The first main section is in a hospital room. They are all there waiting for their father to die. They are all at different levels of dread and do different things to kind of calm themselves. Ann is doing a crossword puzzle; the guys want to watch football; Wendy kind of wants to pamper her dad--she is massaging his feet. They are all trying to be calm and they are all trying to make the best out of the situation. I think when a person dies they would never say, "Everyone should be sad for years." That's why I think it is okay for people to be trying to make the best out of the situation like people in this show are doing. They want their dad to die happy, but you can't really tell if that happens, which is kind of a sad thing to think about.
The second section of the play takes place at the family house. They are all sitting around telling jokes as part of celebrating their dad. And they are also getting pretty tipsy while they are at it. And their father as a ghost keeps walking into the room and his children can't see him. And he is just going about his day: making his Metamucil, eating a grapefruit, and petting his adorable dog. (I think that dog should win a Jeff for most adorable dog in a play.) When they say "Dad, if you are here, give us a sign," he knocks the lid off a tin. And everybody is like "Well, that was weird," but they don't really pay much attention. I thought that was interesting because they didn't have this big discovery: ghosts are real! Instead they just go back to their conversation. Wendy believes very strongly in a higher power. And Ann is the opposite of that. Everybody else is kind of on the fence about it, and they get into a heated discussion about why they do or don't believe in a higher power. I think that was very interesting to watch because they had all different opinions even though they were part of the same family. I kind of want to hear a podcast with all of them because I thought all their opinions were interesting.
The third section was all based on Peter Pan, with Ann playing Peter and everyone else playing their namesakes, except for Jim who was Captain Hook and Tinkerbell. The lines were much more simple in this section because everything was simpler when you were younger and more oblivious to everything. I liked how they acted like they were in the Peter Pan stories until they all realized what their responsibilities were at home as adults. I think that when older people don't want to grow up it is because they are afraid of dying. And they have just been reminded about all of that because of their father passing away. Thematically Peter Pan is all about not wanting to grow up. And all of these adults are grown up, and there is kind of no turning back from that now, but they still want to keep from getting older. I think the reason why this play is so moving is because all of them are haunted by the inevitability of death. Even though some of them say they aren't, I think they all secretly are. This section felt sad at moments of course, but overall it was amusing to watch because it was kind of a spoof of Peter Pan.
People who would like this show are people who like Peter Pan, moving stories, and adorable dogs. I think people should go see this show. It is such a different and interestingly beautiful play.
Photos: Michael Brosilow
I absolutely loved Armold in the role of Mary Poppins. She was so poised and upright but never stiff. She was gently sarcastic in a humorous way. Everything she did, she did with some flair. You can understand why everyone loves Mary so much, as you can see in "Jolly Holiday" and basically any song where Mary Poppins steps outside. Whenever Mary was around, Bert (Matt Crowle) seemed dazed and it was adorable. They had great chemistry on stage. You also kind of feel bad for Bert because Mary likes him back but she is like a goddess so she can't really have a mortal boyfriend. Maybe she has love interests in every town she goes to like Zeus.
My favorite song was "Brimstone and Treacle." I thought Miss Andrew (Holly Stauder) did a really great job with the vocals. Most of the time I really love villains in musicals and this is no exception. She rocked the part and made me want Miss Andrew to have more stage time. When she has her showdown with Mary Poppins in the reprise, it is like they are polar opposites. Good vs. evil, sugar vs. treacle, and rum punch vs. brimstone. It was so cool when they faced off. When you think of Mary Poppins you don't think of epic battles, but there sure is one. Mary Poppins and Miss Andrew both had flair, but different kinds. Miss Andrew's was more like terror flair.
I usually really like productions of big musicals in smaller spaces; you feel closer to the characters and you feel more of the action. The danger with doing Mary Poppins that way, though, is that the magical elements can seem fake. I felt like the cake in "Spoonful of Sugar," the hatstand and mirror from Mary's carpet bag, and the birds were all victims of unmagicalness. There was also a moment where the ensemble was using lights to be stars. The whole ensemble was dressed in black except for their faces. I think that if they had worn masks it might have been more magical because you wouldn't see the floating heads. Floating heads can be magical, but I don't think that's what Mary Poppins had in mind when she took the children for their final goodbye in "Anything Can Happen."
