I went into The Outsiders completely blind. I have never read the book that it is based off of nor have I watched the film adaptation. I went into this show completely unaware of the plot. And honestly, by intermission, my first thought was “how West Side Story”. Of course, anyone who has seen this show knows that beyond feuding gangs and an unapproved love interest — that is really where the comparison of the two shows end.
Billboard for The Outsiders
This show follows the character of Ponyboy Curtis (played by Brody Grant), a 14 year old boy who’s parents recently died in a car crash, leaving him and his two older brothers — Darrel, the eldest brother who has assumed a fatherly role to his brothers, and Sodapop, the middle brother who is suffering from a broken heart (played by Brent Comer and Jason Schmidt, respectively). Taking on this fatherly role has taken a toll on Darrel, which has substantially strained the relationship between the three brothers.
The show begins with the lights not all the way down. This is because it isn’t until the first song begins that the lights fully go down and we, the audience, are introduced to all of the members of the first gang — The Greasers. This is done in a beautiful manner in which Ponyboy uses light to introduce each Greaser one by one. Before we are introduced to the characters, though, we can see them going about their daily business behind a scrim, which raises as the characters are introduced.
The Stage
The Greasers are not well off financially, they live on the wrong sides of the tracks, so to speak. But they respect their own. Ponyboy, specifically is not your typical Greaser. He is able to be rough and tumble, but he is a dreamer — he loves getting lost in books and movies and escaping the world through fiction.
The rival gang is called The Socs — because they “live like socialites”. So they are wealthy, upper class, and tend to think of themselves as better than The Greasers.
Ponyboy’s best friend and fellow Greaser is Johnny Cade (played by Sky Lakota-Lynch), who is a central character of this show. Johnny had recently been attacked by The Socs, which sets the scene for the rest of the action that happens. It is also notable that Johnny does not have a good home life, with parents who often fight. This leads to him being given a knife by Dallas.
Another very important character is Dallas Winston (played by Alex Joseph Grayson) who is the head of The Greasers gang — the other members all look up to him (except perhaps Darrel who has attempted to move on from the gang lifestyle), who has a criminal record, and who also runs away from his problems.
It is not long into the show that Ponyboy himself is jumped by The Socs, who attempt to cut his hair (their hair is very important to The Greasers) and he is knocked unconscious. The effects of being knocked unconscious are beyond belief — the use of scattered lighting, a high pitched ringing, and dampened audio all helped achieve the effect of Ponyboy being knocked out.
Once Ponyboy wakes, he is informed that he is now officially a Greaser because he has gone through the “initiation” process (being beaten up by The Socs). And thus starts the adventure.
Ponyboy loves going to the drive-in to see movies and it is here that he meets Cherry Valance (played by Emma Pittman) — the girlfriend of the leader of The Socs, Bob (played by Davis Wayne in this performance). Ponyboy and Cherry realise that neither is what the other expected them to be, which causes a confrontation between The Socs and The Greasers which eventually leads to the death of a character leading to the downfall of many.
Playbill and Understudy Card
This show poses many questions to the audience — why do teenagers rebel? Why do we as a society believe stereotypes about any groups of people? Can you outrun your problems — both physically and metaphorically? Or will it always catch up to you in the end? And perhaps most importantly, will things turn out alright if we just learn from the actions of our past and the pasts of those around us? Can change really happen?
This show is impressive — the sets are intricate — complete with a rain fall fight scene between the two gangs, but also fairly simplistic (for example: a car that The Greasers have is also turned into a bed for the Curtis brothers, so the set is also adaptable for the various scenes). The choreography is intense, precise, and still looks like a genuine fight is taking place. This is all enhanced by the use of lighting and sound effects, and of course, a cast filled with amazing singers.
One thing that I absolutely loved about this show is the number of young actors that is in it. Many of whom are making their Broadway debut with their roles in this show. And it is wonderful to see young actors take on such heavy roles as the ones in this show which deal with very heavy subject matters such as abuse, grief, guilt, and the struggle to keep trudging even when things are at there worst.
The one thing Ponyboy keeps coming back to is the phrase — “Stay Gold” which is used to mean to remind the characters to remember the good in the world. Perhaps that’s a lesson we all could use.
John Proctor is the Villain isn’t just a show — it’s a lesson. And being a lesson, it is fitting that the show takes place in a high school located in a rural, small town in Georgia. It should be noted that the playwright (Kimberly Belflower — making her Broadway debut with this show — and what a debut it was!) is from a small town in Georgia, but more importantly is an educator herself. And her education background shows!
The Billboard outside the Booth Theatre
Many of us know the story of The Crucible and we were taught about how noble and heroic and honourable the character of John Proctor is… except realistically, he’s not. And this show exemplifies this not just by explaining it to the audience in the context of students learning about the play, but also within the characters themselves.
This show centres around a few main characters: Shelby — a girl with a reputation of being promiscuous who has been away for roughly six months and no one knows exactly why. Carter Smith — a teacher at the school that the students attend. Mason — a boy in the class. Raelynn — a girl dating the character of Lee and is the main character of this story. She is best friends with Shelby, who has had sex with Lee. Lee — Raelynn’s aggressive and sex hungry boyfriend. Ivy — a student whose father is accused of having an affair on her mother. Beth — an innocent student who is rather religious and very trusting who only wants to see the good in people. Nell — a new girl who moved to this small rural town from Atlanta, Georgia and is therefore meeting and learning about many of the characters at the same time as the audience (and therefore is able to provide an outsider’s perspective to the other characters). And Bailey Gallagher — she used to be a student at the very school that these characters attend and she now works there. It must be noted that she also knew Carter when she was a student.
The Stage
This show takes place in 2018, with an emphasis on seeing the world through the eyes of high school girls, who are learning about the world — a world where the “Me Too” movement has started and the society is beginning to listen to the victims. It deals with very intense themes including, but certainly not limited too, power dynamics in relationships/abusing that power dynamic, engaging in sexual acts with minors, the internal struggle that many people feel when someone they personally know and trust is accused of something heinous and how hard it can be to accept those accusations as true, blaming the victim, and unfortunately, the likely outcome in far too many cases.
