Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Theater: Title Bout (June 28)

Every week, I compose listings on the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm so disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work, so I'm reviewing their titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through its link to my listings on Metromix NY.


I'LL BE DAMNED
Titles rarely use full sentences, not for any substantial reason but because of convention. This one adds a dollop of ambiguity: a literal meaning suggests a Faustian plot, while the idiomatic meaning adds a surprised inflection. Simple but effective.

VIAGARA FALLS
I love puns, and approve of their use in titles. But this one bugs me, mostly because it goes out of its way to misspell “Viagra”. Every time I read it, I hear “vye-uh-GAR-ruh”. Otherwise, it's not terrible, since it tells you the show's genre (comedy) and style (punning schtick & Viagra jokes).

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Theater: Title Bout (June 21)

Every week, I compose listings on the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm so disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work, so I'm reviewing their titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through its link to my listings on Metromix NY.


THE ZERO HOUR
Zero is a cool number, partly because in a sense it's not a number. And the phrase “zero hour” has a built-in sense of tension: a countdown to the dramatic event. That's probably why it's a cliché. According to Wikipedia, "Zero Hour" is the title to sci-fi tales by Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Star Trek & DC comics as well as random radio programs, TV documentaries, & a prog-metal band. Hell, there's another show playing Off-Broadway right now called Zero Hour––about Zero Mostel!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Theater: Title Bout (June 14)

Every week, I compose listings on the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm so disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work, so I'm reviewing their titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through its link to my listings on Metromix NY.


FAMILY DINNER
Not a bad title, in that it proclaims the arena of conflict. It also solidly (even rigidly) defines the setting/style as bourgeois realism. So a ticket-buyer knows what she's getting, which is more than most titles offer!

IDEAL
A deceptively complex title: there's not as many shades of meaning to “ideal” as you'd think. Instead, it sets the audience up for a play about ideals, morals, ethics… which, really, is every play. The playwright's Ayn Rand, so the absence of subtext and irony shouldn't surprise you.

NUNSENSE
It's possible to read a lot into this one: you figure James Joyce would've loved how it undercuts Catholicism through a play-on-words. Or maybe it's a Bugs Bunny cartoon set in a convent. Actually, it's a franchise show about wacky nuns―squandering a title with potential.

ON THE LEVEE
The word “levee” implies Mississippi floods and Delta blues. And in summer 2010, BP's oil disaster orbits the word's association with the Gulf Coast and Hurricane Katrina. It's a word weighted with the potential for communal tragedy, a Chekhov's Gun of a word.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Theater: Title Bout (June 7)

Every week, I compose listings on the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm so disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work, so I'm reviewing their titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through its link to my listings on Metromix NY.


AMERICAN DOCUMENT
What a nondescript title, it sounds like a dull book about the Constitution. And it's pompous: using the adjective “American” is like draping your show in the flag.

FREED
Actually, for a one-word title, this isn't bad. “Freed” suggests emancipation or it suggests parole. The former implies a key event in US history; the latter has built-in tension (“freed” suggests wrongful imprisonment, unlike "released", "remanded", & "paroled").

LITTLE DOC
Presumably this show's about a son who lives in his father's shadow. Will we learn why Dad's nicknamed “Doc” and is the reason interesting?

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
Great writer, Shakespeare, but hit-or-miss on titles. In practical terms, this is one of his best. It's not just a name (eg Hamlet) or a generic phrase (eg As You Like It). It's specific to the show, it sets the scene in a cosmopolitan city and raises the theme of mercantilism. It focuses the attention on one character (though the Merchant, ironically, is neither the romantic lead nor the villain). Good job, Will!

MODOTTI
The problem, however, with titling your show for your protagonist is that it's nondescript. Figure this protag is Italian; what else do you know about the show? Unless you're heavy into feminist art-history or activism, you probably don't recognize the name. So despite the heavy sound, Modotti lacks the weight that's makes a one-name title strong.

