Stand Up Shakespeare Review (Ripley, F. Murray Abraham, Alton F. White)

[broadwayboy81]

Posted: 11/23/04 at 3:29pm

Wow! Last nights reading was much more than I expected. Stand UP Shakespeare is quite the show. The songs are catchy, lyrical, and have substance. The dialogue and lyrics (taken from none other than Shakespeare himself) never lacked, even when cut and pasted back together by the collaborating team. Overall, I was more than pleased and left the show with a feeling that was better than I have received from any recent Broadway show I have seen. Even though it was only a one-night engagement, it sounds as though there is talk of a more regular run in the future. Fingers-crossed! With that said, onto the performers….

Alice Ripley:
As many of you have probably figured out by now I am quite the fan of Ms. Ripley. I follow her wherever she goes (when I can afford!). I walked into this expecting to be pleased as usual, but she BLEW ME AWAY! I swear she belted notes higher than I have heard her belt (at least for a while). She absolutely stole the evening. She was getting screams and hoots during the middle of many of her numbers. (In the duet with Mr. White, the two got into a little “competition” vocally. By the audience reaction during and after it was apparent Ripley knocked him out of the water.) Her voice and acting fit this show like a glove. She blew the roof of the Culture Project Theatre.

F. Murray Abraham:
What a stunning presence this man is. I really haven’t seen him in much since Amadeus (and what a performance he gave in it!). He really did quite well with his role. He struggled for lines now and then when he looked away from his script (they were all partly on book with music stands), but he has the ability to really pull an audience in. Great timing!

Alton Fitzgerald White:
At first, I was really not impressed with him, but as the show went on he warmed up to the material. His duets with Alice where superb because of how well they played off each other. He also had a nice solo towards in end of the show (forgetting the name…) that brought the house down. I’m interested in seeing more from him.

Overall, it was a wondrous evening (as you can tell). Of course the show had a few flawed and lengthy moments, but the music was nothing short of brilliant. The audience was very diverse (16-90 yr. Olds). It was great to see the young and old enjoying the same show at the same time! I really hope to hear more from this composer and more of this work (and more of Alice! )

THE END!