The show opens with Carter Smith teaching a sex education lesson to the class. He is not a sex ed teacher, but rather he teaches literature. He has no choice but to teach sex ed due to budget cuts (a thing I am sure the playwright is very familiar with). The students are not particularly interested in the sex ed lesson — in part because they are old enough that they already know about sex and realistically should have been receiving this class for years. But also because in small town, rural Georgia sex education is not the most important thing and there is a heavy emphasis on abstinence only. Between the religious nature of many of the families in the town and being generally conservative on the political spectrum — anything that might be seen as even remotely controversial by the parents in the school district is a challenge for this school to actually do. And that means comprehensive sex education is just not a thing.
But the students know better. Or at least, as the play progresses, the students learn better. And for an extra bonus — this show is very aware of the pop culture during the show’s time frame including quoting Taylor Swift and giving the audience (and the character of Nell) a recap of past events ending with the phrase, “And that’s what you missed on Glee”.
John Proctor is the Villain does a wonderful job of paralleling the actual play of The Crucible with the students (especially the female students), the teachers, and even the parents in the town that are never actually seen on stage. Once the opening scene of the sex ed class ends, the teacher — Carter Smith, begins to teach the class about The Crucible and explains how John Proctor is the hero. This sparks Shelby, you has just returned from being on a “sabbatical” for six months to disagree with Mr. Smith.
It is at this point that the show really takes off because for most of the audience — we have only ever known John Proctor as the hero. But Shelby points out numerous things: Abigail was John Proctor’s employee, she was a virgin with a crush on her boss, he never apologises to her, nor does he ever apologise to his wife, Elizabeth. In fact, John Proctor dies without ever even saying that he loves Elizabeth. Realistically, in the time period of The Crucible him dying damns his wife and his children to a life of poverty and hardship — and for what, really? To preserve his name. Just a name. Not a person, not the many lives he destroyed along the way, but the concept of a name. And honestly, I don’t know how many people in the audience had ever thought of John Proctor and The Crucible like that before.
John Proctor is the Villain also takes care explain some potential reasonings that the characters in The Crucible do things that we would think of as odd like dancing in the woods even though it is illegal and lying about why. And then we see our lead female characters reach their breaking points and just need to scream and yell and dance. And it puts it all into perspective.
Towards the beginning of the show, some of the female students decide that they would like to start a feminism club as an extracurricular activity at the school. However, this is denied because it would be too controversial for the town. This is when Mr. Smith steps in and offers to be the faculty advisor for the club and even offers to frame the club with works of literature so that it wouldn’t be seen as just as feminist club and therefore would be acceptable for the parents in the town.
In order to delve into this show further — I need to put a SPOILER WARNING:
The character of Shelby (played by Chiara Aurelia) is a very intricate one. Shelby has a promiscuous reputation in part because she had sex with Lee (played by Noah Pacht in this performance) who is Raelynn’s (played by Amalia Yoo) boyfriend. This, of course, causes tension and awkwardness between the characters of Shelby and Raelynn. However, with the help of Nell (played by Morgan Scott) Shelby and Raelynn are able to rekindle their friendship. A lot is revealed about Shelby — her reason for leaving, her past sexual partners, and why she even feels the need to be “promiscuous” (realistically, she is not a promiscuous character — she was groomed). It makes for a character that is by no means perfect, but also not at fault either. I imagine this is a difficult role to play — the actor has to be able to be liked enough for people to not instantly judge her character from the limited information we start with and then transform the character into essentially a hero.
The character of Ivy Watkins was played by Maggie Kuntz and I found her performance fascinating. The character of Ivy has to be conflicted. There is a rumour going around town that Ivy’s father had sex with one of his employees — which means he cheated on Ivy’s mother and again, this town is very religious. This leaves the character of Ivy very confused and unsure what to do — should she be angry at her dad? Should she feel better that the cheating was supposedly consensual? Can she love her father and hate him at the same time? And worst, as the show moves on, the rumour begins that her dad also had sex with Shelby and that’s why Shelby was away for so long. The character has to learn the kind of man her dad really is and it’s heartbreaking to watch.
Bailey Gallagher is another conflicted character (played by Molly Griggs) because she grew up knowing Carter Smith the teacher. She trusted him as a kid, even developed a little crush on him, and now she works with him at the school. But Bailey had heard rumours about Carter before… and she always dismissed them because she knows Carter and he’s a good guy. Which makes it even more important and powerful when she finally realises that’s she’s been dismissing the wrong people.
Perhaps the most interesting character, in my opinion at least, is that of the teacher — Mr. Carter Smith. Carter is played by Gabriel Ebert (who was absolutely amazing). What makes this character so difficult to play, I think, is that he isn’t a straight forward character. The audience and many of the characters believe he is, but he has dark secrets that are not revealed until we are well into the show. These secrets have to come as a surprise to the audience in order for the message of this show to be loud and clear — so when the audience gasped when everything came to light — I was thrilled.
The character of Carter starts off as incredibly likeable, charming, progressive even for someone in Georgia. He’s for feminism, he wants to help… but does he? Carter is the John Proctor of the show and the fact that it takes the audience by such surprise is beautiful. It is revealed that Carter has a habit of not only cheating on his wife, but doing so with girls that are not only minors, but who are less powerful than him. Often, he goes after his own students to groom them. And as this becomes evident throughout the show, the audience has to turn on Carter. We have to hate him. And there is just something so amazing about watching a likeable character becoming so detestable by the shows end. It takes a special kind of acting ability to sway an entire audience’s perspective eight times per week.
I was able to ask Gabriel Ebert after the show, how it felt to play someone who has to become so hated by the time the curtain falls. He simply smiled and stated, “it’s necessary”. And he’s absolutely correct.
Once it is revealed that Carter had seduced Shelby (and that she was not his first victim nor will likely be his last), the audience gets to learn the fates of Carter, Shelby, and Raelynn (among others, but these are the most important). Carter is forced to take a short leave of absence. He is allowed back into the classroom to teach. Shelby is forced to take classes from another teacher. The town, as a whole, the school, as a whole — does not believe Shelby (even if many of the characters do by the shows end). In fact, Shelby gets punished as if she were the problem.
