Busy Otter

[designerotter]

Haven't posted in what seems ages. That's at least partly because I'm now immersed in three shows simultaneously. Their openings are fortunately spread months apart, but the major design phase on all of them is happening right now. On one show I'm about to enter the 'horse-trading' phase, the necessary negotiations to make the wildly overbudget

Comments

[mrdreamjeans]

Trying to figure out which production is "wildly over budget" in proposal:)

Glad you so enjoyed the concert. "Marry us" was an oft used musical theme for Marriage Equality here in Minnesota!

I hope my retirement is filled with so many creative opportunities!!!

HUGS!

[designerotter]

[Broad smile] Which one is over budget? Probably all of them! …it's just that this one (Kiss Me Kate) is far enough along for there to be an official cost estimate as to how much money/labor it'll take to get the whole thing built. Most productions start out with a set figure for how much money is devoted to the set. I do try to keep this in mind, but it's an inexact science. I try to avoid 'unnecessary' items in the design, because everything has to have a function - but sometimes 'function' is based on an aesthetic consideration rather than a practical one…it's part of what the audience is paying for, imho.

Glad to hear that 'Marry Us' has found a special place in Minnesota - and that you're familiar with the anthem.

If when you retire you're living near somewhere that puts on shows, I've no doubt you'll find those opportunities! Hugs!

[mrdreamjeans]

I couldn't make up my mind between Kiss Me Kate and Sweeney Todd. I've not seen Sweeney Todd onstage, so I kind of decided it was Kiss Me Kate. The production I saw in NYC featured an open backstage for "Another Openin, Another Show" ... so much of it was backstage, but there were a lot of locales. I'm sure you'll be brilliant!

HUGS!

[maxauburn]

You've been busy!

I'll never forget those early days of AIDS, when we were all losing friends and acquaintances at a shocking rapid rate.

I had been hanging out with a fast group of men who were into all kinds of sex; I tried some kinky sex, but am afraid I will always be boringly vanilla, LOL!

But nearly all of those men died from Aids during 1983-1993. Young gay men think on getting Aids as a joke- they just take AZT and other meds and off they go to the bars again!

They didn't watch many of their best friends die as you and I and others of a similar age had.

[designerotter]

Good points, Jerry. Life is seldom as simple as it seems.
BTW, 'vanilla' is just fine (and not at all boring as far as I'm concerned) ….and it can save your life, as you've doubtless discovered.

[maxauburn]

It's always worked for me! ;)

[bearhedded]

no one has figured out a formula for budgeting sets, yet? i think that's odd....but, i can remember management demanding scrupulous notes on the amount of time different projects took, and materials, then, budgeting too little time and buying not enough fabric, for similar items!!!

by the time we got to sweeney todd, at candlewood, there was nearly nothing left in the kitty, so there were 20' high factory windows made of paper!

[designerotter]

The problem is that few sets are composed entirely of stock units …and the technical interpretation of any design has the $5 version, the $50 version, the $500 version and so on. That's why I have to do horse-trading in order to get what I envision on the stage

[designerotter]

As a dear mutual friend might say, "Exactly !" ;0)

Thanks for your kind and apt comments, Mark. We do such interestingly odd things with ordinary materials that, over the years, I've sometimes been prompted to ask 'um.. I wonder what this was intended to be used for originally' - LOL

[holy13nation]

I read that as 'I shall be designing for the circus...' which made my eyebrows jump like little startled caterpillars.

[designerotter]

Oh, those caterpillars - jumping ones at that ! ;0)
I've never actually designed for the circus, though once in graduate school costume class we were assigned a circus project (if I do some excavating in the back of my closet I might find some renderings).

[designerotter]

Thank you, kind Sir Bear ! I got out of a three-hour production meeting not too long ago, though the horse-trading was worth it …so far the set looks affordable.
Now I'm going to relax for the rest of the evening, on a certain bear's sage advice ;0)