DR George, thanks for posting the picture of the b&w Wait Until Dark.
For my eyes, "live" b&w just doesn't quite work. There's too much color in real life, what with our own flesh tones, the colors inherent in lighting, etc., and the illusion is never complete.
I was involved in such a production in, let's see, 2013. My recently retired director friend had been coerced into doing Adrift in Macao in place of something else, I forget the circumstances now. He had already taught the cast their music and at the last minute brought me in to play/conduct the 5-piece band, which was nice. We enjoyed much of the music and craziness of the show, but it was a flop in that they never were able to entice an audience to attend. Anyway, he staged it "in b&w" in view of its noir-ish setting, and the conceit only worked to a certain extent. It never really became believable, and it was a distraction when you'd remember - oh yeah, that's what they're doing here. Hopefully a more professional venue can do better than this place did, but I have me doubts.
Bottom line, Adrift could probably have used all the gimmicky help it could get. Wait Until Dark only needs fine actors and a director (and theeder) who follow the stage directions to the letter. It's one of those perfect pieces that only needs to be done right.