And finally, the show ends by cutting to black at a pivotal moment — the character of Beth (played by Fina Strazza) has a decision to make. Beth is a very conflicted character who very much trusts Carter. She doesn’t want to see the bad in Carter. But she is also likely to be Carter’s next (at least attempted) victim. Throughout the entire show she cannot wrap her mind around the idea that someone she trusts so much could be a bad person. At the show’s end, most of the students have come around to believe Shelby and take a stand against Carter — even Bailey. But Beth, right at the end, runs towards center stage before the lights cut to black. It must be stated that it is very much up to interpretation if Beth has run to join Raelynn and Shelby and the other students against Carter… or if she was rushing to stand by Carter’s side. I like to think she joined the other students. But I cannot say for certain.
I really wish this show was running longer because it is an excellent work of theatre that is really able to flip a very well known play on its head and make it relevant for a modern audience.
I have no good excuse as to why it has taken me anywhere near this long to finally see a classic such as Chicago.
I love how minimalistic this show is. Everything is so simple – the staging is only elaborate in its dance numbers, but at the same time it feels very reserved. I believe this is due to the ease that the actors do the choreography and staging. It is as if the actors (and therefore the characters) did each dance number with such ease that it really kept the show feeling flawless as the actors – who are all wearing various costumes that are black – play a large variety of different, often nameless, characters.
Additionally, the sets were also minimalistic. The vast majority of the set consisted of the orchestra, wearing suits/formal clothing, sitting in front of the audience and playing their music, while the cast sits in unassuming black chairs during any scene in which that actor’s character is not one of the characters that happen to be centre stage. The orchestra even became part of the show at times, with the conductor’s baton being taken from her at one point so that a lead character could conduct the orchestra and the conductor even addressing the audience.
I found a very compelling moment of choreography happened while the vast majority of the actors were simply sitting in their chairs. During the song “Mister Cellophane” sung by the character of Amos (played by Raymond Bokhour), a song in which Amos laments about being invisible, the entire company turned in their chairs, putting their backs to him. It was very simple, but so powerful.
I very much appreciated Raymond Bokhour’s performance. He is able to play Amos so meek, but also able to belt at just the right moments, only to slip back into being meek. It was beautifully achieved.
Rachel Schur and Bianca Marroquín played the characters Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, respectively. Both of these actors clearly love what they do and it shows through the fun in their performances.
Jacqueline B. Arnold portrayed the character of Matron “Mama” Morton and is such a vocal powerhouse with one hell of an ability to belt.
This show has something that anyone can enjoy: great, catchy music, talented actors, fantastic dancers, glitz, glamour, but also fun and camp. I can absolutely understand why this show has been such a success.
I had honestly put off seeing Hadestown since the show opened on Broadway because I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy it. I had heard some of the music before, but always out of context and I knew the story from Greek mythology, so I never got around to seeing this show before. Clearly, the importance of retelling this story was lost on me until now.
However, I kept hearing about people who have “seen the show 17 times” or who have decided to get a “Hadestown” tattoo and this began to sway my opinion, so I purchased tickets. Directly before the show, I had a moment to speak with my aunt and a friend of her’s and I am so glad that I did. My aunt’s friend very briefly compared Maybe Happy Ending to Hadestown and I had never heard that comparison before – I can absolutely see why she compared these two shows!
Both shows are so full and complete in their storytelling. Both shows are deeply layered. Perhaps most notably though, both shows are very human.
When I was in college, I took many creative writing courses and in doing so, I read a story written by a classmate that was about a woman who elected to let herself be hurt over and over again (in the classmate’s story, the main character perpetually chose to raise a child that would tragically pass away, and this would happen over and over again, essentially as a loop) and it baffled me as to why the character would continue to choose pain. My professor looked me in the eye and said, “Because she’s human. And to continue to feel the pain in order to have short lived parts of good, is innately human”. That stuck with me. And that is the essence of Hadestown.
The entire ensemble was flawless. Every movement of their choreography was clearly well rehearsed, but it did not feel like it was well rehearsed – it just felt flawless. This extended beyond the actors though, and into the set itself. The use of lighting in the choreography is incredibly impactful, perfectly illuminating the main characters when appropriate, but also able to show us the depth of the darkness in actual Hades. Even more so, is the effect of the turntable (made up of three sections, all three able to spin independently of the others, and with the middle piece being an elevator that both lowers below the stage and also elevate the actors higher than stage level) which is more than effective in both showing people going down to Hades and also works to show Orpheus making his long walk. In fact, in times of high destress to the main characters, the turntable would be utilised in a way to create confusion, tension, almost a dizziness with the movement on stage; which forces the audience to feel the emotions that the characters are feeling.
Orpheus was played by Ali Louis Bourzgui who was phenomenal as a young boy in love. Vocally, at the beginning of the show, it did feel like he was perhaps struggling to hit those (insanely) high notes. That feeling was short lived, however, as within a song or two, he was able to sing it rather angelically. So perhaps, he wasn’t struggling at all. Maybe the character of Orpheus just did not know how to fully sing the song yet.
Eurydice was played by Myra Molloy and honestly it is hard to believe this is a Broadway debut for her. She has amazing command of the stage, is undoubtably a talented singer, and most importantly, was very believable in her portrayal.
Phillip Boykin portrayed the character of Hades and he most definitely did not disappoint. His booming voice is certainly one that is well suited for the role! So big, so powerful, but also the ability to turn that around and to be soft and sweet. This ability gives the character of Hades such depth.
Daniel Breaker played Hermes and Lana Gordon portrayed Persephone. Both of these actors are amazing vocal performers who’s characters both lead the audience (and other characters) through the story, but also who reveal the softer side of Hades (and why that softer side is even there).
This show was very obviously well thought out, with nothing seeming to be have been left up to chance. Every single thing in this show, no matter how small, feels intentional. And it is beautiful. This show is a masterpiece.
