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(04/20/16 10:02pm)
“Gene Kelly, tap dancing and a lamppost.” In his program note, actor William Cohen ’16 lists what most people associate with “Singin’ in the Rain.” Made famous by Gene Kelly’s iconic performance in the titular number in the 1952 film, a musical theater classic about Hollywood’s shift from silent film to talkies.The Lewis Center for the Arts’ recent production, directed and co-choreographed by Adin Walker ’16, does something different. As Cohen continues, “With this production, I wanted to play homage but also reinvent. I wanted to play Don Lockwood, not Gene Kelly.”The Lewis Center’s production does exactly that: pay homage and reinvent. In other words, the production successfully breathes new life into the classic.The primary vehicle through which the production reinvents is the music. Some songs are performed traditionally, but most songs are performed almost as acoustic covers of the originals. These acoustic covers include “Fit as a Fiddle,” the vaudeville number Don Lockwood (Billy Cohen ’16) and Cosmo Brown (Allen Hernandez ’16) perform and “You Were Meant for Me,” the ballad Lockwood sings for his love interest Kathy Selden (Madeline Reese ’16). Just as the Golden Age music of the original “Singin’ in the Rain” score was trendy for a 1950s public, so are these acoustic covers “hip” for Princeton’s 2016 audience.A number of songs are performed traditionally, with an excellent rendition of “Good Morning” and an iffy if not explicit version of “Make ‘Em Laugh.” But more interesting are the songs that fully swerve off of their traditional rendering, some being more successful than others. “Beautiful Girls,” traditionally performed as a big ensemble number while being filmed for the movie, is here performed as a more intimate piece between Jared Hopper ’18 and Kamber Hart ’16. As the doll-like subject of Hopper’s heart in this pseudo-dream sequence, Hart fills the dancing and acting requirements of the role with aplomb. Hopper and Hart’s duet elicits themes of unrealistic expectations in beauty, abusive relationships and structural misogyny found in American musical theater.Less successful is the production’s reinvention of “All I Do is Dream of You.” In a more traditional performance, Selden, working as a party entertainer, jumps out of a fake pastel pink cake and performs with fellow pink-clad dancing girls. This production keeps the cake, but changes the costumes; instead of scantily-clad entertainers, the production features dancers wearing, playing and dancing with balloons. Not only does the change make the details inconsistent, but the balloons become a logistical nightmare: hand-offs are sloppy and balloons wander around the stage — the aesthetic hardly works. Surely there would be a more effective way to contemporize the party scene.All in all, props are excellent — including umbrellas and musical instruments make frequent appearances — most especially in Alexander Quetell’s ’17 performance on a saxophone in “Moses Supposes.” The use of flower petals as stunt devices provides an aesthetic and low-maintenance stage effect when used to recreate the pie-throwing scene and when used as a continuation of a dancer's movement.Occasionally, clever props are not implemented to their full potential. The titular song falls flat when mirrors — an atypical but brilliant prop choice for the number — are incorporated too late to be effectively used.There are many brilliant performances, especially including Cohen ’16, Reese ’16, Hernandez ’16, Stanley Mathabane ’17, Ross Barron ’17, Hopper ’18, Hart ’16 and Quetell ’17. But most impressive is the new, contemporary life brought to the production by Walker ’16, a revitalization that would surely “Save Lockwood and Lamont.”
