#1
Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:34am
And then I went to see Into the Woods at the St Louis Muny tonight.
Two women behind me were confused at the end of Act One! They kept saying, "Is it over?" They thought they had seen Act Two already because they saw in the program that Agony was in Act Two and we already saw that song. Finally, a man - who I don't think was with them - explained to them that no, it wasn't over. And that it was just the first of two acts. And that they were looking at the Agony reprise in the program. He even explained to them what a reprise was.
The show itself was a total mixed bag. Ken Page strutted around being Ken Page and there were 900 children on stage with him when it started. The kids also played the birds. Then come running on in black robes with birds on sticks. Then during the finale, they started creeping on to the stage, one at a time. It was strange. The Baker is singing to his baby and then this kid in modern day street clothes kind of creeps across the stage and sits down to watch and no one acknowledges him. And then more kids do!
During the First Midnight Jack's Mother missed her cue and never made it to the stage The orchestra vamped for a long time and then there was a "SH*T!" exclaimed over the microphone.
A lot of the dialogue was paraphrased and people stepped over each other's lines all night long. Heather Headley added extra words here and there to a lot of her lyrics. The role doesn't really seem suited to her voice, but she sounded pretty good on most of her songs. She seemed a bit put out or bored maybe during the beginning when she was the crone. She perked up once she got to transform. Oh the kids (I think it was the kids again. It was a very long evening.) ran around her with colored streamers while she changed into the sexy witch. No attempt was made to give her the appearance of vanishing at the end of Last Midnight. The lights she went out and she stomped off stage.
The costumes were all over the place. Cinderella's dull blue ball gown (that came off the tree on a hanger, one of those wood ones with the metal hook) doubled as her wedding dress, and it looked really strange with a white veil. The Baker looked like a bus driver from the 1950s and his Wife looked large Margie or Sally from "Buddy's Blues" in Follies. Cinderella's Mother looked like Fruma Sarah. Jack wore Chuck Taylors.
Like their costumes, different actors seemed to be in different shows. Andrew Samonsky was excellent, even if his Cinderella's Prince had to endure a ridiculous wig. Rob McClure was fine as the Baker. I wasn't wild about Erin Dilly as the Baker's Wife.
The woods looked cool. The interiors of the homes looked hastily painted.
Theatre at the Muny is pretty much artless, but this is the kind of stuff the Muny audience eats up. It feels like community theatre with a a decent budget, but with no no one with taste or vision at the helm. People in community theatre usually know their lines better, though.
And as always, having to stand before the show and sing the National Anthem makes me feel like I'm not at theatre, but at a sporting event.
Two women behind me were confused at the end of Act One! They kept saying, "Is it over?" They thought they had seen Act Two already because they saw in the program that Agony was in Act Two and we already saw that song. Finally, a man - who I don't think was with them - explained to them that no, it wasn't over. And that it was just the first of two acts. And that they were looking at the Agony reprise in the program. He even explained to them what a reprise was.
The show itself was a total mixed bag. Ken Page strutted around being Ken Page and there were 900 children on stage with him when it started. The kids also played the birds. Then come running on in black robes with birds on sticks. Then during the finale, they started creeping on to the stage, one at a time. It was strange. The Baker is singing to his baby and then this kid in modern day street clothes kind of creeps across the stage and sits down to watch and no one acknowledges him. And then more kids do!
During the First Midnight Jack's Mother missed her cue and never made it to the stage The orchestra vamped for a long time and then there was a "SH*T!" exclaimed over the microphone.
A lot of the dialogue was paraphrased and people stepped over each other's lines all night long. Heather Headley added extra words here and there to a lot of her lyrics. The role doesn't really seem suited to her voice, but she sounded pretty good on most of her songs. She seemed a bit put out or bored maybe during the beginning when she was the crone. She perked up once she got to transform. Oh the kids (I think it was the kids again. It was a very long evening.) ran around her with colored streamers while she changed into the sexy witch. No attempt was made to give her the appearance of vanishing at the end of Last Midnight. The lights she went out and she stomped off stage.
The costumes were all over the place. Cinderella's dull blue ball gown (that came off the tree on a hanger, one of those wood ones with the metal hook) doubled as her wedding dress, and it looked really strange with a white veil. The Baker looked like a bus driver from the 1950s and his Wife looked large Margie or Sally from "Buddy's Blues" in Follies. Cinderella's Mother looked like Fruma Sarah. Jack wore Chuck Taylors.
Like their costumes, different actors seemed to be in different shows. Andrew Samonsky was excellent, even if his Cinderella's Prince had to endure a ridiculous wig. Rob McClure was fine as the Baker. I wasn't wild about Erin Dilly as the Baker's Wife.
The woods looked cool. The interiors of the homes looked hastily painted.
Theatre at the Muny is pretty much artless, but this is the kind of stuff the Muny audience eats up. It feels like community theatre with a a decent budget, but with no no one with taste or vision at the helm. People in community theatre usually know their lines better, though.
And as always, having to stand before the show and sing the National Anthem makes me feel like I'm not at theatre, but at a sporting event.
Updated On: 7/26/15 at 02:34 AM