Operation Mincemeat is a musical comedy based on the real events during WWII which lead the British military to use a corpse to trick Hitler into moving the German troops out of Sicily and into Sardinia, which was an essential part of why Germany lost the war. This show is chocked full of British humour, filled with small details (an example being a prison uniform labelled “24602”), relies heavily on perfect timing, and is all done by a cast of five actors playing close to 50 or more different characters in total.
This was my second time seeing this show (Read my prior review), so I was actually quite happy to see one of the understudies stepping into the role for the performance. I love being able to compare and contrast how the different actors played the same character. In this case, Jak Malone (who usually plays the character of Hester, among others) was out for this performance and Sam Hartley filled those shoes. Anyone who has read my last review of the show knows that I found Jak’s performance to be absolutely phenomenal – layered, deep, and beautiful (and that’s just for the character of Hester; never-mind the roles of Spilsbury, Ivor Montague, Lieutenant Bill Jewell, Willie Watkins, and more).
Sam Hartley played the character of Hester differently than Jak did. Sam’s version of Hester felt more timid. Whereas Jak’s portrayal made Hester come off as more confident – even in the song “Dear Bill”, when Jak sings that song, he hits every note cleanly and clearly, as if the notes and memories just come to Hester from her lived experience and she confidently and (mostly) happily relives the memories needed to write the letter that is being planted on the corpse. When Sam sang “Dear Bill”, it didn’t feel so much as if Hester had actually healed from her past. It came off more as if she was still truly struggling with the heartache that those memories bring her. It was almost as if the memories haven’t reached the point of being happy memories yet, like she is still in the part of the grieving process where even saying the words out loud is challenging and she still is perhaps bitter at not being able to make more of those (formerly) happy memories.
Another example of how the two actors played the character differently had to do with Hester’s interactions with the character of Johnny Bevan (played by Zoe Roberts). In Jak’s portrayal, with the character of Hester having more perceived confidence, she acts very professionally when around Bevan. It feels as if Hester would not dream of acting on any potential romantic feelings towards Bevan not because she may fear being hurt, but rather because Bevan is her boss and that could definitely be seen as inappropriate due to the power dynamic of a boss/subordinate relationship and/or it simply wouldn’t be the proper lady like thing to do for a proper British woman of that time period. When the character is perceived like this, is makes the mentorship-like relationship between Hester and the character of Jean Leslie (played by Claire-Marie Hall) not just wholesome, but also perhaps gives the two characters a more meaningful connection because it implies that Hester has learnt from Jean as well.
In the same interactions between the characters of Hester and Bevan, but with Sam’s portrayal of Hester, it felt as if Hester was simply too afraid to act on any potential romantic feelings. Not because it would be inappropriate, though, but rather because the thought of loving and losing again is just too much for Hester to realistically consider. Hester still does come off as if she learned from Jean, just not to such an obvious degree — it’s still there, just more subtle.
Honestly, I think it says a lot about Sam Hartley as an actor to be able to step into the shoes of the person who originated the role and then give a performance that is not just a replication of the originator. Sam was able to bring the character of Hester to life in an equally as good way, but also a very different way. And that is always nice to see.
The main cast: David Cumming (as Charles Cholmondeley and others), Claire-Marie Hall (as Jean Leslie and others), Natasha Hodgson (as Ewen Montagu and others), Jak Malone (as Hester Leggatt and others), and Zoe Roberts (as Johnny Bevan and others) have been playing these roles together for about six years and (I believe) they are the originators of each role. Which is why I find it so impressive that Sam’s presence on stage did not change the chemistry between the characters. In fact, even with the slight changes in the character of Hester that really made the character his own, Sam was able to keep the feel of the show and chemistry between characters the same. At no point did he feel like the odd man out. Brilliantly done.
The large range of characters that the actors play really is impressively done. Throughout the show, the various actors change characters on stage, right before the audiences’ eyes and it is done flawlessly. The actors change not only their physical demeanour, but also the dialect and accent they are using, the clothing they are wearing, they literally drop one character and seamlessly go on to another before just as seamlessly going back to the first character. Just one, out of many, prime examples of this comes in the shows final scene, appropriately titled “A Glitzy Finale”. In this scene we see David Cumming portray both his main character of Charlie Cholmondeley and as an actor portraying the character of Charlie, as seen through the eyes of the character of Ewen Montagu. On top of the that, when portraying the role of the actor who is portraying the character of Charlie, we seen the actor‐character both in and out of the character of Charlie. And all this is done by stepping forwards, putting on glasses, changing his posture, and changing his voice, only to reverse the entire change just as easily to return as the original portrayal of the actor.
There did appear to be some small changes to particular lines of dialogue since I saw the show last, but nothing major was changed. What definitely did not change was the impressive vocals from Natasha Hodgson. She largely plays male characters in this show and I have been impressed each and every time as just how deep her voice can get because conversely, she can also hit a damn good high note.
David Cumming is probably the actor that plays the most physically demanding role in the show. The character of Charles is a very anxiety ridden, high energy one. On stage, David looks very tall and lanky. By the end of the song “Dead in the Water” (which comes early in the first act), I am always left thinking “this guy could really do justice to Monty Python’s ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’”, so it is always a bit of a surprise when he comes out at the stage door and is not a particularly tall man. A lot can be said for the costuming of this show, which is both simple (often coming down to a change of a hat or jacket) and effective — both in being able to be done very quickly, but also at just easily getting the feel of the character across to the audience right away.
This is a show that I could easily watch time and time again because I’ll notice something new each and every time. There is so much nuance that goes into this production that I know there is always something I’ve missed. And I love when shows are that brilliantly detailed. One detail that I absolutely missed the first time is a simple one: the logo on the playbill. The words “Operation Mincemeat” are not only outlined to make it look like the briefcase that is prefixed to the wrist of the corpse that was used by the British, but it also doubles as Hitler’s moustache. The scribble, is Hitler’s hair. I want to give a special shoutout to the fan that pointed this detail out to me because once you see it, you can’t unsee it and it is just such a brilliant detail. I also appreciate how very self aware this show is both in the sense of acknowledging that it itself is a show, but also socially and politically. I also happen to be a sucker for a show breaking the fourth wall, which this show does at times, and unapologetically so.
