curtains study guide

8/11/2019 Curtains Study Guide

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/curtains-study-guide 1/13

CURTAINS • MARCH 29–APRIL 10, 2011

THE HOBBY CENTER P G

THEATRE UNDER THE STARS • 2010/11 STUDY GUIDE



TUTS STAGEGUIDE

COMING UP IN THE

2010/11 SEASON

TUTS creates online study guides to further enhance students’ theatrical experiences. The study

guides contain various discussion questions, projects and activities that encourage students to

engage in literary analysis, historical research and personal reection with parents and/or

teachers that will hopefully foster a love and appreciation of musical theatre.

P G1 3

ROCK OF AGES

MAY 31 – JUNE 12, 2011


What Broadway musical combines music, comedyand murder in one killer package? It’s Curtains, the hit

musical from the creators of Cabaret and Chicago. This

backstage mystery is set in 1959 and follows the falloutwhen the untalented star of Robbin’ Hood is murderedduring her opening night curtain call. Can Ciof, thetheatre-loving police detective, solve the case, save the

show and get the girl without getting offed himself?

Curtains is suitable for most audiences. Itcontains situations of comedic murder. P G

This study guide includes the following TEKS guidelines: 110.18 (3, 6, 13, 17, 23, 24)110.19 (3, 6, 13, 17, 23, 24); 110.20 (3, 6); 110.31 (2, 4, 12, 15, 21, 22, 26); 110.32 (2, 4,

12, 15, 21, 22, 26); 110.32 (2, 4, 12, 15, 21, 22, 26); 110.33 (2, 4, 12); 110.51 (2); 113.22

(18); 117.34 (4); 117.37 (4); 117.37 (7.4); 117.64 (2, 5); 117.65 (1, 4)



ABOUT TUTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Founded in 1968, Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) is Houston’s acclaimed

non-prot musical theatre company. Since its founding by Frank M. Young,

TUTS has produced more than 300 musicals including many local, national

and world premieres. As a way to continue the tradition of musical theatre,

TUTS’ Education provides barrier-free instruction and stage experience,

through the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre and The River program

for children with special needs. TUTS also annually presents the Tommy Tune

Awards, honoring the best and brightest in Houston’s high school theatre

programs. TUTS is now housed in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Glance towards the sky before you enjoy a performance at the Hobby

Center; the ber-optic ceiling keeps TUTS “under the stars” all year long.TUTS is pleased to present the 2010/11 Sensational Season!

SETTING THE STAGE: Curtains’ story

FROM SCREE N TO STAGE ..... .... 4

......... 8

......... 9

......... 10

11 .........

12 .........

13 .........

5 .........

6 .........

LANGUAGE ARTS: THEATRE REVIEWS

HISTORY: THEATRE S UPERSTITIONS

ART: THE DE TECTIV E STO RY

CHARACTERS

DETAILED SYNOPSIS

A BR IEF HISTO RY

PUTTING ON A MUSICAL

SURVEY

OPENING NIGHT: “We’re show people!”

STANDING OVATION: Learning activities

BEHIND THE SCENES: About Musical The

The Hobby Center. Photo by Leah Polkowske Photography.




S E T T I N G T H E S T AG E : Curtains’ story

From Screen to Stage

The concept for Curtains was the brainchild of the Oscar, Emmy

and Tony award winning writer Peter Stone. Stone penned hits

like 1776 and Titanic for the stage and Charade for the screen.

He began writing the book of Curtains, but died in 2003 before

completion. After famous Broadway songwriting duo John Kander

and Fred Ebb were brought on to write the music and lyrics,

Rupert Holmes eshed out the story. After Ebb’s death in 2004,

Holmes also worked with Kander on the score.

“That hop in our hearts when the overture

starts helps us know how lucky we are.

- Show People

Original Broadway Cast. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Kander and Ebb. Photo courtesy of broadwayworld.com.

