BWW Blog: Jessica Vanek - What Makes a Good Show?

Jess here. 2017 is upon us, and keeping with tradition, I have made a resolution. No, it's not your typical "eat healthier" or "get a gym membership" kind of resolution, its one involving creativity. You see, I attend a performing arts high school in Las Vegas and I can safely say that the art of musical theatre is my passion. I've decided to write a one act musical this year, a feat which I know is incredibly daunting, but I am always up for a challenge. I already have my plotline figured out, and I'm really happy with what I have, but now I just need to write it. The problem is, I don't know where to start. When looking at iconic musicals, I find it impossible to make a distinct connection between them all. This begs the question, what makes a good show? This can be interpreted many ways; from a technical standpoint, to the content, to the actors portraying the characters. The whole idea of "a good show" baffles me, because no one shares the same opinion when defining what is good vs. what is bad.

In order to see what my fellow theatre geeks thought, I took the question to twitter and facebook, and got some awesome responses. Not surprisingly, everyone was in agreement with the fact that a good show requires a strong plot and excellent writing, but one thing that really grabbed my attention was that many responded that good theatre can often rely heavily on the audience. It's a fact that I've always known, yet never really acknowledged. Thinking about it, it's crazy how you can have a perfect show with incredible actors and tech, but if the audience is a little off, the show can fall flat on its face. Another person mentioned how important it is for a show to have great pictures in it, like lighting, blocking and effects. Since society relies so heavily on spectacle, it's important now to have a beautiful show due to the public's short attention span. Shows have to have a visual appeal to keep audiences engaged. One of my good friends mentioned how crucial it is to have a cohesive ensemble. When an audience can feel an ensemble working in perfect harmony, everything else seems to fade away. All of these points made a lot of sense to me, and helped me to finally realize what I value in a production. When I think of a good show, in addition to all of the above, I envision a performance based on a revolutionary idea that opens people's eyes to a concept they may have previously been unaware of. An unusual dilemma or an important social issue holds the power to weave a passionate tale. Shows like Spring Awakening, for example, dealt with many sensitive subjects that society had a lot of trouble discussing, and still does today. When Spring Awakening was created, it allowed many people to open up about pressing issues including child neglect, sex education, sexual identity, and abuse. A good show, in my opinion, pushes barriers and has the power to make global changes.

All of the online input I received was very helpful and appreciated! I hope that I can successfully achieve my New Years resolution of writing my one act musical in the upcoming year.

The art of making art is putting it together, bit by bit- Stephen Sondheim

*I forgot to mention that this is my first blog post for broadwayworld.com. I am beyond thrilled to have received this opportunity, and I look forward to what this year has in store.