On Saturday evening, I went to see the Hyde Park Community Players' production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I had been thinking I'd see their matinee show and go to Sid's salon in the evening, but as I was about to head to the matinee show, I realised that I didn't feel like going to two performances in one day. I spend my weekdays keeping my mind busy and attentive, and needed a more relaxed Saturday as a break. So I went to help sort out the Calvert House library instead, and went to the evening show.
The beginning was not so promising. As is usual, they had a microphone downstage center for the children to use while spelling words. But at first, everyone seemed to be using it when they had a solo. I was worried that it was live, and the only amplification, and that they would be anchored to it to sing. As the show developed, I realised this wasn't happening, but now I wonder why the first few singers tied themselves so rigidly to it.
And from then on, I didn't quite think it hit where it's meant to. When I saw it put on by MIT's Musical Theatre Guild, I felt that it is primarily a comedy, with the music there so you don't need to take it seriously. And to live up to its comedic nature, it needs to have really high energy levels and fast timing. But this production dragged a bit.
I think one of the problems is that it's not easy for ~30 year olds to play 10 year olds. The characters were deliberately very weird to make up for it, but I'm not sure that the actors felt really comfortable in their skin. Marc Morey as Leaf Coneybear and to some extent Leslie Halverson as Logainne Schwarzandgrubinierre were the exceptions. I suspect they were the youngest or at least among the youngest of the actors, and even though that means they're twice the age of their characters instead of three times, I think it did contribute.
For example Geoff Purvis (who I met at Theresa and Matt's gathering), just wasn't very convincing as a horny teenager. And that makes the comedy hard: everything bizarre that happens has to seem completely normal to the characters.
Lynnette Li-Rappaport had fun with "I speak six languages", and was the strongest solo singer to that point. Other characters brought out flags to represent her languages, and I was amused to note that Korean was not one of them, despite the character being named Marcy Park
The show stopping moment was the trio between Olive and her parents. It's a pretty (if perhaps sentimental) song, and the three are excellent singers and sang it very appropriately and effectively. I wish it had gone longer! I could see why Helen Wesson had been cast as Olive's mother despite the role usually being taken by an actor already playing a different role: she was the best singer all night despite her tiny role. And having seen how well Adam Flores sang as Olive's father, I wished that he sang like that all night, instead of putting on an unattractive voice in his character as William Barfee. Jess Rhoades as Olive Ovstrovsky sang very well, but I would have liked her to be more naive in her characterisation.
I may have come across harsher here than I intended! It's just that when I see different productions of the same show, it gives me a chance to compare and work out why I think one group did it better in various ways. And in this case, I do honestly think MTG's production was better. But that won't stop me seeing another Hyde Park Community Players show if the opportunity arises.
No comments:
Post a Comment