Saturday, July 17, 2010

Hamlet! the Musical!

Sally and I finally got back together with Sandy and John to go see Hamlet! the Musical! at the Shakespeare Tavern. Sandy and John are a neat couple and it's always a treat to see a show with them.

The Good: The new musical numbers are good. Bad (remix) was a showstopper. The actors were all in fine voice and the songs were sung clearly so my aging ears could hear the words. The performances were excellent as well. It helped that a fair number of the actors had played the same roles in the recent dramatic production of Hamlet. Jeff McKerley has amazing comic timing.

The Bad: The play doesn't work as a cohesive mass. Individual bits were excellent, but the setting just didn't gel.

The Indifferent: The old material has aged a bit. We saw Charm School a while back, which was also by Eddie 'Levi' Lee and it was even creakier. Or maybe I'm just jaded.

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