Category Archives: Theatre

Review: Mad Props Productions’ “Art” (in association with Bard in the Burbs)

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So… it has been a while… a long while. And why is that? Because typically I would be working on a stage production and although I may have time to see friends in shows… I wouldn’t necessarily have time to think about the show itself to write a review about it.

But somehow, this time around… I am not involved with or anticipating being involved in a production and ergo have time to think. Not only that but this is one of those productions that just needed to be mentioned and immortalized in print… even if it is on my own blog.

“Art” is produced by Mad Props Productions in association with Bard in the Burbs. Directed by the incredibly talented Ken Kaden and whose cast includes the equally talented trio of Christopher Williams (Marc), Sean Ogren (Serge), and Aaron Hoge (Yvan) with Fletcher Ogren and Maureen Corcoran working tech and stage managing.

“Art” is a moment in a trio of lives of three friends as they converse, debate, argue over art, life, love, friendship, and growth.

What makes this piece difficult to stage is that the actors have to bounce off of one another and work off of one another so effortlessly that it pulls the audience in for the ride and doesn’t let them go until the end… and even then, the audience shouldn’t want the ride to end quite so soon.

With the staging so simply set (a sofa, side table, and a couple of chairs) all that is needed are the actors to fill the space… and that they did and much more:

The trio of Christopher Williams, Sean Ogren, and Aaron Hoge have found that balance and the ebbs and flows of their characters between one another and themselves that is arguably a Masterclass of how to listen and work with your scene partners through the script.

One may infer that the actors may have been tailor-made for their roles, but this blogger would argue that the roles were just quite simply the perfect embodiment of each of the individual actor’s life work to this point… knowing that they still have decades to give.

I could go and provide accolades to each individual actor… and I probably should… but what can I say that would accurately describe the power of each individual’s talent and charisma that they bring to life.

One person said it best: “They made me forget that they were my friends.” and I agree. To transcend the personal connection and to pull the audience into the characters and the piece isn’t easy and yet this trio does it effortlessly.

There is only one weekend remaining for this gem of a show, nestled in the quiet of suburban Lisle. For $15 cash at the door… this is a must-see show.

For information on tickets please go to “Art” on Stacey De’s Website. Shows are at 8pm on Friday and Saturday, 7pm on Sunday.

Fleeting: Eating Words

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So who remembers this post from over three years ago? You know the one… the one where I was “closing the door” and “leaving” community theatre because I felt dead inside and there simply wasn’t any joy in it for me? Where theatre was more of a parasite rather than something that I can truly enjoy and want to be a part of?

You remember that post…

And here I am eating my words in ways I did not expect.
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Review: Wheaton Drama’s “The 39 Steps”

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Wow… it has been a while since I have done one of these. Looking back on my history it would appear that the last one that I saw was Brightside Theater’s Moonlight and Magnolias, which was done back in early September of… 2013?!?!? Oh my gosh…

So what has kept me from reviewing all the other shows that I have undoubtedly seen since then? A multitude of reasons really:
1) I’m busy… but then again when am I not?
2) I haven’t seen anything on the community theater circuit that went “you have to write about this”… which I suppose isn’t fair since reviews are suppose to be honest opinions of a show.
3) This was beginning to feel like work than fun… but all things that were hobbies eventually become that, no?

Ah well…

Whatever the reason, I am here and I am writing now… and mainly because this show MUST BE SEEN. Don’t believe me? You don’t have to, go and see the show once, and you’ll find yourself wanting to see more because you are sure you…

Ok… wait… slow down here… let’s get through the formalities first and then beyond the break get to the nitty gritty… and there is a lot of nitty gritty here.

Acting: LOVE
Directing: LOVE
Set Design: LOVE
Overall: LOVE

Ok… ready? Here we go…

If you are not familiar with the original film of “The 39 Steps”…

“A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring which is trying to steal top secret information.”

So now imagine all the speaking role characters from that film being portrayed by four actors. And ONLY four. From Samuel French:

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony® and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance!

In The 39 Steps, a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she’s a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called “The 39 Steps” is hot on the man’s trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale!

Not much different… and yet for someone who has seen the original film… they are differing points in a multitude of things. But to go through that would be dull and boring… so let’s get to the nitty gritty.

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The Floating Around “Theatre Survey”

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So because I prefer this type of thing on a blog post or as a Facebook note as opposed to via a status message… Here ya go!

