Among the things that made this work a long 80 minutes are: the entire cast mostly spoke their dialogue in such a fast pace with their words running together that it was hard to understand much of it especially with that Southern drawl. What has happened to enunciating? Southern folks speak slowly – they do not machine gun their speech even when upset.
Featuring the fully lush sound of the full Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Women’s Board 2010 Gala sponsored another birthday celebration (his 80th) for Stephen Sondheim in a concert that featured a rich assortment of Sondheim’s songbook with emphasis on his terrific wordplay lyrics.
Once upon a time – way back in 1936 –an organization (some say it might have been a church, but others give the dubious credit to the U.S. Army) created an anti-marijuana morality play called Tell the Children.
In the 70’s, cannabis smokers (and others) rediscovered the script, now renamed Reefer Madness and, finding it an excessive, hilarious (if unintentional) comedy gave it new life.
The play’s ambiguity and the simple-minded portrait of Mary by Polly Noonan left me wondering is she just learning how to be an adult or is she just learning that she is really a lesbian? Red is so butch that gender and sexual identity sure steams between the two women.
From the early scenes where we see Shrek, the ogre, being cast out by his parents into the cruel world to fend for himself at age seven, we are suppose to empathize with the green-faced ogre – I never felt his pain. I guess the movie helps? The Broadway production lasted only 478 performances and had a $24 Million Dollar budget – the show lost money despite rave reviews.
Watson takes us back to the time when Holmes is so engrossed with bring down arch criminal Professor Moriarty (Nathan Thompson) that he is willing to rick death to accomplished just that. Watson’s help is needed and accepted. However, just as that adventure is about to embark, a strange visitor to the Baker Street house arrives with a challenge.
Maybe it was the locust in the trees or the swirling summer wind or, most likely, the positioning of the foot microphones that made it difficult to hear many of the players, especially the women. Add the fact that many of the women spoke too fast, running their words together and you find it difficult understand The Bard’s text, much less get the inherent humor.
For starters, the music in this production was nearly inaudible. In fact it was almost A Capella at points. I understand that within a smaller theatre space, which was very well designed by the way, there’s no room for an orchestra pit. A pre-recorded track over the PA would have been more suitable, instead of a four piece band consisting of a pianist, synthesizer, drummer, and guitarist playing back stage. Of what I did hear, the musicians made the most of i
The poetic language of the piece is wonderful to the ear. Even though certain scenes did run slightly long and a few scenes between Electra, Persephone, and Cassandra became repetitive; the dialogue was never boring. The piece does a good job of updating newcomers such as myself to the story and the characters, but those not as versed in Greek Mythology may not gain as much from certain references or characters
The Sweet Stuff has drastically changed my perception of what can be accomplished in the space and the type of show that can be performed. It is a gritty drama with social relevance that boasts a fantastic script and some strong performances.