"...Everyone Is Entitled To My Opinion." ~Madonna

Monday, April 25, 2016

Bellefone HS/ Guys and Dolls.

Guys and Dolls is a favorite show of mine. I see it whenever I get a chance. Therefore, I was ready to be very critical of Bellefonte High School's production this week. Instead, I was delighted.

Turning a bunch of high school students into a bunch of gamblers, tough (though loveable) semi-gangsters and sexy Hot Box dancers has to be a challenge. Thanks to Jonathan Hetler and Eric Brinser, it happened.

The costumes were a big part of why it worked. Sarah Irvin and Sarah Toyos kept to the time period and the characters exceptionally well. "Take Back Your Mink" is tough to costume; it has to include a bit of a strip tease. The girls were pretty, sexy, and still within the limits of a high school play. All in all I loved the costumes throughout the show.Sets were also in keeping with the spirit of the play. The set itself was attractive and the changes never became so complicated that they interfered with the flow of the action.  The same could be said for the orchestra. I have had problems hearing in that auditorium. It was never a problem last night.

The secret to good amateur theatre is in the casting. Each actor, lead, feature or extra, was perfect for his or her part.

The two female leads are difficult for different reasons. Miss Adelaide is such a well known part in the theatre that any actress has to follow some big names. Dori Puzycki nailed it. She had the voice, the Brookly accent, and, yes, the sneezes down perfectly. Dori is the complete package. She sings, dances and acts. Over the last four or five years we have seen her do it all. This is a senior who will be missed.

Miss Sarah Brown is difficult for another reason. Not as showy of a part, the actress has to be able to do a wider range of music as well as try to save our souls. There are the sweet love songs, the tipsy song in Havana, and the duet with Adelaide--all different. Kaitlyn Whitesell was able to convince us of each side of Miss Sarah. Kaitlyn is another senior who will be missed.

Jordon Emely as Nathan Detroit, who is more involved with the established crap game than with his wedding to Miss Adelaide, was a pro. Jordon makes it all look so effortless, yet be very convincing.
It is good to know that Jordon will be back next year.

Sky Masterson was played by Steven Giacobe. Steven's stage experience shows in how well he takes charge when he is on stage. He makes a true leading man, but sadly, another senior who will be moving on.

The true heart of Guys and Dolls is the male ensemble. From the terrific harmonies to the ballet in the sewer, these guys were wonderful. It was easy to forget that they were high school students and not older, gamblers. Johnny Purnell, Eddie Fitzgerald and Nathan Smith were stand outs... loved "Fugue for Tinhorns". Their voices blended perfectly.

Guys get more stage time than dolls in this show, but the Hot Box Dancers deserve a lot of credit. I am not sure which girl was which, but that is a good thing. They all had the energy, spirit, and smiles to make a convincing chorus line. Oh, they could really dance, too.

This was an almost flawless production. There is not enough room to tell how much I enjoyed Zachary Spaw's "More I Cannot Wish You", another well cast part. Or, how about Johnny Purnell telling us to sit down, we were rockin' the boat? That is always a show stopper.

I wish I could have told each of you in the show how much I was impressed. This blog will have to do. Thank you.


Sunday, April 24, 2016

Bald Eagle Area High School/ Thoroughly Modern Millie.

If you missed Bald Eagle Area High School's spring production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, you missed an excellent high school musical. The show was full of energy, loads of unexpected talent, and fast paced action. The amount of rehearsal time must have been exhausting.

For openers, the orchestra was not only very good, but at no time did it drown out the singers...one of my personal pet peeves. Secondly, the ensemble cast of singers and dancers stayed in character, not only when they were singing and dancing their hearts out, but also when they were part of the background. This was some of the neatest group tap numbers that I have seen in a high school production. It must have required hours of work.

Thoroughly Modern Millie requires a large cast and allows the featured actors their moments to shine. And shine they did.

Michael Bailey and Tim Durachko had to learn Chinese to play Bun Foo and Ching Ho.They played the characters in a very believable way, until they sang "Muquin". If the audience did not hear Al Jolson's "Mammie" from the music, the sub-titles gave it away. Very well done and very funny.

The show also gave a nod to composer Victor Herbert in the love scene between Miss Dorothy and Mr. Graydon, Salvannah Elder and Matthew Blaylock. Their parody of "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life" would have made old Victor proud. Salvannah has a voice meant for operetta, sweet, clear and trilling. It was good to see that she could handle the comedy in her role as well.

