Hello student theater friends, alumni, and those other few people who read this just for fun! It's been a while, I know. I would take the time to explain why I haven't gotten these blog posts up - but I think at this point everyone knows about my special business with the president:
Photo Credit: Joe Plouffe
So I'll just jump right into things.
First, as usual, bias exposure! When I saw FPP's Assassins I was coming off of having seen the same show produced at Catholic University about two weeks earlier. The production at CU was phenomenal, and may have tainted my view of FPP's production. Also, I saw it quite some time ago and all I have to go off of are memories and the notes I wrote down when I got home from the performance. But, regardless, lehgo.
Company Presentation
Nothing special, but not poorly done either. The show was given its due hype and it can't be said that we were allowed to forget about it. The posters are cool but nothing original. The man staring through american flag blinds / barbed wire thing is on the cover of the librettos and, while an awesome idea, has been seen before by anyone who knows the show. Which, maybe that's what they were going for - sort of like brand recognition or something. I don't know, either way, not a bad job but I wasn't frothing at the bit to see the show either.
Set
Busy. That's really the only word I can think of to describe the set. There was A LOT going on. Criss-crossed red and blue were dashed all over the stage making it dizzying to look at, and at times a distraction to the action of the show. One side of the set was taken up by a large white "scrim" (really just a sheet stretched over a cut out whole in the set). At first, I thought this scrim was going to be used for projection - you can imagine my disappointment when it was only used for shadow play (which, by the way, reminded me of a children's shadow puppet show and was certainly NOT my favorite part of the production). The one thing the set did have going for it is that it vaguely made you feel as if you had walked into a carnival booth - an image that went well with the direction Zeke Reed took the production.
Lights
I actually don't have much to say about the lights here. They were nothing over the top or exciting - but they lit the the stage well and did their job. Someone once told me that in many productions, the greatest compliment you can give a lighting designer is that their lights were unnoticed. So congratulations! The lights weren't distracting and did their job!
Acting
This is where the whole "not writing the post right after seeing the show" thing is going to get me. I have to go mostly on memory here but I will comment on the things that stuck with me. Again, lehgo.
John Wilkes Booth - The kid who played Booth was both too young, and too green for the role. That's not to say that he isn't a good performer. I think he will be. But he just wasn't ready to take on a role as strong as Booth. The vocals were at times a bit out of his range and he let the accent get in his way. He tried far to hard to nail that accent and whatever coaching he did get on it wasn't enough. His words ended up garbled and it diminished the power of his voice tremendously. Don't get me wrong, if this kid keeps it up in student theater he's going places - it was just too big of a role, too early.
Charles Guiteau - Andrew Flurer as Guiteau was a good casting choice. Andrew was his typical goofy self and it all worked out quite nicely. It's pretty clear at this point that Andrew has established a niche for himself in GW theater. I'm curious to see him step out of that and take a serious role though, I hope he gets the chance to at some point. His performance was definitely one of the standouts in the show, though. Quite enjoyable.
Samuel Byck - Really I only mention Zach Shinske's performance for one reason - its potential. Zach could have blown this out of the water, all he needed to do was look up. Instead, he directed all of his action towards a tiny tape recorder in his hand. If he had just looked out at the audience it would have been brilliant. Instead, what should have been a punch in the face, felt more like a limp-wristed slap. A good effort that fell flat. Still, this is a good character type for Zach, and with a bit more direction, time, and work he could be a good character actor for student theater.
The Proprietor - I save my opinions on the proprietor for last because it is a pivotal role in the show. Also, because my opinion on Kaiya Lyons' performance might cause waves. One thing that needs to be said is that Kaiya clearly put a lot of work into her character. She made strong choices, acted them well, and sang her heart out (though by the final performance I saw, it was clear vocal exhaustion was starting to kick in). BUT, I personally didn't like the direction she took the character. Kaiya's Proprietor was a tough, mean, and gritty. Rather than coaxing and persuading the assassins as a salesman might, the Proprietor came across as a bully or a lowlife carny. I wanted to feel as if the Proprietor was on the assassins' side, convincing them to fulfill their destiny or make their lives better. Instead the Proprietor seemed to be pushing them to do something they didn't want to do. Kaiya took a risk on her performance, she took the character in an unexpected direction. For that, she should be applauded. It just wasn't a direction I would have taken it.
Directing
Zeke Reed did a pretty good job with this production. He provided us with an enjoyable, consistent, show that didn't get boring. But there were certainly a few things missing. Zeke didn't do anything new with the material - he presented Assassins as it was written. And that's all well and good. But where was the art in it? Sure the blocking was good, the casting decent, there weren't any huge errors in scene dynamics. But there wasn't anything particularly exciting about it either. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the production. It just needed some extra oomf, a little more pizazz, to push it into the "great" category. One thing I will say - the boy isn't half bad at making a stage picture:
All things considered, FPP's Assassins was a decent production. Fun, entertaining, and exactly what you would expect of a student theater musical.
See you in the theater,
Ed
No comments:
Post a Comment