Sunday, February 20, 2011

Review of The Moonstone at Lifeline Theatre


Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called The Moonstone. My dad was in it! It was a mystery, and it was really late at night, and I had a cupcake after. The play was fun and scary. At intermission we tried to guess who stole the Moonstone. The Moonstone was a birthday present that was given to Rachel who is a teenager. The Indians got it, but then an officer got it from them. The Moonstone is a diamond that is magic. I will not be able to tell you who stole the Moonstone because that would be giving away the play. During the show, I felt kind of weird because I felt kind of scared that the person who stole the Moonstone was like someone who you liked who was a main character--and that would be so horrid.

Godfrey was played by C. Sean Piereman. Godfrey was the cousin of Rachel and he proposed to her. I thought that was weird because in this time you can't marry your cousins. It would be weird if my cousin did that. That would be super-weird. I thought C. Sean did a good job playing someone who is in a charity and gives money to people that are poor. He is popular with the ladies in the charities because he is the only man there.

Cuff was played by Dave Skvarla. He was a detective, and it is really cool that there is a detective because I expected just the people in the house to try and find the Moonstone. He loved the roses--that was pretty interesting because most detectives in books don't say what kind of flower they like. I expected that he was going to be interested in finding stuff and not roses. Cuff discovered that it had to be someone at the party, or how could they have gotten inside? There was a smear on the door because it was painted, and we thought we knew who did it, but we actually didn't, and I won't tell you. Cuff thought that someone with a smear on him or her had to have stolen the Moonstone. Dave did a good job pretending that he was a rose detective who tried to find the Moonstone.

Lady Verinder was played by Jenifer Tyler. I thought the character was interesting because she didn't believe that her daughter stole the Moonstone even though Rachel had it last. I thought she did a good job playing a mom because she sounded calm when they were leaving their house even though the Moonstone was lost and, even worse, they thought Rachel stole the Moonstone. I thought she was kind of sad when she was sick. She still runs the house even though she is sick. I thought she was brave.

Kaitlin Byrd played Miss Clack and Rosanna. Miss Clack was funny and Rosanna was more serious. Kaitlin was good at doing two different personalities during the play. Miss Clack was really funny but I think she thought she was being serious. And I didn't think she was serious at all; I thought she was really funny. She kept picking out books to give to people because she thinks they will make them feel better. But not all books can make people feel better. If someone gives you a book that is scary, do not read it when you are sad. The books had scary things like devils and poems that were sad. Rosanna was a housemaid at the house, and she was in love with somebody that doesn't like her that much because he likes Rachel better. She is really sad because she had a lot of sad parts to her life--like going to jail. I feel sorry for her because she is so disappointed and she can't marry Franklin.

There were these two characters and their names were Betteredge and Penelope. They were played by Sean Sinitski and Sonja Field. Betteredge told some of the story--he talked about himself and trying to find the Moonstone. He liked to read books, and most of them he thought happened to him in his life even though they weren't about him. He was a servant and when they moved he was left by himself at the house they didn't live in any more. Then he might have been lonely because his daughter went with them. I felt sorry for him. Penelope was the daughter of Betteredge. I thought she had a cool character because she kept interrupting her father's story because she was saying stuff like "Oh father, don't forget this and this and this and this." When Miss Clack said to her, "you shouldn't wear ribbons in your hair, it is too pretty," Penelope was coming upstairs and she was muttering to herself, " I have never been so insulted in my life," and it was kind of funny because she was so angry.

John Henry Roberts played Mr. Murthwaite, and he also played Septimus Luker. This was his second show at Lifeline. And he played a bad guy and a good guy in this one, but in the other one he just played a bad guy. I didn't see Wuthering Heights but I did see The Moonstone because why would I be writing this review? He did a good job talking about exploring because he was the only explorer and he was very scientific--he did a good job pretending to be scientific. Septimus Luker was a bad guy--there were a few different bad guys--and John did a good job playing two characters that had a very different personality.

Bruff is played by Vincent P. Mahler. Bruff is a lawyer of Lady Verinder, and he takes care of Rachel as her foster father. Bruff was funny at some parts and sad at some parts--when Lady Verinder died. I think he is nice because he takes care of Rachel. He is nice and not nice sometimes when he plays a trick on Rachel to get Rachel and Franklin friends again. Vincent did a good performance when he talked to the explorer about who stole the Mooonstone. I felt kind of excited about who stole the Moonstone when they did the conversation because they were talking about who might have stolen the Moonstone in an exciting way.

Ezra Jennings was played by Peter Greenberg. I thought he did a good job playing his character. I liked when he was telling his plan because I thought that was cool. His plan is to find out who stole the Moonstone actually. He did an experiment to try to make the person who stole the moonstone do it again.

Franklin was played by Cody Proctor. He is one of the people who doesn't die. He is a person that is in love with Rachel--there are two people who are in love with Rachel. He tried to find out who stole the Moonstone and tries to make people talk to him again because people don't talk to him anymore. He is not like Cuff because he is in love with Rachel. He is like Cuff because he is like a detective kind of because he is trying trying trying to find out who stole the Moonstone so hard. I thought he was a cool character because he tries to find the Moonstone really hard.

Rachel was played by Ann Sonneville. She was nice to Clack at some parts, but not always. She says to Miss Clack whenever she leaves the room--"Clack"annoyed in a whisper. I thought how she said "Clack" was so hilarious. Clack is a funny name to call someone. I felt sorry for Rachel because she had lost her birthday present, and it was brand new. If I lost a present that I just got, I would have felt sad like Rachel too. When she lost the Moonstone I thought it was kind of scary because she had lost the Moonstone and the Moonstone was a special jewel. She forgives somebody for stealing the Moonstone--I thought that was cool.

There was a scene where Godfrey proposed to Rachel. Miss Clack was telling the story at this part, and Miss Clack said "but I was too late!" because then she saw the kiss. She didn't want to see it because she had a crush on Godfrey. You did know that because she hugged him. I loved this scene! I thought it was funny.

I liked their outfits. Bill Morey did them. All their costumes didn't look like the twenty-first century, which is good because then they got the time period right--it was the time when Jane Austen was writing. A few years later. I thought the masks that the Indians wore were cool but kind of creepy. I liked Miss Clack's outfit--it was kind of funny because she had a bonnet that had flaps over her ears and the flaps went up and down. I liked the white dress that Rachel wore at her birthday: it was down on her shoulders, and I think it had fancy designs on the bottom, and she wore the Moonstone on it. There was the set by Ian Zywica and it had two doors, and it had an upstage that was really cool because it had a fireplace and it turned into a balcony. It also was a place where people usually died. And there was a scene that was in India and they had the Moonstone and they put it into a face. All those things were in the exact same place upstage. I thought the set was cool.

This show should be for ages 5 and up. People that like diamonds, people that like scary stuff, people that like experiments, and people who like mysteries would like this play. And you should go expecting some smoking and dying people--just people in the play, not you. How would I be writing this review if I were dead?

It would have been hilarious if the Indians had said, "If you want to be entertained, that will be one Moonstone."

Photos: Suzanne Plunkett

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