All of these actors are stars. They all give it their all in each and every performance. But perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of this show is simply how much fun the cast has performing it. I hope to see this show stick around for a very long time because it honestly is a masterpiece.
Pirates of Penzance is a show that I adore, so I was honestly not sure that I would enjoy a new adaption. I was especially concerned I would not fully appreciate the show since the new adaption is set in New Orleans, Louisiana and I simply don’t connect to that culture (I have never even been to New Orleans, so the only things I know about the culture, music, etc. comes from other sources of media, often fictional stories), so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself roaring with laughter and genuinely enjoying the different musical styles. And honestly, Pirates! The Penzance Musical does not stick to stereotypical New Orleans inspired music. It actually included a large variety of musical styles, which helps make the entire point of this show – we are all from somewhere else (except for Penzance) — have a larger impact, which is probably something America needs right now.
The show opens with the characters of Arthur Sullivan (played by Preston Truman Boyd — he also plays the character of The Sergeant of Police) and William S. Gilbert (played by David Hyde Pierce who is also playing Major-General Stanley) explaining to the audience how and why this new adaption came to be located in New Orleans and how they themselves are indulging in some kind of piracy themselves in simply making this adaption (this is a lovely in joke for anyone who is aware that “Pirates of Penzance” is in the public domain and therefore not subject to copyright. This means that anyone can put on productions of the show, but more than that, they can change and adapt the script however they please). This is a very self-aware moment in the show and personally, I very much appreciate when a show is self-aware.
To say the choreography in this show is impressive would be a massive understatement. It is quick, it is intense, and it is silly. Even early on, upon meeting the Pirate King (played by Ramin Karimloo) we are treated to a high intensity dance number that sees the character jumping on barrels that are laying on the ground sideways, being held by two of his Pirates. Every single time that the Pirate King jumped, the Pirates would spin the barrel around, and the Pirate King would have to land the jump on the barrels side.
This high intensity dancing did not stop as the show continued. In fact, by the end of the first act, the entire company had managed to turn an elaborate dance number into every single person being able to play the washboard as a musical instrument. During intermission I actually remarked “having the entire company being able to play the washboard is almost as impressive as the entire company being able to tap dance.” Little did I know that during act II, at least half the company would be tap dancing.
David Hyde Pierce was excellent as the Major-General. I have honestly never heard the song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” sung so cleanly. Each and every single word of that song was enunciated and crystal clear. And he made it look easy. I appreciated the character, while still being highly inebriated, was still fairly cunning.
It was also nice to see that David Hyde Pierce is a genuinely nice man who took the time to great every single fan at the stage door and even had short conversations with people. He seemed genuinely surprised and happy to be complimented on the horror film he starred in called The Perfect Host and I even heard him discussing the process of the make-up design for his character with a different audience member.
David Hyde Pierce signing my Playbill at stage door
Jinkx Monsoon played the character of Ruth and she was wonderful! I can absolutely understand why her career on Broadway is booming — she is a vocal powerhouse with the ability to belt and even wail! And let’s be honest, she has wonderful comedic timing. With a show that has such a silly plot line (the entire show is based around mishearing the word “pilot” as “pirate”), her ability to do camp is absolutely perfect for the role.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical is a silly show and it should be. With a ridiculous plot, over the top acting, self-awareness, breaking of the fourth wall, and high intensity dancing, this show brings a bit of everything culminating in something that can only be described as pure fun.
Gypsy is a show that I have seen before and have had trouble connecting to as a whole. I couldn’t relate to the complexity of the emotions that are expressed in this show: grief, sorrow, being defeated, refusing to give up, jumping through hoops to rationalise your own behaviour because the thought of never reaching the top is soul crushing, and even ultimately, giving in to the delusion of someone else to save your relationship with them… resulting in you being trapped for life and that just being an accepted fact.
Oh how a few long years can change a person.
With this cast, most notably led by Audra McDonald as Mama Rose, every single, heartfelt emotion was radiated from the stage. And it wasn’t just Audra McDonald that deserves the credit. The entire cast were vocal powerhouses – able to go from a meek, quiet, timid character and slowly transforming into powerful, loud, confident belting in a way that not many can do.
A special shout out has to go Joy Woods as the character of Louise. That character as a whole made a full transformation from being so tiny in the background, to standing up for herself in full confidence, and then to see her know she has that confidence, that ability, and to choose to keep a toxic person around out of…what, really? Pity? Perhaps a sense of duty?
Danny Burstein as Herbie also gave an amazing performance! To watch his character go from someone who was able to be sweet talked with the promise of marrying the woman he loves and then transform into a character who still loves the woman, but knows it will never work and that he cannot accept the toxicity that comes with her love, even if it emotionally destroys him to leave….even if it means never achieving his own goal.
Audra McDonald’s performance of Mama Rose is powerful! Beyond her insane belting ability, she exudes the raw emotions that her character feels throughout her entire body. At intermission, I turned to my friend who I had joined to see this show (he wanted to see it and I cannot thank him enough for that) and pondered how physically and emotionally taxing this role just might be on any performer who has to do it eight times per week with this level of intensity.
It is not easy to change the emotion of written words, but this cast manages to do just that through simple changes in demeanour: a half smile, a sigh – through tiny, little gestures that manages to speak volumes without actually saying anything at all. This show forces the audience to feel every difficult emotion that each character has to go through. And it is powerful. It is effective. And it can be felt throughout the entire theatre.
Everything I had heard and read about this show was “Monty Python meets Mel Brooks with a dash of Hamilton.” I, as a huge fan of Monty Python and Mel Brooks, came into this show figuring I would either love it or loath it. Personally, I hope that Monty Python and Mel Brooks would be proud to have their names linked to this musical.
