| A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | PatrickHSF 08:27 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
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| Last weekend I saw Carrie (Friday, Ray of Light) and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Saturday, San Jose Stage). Carrie was by far the better of the two. CARRIE: Flop? What flop? Ok, I know this has been significantly re-tooled from the infamous Broadway premiere. When I saw Carrie announced I got the new Marin Mazzie recording and really like the entire recording, every number. So many awesome ballads, and they really hit in the theater. Many got huge rounds of applause. Ray of Light’s production was outstanding. The set design is a large box with planks resembling gym bleachers. The two sides of bleacher rows open and close to create a more intimate feel for certain scenes. Clever projections are shown on the back wall, and the grain of the wood creates these muted, almost impressionistic images. They are really beautiful. The gym’s destruction is a simple but powerful and unexpected effect. I won’t give a spoiler, but let’s just say the actress playing Carrie better be standing in the right place. :-) I really can’t single out any actors, they are all uniformly good and well into their roles. Cristina Ann Oeschger as Carrie and Heather Orth as Margaret were exceptional, and Riley Krull as Chris and Courtney Merrell as Sue were also very good. The orchestra sounded great; they are unseen backstage. At least I think the music was live. I don’t have the Playbill but I don’t recall seeing any musicians listed and there were no monitors with a camera on the conductor for the actors, but during the curtain call the cast turned stage left and stretched out their arms. So I’m assuming there was a live orchestra back there. Overall, I loved this show, perhaps because I felt so awkward and lost in high school -- who wasn't?! -- and could identify with Carrie and the unprovoked abuse she endures. The house was packed, but if you get tickets, go see it. Highly recommended. CHAD DEITY: Pro wrestling is one of my guilty pleasures – I’ve known a few pro wrestlers and have great affection for their profession -- so I was intrigued by this production. There is lots of exposition about the different character types and terms in the sports entertainment (i.e., heel, jobber, bumps, heat, etc.), most if not all of which I know. But the audience, well, just looking around, didn’t look like your typical wrestling crowd, so perhaps they learned something new. The reviews I’ve seen call this play, among others, “ridiculously funny.” I chuckled many times, but it is far from the funniest play I’ve ever seen. It didn’t take much to see through the sleazy and fickle promoter quickly changing wrestling champions and angles to satisfy ticket buyers, and playing on ethnic stereotypes when it suits the storyline. Again, as someone who has followed pro wrestling for a long time, I’m already well versed to how the industry works. (I was, however, not the biggest fan there; the two guys behind me, I thought this might be their first legit theater experience, they were happy to loudly note a few times when a move was incorrectly named: “That’s technically NOT a PowerBomb.” LOL) Amazing energy from the actors, doing some exceptional wrestling moves, particularly so since the audience was less than half full. Pro wrestling is most effective when the crowd is big, loud and really into the action, cheering the faces and booing the heels. It is the ultimate break-the-fourth-wall experience. Perhaps the low-energy inside the theater was due to the small crowd. The set is just a wrestling ring with steps and entranceways behind. Video and still projections are used throughout. The ring is low, just a foot or two off the ground, so my first row seat was just fine sight-wise. (Mini Spoiler: Try to grab one of the faux dollars Chad tosses out during his elaborate entrance: the back is a coupon for 2-for-1 tickets to another SJ Stage 2013-2014 production.) I left the theater content and happy at seeing a good show, but wondering what happened to the “ridiculously funny” show that was advertised. | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | MarkBearSF 04:31 pm EST 11/04/13 |
| In reply to: | A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - PatrickHSF 08:27 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
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| I enjoyed it as well. While I'm not as crazy about the show itself as you are (too ballad-heavy for my tastes) I thought the production and performances were top notch. In the past, I've had issues with the staging in ROLT productions - primarily due to the limitations of the Eureka Theatre, I assume. I loved the set design - it was splendidly versatile and effective (especially when used for the prom scene finale). Last season, I subscribed to ROLT, but was a bit disappointed (primarily with The Full Monty). After this season, I'm thinking of re-upping. | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 08:41 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
| In reply to: | A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - PatrickHSF 08:27 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
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| I was at Carrie the same night. There was a band (5 or 6 players) credited in the Playbill. I don't have it anymore so I don't have their names, but it's definitely live music. | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 08:41 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
| In reply to: | re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - MikeR 08:41 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
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| And never mind... I wasn't there the same night - I was there on Saturday. But the rest of my post is true. :-) | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | PatrickHSF 10:39 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
| In reply to: | re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - MikeR 08:41 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
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| Yep, youre right, Mike. Home now and looking at the Playbill. I missed the orchestra credit on first read. Did you like production? | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 11:56 am EDT 10/30/13 |
| In reply to: | re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - PatrickHSF 10:39 pm EDT 10/29/13 |
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| I thought they did a pretty damn good job. It's not a great show - most of the high school stuff fell flat. Heather Orth (full disclosure: she's a friend) is phenomenal as Margaret. Freaking amazing. Riley Krull (also a friend) was wonderfully bitchy as Chris. I thought the girl playing Carrie (sorry, don't have any of the rest of the names) was quite good, especially considering that she's a high school junior. Loved Sue, as well - but I wish she had better material. My main issue with the show was sound problems, though. I could hardly hear some of the characters. And Ray of Light might need to do a Kickstarter to get new (smaller) microphones - a lot of the folks on stage looked like they had giant growths on their faces. And while I don't have a problem with projections (I've seen some shows that use them really, really well), I hate it when the projections are also on the actor's bodies and faces. Distracting. But I'm very glad I saw it, and I think they did a pretty darn good job. Great cast, even if most of them were better than the material they were given. | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | Richard Connema 03:41 pm EDT 10/30/13 |
| In reply to: | re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - MikeR 11:56 am EDT 10/30/13 |
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| "Carrie" was played by Cristina Ann Oeschger. This was her first professional theatre role and I thought she shined in this performance. I also thought Nikita Burshteyn who played Tommy was excellent. Your right about the sound system. The Victoria Theatre is not famous for its sound system. In fact it has the worst sound system of any theatre here in San Francisco. We had seats in the second row and of course the sound was fine. However I did hear from other persons who were sitting in the back of the theatre there were sound problems. I did not mind the projections even when they shown on the actors bodies. | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 04:07 pm EDT 10/30/13 |
| In reply to: | re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - Richard Connema 03:41 pm EDT 10/30/13 |
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| I was in the fourth row, and had to struggle to hear some of the actors. | |
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| re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad | |
| Posted by: | PatrickHSF 04:21 pm EDT 10/30/13 |
| In reply to: | re: A Weekend With Carrie and Chad - MikeR 04:07 pm EDT 10/30/13 |
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| Now that you mention it, the mics were "popping" (no not chewing, poppin'...wait, wrong show LOL) a bit during Friday's performance. I don't know if that is a mic or sound system problem, or both? I was in the third row, on the aisle, audience left, and could hear and comprehend the actors just fine, but I've listened to the recording so much, that helps me comprehend words/lyrics. Heather was amazing and so was Riley. One of my favorite songs is "When There's No One," and I loved Heather's heartbreaking rendition. Please tell them I totally enjoyed their performances next time you see them. | |
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