Treasure Island - Forrest Theater, Carmel by the Sea

As is my custom, when attending theatrical performances, I would like to write a review of Treasure Island now playing at the Forrest Theater. However, my review will be incomplete as I was only able to attend the last half of the show. Do to a few "hiccups" on the way to Carmel from Gualala state park campground, Clayton and I arrived to the said theater at intermission. We stayed for the rest of the performance so I would like to give you what little I can in case anyone would like to attend. The play closes this weekend if you plan to go.

It was cute. The props were awesome, as always, the atmosphere was light and fun (we attended the 2:00 pm matinee on Sunday) and everyone seemed to be in a jolly mood. I did have some problems with the acting however. Young Jim Hawkins left a lot to be desired. OH sure . . . he had his words memorized, but there was no feeling or emotion behind them. ok, ok. . he is a kid . . . but still!! Long John Silver was great along with Ben Gunn. Many of the others were somewhat pitiful actors.

Overall, entertaining but would not go back to watch the entire preformance.

Now.. . . next month they are showing Alice in Wonderland in which we plan to attend. I will write another review at that time :-)

The Sound of Music ~ A Review

Janell, I stole your parents for the evening. . . . and I liked it!! mwuahahaha!!!!

Ok, so a group of us attended The Sound of Music at the 24th St. Theater last weekend. . . it was delightful! Many of plays have I seen at this theater, and all are worth the $20 admission price (with the exception of one which I will not name but which we left after the first scene and were able to get our money back). If you are unaware of the story line, here is a synopsis:

“In 1930's Austria, a young woman named Maria is failing miserably in her attempts to become a nun. When the Navy captain Georg Von Trapp writes to the convent asking for a governess that can handle his seven mischievous children, Maria is given the job. The Captain's wife is dead, and he is often away, and runs the household as strictly as he does the ships he sails on. The children are unhappy and resentful of the governesses that their father keeps hiring, and have managed to run each of them off one by one. When Maria arrives, she is initially met with the same hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws them to her and brings some much-needed joy into all their lives--including the Captain’s. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though Georg is already engaged to a Baroness and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made. Their personal conflicts soon become overshadowed, however, by world events. Austria is about to come under the control of Germany, and the Captain may soon find himself drafted into the German navy and forced to fight against his own country.” Written by LOTUS73

If you would like to attend this performance you must hurry!! The last showing is on November 23! (also, I would recommend dining first at Crepeville, across the street from the theater)

The Wizard of Oz ~ A Review

Ok. . . a little late on this post, but a couple of weekends ago the gang (Hammonds’ Family, Moya Family and Mr. Wyatt) went to Monterey and Carmel for the weekend. Among other things, we enjoyed the performance of “The Wizard of Oz” at the Forrest Theater. I have written about the Forrest Theater before and most of my reviews were great!! (exception: Evita) This review will be no different. . . I give The Wizard of Oz a rating of very entertaining and pleasurable.

Because of the fact that we went on the very first night of this theatrical performance (were able to get the tickets at ½ price), some of the props were not all the way completed and there were some small mistakes throughout the play. . . nothing that couldn’t be overlooked, however. Dorothy’s voice was just a tad bit annoying, but the Wicked Witch was AMAZING!! She did a really, really good job. As Dorothy makes her way through the land of OZ she encounters many different individuals. . . Glinda, the good witch, arrives and leaves most of her scenes airborne on a glittery swing, the Munchkins were adorable, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow were all in character quite well and the Wicked Witch and Flying Monkeys are also airborne throughout the performance. There was an overall “good” feeling to this performance and I would definitely recommend it!!
Toto was ADORABLE!!! and such a good actor too!


The following day, we enjoyed some of the sights around Carmel/Monterey: Carmel beach, Lover's point, Shopping in downtown Carmel (met some interesting people in a certain "soap" store), listening to Louis Lamour stories on the beach, so on and so forth! :-)

Sweeney Todd ~ A Review

Ok. . . Sweeney Todd has captured my attention for a while now. It perhaps started when I heard Josh Groban sing “Not while I’m around” live in concert. I then met Josh and learned that his dog’s name was Sweeney . . . “as in Sweeney Todd??” said I.

