Theatre

Hair is the American tribal love-rock musical.  I came to know of this musical from the original movie with Treat Williams playing Berger.  Because I already had an amazing picture in my head, the beginning of this love-rock musical was almost a disappointment for me.  The movie has a clear cut story line to follow, and has all the known songs to sing along to such as Aquarius, Let the Sun Shine In, and Hair.  The beginning of the May 9^th production just seemed to be song after song, and with-in those songs, I knew only a couple.  I found throughout the entire musical that the point wasn’t the story line, which ended up being there to my satisfaction, but more about the music and atmosphere. Continue reading →

When initially hearing of A Behanding in Spokane, I didn’t know what it was about.  All I knew was that Christopher Walken, a famous actor and Academy Award winner, was playing the main role and I wanted to see it.  From outside the theatre, the pictures seemed to look like this was going to be a serious play with a serious plot line.  Though some parts of the play, in my opinion, shouldn’t be taken lightly, I was wrong.

A Behanding in Spokane is a comedy about a man, Mr. Carmichael (Walken), who has a
right hand, and a stub for a left hand.  For the majority of his life, he’s been searching for his missing hand which was taken away from him by some hillbillies many years ago.  He says that they took him and held his hand over the train tracks, waiting for the train to come.  When finally the train rode over his hand, they took the detached appendage and from a distance, waved back at him with his own hand.  He gets very upset telling this story, but the audience can’t help but laugh. Continue reading →

Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi are two one act operas orchestrated by Giacomo Puccini.  The first, Suor Angelica, takes place in a convent in the late 1600s.  The main character, Suor Angelica (Emily Cohen), has been placed in the convent by her family who was embarrassed after she gave birth to an illegitimate son.  She spends seven years at this convent waiting for news from her family and taking care of all the other sisters.  She is dearly loved.  She finally receives word from her family when her aunt, La Zia Principessa (Marina Tricarico), visits.  She hears that her younger sister is to be married and that she must sign papers giving over the family property to the newlyweds.  Begging her aunt for news about her son, she finds out that he had died two years earlier.  She can’t bear the news and sings about wanting to die in order to see her son.  Being very good with herbs and floral remedies, she mixes together a poison which kills her, reuniting herself with her son in heaven. Continue reading →

Madama Butterfly, written by Puccini, is an opera based in Nagasaki, Japan.  The story starts off with the U.S. Navy lieutenant, Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (Steven Harrison), excitedly singing about his new property in Japan and his arriving bride to be, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly).  She is only 15 years of age and highly respects Mr. Pinkerton.  He is warned by his friend Sharpless (Quinn Kelsey) that she is in-love with him and that he shouldn’t take advantage of the situation.  The lease on the house and the marriage to his stunning bride can be revoked within a month’s notice.  The wedding ceremony brings all of Butterfly’s relatives out, in traditional-looking Japanese kimonos.  When it is found out that she is willing to leave her beliefs and her people to be with Pinkerton, the family shuns her and leaves her on her own with Pinkerton, ending the first act. Continue reading →

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson is a play about the childhood of a well-known American heroine, Helen Keller.  Not only does the play focus on the difficult life Helen went through before she was able to communicate with the outside world, it also focuses on her teacher, Annie Sullivan.  The play starts off when Helen is sixth months old, just overcoming some sickness (it’s believed it may have been scarlet fever or meningitis).  Her mother, played by Jennifer Morrison, discovers that her baby daughter is deaf and blind when she doesn’t react to any hand signals or loud screams (the reaction to finding out Helen couldn’t see her).  The scene quickly changes to a time when Helen is at least five years of age.  Instead of a plastic baby doll to portray Helen, she is now played by the famous Abigail Breslin.  Everyone in the Keller family spoils the child because they don’t know what else to do with her.  They insist on getting a nanny so they won’t have to deal with her as much, and hope that Helen will also learn some manners with her new companion. Continue reading →

Next to Normal is an operetta written by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey.  It’s about a
dysfunctional family that tries to hide their problems.  Diana, in the lead role as the mother, is played by Alice Ripley.  She and her husband, Dan (Michael Berry), eloped when they were really young after finding out she was pregnant.  Eight months after the birth of their beautiful son Gabe (Kyle Dean Massey), a tragic event occurs, shaking Diana’s world forever.  She takes many different types of pills and she goes to different therapists and yet she can’t cope with life. Her husband stands by her side the entire time, no matter how hard it is for him.  They had another child, a daughter, Natalie (Jennifer Damiano), to try to make things better again, but she ends up being ignored.  As Natalie puts it in one of the songs, she’s the “Invisible Girl”.  She’s afraid that she’ll turn out just like her mother, and at one point she even starts stealing her   pills.  In the end, Diana attempts suicide, and when in the hospital, the unanimous decision is to try ECT.  After having the electric shock treatment, which was a very intense scene in the operetta – lights flashing and loud music, she loses all her memory.  The only thing that comes back to her is that tragic event that happened 18 years ago. Continue reading →