this is silly and i know it. however, i don't ever remember claiming to be an incredibly rational person.

so, i highly dislike overtures. i enjoy musicals immensely and (as shynie can attest) they help me focus and get work done, so i tend to listen to soundtracks a lot.

so this thought struck me while we sat through the ass-long overture to Orpheus in the Underworld at school. i swear it was like 10 minutes long. woah. i get the idea of overtures and whatever, introducing the show to the audience and whatever, but seriously. thats way too long for me.

maybe it goes to the point that i'm not a huge fan of instrumental only recordings (though this is a general statement, i'm known to listen to some vivaldi on occasion), but i'm just not a fan of overtures. they bore me. perhaps i'm just SO excited to get to the show, that i don't want to sit through extra time of staring at an actorless stage or main drape.

now, i think its genius when the overture starts before the lights go down. now thats a great way to bring people in. music while they are waiting anyway, and for anyone who gets there late, well sucks for them, because thats what happens when you aren't there in time for theater. if you aren't 15 minutes early, you are 10 minutes late.

short, sweet and to the point.

and, as charlie predicted at the beginning of the summer... i AM becoming a sondheim fan.