Julius Caesar at Class 6 Theatre, viewed April 30th, ran through May 11th
- I was in a Southwest Shakespeare production of Julius Caesar a few years back, playing a bunch of bit parts. While I enjoy some of the people just fine, there's a reason I haven't really been back.
- Very hit or miss on the individual performances with regards to grasp of the language. Fortunately, most of the ones with the bulk of the lines were pretty comfortable (Brutus, Cassius, Marc Antony, and Casca).
- I liked the non-traditional gender casting. With Brutus and Caesar the only men, Cassius' plot to assassinate Caesar and install Brutus has more weight. As a woman, maybe she doesn't feel the people would follow her so she has to imbue her ambition on a man. I'd have liked to have seen this played around with more.
- Less successful (but still better than most of the "concepts/settings" I've seen at SWShakes) was the use of cell phones. I didn't have too many gripes in the moment but discussing it with others afterwards it just didn't really hold up as well. It comes across less as (as the director's notes would imply) a scathing commentary on communication or the lack thereof in the smartphone age, and more like a shorthand to cut a few Messenger characters.
- Still, I appreciate the niche Class 6 aims to fill and I look forward to what they do next.
Once at ASU Gammage, viewed May 1st, ran through May 4th
- I loved the movie Once and everything I heard about the musical suggested that Gammage was going to be a horrible venue for it. And it was for the purposes of seeing the show and the subtle choices that the performers make.
- When I bought my ticket, I sat by the sound board. This is one of my preferred locations at Gammage. If I'm near where the Sound Operator is mixing from, I'm probably going to hear the best possible version of the show in that venue. I was not disappointed.
- The music was extraordinary.
- The movement was beautiful.
- The story was heartbreaking, yet hope-filled.
- As I posted on Facebook. The show was so good, that it overcame the fact that it belongs in an intimate space instead of Gammage's 3000+ seat auditorium.
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Stray Cat Theatre, worked May 2nd and 3rd, runs through May 17th
- Didn't actually watch the show either of these days. I was tending bar one night and running the box office on the other.
- That said, I still think it's an incredibly fun show. Every audience I've heard has a great time getting into the mode of "wrestling audience."
- The show is almost a bait and switch, promising a show about wrestling on the surface but in actuality is a satirical look and race in America. (But there's still some wrestling too).
- It's also the most technically ambitious show in Stray Cat's history (save maybe Heddatron and its robots) with a lot of media, flashy moving lights, live video, and the standard deck has been completely removed in favor of an actual wrestling ring.
Once at ASU Gammage, viewed again May 3rd matinee.
- After my initial viewing, I knew I'd want to see the show again before it left town.
- This time I sat in the second row.
- Before even taking my seat though, I took advantage of the onstage bar so I could be up there when the performers came out to play their preshow set of songs. That experience alone was worth the price of a second admission.
- And sure enough, sitting in the second row where I was able to actually make out faces is definitely the way that show is meant to be seen.
- This show came at just the right time for me and has helped to re-ignite my passion for theatre.
- I really want to learn guitar and work on my voice a bit to play Guy some day.
Avenue Q at Phoenix Theatre, viewed again May 4th matinee, now extended through May 31st.
- I've already written up some more thorough thoughts of this one but it's such a great show I chose to see it again before Les Miserables that evening.
- This particular performance had a handful of technical issues (wrong sound/music cues, mics going out, prop pieces falling apart, etc.) but the cast pushed on through and it was still another great performance.
- I was listening to the original cast recording while writing today and would argue that, for the most part, the vocal performances of the Phoenix Theatre cast even outshine the Broadway cast. Emily Mulligan-Ferry in particular has a much more powerful sultry performance as Lucy than I think Stephanie D'Abruzzo does on the cast recording.
Les Miserables at Phoenix Theatre, viewed May 4th, now extended through June 1st.
- Like Rent before it this season, I'm at a point where a lot of the magic of Les Miserables has worn off for me.
- In my time working at Phoenix Theatre, the 2009 production has achieved somewhat mythic heights that were probably never going to be met for me.
- That's not to say this is a bad production. It's quite good. But I've pretty much seen it all before. There was nothing new in this one to surprise me.
- It's just such a dour musical that I don't really want to spend 3 hours with Valjean et al anymore.
- And it doesn't help that the biggest bit of levity, in the form of the Thenardiers is the most needlessly over-the-top of any of the productions I've seen. They exist in a completely different play than everyone else and it's a bit jarring every time they return.
Good People at Actors Theatre of Phoenix, viewed May 7th, ran through May 11th.
- Good performances (save an accent that sounded at times like South Boston by way of Tennessee and other times by way of England).
- I am not a fan of the Arizona Opera's rehearsal/performing space (where the show was presented) at all. The building's less than a year old so why in the hell is the A/C unit squealing through the entire show?!
- Design was lacking.
- Sound design beat us over the head with Bruce Springsteen. I'd be more forgiving of this if the show had been set in Jersey, but it was South Boston so some variety in "hard-working American" songs was sorely needed.
- Set design didn't really ever give any reason why it needed the periaktoi, unless the purpose was to allow me to dust off my theatre history/design knowledge and remember what the three-sided flats were.
- Lighting design had a number of moments where I noticed the visible change in light during a scene and wondered, "why did those lights just change that quickly? Are they highlighting a moment? No. Was something profound just said? No. Did the sun just fall out of the sky? Probably not. So why not go with a slower cue?" It's one of those times when having studied theatre detracts from my enjoyment of it.
- And one of my biggest gripes was unmotivated blocking that served no purpose other than to adjust a sightline or add movement to the scene. Unnaturalistic movement onstage is a big pet-peeve of mine and this show even had a drinking game that people were playing: "every time somebody moves for no reason, drink." The script is gripping, have faith that the audience doesn't need to watch a ping pong match onstage. And don't do the show in a Thrust arrangement if you're just going to be fighting it the entire time.
- This production in particular had a lot of positive buzz around it (reviews, statuses on Facebook, etc.) but I saw a very different show.
As always, I'm eager to hear what everyone else thought.