Last show added to your resume:
As director or actor? “Into the Woods” (actor)

Last show you auditioned for: “Lucky Stiff”

Did You Get It? Nope

Last Song You Sang at an Audition:
For “Lucky Stiff” it was excerpts from the show. So I sang “Rita’s Confession” and “Nice”. However in terms of song that I chose traditionally “Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine” or more recently “My Strongest Suit”

Favorite Musical:
That I have been in?
– “City of Angels” for the concept.
– “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” for the group.

Greatest musical?
Those that have already been on Broadway / Off-Broadway… I always seem to go back to “Children of Eden” and “Jane Eyre”.

Those that have yet to make their Broadway Premieres include
– “Sense & Sensibility“: Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton
– “Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice“: Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs

Favorite Plays:
That I have been in?
– Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
– “Piece of My Heart”

Superstition:
For musicals: I do not eat or drink anything outside of water at least five hours prior to curtain up.
For plays: I do not eat or drink anything hot or dairy-related

Your Goal in Show Business: To enjoy every moment of the process either on stage or behind the scenes.

Favorite Director: Uh… none at the moment.

What Was Your First Show? Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. I kid you not, I don’t recommend Shakespeare as anyone’s first audition let alone first show unless you really like the challenge.

Have you ever taken the last bow? Nope.

Ever Had A Dance Solo? Nope.

Ever Had A Singing Solo? Yes.

Ever Been to New York? Yes.

Ever Been To L.A.? Yes.

What’s the Scariest Part of the Audition? Vocal auditions… I get so nervous that I bomb them rather consistently, really is a bane on my self confidence in that arena.

What’s the Best Part of the Audition? If I ever get myself relaxed enough it is singing well for myself to know that I have legitimately put my best foot forward.

Name A Show You Would Never Do Again: “Piece of My Heart”. Though technically never is an absolute and perhaps with the right group of people I would consider it. However the show was so emotionally draining for me the first time that to be lured into doing it again would have to require a lot of coaxing.

Name A Show You Could Do For Years: I plead the fifth.

What ARE you Auditioning for NEXT?
– Most likely: “The Last Five Years”, “The 39 Steps”
– Maybe: “Secret Garden”, “Spam-a-lot”

Do You Keep In TOUCH with past Cast Members? On occasion.

On A Scale of 1-10, How Important is Getting Paid? -5: I enjoy this realm enough to visit every now and then, but to be a part of it as a full time thing? I just can’t bring myself to do it.

Ever Been Naked on Stage? Does topless for rehearsals count since the show itself was first postponed then cancelled?

Have You Ever Been Killed? Yes.

Been Drunk?
In character? Yes.
Performed under the influence? Nope.

Cried? Yes.

Fired A Gun? Been fired at…

Been Drenched? Nope.

Been in a Dream Sequence? Does one of those “imagine this” sequences a la “City of Angels” count?

Been Kissed? Nope. Something about being cast as the bitch more often than not… tends to be a turn off with the leading man.

Review: BrightSide Theatre’s Moonlight and Magnolias

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Last weekend I had the pleasure of accompanying a friend of mine to see her husband portray Victor Fleming in BrightSide Theatre’s production of Moonlight and Magnolias.

Originally I wasn’t going to write a review for this particular production because I was under the belief that this coming weekend was closing weekend. However, in finding out that mid-Sept was set as the closing weekend… well why not?

So let’s go with the quick:
Acting: LOVE
Directing: LOVE
Set Design: LOVE
Overall: LOVE

Do you really need anymore? Oh very well.
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Reflection: Why Do I Write (Reviews)

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This was a question that has been percolating in my mind for quite some time and caused a lot of soul searching for a vast multitude of reasons. I go and see shows and support people I know, friends, etc… just like most anyone else, but not everyone writes their thoughts down… so why do it?

I think the better question is “why am I questioning myself?” Afterall I already have a bit of a following on the Pure Dancing with the Stars blog with my predictions and not everyone is going to agree and really opinions shouldn’t have to agree. Take it with a grain of salt and move on that is the constant mantra over there. (You think I’m kidding? There are a lot of passionate fans over there and they get offended by everything big and small… it is getting rather ridiculous if you ask me.)

