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Messages - Baz

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1
Job Postings / Re: Dubai Gigs
« on: Oct 18, 2016, 04:08 pm »
Noted posting with interest - and your guidance and info too, jman255. I'm always leery of commercial ventures like this - be they resorts, hotels or cruise ships - so several grains of salt taken with each posting.

And, for what's it's worth, here's Canada's Foreign Affairs Office's take on the area at present -

https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-arab-emirates

2
Hey guys,

Incredibly short notice (it starts April 23rd), but I thought I should pass along this link.

Its attracted students, novices, ASMs and the seasoned SM in the past - and with an international makeup of talent as well.
though I've not yet had the opportunity to take advantage of it (I always seem to be out of town on a production at the time) I've heard nothing but good things -

http://www.stagemanagingthearts.ca/

3
Job Postings / Re: Shanghai Disney
« on: Feb 03, 2015, 06:41 am »
I traded some emails with Miso - while the PSM job does not state bilingual with Mandarin as the SM posting does, their first preference will be to those who can speak the language. But if no ideal candidate found, then they'll look at monolingual English speakers.

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The Green Room / From Page to Stage
« on: Feb 25, 2013, 11:55 am »
Some of you might get a hoot out of this video, shot during my gig this past summer.

Short of my brief blurb at the top (right after playwright Norm Foster), I try and explain what a Stage Manager does at the 18:20 mark. Apologies if I missed something and, most particularly, for using 'he' when talking SM, rather then something more gender neutral!

http://www.rogerstv.com/page.aspx?sid=5132&rid=72&lid=12

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The Green Room / Re: Weirdest Item In Your Kit
« on: Jan 22, 2013, 03:22 pm »
Aside from small opening night gifts that never seem to get unpacked from my kit (like a cigar cutter and glow-in-the-dark, ahem, massage oil), I do have an 'egg' filled with Silly Putty. This too glows in the dark and I have slapped it on the occasional 'whackable' corner of a set backstage. Also useful as a 'fidget stone' for those who need it....

6
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: Jan 18, 2013, 10:34 pm »
Aaah! It's b-a-a-c-k...

Just caught the one hour Season 2 Preview. It picks up on the closing night in Boston and the return to NYC - and, if possible, the SM is shown having even less to do than last season. Now granted, there's a a lot of storytellling heavy lifting going on in this episode that actually precludes, you know, doing a play - but jeez....

Meanwhile, am I crazy, but isn't the whole point of mounting a new play away from NYC is to 'try-out' and iron out the kinks before coming back with an eye to Broadway? If the storyline is to be believed, the three week run in Boston was just that and now that they're back, they will 'fix' the show.

But, like I said, some considerable heavy lifting to do first. Maybe the SM character will find a job in the meantime - in a production that will actually use her skills...

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The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 23, 2012, 07:50 pm »

*SPOILER ALERT*


Well, if they give us the "realism" that so many people seem to be clamoring for, Ellis will be in jail for assault (maybe even attempted murder) for putting the peanuts in Rebecca Duvall's smoothie.

The Ellis character and storyline I found to be one of the more glaring examples of failed 'realism' in the series - or certainly, based on whatever the current reality of each production I've ever worked on - and there have been some doozies.
I'm trying to imagine how he would have survived as long as he did, given the production team had worked together in the past and the animosities he created between them.

As for Ellis' admission that he was responsible for poisoning the Lead, I sat in stunned bemusement as Eileen banished him from the theatre rather than walking away and immediately calling the Police (albeit, on an upside-down iPhone) - as her PA, any Producer would almost immediately have envisioned the potential lawsuits to herself and the Company, especially as it already been acknowledged earlier it was no accident.

But perhaps 'realism' is overrated....

8
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 22, 2012, 05:53 pm »
So no casting suggesting additional staff for the one SM, then...

 ::)

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The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 22, 2012, 01:04 pm »
Rebeck's been chucked, replaced by Josh Safran, the show runner to Gossip Girl.

No. Really.

If theatrical reality was stretched mighty thin and the series got Soap'y this season, we may have not seen anything yet.

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The Green Room / Re: Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 19, 2012, 06:44 pm »

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The Green Room / Re: Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 19, 2012, 04:39 pm »
Re: Nicholas Bracewell stories - amazon.com is showing a few Kindle versions, while kobobooks.com is showing a couple For their Reader as well. Nothing in the iBook Store from Apple.

Wow. Something if a digression from SMASH...

12
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 19, 2012, 11:17 am »
Interestingly enough, I had a conversation with Ann on Thursday about just that.  The actors do voice opinions about inaccuracies, but, as in any production, the director wins out. Ann gave the example of the "ten minute call" she gave in the final episode, and said she did mention to the powers that be that there was no "ten minute call"," just "half hour, fifteen, five, and places," but the director wanted what the director wanted.

It made me think though, that as much as we might sit here, on the outside of it, and pick apart the show for "Fact vs. Fiction," just imagine what the cast is feeling, on the inside! But, it is Fiction, and good for them for having great jobs!

Indeed, yes. Another case of a production company acquiring all manner of talented, experienced people, only to let the side down with other below-par elements. We've probably all experienced this in some regards in theatre, but TV seems rife with it.

It's great that these folks have a job and it in a project that is about the work they do and love, but it must be disheartening to see the project 'Jump the Shark' before the end of the first season.

13
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 18, 2012, 07:13 pm »
So, hearkening back to my original thread starter, more of a road accident than a celebration, then?

No problem with this being a fiction rather than a reality show - it's just our reality can be so much more interesting than this series' fictions. And oh, the real stories Stage Managers could tell and the situations we can find ourselves involved in....

14
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 18, 2012, 02:25 pm »
Granted MatthewShiner, "On Tonight's Smash, a dry tech to end all dry techs . . . what will happen when the bedroom set stops moving upstage in a nail biting 15 seconds of terror." doesn't sound very stimulating, but I'm not suggesting that the SM or the minutiae of a real production become the primary focus of the series - but a little reality (with a little 'Gee, is that how that is done?' for the punters) would be nice, too.

The drama of seeing "On tonight's SMASH, everyone beds everyone else, Julia has a hissy fit because she's afraid she can't keep her libido in check and nearly kills off the show before Ellis has a chance to poison Rebecca", sounds more like a bad opera (or a particularly fraught episode of Dynasty) than anything resembling reality. And that makes it hard to find a good story, well told, by people you care about (for good or bad) in the series. It's just disappointing that this opportunity to show off our business has become so soapy.

Meanwhile, I'm not familiar with the detective series regarding the British Stage Manager, but I do know that the Stage Manager to Actor-Manager Sir Henry Irving had some success with a little novel called Dracula...

15
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 16, 2012, 08:13 pm »
Well, it took until the season finale, but it seems the writers finally let the SM string entire sentences together while communicating face-to-face with the artistic team and while directing performers and actions onstage.

Doubtless all this newfound power will, next season, make her the murder target of 'Ellis' as he lurks  - Phantom of the Opera-like - in the New York theatre they transfer to.

Or the writers could take the time to learn what it is a SM does and how a real production is mounted, though, as is often the case, no one would believe it.

;)

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