Theater Thursday - Louisiana Purchase and The Aging Magician

We were given free tickets to Louisiana Purchase for review purposes. Any and all opinions are own.

What: Louisiana Purchase

Where: 410 W. 42nd St.
             New York, NY

Who: Teens and Up

When: Through March 12, 2017


Me - Louisiana Purchase is a show about people who were crooks. They were trying to get away with the bad stuff they had done. The story was not very good because I didn't like the way the plot turned out.   Some of the plot didn't make sense to me either. The woman characters weren't as bad as the men characters though. The acting was good. The singing was good. I liked the songs too. The only song I remember though is Louisiana Purchase. That is a good song. The dancing was also good.  The costumes were nice. Over all, even though it wasn't my favorite show I have ever seen at Musicals Tonight, it is worth seeing because the singing, dancing and acting are all good.


Mom - Lousiana Purchase is a rarely produced musical by Irving Berlin. In fact, the show only had a very limited run on Broadway as well. Although, it is not one of Berlin's best shows, it does have a lot of nice songs including the lively title song and the pretty ballad  "Outside of That I Love You." The characters are interesting and well played by the talented Musicals Tonight cast. The politically based story is very timely. It is meant to be a satire of Lousiana Governor, Huey Long. Sadly, if you really want to see a bunch of corrupt politicians today, all you need to do is turn on your TV. However, that is certainly not as entertaining as seeing this show, and also real politics is a  lot more depressing whereas the show is much more upbeat. I just would have preferred if the ending of the show were different although that is not the fault of the performers but of the author of the show. Over all, the show is enjoyable though. It is another well done revival by Musicals tonight.
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We were given free tickets to The Aging Magician for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: The Aging Magician

Where: The New Victory
             209 W. 42nd St.
             New York, NY

Who: Recommended for 10 and Up

When: Through March 12, 2017

Me - The Aging Magician is a show about a magician who is dying and wants to pass on his magic. However, it was a one man show. The fact that there was only one man in the show was confusing at times. It might have been easier to follow the story if there were at least two people. It got boring at times with only one person. They also had a children's choir singing in the show. They were good. The voices were pretty. The songs they sang all sounded sad. I didn't like that  though. The set was interesting. It reminded of something I saw at Ripley's Believe It or Not. Over all, it was completely unique.

Mom - Despite the name, there is very little magic in The Aging Magician. This very unusual show is like a storybook and an opera in one. It is a one character show starring and co-created by Rinde Eckert. He plays Harold, a dying magician, who wants to pass on his legacy. Harold is the storyteller. He is backed up by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The beautiful voices of these young singers is the main reason to see this show although the songs were not especially memorable, and at times it was hard to understand what they were singing. The unusual set  includes a number of  unique instruments created by instrument designer, Mark Stewart. The show over all moves along slowly and accordingly, I would not recommend it for young children who would probably be bored.

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Funtivity Friday.