I appreciate the small cast, only five actors are in this production (not including the understudies) and they work as a number of different characters as well as changing the sets throughout. A very notable moment of these seamless transitions was the ending number of the first act (“Just For Tonight”) which blended a high intensity, dance infused pub crawl with the solemn duties tasked to the crew of the submarine carrying a corpse.
The cast consists of David Cumming (playing Charles Cholmondeley and others), Claire-Marie Hall (playing Jean Leslie and others), Natasha Hodgson (playing Ewen Montagu and others), Jak Malone (playing Hester Leggatt and others), and Zoë Roberts (playing Johnny Bevan and others).
This is a show where the gender of the cast played no importance towards the gender of the characters they portrayed. Jak Malone blew me away with his singing ability and his rendition of “Dear Bill” brought me to tears. Both Malone and Natasha Hodgson played gender swapped characters for their main roles and they both nailed it. Natasha was a convincing man, even dropping her voice to an impressively low tone quite frequently. Malone, on the other hand, nailed the daintiness expected from a woman of that time with both grace and dignity.
In fact, this was Jak Malone’s Broadway debut. I can describe his performance in one word: Phenomenal. I hope to see a lot more Malone in the future.
The entire show was very well put together. The scene transitions and movements were very simple, allowing each of the actors to shine, while keeping the show flowing in both times of light hearted laughter and when dealing with the harsh realities of life. I can see why this show keeps getting extended and why it excelled in London’s West End. All in all, the show really was “Monty Python meets Mel Brooks with a dash of Hamilton” and I mean it that in the very best of ways.
Bravo! Well done. The standing ovation at the end of this show was absolutely earned.
Maybe Happy Ending is a show that I could see over and over again (This is my second visit read my first review here) because it gives me faith in humanity. The very basic premise of this show is following two Helper Bots (robots designed to be human helpers) as they decide what makes an ending happy. And while it is robots that this story follows, “what makes an ending happy” is something that is very human in nature and thought. It poses the question of what would you prefer: no sorrow, but no memory of the good or embracing the sorrow and hurt that comes with life, but keeping the happy memories, even if they bring you sadness?
Getting hurt, feeling pain, is very human and as this show points out “everything must end eventually”; whether that is a life or a battery or a relationship or anything, everything does end eventually. So, what’s better? No memory and a blissful existence or feeling the pain, but keeping all the good that came with it, too?
There is no easy answer to that question and, I believe, that the answer will change from person to person because both answers are correct. For some, no memory is the better option, but for others, keeping the good memories outweigh the hurt that accompanies those memories.
And hearing the audience sniffle and cry during various points in this show gives me some faith in humanity because it means we, the audience, are having empathy and feeling real emotions for a robot – a thing that literally cannot feel these emotions – and yet, we feel their pain. Empathy is a beautiful thing.
I stand by this show being near perfection. Darren Criss is not only a wonderful actor and singer, but his ability to be so…animatronic throughout the entire show is impeccable. And for Helen J. Shen, who is so petite off of the stage, feels so big with her command of the stage throughout the show.
This show blends technology and big band/crooner style music to perfectly frame the events of this show in both a literal and figurative way. The set itself moves, providing a physical frame for each scene. But also the entire show is encased within the music of Gil Brentley, a fictionalised Frank Sinatra type singer, which allows the scenes to flow flawlessly as well as frame the themes of the show.
This show has a lot of attention to detail (the technology aspect of this show really exemplifies this), but my favourite tiny piece of detail came inside the playbill. The “character” (I put character in quotes because Hwaboon is a plant ) of “Hwaboon” received its own spot and bio. I adore that the plant, who is very much treated as a character and is in almost every scene of this show, has previous acting credits. What a wonderful wink and nod to the theatre fans in the audience who actually take the time to read the playbill.
This was my second time visiting the Kit Kat Club. Read my earlier review here. This is a show that I wish were required viewing for everyone in America, if not the world.
Cabaret is a show that takes place in Berlin, Germany, as the Nazi’s rise to power. Before the Nazi’s, Germany (especially the city of Berlin) was a hotspot for the LGBTQ+ community. It was where people were able to be themselves. And this is shown by the Kit Kat Club itself. Inside the club, everyone and everything is care free. Everyone and everything is beautiful. Life is beautiful. The show itself goes back and forth between the room rented by the American protagonist, Clifford, and the club, hosted by the Emcee.
This show, on the surface is about Nazi’s coming to power and how the people react. It then delves deeper: The show is about compliance. The show is about not knowing what to do. The show is about not believing that it could happen. The show is about not believing it can happen to you. The show is about not believing it can be that bad. The show is about fleeing. The show is about standing your ground. This show is about rationalising the horrors that are around you in order to deny that they are occurring. This show is about being so certain that you are right that you either ignore what’s happening around you or you do not even realise that it is getting as bad as it is.
I love this production. I love how immersive it is. I was seated on the opposite side as I was the first time that I saw this show. This allowed me to be closer to the actors during the main show. This allowed me to see more detail. This allowed me to appreciate the small movements of the dancers that I had not noticed before. This includes Herman covering his eyes as he dances to avoid looking at the overly sexual men and women and the fist placement of the gorilla (played by Karl Syler Urban, for this performance). Even being able to see the small glances that the actors gave each other while on stage put even more depth into a show that’s already very deep.
In this show, we see how Nazi Germany slowly creeps its way into every aspect of the characters lives, even inside of the Kit Kat Club itself. And we watch as everyone’s lives are changed.
This was the second time that I’ve seen the show with Adam Lambert as the Emcee. And he is phenomenal. The first time that I saw this show was before the election. It was before, when we still had hope for the next four years. But now it is after the election. The side of progress and freedom lost and executive orders have been signed. We are in a country where we can clearly see the fascists regime coming in and actively deciding who is or is not American enough. We have people, both legal immigrants and undocumented immigrants, being rounded up and sent away. ICE is infiltrating schools and places of employment. There is a push to deny the existence of transgender, non binary, and intersex individuals. Guantanamo Bay is being set up to be an interment camp (a labour camp). There is already talk of taking away the legal protections granted by marriage to those who are already married, but happen to be in a same sex marriage. And all of this information may be taking its toll on Adam as his performance was more strained this time around. In fact, he cried at a few different points in the show. He even changed some of his line delivery. For example: the first time that I saw this show, he almost spat out “she wouldn’t look Jewish anymore” while this time, the line was spoken softly and it came off as being more like genuine love. I am glad to report that there was no laughter, not even nervous/uncomfortable laughter after this line (there has been many reports of Adam stopping the show, in character, to explain that that line is not a belly laugh line). This time around, you could have heard a pin drop. I heard no laughter, but I did hear audible gasps of shock.
