Northwest Children’s Theater
July 16, 2006; closes August 6, 2006
Rough seas, to be sure: story sometimes precariously stowed for pitch, roll and yaw. Still, the craft sailed on with unsinkable spirit despite waves of adversity (e.g., show-stopping fire alarm). Lotsa on-the-cusp talent with standout voices from the most surprising pipes – a shakedown cruise captained by ship-shape showman John Ellingson.
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11 comments:
Yes, Today's (sunday july 16th) performance was definatly the shakiest of the shows this weekend. It was the first matinee, and matinee's are definatly hard on the actors because they are used to 8 o'clock curtains. But still, I thought Travis's role as Esta (thrown in last night after Athena Patterson caught a bug) was a riot! Many kudo's to the cast for staying in character and braving the fierce fire alarm :).
I hesitated to post this until I knew the correct name, but I too wanted to commend Travis Brown for his excellent performance filling in for Athena Patterson in the role of Esta. If it were not for the program, I would not have known the role wasn't his all along. Very cleverly staged and a wonderful voice among several in this show.
I can't recall a teen cast that has impressed me more than these kids. What troopers! The show we saw was rocky, no doubt, but they stayed in character right through the fire alarm. I may return for an evening show.
I had just assumed that Travis was originally cast in the role, and that the program was furthering the conceit of a disastrous production.
I agree with the praise for Travis Brown, though I do wish I had seen Athena Patterson as I have enjoyed her in past performanes. I also thought Lizzie Malarkey, Alexis Rhiannon and Mark Lavey were quite good as well. A very strong cast from from top to bottom.
Just as a side note, Athena should be back for this friday's performance if any wanted to see the show again for her.
Talk about a cast with moxie!!
Is there a live band? And are they using mics in this production? If I remember correctly there were no mics in Footloose and that made for an odd sound balance, particularly for those of us sitting on the sides.
Yes, the band is live, but the drummer uses brushes instead of sticks, and most of the cast is mic-ed.
Not really the bets material ever, but I can't say I didn't have a great time. It's a fun concept and there are some nice songs but the greatest asset this show has is it's cast. They all have perfect comic timing, fantastic voices and seemingly boundless energy. If nothing else, go see it to get a great preview of the kind of young talent we have in Portland.
What happened to the original director for this show? NWCT's website still lists John Monteverde as the director but he was not involved with this production. What gives?
Mr. Monteverde was fired as Artistic Director of NWCT (and, therefore, as diretcor of Moby Dick) shortly before rehearsals began. His replacement, Sarah Jane Hardy also took over as director even though due to prior commitments she had to miss half of the rehearsal process. It's really quite impressive that these kids have been able to put on such a great show despite all the drama offstage.
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