Going into this magic, fantasy, jukebox musical, you never quite know what to expect. With the chaos of this bizarre writing of the musical, it could go very poorly and may not be perceived well by the audience. However, with a cast of committed actors, Farmington City has done a spectacular job at creating a thoroughly entertaining evening for audiences! The outlandishly yet enjoyable stage spoof of an outrageously bad movie is SURE to entertain. Under the direction of Dena Brady, this cast has taken, what is a bizarre and totally random musical, and turned it into a true work of art.
As mentioned several times already, everything about this musical in general is absolutely bizarre. One of my favorite things about it, though, is that the actors have a lot of leeway when it comes to interpreting each character. With a small cast of just ten actors, each and every one of the cast members were given multiple opportunities to take on several different roles, and they all did it so perfectly. The flow between the different characters was my favorite, and specifically with all of the muses taking on multiple different featured roles throughout the whole show, I found it hilarious at times, and also found myself getting excited with each passing scene to see what character they'd take on next. The choreography throughout the show by Belle Brady was a fantastic way to move the show along and added an extra level of entertainment. The cast did a wonderful job at executing the choreography, especially Michelle George and Lennon Brady.
Some other standouts from the cast were Kira/Clio (Elise Wood) and Sonny Malone (Zackery George). The chemistry as well as comedic timing these two shared onstage during the show was everything I hoped it would be! Wood did a wonderful job at keeping up Kira's purposefully awful Australian accent and also had some wonderful vocals that really shined during "Suspended In Time". George was wonderful at playing the beloved wide-eyed, day dreaming, struggling artist while also bringing a sweet and sensitive side to Sonny. He also had some shining vocals on the song "Don't Walk Away". The equally devious duo Calliope (Belle Brady) and Melpomene (Kaylie Uzelac) were definitely an audience favorite. Their comedic timing on every little thing they did was spectacular and they also had the smoothest voices that blended so wonderfully together in harmony. Uzelac was specifically my favorite throughout the whole show vocally. Her clear voice and ability to add some spectacular riffs in the songs "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic" was the perfect addition to each of these songs.
When it comes to performing in a smaller venue, I find that sometimes, the set design is a little too much for those venues. That was definitely not the case with this show! The simple set design was actually near perfection for this space. The set pieces they did have that stood out to me a lot were the beautiful marbled pillars they placed onstage as well as a fantastic mural that was painted of the muses. As well as a great set, the costumes were fantastically done as well. I felt that specifically, the muses main costumes were so flattering and stunning on each of them. The colors and the little differences between style on each of them fit the characters so well. The lighting, though simple, helped tie everything together and I loved the moments when the lights would circle around the audience. It definitely helped pull us into the show even more. As for sound, at times, I found it a little bit difficult to hear some of the dialogue that had some music playing under it, but that was usually fixed pretty quickly and balanced out after a moment, which I appreciated!
Something that I love about Brady's director note in the playbill was that she stated: "The entire aim of this show was to do something 'not heavy' and something full of fun", and the cast and crew truly did just that! I love this musical because it is so bizarre and goofy, and I love even more that they were able to execute that SO well! If you have the chance to see this show, please do! They run now until August 5th at 7 pm. This is a family friendly and beloved show you must see!
Theatre matters, theatre is important, theatre is impactful.
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