Millbrook: "Disney's Frozen: the Broadway Musical"

Sometimes, our good intentions go wrong and take a long time to get right; and so it is with Disney's Frozen: the Broadway Musical now gracing the Millbrook Community Players stage as directed by Michael Proper and Missy Price. 

The story is based loosely on the Hans Christian Andersen story; the King and Queen of Arendelle decide to separate their daughters when it is discovered that Elsa has mysterious powers that unintentionally injured her younger sister Ana. Rather than facing the issue directly, and not telling Ana why she can't see Elsa, this decision keeps the sisters apart for most of their lives, and leads to a lot of confusion until the situation is resolved through a demonstration of true love [and not the kind that is often expected in fairy tale stories].

Frozen is an ambitions project, to say the least, as it requires numerous set and costume changes, special effects, over-sized puppets, and a challenging musical score for its large ensemble of actors. -- The Millbrook company meet these challenges head-on in their small performing space, demonstrating once again that the modest resources of the River Region's community theatres are used with ingenuity to create visually effective staging and high quality acting and singing.

The roles of the two sisters center the plot, and both Ana [Zoe Proper] and Elsa [Shelby Webb] keep us grounded on their plights through credible personifications and excellent singing. As they meet with a duplicitous Prince Hans [Hayden Cord], a generously helpful Kristoff [Travis Clark turns in one of the most detailed and truthful performances], and a couple of entertaining "puppets" -- reindeer Sven [Kalilah and Eilidh Blackstock] and comical snowman Olaf [Robert Nave] -- they carry us along from moment to moment.

Credit is due to the large flexible ensemble players as well. And Daniel Harms choreographs with distinction [Mr. Harms seems to be everywhere in the River Region this season.] -- We are entertained by production numbers such as "Northern Lights" and "Hygge", as well as touching solos and duets; the sound balance between recorded music and actors' voices is admirable; and it is the anthem "Let It Go" that encapsulates the overriding message of the play: that true power comes from facing our problems and letting them go.

ASF:"Fences"

August Wilson's multi-award winning Fences, the current Alabama Shakespeare Festival co-production with Theatrical Outfit and Dominion Entertainment Group, raises one of 20th Century American's most resounding voices that might haunt you well after the curtain comes down in the Octagon Theatre. 

Wilson's "American Century Cycle" of plays, each one set in a different decade of the 1900s, tracks the African American experience with candor, authenticity, and understanding. -- Fences is set in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, and focuses on Troy Maxson [E. Roger Mitchell], a man who has struggled to survive all manner of obstacles from a "system" at odds with his needs -- racism, jail, poverty, and the disappointment of unfulfilled dreams -- that have shaped his behavior and beliefs, and impact everyone around him.

Troy tells stories to build his ego, and has sacrificed a lot in order to provide for his family. He claims his authority in the household that often puts him at odds with the people he loves. 

The ensemble surrounding Troy include his patiently loyal and supportive wife Rose [January LaVoy]; his best friend and confidante Jim Bono [Geoffrey Williams]; his two sons: musician Lyons [Amari Cheatom] and rebellious teenage athlete Cory [Thomas Boyce], neither of whom live up to Troy's expectations; his war-wounded and psychologically damaged brother Gabriel [Enoch King]; and his innocent love-child Raynelle [Chrissette Trone on the night I saw it]. 

And what an ensemble cast this is! Each one is a fully realized complex individual; they live and breathe on stage with such full commitment and naturalism, that we never doubt who they are and what they have to contribute to the story. They keep us engaged every moment.

There is such complexity in their characterizations -- humorous banter matched with sexual innuendo; duty and family responsibility; unaffected bonds between men friends who aren't afraid to say when enough is enough; important life lessons from parents to their children; an ability to acknowledge the past and accept its often cruel and uncomfortable impact on the present; a recognition of human flaws together with traits of genetic inheritance; the inevitability of death and forgiveness. 

The two-and-a-half-hours we spend in their company on Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay's exquisite set ask us to consider whether the "fence" that Troy builds throughout is meant to keep people "out" or to protect and contain the family "within" its bounds.  And we might consider what fences we build in our own lives. -- Whatever we conclude, the journey at ASF is well worth the effort. 

Pike Road: "Little Shop of Horrors"

A cult classic comedy horror musical for a few decades, Little Shop of Horrors is currently showing at the Pike Road Theatre Company in a spirited [yet over-amplified] production directed by James Keith Posey. 

After a total eclipse of the sun, alien life in the guise of a voracious blood-thirsty talking plant devours Skid Row in 1960s New York. . .so be forewarned: "Don't feed the plants"!