(04/20/16 9:59pm)
To finish the academic year 2015-16 season, Princeton University Players presented “City of Angels” in the Frist Film/Performance Theater, directed by Michelle Goldman ’18, and currently presents “Dogfight” in the Class of 1970 Theater in Whitman College, directed by Abby Jean-Baptiste ’18. Both musicals focus on prominent moments in America in the twentieth century: “City of Angels” pays homage to film noir, a style popular in Hollywood in the 1940s and “Dogfight,” set in the 1960s, follows three “jarhead” Marines the night before they head out to fight in Vietnam. While PUP’s production of “City of Angels” features little thematic substance, PUP’s “Dogfight” not only focuses on themes of masculinity and beauty, but also allows for Jean-Baptiste to challenge and complicate its themes.The frame story of “City of Angels” features Stine (Joe Redmond ’18), a writer who has compromised on his dream to be a great novelist by writing popular but substance-less screenplays. Stine’s main character and foil is Stone (Stefan Lee ’18), a misogynistic, constantly inebriated private investigator. When the wealthy Alaura Kingsley (Allison Light ’18) approaches Stone, she brings him a new case: her daughter-in-law, Mallory (Alexandra Mendelsohn ’18) has gone missing, and Kingsley needs Stone to find the girl.As “City of Angels” traces events both in the real and literary worlds, the audience meets a number of outrageous characters and experiences a handful of strong performances. In the most entertaining twist in the story, Stone has a run in with the mob, led by Munoz (played by Luke Soucy ’19).Two of the strongest performers in the show are Carly Maitlin ’19 as the eager-to-please Oolie/Donna and Cecily Polonsky ’19 as the love interest Gabby/Bobbi. Maitlin and Polonsky’s performance of “What You Don’t Know About Women” is easily the highlight of the production, a production that otherwise has spotty musical performances, with the other exception being the dapper balladeer’s (Calvin Wentling ’18) performances during scene transitions.On the acting side, Evan Gedrich ’18 steals the show with his outrageous performance as the qualmless producer Buddy and both Redmond and Lee are well suited in terms of acting, though both musical performances are strained.Technical elements are poor: lighting is sloppy, often failing to light faces; scene changes are absurdly long; and, the mixing of vocals with music skewed. The space itself — Frist Film/Performance Theater — is unsuited for live theater. Neither an intimate black box nor a traditional proscenium stage, Frist boasts shoddy acoustics and sight-lines, making it a space likely only good for film viewings and improv comedy. The band — in a happy contrast to most student pits — gets the job done.Costumes (Rebecca Schnell ’18) are smatterings of pieces from actors’ closets and other modern pieces. Costuming mistakes are egregious: one actress is clearly uncomfortable in her too-short and too-revealing slit skirt and actors, when not wearing modern shoes, wear tan character shoes with black tights — an inappropriate look for the period.Though blocking is solid, choreography is unoriginal and — frankly — uncomfortable to watch. The actors might make an effort, but the vision simply doesn’t come through.Just as there is little substance to Stine’s screenplays, so is there little substance in PUP’s “City of Angels.” The production does nothing to thematically or artistically challenge or advance theater at Princeton, hardly even providing an evening of entertainment.“Dogfight,” though largely a different story, suffers from some of the same symptoms as “City of Angels.”In the titular “Dogfight,” Marines Birdlace (Anthony Sermarini ’19), Boland (Charlie Cohen ’19) and Bernstein (Stephen Chao ’19) vie for pooled money, with the winner being the man who brings along the most ugly date. The plot is trite — something a la the 1998 French comedy “Le Dîner de Cons” and its 2010 American adaptation, “Dinner for Schmucks,” starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd — so it is only expected that Birdlace ends up falling for his “schmuck” date, Rose (Deirdre Ricaurte ’16).Director Jean-Baptiste notes the inadequacies in the text and attempts to complicate the plot by casting women as Marines — Lena Volpe ’19 plays Stevens and Jessica Bailey ’19 plays Fector. Unfortunately, this complication happens on the sidelines: these characters take minor roles in comparison to the lead and supporting Birdlace, Boland and Bernstein. Additionally, when Jean-Baptiste attempts to comment upon the definition of beauty, she decides that “the primary perception of ugliness would be through the eyes of the marines,” as indicated in her Director’s Note. Why, then, does Ricaurte wear makeup to make it seem as if Rose has bushy eyebrows? Doing so superimposes the Marines’ perception of ugliness onto Rose, forcing the audience to view the woman as the Marines do. Would it not have been better for Ricaurte to wear no makeup and therein establish significant dissidence between what the Marines and the audience see?Ricaurte is by far the strongest performer in the production, excelling