| What I’ve Been Seeing Lately | |
| Posted by: BillEadie 02:07 am EDT 04/17/20 | |
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| This week, I saw two British musicals that were available on the streaming service, digitaltheatre.com. The first was a production of Funny Girls, filmed at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. The production starred Sheridan Smith. The second was a production of Into the Woods directed by Timothy Sheader and filmed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. The third was a production of Michael Lew’s play, Teenage Dick, from Chicago’s Theater Wit. The Funny Girl production reminded me of reasons why we haven’t seen a major revival in New York: it has a great score for the lead, not so great for the other characters, and the story gets bogged down and drags, especially in Act 2. Into the Woods was exciting, with the set taking full advantage of the theatre’s outdoor location. It featured the addition of a boy in the role of the narrator, and that addition led to a poignant and hopeful close to what’s normally a dreary ending. Teenage Dick required a reservation through Today Tix, and it streams only at 8pm, Chicago time. The play is a parody of Richard III set in high school. Richard, the protagonist, has a disability, and he ruthlessly plots to be elected as Senior Class president. The parody is pretty sharp until one suddenly realizes that Shakespeare’s play is a tragedy, and this one is going to end up that way, too. The wind goes out of the sails at the end, but the cast is game, and the fact that the video was taped with an audience helps a lot. Overall, I was glad to have the opportunity to watch three absorbing, if not always stellar, productions. Bill, in San Diego |
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