|
Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater Wed, 19 Nov 2008I just got back from watching the preview of Snow Queen (pdf) at the Bathhouse Theater on Greenlake. The ADD review is: go see it. Good stuff. I found myself looking at the tech, and the production, and how they did things. I also watched the show (except when the prop knife came on -- then my attention achieved laser-like focus after my experience making my own knife for Halloween), which was very good. From what I gathered, they've been performing roughly this show for the last 6 months, with a larger cast, and in parks over the summer. This has resulted in a very tight show, with excellent acting, artful choreography and a beautiful production quality. Although what I saw was a preview, and thus technically a rehearsal, they're definitely ready for opening night. I won't single out any actors, because they were uniformly very good (and, I have a friend in the cast; I'd hate to show undue favoritism). The audience was pretty sizeable for a Wednesday night preview, and hopefully indicative of their houses for the run. I found myself particularly looking at the lights, after my experience designing lights for the Lovecraft show (which lights I felt were alternately good and lackluster). I'm also friends with the lighting designer, so I'll restrain myself to saying that I thought the design was very good, with an excellent use of color (particularly on the cyc behind the stage). He had a sort of abstract spot of light on the cyc at the top of the show, and after the show, I understood what it was for. He told me that it had actually been an accident, but it was a happy accident. Not a trick I would have thought of (but now I will...). The Snow Queen is a Hans Christian Andersen story, and Google will quickly tell you more about it. I was curious to see how they would stage it. My friend in the cast, Molly, asked if it met my expectations for a fairy tale, and as I said to her, "I had no expectations. I was pleased with what I saw." The staging was actually very sparse, and I found myself delighted with how much they did with so little. I was particularly impressed by the costumes, which evoked Denmark without being too elaborate, as well as a variety of fantastic characters including talking crows, reindeer, night mares (not bad dreams, but rather the horses which carry dreams -- I think), a horde of snow gods, and of course the Snow Queen herself. There were traces of dance throughout the production, and there seemed to be movement involved in almost every moment. It was clear to me that a good deal of thought had gone into the staging, probably ideas which evolved and were refined over the course of the summer run in the parks. Overall, I was very pleased with the whole thing, and it was entirely a worthwhile expenditure of my time. You, dear reader, should go see it. It's playing at the Bathhouse Theater on Greenlake, but only for this weekend, opening Thursday and closing Sunday. Go! Go now! Posted at 22:36 permanent link category: /theater At least one of my readers wasn't clear on one vital point from my last entry: M. is married. I wasn't leading up to anything romantic with the story. Sorry to let you down. It is pretty cool though, M. and I established a friendship very quickly. I'm glad I got over whatever weirdness I had set myself up for. I will say that dating (speaking of romance), online or otherwise, has not proved to be a rewarding pursuit, so I shut down my Lovelab profile for a good long while. I did meet some cool people, and I'm still in the process of figuring out what those relationships may become, but being in the dating mindset was driving me crazy. Sibyl has an excellent attitude about this: "Online dating made me unhappy, so I stopped. Now, I'm happy being single, and when the right guy comes along, it'll happen." For my own sanity, I'm following in her footsteps. Except, of course, waiting for the right girl. Details. Posted at 17:09 permanent link category: /misc Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net. |