Curtains opened on Broadway in March

2007 at the Al Hirschfeild theatre. The

cast included TV and Spamalot! star David

Hyde Pierce, Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba,

Edward Hibbert and Jason Danieley.

The show garnered eight Tony award

nominations with David Hyde Piercewinning for Best Performance by a Leading

Actor in a Musical. Curtains closed on

Broadway in June 2008. Enjoy the fast-

paced musical murder mystery, but as the

cast warns, “don’t reveal who killed who,

or it just might be curtains for you!”

Kander and Ebb play a big role on the Broadway scene. They

wrote one of the most quintessentially New York songs: “New

York, New York.” Their rst musical to be produced on Broadway

was Flora the Red Menace, which was Liza Minelli’s Broadway

debut. The team would go on to write Cabaret (Broadway show

in 1966, m adaptation in 1972 and revivals in 1987 and 1998)

and Chicago (Broadway show in 1975, still running revival in

1996 and lm version in 2002). They often worked with Bob Fosse

as director/choreographer and such stars as Liza Minelli, Gwen

Verdon, Chita Rivera and many others.



O P E N I N G N I G H T : “We’re show people!”

Characters

Songwriter forRobbin’ Hood withex-wife, Georgia.

Producer of theshow with her self-serving husband,Sidney Bernstien.

The money-lovinggeneral manager.

Songwriter forRobbin’ Hood withex-husband, Aaron.Also a talentedperformer.

Talented understudyfor the leadinglady, Jessica

Crenshaw. Falls inlove with Ciof.

Theatre-lovingLieutenant. Falls inlove with Niki.

Choreographer andlead dancer.

Ambitious chorusmember anddaughter ofCarmen.

British director ofRobbin’ Hood.

The gruff butlovable StageManager.

A theatre critic fromThe Boston Globewho has the powerto make or break ashow.

AARON FOX CARMEN

BERNSTIEN

OSCAR SHAPIRO

GEORGIA

HENDRICKS

NIKI HARRISFRANK CIOFFI

CHRISTOPHER

BELLING

BAMBI BERNET JOHNNY HARMONBOBBY PEPPER DARYL GRADY

“We’re a special kind of people known as

show people, we live in a world of our own.

- Show People




ACT I

It’s 1959 and the opening night of Boston’s

Colonial Theatre’s Robbin’ Hood , “a new

musical of the Old West.” The curtain rises

on the show’s merciful nale (“Wide Open

Spaces”). Jessica Crenshaw, a former star

who has lost all talent, takes her bow and

after gathering her bouquets, collapses onstage.

A few hours later, the show’s composer Aaron

Fox, lyricist Georgia Hendricks, nancial

backer Oscar Shapiro and co-producer

Carmen Bernstein search the newspapers

for a single positive review from the critics

(“What Kind of Man”).

They are joined by director Christopher

Belling, who announces that since Georgia

helped create the show, she will take overuntil Jessica returns. After the split with

her husband, it’s no secret to the company

that Georgia has recently rekindled a

past romance with leading man Bobby

Pepper (“Thinking of Him”). Soon Carmen

announces Georgia will have the role

permanently, because Jessica is dead

(“The Woman’s Dead”). An impromptu

funeral ceremony is interrupted by the

arrival of Homicide Lieutenant, Frank Ciof

a musical theatre lover who thinks the show

and all the performers are magnicent. He

and Carmen remind the cast that despite

Jessica’s murder, the show must go on

(“Show People”).Ciof explains that Jessica swallowed poison

pellets during the last minutes of the show

and therefore was murdered by a membe

of the company. Ciof feels the surest way

to solve the crime will be to keep the entire

cast of suspicious characters sequestered in

the theatre.

Ciof is left alone with local neophyte

actress Niki Harris, who is now Georgia’s

understudy. Ciof is clearly smitten with Nikand learns they are both married to their

respective careers (“Coffee Shop Nights”).

