Review of Remy Bumppo's Love and Information

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Love and Information. It was by Caryl Churchill and it was directed by Shawn Douglass. It was a bunch of little different stories put together. It was a lot of different ways of exploring knowledge, secrets, and love. You really have to think and process the show before you feel like you understand it. I can see why it might be confusing for some people. But I like puzzles in shows; I don't like it all to just be given to me. Every time a new scene would start the audience would have to figure out what the scene is about and who the characters are. At the very beginning they would get their props and costumes out of these boxes that were all around the stage (awesome set design by Jacqueline and Rick Penrod) and you would get an idea of what their characters would be like from seeing those things. And as the scene goes on you kind of feel like a detective because you are finding out all these things about the people you are watching. I thought this was a really fun show. I loved it. I thought that this author has a really new, fun, and exciting idea about theater that I really admire.

I loved the One Direction scene with Andres Enriquez and Jennifer Glasse. I found it so funny. I am not a Directioner myself, but some of my friends are. So, I recognized the behavior, like how if they don't know one thing about Harry Styles, they have a complete freak out. And I was wondering what time the scene took place because they didn't have updated shirts because Zane was still in the picture. I am part of a lot of fandoms myself, but I'm not this enthusiastic about all of them. I thought the characters were adorable because they were just so enthusiastic about something. I love seeing people enjoying being fans of bands and stuff.

The different words for table scene with David Darlow and Frank Sawa was so hilarious. The older man was asking about all these different words for table from the waiter that was at the restaurant he was at. It was funny because the waiter seemed to be getting bored of all it at the beginning but then then patron kept asking for more words for table. But then by the end the patron was saying "And they all mean table." But of course they all mean the object that is in front of them. But table is not the "correct word" it is just a way of saying it in English. It showed you that the patron only saw the world as America. The waiter then was like, "Ok. I give up." They weren't exactly communicating effectively even though the waiter knows thirty different languages. Information can be the key to understanding, but not if someone getting the information is culturally illiterate.

There is a scene where there were these two people (Emjoy Gavino and Raymond Fox) who were sitting and making memory houses so they could memorize lists. They would put different things in different places and then go through the house in their minds to remember them. But the woman would keep saying where the things were in her own memory and mess up the man trying to remember his house. And he said, "You need to do this quietly on your own." And then she just stepped over one step and talked in the same voice. And I thought that was very funny. And he ends up remembering a memory of his dad, and that is not what he is trying to do but he remembered his dad when he remembered the house. It ends up being about both memorizing and remembering. There is another scene with these two actors that was also like love and information put in one scene. The woman asks the man a question and the man answers with a fact. It seems like they are practicing for a test or something. And it goes back and forth like this. And she asks "Do you love me?" And he says something like "Let's just keep going." But then at the end he hugs her backwards and says "Yes." And I just found that so sweet.

I thought the short scenes were very effective. There was a really funny scene where a girl (Gavino) was riding on a man's (Gregory Fenner) back and it was like she was telling him about a zoo. And then he just glared at her. And I thought that was really funny. Then there was another scene that was touching which had this woman (Linda Gillum) holding a box of candy. And she said something in sign language and then walked off. It seemed like she was going to give the box of candy to someone who couldn't hear and was practicing what to say to the person. It was very touching because she is communicating in a way that she is not used to just for someone else. There was another short scene where a woman (Penelope Walker) was playing with a Rubik's cube and another woman (Mary Poole) walked in and said something about the universe and walked off. And she said it just like it was a normal thing to come up and say. And I found it very funny because usually when you come into a room you say "Hi! How are you?" you don't just start talking about what the universe is.

People who would like this show are people who like memory houses, different words for table, and One Direction. I think that people should definitely go see this show. It is a real puzzler, but it is really fun to watch. I really enjoyed it!


