Through my work at the library, I know a great many teens involved in their school drama program, which means that I am invited to watch theatrical productions throughout the year. Luckily for me, the productions are very high quality! This weekend I watched two different productions at different high schools. It was busy but a lot of fun.
The first, It's All Greek to Me!, was an original student production. At one of the local high schools, they have a play that only freshmen can participate in. Older students act as mentors and guides, but the intent is that the bulk of the work both on- and backstage is done by the freshmen in order to give them a taste of what participating in theater is like. I think they started doing this about 15 years ago and I have attended off and on during that time. The play itself is written by older students. This year's show was among the best that I have seen. The script was amazing! Super funny and super smart with a twist at the end that nobody saw coming. The acting was also really great. Several of the members of the cast and crew had participated in our summer production last year, so the high quality of the production was not a surprise to me. I honestly can't think of anything that I would have done differently with regards to the show itself. My only criticism has to do with playbills. A few years ago, the school moved to online only playbills and I hate it. I like to look at the playbill during the play and I can't if it is on my phone. They did give us a handout with a cast list this time so that was a slight improvement. I am sure it must be a big expense and I understand. But I really hate online playbills. (Also - I have all of the playbills from all of the student productions that I have attended but I can't add an electronic playbill. Harumph.)
The next night we watched Hadestown (Teen Edition). The singing was AMAZING. The production was spectacular. They did some really cool things with lights and smoke. The only set pieces were scaffolding on wheels and it was really cool. The music, however, was not to my taste. I will say that this is, in part, due to the email we received in advance telling us that the music would be "American Folk" and "New Orleans jazz". This was not really true. I should also be completely honest and say that I don't really like Broadway as a musical genre. It's just really not my thing. So I was very excited when I received that email - I really like American folk music. There was none in this play. There were some songs that could be described as either "folksy" or "jazzy" but nothing that sounded like actual folk or jazz music. That being said, my companions enjoyed it immensely. They were all familiar with the musical beforehand and had listened to the cast album (some had even seen it on Broadway!). And, as I said, all of the performers did an amazing job. It was a really tight performance - professional grade. And the crew did an equally great job. I very much enjoyed the spectacle.
Next month we should be attending two more student productions and one at a community theater, as well as another one at a community theater in November. This all sort of fell into my lap, so I decided it would be a good time to start the Theatre Critic badge, the requirements of which are to watch at least five plays and review three. Off to a good start!
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