The next day, Boston Globe drama critic

Daryl Grady pays the cast a visit and

agrees to re-review the show when it re

opens with Georgia as the lead. Chris

Belling prepares to restage a troublesome

number and Ciof suggests Aaron write a

different number for the show (“In the Same

Boat #1”) Aaron agrees, but is saddenedwhen he realizes he misses Georgia, both as

his writing partner and his wife (“I Miss the

Music”). As Georgia is in her rst rehearsa

murder rises to the occasion (“Thataway!”)

ACT II

The cast laments the murder of yet another

company member (“The Man is Dead”)

O P E N I N G N I G H T : “We’re show people!”

Detailed Synopsis

“Let the curtains part, let the spot light glow…

- A Tough Act to Follow



http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/curtains-study-guide 7/137Original Broadway Cast. Photo by Joan Marcus.

A makeshift dormitory has been set up on

the stage of the still-sequestered Colonial

Theatre. In the middle of the night, the

members of the company accuse one another

of commiting the murders (“He Did It”).

Ciof sends Aaron’s next re-write back to

the drawing board (“In the Same Boat

#2”). Carmen approves Bambi’s pleas

for a spotlight pas-de-deaux dance with

Bobby but reminds her daughter that she

needs to work hard and be a star on her

own (“It’s a Business”). Bambi shines

in the rehearsal of the restaged square

dance number (“Kansasland”). But even

as Bambi gets her big shot, another star

gets his, from a gun offstage. When Niki

nds the gun, Ciof takes center stage as

he traces the bullet’s torturous path (“She

Did It (Reprise)”). After talking with Ciof,

Aaron and Georgia discover ample reason

to renew their vows (“Thinking of Him/I

Miss the Music (Reprise)”).

With the spotlight suddenly on romance,

Ciof and Niki spend some time alone and

indulge Ciof’s theatre fantasies (“A Tough

Act to Follow”).

Soon, another performer is killed. Ciof’s

investigation takes him high above the

stage and, hearing the chorus below as

they rehearse “In the Same Boat,” he hits

upon a solution to some of the production’s

problems (“In the Same Boat Completed”).

After successfully saving the show, Ciof

manages to piece together the clues he’s

gathered, correctly unmask the killer, savethe life of the murderer’s next intended

victim, render the end harmless and nd a

new nale for the show. In doing so, Carmen

Bernstein gives Ciof the highest praise he

could ever hope to receive: he is truly a

theatre person (“Show People (reprise)”).

The curtain comes down on the show (“Wide

Open Spaces Finale”), but for Lieutenant

Frank Ciof, the curtain is just about to rise

on the greatest joy of his life (“A Tough Act

to Follow (reprise)”).



S T A N D I N G OVA T I O N : Learning Activities

Language Arts: Theatre Reviews

In Curtains, the show Robbin’ Hood is in its out-of-town preview period in Boston when itgets slammed by awful reviews from critics. The out-of-town previews are a way to testthe audience’s reaction and make changes before a show opens on Broadway. But with abad review, it might be curtains for the show!

Up until the 1960s, almost all musicals were taken on tours before opening onBroadway. Now, most shows think it’s unnecessarily expensive. Tryouts ofteninvolved exhausting re-writes and revisions. After the authors sit up all nightre-writing scenes and songs, the cast rehearses the changes and performs themimmediately. The pre-Broadway production of No, No Nanette in 1924 toured for

nearly two years, changing most of the score and libretto before it nally came toNew York.

All reviews have elements in common. Here’s an example of a theatre review:

THE FACTS: Includes the cast, creative team, where and when it takes place

THE SYNOPSIS: The plot of the show and any musical numbers

THE EXPERIENCE: Everything from the audience members to the atmosphere in thetheatre and any technical difculties on stage

AN OPINION: The reviewers opinion about the show, the music, the performers andwhether or not he/she would recommend it

Use the resources below to READ different

kinds of reviews and COMPARE them. On somewebsites everyone can comment and othersshows/restaurants/movies are reviewed strictlyby critics.

