Theatre Review

Tonight, for Valentine's Day, my friend Justin and I went to see Lucky Stiff at O'Connell & Company. My friend Bobby Cooke choreographed (well done!) and was in it (again, well done!) and offered me a couple of comps. Since Justin and I were already planning to go out for VD (lol) and considering we're the closest thing to "boyfriends" in each others' lives at the moment, I figured: "perfect Valentine's activity." And it was!

I hate to sound all "gushy," but I really liked it. Let me be frank - I don't often get to see much live theatre because I'm usually doing a show myself. And when I get time off, the last thing I want to do is go to theatre 'cause that's what I do all day. When I do go, it's hard to please me. I tend to be critical...sometimes overly so. I have to tell myself: "just enjoy yourself and stop analyzing every thing you see." Does it always work? No. But, I'm getting better at it.

Let me also say that this is my first Theatre Review on this blog. I refuse to review anything for the company I work for (MusicalFare) as that would be weird. And I obviously refuse to review anything I'm in...tacky and subjective. So that leaves shows I see at other theatres...which happens rarely. I've only seen one other thing this entire year (The Little Dog Laughed at BUA...and I saw it on closing night, so there wasn't much need for a review...though I did like it, for the record). The hardest part about reviewing local theatre is that I know just about everyone in town and I was afraid it would be awkward to write anything. I thought it might seem like I was "blowing smoke up my friends' asses" and praising them when I didn't mean it. Let me set the record straight: I won't write it if I don't mean it.

Lucky Stiff is an Ahrens/Flaherty musical. It's a cute story that I won't ruin by telling you the plot. Let's just say it's full of quirky characters, a lot of comedy, and some touching moments.

The cast was damn good. Let's start at the top: Andrew Kenneth Moss as Harry Witherspoon. I've known Andy for a few years now and I've seen him do some good work. But, I think, he's truly come into his own as an actor. It's a confident, quirky, funny performance. Utterly charming. And, lordy I could gaze at his handsome face forever.

Kelly Jakiel as Annabel Glick (I hope I'm spelling these right...) is wonderful. Kelly is fast becoming one of my favorite actresses in town. She does an amazing job in what could be a "typical" ingenue role. And the girl can sing. I truly adored her character and thought her chemistry with Andy Moss was spectacular. In my eyes, the two of them have graduated from "student actors" to "adult actors." They're both wonderful.

Pamela Rose Mangus, Jeffry Coyle (wait til you see him as a nun) and Michael Tosha do great work here, as does Josh Snyder in the role of "the dead guy" (a harder part than many people might think it is). My only criticism to Josh, and I don't know that it can be avoided, is that because of the seating in the theatre, audience members may often be looking at him from the side. We can see his eyes blinking and moving. Dead-on, he's behind sunglasses and we can't see that. But from the side, we see everything. Maybe close your eyes? Though, I'd fall asleep if I did that... Maybe there's no way around it.

Nicole Marrale Cimato, Eric Rawski and Wendy Hall all do some really fantastic character work. Nicole has found another scene-stealing role, complete with a song which she sounds great on. All of her characters are fun and funny (she had a majority of my laugh-out-loud moments in the show). Great job! Eric is a brilliant actor who always knows the "right" choice to make for the character. He can even make absurd moments seem completely normal - that's how good he is in this. Wendy really knocked me out because I've never seen her get to do a multiple-character role before. Every one of her characters is good and I swear to god, the woman changes costumes/characters around 7 times in the first 15 minutes of the show. I kept thinking, "there she is again!" yet every time she was unique.

Direction by Chris Kelly was appropriately absurd when necessary and genuinely real when necessary. It's a hard line to walk, but I think he did an awesome job. Chris usually directs plays, as opposed to musicals. He recently told me "directing musicals is hard." Yeah, it is. But ya'd never know it by what he's put up there. It looked effortless.

Bobby Cooke's choreography was pretty much exactly what the show called for! Clever when necessary and over-the-top when necessary. Never a "cringe-worthy" moment. And there were some truly (intentionally) funny choreographic moments. His character work is also a hoot! Some very funny stuff (love the waiter and bellboy!!!).

My only other criticism: it's hard to hear the singing sometimes during the tap number. But, all in all, a great show! I think I'll go back again at some point. Who wants to go?