REFLECTIONS OF A HEART
I generally like poetic titles but I find this one a little maudlin. “Reflections” implies mirrors as well as self-awareness and candor; good so far. But “of a Heart” just sets my teeth on edge.

SISTER MYOTIS'S BIBLE CAMP
It's not pretty but it mostly serves its function: you know what the show's about. Probably a comedy, with an odd name like “Myotis” (which, FYI, is a genus of “bat”, but who knows that?). Or maybe it just reminds me of “Sister Mary Ignatius…”, Durang's lampoon of Catholic school.

WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA
Ooh, very poetical: trochaic tetrameter with a missing syllable for emphasis! “Upon” is kind of archaic—poetic license to balance the rhythm. It also sets up a dramatic scenario (literal or metaphorical) of sea-voyage, enlisting us along the way. It's like the plot has started just by your reading the title! This one's good.

THE WINTER'S TALE
Okay, Shakespeare probably didn't come up with his own titles. But The Winter's Tale is such an oddity, both for him and the era, that I've wondered if he titled it himself—esp. cuz it's so good. The medieval “Tale” gives it an intimate feeling. The definite article implies three more seasonal tales, each taking its tone and possibly theme from its climate. Altogether, it implies a work meant to warm you on a cold night.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Monday Night Title Bout (May 31)

Every week, I compose listings about the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm usually disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose to call their work, so I'm reviewing the titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through its link to my listings on Metromix NY.


AMERIMESSIAH
Portmanteaus are tricky to work with: they should seem to combine naturally a pair of concepts into one fluid word. “Amerimessiah” is useful―our culture loves a heroic leader/savior more than a cooperative effort―but it doesn't quite work as poetry. Ultimately, I admire the effort but not the execution.

DIETRICH AND CHEVALIER: THE MUSICAL
I detest the clause “The Musical”. A product of marketing, it shows no imagination. And in this case, it's redundant: if the audience will see this show simply cuz of their names, then they already know that Dietrich & Chevalier were actor-singers. Also I'm skeptical of their name-drawing power in 2010. Incidentally, their given names would be a better, more euphonic choice: Marlene & Maurice.

DREAMS OF THE WASHER KING
This one's got a nice burst of poetry to it, located in the “dreams” that are the work's subject (and what does a king dream about?), in the fable-like phrasing, and even the subtle rhyming nod to the “Fisher King”. Ambiguously, a “washer king” may be an industrial magnate of die-cast metal discs or of household machines (a la “the Sausage King of Chicago”), or he may rule over something else entirely, literally or metaphorically.

THE GRAND MANNER
Pretentious. It borrows its high tone from the acting style that, in modern times, is seen as bombastic. There's no ambiguity or irony to The Grand Manner, just lionization and a blunt laying-out of subject and theme.

ORDER
A good one-word title with plenty of meanings. A command, a heirarchy, a state of being, a taxonomy, a selection from a menu: hopefully, the playwright plays around with all of these definitions and more.

OTHELLO
Shakespeare resorted to formula to title his tragedies, though who knows if he even picked the title himself? FYI,  the full title is The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, which tells you exactly what you're going to see. Utilitarian but specific, those eight words allow producers a lot of range for titling, which they don't take advantage of.

PARIS SYNDROME
Who doesn't enjoy a good syndrome? This one's a variation on “Stendhal Syndrome”, which describes a nervous condition tourists get when they're overwhelmed by the art in Florence, Italy. Plus, this phrase works simply as a title, implying a foreigner's adventure in Paris.

SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN
An allusion to the '04 bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven, a pastor's account of his near-death experience. For some reason, I suspect that the reference is meant ironically―maybe that's just my own stereotype of NY theater artists as agnostics who're more focused on the here-and-now?

SUMMERWORKS FESTIVAL 2010
I can't imagine a duller title for a summer theater festival, except maybe Summer Theater Festival. Do they produce new plays, free outdoor Shakespeare, puppet dramas or what? This gun-metal grey title isn't telling.