Everyone wants to get out of the derelict Skid Row: a Motown trio of "Street urchins" -- Chiffon [Kierston S.Lewis], Crystal [Tiffany Presley], and Ronnette [Ashley Nicole Portis] -- narrate and serve as a kind of Greek Chorus to the goings-on; grumpy Mr. Mushnik [Jon Darby] isn't making any money at his flower shop; his shop assistants -- nerdy naive orphaned Seymour [Andrew Clem], and dreamer Audrey [Ash Shanks] -- are stuck with no place to go; plus, Audrey is being abused by her sadistic biker dentist boyfriend Orin [Brandtley McDonald].

So, when Seymour nourishes a strange new plant with his own blood, the plant thrives, and business improves. But can the plant that the unlikely hero Seymour names Audrey II be stopped from taking over the planet? Quite a bit to digest.

Based on a 1960 film, the Howard Ashman and Alan Menken musical opened off-Broadway in 1982, and was later made into a popular film in 1986. It's been going strong ever since. 

For all its dark quirkiness, the show invites audiences to root for the underdog in his quest to do the right thing and win the affections of the girl. And it poses some serious questions along the way as it pits innocence against the harsh realities of life: what lengths do people go to for the temporal rewards of celebrity? what and who are we willing to sacrifice to achieve our goals? should our conscience determine the direction to take against the bad guys?

The ensemble cast all have enviable musical talents, and deliver the show's various song styles [ballads, doo-wop, novelty, etc.] effectively. The upbeat energy of the title song sets the tone, and is followed by a Motown "Da-Doo", a  dreamy ballad "Somewhere That's Green", a feed me demand in "Suppertime", and a love duet in "Suddenly Seymour". -- The one regret is that many of the songs' lyrics as well as cleverly ironic dialogue is overpowered by the sound imbalance.

Still, this presentation of Little Shop of Horrors has the added benefit of a well-earned curtain-call for till then unseen Audrey II Puppeteer [Tim Moody] and The Voice of Audrey II [Kumarie Miles], without whom the danger, much of the dark humor, and the visual and aural delights would not exist.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "Urinetown"

Don't let its title put you off: Urinetown [an award winning satirical musical from 2001 on Broadway] is a hugely entertaining, provocative, and timely show that opened to thunderous applause at the Cloverdale Playhouse on Thursday night.

Featuring a multi-talented ensemble acting company [check]; a cringeworthy gritty set by Mike Winkelman [check]; brilliantly distressed costumes by Susanne Booth [check]; exceptional choreography by Daniel Grant Harms who surpasses himself this time [check]; spot-on musical direction by Rachel Pickering [check]; and flawless direction by an exceptional Adrian Lee Bush [check]; this production enters the pantheon of the Playhouse's many triumphs.

Perhaps it's too easy a comparison to a 2026 America, but imagine if you will a place where greedy corporate bosses cooperate with corrupt malevolent politicians to profit from underhanded manipulation of the environment and water supply so that ordinary citizens can't afford their basic necessities, and human life is expendable to those who are hell-bent on financial gain. -- The characters have been waiting twenty years for promises to be fulfilled [sound familiar?], and are currently made to pay to use public Amenities [toilets] since private ones are outlawed.

Of course, there's a love story too, as a revolutionary Bobby Strong [David Rowland] falls for Hope Cladwell [Taylor Finch], who is the daughter of the venal magnate Caldwell B. Cladwell [Tony Davison].

Narrated by Officer Lockstock [Scott Page], who reminds us that Urinetown the Musical is not the same as Urinetown the Place, which may be just a "metaphysical" representation of what's going on on-stage, and who cautions us that the events that impact the characters might reflect the world we live in.

Satire's impact depends on an audience's ability to recognize their own flaws, and to laugh at the absurdities presented to them. -- And Urinetown has plenty of ammunition to conscript an audience, make them feel uncomfortable, and yet acknowledge that no one is completely innocent.

There's plenty to entertain us here too: individual and ensemble performances are nuanced to heighten our approval; dance numbers show a masterful discipline and a respect for the limitations of a limited space; the musical score and impressive singing give nods to such musical theatre standards as West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, and Les Miserables; the linguistic wordplay is instantly hilarious; character names are comically descriptive [Penelope Pennywise, Officers Lockstock and Barrel, for example];  even the Ghost of Hamlet's father's "Remember me" refrain gets its due.

As our mid-term election cycle ramps up, Urinetown reminds us that "we must correct injustice" and "the time is always now" to do so.

ASF: "The Play That Goes Wrong"

Buckle-up, Montgomery! -- A raucous laugh-a-minute farce launched the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's 2026-2027 Season on Friday night to a large responsive crowd. -- The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields has been performed in theatres worldwide since its London debut in 2012, and ASF director Quin Gresham's detailed iteration demonstrates both the play's infectious charm and it's ability to provide an antidote to the cares of the world around us.

It's all in the title: a well-intentioned yet mediocre English theatre company is producing The Murder at Haversham Manor [a whodunnit in the manner of Agatha Christie], but they are so understaffed and underrehearsed, that just about anything that could go wrong actually does. Even before the curtain rises, we see the company making last-minute repairs to the set, and hear an apologetic curtain speech that begs us to be kind to their efforts.

