Tag Archives: Adam Krause

Review: Theatre-on-the-Hill’s Back to the 80s

Show: BACK TO THE 80s
Music and Lyrics: Neil Gooding
Original Musical Adaption: Scott Copeman 		Location: Theatre-on-the-Hill
Director: Michael Fudala
Vocal Director: Sharon Hand

Theatre-on-the-Hill‘s latest summer foray is the family friendly musical Back to the 80s. At first glance one would say that Back to the 80s is Grease set to the 80s and using popular 80s music. With a storyline revolving around various cliques that would be familiar to any audience member:

Set in the USA, Back To The 80’s tells the story of the senior class of William Ocean High School that graduated in the 1980’s, as remembered and seen through the eyes of middle-aged Corey Palmer (Scott Bovaird).

The then 17-year-old Corey (Caleb Hand) is madly in love with his next-door neighbour, Tiffany Houston (Kristina Parro), one of the coolest girls in the school. However, she barely notices this, as she is too busy mooning over Michael Feldman (Victor Rachal), the hottest guy around. Michael and his friends (Jon Worlton, Jonathan O’Brien, Kayaun Pierce) are athletic and good-looking – the kind of guys that Corey and his two best friends (Jon Slowik and Troy Schaeflein) dream of being. However, while they may not be the coolest guys in school, they are still one up on Feargal McFerrin III (Kevin Nepomuceno), whose best friend is his computer, and who believes the crazy notion that one day CD’s will replace cassette tapes.

Several new students arrive at the school – Mel and Kim Easton (the all-singing, all-dancing twin cheerleaders played by Rachel Slowik and Teri Karl respectively) and Eileen Reagan (Deana Vazquez), who tries desperately to fit in.

Meanwhile the teachers are having issues of their own: Mr Cocker (Scott Boland), after being in a relationship for a year with the apparently conservative English teacher, Miss Sheena Brannigan (Guinevere McGahan), confiscates an old edition of Penthouse from a student, only to discover a wedge that could drive them apart.

Throw in a Star Wars dream sequence complete with Yoda (Joseph Bovaird), high-energy dance routines, the obligatory 80’s party scene, copious amounts of blue eye-shadow, twenty cans of hairspray, as well as some of the most popular songs ever written, and the result is a musical that will not only delight and amuse an audience of any age, but will also inspire any young cast.

Scott Bovaird, the narrator going through his memories of his senior year probably had the one of, if not the most, difficult part in the whole show. Being a narrator is one thing, the fact that what he says or does pretty much cues everyone else in the cast, well that’s a different thing entirely. Scott has been strong and consistent through every viewing of the production. Though he didn’t have much to do as an actor, he does some measure of singing that was not just respectable, but well-done. Singing songs like “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” made famous by Wham!, “Shot Through the Heart” aka “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi, and “Love Stinks” from the J Geils Band.
Continue reading →

Review: Shaking Spears (a conglomerate of Shakespeare’s tragedies set to the music of Britney Spears)

Leave a reply

Yes you read that right… one of my theater acquaintances wrote a stage play taking four works of Shakespeare’s tragedies
– Macbeth
– Romeo & Juliet
– Hamlet
– Julius Ceasar
taking various aspects, storyline lines, and characters and created a singular storyline. Not only that, she had various characters (including two of the male leads) sing Britney Spears songs…

Now upon first glance this shouldn’t have worked, Shakespeare and Britney Spears? I could hear Shakespeare rolling in his grave. However, the truth of the matter is that somehow, someway it did and I will be the one that would grudgingly admit that I was wrong in my original take of this particular ditty (and I really don’t like having to eat my words).

Let me explain:

Continue reading →

Comparison: TOTH’s Den of Thieves (three weekends later)

Leave a reply

So by the time of this writing I have seen seven (and a half) out of eight showings of Bolingbrook’s Theatre-on-the-Hill‘s production of Den of Thieves. One would think that after the first one or two shows, or even three in this case I would be sick of seeing this show already. The truth of the matter is, I’m not.

For someone with a little bit of theatre background, I can honestly say that seeing shows multiple times does not bore me as one would probably expect. More often than not it is a combination of a good script, with fantastic direction, and amazing actors that would typically drive the average theatre goer into seeing a production multiple times.

In the case of Den of Thieves, not only were there three versions of the show to watch but live theatre brings to the table an element of unpredictability that you can’t find anywhere else.

Where else would you find Hugh Jackman blowing up at an audience member for a cell phone going off in the middle of A Steady Rain? Where else could you find mishaps go wrong and watch an actor really show off their acting chops AND improv skills at a drop of a pin?

Continue reading →

Comparison: TOTH’s Den of Thieves (Boochie and Little Tuna)

Leave a reply

One of the reasons that I enjoy watching productions at Theatre-on-the-Hill is the cast, more specifically when shows are double cast for whatever reason.

In the case of TOTH’s production of Den of Thieves, two of the roles are split between two actors. The role of the exotic dancer/stripper Boochie is split between newcomer Seneca Lee Evensen and musical theatre veteran Jacqueline Schultz. On the male front the role of Lou “The Little Tuna” Pescatore is split between stage veteran Joseph Mennella and the latest protege, Cameron Nowicki.

Continue reading →

Review: Theatre-on-the-Hill’s Den of Thieves (Original Draft)

Leave a reply

When I was approached to write a review for Theatre-on-the-Hill’s Den of Thieves, my first instinct was to wait until the second weekend of performances so I could compare and contrast actors in the roles that were double cast. But when I asked about deadlines it was brought to my attention the intent of the review was in the hope to bring in a larger audience for the remaining three weekends of performances.

So, below is the original idea that I had for a review for Theatre-on-the-Hill‘s production of Den of Thieves. There are notable differences between my original review and what was ultimately sent out to TribLocal as an official review, but the spirit of the review is still there for the most part. Which one do you like more?

Author’s Note: I will be posted my thoughts about various other productions that I saw in the past few years just to keep for posterity. Anything that is legitimate will be notated with an all capitalized REVIEW, whileas anything that is just my thoughts would simply be Review. Capeesh?

==========

Continue reading →

REVIEW: Theatre-on-the-Hill’s Den of Thieves

Leave a reply

I was asked to review Theatre-on-the-Hill‘s fall production of Den of Thieves, and naturally I was honored to obliged. Then came a few issues:

This production of Den of Thieves has two roles that are double-cast, meaning that the performance dates are split between multiple actors. Theatre-on-the-Hill is notorious of doing this, particularly during the summer musical shows, this happens a lot less often during their Spring or Fall shows.

So which cast version to review upon? Well I went Opening Night, which wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fantastic either. Then I went on the following Saturday night performance which was by and large the better of the two… so guess what my “legitimate” review was about?

This show will be open through the month of November 2011 in Bolingbrook. The version below was edited for the TribLocal online newspaper. I will include my original version in a bit.

==========

Continue reading →

REVIEW: Madison Street Theatre’s Premiere Production: Animal Farm

1 Reply

So I’m a theatre junkie. However, I’m more likely to go to shows that include friends or if I have someone go with me. In the case of Animal Farm out in Oak Park, my beau was a part of the cast. Now I have a nasty habit to see a show multiple times when I’m going to see a significant other perform, but that is mainly because I enjoy being in the company of people that I have grown to respect and appreciate not only as performers, but as people and friends as well.

Below is a legitimate review of George Orwell’s Animal Farm written in early August 2011. The first of what I hope to be many to come. From here on out, any shows that I’ve come across (be it a community theatre production, bootleg I’ve come across, or professional show) I will post my thoughts of them here…

And now without further adieu: Animal Farm.

==========

Continue reading →