This week's treasures and... disappointments:
THE GOOD SOUL OF SETZUAN - This was a great example of epic theatre and showed how you can be faithful to a Brecht text without becoming a museum piece. It did want Brecht wanted to do, but from a different way and I very much appreciated that they didn't try to beat me over the head with how sophisticated they were.
THE COMMON PURSUIT - This show was nicely structured and the dialogue was taut and smart. I felt like it was a little too unclear because I didn't feel I got everything out of it that I could have. There was only so much there but even of what I could see, I felt like I missed something. I blame this on the writer (of course) and a lack of clarity.
THAT FACE - Awful angry college student writing. Polly Steiman wrote this when she was nineteen. And it shows. Completely irresponsible and not really worth writing about.
FAT PIG - This play started somewhere we've been so many times before ("Boy meets girl...") but took me somewhere I'd never been. It was completely enjoyable all the way through and I left the theatre desperately examining my own life and trying to sort out what I'd just seen. It was a great theatrical experience.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA - This was a good adaptation but I think this script (and most Shakespeare, actually) needs to be cut for performance. I saw how an imaginative director can enliven a text and create a strong show.
HARPER REAGAN - This was a deceptively simple play that prompted hours of conversation among the group I went with. I loved its structure and the gentle ways that its themes were discussed. Nothing was overt or heavy-handed, but it was all thoroughly dealt with.
FAST LABOUR - Sometimes a structure that I don't like can have good results. This play was not without it flaws, but I think it was relatively successful in what it set out to do. And it did it in a way I don't like. Interesting...
2 comments:
To be honest with you, it's been five years since I've seen "Mamma Mia!" and I can't remember the moral connotations of the show. I do remember the basic plotline - girl with three potential fathers - and that's probably morally conspicuous enough. But I don't remember said climax. I just remember having a really good time and being impressed by how well ABBA songs worked as musical theatre songs (particularly "The Winner Takes it All.")
I'm glad you enjoyed "Chicago." I think it's one of the greats and would have loved to have seen the production again if I hadn't seen it already. Is it dated at all? The revival came out in the midst of the OJ Simpson trials and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Does it hold up without those kinds of things in the news? Of course, we have all kinds of modern scandals (like Lindsay Lohan's career) that we wrongly hold up in the limelight, still, so...
PS - i don't know why this comment ended up being attached to this post. I'm pretty sure I added it to the post that actually discussed "Mamma Mia" and 'Chicago."
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