This is a "funny" story with a very important message. As I said in yesterday's blog post, this summer some friends and I performed at a retirement village. When we pulled into the very, very nice, elite looking place, we noticed that the sign said that it was a Lutheran retirement village. We were then instructed to go to the chapel because that's where the performance would take place. We weren't aware of the two facts I just stated, and there were then some unusual and slightly inappropriate songs for that particular audience. The one song that stands out is "It's Hard to Speak my Heart" from Parade. During the song, a young man is trying to make his final plea of not guilty stating he didn't rape a young girl like he had been accused of. It also sounds relatively morbid in a reflective way. In the context of the show, it works, but it was not appropriate for a Lutheran audience in a chapel. My friends and I were just trying not to laugh at the odd reactions to this song. All of that to say is know your audience. As performers, I've said the audience is important for us to perform well and to have some interaction. However, before getting to the stage, we have to predict or find out who the audience will be so we will perform material the audience can respond to. For example, when SSMT chooses their shows, they consider the audience by taking polls from them finding out what they want to see, and considering the audience demographic. Therefore, the point of all of this is always know your audience so you don't become embarrassed singing a song about rape in a chapel.
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