Photos: Johnny Knight

Review of The Revel at The House Theater of Chicago

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called The Revel. It was by Damon Kiely and the music was composed by Jess McIntosh. The lyrics were by Jess McIntosh and Damon Kiely. It was directed by Leslie Buxbaum Danzig. It was about these women (Jeanne T. Arrigo, Kamille Dawkins, Courtney Jones, Julia Merchant, and Bridget Rue--Eunice Woods is usually in the show, too, but not the day I saw it) who didn't go to work because of this pastor Deacon (Andy Lutz) who told them if they went up to the top of this mountain and sang for God that they didn't have to work. The leader of the women is Agatha (Sarah Charipar) who has two kids, Peter (Chris Mathews) and Cadie (Christine Mayland Perkins). But Peter doesn't like the idea of the women skipping work because he's promised the bank that they would be able to repay their debts. And the Sheriff (Michael E. Smith) has been told by Peter to get the girls down from the mountain, but he does it much more harshly than he needs to. Then Agatha transforms in a way I don't want to spoil. And then Peter goes up there to see if he can convince them, dressed as a woman. But of course they get super mad that he has disguised himself and betrayed them, so they go way too far. This play is about how being filled with the spirit isn't good if you can't love anything else, how women shouldn't be oppressed, and not knowing how to stop from going too far.

I felt like the choices that the women made in the show were not the best choices. I felt like they should have gone to work because the entire state of their town was in their hands. But of course at first they didn't know that. But then they wouldn't stop and they became crazy and started saying that burning the devil out meant killing people. But it is not supposed to be literal; it is supposed to be about being righteous. But then they take it so literally and so terribly that they turn into bad people. And they become overly free; they are too free for their own good and that makes them not think straight, so they make bad choices. They even go so far as killing the people they actually love.

I feel like this would have been a more feminist story if all the women did not seem dumb at the beginning and then turn into complete psychopaths in the end. The story seemed to be saying that women can't understand metaphors or things that people, like Deacon, say. At first I thought it was going to be a church story with a bunch of cool music, but then it turns into this weird, gory story about women who have a lot of power but they don't use it right. It could be interpreted to be saying, "Don't let women have power because they will just mess it all up." I think they might have wanted to show us that if women are oppressed, then they can act this way, so we shouldn't oppress women. But that didn't work for me because afterwards Agatha is very sad about her choices. And I think she should be. So the play doesn't really give us any sort of confirmation that women make any good choices in life. I feel like people could interpret it in a lot of different ways, so I'm not saying that they were not being pro-women. It could just be interpreted that way by some people.

I thought the set (by Grant Sabin) was really cool. It had a bunch of different levels. It looked all rickety and old and I thought that was cool. This show was based on a Greek play called The Bacchae but it is not set in Greece. It is set in Appalachia during the Depression. The set, when you walked in gave you a sense of where the story would take place. I liked the columns and the way there were different ways of accessing different parts of the set. There were these rolling stairs that they would move so that people could climb up to different spaces and I loved that too.

I thought all the dancing, which was like clog dancing, was really fun and cool. Barbara Silverman was the clogging instructor, and Bridget Rue did the choreography. The dancing showed you that the women were happy at the moment, but then a little bit after that they were still happy but they were not such good people. Clogging is a very happy hoppy kind of dance but it is also loud and stompy, so it was good for the characters to show the angry and the happy sides of them.

I really liked the acting a lot too. I thought Cadie was maybe one of the only sane women who was a character in the show. When people were trying to set her mother on fire, she went for help. She didn't just join in on the whole fiasco. I felt like the role was portrayed really well so she was a likable character. At the very end something very sad happens to her and I was at the verge of tears. I felt like Charipar was also very strong as Agatha. She had a lot of character and she switched sides over the course of the show. I like that because you actually get to see the change in her personality from when she is a sensible mother to when she is a spirit-filled maniac. I felt like the Deacon was not a good person, but he was a really interesting character. He was kind of like a mystery character. You didn't know anything about him except that he was a Deacon. It seems like he might be a kind of con man, but maybe things just went wrong. He provided the spirit, but he did not say to kill people, so I don't think he is entirely in the wrong.

People who would like this show are people who like amazing sets, great acting, and spirit-filled clogging. I think people should go see this show. It was fun to be at and it makes you think a lot about being a child, being a parent, and being a woman.

Photos: Michael Brosilow

Review of Miss Buncle's Book at Lifeline Theatre

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Miss Buncle's Book. It was based on the book by D. E. Stevenson and adapted by Christina Calvit. It was directed by Dorothy Milne. It was about this woman named Miss Buncle (Jenifer Tyler) who lived in a small town in England and she writes a novel about the people who live in that small place. But then the novel gets published and people start reading it and realize it is all about them. And they decide they have to find out who wrote the book so they can get revenge. But the book actually helps some people to realize that life is too short to not tell people how you feel about them, that if your husband is cruel you should just leave him, and that Egypt is a nicer place than you thought. This play is about love, adventure, and self-confidence. I thought this was an amazing, hilarious show. I laughed so much. I had so much fun at it. I thought it was a great story with great actors. There might be some spoilers in my review, but I think the show is fun even if you know some things that are going to happen.

