8/15/05

Another Audience Member Review

Dave mentioned he saw this review on the Fringe site. Obviously Mr. Bell is not familiar with our funding process or our concept of academic freedom. I'll take the liberty to correct some typos, spelling, and grammatical errors:
Spellbinding 13 Aug 2005

reviewer: Neill Bell, Scotland

Not great. Some songs are too bland, but the large cast pull this off remarkably. No weak performances, no dropped cues, just a good, all around, fun-packed edgy show. As they are a community college, I just wonder if their blatant anti-war (Iraq) stance will cost any State or Federal funding. I do hope not. Sadly, the run ends August 12 so I guess you have missed a treat!

I also forgot to mention that on the same page linked above we are listed as a Critic's Choice by The Scotsman. Not every show that was reviewed was so listed.

UPDATE (8/23/2005): I Googled Lysistrata's War and found this review by Rachel Lynn Brody on The British Theatre Guide.
Lysistrata's War: A Rock Opera
By David Hamilton and Mark D. Williams
Lake Tahoe Community College
C Too
**

This original rock opera is based on Aristophanes' play Lysistrata, and tells the story of how the women of Athens and Sparta banded together to end a war between their menfolk by denying said menfolk any action in bed.

While the score isn't bad, the lyrics are far too loose and repetitive; lines often feel inserted for the sake of rhythm rather than content. Casting seems to have taken place without regard for each vocalist's range, except in the case of Shannon Dolan as Lysistrata, though even in her case it was a good 20 minutes into the show before she hit her stride.

Rhona [sic] Keen is likeable as Calonice, giving an enthusiastic performance, but many of the other cast members seem to fall into two groups: over-enthusiastic and pantomiming, or else listless and unconvincing. Jeff Whitt oversees one bright moment relishing the part of the evil magistrate, but this is a brief appearance and his role as the face of the government is soon taken over by Thomas Sanders [sic] as the Governor of Athens, who is too wishy-washy to be taken seriously.

There are some interesting thematic ideas about war and the government's relationship to the governed, and the juxtaposition of Williams' still images with the millennia-old play are heavy-handed reminders of what war means to those directly involved, but all in all this feels like a workshop production for a musical still desperately in need of development.


Rachel Lynn Brody

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