A Fly On the Wall, March 7, 2014

Once Is Usually Enough
by Jim Murchison

Watching the Oscars last Sunday I realized another reason theatre is so wonderful. It strikes me that what we see at the Academy Awards big night is the film industry so caught up in marketing, that the script is one of the least considerations. In theatre if you don't have a good script that usually means it's over.

There are so many sequels in Hollywood, film versions of TV shows with blatant product placements, that you really have to look to find something with any depth when looking for a movie to go to. I found the diatribe of disapproval over Ellen's record breaking selfie funny. The world finding its disgust over the obvious, obsequious patronage to the Samsung sponsor. Seriously, what a stupid thing to be outraged about. I frankly wouldn't have known the little white rectangle in her hand was a Samsung for the life of me. The people that criticized are obviously already hooked by the mad viral marketing that is the 21st century and probably were among the re-tweeters.

@JimMurchison

The audience for theatre is obviously smaller to begin with and requires a level of commitment. If you decide to go, there are not 12 venues available to see exactly the same show with one or two in Imax and there are not 100 corporate sponsors with a piece of it. It has to be about ideas and stories even on the larger stages of Broadway, in London or Toronto. That is the rule, not the exception.