in her portrayal and vocal performance as the awkward musician Rose. Volpe ’19 and Bailey ’19 give solid performances and the many freshmen in the production promise to be assets to the Princeton theater community. Kirsten Hansen ’19 gives a great performance as the prostitute Marcy; she regularly receives laughter and sings the titular song with aplomb. Indeed, it is her rape scene that is the most compelling moment in the production. Jean-Baptiste makes bold choices in her interpretation of Marcy's rape, a 30-second moment that pushes the audience into discomfort and disillusionment. More than any other moment in PUP's 2015-16 season, this is the single most excellent use of the stage for social commentary and is a clear indication of Jean-Baptiste's skill as a director.Technical elements of the production are mixed. The set consists of poorly placed propaganda posters, actors’ blocks and piano benches (Nico Krell ’18, Megan Berry ’19, Nick Nelsonwood ’18 and Will Alvarado ’19). Choreography (Victoria Gu ’18 and Lauren Wodarski ’17) is clever but sorely implemented, and only occasionally well executed: "Hey Good Lookin," for example, features fun, upbeat choreography that the actors obviously enjoy performing, making it the highlight of the first act, but the choreography in “Dogfight" gets off on the wrong foot: at the very beginning of the production, actors portraying sleazy Marines slow dance like middle schoolers. On the positive side, the use of a moveable costume rack is excellent, and costumes are far above par for a Princeton production (Isabel O’Connell ’18). The pit is an enormous strength of the production and the single best pit PUP has seen in years (directed by Lou Chen ’19).“City of Angels”Pros: talented cast and crew, clever musical, catchy tunesCons: poor thematic execution, poor technical elements, too longPaws: 1/5“Dogfight”Pros: plenty of freshmen talent, strong performances from Ricaurte ’16 and Hansen ’19, dreamy “First Date / Last Night”Cons: cringe-worthy portrayal of guerrilla warfare in Vietnam, shaky vocal performances, poor acting at pointsPaws: 3.5/5“Dogfight” played in the Class of 1970 Theater in Whitman College on April 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. and April 16 at both 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
(04/06/16 9:42pm)
In 1945, playwright Mary Coyle Chase became the fourth woman to ever receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Her 1944 play “Harvey” is best known for its 1950 film adaptation starring James (Jimmy) Stewart ’32 as Elwood Dowd, a man reasonable enough — except that he claims an unseen giant rabbit as his best friend.Theatre Intime’s current production of “Harvey,” directed by Matt Blazejewski ’17, showcases many strong performers and strong aesthetics. Nonetheless, the production is a standard if not flat rendition of the play, only marginally touching on themes of acceptance and inclusion.The audience first meets Veta Louise Simmons (Anastasia Repouliou ’18) and her daughter Myrtle Mae Simmons (Rebecca Schnell ’18), who comically skirt the topic of their family member’s best friend for as long as possible.Complications emerge when Simmons attempts to commit her brother to a psychiatric institution. During Simmons’ preliminary interview with the young Dr. Lyman Sanderson (Marcelo Jaimes-Lukes ’19), Sanderson decides it is Simmons — not her brother Dowd — who needs treatment. When Sanderson discovers that the eager-to-please nurse Ruth Kelly R.N. (Katarzyna Kalinowska ’19) and the bumpkin Duane Wilson (Matthew Chuckran ’17) have already committed Dowd, madness and mayhem ensue: Sanderson and his highly esteemed employer Dr. William R. Chumley (Sean Toland GS) must right their wrong, find Dowd and attempt to solve the psychiatric puzzle behind “Harvey”.A number of performances are particularly strong. Jaimes-Lukes is well suited for the role of the levelheaded Dr. Lyman Sanderson and Toland excels as the highly esteemed Dr. William R. Chumley. In her cameos, Sally Lemkemeier ’18 lights up the stage as Ethel Chauvenet and Betty Chumley. Chuckran, a relative newcomer to the campus theater community, gets a number of laughs in his performance as the incompetent and illiterate Wilson.Luke Soucy ’19 gives a phenomenal performance as Elwood P. Dowd. Very much channeling Stewart’s “down-to-earth” persona, Soucy carries both Dowd’s comic and philosophical moments well.The aesthetics of “Harvey” are above par for Princeton productions. Costumes (Emma Claire Jones ’18) are the best Theatre Intime has seen in years. Stunning 1940s ensembles following a pastel palette are many. Though some dresses — namely, the dresses worn by the maid and nurse — are too short, the costumes are by and large gorgeous and period-appropriate. Schnell dons a beautiful floor-length rose-color dress and, later, a tea-length navy-blue ensemble. Repouliou wears red — a matronly black-accented dress at first and a shirt and skirt ensemble later. Lemkemeier’s outrageous fur coat reveals a stunning teal dress and jacket — perfectly suited for actor and character alike. The male ensembles are smart, period-appropriate, color-coordinated and, in