Snow White WAS Re: JMS on CIS 12-08-96

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: Snow White WAS Re: JMS on CIS 12-08-96
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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s  1: Dec  9, 1996: jegolf at MCS.COM (J.M.Egolf)
+  2: Dec  9, 1996: jrpotts at lucent.com (J. Potts)
*  3: Dec  9, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com
+  8: Dec  9, 1996: sinboy at netcom.com (Joshua Jasper)
*  9: Dec  9, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com

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From: jegolf at MCS.COM (J.M.Egolf)
Lines: 42

> #: 623128 S5/Babylon 5: General
>    08-Dec-96  02:22:12
>Sb: #623063-JMS' Snow White in Chgo!
>Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
>
>      Never mind.  Just heard the theater burned down, so there's no point in
>anyone going.  Real shame.  Ah, well.  Onward and upward.
>
>                                                                    jms

Did not! We were there, so there too, nyah.

(And if you're *really* that embarrassed by it, why on earth don't you
just buy the rights back from the publisher?)

I'll leave it to one of my fellow attendees to do the blow-by-blow -- she
has the copy of the script the AD gave us :-) However, here's my review:

The amazing thing about this script is that it was written by an
18-year-old.  Great lines (a number of the actors afterwards commented on
how much they enjoyed doing the play, because unlike the other children's
plays they do, this one was *funny*) and some interesting twists to the
old story. 

The unfortunate thing about this script is that it was written by an
18-year-old. Some of the characterisation is weak (while the Stepmother is
a role any scene-chewer would love to sink her teeth into, Snow White is
no Ivanova) and the morals were more dropped into the dialog than an
integral part of the plot. 

The audience enjoyed itself, however, and I think the author can be
forgiven for not having written _Into the Woods_. Sondheim was in his
50s when he wrote _Woods_. When he was 18 he was still writing practice
musicals for Oscar Hammerstein, IIRC.

-- 
*******************************
    J.M. ("Jamie") Egolf
   <*> jegolf at mcs.com <*>
"We find meaning where we can." 



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From: jrpotts at lucent.com (J. Potts)
Lines: 44

> #: 623128 S5/Babylon 5: General
>    08-Dec-96  02:22:12
>Sb: #623063-JMS' Snow White in Chgo!
>Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
>
>      Never mind.  Just heard the theater burned down, so there's no point in
>anyone going.  Real shame.  Ah, well.  Onward and upward.
>
>                                                                    jms


In article <58ftmm$jje at venus.mcs.net>, J.M.Egolf <jegolf at MCS.COM> wrote:
>Did not! We were there, so there too, nyah.

Yes, we were <wicked grin>.

>(And if you're *really* that embarrassed by it, why on earth don't you
>just buy the rights back from the publisher?)
>
>I'll leave it to one of my fellow attendees to do the blow-by-blow -- she
>has the copy of the script the AD gave us :-) However, here's my review:

<snip review>

Well, I'm not the fellow attendee that will writing the blow-by-blow, you'll
have to wait for that <heh, heh> but I have to admit we did have a fun time.

My favorite part was towards the end when the lights go down and there is
complete silence in the house, a small child behind me (in a very loud voice)
asks his mother, "Is that the end?"  Everyone in the audience laughed.

And the woman who played Snow White admitted to us after the performance that
she was a big B5 fan. <g>

Of course the question that I have is, what prompted you to write the play
in the first place?


-- 
JRP
"BLONDE?   Blonde?   You didn't TELL me you were a blonde....."
                                          --Gharlane of Eddore



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Lines: 40

"Of course the question that I have is, what prompted you to write the
play in the first place?"

Sigh....

I was 18 years old.  I'd had about 5 or 6 one-act plays produced at
Southwestern College, to generally good reviews.  (I really hate to use
the term, but I was kind of a prodigy in some ways.)  Anyway, one day, the
head of the theater department pulled me aside and said, "Look, every
summer we do a summer stock production that runs about 12-16 weeks,
usually for younger audiences.  Most of the time they're established
plays, but sometimes we do an original if we see potential.  I'd love to
see what you could do with something like the Snow White story.  And we
can afford to pay a reasonable fee for it."

Understand...this was the first time I'd been *commissioned* to write a
full length play.  I was somewhat conflicted about the whole thing, most
of the plays I'd done had been either offbeat comedies or these terribly
indulgent and self-impressed treatises which will never, ever be seen by
anyone again (I have the only recordings of them), and this was about as
far away from that as you could get.  But it was the chance to have a
long-running summer-stock production, and at 18, fresh out of high
school...I fell for it.

After it ran for that year, I sent the script off to a play publisher,
figuring they'd turn it down, but not wanting to waste it...and they
picked it up.  And it's still there.  And every six months, I get these
royalty statements showing that it's being performed all over the
planet...from the US to Singapore, Thailand, once from Burma,
Germany...urk....

It was intended for kids...and ONLY kids.  So when adults go see it,
knowing my current work...I just blanch, that's all.


 jms





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From: sinboy at netcom.com (Joshua Jasper)
Lines: 18

In article <19961209104700.FAA09008 at ladder01.news.aol.com>,
 <jmsatb5 at aol.com> wrote:
>"Of course the question that I have is, what prompted you to write the
>play in the first place?"
>
>Sigh....
>It was intended for kids...and ONLY kids.  So when adults go see it,
>knowing my current work...I just blanch, that's all.
>
>
> jms
>
	Don't get to shy about it, a good childrens play that has appeal 
for adults is something to be proud of. Plus, you should _never_ be 
embarresed of royalys checks, at the very least, they can buy dinner.
							Sinboy



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Lines: 10

Also, you can't just go around buying rights back from publishers; the
business doesn't work that way.  Only if it goes out of print can you get
a reversion of rights.


 jms




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