![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Oakland Homer
Friday night ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
howbearca invited me and a friend to the preview of Saratoga Drama Group's production of Oklahoma!, which he directed.
In a nutshell
An excellent production. Well-cast, in some cases brilliantly cast, better than average set and lighting design, well-directed, and definitely ready for prime time days ago.
Bear this nutshell review in mind when you read my critique
Orchestra
The show starts with an overture. And this is where my sniping is going to be at its worst. The orchestra did not live up to the standards of the rest of the production. Okay, this was final dress rehearsal, so perhaps much of this will be fixed (if it hasn't been already), but here's what I saw and heard:
The Cast
Aunt Eller (Ruth E. Mullins) played her part with all the wit, gumption and "heart-of-gold/head-of-stone" required, and then some. I had a problem with her wig, which was so obviously not her real hair that it distracted me for a while. But then again, a woman of a certain age may wear a wig, so I suppose we can chalk that up to good costuming. A combination directing and acting kudo goes out to the scene at the dance where she shoots off a pistol to break up a fight. I didn't see it coming, even though I was looking for it. I didn't figure out where she got the gun until I realized Curley was the only actor onstage with a holster, and it was empty. Curley (Michael Pease) did not fit my image of that character, his voice was not strong enough, he isn't drop-dead gorgeous (he's only moderately gorgeous) and he didn't quite have the swagger to go with the lines. I didn't like him opening the show by being all the way upstage, singing to the back wall. It's a trick which ought to work when the actor is wearing a mike, but his voice just didn't bust through like it needed to.
Carly Honfi as Laurey was one of the brilliant bits of casting. She has a voice to die for, and was one of the only two soloists who could be clearly heard above the orchestra all the time. She's gorgeous, but putting her in oversized coveralls with her hair tied back did not help me see why Curley was smitten with her. After all, she wasn't in the habit of singing to him.
Ado Annie (Jessica Lynn Caroll) and Will Parker (Matthew Tipton) formed the other romantic couple. Jessica broke my heart when she wrote in her bio she is engaged. She was perfect for her flirty "never say no" part, and I wish I could have heard more of the words she sang. Her costumes were the most elaborate, and they looked beautiful on her. Matthew was okay. He played the part a little older than I would have wanted, and (costume note) a champion calf roper would have a HUGE silver belt buckle, but Will didn't. Like Curley, Will did not have the swagger his part called for. But he had the voice, the dance skills and the rest of what he needed.
By far the most brilliant casting choice was Michael D. Reed as Jud Fry. This is the part I would have tried out for, and I would have lost out to this guy, hands down. He's huge. His voice is even huger. And he does scarey and creepy and threatening like he had just broken out from San Quentin, head first. He was the other soloist who could be heard above the orchestra. He could probably have been heard above Milpitas, with a freight train passing in between.
Some othere cast members who caught my eye are:
Jay Steele as Ali Hakim. He does a great Persian Peddler, and I envy his "Persian Goodbye" scene with Ado Annie. Great comic timing, and all the snake oil charm required for the role.
D. Scott Hartman as Ado Annie's dad, Andrew Carnes, looked and acted the part of the shotgun-toting father of a farmer's daughter, who is also the town judge. Looking at his bio photo, he played this about 30 years older than he actually is.
Anthony Scott Feenan and his dance partner pulled off some amazing ballet moves in the dream sequence, and he was one of those ensemble members who just stood out. His partner also stood out, but I did not catch her name and can't say whose photo she matches, beyond a reasonable doubt.
My old friend Reggie Reynolds was once again an outstanding dancer (they even gave her one of the first lines this time). She looks great both in gingham and a Can-Can outfit.
Another outstanding dancer is Beverly Griffith, who comes to us via the Moulin Rouge, Rio de Janeiro and Vegas. She is very very tall, and effortlessly kicks even higher.
Direction
This is a massive production, requiring the full range of directing skills, andhowbearca showed he is a master of all of them. After the preview, the cast gathered onstage for some cast awards, and when he came out to present them, the applause was loud, long and sincere. When a cast shows that kind of appreciation, you've done good.
The actors all knew all their lines. I think there may have been one cue which was slow being picked up, but having a train wreck-free preview says loads about how well the cast was rehearsed.
I only have one minor nitpick. I think too much of the show was staged upstage. It took some of the thrill away, knowing I could not hit the actors with rotten eggs, tomatoes and small rodents, had I wanted to. It also keeps the audience from seeing faces, and hearing voices coming from where they actually are.