a revolutionary move for Princeton theater, clunky character shoes are nowhere to be found, with actors instead donning T-strap heels and stylish period shoes.The set (Matthew Volpe ’16) is split into two: half the stage makes up the Dowd estate and half the psychiatric institution. Though the set walls might be at a bit too steep of an angle and the clearance between Dowd’s desk and the set wall is a smidge too narrow, all in all the set is brilliant. The upstage mahogany double doors transform into a hallway in the psychiatric institution. One side of the desk serves as a personal desk at the Dowd estate and when turned around, the other side serves as the work desk in the sanitarium. The coloring is beautiful: a dark, rich wood for the estate and an off-white and teal dressing for the psychiatric institution.Moving past performances and aesthetics, however, the production becomes a bit wobbly. Audience members are mere bystanders to Dowd’s estrangement from his family and friends while themes of acceptance and inclusion really only enter the discussion in the last five minutes of the play. Blocking is sloppy if not poor, lines are dropped and overacting is commonplace; indeed, the play neither occurs in reality nor in the absurd, but in an uncomfortable in-between.“Harvey” as a text can be considered a masterpiece in the canon of American drama. This production undoubtedly features strong performances and aesthetic qualities. Though Blazejewski’s rendition does provide its audience a couple of hours of chuckles, it does little to expand the boundaries of theater at Princeton University.Theatre Intime's “Harvey,” is playing April 7 and 8 at 9 p.m. and April 9 at both 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Murray Theatre, Murray-Dodge Hall.Pros: iconic piece of American theater, good laughs, strong performances and high-quality aestheticsCons: little thematic advancement until the final five minutes, sloppy blocking, frequent inappropriate overactingPaws: 2.5/5
(03/23/16 10:42pm)
The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater’s “Annie & Rose” is a theatrical exploration of two musical theater staples. Through cutting, splicing and – at times – recreating, Katie Birenboim ’16 and Michaela Milgrom ’16 present complicated portraits of the two titular women.“Annie & Rose” draws from two classics in musical theater, both with strong female leads. “Annie Get Your Gun” spotlights vaudeville at its prime, focusing on the beginning of Annie Oakley’s career and her subsequent success and love life. “Gypsy,” in contrast, takes place when vaudeville is being phased out, focusing on the life and work of the overbearing stage mother Rose and her two daughters.“Annie & Rose” follows the basic plot structure of each musical, alternating between the songs and scenes of “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Gypsy”. With a few exceptions, the cast is shared between the two plots.In terms of the roles themselves, “Annie & Rose” is perfectly suited for Birenboim and Milgrom. Birenboim pulls off the backwoods Annie convincingly, and Milgrom’s stellar voice excels in Rose’s many solos.Other casting is a mixed bag.Jared Brendon Hopper ’18 gives a spotty performance in the role of Herbie, Rose’s love interest and talent manager. Despite Hopper’s excellent vocals and superb attention to detail in characterization, his performance does very little to materialize the complicated relationship between Rose and Herbie, who are both lovers and business associates. “Annie & Rose” does little justice to Robby Keown ’17, whose blocking and characterizations are clearly contrived and, though Ben Diamond ’19 gets laughs with his performance as the strip club manager Pastey, his other roles fall flat.One of the greatest shortcomings of “Annie & Rose” is the underuse of strong performers.Kevin McElwee ’18, a newcomer to the Princeton theater scene, gave strong performances in his admittedly limited roles. Melanie Berman ’18, though given a few good moments on stage, most of which are heightened sexual innuendos, lacks the opportunity to showcase her strong vocal capacity. Most notably, Alex Daniels ’17 and Emily Libresco ’17 are sorely underused in the production, nonetheless stealing the show with their ridiculous stripteases in “Gotta Get a Gimmick.”Other performers are hardly challenged in the production.Meagan Raker ’18 gives an excellent performance as June, Rose’s youngest daughter. Yet, her performance is nothing new, only a slight variation on the roles Raker has had in nearly every production she has been a part of at Princeton. “Annie & Rose,” as an educational exploration of two musicals, would have been the perfect opportunity for Raker to undertake a different and more challenging role.And yet, though few and far between, some actors simply excel in their roles.Sam Gravitte ’17 gives a stellar performance as Frank, Annie’s love interest and sharpshooting rival. Gravitte fulfills the vocal requirements of the role superbly and nails both the physical and personal characterization of the role.Most astoundingly, Emma Watkins ’18 gives a stunning performance as Louise, Rose’s eldest and least