Play-O-Rama
We saw a LOT of plays today, all of which had many good points. Here's the quick rundown:
Where Have All The Lightning Bugs Gone?
A boy approaches a girl in a public park, and proceeds to pretend to be a seres of odd characters. Sometimes she plays along with him, sometimes she tells him to leave her alone. He tells her to stop loving books and to live life. He throws her books on the ground. They fall in love. They pretend to be robots, but also to have 20 children. Then she writes him a letter because he is in a war, possibly dying. She leaves her books behind and goes to live life. We are still debating what happened in this show. It is a "challenging" script.
Passionella (from The Apple Tree)
A musical about a lady chimney sweep who is magically transformed into a movie star (think Cinderella). There was some slick choreography, nifty quick changes in costumes, and a lead actress who was truly charismatic. As the judges pointed out "this is basically a one-woman show, but you found the one woman to do it." Our group was divided on this one, but I rather liked it.
Scapin
Lo and behold, mere days after we watch Bill Irwin, we see his script adaptation of Moliere's play on stage. This show most closely resembles ours in terms of playing style and approach, with significant variations. Although produced by an arts-magnet school, the show was full of sound and fury and gimmicks layered up like pancakes without much heart. Still, it was loud, flashy, and fun.
The Elephant Man
Although limited by the 45 minute running time, the students from Kentucky did some excellent work bringing the story to life. I always grin when judges praise a "mature" performance--thereare some teenagers who just come across as middle aged folks. It was a good show with one flaw: I was frustrated by the costumes, which started in 1900-1909, then as the story moved foreward in time, the lead female showed up in a dress from 1880 followed by one from 1870. The judges praised the costumes--which were STUNNING--but I was irritated. replace the "18" and "19" with current decades, and you're telling me it isn't irritating to start a play in 2005, then have your lead sporting an acid washed-neon get up followed by some bell-bottoms? The EHS kids were interested in this play, and impressed b the lead actor.
Eurydice
Sarah Ruhl is one of THE hot playwrights of the current day, so I was excited to see her creepy/odd take on the Orpheus/Eurydice myth, which also manages critique of the patriarchy and a meditation on lost fathers. I want to see a professional company production. Some of Ruhl's writing is overly labored, and she's a little too impressed with her imagery--which did not entirely work in teenage mouths--but this play was theatrical and engaging. This was popular with our kids too.
The Yellow Boat
This play (about an 8 year old boy who contracts AIDS from a blood transfusion) left the audience in tears. The play had some of the best acting we've seen in the festival so far. Th judges clearly thought this was the best thing they'd seen so far--two of them know the playwright, who wrote the play after his own son's death.
With the heavy, heavy plays of the evening garnering so much audience attenion and praise, we began to feel like we had brought a toothpick to a knife fight. While weplayed to a half-empty house, the place is now packed. Our bad luck for being stuck with a crummy timeslot, but what a difference a huge audience makes! Anyway, we are in good spirits and ready to see more good work tomorrow!
