Shafor said:
But what kind of "storyline" did Emerald Beat have? It was just random singing and dancing...But to make some sort of "I mean, what am I looking at here? What's the story? I don't get it?" criticism of CF as the reason you don't like it vs. EB just doesn't make any sense. I mean, what were we looking at in Emerald Beat? What was the "story?"
EB didn't need a story, because it didn't presume to have one. It was an abstract performance, like the circus. The lighting, the mood, the costuming...they all supported the abstract quality so that the audience understands that they shouldn't expect something straightforward. Those types of things cue people to let their mind wander...just like abstract art. Celtic Fyre, on the other hand, is a show that is set up to be far less abstract. They attempt to present a story, characters and a definitive setting...like a movie. Those types of shows benefit from clearly defined stories, etc, just like movies.
More importantly than that, however, are the missing characters. To demonstrate this concept, think of this: take a great movie like Star Wars (the first one), just as an example. Now, keep the exact same story they already have in the movie, but instead of cool people like Obi Wan Kenobi, Han Solo and Chewbacca, I want you to imagine the movie with replacements...total strangers. My boss, that guy you saw at the store the other day, and the person sweeping the sidewalks at BG right this second. Is it any good? No...because the characters are mundane, boring and uninteresting. Literally nothing that happens matters to anyone because none of the characters interest the audience. The same can't be said in reverse. You could take a cool character, like Vader, and have him do almost anything and it would be interesting (an they have, right? Darth Vader sells lightbulbs and Christmas cards and Volkswagens).
Characters drive stories, and stories are the skeleton of certain types of shows. Some shows can get away with not having stories, granted you set the correct tone so that the audience doesn't expect anything else. Little abstract things. Celtic Fyre is not one of these shows and makes a clear attempt NOT to be. They tell you a story...or try to. But they present no characters. The set no mood. Nothing at all is believable or interesting, except the dance moves, which are put to waste in such a humdrum setup.
You COULD fix Celtic Fyre, in all seriousness, to be a GREAT show with the same general premise. But you'd have to replace all these nobodies with Han Solos and Princess Leahs. And you'd need to fix the boring lighting.
PageyMoon said:
DoctorMoneyMD said:
You got all that from CF? Okay, so here's what happens from my perspective:
tl;dr
If you didn't read it, son't critique it. I understand it's a theme park show...but that doesn't mean you trhow away some basic quality rules.