People who would like this show are people who like spoonfuls of sugar, gentle sarcasm, and epic nanny battles. The singing and the performances are great, and I think this is a really fun script.
Photos: Brett A. Beiner
I really liked the "Village Celebration" in act one. It was so fantastic to watch. They had people (Anton Savytskyi, Maksym Ovchynnikov, Pavel Skyba, an Lucas Altemeyer) on stilts jumping over hurdles. And they were doing these flips that were so awesome. How high they would get off the ground was just so crazy. Even though they had these flexible jumping stilts, I still thought it was impressive not just because they were on stilts but because it was clear that it took a lot of practice. The acrobats (Alseny Bangoura, Sékou Camara, Mohamed Sylla, Mohamed Conte, Alseny Sylla, Alhassane Sylla, Younoussa Sylla, Michel Kamono, and Balla Moussa Bangoura) also were so amazing. The amount of backflips they would do! It was amazing; I don't know how they did it without getting sick on stage. I know about spotting, but how fast they were doing them was just out of this world. It was crazy. They created such an awesome relationship with the audience. They responded to applause so genuinely and that made the audience love them even more. They had another number as well called "The Call of Africa" and they did this whole call and response singing and had the audience singing and clapping along. It was so awesome because they did all of their acrobatics and the audience applauded for them for like five minutes. Also, the "Village Celebration" included horses (Utah, Drago, Quetzal, Quartz, Melchor, Motion, Fadista, and Tutor) and their riders (Amelie Bauza, Jérémy Gutierrez, Steven Paulson, Benoit Drouet, Jonathan Gil Delgado, Arnaud Attou, Batraz Tsokolaev, and Guillaume Dubrana), and it was so cool. The horses were also leaping over the hurdles. It was cool to see how people in stilts, people not in stilts, and the horses could all jump over the same hurdles.
They had this huge carousel that was lowered from the ceiling in "Carosello." They had these poles with fake horses on them. The performers (Altemeyer, Moniz Gmach, Uys DuBuisson, Elisa Penello, Samuel Alvarez, Julissa Panus, Ovchynnikov, Skyba, and Savytskyi) would hang off these poles and they would hang off of them upside down and sometimes they used no arms and it was just mesmerizing. They also would do tricks together; one would hold the other by the hand and they would be responsible for the other not falling. It was cool how the carousel was rotating the entire time so you could see what everyone was doing. I also really liked "The Angels" which was all done on silks. The performers (Jacqueline Ward Kehrwald, Panus, Penello, and Karolina Melska) were carried in on horses (Juglans, Licenciat, Bello, and Gavilan) and they were lifted up off the horses and became these angels. They had long wings that hung down to the ground; those were the silks. That was another time they used rotation but this time it was from the sky. They were so high off the ground that you were kind of worried for them, but they were angels, so I guess they probably wouldn't fall.
"The Great Adventure" was so amazing. It was this dancing horse named Omerio with a woman (Elise Verdoncq) on his back. At first all you see is a silhouette of them on the hill. And the horse dances and it was so majestic and pretty. And then the lights come up and you see them. The entire thing was like a flood of beauty. (That is the cheesiest thing I've said on this blog, but it is also true.) You see they had flooded the front part of the stage in the dark, and it was so beautiful. And Omerio went down to the water and started doing the same tricks he had been doing on land in the water. And then they had these white horses (Gus, Frosty, Nezma, Gee-Gee, Chief, Bravas, Shake, Pearl) run through the water and it was so beautiful to see their manes flow and the splash of their hooves in the water. It was so glorious that it made me and my mom almost cry. It was really pretty.
People who would like this show are people who like mesmerizing acrobatics, dancing horses, and human carousels. This is such an amazing show to see. I really enjoyed being there and I hope a lot of people get to see it.
