Showing posts with label Michael J. Bobbitt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael J. Bobbitt. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2018

All I want for Christmas is two 'Elf' tickets


David Schlumpf is Buddy the Elf with the ensemble in Elf:  The Musical at Olney Theatre Center. (Photo: Stan Barouh)

Who needs reindeer when this Christmas spirit will send you soaring?

It's just what Santa ordered for the grumps in the house and the cheery adults and hyper-excited children all together now to watch, laugh, and enjoy the newest production at Olney Theatre Center,
Elf:  The Musical.

It's lots of fun with superb dancing (by choreographer Tara Jeanne Vallee), colorful costumes (by Kendra Rai) action (Michael J. Bobbitt directs 23), and a plot to boot, all based on the hoot of the 2003 movie starring Will Ferrell.

I loved this version and sat in wonder, like watching a giant, magical sleigh led by eight tiny reindeer guiding Santa and his bags of toys across a dark sky, and, as a matter of fact, it happens

It's a slow few seconds at the beginning while the audience adjusts to the North Pole. Scenic designer Daniel Ettinger succeeds in transposing to onlookers the cold of the icy landscape with green and silver trees shimmering with snowflakes under a royal blue sky with twinkling stars.  

In this Land of Believe, an orphan elf, Buddy (David Schlump) has discovered he's not an elf at all but a real, live human! (Political side noteDo you think if our president to the North Pole he would discover he's human, after all?)

Is Buddy always this cheery? After years of living happily in Elf Kingdom, as Christmas approaches and with help from Santa (Kevin McAllister), Buddy determines to find his real bad, sad dad who is like many in New York City who work night and day.
  
Bobby Smith, the dad named Walter Hobbs, is always perfect in his sour old man roles, with a demeanor and mannerisms to convey his intense dissatisfaction with life, except for his loving wife (Janine Sunday), another make believe character, right from Santaland.  She is the stepmom of Hobbs's son, Michael, age 12, who actually likes his stepmom. (Thank you, screenwriter David Berenbaum for not casting women as constant evildoers.)

Tyler Quintin Smallwood (and on alternate nights, Eli Langer) is Michael who says that children of workaholics are prone to self-esteem issues, and, "basically he's not even a dad." (Sad face.) Tyler is spot on in this role with a voice to match.

The show has lots of side angles, and you may be able to figure out the ending, but the entertainment is sure fun along the way. 

Two of my favorite characters were the sassy, prancing Nova Y. Payton who is Deb, Hobbs's office assistant, and Calvin McCullough, the manager at Macy's who hires Buddy and asks: Is this "corporate" or is it not?

The tunes are mostly unknowns which doesn't affect enjoyment. Sad solos are not my cup of eggnog, for I tend to lean towards multi-voices like the "fake Santas" who dance and perform splits simultaneously mid-air while singing "Nobody Cares About Santa." 

Elf is a delight, for most ages (with a few naughty words), and plenty of adult quips to spread audience laughter which sometimes overcomes the dialogue. That's good!

At the end, you may skip all the way to your car and be like the woman who sat next to me and turned to say: "I think I may see this again."  Pause. "I will see this again!" 

Angie Benson directs a nine-member orchestra in the pit.

Other cast members are Patricia Hurley, who is Jovie, Buddy's girlfriend, and Marty Austin Lamar, Mr. Greenway, the big, bad bossman.

In the ensemble are Jessica Bennett, Michelle E. Carter, Jennifer Flohr, Isabel Garcia, Andre Hinds, Christian Montgomery, Taylor Elise Rector, Connor James Reilly, Sarah Anne Sillers, David Singleton, and Lara Zim.

James Mernin and Amanda Kaplan are swings.


The crew includes Matt Rowe, sound director;
Max Doolittle, lighting; Kylie Clark, puppet master;
Sarah Tundermann, projection; Dori Beau Seigneur, wigs and hair; and John Keith Hall, production stage manager

Score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. Jason Loewith, artistic director. Debbie Ellinghaus, managing director
 
What: Elf The Musical by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin
 
Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832.

When: Now through January 6, 2019, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with matinees, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. and more matinees at 2 p.m., Friday, Dec. 21, and Monday, Dec. 31.

