#1
Posted: 6/20/08 at 11:00pm
Caught the show this evening. It's a highly, highly enjoyable production, and a great way to close out their season.
The belongs to Jenny Fellner, who plays Audrey. She is giving a remarkable performance, that is both original, yet true to the "spirit" of Ellen Greene. She's got a great voice, and terrific comedic timing. She impressed me a great deal. Easily the star of this show.
Asa Somers was another highlight. He was clearly having a blast playing his multitude of roles, especially Orin.
The other standouts in the cast were the three urchins, played by Montego Glover, Badia Farha, and Angela Grovey (my favorite of the trio). Those girls can SING!
The only cast member I didn't particularly like was Jared Gertner as Seymour. Physically, he looks perfect for the part. Seymour should be kind of frumpy and geeky looking. His acting was fine, but I didn't care for his voice. I'm not saying the actor playing Seymour has to sound like Paulo Szot, but he should have some power behind his voice, and Gertner didn't. However, this was only really noticeable during Suddenly Seymour, when he was drowned out by Fellner.
The biggest disappointment with the show, however, is the plant. They missed a golden opportunity to really "wow" the audience. I don't know if the reason the plant was so underwhleming was budgetary, or what. Note: it doesn't attack the theater at the end.
Despite my reservations about the plant, this is still an excellent production and I recommend it. The audience tonight, which was much larger than the Friday night audience when I went to see Kiss Me, Kate absolutely LOVED it. They gave a standing ovation (again, which no one did at Kiss Me, Kate), which is pretty rare for Papermill- the blue hairs prefer to remain seated. Definitely go check it out.
The belongs to Jenny Fellner, who plays Audrey. She is giving a remarkable performance, that is both original, yet true to the "spirit" of Ellen Greene. She's got a great voice, and terrific comedic timing. She impressed me a great deal. Easily the star of this show.
Asa Somers was another highlight. He was clearly having a blast playing his multitude of roles, especially Orin.
The other standouts in the cast were the three urchins, played by Montego Glover, Badia Farha, and Angela Grovey (my favorite of the trio). Those girls can SING!
The only cast member I didn't particularly like was Jared Gertner as Seymour. Physically, he looks perfect for the part. Seymour should be kind of frumpy and geeky looking. His acting was fine, but I didn't care for his voice. I'm not saying the actor playing Seymour has to sound like Paulo Szot, but he should have some power behind his voice, and Gertner didn't. However, this was only really noticeable during Suddenly Seymour, when he was drowned out by Fellner.
The biggest disappointment with the show, however, is the plant. They missed a golden opportunity to really "wow" the audience. I don't know if the reason the plant was so underwhleming was budgetary, or what. Note: it doesn't attack the theater at the end.
Despite my reservations about the plant, this is still an excellent production and I recommend it. The audience tonight, which was much larger than the Friday night audience when I went to see Kiss Me, Kate absolutely LOVED it. They gave a standing ovation (again, which no one did at Kiss Me, Kate), which is pretty rare for Papermill- the blue hairs prefer to remain seated. Definitely go check it out.
