October Sky at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego
October Sky at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego
#1October Sky at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego
Posted: 9/13/16 at 9:44pm
I saw the 2nd performance on Sunday of October Sky , a new musical which is running at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego until October 23, 2016. It has Broadway aspirations, but they may be delayed with a $20 million lawsuit pending that was filed in June 2016 by the real Homer Hickam who had his own musical planned for his book, Rocket Boys saying he never gave Universal the rights to make a musical. The production at the Old Globe is staged by Universal Stage Productions who is being sued by Homer H Hickman, Jr. Only time will tell whether this ever makes it to Broadway.
If you're not familiar with the 1999 movie which starred Chris Cooper as the Father, Laura Dern as the teacher, Miss Riley and Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickam it takes place in Coalwood, West Virginia, where all the boys grow up to be coal miners and Homer Hickam has no reason to think he'll be any different. Too small to earn a football scholarship, Homer has no way out of his predetermined life -- until the soviet satellite Sputnik flies over the October sky and changes everything. It's 1957 and Homer's world just got a lot bigger. Though his father is mine superintendent and has no greater wish than to see his sons follow in his footsteps, Homer embarks on a mission to build and launch his own homemade rockets with the help of his loyal band of friends. Though their frequent mistakes nearly get them shut down, their successes inspire the whole town to believe that miracles can happen even in Coalwood, and there's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars. I loved the movie and was very excited to see if it would succeed as a musical. I was intrigued to see how they would depict the coal mine scenes and all the rocketry which I'm happy to say they managed to do.
This musical was first presented at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, in 2015.
Review and video here http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-october-sky-review-20150827-column.html
In Chicago the running time was listed at 2:30 and at the Old Globe it clocked in at 2:45. Ouch! It was too long especially the 1st act (1:40) and just as in Chicago they need to cut badly. Much of the storyline is right out of the movie even with some of the same lines, but as in the Chicago review too much time was spent on setting up the mines storyline in Act 1. The better part of the story was rushed in Act 2.
This show is in the vein of Bright Star which debuted one year ago at the Old Globe with both set in mining towns, this one in West Virginia. The set for Bright Star was really simple, but this one was quite elaborate. The proscenium was either a railroad or coal mining track leading across the stage to steps on both sides of the stage which the actors used to enter and exit through the audience. If you were in the curved front row center you were a part of the staging with scenes performed right in front of you. I've sat there for other shows, but have no desire to sit there for this one.
The set was impressive with a blank screen at the back of the stage to use for projections which were quite good. Sad thing for me is that now that projections are being used to create scenic backdrops the days of real painted backdrops seem to be gone most likely forever.
They used a lift to move people up or down on stage during the coal mine scenes and it worked. For other scenes the sets moved onto the stage or were pushed on stage by the actors.
The best scene for me was when they used the lift to bring part of the orchestra, a jug band, up from below who played "Moonshine" which was what the boys needed to make their rockets fly. It was the best song in the show and got the biggest applause!
The score was almost all sung but for me was mostly forgettable. The musical score by Michael Mahler who I've never heard of, although he's created some new music for Miss Saigon which is being revived on Broadway in the Spring, had 14 numbers in Act 1 and 12 with six being reprises in Act 2.
Best songs for me were with the mother played superbly by Broadway vet Kerry O'Malley, "Couldn't That Be Alright?" and Sandra DeNise, seen on Broadway in Kinky Boots, Bright Star and Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder--,"As They're Told" and "Something That's Devine". Another excellent number, "The Last Kiss Goodbye" opened Act 2 and was sung superbly by 4 women in the town. I guess you could say the women were the star singers for me in this production.
The cast were all good but some of the Teen scene needs to be directed to be more like what was seen in the film.
As the Chicago reviewer said,
"The show cannot decide how much to feature Homer, as an individual, and how much to focus on the group efforts of the Big Creek Missile Agency, a misfit teen group also comprised of Quentin, O'Dell and Roy Lee. As the boys try to build their rocket (problematically, the girls in this show are kept to the edges), it's never clear that Homer is really doing anything more than the others."
It still a big problem in the Old Globe production. This Homer is nothing like the one played by Jake Gyllenhaal who definitely was a leader. At the Old Globe Homer is played by Kyle Selig who was Elder Price in The Book of Mormon. I'm sorry; I'm just not a fan of his high pitched singing voice let alone his weak acting here. His two big numbers, "I Want to Know" and "Look to the Stars" (pales in comparison to Derek Klana's version here)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPj7hL_Zwfs
Old Globe videos of two other songs:
Kyle Seger's version of "Look to the Stars"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlUsf7GDKeM
Big Creek Missile Agency which I like better than this video now that I've seen how it's staged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlUsf7GDKeM.
The Old Globe gave the performance its customary Standing O. My friend and I really didn't want to stand up, but we did just so we could see who in the cast was coming out for their curtain call. My friend didn't love it, but said that it was okay; that's my assessment too **3/4 out of ****
#2October Sky at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego
Posted: 9/19/16 at 5:23pm
GR8 photos of the scenic design...
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-First-Look-at-Kyle-Selig-and-More-in-OCTOBER-SKYs-West-Coast-Debut-at-The-Old-Globe-20160919
Has anyone else seen this? Hoping to hear other people's view of this production.
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