No Production's Perfect-Even on Broadway

        

I have read “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” both in the form of a novel and in the form of a play.  It is about a boy named Christopher who has an unspecified mental disability, most likely a form of autism. (It seems like Asperger syndrome.)  The story starts with Christopher finding his neighbor’s dog dead.  From here, Christopher goes on a journey.  He wishes to find the dog’s murderer.  What seems out to be a simple task, takes him completely outside of his comfort zone.  He starts by visiting neighbor’s houses and talking to strangers.  Following this, his father reveals he is the murderer, so Christopher leaves home to travel to his mother’s house.  As a person afraid of strangers and is unfamiliar with travel, he struggles in the train station.  He eventually makes it to his mother’s house.  Overall, Christopher is an dynamic character.  

The Broadway show of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” was good.  I loved the stage and lighting effects.  I did, however, dislike a few aspects.  

The stage was by far my favorite part of the show.  At first glance, the stage design is simple.  It looks like a grid both on the walls and the floor.  A rectangular prism is present on the edges of the stage, which is used as a bench.  Finally, there is the outline of a dog present in centerstage.  The stage is used for every setting throughout the story.  This was done by using spotlights and digital lighting effects on the stage itself.  For example, the part where Christopher is visiting his neighbors uses both techniques.  Spotlights and other stage lights show the audience where Christopher is while the lighting built into the stage outlines each house. Another part where the lighting was when Christopher would slip into one of his nervous moods.  Here, numbers would appear on the floor around Christopher as if they were spilling out of him.  A few other of my favorite lighting effects included the constellations that were displayed on the walls, and when Christopher drew on the floor.  Furthermore, the stage worked well with the lighting effects.  The stage had many doors and openings that were not noticeable until Christopher opened them or the setting changed.  As I previously mentioned, the stage was simple at first glance.  Then there were several changes that revealed more and more. The entire stage was used during the show, which is good.  The production took full advantage of the stage they were working with.  

      

While the lighting was amazing, I do have one complaint to the tech crew: the mics needed to be louder.  The sound effects coordinated well with the lighting and plot, but at times, even when there was no sound effect or music, I found myself struggling to hear the dialogue.  This being said, the dynamics of being loud and quiet as well as the lighting allowed the audience to picture the world through Christopher’s eyes.  

This was another one of the best aspects.  The audience was able to see the world as Christopher see it.  This is important because many people in the audience do not understand why Christopher acts the way he does.  By showing the audience Christopher’s world, it allows them to make sense of the story and what they are seeing.  The staging helped make this come to life from the book/script.  Because the audience was shown the world through Christopher’s eyes, there had to be a narrator.  I liked how Siobhan played this role, however I felt she was confusing.  In the beginning, it was easy to distinguish the narration and when she was playing the teacher.  This was due to the book in her hand when she was the narrator.  I felt the book should have continued to be present throughout the show.  Later on, when Siobhan was narrating, the actress was not holding the book.  This made it more difficult to understand her role. Even if she was not reading from the book, I feel the book was still a necessary prop.  

    Overall, I enjoyed the show.  It was worth the long bus ride.  There were some problems that I did not foresee because it was a Broadway show (like the mics).  I thought it could have been executed a little better.  All in all, I am sad the show is closing and am happy I got to see it before it did. I can’t wait to go back to Broadway next month to see “School of Rock.” 

         

Sources: Google Images