I recently saw a remarkably bad show by a professional company.
The cast and material and designs were fine, but there were a number of sloppy errors: a major set piece was visibly broken and malfunctioning, there was inconsistent pronunciation within the company, I counted at least one (maybe two) blown entrance(s), I caught a moment in which a cast member simply forgot to sing, we could see cast members being indiscreet in the wings from the audience, a lavalier microphone was positioned so the actress bumps it against things (while it's live!), a few cues were jumped by various elements... as I said, sloppy errors. This is several weeks after opening, so it's not just growing pains, and if quality is sliding this much, it really falls on Stage Management to crack that whip.
I saw it because I went to school with a member of the stage management team, who buttonholed me immediately after the show. HOW DID YOU LIKE IT, HUH HUH HUH? WASN'T THAT COOL?! And I did my best to "ice the cake": the cast was strong, the music was excellent, the set design was impressive, some members of the company really stood out, and so on.
This has me wondering, though: what would
you have done? Is it fair to give a true diagnosis under these circumstances? If you do give advice, would you expect a consulting fee? (
)
I'm especially interested in anecdotes you might have of situations in which you've been asked to give similar critiques!