But predicting who is going to get what score is very different from reviewing a production that your friends and acquaintances are in. There are more (familiar) egos at stake and are much more prone to bruising… everything is so subjective. Over in the Pure TV Network it is a series of media sites with several writers with differing opinions, while this is a blog of my own thoughts.

So how did I get started in reviewing in the first place…?

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Review: BrightSide Theatre’s God of Carnage

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So technically this was written a month or so ago, and even though it is probably a moot point to post this, I decided instead to just wrap it up and post it anyway since I enjoyed this production regardless:

Show: GOD OF CARNAGE
By: Yasmina Reza
Translated By: Christopher Hampton 		Location: BrightSide Theatre
Director: Derek Bertelsen

Several days ago I found myself seated and waiting for BrightSide Theatre‘s God of Carnage to begin. Front row… dead center, which for a lot of stage setups would have been perfect, except for this particular set up it wasn’t, not exactly anyway.

But before I go on… the quick and simple:
Acting: Like
Set Design: Like
Staging: Love
Directing: Love
OVERALL: Like

After this particular production there were so many thoughts running through my brain that I truly couldn’t find a way to organize it all. So for the sake of simplicity before going into detail, here are a little bit of what I was thinking when the show ended:
– The men felt more consistent than the women
– Veronica showed a lot more subtlety and layers
– The gag was obvious than I would have liked
– There was a lot of material added that fleshed out the characters, comedy, and story
– It never once felt like this was on stage and I was watching from the audience. It felt like I was there in the living room with the characters and just watching this unfold in front of me.

That last one is probably the most significant of all the pieces. The feeling that you are a part of the conversation without having to utter a word. That feeling of being a part of the conversation, of the chaos between the two families is what sets this production apart from others…
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Reflection: Sense & Sensibility the Musical

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Now that I have had a few days to really let Denver’s production of Sense & Sensibility musical by Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton sink in I could give details of what I liked and didn’t like, etc…

CHARACTER / ACTOR BREAKDOWN
The first thing I noticed was that aside from six characters:
– Elinor Dashwood
– Marianne Dashwood
– Mrs Jennings
– Edward Ferrars
– Colonel Brandon
– John Willoughby
Everyone else in the cast was playing dual (if not triple) roles… most as an ensemble-ish group similar to the Liebeslieders (or the Quintet) of A Little Night Music. Though unlike in A Little Night Music, the ensemble fluctuates from as little as four players to as many as eight/nine (I do not remember which).

However, there are two others within the cast who are not necessarily part of the general ensemble but do play multiple roles on stage.

This ingenious casting piqued my interest because it gives performing arts groups the flexibility of having a medium sized cast of 16 actors (maybe less depending on how things break down) to as large as need be for high school groups… and yes I am thinking very far ahead.

Anyway!!!!!
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Review: Sense & Sensibility World Premiere in Denver

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Wow, it was almost a year ago that I was listening to the music clips on the Sense and Sensibility the Musical website and was drawn into the show… Draw into it enough to want to see the production upon its arrival in Denver.

It has been a year and well… I did end up making that trip to Colorado specifically so I could see this production live. Don’t judge me.

First… the quickies:
– Acting: LOVE
– Vocals: LOVE
– Music / Orchestration: LOVE
– Set Design: LOVE
– Directing: LOVE
– OVERALL: LOVE!!!

I was seriously considering buying another ticket for the matinee production on Sunday but thought better of it.

But where to begin? Well to start the one thing I like is that there isn’t some massive ensemble in addition to the cast, there is a group of five to seven actors/actresses who help move the story along (a la A Little Night Music). Why five to seven? Because not only do they help move the story along, but some of them also play smaller parts in the production when needed:
– Lucy Steele
– Thomas (Dashwoods servant)
– Peter (London servant)
– Miss Grey (Willoughby’s bride)
– John and Fanny Dashwood
And others, but the above are the most “obvious” I would say.

Personally I didn’t notice when each of the above players were in the “ensemble” so to speak until much later in the production… which was a good thing… otherwise I would have to watch the show again just so I could see if I had missed anything.

Since this is my impression / review of the production itself I won’t go into detail about changes from the original novel… that is going to be a post in and of itself. However what I will say is this:

When it comes to the storylines of the Dashwood sisters the stage adaptation is fairly close to the novel (with a few changes here and there). When it comes to where a lot of where particular points of the storyline happens, there are far more changes that a total purist may not be too keen on, but for me being a purist… I find that the changes made were probably the best ones that could have been done.