Photos: Cavalia
There were a lot of very moving parts of this show. There was a woman from Afghanistan named Asia Rahi (Rasika Ranganathan) whose home was destroyed. And she decided to leave with her children. But one of her daughters had an asthma attack and she needed to get some air so she lifted up her burqa, and the guards started beating her and the son distracted them but he didn't get away from them. I think that the brother was so brave to have done that. It is so sad because if they had gone at a different time or if she hadn't had the asthma attack, everything could have worked out better. I'm sure Asia Rahi loved all her children equally, so to lose one child for another must have been terrible. Mao Hiet (Scott Shimizu) was from Cambodia. He talks about his escape, where he loses some of his family members and is shot at by the Khmer Rouge. At the end of his story, it is not a happily ever after for him even though he has survived. He says he doesn't know why the U.S. didn't help save millions of lives. There was a man from Syria (Omer Abbas Salem) who talked about how a bomb had hit his house and his son had to carry out parts of his mother and sister so they could be buried. I think the saddest part to me was how his son kept writing "Mom" in his notebook over and over again. I can't imagine how terrible that would be and I really wish I could have done something about that. The play shows an instance where it is too late to help (in Cambodia) and then it shows an instance where we can still do something about it (in Syria) to suggest that the U.S. can still help there. (My mom and I found this list of charities that actually help.)
Even though a lot of the experiences in this show are sad ones, I think the show still has a lot of inspiring moments. During the Great Migration, John H. Johnson (Christopher W. Jones) went from Arkansas to Chicago for schools and resources available to African American people. He later founded the Johnson Publishing Company, and I think that is super inspiring to see this story of a kid moving somewhere so he could go to a good school and then getting a great job and starting his own publishing company. Susie King Taylor (Anesia Hicks) went to a school that only taught thirty children and it was in an free woman's house. The free woman was teaching a secret school for African American children in the south during slavery. I think that teacher is so inspiring because she stood up for what she believed in, that everyone should have an education, and she actually made a difference with the kids. There was a woman named Lilly Daché (Elizabeth Hope Williams) who immigrated from France in the 1920s, and she was looking at all the things in the city. And a taxi driver gets really mad at her and tells her to wake up and then she does and looks at all the amazing things around her in the bustling city. She said she felt like she was discovering America. I think that is a really beautiful line. If you don't look up, you won't discover all the strangely beautiful stuff around you. And later in her life she becomes a fashion designer.
I thought this show also had some funny and heartwarming stories. Like one of my favorites was about a woman who had come from Japan, Riyo Orite (Jennifer Cheung), and she was making biscuits for all the men who worked with her husband. She has only just learned how to make biscuits because they didn't really make them in Japan. And the biscuits turn out to be so hard that they call them dogkillers. There was also a heartwarming story about a man from Ireland, Emmanuel Steen (Sean McGill), and once he got to America he was so excited to be there, and he sees a hot dog cart and ice cream sandwich cart, and he tries both of them and thinks they are amazing. It is so sweet to see somebody get excited about foods we see everyday and experience them for the first time. There was a woman named Lupe Macais (Juanita Andersen) who had a funny story about crossing the border from Mexico to get to America that was sweet at the end. Basically she was kind of over-prepared because she had this coach who was terrified for her and gave her so much information at once, which was very funny to watch. But once she gets to the border, they just let her go through without talking to her. The look on her face is just so giddy but also kind of relieved. I thought that was so sweet. I really liked that scene. Another really sweet moment was about this woman from Italy, Elda Torini (Katie Campbell), who had come to America after World War II had ended and was waiting for her boyfriend who had been in the American army. She didn't care that everybody else had to wait in the line. She just ran through. She didn't care that it was snowing; she didn't care that she had high heels on. She just ran to him, and a few days later they got married. I thought that was such a sweet story.
People who would like this show are people who like moving stories, secret school, and hot dogs. I think that people should go see this show. These are beautiful, moving, and important stories of the immigrant experience.
