Oh right, panaplay… mashup review!

Again. Apologies for the silence here on panaplay. Here we will recount a number of shows that have been seen in the past few months in Sacramento.

Some have more details, and some don’t need or deserve them

Metamorphoses at Sac State

Richard Bay is an amazing puppeteer and builder and he created a beautiful show. By far, the best aspects of the play were the stunning puppets. Visually, this is one of the best things in the area recently. The vision was fully realized down to the stilts, the fabrics, lights and of course the live bassist Ben McClara. But on a separate note, acting was occasionally an issue in this play. The problem players were as follows. Melissa Melancon; miscast, no energy, and looked uncomfortable on stage. Colby Salmon, “acty”, trying too hard, and there was very little to like about any of his characters.

The highlights though include John Gregory Young in the Hunger sequence. The ents on stilts, the puppets, getting sucked into the bed, and his hunger were all perfectly done. Also, Kyle Stampfli and Laura Lothian in Orpheus and Eurydice. Solid committed job done by everyone on stage. The dance portions were done brilliantly. The standout portion of the show is the boat scene. It was beautiful.

The main problem of the show is why they used Colby Salmon and Shane Edward Turner (who was previously terrible in Batboy) in nearly all lead man parts. Shane, who was much better in Meta than in Batboy, was fine, but there was a stage full of competent men, so why did they double up so much?

All in all, Sac State has been doing a great job with their theatre program as of late. A bit of awkward acting, yes. But the past few shows have been solid. With Richard Bay and Michelle Felton, and a handful of fine actors, Tygar Hicks, Brian Rife, Amanda Morish, and David Chernovsky.  Keep it up! References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot was a hot mess though. Rumor has it they are doing The Wiz next year? o_O

Magic Circle Civic Theater West?

Smokey Joe’s Cafe

Not a bad choice for Magic Circle. Pepper Von should stick to choreography. His voice is… bad. Ryan Allen (Big River at Magic Circle) was Amazing. Jammy Bulaya (Footloose at ARC) is a solid talent and he will be big in the community.The costumes are perhaps the very worst in the community. THE SILVER JACKETS. Elise Reese is always fabulous. Nick Adorno seemed awkward and out of place. They have come a long way since Cabaret and Oklahoma!

Swing

Perfect show for the audience, maybe the best thing since ragtime. Dancing and Choreo was spot on. Ensemble is better than the leads by far.

Big Idea Theatre

Almost, Maine

REAL GOOD. Big Idea has been working real hard lately. This show was adorable and makes you smile. Shannon Mahoney is an obvious standout, who was stunning in Streetcar. The set is very effective and made for the best scene transitions. Accents were on and off, they are supposed to be in Maine. Not Canada, not California, and certainly not the south. The over actor who played Randy was the low light of a pretty good show. The Nothern lights looked awful still.

I’d hate to disagree with Louella, I wouldn’t say BIT chooses “edgy material”. Almost, Maine? Streetcar? Dancing at Lughnasa? Deathtrap? Shakespeare without ridiculous concepts? not too edgy. Big Idea is coming along very nicely, now only if the seats were more comfortable…

American River College

Terrible written murder mysteries?. WHY are you choosing awful shows ARC??? Philadelphia Story is a better choice, Lead Brittaleigha Baskerville is a phenomenal actor though, not quite a comedic one, she was perfection in both Footloose and Children of Light last year. These had THE MOST beautiful set and costumes I have seen in this community. Pick better shows that are more interesting and I’ll give a damn about them. Both shows were fine if not boring. I wasn’t overtly offended by most any of the acting. Jacob Vukcinich previously of Sac City played a ridiculously old man with a voice that is liken to the sound of a vuvuzela , which was funny, but not appropriate for the style. Anna Russel-Madonia seemed to be playing a caricature of a bratty 10 year old.

Sac City

Berlin to Broadway

Stop doing musicals. That’s all. Moreover, Christine Nicholson and Luther Hanson need to stop casting themselves and each other in their shows. It is a school with students auditioning right?? Yet teachers get good roles? No other School does that.

Cant wait to take my bottle of wine over to land park and drunkenly watch the train wreck that is Sacramento Shakespeare Festival. We will surely have some good fodder from Midsummer and Othello.

Sorry to be brief, we have a long summer of a lot of theatre to see.

Shakespeare festival, Othello and Midsummer

Curtains at Runaway

Pirates of Penzance at CTW

Minnies Boys at Fair Oaks

As You Like it at California Stage

What else do we need to see???

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