But again that’s another post for another day.

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Review: VTG’s A Hatful of Rain

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Show: A HATFUL OF RAIN
By: Michael V. Gazzo 		Location: Wheaton Drama
Director: Jeni Dees

Now, let’s be honest, I really wasn’t planning on going to see this show at all… I didn’t have the time (all things considered) and I didn’t want to watch a post-war drama about soldiers living with PTSD and trying to survive. Why? It’s not because I’m heartless… it is because I have seen and read many of those stories from friends who were deployed and their extended circles.

But since a friend of mine wanted to go… I carved out a timeslot in my crazy schedule and went with her.

So… this was an interesting show, tugs at the heartstrings at moments… though in a different way and there are moment that are so comedic that you can’t help but laugh.

However at the core of it all is the young man from war who has been hiding a drug addiction from all those who love him except one.

First the quickie thoughts:
Acting: Like
Staging: Like
OVERALL: Like

So what now? What is there to say?

This story of a young man who was terribly injured in the Korean War provides a look at drug addiction through the eyes of society in 1955, and how it can tear a family apart or bring them together. This emotional drama can be related to soldiers of today with PTSD.

Yeeeeaaaah.
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Review: Profiles Theatre’s The Dream of the Burning Boy

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Yes, another Profile Theatre production, and yes I went to go and see it… why make the trip? Because, first and foremost I am a friend, and as a friend I make sure I support (a select number) my friends in their endeavors…

So since one of my friends happens to be filling in as understudy for one of the leads of Profile Theatre’s current production of The Dream of the Burning Boy… I made sure to squeeze in time in my crazy schedule to make a trip to see him with the original cast (though i suppose I would make the trip to understudy night as well but I digress).

Upon entering the “alley stage” of Profiles Theatre I was struck by the classroom setting and am immediately intrigued by the ambience and environment of a production I am walking in knowing nothing about.

Well considering that this is a matinee show (and as much as it pains me to say it) the pacing felt slow right at the beginning. This isn’t always the fault of the actors or the production team, because I find this to be an issue for professional theatre productions as well as on Broadway… matinee shows just don’t have the same kind of energy as the evening shows. Period.

From the Profiles Theatre website:

Since the sudden death of his favorite student, high-school teacher Larry Morrow has been falling asleep at his desk and dreaming. Steve, the school’s guidance counselor, hangs inspirational posters designed to help everyone “process their emotions” while the student’s sister and friends find little solace in their schoolwork. The Dream of the Burning Boy is a bittersweet story of choices made, opportunities lost, and finding the strength to move on.

That being said…

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Fleeting: Miss Saigon Characters (Wish List: Round Two)

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Last month, I started a character breakdown of potential major roles in a possible Miss Saigon adaptation of the musical for film and started with the non-Vietnamese characters and even included “The Engineer” into the round up.

Next up we have the Vietnamese characters which includes Kim, Thuy, and the callgirls from Dreamland… so let’s start with the elephant in the room: Kim.

Oh… and as a fair warning… I am going to be on a major soap box when it comes to Kim. So please just bear with me and humor me while reading this…

KIM
As mentioned in my original Miss Saigon Wish List, I will (personally) only be content with the casting of Kim iff (if and only if):

[…] The future production team of the Miss Saigon film takes a page from the Memoirs of a Geisha film production […] Although there is a lot of hype surrounding Jessica Sanchez and she has the blessing of Lea Salonga it will not work if the characters that are suppose to be Vietnamese natives are speaking near-perfect English.

How is that not appropriate? Well according to Kim herself:

I’m seventeen, and I’m new here today
The village I come from seems so far away

Not only that but when “The Engineer” introduces Kim to the other callgirls he also mentions:

Surprise!
I found this new girl, get her dressed
From the country untouched

She is fresh from the country where (for anyone that has ever been to Việt Nam) chances are high that her English is not only weak, but her accent is very strong. Granted… if EVERYONE in the film was one nationality (like how everyone in Les Miserables was French) I wouldn’t be jumping off the deep end with everybody have to have an accent or weak English… because everyone is from the same cultural background… in this case, we have two very different cultures colliding. What works for the stage isn’t going to work for film from my vantage point.