Photos: Michael Brosilow
I think that the message of the show is great. It is basically that education is important to fulfill your duties as an American, like voting and understanding the government. I think the evolution of Billie is a really interesting one to watch. She evolves from someone who just follows around a boyfriend and mostly values having things to someone who is a intellectual person who reads books and has conversations about current events. She starts to read the paper and learn what is happening in the real world and not just in her bubble. Also her ideas on love change. She thought that relationships were more about attraction, but now it is about attraction but also having conversations and enjoying time together. I like how she doesn't transform into someone who is completely different; she still has her accent and her sassy personality. But she uses her knowledge to make herself actually happy by getting a life she wants to live instead a life following around Harry who treats her like crap.
There were a lot of funny moments. One of my favorites was when Harry and Billie were playing gin rummy and Billie kept winning and got amazing hands. She was also taking the whole game really seriously. You can also see in Harry's eyes that he was slightly mad how much she was winning. That was pretty funny to watch. I also thought it was funny when the lawyer, Ed Devery (Shawn Douglass), was stumbling around drunk. He seemed like he didn't even know that he was intoxicated. When anyone seemed to notice that he was, he just thought they were weird. Also, when act two started, you see Billie reading the paper, and when she takes down the paper you see that she is wearing glasses. I think that's really funny because she had been strongly against glasses. It seems they have grown on her.
Money is a really big topic in this play. It means a lot of different things to different people. At the top of the show you see Helen (Maggie Clennon Reberg), the maid, talking to Paul about how it dumb it is how rich people pay for really expensive hotel rooms. She is telling him this as she makes up the fancy room that costs two hundred and thirty five dollars. She would have to work for months to spend one night there, which I think is pretty crazy. It shows you how some people by doing the wrong thing get rewarded, and some people can do the right thing and work hard and all they get is eighteen dollars a week. On the other side of the spectrum we have Harry; he thinks that money is the meaning of life. In Harry's mind, his money shows that he is powerful. He thinks he got rich without any help and by working hard, but he wasn't working hard honestly. He was taking what belongs to others. And now that he is rich, he thinks he should be able to make all the rules. He is bribing Senator Hedges (Brian Parry) to be able to make even more money than he makes already which was already a huge amount. It kind of reminded me a bit of how Trump is trying to make life easier for rich people but not for poor people. And it is already harder for poor people! Billie at the beginning of the show also thinks money is the best thing ever. But as the story goes on, she realized that you don't live life for money; you live it for knowledge.
People who would like this show are people who like stories of change, intoxicated lawyers, and gin rummy. I think that people should definitely go see this show. I think it is such a great story and it is so relevant for today. I loved it!
Photos: Johnny Knight
I think it is really cool how much they captured the personalities of the real members of the Beatles. Paul has a lot of energy and is most of the time moving. He is always smiling and has great stage presence. John is more focused on the music that he is playing than on the fans--until the song is over. John and Paul would talk to each other on stage, which showed how close they were. George seems to have his own thing going, but he still goofs around a bit. I was really happy that Ringo got to sing a song ("With a Little Help from my Friends") in this concert because he is literally in the background because he plays the drums, but if it wasn't for Ringo there would be no rhythm, which you really need for a band. You see them all evolve over the years. At the beginning they are literally all wearing suits and their performance style was more straightforward. Then we get to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and they are much more carefree because they know what they are doing. They kind of know that they can be crazy and it will be thought of as the most awesome thing ever. They've gotten the idea that they are famous by that point!
I really liked how similar the songs were to how they sounded on the album and in the real concerts. In this show, Mike Beyer played all the instruments that the Beatles didn't usually play in concert, so that you could have something that sounded like the album arrangement. I thought that the guitar solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was absolutely amazing. It was crazy how good it was; seeing it live rather than hearing it recorded was so amazing because you get to see him actually playing the guitar and how fast he's playing. I'm so happy they played "Eleanor Rigby" because that is one of my favorite songs. I think that one sounded the most similar to the album track to me. I also thought it was really cool how during "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" they used projections from really old movies. They reminded me of, and might have been from, A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès. I guess ladies in the sky were a big thing in the early 1900s! I thought it was super cool how at the end they involved the whole audience in singing "Hey, Jude." It was great to sing all together. The Beatles were all about peace and love and equality, which I think is something that we really need now. Everyone was really together when we were singing, and I thought that was really beautiful.