talented daughter. Watkins pulls of the lanky, uncoordinated Young Louise very well and goes on to give an incredible if not baffling performance in her impromptu strip tease.Though featuring a number of the most popular songs from each musical, the highlights of “Annie & Rose” are the unique song mixes, when actors sing different songs from the two musicals simultaneously. The mash-ups of “There’s No Business Like Show Business” with “Let Me Entertain You,” “Moonshine Lullaby” with “Little Lamb,” “Sun in the Morning” with “Together Wherever” and “Anything You Can Do” with “Gypsy Strip” reveal the astounding continuities between the two shows.Perhaps this performance reveals a double-edged sword. In splicing the musicals, Birenboim and Milgrom draw mostly parallels between the two shows. Indeed, the format of “Annie & Rose” reveals that the two musicals, renowned for their strong female leads, are formulaic in nature. In attempting to demonstrate that Annie and Rose are not “archaic,” Birenboim and Milgrom reveal something worse – that the women are just two sides to the same coin, women who use men to move up in their careers and ultimately find themselves trapped between men and career. While one chooses man and the other career, the careers of the two women bear an uncanny resemblance to one another. Both manipulated men to make it to the top and were ultimately more or less unable to make it there.Though casting is largely a mixed bag, with actors missing the mark or lacking adequate challenge, the content of “Annie & Rose” and, in broad strokes, its performance explores the intersection of womanhood and show business, raising more questions than it seems to answer.3/5 PawsPros: occasional strong performances, excellent thematic explorationCons: many contrived and shallow performances
(03/02/16 10:56pm)
“But how will this compare to the story you will hear tomorrow?” In their production of "When Dawn Breaks," Theatre Intime presents an immersive theatrical experience and adaptation of "One Thousand and One Arabian Nights," also known as "The Arabian Nights."
(02/17/16 10:30pm)
Theatre Intime’s Freshman One Act Festival (OAF) presents a unique opportunity for Princeton University freshmen to produce and perform an annual main stage show, with freshmen directing, designing and acting in the production. OAF 2016 presents four one-acts —three contemporary short plays followed by a classic.
(02/14/16 8:16pm)
“No pain, no thoughts.” Ensemble members echo this haunting line in Princeton Shakespeare Company’s recent production of Heiner Müller’s “Hamletmachine.” A post-modern, one-act play basedroughly on Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Hamletmachine” was written in 1977 Soviet-ruled East Berlin. The script is a mere eight pages long, giving the creative team the freedom to creatively expand on Müller’s written text. And yet, while the script’s brevity enables the production to take some liberties, we see that the text itself demands to be understood, both within its original political context and as a piece of timeless and stateless theater.In many ways, the play is inseparable from the systematic oppression of its original late-20th century sociopolitical context. Strong Nazi imagery runs throughout: actors goosestep and refer to concentration and extermination camps. Politically charged references to communism and senseless oppression pervade the text. Actors proclaim that “something is rotten in this age of hope”– a twist on the famous line spoken in Hamlet. Similarly, actors call for the fall of “the joy of oppression,” a rather overt attack on the Soviet communist state of the period.Indeed, a ballet of “dead women,” with characters who are identified as Marx, Stalin and Lenin, serves not only to ridicule the historic figures, but also connects the text's political message with its message on gender. This ballet, set to contemporary lyrical music, repeats the phrase, “Thank God I’m pretty.” The ballet features Kathy Zhao ’17 as a particularly strong performer and serves to challenge our understanding of gender roles and expectations. Interestingly, after the scene titled “Striptease of Ophelia,” featuring the fully masked Stefanie Webb ’17, Hamlet decides to become a woman. In challenging our understanding of masculinism and the ethics of war in “Pest in Buda: Battle of Greenland,” we encounter Hamlet as neither a lover nor a son, but instead as a soldier. As Hamlet urges his fellow ensemble members and comrades to join arms in an absurdist rebellion, it becomes increasingly obvious how fruitless his belligerent words and actions are. Indeed, at the end of “Hamletmachine”, the text asks whether everyone might have “blood on their shoes.”In complementing its discourse on gender roles and expectations, "Hamletmachine" fixates on the human body as a sexual being. Claudius beds Gertrude in the coffin of her late husband and watches as Ophelia gives Hamlet a lap dance. In addition to necrophilic and voyeuristic themes, incest appears repeatedly in "Hamletmachine". Actors suggest that Polonius wants to bed his daughter Ophelia and the line “The mother’s lap is no one-way street,” referring to Gertrude’s bedding of two brothers, haunts the play. The obsession with the corporal is not just limited to the sexual. Indeed, themes of cannibalism occur, too, such as when we see the body of the elder and late Hamlet dismembered and eaten.Most successfully and significantly, PSC’s "Hamletmachine" tackles mental health issues, such as depression and suicide. Astutely, in his Director’s Note, T.J. Smith '16 reflects on how, rather oddly, Hamlet’s “‘to be or not to be’ is accepted so blithely.”