27
Oct
2014
It was with eager anticipation that I sat down to watch Friday's performance of the QC Theatre Workshop's Bat Boy: The Musical, especially knowing that Calvin Vo would be portraying the title role.
If any local-theatre venue sets the bar for scenic design, I'd make a case for Augustana College. Anyone who doubts the theatre department's candidacy should see its presentation of The Passion of Dracula, with its set that's the latest in a long line of remarkable constructs.
Thank goodness for second acts, because Saturday's production of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Funny, You Don't Look Like a Grandmother, with its first act that almost put my own mother-who-doesn't-look-like-a-grandmother to sleep, had us laughing fairly heartily during its second half. Director Ann Nieman's staging of this modern-granny revue is fun and comfortably paced, and her choreography is oftentimes peppy and clever, especially in the yoga-class number and the jazzy, early-20th-Century-styled footwork of the musical's high-energy "Grandmas to Go," which features the play's three leads - Karen Pappas, Deborah Kennedy, and Andrea Moore - singing gorgeous, tight, impressive Andrews Sisters-type harmonies.
Reading through the program for the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Marrying Terry filled me with eager anticipation for Friday's performance, as the cast is mostly composed of newcomers to either the Playcrafters stage or any stage. While it's fun to see familiar actors in different roles, it can be even more exciting to see fresh faces take to the theatre, and with this production, the new talents are a blend of fine actors and those who, with time, could become fine ones, too.
I love Yasmina Reza's 'Art.' My infatuation with the playwright's script started four years ago when the piece was produced by the Curtainbox Theatre Company, and it brought me great delight to hear that the QC Theatre Workshop and director Tyson Danner planned to stage the play with the same cast that performed the material for the Curtainbox.
Thursday's audience certainly enjoyed the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Leading Ladies, judging by their loud snorts and uninhibited guffaws. Ken Ludwig provides plenty of fodder for laughter, as do director Tom Vaccaro and his cast, who hit the comedy's high notes pitch-perfectly. As for me, I didn't just giggle but laughed heartily right along with the rest of the crowd at least a dozen times.
Shout! The Mod Musical is not only the most tolerable musical revue I've seen to date, but also the most enjoyable. With more substance than The Taffetas and less forced plot than The Marvelous Wonderettes, this girl-group celebration of 1960s songs is both cohesive and a whole lot of fun, especially given the Timber Lake Playhouse's current staging of it.