Both times that I have gone, I have seen the Sally Bowles understudy (Gabi Campo) and she has been phenomenal. I have never seen Auli’l perform the role, but if Gabi is the understudy and she is this good, I have to imagine Auli’l is amazing as well.
Another impressive thing to note is the pre-show. I noticed many new faces for the dancers and musicians. And with new faces, came new dances. Very impressive to see them changing up the pre-show and therefore having to learn and memorise even more dances.
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from a musical about robots. But I was thrilled with what I received. Maybe Happy Ending is a near perfect show that will leave you questioning a number of things that you thought you already knew: What qualifies as love? Can you genuinely love and be genuinely loved by something without emotions? And if so, what does that look like? When does someone become “human”?
This show tackles a lot and it does so seemingly with ease. The entire show is framed in two ways: The first being the set which moves around to literally frame what the audience is intended to be paying the most attention to. The second framing is done musically. The first robot that you meet is Oliver (played by Darren Criss), who has a penchant for the music that his owner/friend used to listen to. This music is used to frame the show (it is music that you would hear from the 1940’s and 1950’s that would be commonly sung by Frank Sinatra and the like) and it is sung superbly.
The plot is simple. Oliver is eagerly awaiting the return of his friend/owner. While he waits, he lives in a building that is for retired helper bots. He has never interacted with the other helper bots in his building. One day another helper bot, Claire (played by Helen J Shen), knocks on his door asking to borrow his charger because she desperately needs to recharge. This sparks a story of hope, love, longing, desire, friendship, loss, death, and so much more.
Both Darren and Helen are wonderful in their performances. Darren’s robotic movements really shine, especially in the beginning, when you view Oliver as just a robot. Through their performances, the audience learns to love and care about these robots, often getting to the point that you forget altogether that these characters aren’t human. Which leaves you to wonder: what makes someone human anyway?
This show made me laugh. This show made me cry. This show was absolutely beautiful in every aspect.
Swept Away tells the tale of a shipwreck and the majority of the show is simply four characters in a life boat drifting through the open ocean. The four main characters are: Mate (John Gallagher, Jr.), Big Brother (Stark Sands), Little Brother (Adrian Blake Enscoe), and Captain (Wayne Duvall). In addition to these four, there are 12 more actors in the ensemble
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show. I went in without knowing much about the plot beyond that it involved a shipwreck. The acting in this show blew me away. Four actors in a life boat, even in a single act show, seems like a difficult concept to sell, but these four definitely sold it. At no point did any of the cast come off as being dishonest, which made the strife the characters go through seem absolutely believable. Add to this the amazing singing talents of our main four (special shout out to Adrian Blake Enscoe for his singing ability) which brought this tale to life.
Even more impressive, perhaps, was the set. The show opens with a dying Mate in a tuberculosis ward and he lies there as the audience fills the theatre. The show itself is then told through flashback, as three of our main characters (beginning the show as ghosts) urge Mate to “tell their story” before he passes away. We, the audience, are then quite literally swept away onto a whaling ship where we meet the entire cast of characters. The whaling ship is huge. And the ship wreck was amazing and definitely believable. Ropes are thrown down, dropping the sails of the ship, as one by one the members of the ensemble are thrown overboard. Finally, the entire ship rises until the audience is left looking at the underside of the boat (covered with mirrors), and revealing our main cast left in a life boat, looking absolutely disheveled. It is here that the vast majority of the show takes place. The life boat itself is on a turn table, and it didn’t just rotate, but rather it would sometimes rotate, and sometimes bounce between which direction it span. It moved slowly and delicately, and even allowed the life boat to have a slight rocking to it, which did a great job in making the audience believe that they are watching people randomly drifting in the open ocean. It is here that we really see the actors shine. We learn of the strife, the struggle, the heartache, the emotional toll that losing his crew creates for Captain, who has to come to terms with the fact that members of his crew went down with the ship, but he did not. We learn of Little Brother’s love interest and the life that he wants to live. We also learn that Little Brother was hit by the mast of the ship as the boat sank, injuring him gravely. We see the desperation from Big Brother as he works diligently for weeks to keep Little Brother alive. And we see Mate, who is the most realistic of all the characters – he understands from the start that they will all likely die and that horrible things may need to be done in order for any of them to survive.
And it all felt so real… until the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the show.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
After being lost at sea for at least 10 days, it gets to the point where the audience is informed that Little Brother will likely not even live until the next day due to the injuries that he sustained when the ship sank. Honestly, Adrian Blake Enscoe really did a great job at physically appearing weak and frail, making Little Brother appear like he was barely surviving. This provokes Mate to ask Captain for his approval to kill Little Brother with the intention of eating him so that the other three can survive. Captain, at this point emotionally destroyed, refuses to make a decision and leaves it up to Mate. Meanwhile, Big Brother overhears and begins resisting this idea. Little Brother tells Big Brother that it is fine and that he is willing to sacrifice himself because it will save the others and he is dying anyway. But he wants to see one more sunrise, which everyone agrees to. Come the sunrise, Big Brother insists on being the one to actually kill Little Brother, however, in a shocking turn of events, Big Brother cuts his own throat…
And from that point on, the entire show felt like an afterthought. Immediately, the show shifts back to the tuberculosis ward and we see Mate surrounded by the ghosts of Little Brother, Big Brother, and Captain. The audience is then informed, not shown, of each character’s fate and the eventual rescue of the three remaining characters. And this is the only part of the show that felt so fake, so jarringly out of place with the rest of the show that I wanted to scream, “Show! Don’t tell!” The audience is not shown the rescue, but we are told about it. Captain nicely informs everyone of how he was treated when he was rescued, when he got home, and when and how he eventually died. Little Brother does the same thing, but it doesn’t make any sense for the character of Little Brother to survive. The script makes it very clear that Mate, Captain, and Little Brother survive this ordeal by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Big Brother. This destroyed my suspension of disbelief, leaving me only in disbelief. So, I am left with a few conclusions: either Little Brother was not actually hit by the ships mast, however, nothing in this show indicated that Mate is an unreliable narrator or Big Brother (who, as a character, is very religious) is literally Jesus Christ, which feels very blasphemous for the very religious character to actually be Jesus. The show went from being incredibly realistic to not being realistic at all in what felt like a blink of the eye.