After you WATCH Curtains, WRITE your ownreview! Use the information above. Use yourPlaybill to get the names of cast membersand members of the creative team. Check thefront page of this study guide for the nameof the theatre and how long Curtains will bein Houston. When writing about your opinion,

make sure you differentiate between whatyou liked about the show (the music, dialogue,etc.) and what you liked about the production(the actors, the costumes, etc.) Then READ your

review out loud to the class.

OUT-OF-TOWN TRYOUTS

PARTS OF A REVIEW

Cur t ains P l a y bi l l . P hot o cour t e s y of n y ma g .com

“Critics! Who’d make a living out of

killing other people’s dreams?

- What Kind of Man?

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Read + Compare Watch + Review

THEATRE REVIEWS

www.nytimes.com/pages/theater/reviews/

MOVIE REVIEWS

www.rottentomatoes.com/rogerebert.suntimes.com/

RESTAURANT REVIEWS

www.zagat.com/www.yelp.com/




History: Theatre Superstitions

Curtains is said to be a love letter to the theatre. Ciof thinks very highly of musicaltheatre and longs to be a show person. Below are a few of the many traditions andsuperstitions involved in the theatre.

Tragedy: a piece

that depicts humansuffering and often

has an unhappy butmeaningful ending.

Comedy: a humorouspiece.

Superstition: a fear orbelief that an object oraction inuences events

Thespian: a theatricalperformer (male orfemale), comes from“Thespis.”

Theatre began in Ancient Greece. The term“theatre,” literally, “seeing place,” comes from theGreek word theatron. The Greeks developed theidea of theatre as a profession, the architecture

for the theatre and denitions of comedy andtragedy. The comedy and tragedy masks theyused on stage are still used as a symbol fortheatre.

In small groups, RESEARCH Ancient Greektheatre, Medieval English theatre, RenaissanceItalian theatre, Japanese Kabuki and shadowpuppetry. Then COMPARE and CONTRAST withtheatre as you know it today.

Because Curtains is a show about putting on ashow, in some of the songs and dialogue thereare references to other Broadway shows. Afew are listed below:

THE ICEMAN COMETH

SOUTH PACIFIC

OKLAHOMA!

GYPSY

WAITING FOR GODOT

INVESTIGATE one of the musicals/playsabove. WRITE a report on the performance’ssignicance in American theatre history thatdetails the production history, the innovative

elements in the performance and theperformance’s inuence on future musicals/plays.

“BREAK A LEG!”

“THE SCOTTISH PLAY”

THE GHOST OF THESPIS

VOCABULARY

The Original Broadway Cast of Curtains during bows. Photo

courtesy of broadwayworld.com.

“Because as old as time itself, there is a grand

theatrical tradition that the show must go on.

- Show People

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Research + Compare Investigate + Write

Speaking the name of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth inside a theatre is

said to be bad luck. Instead, performers will refer to it as “the Scottish play”because of its setting. Tradition says that the curse was brought upon the namebecause Shakespeare used actual witches’ incantations when he wrote the linesfor the Three Witches in the script.

As Mel Brooks’ characters in The Producers warn, “It’s bad luck to say ‘goodluck’ on opening night.” Stage performers often say “break a leg!” before theshow begins each night. The tradition might have come about a long time agowhen audience members would “tip” performers by throwing coins on stage. Bywishing someone to “break a leg,” you are hoping their performance was sogreat that they break their leg by bending down so often.

Many theatres claim to be haunted by players who once performed there. Themost historically famous of these ghosts is Thespis, a Greek who is said to havespoken the rst line as an individual actor on stage in a play. Any inexplicablemischief caused in the theatre is attributed to him. The term for theatricalperformer, “thespian,” comes from his name.



Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Photo courtesy of basilrathbone.net.