Mrs. Featherstone Hogg (Katie McLean Hainsworth), Mrs. Carter (Katharine Hildreth) and Stephen Bulmer (Martel Manning) are all very upset about what has been revealed about them in Miss Buncle's Book. They went way too far a lot of the times. Mrs. Featherstone Hogg would invite everyone over for tea and scones and they would talk about what they should do to punish the writer of the book. Mrs. Featherstone Hogg thinks there should be a horsewhipping of the author, but of course they don't know who the author is yet, so they don't know who to horsewhip. I found it funny how defensive they got about themselves. Mrs. Carter kept saying she didn't wear a wig, but of course she did. And Stephen Bulmer said he wasn't horrible to his wife, but of course he was. I loved the bit where Mrs. Featherstone Hogg gave scones to everybody but the people who wanted them. I found that very funny.

I loved most of the love stories that were in it. Almost every person was either married or found love by the end of the play. Dorothea Bold (Tiffany Oglesby) and Colonel Weatherhead (Sean Sinitski) was the most amazing old-people love story. (Neither of the actors were old, but they did a good job making it seem like they were.) A funny thing about them is that when he proposed to her he said "I've always loved you" and did this romantic dip-and-kiss that I thought was hilarious and cute. He kept telling her not to read the book, which had inspired him to propose, so that she wouldn't think he had just done it because of that. I love how he'd stolen the book out of her bag. I also thought there might be a romance between Miss King (Elise Kauzlaric) and Angela Pretty (Oglesby). And I loved how they were inspired by the book to go on a trip as well. I loved how against the trip they both were until they actually went on the trip. I felt like Sally's (Kristina Loy) love story with the Reverend Ernest Hathaway (Chris Vizurraga) showed her not making very good choices because she told his fiancee Mrs. Greensleeves (Kauzlaric) that he was poor so that she, Sally, could be with him. But he was not really poor, he was just finding out what it was like to be poor for a little bit and had stashed away his money. I don't think he should have stayed with Mrs. Greensleeves, but he should have made that decision for himself.

Miss Buncle and Mr. Abbott had an awkward and cute relationship. I loved how during their first kiss she made it so awkward and amazing by like leaning in and getting nervous as it started to happen. But they loved each other's awkwardness so it was not awkward for them. Miss Buncle says she doesn't have any imagination, that she just observes things. But she did have imagination after all and I think Mr. Abbot helped her realize that and all the great things about herself and that she didn't need to be scared about her being discovered to be John Smith, the writer of the book. I loved how he proposed to her in an editor's note. You feel so much for these characters and you want them to be together from the beginning of the story. I thought that it was great how when people discover who John Smith was, she just walks past them so confidently wearing this fancy hat. I loved that, and I loved seeing this character learn so much.

People who would like this show are people who like author-editor love stories, scones, and horsewhipping authors. I think people should definitely definitely go see this show. It is funny and clever and I really enjoyed it.


Photos: Suzanne Plunkett

Review of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder (Broadway in Chicago)

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. The book and lyrics were by Robert L. Freedman and the music and lyrics were by Steven Lutvak. It was directed by Darko Tresnjak. It was choreographed by Peggy Hickey. It was about this guy named Monty Navarro (Kevin Massey) who discovers he is part of a very rich family called the D'Ysquiths and then he realizes there are only 8 people between him and becoming the Earl of Highhurst. So he decides to kill the 8 people (all played by John Rapson) who are in the line of succession before him. That's the murder from the title. The love part is that Monty has two different girlfriends. Phoebe (Adrienne Eller) is the pretty, sweet, nice one and Sibella (Kristen Beth Williams) is a very stuck up girl but also very likable and does a bunch of very sexy things. I loved this show so much. It is definitely one of my favorite shows I've seen at Broadway in Chicago. It was so good; it was funny and surprising and so exciting and new. It was like an opera crossed with a romantic comedy crossed with a murder mystery, so then you have an amazing show! All the performers were so amazing and funny and I loved it.

