Monday, November 1, 2010

Reefer Madness

by Paul Franklin (BlakYak Theatre Production at the Phoenix Theatre)

The play description from the BlakYak website.
Reefer Madness the musical – Inspired by the original 1936 film of the same name, this raucous musical comedy takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the hysteria caused when clean-cut kids fall prey to marijuana, leading them on a hysterical downward spiral filled with evil jazz music, sex and violence. You won’t be able to resist the spoofy fun of Reefer Madness. The addictive and clever musical numbers range from big Broadway-style showstoppers to swing tunes like “Down at the Ol’ Five and Dime” and the Vegas-style “Listen to Jesus, Jimmy,” featuring J.C. Himself leading a chorus of showgirl angels. This dynamic show will go straight to your head!

One of the most wonderful musicals I have seen this year! I at first just thought it would be a brainless sort of play like the one I watched last week, The Sorting Room. But this play was in a class of its own. Firstly all the actors were wonderful and sang absolutely beautifully. They were also faithful to the time period, and the characters spoke with American accents of the period, that of the mid 20th century. The props though very little, were more than compensated for with the great costumes and the charisma and talent of the actors and actresses. The only fault I have is with ending, which I felt with a bit rushed and wrapper up haphazardly. But then again the story is what it is, and the quality of performance makes up for this. Overall, the journey was just so much fun and entertaining that at the end you did not really care where it ended.

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