So what would I consider to be the most appropriate? Looking back at my original post:

A Vietnamese American, perhaps someone along the lines of Jacqueline Nguyen the believed first Vietnamese-American to ever play the role of Kim in Miss Saigon. If a touring production was able to find Jacqueline Nguyen there must be someone comparable or better if the net was tossed wide enough.

There are major Vietnamese communities in Chicago, Orange County (there is after a several block radius also know as “Little Saigon” there), and Texas. Tap into those areas… you’d be surprised with the results. Granted, considering that Memoirs of a Geisha did not cast the lead with a Japanese actress they did have a point as to why:

A director is only interested in casting someone he believes is appropriate for a role. For instance, my character had to go from age 15 to 35; she had to be able to dance, and she had to be able to act, so he needed someone who could do all that. I also think that regardless of whether someone is Japanese or Chinese or Korean, we all would have had to learn what it is to be a geisha, because almost nobody today knows what that means–not even the Japanese actors on the film.

Anyway… I’m getting off my soapbox.

THUY
He eventually becomes part of the Việt Minh, which would mean that his English could be pretty poor. Also he is most likely a Vietnamese national… not only that but according to the lyrics:

KIM
[…] We were promised at thirteen
The woman I’ve become is not the same

THUY
That promise made by your father I will claim when we win
To break a vow of your parents is worse than a sin

KIM
My parents got themselves killed in the week you changed side
If there were promises all of them died when they died

Typically country folk arrange marriages with their neighbors… and taking a similar approach as with Kim above there really isn’t much question as to how Thuy should be cast. Anyway… I am not touching that soap box.

CALLGIRLS: Gigi, Mimi, Yvette, Yvonne
How much do you guys want to bet that the callgirls’ names are no where near what their real names probably are? In any case there is a lot of flexibility that can happen with casting here. Yvette and Yvonne are French in original so they could be closer to “The Engineer” in the sense that they look Eurasian.

They all appear to have been part of Dreamland for quite some time, so their “mastery” of the English language is stronger than that of Kim’s or Thuy’s. However, their accents still need to be rather strong… though one could get away with them having a weaker accent than that of Kim’s and Thuy’s. It might even been their worthwhile to have Yvette and/or Yvonne to have more of a French accent since there were schools throughout Việt Nam where French was the primary language (how do I know this? I have family members whose primary education were in a French primary school… so don’t rail at me. :D).

Then again there isn’t much that we know of the callgirls of Dreamland, except for “The Movie in Their Minds” as it were, this could be rectified in the film with a couple of additional songs, or a reworking of the script / book… but really as long as they stay true to what I mentioned with Kim above and apply it to the callgirls (with a little more flexibility thrown in) it will be ok… for the most part.

So this is round two of the Miss Saigon Character Wish List… which all the main characters / players already mentions what’s left? Well I am sure you guys are curious as to what other parts could be available for the taking? In Miss Saigon Characters (Wish List: Round Three), I will personally take the time to look through the scripts I have on hand and point out cameos that are worth a look-see.

Until then…

Review: Wheaton Drama’s Full Circle

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Show: FULL CIRCLE
By: Erich Maria Remarque
Adapted By: Peter Stone 		Location: Wheaton Drama
Director: Sean Ogren
Assistant Director: Suzanne Ogren

Disclaimer: Before I begin I should warn you that there might be a bit of bias with this particular production from Wheaton Drama… and not in the sense that you may think. For me war dramas are rather difficult for me to look at (let alone be a part of) with any objectivity due to my own personal and familial connections with war. So bear that in mind as you continue onward with this particular post.

So why the disclaimer? Simple, because this was not an easy show to watch for me, nor was it an easy show to think about let alone review.

Other than the above disclaimer what other strikes was there in regards to this show? Well by virtue that I knew a fair number of the cast by either reputation, having worked with them before, or having seen them in other productions I already knew walking in what they could bring to the table.

Take all that together in consideration and my expectations for this production and for the players in it and they are much higher than the norm for a community theatre production.

So how did “Full Circle” from the cast and crew at Wheaton Drama fare?
Acting: Love
Set Design: Love
Staging: Love
Directing: Love
Overall: Like
Wait… wuh? Well allow me to explain… eventually.

