In a July-August year in which I find myself on track to have seen some 120 shows, everything seems a little bit like theatre. From a casual trip to the dentist to casual cookouts with friends, everything seems a bit like theatre to me these days. Like much of the rest of the city, my wife and I went to the lakefront to see the fireworks last night. We are discussing the possibility of seeing another display closer to home tonight. Somewhere in the middle of the display last night, Carrie asked me if I was thinking about the display like a stage show that I was going to review. Until she mentioned it, I hadn’t really thought about it . . . but on further consideration, a fireworks program is kind of an abstract pyrotechnic theatre show, free and open to everyone. While traditional theatre may have more in common with, say, a professional wrestling show than it does with a fireworks display, there are distinct similarities. And there's little doubt that fireworks are much bigger than theatre in this town (with respect to the number of people involved in an audience, anyway . . . I’d hate to see a comparison between the amount of money spent on producing theatre in Milwaukee and have that compared with the amount of money spent on fireworks . . . over the course of an average Milwaukee Summer, there are fireworks going on SOMEWHERE every other week at least. . . add up all the money spent in one summer and it’s probably suprizingly close to th total theatre budget in this city in a single year . . . )
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The universal appeal of fireworks has a lot to do with its abstract simplicity. On the walk out to the lakefront, I overheard no less than three different languages being spoken by other attendees. Fireworks speak every language, so there’s more of an appeal. Also, more obviouslyit’s free, but when you look at the amount of time and effort spent on going out, setting up camp, in some cases roping or taping-off a portion of park space early on in the day and so on . . . there’s a lot of effort that goes on there which substantially more hassle than driving out to a local multiplex and spending a few dollars on a film . . . or a play for that matter. Fireworks ARE free, but any event involving as many people as the annual Lakefront show is huge. Last night it was difficult just finding a place to park. On our way into the area, my wife and I ran into no less than THREE auto accidents. Any event worth at least three auto accidents is NOT free . . .
The display itself actually behaves a bit like a play. In the course of the hour from beginning to end, there were no less than three crescendoswhich makes for something like an abstract three-act performance that has no precise plot. If a society that is becoming increasingly fragmented due to interactive media socializing behind home computer terminals and iPhones and such . . . there’s still enough of a visceral, cultural fascination in watch things blow-up in the sky . . . still enough fascination to create three auto accidents last night. There’s still enough of a desire to see things blow-up in the sky with half the city watching at the same time. There’s still enough of a public fascination with fireworks to make people want to go. So what’s the fascination here that theatre lacks? Ore than anthing, the cultural phenomenon is engrained in society out of force of habit . . Hollywood has done an excellent job of making its summer movie season a cultural phenomenon as natural as camping, trips to the beach and fireworks displays. Local theatre across the country needs to reach out to people the same way if its going to enlarge its audience. Look at all the people rushing out to see things blow-up in the sky . . . a live performance of explosive chemistry . . . and realize that it’s the same thing in principle . . .the same thing that drives a much smaller demographic to the theatre. People go in groups to see a lot of formal presentations . . . as established as it is, theatre has much to learn from the bigger appeal of more popular cultural phenomena. I dont know . . .it's a ll a bit of a stretch, but when you're going out to live theatre on average of once every three days over the course of a year, everything looks a bit skewed. I still have a few more days to rest-up for five shos in five days. My thoughts are bound to be a bit frazzled.