Art: The Detective Story

The detective novel is one of the most loved and most recognizable literary forms in Western culture.Detective stories usually have a similar suspenseful feel and follow certain plotlines and narrative structures.Find out how Curtains follows this tradition.

The 1930s were the Golden Age for detective stories. AgathaChristie’s Hercule Poirot detective novels were among the rst“whodunit” novels that weaved a complicated tale of murder-mystery for the reader to unravel. U.S. authors like Dashiell Hammettpaved the way for a genre of lm based on the detective story:Film Noir. Films like Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, starring HumphreyBogart, focused more on the psychology of the characters than themystery itself. Agatha Christie’s novel Death on the Nile (1937) wasmade into a movie in 1978 starring Bette Davis, Angela Lansburyand Peter Ustinov.

Edgar Allen Poe’s 1841 Murders in the Rue Morgue is consideredthe rst to feature the detective gure: cunning and eccentric, heuses a combination of logic, smarts and observation to nd outthe truth. In 1887 Arthur Conan Doyle created the world’s mostfamous detective, Sherlock Holmes, who is famous for solving cases(along with the bumbling Dr. Watson) with deductive reasoning.

THE GOLDEN AGE AND FILM NOIR

EDGAR ALLEN POE & SHERLOCK HOLMES

Deductive reasoning:

a thought process that

says if the followingpremises are true, theconclusion is true.

Film Noir: a genre of

lm based on detectivenovels.

COMPARE the plot structure of murder mysteriesand detective stories to traditional plot structure

(seen below). Murder mysteries purposely tryand trick the audience and usually have a twistat the end. DISCUSS how Curtains followed theplot structure of a murder mystery. Who wereyou led to believe was the murderer?

Film Noir featured fresh narrative devices likecharacter ashback, dream sequences andrst-person voice-overs. WATCH selections of the

Film Noir adaptation of Raymond Chandler’sThe Big Sleep. Take note of the narrative devicesand aspects of the detective story in the lm.How is Philip Marlowe (the detective played

by Humphrey Bogart) similar to Frank Ciof inCurtains?

WRITE your own Film Noir scene, exploring theplot and narrative dynamics you read about andsaw. Create a few characters and write theirbackground.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

VOCABULARY

Compare + Discuss Watch + Write

“Detectives make our entrance after the

curtain has fallen on someone else’s life

- Coffee Shop Nights

THE BIG SLEEP (UNRATED)

Howard Hawkes (1946)

A

A Exposition: setting up the story

B Rising Action: character/plot development

C Climax: the central conict occurs

D Falling Action: “cleaning up” the problem

E Resolution: the ending or closure

B

C

D

E



Musical theatre’s roots can be traced back to ancient times, where theGreeks used music and dance in their tragedies and comedies. Next,fast forward to the 1700s where comedic operas were popular inEurope. In 1866, the rst “musical” by modern denition, The Black

Crook, opened in New York City. In the 1920s, Florenz Ziegfeld’sfamous Follies showcased star actors and actresses with extravagantsets and costumes but was mainly a musical revue of popular songs.

The end of the 1960s saw changes in Broadway, like HAIR, oneof the rst rock musicals. Unusual concept musicals such as MarvinHamlisch and Edward Kleban’s A Chorus Line and Sondheim’scynical Company led to big-budget musical operettas like Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s international hit Les Miserables

and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. Well

known movie and literature favorites like Disney’s Beauty and the

Beast (which premiered at TUTS in 1994) and Stephen Schwartz’sWicked have been adapted into family-friendly, special effectspectaculars. At the same time, in reaction to the rising ticket cost andashy spectacle of Broadway, shows like Jonathan Larson’s RENT

aim for a less polished, more personal theatre experience. TUTSwas a part of the production enhancement team that moved RENT

from off-Broadway to Broadway, and continues to benet from that

association, presenting the original Broadway and lm leads in aspecial engagement in 2009.

