Transcript ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature— Drama [Lavery] ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature— Drama [Lavery]

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
New Media for
Theatre
The Big
Screen
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
The Small
Screen
The Horrible Website
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
The
Internet
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
««éz
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
In the wake of the November 5, 2007-February 12, 2008 Writers Guild
of America strike—during which Whedon walked the picket lines—
another Whedon venture debuted, not in movie theatres, not on
television, not in a comic book but on the internet. Dr. Horrible’s SingAlong Blog (hereafter DHSAB) premiered, free (for a limited time) on the
web, posted, one act at a time, July 15th, 17th, and 19th of 2008. Dr.
Horrible then disappeared (midnight July 20th), available only on ITunes
until its release on DVD in December.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Dr. Horrible/Billy (Neil
Patrick Harris)
The Horrible Cast
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Penny (Felicia
Day)
The Horrible Cast
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Captain Hammer
(Nathan Fillion)
The Horrible Cast
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Moist (Simon Hedberg)
The Horrible Cast
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Watch Dr. Horrible (42 minutes)
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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In a letter available on the website, Whedon offers, in his inimitable way,
Dr. Horrible’s origin myth:
Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the
Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were
all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for
the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were
very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers
tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that
circumvented the Forest King system.
Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do
something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only
by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I singlehandedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which,
as we all know, there are far too few.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
In other words, during the Writers
Guild of America’s strike
(November 5, 2007-February 12,
2008)—of which he was a stalwart
and outspoken supporter, Whedon
hatched a scheme to create, with
the help of scores of others,
including his brothers Zack and
Jed, Jed’s fiancée Maurissa
Tancharoen, School of Whedonites
Ben Edlund (uncredited), David
Fury, and Marti Noxon,
________________
* In Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: The
Book we learn that both Moist and Bad
Horse—originally pitched for Angel—were
Edlundian ideas (10)
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Ben Edlund
DHSAB was quintessential
Whedon: naughty, hilarious, cultish,
exhilarating, genre-bending, virally
memorable—especially its catchy
music and Sondheim-goes-geek
patter lyrics: a near-perfect
manifestation of the “loser
aesthetic” identified by Richard Burt
and elucidated by Matt Hills (Fan
Cultures) that has been Whedon’s
TV auteur signature in Buffy, Angel,
and Firefly. And, needless to say, it
was inherently collaborative.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
DHSAB is set in a world populated
by superheroes with a variety of
powers (mention is made of “the
Mayor’s dedication of the Superhero
Memorial Bridge”) and supervillains
(the “thoroughbred of sin” Bad
Horse, Dead Bowie, Fake Thomas
Jefferson, Fury Leika, Professor
Normal, Johnny Snow , and, of
course, Moist (Simon Helberg),
Billy’s “evil, moisture buddy,” a friend
indeed when anything needs to be
“dampened or made soggy”).
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Anything but horrible, DHSAB,
clearly indebted to Sondheim’s
Sweeney Todd (1979), was a
complete success. The music and
the acting are both delightful and
hilarious, the production values and
special effects amazingly good
(considering the low budget). That
was the master plan, after all:
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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to make it on the fly, on the cheap—but to make it. To turn
out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment
specifically for the internet. To show how much could be
done with very little. To show the world there is another way.
To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for
all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly
jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come
first.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Whedon discounts any claim to internet guru status—
claiming to be so ignorant he can’t even find porn—or
being a business pioneer--“Somebody coming to me for
business advice is like somebody asking a guy who
makes balloon animals how to pick up women.”
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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“I’m interested in being an
Internet Roger Corman
[pictured]. He’s responsible for a
slew of the greatest directors of
the last couple decades,
because he was the only Bmovie system that there was.
Now the whole world can be
that system.”
--Joss Whedon (Rosen 33)
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Dr. H, Captain Hammer, Penny
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Hammer and Horrible
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Dr. Horrible Hears About His Application to
Join the Evil League of Evil
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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The Horrible Cast
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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The Horrible Cast
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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The Horrible Cast
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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The Horrible Cast
who pursues
membership in the
“Evil League of Evil”
...
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Horrible would eventually be
released on a loaded DVD
(including a unique sung
commentary track: “Commentary,
the Musical”), at which time
DHSAB’s cast and crew got paid,
proof positive of Whedon’s strategy
to “turn Dr Horrible into a viable
economic proposition as well as an
awesome goof” that he hoped
would “inspire more people to lay
themselves out in the same way.”
“It’s time for the dissemination of
the artistic process. Create more
for less,” Whedon would proclaim.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Tired of struggling against the men in
suits, bored with “there’s no business
like show business” clichés, he has
now established himself as a major
figure out to change “the face of Show
Friendliness.”
With his usual humility and generosity,
Whedon refused to take much credit
for DHSAB: “I would like to say I
directed this thing, and occasionally I
told the camera where to be, but
every one of these guys showed up
so dialed in that I was just like, “I’m
happy to be here.” (Dr. Horrible’s
Sing-Along Blog: The Book 78).
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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««éz
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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In October 2011, soon after wrapping filming of The Avengers, The
Hollywood Reporter and various internet sites reported that Whedon had
“relaxed” after completion of the massive project by shooting, at his
house in Santa Clara, California, his own script of Shakespeare’s Much
Ado About Nothing.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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Much Ado was a production of a new “micro studio” Whedon had
established with his wife Kai Cole as co-head.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
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