“Suicidal ideation,” Smith writes, “no matter how beautifully phrased, is not beautiful.”Smith challenges the audience to reconsider how we understand even the most “beautifully phrased” suicidal ideations. Instead of romanticizing Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts, we see him distancing himself from loved ones when he asks his mute friend Horatio, “If you know me, how can you be my friend?” Most poignantly, in a scene titled, “The Europe of the Woman,” we meet four women – “Woman on the Gallows,” “Woman with the Cut Arteries,” “Woman with the Overdose” and “Woman with the Head in the Gas Oven” – each of whom commits suicide. This performance of suicidal acts – hanging, cutting, stabbing and burning – is disturbingly beautiful, moments that force the audience to reconsider how we define and understand even the most “beautifully phrased” and seemingly artistic reflections of suicidal inclinations.Outside of its sociopolitical discourses, "Hamletmachine" features a number of outstanding performances.Sean Toland GS acts as a professor at the University of the Dead, spewing philosophy in English, German, Latin and Greek and throwing books at the young and distracted Hamlet. Webb takes unbelievable risks as Hamlet that are unprecedented in the Princeton University theater scene, including lap-dancing, stripping and full nudity, and is able to make her risks work successfully. Bar none, Fey Popoola '19 gives the most consistent and riveting performance. Her characterization of the cackling, incestuous Gertrude, whose wedding veil and mourning veil are one and the same, who consummates her second marriage when her first husband has not yet been interred in the ground, is nothing short of marvelous. Most notably, Popoola’s characterization of “Woman on the Gallows” is remarkably genuine and her cackling echoes in the theater long after the lights have dimmed.The production is not without its flaws – emotion is at times artificial, blocking off-putting and soundtrack awkward. Yet, by maintaining historical context while focusing on larger themes such as gender and mental health, PSC’s "Hamletmachine" is an excellent rendition and expansion of theatrical post-modernism. It would behoove other student theater campuses to learn from "Hamletmachine," a production that uses theater as a testament to historical movements, as a witness to current social issues and as a medium to promote strong performers.4/5 PawsPros: historically compelling, relevant social issues and strong performancesCons: occasional disingenuous emotions, off-putting blocking, long scene changes and awkward canned music
(04/29/15 7:30pm)
Were the young soldiers who fought in Vietnam heroes, courageously combating the Viet Cong to defend the Constitution, or murderers, blindly executing brutal orders as agents of circumstance? The Lewis Center’s “Hero”— a work written, directed and choreographed by Eamon Foley ’15 – asks this question. Foley’s “Hero” effectively humanizes the soldiers, dually depicting the death and tragedy of war as well as the “hopes and expectations” of the soldiers.
(03/10/15 10:59pm)
“There are some people who have a fire in the belly. I think they go to work on Wall Street or they run for office. And then there are people who have a fire in their heads — and they become writers or scientists or historians. … And then there are people like me … I have a fire in my heart.”
(03/10/15 10:59pm)
“There’s a moment you know you’re fucked,” Melchior Gabor (Billy Cohen ’16) laments in the Lewis Center’s production of “Spring Awakening,” directed by Julia Hammer ’15. Set in late 19th-century Germany, the rock musical explores the teenage angst, suppressed sexuality and suicidal tendencies of a group of students, homing in on Gabor’s friendship with Moritz Stiefel (John Somers Fairchild ’15) and romantic relationship with Wendla Bergmann (Maddie Meyers ’17). Despite a compelling story and a few standout performances, many elements of the production are patchy.
(02/25/15 9:25pm)
“We’re all one,” boasts the howling Woof (Dylan Blau Edelstein ’17) at the top of PUP’s colorful production of “Hair,” directed by Cat Andre ’17. Following a tribe of friends through sexual revolution, drug experimentation and dissatisfaction with the status quo, this rock musical is hardly a “safe” choice of production. With a script notorious for its lack of character arcs and its absurdity throughout, all too often “Hair” falls from a united piece of social commentary to a disjointed, drug-induced musical revue. While keeping all the moving parts of “Hair”straight is quite a challenge, it is a challenge that, with a few exceptions, PUP’s productionovercomes.