This was a very moving, very emotionally charged show. There is a lot going on when it comes to the human condition that will touch (and possibly provoke) the audience in different ways. Because this production is set in the point of view of the citizens / common man who don’t typically see the actual warfare, but are victims of the raids / bombings / etc… it open a window into the lives of these people in ways that media never could.

These are the people that didn’t ask for war, didn’t ask to hide in bunkers as the sky showers with explosive devices. These are not the people that want to stay inside earlier and earlier everyday because it is too dangerous to walk out on the streets. These are not the people that wanted their lives to be disrupted or asked to live in constant fear and paranoia as to who is a friend / family / foe. But… to even understand any of the above… this is a production that must be seen. Because honestly, nothing I can say would do this production justice, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try.

What really set the stage from the get-go was the director’s (Sean Ogren) intention of making sure that everyone spoke with an (authentic as possible) accent, be it German or Russian… depending on their character. While most everyone did a respectable job, I felt that Lauren Filip – who portrayed the sometimes oblivious, sometimes annoying, and but 100% self-indulgent Grete – was the most authentic.

Don’t ask me why, seeing as my own accent (Asian or otherwise) do need work… but Lauren’s German accent felt and sounded the most realistic and natural as if she spoke German regularly.

Another aspect of the production that was above and beyond was the set design and scenic art as done by R J Ogren. He truly knocked it out of the park from the skyline of the near-ruins of Berlin, to the feel of the inside of the apartment.

But you’re not here to read about the accents/dialects or the set/scenic design… you really want to know about the show don’t you? Well if the above scorecard isn’t enough…

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Reflection: My love/hate relationship with war dramas

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I have a love / hate relationship with war dramas. I love them because I could relate to them… I hate them because I could relate to them.

Confused?

Well to start, later this week I will be going to see the Opening Night of “Full Circle” out in Wheaton Drama. Typically because of my bias towards war dramas I wouldn’t go, but since so many people I know personally were a part of the production, it would be a shame not to go.

So as is typically for me I started thinking of how to start my inevitable post of my thoughts of this particular show when it dawned on me…

I would not be able to create a completely unbiased opinion about a war drama. There is simply no way. It is not possible…

Why is that?

Because I am too close. Sure I may be a generation off, but by all respects I am technically too close to the emotions and lasting effects of what a war can do to a family, to a person, to a community that my expections for a war drama on stage (and don’t get me started about films) are crazy.

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Review: Greenman Theatre Troupe’s Smoking Gun

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In early March there is a group that puts on their annual “Murder Mystery Dinner” as a kind of fundraiser for their upcoming season. It is fairly common knowledge that murder mystery dinner shows are not well written by any stretch of the imagination, nor are they all that strong. I have made a point of avoiding them as much as possible except in extreme circumstances. However, once in a while curiosity gets the best of me and I end up going only to be reminded as to why I didn’t like them in the first place.

The only exception? Tony and Tina’s Wedding, but that wasn’t a murder mystery as much as just a show during dinner… but I am not talking about that in this point.

So knowing that there was a group putting on a mystery dinner I found myself interested enough to see them… after all they have been doing this for several years now, but I just had not had the time (or motivation, regrettably) to go. So when a friend of mine noted that she was planning to go I decided “why not” and went with her.

The first act… I will admit was a lot of expository and as thus seemed to slow down quite a bit at points and the action dragged in a lot of places. Then again, because it is a lot of expository it is bound to feel slow. Not an excuse in some cases and at first glance I could not understand why there are certain characters there or why certain scenes were included.

Sam Spade (played by Jim Zervas) caught my attention from the moment he opened his mouth, he was in character, and drew your attention. I found myself wondering when would be the next time he would be back on stage… thankfully being that he was the Private Investigator on the case it usually isn’t all that long.

The chemistry and interaction between Nino and Gilda (portrayed by Carl Zeitler and Courtney Knysch) is a sight to behold, they were fun, flirty, and have that perfect “tango-esque” quality of pushing against each other and pulling towards one another. They were more fun together than they were apart. Though, Nino was fun independently with a few other characters, Gilda was just fun to watch. Period.

Which brings me to Aphrodite (Grace Martinez)… she walks into the room and she demands attention. Then again considering the character are you really all that surprised? She had a nice “Mae West” quality to her voice and kept it subtle enough that I wasn’t sick of her. Seriously though, she was fun to watch.

Others that stood out every now and then were Effie and McPherson (respectively Vicky Giannini and Jerry Moore).

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