"We Will Rock You" to Sleep Occasionally

Cast of We Will Rock You (photo Paul Kolnick)

We Will Rock You
5th Avenue Theatre
through July 13, 2014

The musical revue, We Will Rock You, now at the 5th Avenue Theatre, is supposed to use the iconic songs from Queen to bring a story to life. Throwing all the kitsch and hackneyed jokes into a story in the (near?) future where because all of life is lived on the internet there is no more live music (wtf?), a Dreamer finds himself seeing visions of gates and a Rock hanging in the air, and his very existence threatens the entire accomplishment of the domination of GlobalSoft, the ruling corporation.

Would it surprise you to find that the gates are to Graceland? The King is Elvis? The Rock hanging in the air is really "Rock and roll" ... a vision? And all of the Bohemians who want Rhapsody find their way there from following a vee-dee-oh-tap-ee?

There are moments that are actually funny, but most of them try so very hard that they fail. Efforts to inject even more topical references (twerking is supposed to be funny?) hit so hard on the funny bone, they hurt. The book of this musical is terrible. Flat out terrible.

Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous voices in “Porgy and Bess” and some diction problems

Alicia Hall Moran and Kingsley Leggs in Porgy and Bess (photo by Michael J. Lutch)

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Starring Alicia Hall Moran, Nathaniel Stampley, Alvin Crawford, Kingsley Leggs

The 5^th Avenue Theatre

Through June 29

The touring production of Porgy and Bess is at The 5^th Avenue Theatre now and if you have never, like me, seen it before, you owe yourself a trip to see this production. The singers are, without fail, completely gorgeous to listen to. Every song and every singer.

The only thing I’d suggest is to prepare by looking online for song lyrics because whether it is the singers’ diction (not that likely), the bounce in the 5^th Avenue, a sound mixing issue, an over-loud orchestra – which also sounds great, but needn’t be quite that loud, it will be hard to understand some of the songs and some of the singers. However, there is no issue with understanding what the story is. That comes in loud and clear, too.

It would be "Horror"ble if you didn't go to "Little Shop of Horrors"

Audrey (Jessica Skerrit, center) and the trio (l-r) Crystal (Naomi Morgan), Chiffon (Alexandria Henderson), and Ronette (Nicole Rashida Prothro) in Little Shop of Horrors (photo: Tracy Martin)

Little Shop of Horrors
ACT Theatre (in co-production with 5th Avenue Theatre)
through June 15

Little Shop of Horrors may have been around for more than thirty years, but time hasn't dimmed its wacky appeal. Sure, there are stock characters: the brusk boss, the nerdy store clerk, the unassuming but beautiful store clerk, the bad-boy boyfriend. But each of them has enough unique characteristics to give them plenty to play with.  

The newly opened co-production at ACT Theatre (with 5th Avenue) has a kick-ass cast and is so intimate that the audience is pulled right into the middle of the action immediately. The Greek Chorus trio, Ronnette (Nicole Rashida Prothro), Chiffon (Alexandria Henderson) and Crystal (Naomi Morgan) walk in with powerhouse belting that stirs everyone up and gets the energy going. Their doo-wop sound instantly lets us know we're back in the 1950s.

Joshua Carter as Seymour, the rescued orphan boy who has grown up to expect little from life, is humble and nerdily appealing. Jeff Steitzer as his unlikely rescuer-boss, Mushnik, is irrascible and a bit calculating, even when he does nice things. When it's his turn to "go," we don't feel sooo badly about it.

Jessica Skerritt does what seems like her "usual" job of playing the bombshell with the heart of gold, and convinces us that she doesn't think she deserves being treated well. Her turn as Audrey is fully believable. She makes us all want her to realize that she is better off with Seymour than her current masochistic dentist bad-boy.

David Anthony Lewis as the bad-boy and then multiple others handles all those duties excellently. Lewis has been many musical bad-boys recently and can switch on a dime from that portrayal to "everyone elses" of varying niceness. But Dentist, the signature song of torture is hysterical, and he certainly makes us hate the dentist. 

Apparently, you can rent the entire Audrey 2 contraption, which this production did. It's an elaborate piece of work, and it's easy to see why they would rather just do that and avoid recreating it. The man who sits inside and sweats out the puppetry is Eric Esteb. He does everything he has to perfectly. So does the man who has to sing for the monster: Ekello J. Harrid, Jr. Harrid's voice is the mellow, seductive, Barry-White-substitute that can also roar his hunger and nasty threats.

Bill Berry's direction and R.J. Tancioco's music directing combine to bring out the fun, the fantasy and the feeling of the show. The technical support is stellar, with a fabulous and intricate set design that pushes the action far toward the audience (by Martin Christoffel), colorful costuming (by Pete Rush), complicated lighting - including aspects of sci-fi storytelling (by Robert Aguilar) and additional soundscaping (by Justin Stasiw). 

The Howard Ashman/Alan Menken songs remind us what an award-winning duo they have been all these years. Also, this is the REAL story, not the movie story. This has the ending that played Off-Broadway, rather than the altered ending that came about when focus groups said they were displeased with an ending that involves every main character dying. But it all adds up to them reminding us: Don't Feed the Plants!

For more information, go to http://www.acttheatre.org/Tickets/OnStage/LittleShopofHorrors or call 206-292-7676.