Lights
There were tons of light cues, specials, colored floods, you name it. My hat is off to Lighting Designer Mike Muñoz, Lighting Programmer David Yoder and Tech Director John Palmer, and whomever it was ran the light board.
Costumes
Costumes were excellent. In some cases, they were superb. I did have a problem with some of the wigs - Aunt Eller's as I mentioned earlier, and Ali Hakim's. They looked fake, even from 20 feet away. And I already mentioned Laurey's opening outfit. On the other hand, her finale costume was super.
Kudos to Kathy Burch and Michael Johnson for the costumes.
Choreography
This is a show with a lot of dancing, and some very long dance sequences. Rebecca Lipon's choreography was sometimes a little hard for me to follow, but the dancers were well-rehearsed, and all the dances went smoothly. Just as one sign of good directing is the cast knowing all their lines, one sign of good choreography is the cast knowing all their steps. The level of dancing in this show was well above what I expected, all around.
Sound
The sound design sucked. Microphone levels were almost always too low, there were way too many instances of the sound breaking up, and one ensemble member had to give up a mike to a supporting player when his died - it's traditional to carry spares to avoid this. Part of the problem was a too-loud orchestra, but that was only part of the problem. I don't like the taped-to-the-cheek mikes they used. As someone who has a lot of background in microphone design theory, I am here to say sound does not travel from the mouth to the cheek nearly as well as it needs to for those puny mikes to pick up. It would also have helped if more of the actors sang to each other during duets - the partner's mike would pick up better than their own. And sometimes did.
Summary
See this show! It plays at Saratoga Theater weekends through October 9.
13777 Fruitvale Avenue, Saratoga, CA. 95070
Box Office/Voice Mail:
408.882.5099
Full details on the SDG web site.
howbearca invited me and a friend to the preview of Saratoga Drama Group's production of Oklahoma!, which he directed.In a nutshell
An excellent production. Well-cast, in some cases brilliantly cast, better than average set and lighting design, well-directed, and definitely ready for prime time days ago.
Bear this nutshell review in mind when you read my critique
Orchestra
The show starts with an overture. And this is where my sniping is going to be at its worst. The orchestra did not live up to the standards of the rest of the production. Okay, this was final dress rehearsal, so perhaps much of this will be fixed (if it hasn't been already), but here's what I saw and heard:
- Some of the musicians were in costume. Most were not. As the song they play in Act II says, "It's all or nothin'". It made the orchestra look shabby.
- They didn't tune up. Though we could hear them playing before the house opened, which means their instruments would be warmed up, and therefore out of tune, they played the overture without re-tuning. It sounded awful. The violins were all in different keys, one of them was almost half a step flat.
- They were too loud throughout the show. Even though the actors were miked, they couldn't be heard singing above the noise. The only thing which saved the musical part of the show for me is I know all the words by heart.
- The conductor was blocking our view. She stood up, arms waving high when conducting, and sitting on a raised draftsman's chair the rest of the time. This theater doesn't have an orchestra pit, the conductor's head when she is standing is about even with the heads of the people in the 5th row, which is where we sat.
The Cast
Aunt Eller (Ruth E. Mullins) played her part with all the wit, gumption and "heart-of-gold/head-of-stone" required, and then some. I had a problem with her wig, which was so obviously not her real hair that it distracted me for a while. But then again, a woman of a certain age may wear a wig, so I suppose we can chalk that up to good costuming. A combination directing and acting kudo goes out to the scene at the dance where she shoots off a pistol to break up a fight. I didn't see it coming, even though I was looking for it. I didn't figure out where she got the gun until I realized Curley was the only actor onstage with a holster, and it was empty. Curley (Michael Pease) did not fit my image of that character, his voice was not strong enough, he isn't drop-dead gorgeous (he's only moderately gorgeous) and he didn't quite have the swagger to go with the lines. I didn't like him opening the show by being all the way upstage, singing to the back wall. It's a trick which ought to work when the actor is wearing a mike, but his voice just didn't bust through like it needed to.
Carly Honfi as Laurey was one of the brilliant bits of casting. She has a voice to die for, and was one of the only two soloists who could be clearly heard above the orchestra all the time. She's gorgeous, but putting her in oversized coveralls with her hair tied back did not help me see why Curley was smitten with her. After all, she wasn't in the habit of singing to him.