I learned about a month ago that Sweeney Todd, the Broadway musical, was coming to Sacramento and was playing at the Music Circus, Wells Fargo Pavilion. I was determined to get a group together to see this well known musical. Several of my closest buds had agreed to go and we set the plan in motion.

First of all. . . I had never been to the Music Circus before. It was great!! The theater was situated with seats surrounding a small stage in the center. The actors/actresses would enter from several corridors making it a bit more interactive with the theater goers. The atmosphere is quite a bit more relaxed than the Sacramento Community Theater . . . one may purchase food and beverages in the outside pavilion (complete with waterfall) and bring these goods inside the theater!

Ok . . . on to the story of Mr. Todd. According to Wikipedia, “In Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the 1973 play of the same name by Christopher Bond, Todd was known as Benjamin Barker, a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with an infant daughter Johanna. The villainous Judge Turpin exiles Barker to Australia on false charges in order to have Lucy to himself. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself and that Turpin adopted baby Johanna as his ward. By the time Todd returns to London, Johanna has become a young woman and falls in love with a sailor, Anthony, with whom she plans to elope.

In the Sondheim musical, Mrs. Lovett takes in an orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, after Sweeney kills Toby's previous guardian, Adolfo Pirelli, who turns out to be a former assistant of his that tries to blackmail him. Toby is the first character to catch onto Sweeney Todd's crimes and also is responsible for Todd's death in the finale.”
Benjamin Barker, Sweeney Todd, is full of hate, vengeance and murder. His sole purpose is to kill Judge Turpin but after the first killing of Mr. Pirelli, Sweeney cannot stop his lust for blood. He begins to kill all of his customers and Mrs. Lovett then makes meat pies out of them to sell in her shop . . . “Seems an awful waste...I mean, with the price of meat what it is, When you get it...If you get it...” she argues.

It was actually quite funny, yet gorey and morbid. While my good buddy Chris would argue with me on this subject, I believe that the moral of the story is what sin, vengeance, bitterness and hate can do to a person. Mr. Barker was not an animal with murderous intents when the whole story started. Yes, he was done wrong . . .very wrong, but he allowed thoughts to enter his head and after the first taste of blood he could no longer control his hunger for vengeance and was eaten up with it. (this could deffinitely preach!!!) It just shows how low humanity can go without even really realizing it . . . This man no longer cared who he killed, when he killed them, or how. . . . . Think good and hard before you let bitterness and hate creep into your heart. . . . dumm dum dum dum duuuummmmmmm (scary music)

Go ahead Chris. . . I know you are ready with a rebuttle. . . ha!!

Evita. . . A review

Evita. . . .hummm. . . what can I say about Evita??

According to the description of Evita on the Forest Theater Guild’s website:

“Argentina's controversial First Lady is the subject of this dynamic musical masterpiece. As an illegitimate fifteen year old, Eva escaped her dirt-poor existence for the bright lights of Buenos Aires. Driven by ambition and blessed with charisma, she was a starlet at twenty-two, the president's mistress at twenty-four, First Lady at twenty-seven, and dead at thirty-three. Eva Peron "saint to the working-class, reviled by the aristocracy and mistrusted by the military" was destined to leave a fascinating political legacy unique in the 20th century. Told through a compelling score that fuses haunting chorales with exuberant Latin, pop and jazz influences, EVITA creates an arresting theatrical portrait as complex as the woman herself.”

Well. . . The description sounded great so I was anxious to see the production. I invited several of my friends to join me, one of which is now living in Pennsylvania and was desperate for some good theater while she was out visiting, and we made our way down to Monterey/Carmel for the day. We ate lunch on Fisherman’s Warf in Monterey and headed down to Carmel for some shopping and a little beach time. . . . . it was very enjoyable and the air was clean and sweet (compared to the Sacramento air) . . .The time came to make our way to the grocery store to pick up our dinner and head over to the theater.



