Close-ups of Little Geoffrey?

[Callawyn]

I said the band geek narration in '07 was like a piece of poop on filet mignon. Kind of hard to enjoy a nice cut of meat under those circumstances. I'd say a wart is an improvement.

'07 was like watching a Formula 1 race that's constantly interrupted by commercials for feminine hygiene products.

I get the Jeffrey idea, the corps is the toy soldiers and Jeffrey is playing with them, they're his toys. No problem so far. But he really looks creepy in that outfit, like child molester creepy. Couldn't they have found a smaller kid to put in the little boy outfit? He's like Popeye in Pinochio shorts. Very odd. Also, some of the stuff he's doing I don't like, he often seems to be mocking the corps rather than playing with them, though this did improve as the season went on.

Overall I really liked the Cadets this year, and for the most part was able to simply ignore Jeffrey. The '07 show was, and still is, unwatchable. The corps was awesome, tremendous talent, but the narration simply can't be tolerated.

[chris ncsu]

Overall I really liked the Cadets this year, and for the most part was able to simply ignore Jeffrey. The '07 show was, and still is, unwatchable. The corps was awesome, tremendous talent, but the narration simply can't be tolerated.

In your opinion.

In my opinion, I crinkle my nose at some of the narration, but overall I LOVE LOVE LOVE that show. I did in the stands, and I do now.

[The Other Mike]

I get the Jeffrey idea, the corps is the toy soldiers and Jeffrey is playing with them, they're his toys. No problem so far. But he really looks creepy in that outfit, like child molester creepy.

Maybe it's Pee Wee Hermans little brother ?

[Galen]

I've got no problem with Little G for 2 reasons:

1, they don't insist on making HIM the focus of the show (unlike past shows they've done that I won't mention)

2, it's easy to focus on all the other good stuff happening

[Michael Boo]

Guys, say what you will about Little Geoffrey ... Just be grateful they didn't give him a microphone.

:thumbup:

[Wadep66]

I'm a Hollywood screenwriter. There, I said it. Yeah, yeah, I know. Once your booing has subsided, I'll give my opinion, whether anybody listens.

Who is the writer on Cadets' design team?

I've seen so many basic, standard, rudimentary, common-sense performance rules broken, that I gotta chime in here. Like any rule, you can break it if you must, but then you gotta compensate ten fold to make it work.

1) Avoid adults playing children. It rings false and appears unnatural. If you must do an adult playing a kid, at least you can add sassy, precocious dialogue, which can occasionally help raise the level of sophistication. Here, the character has no words, so the actor is crippled further in an already thankless role. Also, with a child character, you're limiting the subject matter that can be broached. Everything has to be "appropriate", which is a death knell for comedy.

2) Avoid teaching scenes. It's a slow, predictable volley of show and do, show and do.

3) Have a range of emotion. Continually add new information, information that surprises the audience, or it falls flat.

4) A character should have an arc, a range of experiences that grow and build for comedic or dramatic effect. Here Geoffrey ends up leading the corps, which is the predictable progression, but what about the middle? I saw a lot of similar, happy-faced playing, and that's not enough information to support a 12 minute show.

Here are some observations on last night's Cadets show.

The performer seems competent and has great stage presence, blah blah, I'm not talking about the performer here, he's fine. The only problem I have is design-wise.

--Cirque du Soleil has made a science out of comedic performing without words. It's incredibly difficult. Their clowns continually surprise the audience with how smart they are and how their specific point of view shows through.

--Geoffrey has no surprises. His point of view has no specific, unique rolodex of information that helps us identify his character. Where is he from? Manhattan? Columbus? Why is he here? Right now, he's a generic kid and does generic things--blah. Comedy comes from specificity and a little bit of cynicism. If he's a rich kid who's making fun of corps, it helps us identify his character. Or if he's an angry kid. Or if he's a loser. Right now, according to the script, he's one-dimensional, so we can't climb aboard.

Personally, I'd change the little boy character. I might think about changing him to a disgruntled teenager who appears to try to interrupt the show-- security has to be called. Make it look like it's a real security problem. (Two corps members dressed as stadium security begin to take him off, the drum major insists that it's okay, and not to press charges.) The kid hangs around, gets trampled a bit, interrupts the flow of the drill, and begins to reveal that he wants to be a part of it. He learns and adapts. And he ends up participating.

One final note. I believe that the Geoffrey performer, during the exit off the field should drop his character, and meld perfectly with the corps, using perfect marching technique.

BILL

Wow. Thanks for an actual thoughtful intelligent description of the issues. DCP is lacking good critiques like this. Hopefully someone from the Cadets staff will see this and realize you have several good points.

[Liahona]

I'm a Hollywood screenwriter. There, I said it. Yeah, yeah, I know. Once your booing has subsided, I'll give my opinion, whether anybody listens.

Personally, I'd change the little boy character. I might think about changing him to a disgruntled teenager who appears to try to interrupt the show-- security has to be called. Make it look like it's a real security problem. (Two corps members dressed as stadium security begin to take him off, the drum major insists that it's okay, and not to press charges.) The kid hangs around, gets trampled a bit, interrupts the flow of the drill, and begins to reveal that he wants to be a part of it. He learns and adapts. And he ends up participating.

One final note. I believe that the Geoffrey performer, during the exit off the field should drop his character, and meld perfectly with the corps, using perfect marching technique.

BILL

It really is too bad that you were not on their design team. Your ideas are very imaginative, fun, and creative IMO.

If I was a corps director you'd be on my staff :)

[2000Cadet]

Wow. Thanks for an actual thoughtful intelligent description of the issues. DCP is lacking good critiques like this. Hopefully someone from the Cadets staff will see this and realize you have several good points.

Those aren't good points. The character wasn't much of a problem. It's only some people who were making him the problem.

[DCIHasBeen]

Those aren't good points. The character wasn't much of a problem. It's only some people who were making him the problem.

Yeah, I can't take too much exception to him ... My corps used something like Geoffrey BITD, except it was a girl in a chicken suit.

Go figure ...

[SFZFAN]

Yeah, I can't take too much exception to him ... My corps used something like Geoffrey BITD, except it was a girl in a chicken suit.

Go figure ...

But she had those legs!!!!