So, it's pretty much an extended one joke show that we watch disintegrate before our eyes. Never mind. No details or spoilers are required. The mad-cap energy and the multiple surprises in the plot are enough. A lot will go wrong.  Just let yourselves follow the unpredictable silliness and laugh till your cheeks hurt. 

All the conventions of an old fashioned murder mystery are there, but complications increase as actors mess up their lines and invent dialogue on the spot while props, costumes, and set pieces fall apart. Yet, "the show must go on".

The skills it takes to pull this off are admirable, with rigorous demands and mutual trust of the entire company both on stage and off: the acting ensemble are as adept at slapstick as they are at comic timing [they make it look easy, even the dangerous parts]; the set design and it's numerous working or not-working parts sustains a lot of abusive treatment; the lighting and sound scores are spot on; and the wizardry of the Stage Management team and running crew deserve the applause they receive at the curtain call.

Thanks to ASF for an excellent start to the Season.

Theatre AUM: "The Mercy Project"

Here's Theatre AUM yet again pursuing "educational theatre" at its core by showcasing an important little-known American female pioneer: a Colonial-Revolution Era poet, playwright, satirist, historian, epistolographer, and political activist named Mercy Otis Warren [1728-1814]. 

Director Val Winkelman has curated and devised several of Warren's works into what she has titled The Mercy Project, mixed them with period songs and dances, and engaged her cohort of nine actors and four musicians to show the remarkable breadth of Warren's output, and to allow them to resonate across the centuries with her concerns about tyranny and liberty, the role of women in public life, and a necessary balance between the rights of all people and the dignity of government. 

Performed in stunning period costumes and largely in a presentational declamatory style, the veteran and neophyte actors give life to Warren's words and ideas, and conscript audiences to find their own connections to them; all in less than an hour's stage time.

Some biographical details are scattered throughout the production: she had little formal education, but learned side-by-side with her brothers who were tutored at home; she was admired by such notables as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; she was a leading promoter of opposition to British rule [her brother once said that "Taxation without representation is tyranny"]; in 1805, she authored the first History of the American Revolution; her home became a hub of revolutionary activism.

Perhaps it's time to investigate Warren's output and encourage productions of her plays. -- Perhaps it's also time in our current political climate to take her advice to become better informed on real issues, to demand honesty and accountability from our elected representatives, and to restore the ideals that will allow us to truly celebrate our 250th Anniversary.

Millbrook: "The Addams Family Musical"

"It's just a simple dinner...what could go wrong?" -- Quite a lot, it seems, in the Millbrook Community Players' delightfully antic production of The Addams Family Musical. 

When teenaged "Goth" Wednesday Addams [MaryBella Pemberton] invites her "normal" boyfriend Lucas Beineke [Gabriel Miller] to dinner so their families can approve of one another before the young couple announce their engagement, and Wednesday conscripts her doting father Gomez [Connor Sparks] to keep it a secret form her mother Morticia [Maggie Kervin]..."What could go wrong?" indeed.

The characters that Charles Addams created in print went on to a popular television program, and this 2010 Broadway musical has become part of the standard repertoire in American theatre ever since, both for its nostalgic family driven story and its charming musical score. 

Millbrook's opening night audience instantly responded to the characters depicted authentically by its talented ensemble actors. -- In addition to the aforementioned, there are the masochistic younger sibling Pugsley [Analeigh Silas], dottering Grandma [Paiton Lamb-Doyle], a naively romantic Uncle Fester [Nick Warman] who falls in love with the Moon, and the almost silent butler Lurch [Alac Dixon]...all of them instructed to be on their best behavior to welcome Lucas and his "normal" parents Mal [Ben Holland] and Alice [Julianne Hansen]. And, by the way, there's a 10-member chorus of Addams Ancestors, ghostly specters who help keep the action moving.

For all their idiosyncrasy, the Addams family are actually pretty normal; we watch parents and children, husbands and wives, with normal concerns for everyone's welfare, and reliance on trust and love to carry them through. And the Beineke family, for all their "normalcy" have a few secrets themselves. -- And we get caught up in their problems and cheer them on to find appropriate solutions when the dinner party gets about as chaotic as it can when they play the game "Full Disclosure", and we trust the outcome will be happy.

Director Kaden Blackburn keeps the action lively, though lengthy scene changes slowed the pace, and trusts his cohort to inhabit their characters fully. And they are up to it: the personifications are spot-on, the movement is energetic and purposeful, and the singing is excellent.

With Kat Barlow's effective choreography, Julianne Hansen's excellent character-driven costumes, and Steve Pennington's fine music direction, audiences are taken on an enjoyable ride in one of Millbrook's most solid productions.