Ado Annie (Jessica Lynn Caroll) and Will Parker (Matthew Tipton) formed the other romantic couple. Jessica broke my heart when she wrote in her bio she is engaged. She was perfect for her flirty "never say no" part, and I wish I could have heard more of the words she sang. Her costumes were the most elaborate, and they looked beautiful on her. Matthew was okay. He played the part a little older than I would have wanted, and (costume note) a champion calf roper would have a HUGE silver belt buckle, but Will didn't. Like Curley, Will did not have the swagger his part called for. But he had the voice, the dance skills and the rest of what he needed.
By far the most brilliant casting choice was Michael D. Reed as Jud Fry. This is the part I would have tried out for, and I would have lost out to this guy, hands down. He's huge. His voice is even huger. And he does scarey and creepy and threatening like he had just broken out from San Quentin, head first. He was the other soloist who could be heard above the orchestra. He could probably have been heard above Milpitas, with a freight train passing in between.
Some othere cast members who caught my eye are:
Jay Steele as Ali Hakim. He does a great Persian Peddler, and I envy his "Persian Goodbye" scene with Ado Annie. Great comic timing, and all the snake oil charm required for the role.
D. Scott Hartman as Ado Annie's dad, Andrew Carnes, looked and acted the part of the shotgun-toting father of a farmer's daughter, who is also the town judge. Looking at his bio photo, he played this about 30 years older than he actually is.
Anthony Scott Feenan and his dance partner pulled off some amazing ballet moves in the dream sequence, and he was one of those ensemble members who just stood out. His partner also stood out, but I did not catch her name and can't say whose photo she matches, beyond a reasonable doubt.
My old friend Reggie Reynolds was once again an outstanding dancer (they even gave her one of the first lines this time). She looks great both in gingham and a Can-Can outfit.
Another outstanding dancer is Beverly Griffith, who comes to us via the Moulin Rouge, Rio de Janeiro and Vegas. She is very very tall, and effortlessly kicks even higher.
Direction
This is a massive production, requiring the full range of directing skills, and
howbearca showed he is a master of all of them. After the preview, the cast gathered onstage for some cast awards, and when he came out to present them, the applause was loud, long and sincere. When a cast shows that kind of appreciation, you've done good. The actors all knew all their lines. I think there may have been one cue which was slow being picked up, but having a train wreck-free preview says loads about how well the cast was rehearsed.
I only have one minor nitpick. I think too much of the show was staged upstage. It took some of the thrill away, knowing I could not hit the actors with rotten eggs, tomatoes and small rodents, had I wanted to. It also keeps the audience from seeing faces, and hearing voices coming from where they actually are.
Lights
There were tons of light cues, specials, colored floods, you name it. My hat is off to Lighting Designer Mike Muñoz, Lighting Programmer David Yoder and Tech Director John Palmer, and whomever it was ran the light board.
Costumes
Costumes were excellent. In some cases, they were superb. I did have a problem with some of the wigs - Aunt Eller's as I mentioned earlier, and Ali Hakim's. They looked fake, even from 20 feet away. And I already mentioned Laurey's opening outfit. On the other hand, her finale costume was super.
Kudos to Kathy Burch and Michael Johnson for the costumes.
Choreography
This is a show with a lot of dancing, and some very long dance sequences. Rebecca Lipon's choreography was sometimes a little hard for me to follow, but the dancers were well-rehearsed, and all the dances went smoothly. Just as one sign of good directing is the cast knowing all their lines, one sign of good choreography is the cast knowing all their steps. The level of dancing in this show was well above what I expected, all around.
Sound
The sound design sucked. Microphone levels were almost always too low, there were way too many instances of the sound breaking up, and one ensemble member had to give up a mike to a supporting player when his died - it's traditional to carry spares to avoid this. Part of the problem was a too-loud orchestra, but that was only part of the problem. I don't like the taped-to-the-cheek mikes they used. As someone who has a lot of background in microphone design theory, I am here to say sound does not travel from the mouth to the cheek nearly as well as it needs to for those puny mikes to pick up. It would also have helped if more of the actors sang to each other during duets - the partner's mike would pick up better than their own. And sometimes did.
Summary
See this show! It plays at Saratoga Theater weekends through October 9.
13777 Fruitvale Avenue, Saratoga, CA. 95070
Box Office/Voice Mail:
408.882.5099
Full details on the SDG web site.
thank you
Re: thank you
Re: thank you
she is moving to NYC at the end of the year to try her luck on Broadway