Point Me Towards Tomorrow
The lights flicker and then fade. A few late
instruments linger on their tuning notes. The audience chatter grows weaker and
then becomes inaudible as the orchestra's overture announces showtime. Slowly
the curtain rises and once again I let my favorite show business venue, the
stage, transport me to whatever scene, time period, and story that is listed on
the playbill.
I'm not much of a critic,
especially of high schoolers, and from Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, Guys And
Dolls, Cinderella, and Working I've been wildly prejudiced. But tonight I'm
JUST an audience member. I sit back and soak it all in, I want to let the
characters speak, and even though the set was simple and the costumes went
unchanged I would say, without a doubt, Carly Jibson will eventually have to
share her status. As far as Broadway I've seen thus far...(in order of seeing
them) Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Beauty And The Beast, Guys
and Dolls, West Side Story, Lion King, Grease, Chicago, Hairspray, Cinderella,
Working, and Wicked...A Chorus Line was my least favorite storyline. Well,
Working really didn't have a story line so that doesn't count.
BUT, once again, just like some high schools
head to the dome year after year, the Mona Shores Allegros executes the
impossible and this production of A Chorus Line will carry the tradition of
vocal and dramatic excellence one more notch up the unbelievable level. Now I
won't go "Simon Cowell" on anyone but let me just mention a couple of my
favorites. I'll start with Mike, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he
mentioned Melissa in his bio. His voice is mature beyond his years. Almost
perfect comedic timing. And so believable that it's a shame if he doesn't get to
do Fiddler, Little Shop Of Horrors, The King and I, or Joseph. He will. Diana
Morales was impeccable. This was a hard show to pull off the believability
factor and at times during long periods of doing nothing, most "line" characters
lost my attention but inevitably my eye was always drawn to her. She made me
believe that she was in that audition purely for her love of dancing. I can
picture her in Miss Saigon, Evita, Chicago, or Anything Goes. "What I Did For
Love" brought a tear to my eye, and it was without a doubt the best I've ever
heard Annie Diana. Cassie, Zach, and Laurie, seemed to
recover from opening night jitters and got better as they went along. Paul,
Kristine, and Judy pleasantly surprised me, while Judy was a bit over the top,
nevertheless still funny...Kristine may have been the only time I laughed out
loud. Paul made me feel for him. Val did a great job of respectively pulling
off this and that. Honorable mention to Maggie, Greg, and Mark. To the rest
of the cast I say congratulations, you and the orchestra did it! We can now
safely say that Molly L. is 8 for 8 at Shores.
Posted: Fri - March 24, 2006 at 03:37 PM