Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin – Musical Revue – Seattle Repertory Theatre
Category: Musicals
Ride the Cyclone – Musical – ACT Theatre
Imaginary Opus – Musical – Seattle Center
Type: Musical
Recommendation: Don’t see it unless you’re a die-hard social justice warrior and special snowflake lover.
Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 2 stars
Negatives: Plot was overly simplistic, underdeveloped, hallmark-y, and mostly boring.
Story, Script, and Lyrics: They advertised this as “A Sensory Experience in Two Acts.” Apparently the first act was the musical and the “second act” was an art show.
- First Act: The musical followed the struggles of socially awkward kid who gets overly-stimulated easily and paints/draws to cope. The “moral of the story” was that everyone is special and contributes something worthwhile to society (I’m gagging).
- Second Act: The “second act” art show consisted of paintings by a local (mentally-challenged?) artist who I assume the main character is based on. I’m no visual art critic but I wasn’t too impressed by the works. Just because someone picks up a brush doesn’t mean they’re an artist.
Cast and Theater Company: Cast wasn’t bad. Though I assume the non-main characters had limited experience in the theater.
Venue and Set: Black Box Theatre is a hidden tiny theater in the back of the Center Theatre at the Seattle Center Armory. Set was very simple and occasionally featured the works of the artist from the art show.
Music and Audio: Meh. Venue was small enough that mic-ing wasn’t needed.
Price: $ (Low-priced at $25)
Dates: February 25-28, 2018
Seating: General Admission
Link: http://www.soundtheatrecompany.org/2018-season/making-waves-experimental-performance/
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown – Musical – Newport Covenant Church
Type: Musical
Recommendation: Worth seeing if you’re bored. Just know that this is a new theater company.
Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3.75 stars
Negatives: Seating does not gradually elevate like risers so it’s often hard to find a good view. Also the set was very plain. Musical was a little too kid friendly (which may be a positive for you) and didn’t really have a plot. Not sure why it won a Tony Award.
Story, Script, and Lyrics: This musical was basically little vignettes featuring the characters in the Peanuts comic. Consequently, there was no developed plot or story. It definitely appealed to kids, which surprised me because usually you don’t find this in a musical that was previously performed by a star-studded cast (Anthony Rapp, Kristin Chenoweth, and Roger Bart).
Cast and Theater Company: For being a new theater company, Newcastle Players cast was pretty talented. I suspect they all came from the audience of the Newport Covenant Church.
Venue and Set: Venue was in a the carpeted (yuck!) gym of the Newport Covenant Church . It felt very church/school program-y. There was even a collection at intermission where they pass around offering plates. Nice bonus was the free intermission snacks (Chex Mix and water).
Music and Audio: Actors were mic’ed well and the band was good (I suspect this was the church’s band haha).
Price: $ (Low-priced at free!!!)
Dates: Feburary 16-17 & 23-24, 2018
Seating: General Admission – Church style!
Afterwords – Musical – Village Theatre
Type: Musical
Recommendation: See it!
Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 4.25 stars
Negatives: The beginning of the story was hard to follow … though it may be because of my forever wondering mind.
Story, Script, and Lyrics: The past and present intersect as two daughters cope with the death of their mom and a reporter copes with the death of her colleague. Script and lyrics were good but not mind-blowing. Deaths could have been more dramatic.
Cast and Theater Company: Typical high-quality Village Theatre talent/production. Note that this was a developing musical in the Beta Series so nothing is really set in stone. Literally, every performance will be intentionally different as they try new things. Hopefully, they’ll axe or revise the Franklin character, who provided unnecessary comedic relief to the piece.
Venue and Set: Pretty detailed for being a developing Beta Series musical.
Music and Audio: Incredible voices and great music. Wish it wasn’t too early to buy the soundtrack. Musical was touted as a “Rock Musical,” which I don’t quite agree with. The only rock songs/voice came from the mother Lydia (well-played by Mari Nelson). Loved the golden voice of Taylor Niemeyer. There were often two side actor who randomly came on stage to harmonize with the main actors, which I thought was weird. I suspect this was because it was a developing Beta Series musical.
Price: $ (Low-priced at $30)
Dates: February 16-25, 2018
Seating: Assigned
Link: https://www.villagetheatre.org/issaquah/beta-series-afterwords.php