Reviews

Please note: These reviews are critiques and opinions about shows. Not all of them are the opinions of the Webmaster (Grant Lokey) or the Drama Club. They are just OPINIONS. They are meant to tell you what they liked and didn't like. If opinions such as this will upset you, please, go back to the main page. If this page turns out to do more bad than good, it will be taken down. Read on at your own discretion. If you would like to send in your own review, send me your review with your name and an "alias" to go by so nobody knows who the reviewer is except Grant Lokey. Not all reviews will be posted.

      Hello, The Bard here with my review of "Harvey". I didn't much know what to expect going in, but I was anxious to see just how Mrs. Tangora interpreted this play. The ethnicity of the cast surprised me, but didn't bother me at all. It's good to see new faces on the stage. David Lee did an excellent job at playing Elwood P. Dowd, but was a tad too quiet at times. I'm sure the people in the back had a hard time hearing some of the lines. He did sincerely come across as the nice Elwood that he was supposed to be portraying. Elwood's sister, Shannon Johnson, made sure the part was played, and did well for a new comer, but felt just a notch above the place where an actor just says lines because they have to. She did have a few shining moments, one such moment was where she came back from the hydrotub all messed up looking. If she keeps with acting, she could become very good. Chani gave a decent performance as Elwood's niece Myrtle Mae, but something was just left to be desired. Neha Pandit did a very good job at her small but entertaining role. I have never seen her act, and was anxious to see it. She did well. Jenine Rivera's role as the nurse was one of the better performances in this play, I'd say just underneath David Lee. I do have to say that her voice got a bit high pitched for me, but it was easy to look over. The rest of the cast was well played, noting Nick Kimmons' role of Dr. Chumley. He did an amazing job for a techie, I was very impressed.
          The cast was fine for the show, but the show itself just kind of sat there for 90% of the play. There wasn't much rising and falling action until half way through the second act. The play was almost to the point where I could close my eyes and just listen to it and still catch almost all of what was going on. But the biggest problem to me was the scene changes. Any scene change that takes more than a minute is too long. It loses the audience's interest. And these were bordering on 4 to 5 minutes, or at least that's what it felt like. The sets were gorgeous, and looked great, but seemed like they were a bit too much for the play.
           Over all, I was entertained about 60% of the time with this play, but sadly I found myself looking at my watch a few times. The cast was fine, and got the job done. Nothing to write home about, but they made sure you knew what was going on with a good amount of emotion from most. But because of the lack of action and set changes, this play gets a 5/10 from The Bard. See you next time!

I went to see the play "Harvey" on February 22, 2002 at Fossil Ridge High School. Overall, the play was not bad, for the unprofessional first timers. You can tell that these particular actors and technicians were amateurs. I�m sure after a couple of years, these same people will be able to do a much better job. At this point in time they do not know enough to successfully carry the plot of a show.

First of all the Lights and Sound should have run a lot smoother. While there was no flooding of light, the lights came up too fast in each scene, blinding the audience. The house lights came up during a scene, and the stage lights were late for Act 2 Scene two. The only defect I found with the sound was that when a phone was meant to ring, we heard a gong sound.

Second, the running crew needed some people with more experience. One or two of them were not dressed in the required black clothing, which makes them easy to see even in the dark. Although the set was very impressive, the scene changes took way too long and were noisy. Scene changes are meant to be silent. The scene changes were taking anywhere between four and five minutes. In live theatre scene changes should not take more than thirty seconds, or the audience gets bored and starts talking. Also during a scene we heard crashes backstage and a running crew member was attempting to fix a curtain during a scene. During the last scene change someone scooted the couch instead of lifting it to move it. Lifting set pieces prevents loud noise and damage to the stage.

Lastly the acting over all was poor. Not every actor fits this category, but generally the acting definitely could have been better. I saw several actors turn their backs to the audience, and talk upstage. The audience can not hear or see an actor who isn�t facing them. Several of the actors spoke too softly and too quickly. Some of the actors did not develop their characters at all. The plot therefore seemed to be forced instead of natural. For example the actress playing the mother had bad reactions to lines and no characterization. She basically memorized her lines and blocking, but without developing a character she failed as an actress to tell the story.

I know this evaluation may seem harsh, or even too critical. Look at this from my perspective. I have been in theatre for a little over three years now and I notice the little things. It bugs me to see people making mistakes that they should have learned not to make in eighth grade. Overall, "Harvey" was at best, a theatre one level play. (Look at it as 1 � stars out of 5) I enjoyed the play, but mainly because I know several of the people participating in it. I was very disappointed with their performance, character choices, and reactions. They failed to convey the message the playwright intended and they failed to keep their audience interested.