This show did not last long on Broadway and I have a few ideas as to why. The first being the sheer size of the cast. While having 16 actors on stage for the big muscle numbers that take place before the shipwreck was certainly impressive, it was also unnecessary and could probably have been done with just four or five ensemble members. I have to wonder if paying for 12 ensemble members was a factor in this show not making enough to stay open. That’s a lot of actors to pay to be there when they are only on stage for maybe half an hour. Combine that with an ending that feels so unfinished and I understand why people may not be so interested in spending the money to see this musical. I would have loved to have seen what this show could have been if it was expanded into two full acts, showing the audience the rescue, and more. Flesh it out and remember to show, not tell.
I loved the use of the entire theatre, the simplistic, yet intricate set and staging. The actors were able to really bring the story to a modern day light, without it being silly (they used knives and no one was shot with a gun literally labeled “longsword”), which was very much appreciated.
Kit Conner and Rachel Ziegler were both wonderful and convincing and made the performance come alive in both seriousness, but also the youthful vibe. Seeing Romeo’s transition to loving Juliet was very adorable and the perfect showing of kids “falling in love”. In fact, the whole cast did wonderful and I was glad to see such a diverse cast play a wide range of characters.
I could have definitely lived without the blaring techno music for the entire time that the theatre doors are open until the show actually begins. It doesn’t just vibrate your chair or the walls, but also your literal eardrums. I also felt the full out singing numbers felt out of place. Most of the time it could be excused by it being at a party (portrayed pretty much as a rave), but at least once, that was not applicable and it stood out.
Holy crap! Could there be a more poignant time for this show? I saw the Sally Bowles understudy (Gabi Campo) and holy crap can that lady belt! Amazing vocals. Adam Lambert nailed it. I hope to see him in more Broadway shows because that man, as we all already know, is a star! And he has the vocals.
More than that though, the immersive experience of this show is beyond belief. It really did feel like stepping into a new world where “everything is beautiful!” starting right with the pre show. “Look, don’t touch” is right as these performers use dance and mime to entrance you. By the time the curtain rises, the audience is ready for a good time. And then the seriousness of the show slowly hits. And the desperation of trying to keep it “normal” becomes apparent. I pity anyone who cannot see the parallels to modern day America.
I made my return to Fleet Street mostly due to the addition of one cast member who was set to make their Broadway Debut. That cast member being Joe Locke making his debut as Tobias. As someone who has watched Heartstopper, I was curious to see what the young talent could bring to the stage.
What I found was basically a whole new style of production with both pros and cons when compared to this same production with its previous lead roles going to Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford. In this casting, Aaron Tveit took over the role of Sweeney and played opposite Sutton Foster’s Mrs. Lovett. Tveit played Sweeney in a much more deeply brooding way. You could physically see the weight that his torment has brought him over the years as Sweeney moved about the stage. This version of Sweeney felt much more introspective. At no point did the entire theatre feel like it with filled to the brim with emotion, instead it felt like it was closely guarded and eating him alive from the inside out.
Similarly, Sutton Foster never felt like she would bring down the house with the emotion shown in her voice. She did bring the house down with her superb comedic timing, though. This Mrs. Lovett leaned into the campiness of the role, at times going overboard with her affection towards Sweeney. This led to some hilarious scenes in which you, as the audience, got a chance to see just how much fun Foster and Tveit were able to have as they struggled to keep straight faces. Luckily, Mrs. Lovett can absolutely be played in this style and still fit the character, but the contrast was drastic when compared to that of Annaleigh Ashford’s portrayal.
This brings me to Joe Locke, the main reason I wanted to see this cast. This show Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is not a show that I would consider easy by any means. It is fast paced, off-kilter, and relies heavily on the choreography to keep the audience feeling uneasy. All that to say, it must be a difficult show to do as a debut. I was struck at Locke’s singing ability. I was not sure what to expect from him vocally, having only seen him in one Netflix series that is not a musical, but I was very pleasantly surprised. His voice was quite angelic and kept Tobias feeling innocent. I did not feel that in Locke’s portrayal the same sense of Tobias being broken at the end. Locke’s portrayal felt more as if Tobias was legitimately in the wrong place at the wrong time… he understood what the people saw when they found him in front of the ovens. This was a strong contrast to Daniel Marconi’s portrayal in which it felt as if Tobias had completely lost his mind and therefore was not fully aware of the implications of the end situation of which he is found.
This production did something that I was not sure was possible – through the choreography, this show was able to keep the audience not only slightly tensed and uneasy, but it went so far as to make you feel as if you are undulating with the waves as the boat Sweeney arrives on comes into port. Combine that with the impressively booming vocals of a deep, brooding, emotional Sweeney (played by Josh Groban) and the funny, quick-witted, and vocal mad house of Mrs. Lovett (played by Annaleigh Ashford) and there is no question as to why this show is such a hit.
In fact, it felt as if the entire theatre was brimming to the top with the emotion as each singer in this show rose to the occasion and matched the intensity brought forth by its stars. Speaking of intensity, a special shoutout must be given to Daniel Marconi and his portrayal of my personal favourite character, Tobias. I have never seen Toby so broken as I did by the end of this production.
Beautifully acted, powerfully sung, choreographed so, so well. Bravo!
I’m curious to see what the next cast of this production will bring.