Innovative new musicals like the PG-13 “student” musical 25th Annual

Putnam County Spelling Bee and hip-hop musical In the Heights

have been attracting and pleasing younger audiences. These oftenstart off-Broadway and become so popular they switch venues.There are also an increased number of revivals, often driven withHollywood star power like A Little Night Music with CatherineZeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. But between movie and bookadaptations, revivals of past favorites and contemporary boundary-breakers, there’s no doubt the Broadway musical is here to stay.

ORIGINS & FOLLIES

EARLY YEARS & THE GOLDEN AGE

CONTEMPORARY & MEGA-MUSICALS

WHERE ARE WE TODAY?

B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S : About Musical Theatre

A Brief History

West Side Story. Photos courtesy

of Theatre Under the Stars.

S h o w B o a t p o s t er. I

m a g e

c our t e s y o f wiki p e di

a. or g.

RENT . P hot o cour t e s y of si t ef or r ent .com.

Beauty and the Beast. Photo courtesy of Theatre

Under the Stars.

Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, and Irving

Berlin. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org.

Live theatre is a unique experience that engages the audiencemuch more than movies or TV. Musical theatre is the only genreof performance that fully utilizes acting, singing and dancingtogether to further the development of the plot.

In 1927, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat

premiered, which featured complete integration of book, musicand score to tell a story. During “The Golden Age of Broadway,”famous composers and lyricists churned out hits, like George &Ira Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935), Rodgers & Hammerstein’sOklahoma! (1943), Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (1947),Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story (1957),and Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate (1948).



Producers must nd a show that their audience will enjoy and willwant to purchase tickets to. They also need to plan the budget forthe production. Producers rent a theatre and pay royalties to thecomposer, lyricist and writer of the musical’s book for the rights toperform the show. One resource for discovering new musicals andconnecting with the world of musical theatre is the National Alliance

for Musical Theatre (NAMT), which was founded by TUTS’ FrankYoung in 1985. Please visit NAMT.org for more information.

The creative team includes the director, set designer, costumedesigner, choreographer and music director/conductor.

Together with the producers, they discuss their vision for theshow and how they will bring it to life on the stage.

The director and choreographer will hold auditions for the parts in the

show. For most Broadway shows and tours, actors must be a part of theActors Equity association and have an appointment, but sometimes an

open call will be held. After the cast has been chosen, rehearsals begin.Actors must memorize their lines, songs and choreography before dress

rehearsals and the show’s opening. For information about auditioningfor shows at TUTS, please visit TUTS.com or click here.

If the show looks good after previews, it will open. MostBroadway shows perform several times a week at night and

usually have a few matinees as well. Some shows have aspecic closing date; other shows will continue performing as

long as people are buying tickets.

Save snacks forintermission.

Turn your cell phones

and electronics off

completely. No texting!

Arrive about 30minutes before theshow starts.

Applaud at the endof songs and scenes.

Otherwise, shhhhh!

Audition: a tryout for

performers.

Open call: a casting

open to anyone

without appointment

Dress rehearsals:

rehearsing in fullcostume and full techas though there is an

audience.

Previews:

performances beforethe show opens for alimited audience totest public opinion.

Matinee: anafternoon or early

evening show.

VOCABULARY

FINDING THE PERFECT MUSICAL

GATHERING THE CREATIVE TEAM

CASTING AND REHEARSAL

PERFORMING FOR AN AUDIENCE

B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S : About Musical Theatre

Putting on a Musical

THEATRE ETIQUETTE

Whether you’re a stage manager, actress, director, costumedesigner or composer, when it comes to putting on a musical,all roles are important. Here’s a roadmap for getting amusical to Broadway.

•

•

•

•

http://www.tuts.com/AboutUs/Auditions/tabid/60/Default.aspx

http://www.tuts.com/AboutUs/Auditions/tabid/60/Default.aspx

curtains study guide

Documents