It is a shame that Matthew Blaylock is a senior. He can sing, but his talent is his ability to do broad comedy. His duet with Salvannah was delightful, but "Speed Test" with Millie was brilliant, bringing Gilbert and Sullivan's fast patter style to mind. Oh, and did I mention his ability to jump to the top of a desk in a single bound?

Two other character actors really were standouts. Alice Statham as the evil Mrs. Meers had a chance to pull off some really off the wall comedy. Her "Chinese" landlady and wicked white slave seller was beyond outrageous.

Madison Maney may have been the surprise of the evening. As Muzzy Van Hossmere, retired actrss, her first appearance was in a black, a-la-torch singer's dress and she won me at once. During her baton number, I held my breath waiting for a mistake. It never happened. I can not wait to see what these two talents will do next year.

Another outstanding actor is Colton Lucas. We have seen in past plays that Colton can sing, act, and take command of the stage. As the romantic lead, Jimmy Smith, we saw all of the above plus a romantic side that was very believable. Luckily, we will have Colton for next year. Can. Not. Wait.

All of these, and more, were good, but the star of the show was Millie herself and Karina Bloom was perfect. Karina has unbounded energy and as the young inocent who is determined to be modern and marry for money was the ideal role for her. She had the opportunity to do quite a bit of singing ( the "SpeedTest" number had to be a challenge for any actor), but this was not the role to show off the brilliance and range of her voice. Luckily, we have heard that in Sound Of Music. This is a talent that will be missed at Bald Eagle.

Thoroughly Modern Millie was a new show for me, so I was not sure what to expect. It was fun to see the 1920's captured so well in costumes and sets. Speaking of sets, the stage crew was very fast and efficient in scene changes, an important part of any show. High school plays keep getting better and better. Thanks go to director Kristen Betts for a great evening.

Remember to check out the photographs at meadowlanephoto@aol.com.

Monday, April 4, 2016

book review: LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDER SPY

March has been a busy month. It is my Birthday Month ( I take the whole month in case someone wants to take me out to lunch) and it is the busy season of Easter. Therefore, it took me a little longer than usual  to read LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDER SPY by Karen Abbott. It was worth the time.

Karen Abbott has taken her readers into the Civil War in a very personal way, with the true stories of four women, Belle Boyd, Rose O'Neal Greenhow,  Emma Edmond and Elizabeth Van Lew. Each woman played a part in the events that took place between 1861 and 1865, but they also represent the many other unsung women who never made the history books.

Belle Boyd was only seventeen when she shot one of the Union soldiers who had entered her home. Belle was known as the " fasted girl in Virginia (or anywhere)" by her friends. The chance to work undercover for the Confederate Army suited her need to be noticed as well as her sense of adventure.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a beautiful widow who used her relationships with powerful Union men to get information for Southern generals. Using her young daughter, she devised a system to get that information to the Confederate army, even while in jail.

Serving as a private in the Union army, Emma Edmonds, as Frank Thompson, saw the bloodiest part of the war. Helping in the field hospitals and caring messages for her commanders, she was able to infiltrate enemy lines. Naturally, one of her biggest problems was keeping her gender a secret.

Wealthy, socialite Elizabeth Van Lew developed a spy network that went as far as putting one of her former slaves inside the home of Jefferson Davis. Her social position gave her opportunities to hide escaped Union soldiers in her home under the eyes of the Confederate general

Author Karen Abbott has well documented LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDER SPY.  In fact her resource list takes up a large part of the book. It always is a problem for me to sift through what is pure history and what is poetic license on the part of the author. There were times that her details of what the women wore bordered on the "chick lit" line. I did wonder how the ladies were able to pack the many articles of clothing that were needed to be  fashionable in the mid-sixteen hundreds.   After getting to know these women, I would guess that their diaries would have included their wardrobe. Rose and Belle were very aware of their appearance and their attraction to men.

So much has been written about the Civil War, but this book brought it to a level that I could understand. Both sides were treated equally by the author and the waste of war came more evident, especially where Emma was featured. The amount of lives lost has been well documented, but here it seemed overwhelming.

Some readers have questioned the authenticity of some of the details. For example, how Emma could have passed as a male soldier for four years. Ms Abbott did mention that she had doubts about some of the details in the women's diaries. Knowing that people will add facts to their diaries to make themselves "look good" did not hurt the stories in LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDER SPY. It was a fascinating book and if a fraction of the details were tweeked, it was still a good read.

Oh, do not try to figure which was the liar, the temptress, the solder or the spy. There was a bit of each in each woman.