Entry 4: Showings

There are a lot of activities to do to keep oneself entertained in the Phoenix, Arizona area. For almost entire life I have been a major theatre kid. From 6^th grade throughout high school I was always involved with some type of theatre production, whether it be community or with my school. It should come as no surprise then that I enjoy watching theatre just as much as I enjoy acting in it.

This past weekend I watched two different productions of Broadway level performances. The first was Les Miserables produced by Theatre Works. The second was Cabaret at Gammage Theatre, with the Broadway travelling cast. The cast of Theatre Works are some of the most talented young people from across Arizona. The youngest in the cast was a talented 9 year old boy who played the role of Gavroche the oldest was only 18.

Les Miserables is my favorite musical of all time portraying a love story that happens during the French revolution and the power of what can happen when someone is given a chance to make a difference in the world. Theatre Works did an amazing job with their performance. For such a young crowd their vocals were amazing, the acting powerful and their professionalism unmatched. I unashamedly cried at least 6 times during the performance, the actors portraying such powerful emotions on stage. There is something about hearing a room reverberate with the sound of 50 people singing about freedom, revolution and standing up for the downtrodden that I couldn’t help but be moved to tears.

Cabaret has a completely different feel to it than Les Miserables did. Cabaret is show about pre-Nazi Berlin portraying two different love interests and is highly symbolic in nature. I found the first act to be incredibly weak, the writing relies entirely on the sensuality of the dance numbers to keep the audience entertained and does not care much substance to it. I began tracking when characters were portrayed smoking because it was more interesting to try and analyze for symbolic meaning than to pay attention to what was happening with the plot. The first hour and a half provides nothing but exposition with the conflict of the play being introduced less than 5 minutes before intermission. With a weak first act the second act does everything it can do to remedy the mistakes made in the first act. The ending is powerful, it takes the conflict that is introduced in the second and act resolves it in an amazing and heart stopping way.

If you were to be looking for a play to go see I would recommend Les Miserables. While the cast of Cabaret was very skilled and professional the script doesn’t hold up to be worth paying the price to see a play at Gammage. The fact that the cast of Les Miserables is so young brings to life the skill they truly possess and makes the performance even more powerful than it already is.