shifting dynamics between complicated people. The genre is usually tragedy.
5. includes but is not limited to main character’s name
examples:Dear Evan Hansen, Hello, Dolly!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Sunday in the Park with George
often seen when: to a greater extent than usual,almost all the characters are brought together because of the main character’s actions. Supporting characters may be very well-developed, but their presence ultimately revolves around the main, who is often a deeply polarizing figure.
6. seems to refer to main character, but actually applies to multiple people
examples: Hamilton, The Lion King, Sunday in the Park with George, Waitress, Wicked
often seen when:supporting characters are well-developed and complex, holding almost as much weight as the leads. The story usually operates on a multi-generational timescale.
7. ridiculously long
examples: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
often seen when: adapting a classic story with a modern, often comedic twist.
8. numbers
examples: 13, 1776, 9 to 5, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
often seen when:the plot features a rich ensemble cast without a clear main character.
9. collective
examples: A Chorus Line, Les Misérables, The Producers
often seen when:the show makes a sweeping statement about a certain profession, social class, or way of life.
Actually, for us, tech week wasn’t horrible, at least when it came to the actual tech part. In the past it’s been awful so this was a welcome relief. But there were a few technical mishaps here and there…
It took us a long time to get the sound effects for the cart crash right. A ridiculously long time. Honestly, I’m still not sure how or IF we managed to pull off that scene, because I don’t think I ever actually saw it.
Us gals had to sing the chain gang part of the prologue backstage, which meant we had to have our mics turned on for that. Usually it worked fine. Unfortunately, there was one time that Enjolras’ mic didn’t get turned OFF again, so we briefly had her disembodied voice interrupt part of the prologue. 😬 Whoops.
One of the guns from the barricade was left on the bridge through the end of the second act, which wouldn’t be a huge problem because the audience couldn’t see it, but during the wedding we were waltzing up there. We had to avoid tripping on it or accidentally kicking it off the bridge, which is more difficult than it sounds.
For a long time, we didn’t have the transition after Fantine’s death completely worked out, so for a while Fantine had to carry on and off her own bedding, and she really just does everything around this house huh
Poor Enjolras! During the final battle she’s supposed to die waving the flag, but on the opening performance it just… wouldn’t unfurl… Bless her heart, she tried so hard to get it open, but eventually had to give up and settle for a pitiful little red triangle on a stick. She says she’ll be bitter about it until her dying day, but honestly, it added a level of patheticness to the scene that actually wasn’t too detrimental to the story.
I think I already mentioned this, but I (a fool) decided to wear slightly-too-big flats during Lovely Ladies and kicked one of them halfway across stage?? I don’t know how noticeable it was but I had to spend the rest of our dance number trying to covertly get it back on
That one rehearsal where Feuilly’s shoes were untied during The Beggars and he almost tripped down the stairs
During The Confrontation, Valjean is supposed to break off a chair leg and use it to threaten Javert or whatever. We had it set up so that the leg could be taken off and replaced without issue, but during the second to last performance he actually broke the chair
Setting up the barricade was such a hassle. Most of it was unattached furniture pieces, so they had to be carried on and off individually, and that was a lot easier said than done. Luckily we got a set routine established by the time opening night rolled around.
The mug Grantaire used during “Red and Black” didn’t have a bottom for some reason, so one rehearsal where we were blocking that, Enjolras sings the line “Don’t let the wine go to your brain!” Grantaire just held it up and said “I’m not even drunk”
I told you all about the freaking grapes, right? From The Beggars? It was the ask before this I think idk but that was a m e s s
It wasn’t really a tech thing, but during dinner one night the table broke and spilled our salads all over the floor
And of course, as rehearsals get later, the cast gets more and more sleep deprived and slap-happy, but I feel like that’s a topic for a completely different post.
Hope that helps some! Best of luck to you and your cast!! Even when things go wrong (because they will), you can still have a great show. You’ve got this!
I know I tell this every 5 minutes but the best day ….of my life…was talking to two elder gays when I was 14 and one of them told me that he put a hex on Patti Lupone to not win the Tony in 2011 because she wouldn’t take a picture with him at the Albuquerque airport
Every single person involved in a theater production, not just the main stars becuase without the ensemble, stage/tech crew, orchestra, directors, choreographers, costume designers, and make up artists there would be no show!!!!
Be More Chill: “These are my two OTPs, Fancy Earbuds and Panera.”
Falsettos: “no no no Marvin don’tdo it dON’T DO IT OMG MARVIN NO WHAT DID I TELL YOU MARVIN WHY”
Newsies: “Do you see the fifth one from the right? That’s Mittens and the one next to him is Toto. They are my boyfriends and also each other’s. The camera will cut to them again in eight minutes and thirty two seconds! Go and look it up the poor GUY’S head is spinning~”
Hamilton: “Did you know that line has a triple meaning??? It’s referring to this Very Specific Historical Thing™, and it’s also a pun, and it’s also…wait THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART *unintelligibly fast yellingthat somehow rhymes*
The Band’s Visit: enraptured silence
Next to Normal: shocked silence, even though they’ve seen this a thousand times already
Rent: awkward silence, because they’re listening with their family
Sweeney Todd: *recites entire page of Finishing the Hat*
The Phantom of the Opera: screaming_goat.wav
Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812: “no, Hélène is Anatole’s sister, Mary is Andrey’s sister” “no no no Marya is a totally different character, she’s the godmother” “yes, Natalie and Natasha are the same person” “no, that’s not Josh Groban”
The Book of Mormon: *uninterrupted obnoxious laughter*
Dear Evan Hansen: *uninterrupted sobbing*
Les Misérables: *listens to a single note of an audio boot* “Ah yes, this must be the 2007 West End production with Famous British Actor as John McJohn and Other Famous British Actor as Javier. I believe this was the Saturday matinee when Enjoltaire almost kissed and Ramin Karimloo was on as a loaf of bread.”
Waitress: *through tears* “She’s so beautiful…look at her…my angel who deserves the world…she…” (“Which one?”) “All…”
If you’re listening to the songs out-of-context and a character says something metaphorical, hyperbolic, hypothetical, and/or abstract, take it either SUPER literally…
Evan sings about falling in a forest and nobody being around to hear it? Yeah, the boy literally fell out of a tree. And no one came to help him
Javert yells for an entire song about how sinners will fall? He’s going to fall to his death, just wait
Jenna doesn’t know it yet, but “Take It From an Old Man” is about Joe literally asking her to take his business
J.D. from Heathers or Kim from Miss Saigon says they’d give their life for someone? Oh, they’re so gonna
Burr says, “Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead”? The person he sings that to and the person who sings after him are both not making it to old age
…I’m just going to take this moment to point out that the phrase “I’ll Cover You” also has the meaning of “I’ll bury you”
Everyone in the opening number of Tuck Everlasting is singing about living like this forever? I kid you not, you’re about to find out that the main people in this song are immortal
…or, if a character says something super literal, just go ahead and assume that the opposite will turn out to be the case:
Gabriel sings a whole song about how he’s alive, he’s alive, he is so alive? Boy, he’s dead
Julie and Billy sing a song called “If I Loved You”? THEY LOVE EACH OTHER OKAY
sorry, I’m just sitting here laughing at the sheer irony of the song title “No One Else”
as we have learned, Cathy could not, in fact, do better than that
in a stunning twist, Amy from Company is, in fact, getting married today
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 