The D'Ysquith family was killed off in weird different ways. They all had to look like accidents, and they did! Like one person was killed by a swarm of bees and one person was killed by falling into the water after getting back from not being eaten by cannibals! I'm not going to tell you all the people who die in what ways because it would give away a lot of the funny stuff in the story. I thought that it was cool that everyone who died was played by the same actor. It is really funny to see this actor playing all different kids of parts with different accents. And it is also funny to see him playing women and he must have a lot of quick changes. I felt like there were only a few sympathetic D'Ysquiths: Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr. and Henry D'Ysquith. One of them Monty doesn't even kill because he likes him too much, but the odds are in his favor. Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr. gives Monty a job and is nice to him and treats him like a son. And you like Henry because he is funny and seems sweet. But then it also seems like he is in love with Monty. That's not bad, but Monty doesn't love him, and it makes it all the more sad when Monty falls in love with his sister Phoebe as Henry is being stung by bees in the background. Most of the time when Monty kills a D'Ysquith you feel like, "Oh yeah, just another terrible, mean, or annoying D'Ysquith gone. Monty is getting closer!" But that is not the way you feel every time because sometimes they are nice people and he plans to kill them anyway. But it doesn't make you hate Monty because most of the time he kills people you don't like in funny weird ways.

My favorite song was "I've Decided to Marry You," which was all about...well, let me explain the scene before I explain the song. What it is is that Sibella and Monty are having tender moments at his house and then Phoebe shows up and Monty hides Sibella in the other room. Then Phoebe tells him she has decided to marry him, which is funny because I don't think they have even discussed the idea of marriage at this point. But still she has decided to marry him. And the whole time Sibella is trying to listen in and hear what is happening while another girl is proposing to him in the other room. And he keeps trying to shut both doors but then Sibella keeps opening the door so she can see what is happening, and then he has to close that door and then Phoebe tried to open the doors he is closing. Then it keeps repeating and it is so funny as they are singing this song. And at the very end he is literally trapped between them, but one of them is leaning against him and one is leaning against the door he is leaning against. It was so funny, and the scene was amazing, and I loved the song.

Here are some of my favorite funny moments in the show. I really liked it when Monty was singing about how there were only two people more in the line of succession and then Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr. has heart attack on stage at his desk and then a guy comes up to Monty and says "He died of a heart attack." And you expect Monty to be like, "Oh no! This is terrible! All he ever was was good to me!" He had just been singing about how good Lord D'Ysquith, Sr. had been to him. But then Monty just turns back to the audience and sings "Just ONE more person in the line of succession!" And there was this scene where one of the D'Ysquith women was an actress and they were doing Hedda Gabler and she was reciting all the lines so terribly that everyone was happy when she died. And at the end the other actors (Ben Roseberry Matt Leisy, and Christopher Behmke) just said "She shot herself in the temple" and skipped off joyfully.

People who would like this show are people who like charming murderers, amazing music, and identical D'Ysquiths. I think people should definitely go see this show. It was so much fun to be at and the acting and music and everything was just amazing.

Photos: Joan Marcus

Review of Nothing Without a Company's Punk Punk

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Punk Punk. It was by Hannah Ii-Epstein and Birthday Cake. It was directed by Rose Freeman. It was about these two girls, Mindy (Anna Rose Ii-Epstein) and Kathy (Caroline Wright) who are in a punk band but Kathy's landlady Marissa (Jamie Newell) keeps intruding. And they were trying to get ready because a guy from Riot Fest was coming to scout out their band. But Marissa keeps doing all these crazy things and seems like she is crazy. It is about friendship, what punk means, and fame. It was all done in an actual garage which I thought was really awesome.

This show is not for kids. Just so you know, it was because of the language, but not like swearing. I'm okay with swearing; swearing is not something that bothers me. But they had very explicit descriptions of sexual acts which is something that I'm not okay with. You may think, "She's seen everything now. She saw The Full Monty!" But it is not the same because there was nothing too explicit onstage and they didn't describe anything too explicit on stage. I know this difference wouldn't be important to a lot of adults, but it just is to me. I think the adults there did seem to be enjoying it, except maybe when they saw that I was there. We just didn't expect it from this theater company because we had only seen their kid-friendly productions like Alice that they did in Lincoln Park and Down the Moonlit Path. And I didn't know this would be that different. They totally have a right to do shows like this, I just thought I should warn you since I don't often review shows that have such explicit descriptions as this.

