Northwest Children’s Theater and School
July 21, 2005; closes August 7, 2005
Effort noted, but no grading on a curve here: this wasn’t much more than an edgeless junior-class play. First lesson when directing musicals: ain’t enough breath support in the world for even professionals to simultaneously sing, dance full-out. Marilyn Stacey mothered honest, grounded moments. Fun costumes. Show me the musicians!
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4 comments:
I thought Jocelyn Pickett as Ariel was quite a find. Talented actress with a great voice. David Sikking did a great job with sub-par material and it was fun to see him and marilyn working together. The choreography was fun and the cast seems to have lots of heart. Would love to see what they could do with a script worthy of their talents.
Also, was nice to see LIVE musicians and NO mics (with the exception of 3 songs where, I thought, it was approiate to have them).
I had to leave at intermission (not because of the show), but having live musicians and no mics killed the songs for me; in a three-quarter house, almost any time someone sang away from the audience, they got buried by the band, the chorus, or both (the mothers' duet being an exception that stands out). And the mic for "Holding out for a hero" was silly because it was one song where she wasn't fighting a large chorus, and could have gotten over the band.
Certainly better than your average high-school production of this show... The cast did have a lot of heart. Except for a few chorus members who sang a little off-key, the cast was overall quite strong. The dancing was impressive, although I agree that there were problems with the sound. I would have enjoyed a more enthusiastic curtain-call. Kudos to Pickett, Rogers, Walker, and Sikking.
So interesting that this show is billed around the Kevin Bacon/Sam Rogers character (I've already forgotten his name), but in reality the only transformation (other than the one sidekick learning to dance) comes from the Reverend (Sikking). It's really his show, from an internal point of view.
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