Word: orchestra
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Every spring, wild applause showers our assistant to the master, Susan Livingston. She rehearses night and day to produce an all-house musical production that's sold out every night and gets great reviews. Everybody in it--the tech crew, the cast, the orchestra--comes from our house. People you never thought would go near a stage belt out numbers with chutzpah to the cheers and laughter of their friends in the audience...
...first act is depressing, as we watch Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett (Elliot JohnMarks and Lisa Halliday) argue over the best way to deal with their son's nightmares and flashbacks. The orchestra handled the score well, but the tunes aren't particularly melodic or singable, so the action seems to drag. While some of the dialogue fits easily into a musical style, at times it comes across as forced or awkwardly phrased. The highlight of the act is "Christmas," a number sung by Conrad, his parents, and his grandparents. Dr. Berger also adds some comic relief: in response to Conrad...
...musical score itself, courtesy of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, could be at fault. During the prologue, the orchestra remains just a little bit off beat, but enough to make one sit up and take notice. Fortunately conductor Jonathan McPhee soon shepherds his fellow musicians into a warm, rolling succession of tunes you'll be sure to recognize from the Walt Disney cartoon. (Hint--if you go to a matinee showing, expect to hear at least four little future prima donnas around you singing along with the "Once Upon A Dream" segment.) The score is simply so relaxing and lucid that...
...appearance. Chip Greenridge is simply marvelous as The Wiz, and is easily able to reconcile his character's initial earthshaking impressions with the wilted, humiliated demeanor that follows his exposure as a fraud. Greenridge also possesses an extremely powerful voice, but even he is no match for the pit orchestra...
...most salient (and unfortunately difficult to solve) problems is that the orchestra is simply too loud. Although they suffer from intonation problems, the players are solid and and the sound is balanced within the ensemble; however, the group overpowers the vocalists in almost every musical number. Sadly, in a room as acoustically imperfect as the Leverett Old Library it is close to impossible for even a small pit to avoid drowning out unamplified singers...