An island can conjure different images – a great vacation get-away, a place of isolation, a place with a different culture and different rules – and on July 8, the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre opened South Pacific, Rogers and Hammerstein’s 1949 musical about love, World War II, and overcoming fears on two South Seas islands. One is teeming with military personal and native islanders. The other, Bali Ha’i, is mysterious, inhabited by only islanders, and out of reach by all but a few. Humans are thrown together by war in this paradise of danger, beauty and difference, and the Showboat cast gave this classic a fresh feeling, with iconic songs such as “Some Enchanted Evening,” “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta my Hair,” and “There is Nothing Like a Dame” still holding up.
Thursday's performance of Next to Normal didn't appear as well-attended as the rest of the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's opening nights this summer. Yet while this musical trip through a family's struggle with the mother's mental issues may not be as familiar as a Cats or Steel Magnolias, this isn't a piece to miss. The songs by Tom Kitt and book by Brian Yorkey are powerful testimonies to the reality of mental illness for those who suffer from it, and those who suffer through it alongside a loved one.
It is with no hesitation that I admit adoring Stephen Flaherty's and Lynn Ahrens' musical Seussical, for which Flaherty wrote the music and Ahren the lyrics, with both collaborating on the book. Though it seems a children's play, the lyrics, melodies, and harmonies are sophisticated and memorable, and knowing how much I like this piece - and remembering the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's excellent Cats from earlier this summer - I couldn't set aside my expectations prior to Thursday's Showboat performance, certain I was in for a theatrical treat. Director Matthew Teague Miller did not disappoint.
I struggle with where to begin in praising director Matthew Teague Miller's Cats at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, simply because there's so much to praise.
The Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a delightfully entertaining musical comedy that I wouldn't mind seeing over and over again, as Friday's performance of director Tommy Iafrate's production was funny, touching, and energetic, serving as an exceptional rendering of the musical's charm, wit, humor, and high level of enjoyability.