The play started off with the announcement of Eva Peron’s death to the people of Argentina. It was a little weird. . . . it only got worse. Eva started off as a singer/actress and worked her way up the latter by doing a variety of different things (some not so good). . . she then met Mr. Peron, a captain in the army, and smoozed him. . . she convinced him to run for office and convinced to people to vote for him. . .at that point, it was half time and our group decided that it wasn’t worth the time to stay for the ending. LOL!! The singing was horrible, the dancing was atrocious, the acting was pitiful and the music was awful!! We had fun laughing at it all though. I was oober embarrassed because my brother and I were the only ones to have seen a play at the forest theater before and had bragged about how great it was!!! It was quite a let down. . . .come to find out, there are two different acting groups that use the theater and the good one that we usually go see doesn’t start until the fall! I may be able to redeem myself when we go see the Wizard of Oz in August. . . sigh. . . .
The Stage. . .
The band. . . uhhhh. . . yeahhh

By the way . . . I don’t recommend this production. :-)

The Phantom of the Opera: A review

Last Saturday night I enjoyed my graduation present from my wonderful brother. . . . orchestra seat tickets to the last performance of The Phantom of the Opera at the Sacramento Community Theater. In addition to myself, Ryan & Kelly, Bro. & Sis. Moya, my mom and dad, James & Emily, Jared & Charity, Nate & Amanda, Ryan C. & LaChrisha and Drew also enjoyed the performance. I have to say. . . . I have seen The Phantom of the Opera at least 3 or 4 times and this performance was THE BEST YET!! I was almost brought to tears when the phantom provided such a heart wrenching performance of “the music of the night” . . . . (The phantom, listening and watching Raul and Christine sing “that’s all I ask of you” and feeling betrayed, softly sings “I gave you my music, made your song take wing . . . and now, how you’ve repaid me . . . denied me and betrayed me. . . . Christine. . . .”) and then wraps up the night with outstanding acting and singing as Christine must make a choice between freeing Raul and staying with the phantom forever or leaving Raul to perish as she makes her escape. It was all very emotional. More emotions were to come when I saw a picture of the phantom in the playbill (very nice) and decided to catch a peek of the actual actors as they were exiting the building. I was disappointed. . . . the phantom did not seem to be the same dashing man whose photograph was in the playbill, but rather an older and a bit “heftier” version. LOL! Oh well . . . he still did wonderfully! I was much pleased with the whole production and cannot thank my brother enough for this exceptional gift.


I haven't been able to stop singing "Phantom" songs since. . . *sigh*

Day Trip

This last Thursday I spent an enjoyable day in Monterey and Carmel with my two buddies, Beth and Jenna! We walked around Cannery Row where we bought fudge, candy, caramel apples and enjoyed free samples of clam chowder and Ghirardelli chocolate. Afterwards we made our way down to Carmel where we played on beautiful Carmel beach, witnessed a massacre of crabs, stocked an Irish Wolfhound (I want one, you see), and grabbed some soup and sand which before heading to the Forrest Theatre to enjoy a production of Lerner and Lowe’s Camelot. The Irish Wolfhound is the big, shaggy, grey dog
Massacre of litte crabs. . .so sad
"Beach Surfing"
Camelot proved to be a delightful little play and I was thoroughly glad that we made the trip down for it! The story began with Arthur meeting Guinevere and proceeded to the creation of the “round table.” The French knight, Lancelot Duloc, arrived on scene to promise his services to King Arthur and this new “round table.” In the process. . . Lancelot and Guinevere seem to have fallen in love, although I can’t really say that I blame Guinevere in this case. . . Lancelot was extremely good looking!!! (but it was very wrong. . very wrong indeed!!) hehe. Lancelot and Guinevere are found out and Lancelot must flee or be captured. The decision on how to punish Guinevere then falls to Arthur. In all justice he should burn Guinevere at the stake, but he loves her too much. In his indecision, Lancelot arrives and rescues the beautiful Guinevere . . . only to meet Arthur on the battlefield (a full out war had erupted as a result) in an attempt to right the wrong done. Arthur states that nothing can be done and Lancelot returns to his armies while Guinevere receives forgiveness from Arthur and lives the rest of her days as a nun. A young boy is told to remember the glory of Camelot before Arthur marches once again into battle . . . and so ends our story.