Specially enhanced performances for the blind and hearing impaired Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. with a sign interpreted performance Thursday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m.

Post show discussions:  After matinees, Dec. 1, 8, and 15

Tickets: Begin at $59 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and students

Ages: The movie was rated "PG."



Duration: 2.5 hours with one 15 minute intermission

Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats

Parking: Free and plentiful on-site

For more information
: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485.

patricialesli@gmail.com



Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Herndon sings Rodgers & Hammerstein



The set for A Grand Night for Singing at NextStop Theatre, Herndon/Photo by Lock and Company

When was the last time you sang Oh What a Beautiful Morning while you sat in traffic on 66 or stood on a packed Metro when there were no seats?

Yeah, me neither, but now that I've seen A Grand Night for Singing at the NextStop Theatre in Herndon, I am ready to adjust my attitude and let it all out.
Sarah Ann Sillers in A Grand Night for Singing at NextStop Theatre, Herndon/Photo, NextStop

It's a lovely night of medleys by five charming actors (Matthew Hirsh, Katherine Riddle, Sarah Anne Sillers, Karen Vincent, and Marquise White) delighted to welcome you with Some Enchanted Evening and Rodgers and Hammerstein's big hits like Hello Young Lovers, If I Loved You, It Might As Well Be Spring, Honey Bun, and I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.


The songs are about love, the fashion of the 1940s, 1950s, and post World War II when the composers were composing, long before all things Russian, pipelines and climate change. (I can't wait to hear those. Have the composers started making Trump music yet, like the playwrights are writing Trump scripts?

Marquise White's solo in This Nearly Was Mine stood out in a night of standouts, like the dancing by White, Hirsh and Vincent singing It's Me.  Ms. Vincent's small stature belies her strong voice.

Michael J. Bobbitt directs and doubles amazingly as choreographer in coaching the actors to reach the high notes and maintain their happy demeanors, all while courting the audience with synchronized high kicks and dreamy harmonization.

 Sexy lighting by Jason Arnold deepens the mood at the vaudeville show, a musical without plot that the audience comes to watch in a jazz club which has two nice bars, one open and serving drinks before the show and at intermission, and the other, stretching almost the length of the set behind the musicians who get a workout the whole night. (Evan Hoffman, set designer.)

Karen Young played cello while pianist Elisa Rosman conducted, accompanied by percussionists Hayden Busby or Glenn Scimonelli and on reeds, Mitch Bassman or Lindsay Williams. 

By choosing their seats on the floor and in the first row, members of the audience become part of a silent cast, sitting at round tables and drinking their brews while the actors whirl about them, sit at their elbows and occasionally extend a hand and arm: Shall We Dance?

It's something wonderful for fans of the King and I, South Pacific, Carousel, Oklahoma!, State Fair, Cinderella, Flower Drum Song, and the Sound of Music and more.

Grand Night won two Tony awards and ran for 52 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1993.

Enthusiasm and fun are catching. Smiles are contagious.  Try it on Metro.  I hope I am on your car.

Other production team members are Bobby Libby, assistant director; Robert Croghan, costumes; Reid May, sound designer; Laura Moody, stage manager; Jessica Dubish, assistant stage manager; Scott Rodger, sound mixer, and Brittney Mongold, scenics

What: Rodgers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night for Singing

When: Wednesday through Saturday nights at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. and a wait list for the Sunday 7 p.m. August 12 show. Now through August 20, 2017. 

Where: NextStop Theatre, 269 Sunset Park Drive, Herndon, VA 20170 in the back right corner of Sunset Business Park, near the intersection of Spring Street/Sunset Hills Road. Right off the Fairfax County Parkway. A wee big hard to find and I would allow an extra 15 minutes if this is your first visit.

Free parking: Available near the door.

*How much: Tickets are $40 with group discounts and student rush seats (if available).  Call 866-811-4111.


Duration:  A little under two hours with one 15-minute intermission.

Rating: G. Appropriate for all age levels.
 

For more information: 703-481-5930 or info@nextstoptheatre.org 

patricialesli@gmail.com