People who would like this show are people who like nostalgia, rock and roll, and community. I think that people should go see this show. It is so fun to be at and I loved it.
Photos: Richard Lovrich
I think that the visual aspects of the show were spectacular! The flying monkeys (Elana Elyce, Ben Hertel, Carlos Olmedo, and Tina Muñoz Pandya) were so awesome to watch and, at the same time, kind of terrifying. They would fly (choreography by Ryan Bourque) over the audience, and it was so cool! I also really liked the costumes (by Mieka van der Ploeg). I especially loved the witches' outfits. The Witch of the West's (Anji White) dress seemed like it was ripped and falling apart but still strangely beautiful, and the gloves were so awesome, and the way she moved her fingers in them added to the creepiness. Also I loved how Glinda (Amanda de la Guardia) looked so regal and the trees on her cape were so cool! Both of the witches had trees on their dresses, which I thought was really awesome. The Wicked Witch's dress looked more like roots, the part that doesn't get seen but does everything for the tree. And that might be the reason she became evil: that she had always been in the shadow of Glinda. I thought the boots Dorothy gets from the Witch of the East were so awesome because they answered a age-old question I always had: "Shouldn't there be blood on those shoes?" And the answer is: "Yes, there should be." It makes Dorothy look like so much more of a badass. I mean, Dorothy was already a badass in this show, but the boots just added to it. I also think that the puppets (designed by Jesse Mooney-Bullock) of the Kalidah, the crows, and the wolves are so cool. They looked like they were made from twine, and you can see the puppeteers inside the Kalidah. It's cool how you can see the actor using the puppet and emoting what the puppet is feeling.
I think that all of the main characters' monologues were so amazing because they really let you see what the characters were thinking. And that just made you love the characters more. I really loved Toto's (Joey Steakley) speech. It was so sweet and after this speech you absolutely adore him. You thought he was cute before, but now that you know what he is thinking, he is a more awesome and developed character. He was saying how much he loved Dorothy and how she rescued him from being killed because that's what they would've done to him if she hadn't adopted him. The Scarecrow's (Christine Mayland Perkins) speech was also really great. It was basically about how she had discovered that the Wizard of Oz (Benjamin Sprunger), the mayor of the munchkin land, and the man who had rescued them from a giant beast using a horn were all the same person. That kind of proves the Scarecrow really does have a brain. I thought that was hilarious because it acknowledged that the same actor was playing all of those parts. I think that's pretty funny. The Lion's (Michael E. Smith) speech almost made me cry. I can't tell you the reason why I was crying. You have to go see the show to find out. He was so upset and feels responsible for what had happened; that was really heartbreaking to watch. One of the speeches was not really a speech: it was a song. The song was sung by the Tin Woodsman (Jeremy Sonkin). It was about how he missed his old life when he could feel love. It was great how he got a band of Munchkins (Elyce, Hertel, Olmedo, and Pandya) to play the music for him. It was awesome.
There were a lot of very sweet and funny moments in this show. After Dorothy had been locked up by the Witch of the West, she got a mysterious phone call which happened to be from the Lion. No one ever knows how he got her number and called her, and I thought that that was absolutely hilarious. She asks him how he got her number, but he just says, "There's no time for questions," which basically avoids the question completely, but that makes it more hilarious. I think my favorite moment, which falls into the sweet moments category, was when the Tin Woodsman was saying goodbye to Dorothy. She says something along the lines of, "You have a heart now." And he says, "What if you're my heart?" And my heart just broke. I am going to have to go see the Wizard to get a new one. I ship Dorothy and the Tin Woodsman so much. Tinorothy for life.
This play is okay for kids, but it is not aimed at kids and some younger kids might get a little freaked out especially if they think they know what the story is going to be like. I think that parents should definitely go on the website and read the parent's guide because kids have different tolerances for sad things and darkness.
People who would like this show are people who like badass boots, actually flying monkeys, and mysterious lion phone calls. I think that people should definitely go and see this show. I think it is so fun, amazing, and dark. I loved it!
Photos: Michael Brosilow