Forest Theater ~ Carmel-by-the-sea

WHOOHOOO!!

Just looked up the 2008 season of this wonderful little theater! If you have never been to Forest Theater at Carmel-by-the-Sea, you are missing out! The theater is an open air theater tucked away in a small "forest" just a few seconds from Carmel beach. There are two open fire pits at both sides of the theater to add to the ambience as well as provide a little heat from the cool night air. One usually prepares some sort of “picnic” to bring to the theater (which can range from cheese and crackers to sandwiches or dessert) as well as blankets to snuggle up in. The day usually starts off by enjoying Monterey (cannery row, shops, antique stores) and then making your way down to Carmel-by-the-Sea. This exquisite little town is full of art galleries, doggy boutiques (and most stores have water dishes set out in front of them for your four legged friend. . . . . even the Coach outlet!) and a plethora of other little stores. Carmel beach is absolutely beautiful and many beach goers bring their dogs to play on the beach (mika has been several times). The productions at the Forest Theater usually start around seven or eight o’clock and last until around eleven o’clock. The tickets are $22 for adults, $15 for students and $10 for children. It is well worth the price!!

The 2008 season is as follows:

Zoot Suite ~ April 24th – May 11th (missed that one!! bummer!)

Camelot ~ May 22nd – June 15th

Evita ~ June 28th – July 27th

Looking for a group that would like to attend Camelot. . . . let me know!

James, maybe a C&C event?? (off the books perhaps?)

http://www.foresttheaterguild.org/

Thoroughly Modern Millie - A Review

May 2 – 25, 2008

Show Times:8:00 pm Fridays & Saturdays, 2:00 pm Sundays

"Millie Dillmount, a fearless young lady fresh from Salina, Kansas, determined to experience Life, sets out to see the world in the rip-roaring Twenties. With high spirits and wearing one of those new high hemlines, she arrives in New York to test the "modern" ideas she had been reading about back in Kansas: ‘I've taken the girl out of Kansas. Now I have to take Kansas out of the girl!’”

Last Friday I had a very pleasurable evening in which I, along with friends Jenna, James and Dakota, enjoyed an evening meal at Crepeville and afterwards took in a show at the 24th Street Theatre in downtown Sacramento. I usually enjoy the Broadway productions put on at this little local theatre and this show was no different. It was a cute, upbeat production focusing on the drama a young Kansas girl encounters when she pursues her dreams in big town New York. She comes with dreams, ambitions and goals, only to be robbed of all her possessions on the very first day. Her dream is to become a “modern” woman who “bobs” her hair, shortens her hemline and is an independent thinker. In order to attain her dream, she applies for many job positions in which the boss is an eligible bachelor. She believes it is best to marry well and not for love. If she can marry such an eligible bachelor, she will be able to survive in New York. Through a series of circumstances she does indeed end up working for a dreamy, single, CEO of a up and coming business. She also meets a seemingly penniless scoundrel of a man who enjoys taking a different beautiful woman out to eat every night. Yes, this “scoundrel” ends up falling hard for her while her handsome boss only sees her as an efficient worker whom he calls “Johnny” (she is Johnny on the spot, you see). I will not tell you the end of the play, as I think it is delightful and you should see it yourself! Overall. . . I would say it is about a 8 out of 10 for such a small theatre production and for the price. . . . it is only $20 for adults, $18 for students, and $15 for children or groups over 10.

Also, Nunsense will be playing July 7th – August 3rd , Anything Goes September 5th – 28th and The Sound of Music October 31st – November 23rd.

More reviews to follow!