The American superstar “The Music Man” has been winning this year with his revival on Broadway and at many local and international venues around the world. John Yang went to the Olney Theater Center in Maryland to see when it was screened. , and how art can be an example of a highly cohesive society, in which deaf and dumb communities live together.
The old American music “The Music Man” hit hard this year with its revival on Broadway and at many regional and local stages around the world.
John Yang went to see when it took a measure and how art could be a model for the community involved.
Letter that the translation of American Sign Language was done simultaneously with the interview. These lifestyles can affect the overall order of the English translation.
The story is part of the art and quality of closure at Canvas.
Numbers of soul-stirring music, a scam, Midwestern Americana, all known hit “The Music Man” are featured in this production at a private theater in Maryland.
But take a closer look. This is not your grandfather’s City. It is thought of as a place where deaf and hearing impairments live side by side, and hearing loss is not a barrier. Half of being thrown deaf or hard of hearing.
There were see-through CCID masks, so deaf players could read lips and facial expressions. American Sign Language translators have been stationed on the platform. The set is made by a deaf manufacturer with a few stairs, so deaf players should not take their eyes off those who sign the castmate.
And a special lighting system lets the deaf know when there is a problem.
Jason Loewith, Artistic Director, Olney:
There will be a surtitle screenshot…
… which will be especially helpful for those on the porch.
Jason Loewith is in his tenth year as professional director at Olney, one of the leading sports venues in the world. His philosophy? Let the skill lead.
We heard that in town there is a pool table.
The words may have been meaningless, but listening to and seeing the words translated into ASL was a revelation. I thought, this is a good new way to know music.
And then, yes, our desire to create a community involved and make a theater that is integrated, felt like heaven is the limit.
He was not particularly interested six years ago, when he first arrived with James Caverly.
James Caverly, Actor (through an interpreter):
So it was like a Frankenstein beast going to a scientist and saying, make me a new woman, wasn’t it? One point, I think, in my sentence.
James Caverly (through an interpreter):
But I would say that the stadium was different.
Deaf from birth, Caverly was working as a carpenter in a sports shop. After seeing the Deaf West Theater production of “Spring Awakening” on Broadway, he went to Loewith with advice.
James Caverly (through an interpreter):
Let’s call “The Music Man.” Let’s go!
And I don’t think he was really satisfied with the idea at the time. It took a while, maybe three odd years for him to really seek to persuade her. Hey, hey, “Music Man.” Hey don’t forget “The Music Man.”
“The Music Man” is an American musical theater classic. It tells the story of Harold Hill, a charming traveling merchant who, in the early part of 20th-century Iowa, enticed innumerable people to buy missing children’s band.
Marian Paroo, a town pianist and librarian, sees through her quickly, but then begins to see the other side of her. When the final song is sung, each one of them is moved by love.
James Caverly (through an interpreter):
What I really liked was, let’s get rid of this notion that people with disabilities can only play activities designed or written for the disabled.
The country that is River City and the “Music Man” is the perfect choice for that.
After trying out a plan in a 2019 meeting with a player who feels like Harold Hill, another twist: What if he was deaf?
James Caverly (through an interpreter):
So if you compare Harold Hill as a hearing aid, he is selling musical instruments. That’s what is believed. He doesn’t have to work too hard or too hard to convince people that he can lead a music band.
Now, Harold Hill Deaf is a different story. The guy really needs to raise it, to be really good at being able to enable the community that, hey, you have to buy these instruments because, guess what, I can lead a music band, right? Hah-hah.
So I think it develops character in a way, and you should really, add that deceptive skill.
It makes Harold Hill not only the last con man, in a way, but also what you were saying, the last salesman of dreams.
James Caverly (through an interpreter):
Caverly, new to his acting career in Hulu’s “Only Murderer In The Building,” has been thrown into the lead.
Artistic director Loewith estimates that this product is about 40 percent more expensive than the original. Among the extra money? Sign-language interpreters, professional sign language director, or DASL, and two directors, one hearing, the other deaf.
The deaf leader is Sandra Mae Frank, the star of the 2016 Broadway revival of the “Spring Awakening.” He wanted this game to be different.
Sandra Mae Frank, Co-Director (through an interpreter):
I wanted to integrate American Sign Language, but I didn’t want it to be anything I had ever seen done. We’ve had mixed types of deaf and hard of hearing in the past, but often people feel the shadow talking to the deaf, saying their sentences in English.
And players would sometimes do SimCom, which is speaking and signing at the same time, speaking English and signing at the same time. And that’s exactly what you see in the sports world. And, with this, I wanted to do something different.
So while all the numbers of the songs are sung aloud, some of the pictures have a dialogue only in sign language, with great titles to help the listening audience.
For Frank and sign language director Michelle Banks, she had the same work of this year’s Broadway revival of “For Colored Girls Who Thinked Suicide / If Rainbow Is Enuf,” is a combination of signed and spoken words to tell a story. it is both reassuring and promising.
Michelle Banks, CEO of ASL (through an interpreter): This is not just a one-time affair. This is not just an art. This can be part of who we are as a people, a society, that this is the way we can interact and connect with each other to look more fully, more fully, as our knowledge of the existing divisions, the way we move the world.
Yes, this is more than a theater. You have to go to the show. You may not know what will happen next. You will always have to be involved, and your eyes, it will be a lot to take, right? Your eyes are muscular, and they may feel stretched, but that is what should happen.
Do you hope that directors, designers and directors will take something from this too?
Sandra Mae Frank (through an interpreter):
Of course. My hope is that, through this, this is not the end.
As these different players combine their voices and hands in harmony.
The show will run until July 24.
For “PBS NewsHour,” I am John Yang in Olney, Maryland.
How is it. And let’s hope we’ll see more as it really is.
