Theater Critique #2: A Curious Mishap

“Oh, the stratagems of love!”

Carlo Goldoni's A Curious Mishap was a fantastic period comedy, relying on the common theme of mistaken identity, the machinations of love, and delightful wordplay to put the audience into a good humor. My initial skepticism (brought about by a recent less-than-stellar theater experience) was quickly overcome by the talented cast, all of whom have a penchant for pronunciation and whip-fast comedic timing, and the efforts of the unseen crew, which silently showed themselves in every aspect of the production.

Theatre Critique #1: Manicures and Monuments

“How many toenails will it take to get to South Dakota?"

I think that Vicki Caroline Cheatwood’s Manicures and Monuments, put on by the local Blue Moon Productions, was intended to be tragicomedy, but I cannot say that with any authority. It is very hard to discern the intended effect from a play that seems almost schizophrenic in tone, switching from comedy to cynicism and from engaging supporting characters to stale supporting props in the time it took me to eat a slice of the fantastic lemon cake served during intermission, which was by far the best part of the entire experience. The audience, most of whom were quite a bit older than myself, seemed to take it as a series of humorous ‘There but the Grace of God’ vignettes, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that we were all supposed to go home and be grateful for our human connections, no matter where we find them. Either way, the quality of the play itself, combined with the mediocre talent of Blue Moon Productions, was not what I would call an enjoyable hour and a half.

Photo of the Day

Err... I guess I mean video. We went to see the Avengers last month and the move theatre had a karaoke kiosk, which my cam hams jumped right on. :P