But I did find a lot of things that I liked about this show! The music was very funny and weird, which I think is how it was supposed to be. I think they were supposed to be terrible songwriters, and it was funny to see that their actual songs sometimes sounded like a bunch of words jammed together and didn't have a complex or catchy tune. That could also be because they only had a guitar and some buckets for drums. They were supposed to be a band that hasn't been together for very long and nobody has heard of. Usually in these kind of stories the band is really good, just no one has noticed them. But I think in this case, we were supposed to understand that they were not a very good band and no one had ever heard of them. There were still likable because they were funny and had a story about their lives but they didn't have to be amazing at writing songs to be interesting people. Marissa tells them that she thinks she knows what their best song is, but they disagree. I agreed with Marissa on almost everything, except her relationship choices. I felt like Marissa was very very funny because of how awkward she was and how much she wanted in on the fun and how psycho she seemed. I laughed almost every time she was on stage.

The thing was that Mindy was a lesbian and Kathy was not, but it seemed like Mindy might be interested in Kathy anyways. So that made their friendship kind of awkward and weird. There had been an accident between them recently where Mindy tried to kiss Kathy. We did not see that, but they talked about it a lot. Punk is something that they bond over and that they relate on. Punk is like who they are. They are really hardcore and they like to yell a lot. They are in the garage because they actually have a nice space but they want the scout to think they don't have any money so maybe they will get into Riot Fest. Getting along by the skin of your teeth is like supposed to be very cool and punk. Punk is about not caring, and they are very good at not caring about work and stuff. And they probably do care about each other, but only secretly, because they have to seem really cool. There is one scene where it is revealed that they are not as cool as they think they are. And by the end you see them do a terrible thing. If you are disconnected from other people you can get carried away sometimes, but Kathy and Mindy get really really carried away.

People who would like this show are people who like dark comedy, strange friendships, and psycho landladies. I think this would be a very good show for grown-ups. It is funny, exciting, and a crazy in a good way. I hope you have fun at this show.

Photos: Matthew Gregory Hollis

Review of Porchlight Music Theatre's Side Show

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Side Show. The book and lyrics were by Bill Russell and the music was by Henry Krieger. It was directed by Michael Weber with music direction by Aaron Benham, and the choreography was by Andrew Waters. It was about these two girls named Violet (Britt-Marie Sivertsen) and Daisy (Colleen Fee) Hilton and they were conjoined twins, which means they could never go apart from each other even though sometimes they got tired of each other. They had worked at a very low-profile sideshow and they had been the stars, but then one day a producer from the Orpheum Circuit, Terry (Matthew Keffer), comes and tells them he wants to help them and work with them with his friend Buddy (Devin DeSantis). But of course, their boss Sir (Matthias Austin) does not like losing his biggest attraction. Of course, they are not supposed to be just an attraction; they are human beings. The rest of the show is them making their way in the Orpheum Circuit and they both fall in love but they can't be separated from the other one. It is a true story and I think that it was a really amazing show. I loved the music and the acting was great. When you think of a huge broadway musical you don't really think of a show like this. They are about conflicts with love usually. But this is not just about men needing women or women needing men. It is about sisters needing each other.

Jake (Evan Tyrone Martin) sometimes seemed like the only male character who was not self-absorbed and who actually loved the twins. I love the scene where Jake confesses something to one of the girls and basically says, "I like you for who you are. I don't care if you are conjoined. It won't matter as long as I am with you." I loved the song that went with it, "You Should be Loved." It was just so sad that the girls hadn't realized the truth about Buddy yet, because maybe then things might have gone better for Jake. He actually understood that the girls wanted to have relationships but still not change who they were. But Terry did not understand that. When Browning (Peter Eli Johnson) shows up, he wants them to stay conjoined, but not because they want to be; he wants to have a movie about them because he thinks they are just freaks. Freak is just a terrible word because it just means someone who is different but it implies that they are different in a bad way. The character of Jake shows us the racism of the time period by showing how Sir casts him as a cannibal, and how a conjoined twin getting married was less shocking than people of two different races getting married. I just found that so terrible because there were probably lots of people who were in love with people of a different race and they couldn't be together.

