From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V2 #150 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Tuesday, June 4 2002 Volume 02 : Number 150 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] XENA LIVE 2 - The Closing Performance ["bookdaft" Subject: [chakram-refugees] XENA LIVE 2 - The Closing Performance It was an awesome blast. I loved every minute of it. Closing performances of stage plays are generally a bit looser and more over the top, simply because the actors can let out all the stops in the last show, if they choose. This is especially true for those shows that are over the top, like XENA LIVE. And boy, did they ever go for broke in this last one. There were lots of little bits of shtick that were included that weren t in the other performances. Those bits were not really vital, but they added so much more fun and entertainment value to this last Episode 2 performance. What follows constitutes a kind of mini-review and wont be too long, I think. To begin, it was a full house; many in the audience had been to several shows, including yours truly. That meant the audience was ready and primed for the parts that they knew and even for those they didnt. We were very enthusiastic from the beginning, applauding when Alti (Elizabeth Rich) finished her first song through when Gabrielle (Amy Matheny) and Xena (Elizabeth Laidlaw) first appeared on stage. We were pumped, I think, and the actors responded. They enhanced some of the bits they did such as when Ares chases Gabrielle after having been muffed by Aphrodite with her love dust. Most of the performances have Ares first running after Gabrielle, saying, You know you want some Mount Olympus! Gabrielle then chases him back across the stage a few minutes later. In this last performance, though, Ares is carrying on his back Gabrielle while running across the stage. I also think Xena and Gabrielle did a jitterbug in the dream ballet, although my friends think it was already there and not added for the final performance. For as many times as Ive seen it, you would think I could recall that part. Its those little bits that charmed the audience. Alex Billings did her Kate Hepburn impression and left the audience in tears because it was so funny. Each time she performed her commercial, it got longer and longer. And it really got long if there were members of the audience sitting right next to her with whom she could interact. Since most of it was improvised, we never knew where she would end up, but it was always a treat to get there. An unintended highlight of the show was the blooper and the rewind it caused. To explain, I need to provide a little background. Alti would take over a characters body, such as Lambs or Androgynys. To signify that Alti was in control, the actor would speak or mouth Altis lines with her. In the ending scene, Alti has taken over Gabrielles body and is fighting Xena. My friends and I are not quite sure how it happened, but suddenly Gabrielle is making mouth movements like Blah, blah, blah. Since all the fight scenes are carefully choreographed, it is possible to get out of sync for the rest of the fight scene. That is what happened Sunday night. Gabrielle didnt mouth her lines properly and everything after that seemed to go from bad to worse. Suddenly Xena was dropping Gabrielles staff, which is thrown to her and she normally catches with ease. Other mistakes were made, until finally, when Xena has Gabrielles staff at Alti/Gabrielles throat, Elizabeth Laid law said, Ever had a bad day? By this time the audience is roaring with laughter, and Elizabeth calls out, I want to do that again! So they did. Everyone backed up, from Gabrielle to Chicken (sort of like film being rewound, which is what we came to call it, The Rewind) and they restarted from the point of the original mistake. This time it appeared flawless and they got to the right spot at the right time. It was a sight to behold! (Amy, in her remarks after the show, mentioned this was one time she wished it were television. Perhaps because their fight master was in the audience, they felt they needed to get it right.) Another highlight came at the very end of the show. Chicken says a line to Xena, Thank you, Xena, for saving us from the evil Alti. In this last performance, she says the line and hands Xena an egg. Elizabeth Laidlaw was speechless at first, since she didnt know it was coming, and then had a great comeback  she said, And its still warm! Dawn Sam Alden told us after the show that she had been planning this little surprise for a month and it came together just great. We gave them a standing ovation. They deserved it. XENA LIVE is a very high-energy show and these people worked their butts off to entertain us. I thought that was the very least we could do for them. The actors also got a bit goofy after the show was done; Alex Billings kept running across the stage and Elizabeth kept chasing her until Elizabeth got one up on her and managed to chase her off the stage. This closing performance was also a high point for me for many other reasons. I had a chance to talk a bit with Claudia Allen, who wrote the shows book. I thanked her for writing the play that made the show possible. I also had a chance to personally thank many of the cast members, such as Elizabeth Laidlaw as she stood at the door collecting donations. I really loved this show and wanted them to know how much I appreciated their work. We asked Claudia about the possibility of a XENA LIVE 3. It could very well happen. Elizabeth Laidlaw, herself, made the statement there could be an episode 3. XENA LIVE, I think, is a moneymaker for About Face. Every performance I attended, the audience was no less than two-thirds of the house, and more often three-quarters. The final performance was a full house. So I think a XENA LIVE 3 is a viable possibility. Claudia seemed amenable to writing a third play and suggested that the fans contact the producers through the XENA LIVE website. There is a contact e-mail address and any comments will eventually go to them. In the end, I had a great time and would recommend to those who might go to a XENA LIVE 3, if one is ever produced, to see a performance somewhere in the middle of the run, for a baseline, and to see the closing performance. I doubt you would be disappointed. bd ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 23:21:47 -0400 From: meredith Subject: [chakram-refugees] Unproduced X:WP Script Online Hi, Okay, I admit it ... I've been reading both of the "virtual seasons" that a couple groups of really motivated people with way too much time on their hands (and I say that with the utmost respect) have been posting regularly online since September. All in all I've enjoyed the "Subtext Season 7" more, not just because of the subtext aspect but because the storylines and writing have been consistently stronger than the regular one, IMO. I don't intend to get into a discussion of the virtual seasons here ... but the "season finale" of the Subtext Virtual Season is of interest to the Xenite community at large, I think. It's an unproduced script that Missy Good actually wrote for the series, based on a story by Rob Tapert himself. This isn't the "lost" musical! It's a very serious episode that only gains in fascination factor when read with FIN in mind. It's at: http://www.xenamultimedia.com/XWPSubtextS7/S7E19/S7-E19-Teaser.htm I don't know what changes, if any were made to the script as it's posted ... but I gotta say I'm really disappointed that it never got produced. It could have been a real corker of an episode. If anyone is on any other lists where Missy Good may have divulged any tidbits about this script, such as where in the season it would have aired and how much of the story was Tapert's and how much was hers, I'd be really interested to know. Enjoy! ============================================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ============================================== Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://www.smoe.org/meth/muzak.html ============================================== ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 20:48:41 -0700 From: "Kym Masera Taborn" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Unproduced X:WP Script Online From: "meredith" > I don't intend to get into a discussion of the virtual seasons here ... but > the "season finale" of the Subtext Virtual Season is of interest to the > Xenite community at large, I think. It's an unproduced script that Missy > Good actually wrote for the series, based on a story by Rob Tapert > himself. This isn't the "lost" musical! It's a very serious episode that > only gains in fascination factor when read with FIN in mind. They got the production number wrong. V1426 was the production number of Many Happy Returns. ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V2 #150 **************************************