Tony N' Tina's Wedding

EVERYONE, I REPEAT - EVERYONE, GO SEE TONY N' TINA'S WEDDING!!!

What a wonderful dinner comedy. You participate in a wedding ceremony and reception - and you get food. A great night of laughs - and, not to mention, a great time. I'm SO going again, if anyone wants to join!!!

The Invisible Hand

I was lucky enough to see the world premier of The Invisible Hand at the St Louis Rep Theatre! What a wonderful show - from the writing and acting to the sets and stagecraft. This show featured John Hickok - whom also originated 3 Broadway rolls. Hickok played Nick, a man who was very skilled in investment banking and was captured and held hostage by an Islamic militant group. He grew close with one of his guards, Dar, who ends up killing himself in a suicide bombing. Another guard, Bashir, forces Nick to make $3million grow to $10million by doing what he does best, investment banking. The two become close, just as Nick and Dar did, although their relationship is, of course, questionable. Throughout the entirety of The Invisible Hand, we examine morality and just how far we will go to get what we want.

What a wonderful play. Ayad Akhtar wrote this play phenomenally, always showing the needs of each character throughout every scene and using dialogue beautifully. I was shocked when 1 hour and 15 minutes flew by before my eyes. The text was portrayed wonderfully by this four person cast, as well. Their believability factor amazed me; believability is something that I look for in a performance, and I never once stopped to question what I was watching. (Funny fact: The man who played Bashir wrote in his bio that he is a physician "in his spare time." A) What actor has "spare time"? And B) What physician has "spare time"? I found that HILARIOUS!)

The Cure for Love

For me this play started out a little slow, as french farses are not quite what I normally go and see.  The jokes here and there through-out the begining were about all that kept me going.  Then about a third of the way into this two act play I started to get into the plot.  I began to realize more of what was going on, what are some of the characters motivations, and where the tensions lie within the story.  Then the jokes became more humorous and play in all just really picked up.  At first I thought that I would have wished they started the play more in the middle of this developing action.  Yet, I soon realized that the bit of lead in at the begining was neccessary and the play was in fact started in the middle of the developing action.  In the end I would definitly say that I liked the play and would enjoy seeing it again, but part of me thinks that it was mainly the actors that really won me over rather than the play itself.  That may just be my taste in play style though, as I said, I don't normally watch french farses.

Superior Donuts: after reading the script

I like how the physical descriptions of the characters within the script matched the actors that were cast in the play at the Farmer's Alley Theater.  When I first saw the play, I immediately thought that the physical casting for the parts matched the characters really well.  I do think acting in some spots could have been better, but it was still pretty decent for local theater.  Then I read the script and well the actors definitely knew thier lines.  I tried to read with the play going on in my head at the same time and I don't think any of the lines that I remember were improved, which I thought was pretty impressive.  Also, I thought it was interesting how some of the dialog was formatted within the play.  Whenever there were two conversations going on at the same time, the lines were just lined up right next to each other like two columns of dialog.  I don't think I've seen this in any play I have read before, so I thought that was interesting and new to see.  Normally a play with something like that in it, just uses the typical format for stichomythia when lines are to be said that closely together.  I think I like the formatting style the way it was in the play, in relation to having two conversations going on at once.

Also, here is a link to a play being perfomed next week at WMU.  $5 tickets for students. http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news/2012/02/038.html