The sisters really needed each other because they had been together for so long and they really couldn't part with each other. The sisters are pretty different from each other even though they are identical. Daisy is a very flirty girl and Violet always looks before she leaps. But they still are conjoined twins so sometimes it gets hard when one person wants to do one thing and another wants to do another. I really loved "Who Will Love Me as I Am" which was a song about how they wanted to be able to stay with their sister and still have a family or a boyfriend. I found it so sweet and sad and I just wanted to leap out of the audience and say, "It's ok!" You just want to help these girls and this musical is just so beautiful and heartbreaking. I felt sad for them when they had to leave the sideshow, even though they didn't like it there and would be happier on the Orpheum Circuit, because they had to leave all their friends behind. Then when they sang the song, "Say Goodbye to the Sideshow" it was so sad because they had to leave their friends behind for a better life.

I especially liked the opening number where they introduced all the attractions of the sideshow. I thought the entire ensemble was amazing when they came together in that opening number. It started out the show so well, and I really loved the opening number because of the music and all the different attractions coming onstage. It turned out to be a very fun and exciting opening number. One of my favorite scenes was when a few of the people from the sideshow--the Geek (Ben Kaye), the Half-Man/Half-Woman (Deanna Myers), and the Fortune Teller (Veronica Garza)--opened up a bakery. I thought that was so hilarious because it is not the kind of thing you think people from a sideshow would start doing. It told you that they were actually just very sweet people who had been put in a freak show and that they just wanted a normal life where they could bake cakes and open up a bakery. I thought that Sir was so mean to everybody in his sideshow because it would be like asking actors to do a show 3 times a day and then do housework for your boss who does nothing but gets all the money.

People who would like this show are people who like talented twins, amazing music, and sideshow baked goods. I think people should definitely go see this show. I think it is a great show and people in the show have amazing talent. I really loved it.


Photos: Anthony Robert LaPenna

Review of With Love and a Major Organ at Strawdog Theatre Company

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called With Love and a Major Organ. It was by Julia Lederer and it was directed by Thrisa Hodits. It was about a girl Anabel (Abby Pierce) who falls in love with a man George (Tom Murphy) who she meets on the subway, and she gives him her heart--literally. She ends up going to his mother, Mona (Melissa Riemer), and staying with her and they bond. It is about love, determination, and respect. I think the interactions that the characters had with the audience were really fun. This show is funny and sad and it makes you think that love is not you seeing someone and liking them; it is getting to know this person's heart and getting to know what this person is really like. It is hard to talk about this play without giving spoilers, so if you have not seen or read the show, probably you do that before you read this.

The mom of George does not have a husband at the moment, so she goes to speed dating events. I think it is really cool and I think it was really funny how the audience would be who she was speed dating with. Sometimes the people she was pretending to speed date with weren't in the mood to interact, and I think it might have been kind of awkward for her but she did handle it well by going with the flow that the person was a bad date, or if they interacted sometimes they were an okay date. And finally the good date was with an imaginary person. It was funny because she wouldn't let the other person talk at all during the date. I found that the speed dating experiences that she had were kind of like the comic relief because the rest of the play is very sad for most of the time.

I felt like the boy and the girl had a very strange relationship at first because she was just a overly-attached girl on the train who fell in love with a guy on the train. It wasn't a healthy thing. And then she started going too far, but then when she went too far good things came out of it. To give him her actual heart in a plastic bag as a gift is going too far. But then he actually gets to know her heart. And it shows that even if you are weird and crazy someone might actually love you for that. And once they get to know who you actually are other than just "the girl on the blue line" and that underneath it all that you actually have some kind of personality and you like ice cream and The Golden Girls and plaid, you might actually be loved for who you are. We give people our hearts because we want them to accept it as a gift and cherish it and love it. But the thing is that sometimes they throw it away. And that is what she is afraid is happening. But he gets to know the heart and then he realizes he can spend time with the owner of that heart and they can still be happy if she has her own heart.

I think it was sad how George seemed to be pushing his mother away a lot of the time. I think that is because he felt like he couldn't do without her, so he pushed her aside to prove to himself that he didn't need her help anymore. That made his mother feel really sad. She said that she gave him a paper heart so he wouldn't be hurt. I understand that she gave him the paper heart because she had been hurt very deeply and didn't want him to feel the same. It makes him not able to feel anything though. And if you don't feel love or pain, you can't really be a part of the world.

People who would like this show are people who like funny speed dates, beautiful love stories, and ice cream. I think people should definitely go see this show. I feel like it was beautiful, the acting was great, and I really loved the story.

Photos: Tom McGrath