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Review: Strong cast, music make ACT's ‘Narnia' a delight
TIM REID I TAKE 5 CORRESPONDENT • PUBLISHED MARCH 20, 2009 12:15 AM
Asheville Community Theatre presents C.S. Lewis' fantasy world for children in the enchanting musical “Narnia,” based on Lewis' “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
A large cast and a big sound make this one of the more ambitious undertakings on the ACT stage. They troupe pulls it off with energy and enthusiasm thanks to deft directing by Cindy Baldwin and lavish costumes by Deborah Austin and Susan Dillard.
Bradshaw Call gives a commanding performance as the lion king Aslan, whose blood-curdling roar is tempered by his sacrificing spirit. Christina Johnson is mesmerizing as the White Witch, who torments the people of Narnia in a perpetual winter with no Christmas.
The story centers on four siblings who flee to a relative's huge home during World War II. While exploring a wardrobe, they step into the strange world of Narnia, where ancient prophecy says that four human children will rescue the land from the White Witch.
Edmund (Lincoln Belford) is duped by the witch into her scheme to negate the prophecy by capturing his brother Peter (Dylan Murray) and sisters Susan (Meredith Matsakis) and Lucy (Danielle Germann). Narnia's residents rejoice to see the “children of Adam” as the hoped-for relief from their suffering under the White Witch. Ryan Jevne and Katie Jevne nearly steal the show as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who dance and prance in delight over the prospect of an end to the White Witch.
With the children's presence, the snow begins to melt, and Father Christmas (Frank Avery) appears bearing special gifts for the human children. But the White Witch is not done yet and manages to tempt Edmund into betrayal and turns half-man/half-goat Mr. Tummus (Robert Shupe) into stone. Only Aslan can end the enslavement by the White Witch in a plot twist that seems Christ-like and reminiscent of the author's deep religious faith.
Musicians Linda Walker, Gary Mitchell, Jim Anthony, Sabrina Kumar and Kit Powell produce the sound that helps makes the land of Narnia so mysterious and yet so appealing. “Narnia” still charms more than five decades after its creation. This adaptation with book by Jules Tasca and music by Thomas Tierney is sure to please children of all ages.
Tim Reid reviews theater for the Asheville Citizen-Times.
27 March 2009
Narnia
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2 comments:
This show leaves me wondering, how bad does a show have to get before someone steps in and says this show can not go up? That will never happen, but truth be told, this show should have never seen lights up.
First of all the script is too cumbersome, the script tries to fit as much as they can from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe without sedating kids with a overly long running time, and the songs are dull and forgettable. This might have played well when in premiered in 1986 but there have been so many good musicals since then, that now it seems underwhelming. I'm not sure if the persons responsible for picking this script, ever finished reading it, or heard the music from it. It doesn't appear so. I think they saw the name and thought, "Hey this will bring in a lot of money, what with the popularity of the movie and all."
Secondly the production values were pitiful. I know we're in a recession year, and we're tightening up wherever possible, but come on, give me something to look at besides a white scrim. It amazes me that a theater like ACT who put on such a lavish and wonderful production of Beauty and The Beast a few years ago, is the same theater that staged this dull and lifeless production. Just because it's the childrens' show doesn't mean that no creativity or imagination needs to be thrown into it. I hope their Peter Pan doesn't suffer the same fate.
Thank goodness for citizen reviewers. Were I forced to rely solely on Tim Reids' Asheville Citizen-Times review, I would have been left with nothing but a few half baked assertions and a boring, useless plot summary. The title of his review has more useful information than the review itself, and that's not saying much.
The title declares the show a "delight" and attributes this to: "Strong cast, music." The title is then reworked for the first real paragraph, but in an even more watered down form, "A large cast and a big sound make this one of the more ambitious undertakings on the ACT stage." The cast went from "strong" to "large" and the music had now been reduced to "sound" and described simply as "big." The show itself has gone from "a delight" to "ambitious." The rest of the paragraph ascribes the success of the show to "energy and enthusiasm" brought about by "deft directing" and "lavish costumes." This is utterly meaningless. For example, how do lavish costumes contribute to energy and enthusiasm? They may contribute a great deal to the production, but why bring them up and not talk about how they actually contributed to the show?
The rest of the review is nothing but a simple re-telling of the plot. Yes, thank you, I have read the book. Or I might go see the play. Either way, it is embarrassing to think that a plot summary passes for journalism in the leading regional paper.
And my favorite part? How Mr. Reid attempts to preserve the surprise ending: he tells us that Aslan has a "Christ-like" trick up his sleeve to save the day after a betrayal. Let me guess... he walks on water? No, he turns water into wine! Come on. I know C.S. Lewis' Christian faith was a profound part of his writing, but to bring it up in such an off-hand way, as filler for a plot summary cum review, is I think to belittle the power of allegory that is so important to the telling of his story, in any format.
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