Theatre

Why at 2 pm on a Sunday?  Because of the Superbowl, stupid.

This play opened up with the actors introducing their characters to the audience, and then starting their play.  The set was very simple with some silver frames and basic chairs, as well as a light board to show texting exchanges.

But it didn’t matter, as the actors really became their characters, especially Mariana Tayler as Fatima.  She was a strong, confident and vocal 16-year old, navigating the first day of school as the only “jabber” (girl wearing a hijab). At the guidance office, she runs into Jorah, at first her nemesis, then eventually her boyfriend.

After the play, the 3-member cast immediately launched into a Q&A session, before Stephanie from the Hop even made it out on the stage.  They play often to high schools and will do so on Monday morning.  Such audiences are often vocal, and have strong opinions about how the characters end up.

Jabber Program

Jabber Study Guide

asdf The introduction to this play was quite unusual.  The audience sat on all 4 sides, and a member of the chorus sat somewhere in each section.  But the stark setting worked well, and the actors moved through the diagonals in the sections, so it didn’t matter which section you were in.

The play was well done, and Hannah Montgomery did a solid job as Medea.  Jason, better known in the myths, has lesser role in this play, but Adlai Coleman did a good job.  The chorus, including Hanover High alum Kate Budney, acted well as a chorus, often speaking together.

The play is a grim one, and I hadn’t read in a long time.  But it is a good play. I don’t remember the original well enough, but this version was certainly brief, and intense, with no fluff, finishing in less than 90 minutes.  Euripides is really a modern ancient playwright.

Medea Program

This was a very popular show, and only a few seats were available when we finally got our tickets.  Fortunately all the seats are good in Moore Theater.

This was another great show by the Theater Department: strong cast, great lighting, sound, dancing, sining.  Truly a professional production.  Virginia Ogden as the Emcee and Justine Goggin as Sally Bowles were both good singers and actresses.  It was great to see Owen O’Leary, Hanover High alum, in a big role, and he sang well.  The first half was quite long, followed by a quite short second half, I’m not sure why the split went there.  However, the ending was quite powerful, with the lighting and costumes quite effective.  Sally’s bittersweet and ironic Cabaret song was a great way to end.

In looking up the show, I did remember Liza Minelli, and that was in the Bob Fosse movie.  But the original goes back to a novel by Christopher Isherwood, echoed as Clifford Bradshaw in the show.  He did indeed live in Germany in that period with Jean Ross, the model for Sally Bowles.  His autobiographical novel Goodbye to Berlin features her and the events that eventually become Cabaret

Program Notes

We were lucky to get some tickets from a friend for this sell-out musical.  The Dartmouth show was a very well done Broadway-caliber show.

Theater Dept Chicago playbill