Theater Thursday - The Boy From Oz, The Fantasticks and Avenue Q

We were given free tickets to The Boy From Oz for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: The Boy From Oz

Where: Kelsey Theatre

            1200 Old Trenton Rd.

            West Windsor, NJ

When: Friday & Saturday May 19 & 20  8:00 PM

            Sunday May 21 2:00 PM

Who: Tweens and Up

Me - The Boy from Oz was good. It was about a man named Peter Allen who was a singer. It is a true story. His really name wasn't Peter Allen but he used that for a stage name. The show was good. I had never heard of Peter Allen before. It was interesting to learn about him. There were other famous people as characters in the show including Judy Garland and Liza Minelli. Liza Minelli was married to Peter Allen at one time. I have only seen the real Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, and I have never seen Liza Minelli in anything. The acting in The Boy From Oz was good. The singing was nice. The songs were nice. Even though some of the songs were pretty well known the only one I ever heard before was Not the Boy Next Door because I heard it on Glee. It was good show, and I would really recommend going before it closes on May 21.

Mom - The Boy From Oz is a jukebox musical about the singer and songwriter, Peter Allen and featuring his songs. Although, Peter Allen himself may be unfamiliar to a lot of people, he wrote or co-wrote many songs that have been made famous by other singers including Don't Cry Out Loud, I Honestly Love You and Best That You Can Do (the theme to the original 1981 film Arthur). All of these songs are included in The Boy From Oz. In fact, the show is a song and dance extravaganza full of big musical numbers. The current production of the show at Kelsey Theater is very entertaining. It is full of good acting, nice singing and lively dance numbers.  Andrew Ruggieri is particularly good in the title role. The role is quite demanding as Allen hardly leaves the stage for almost the entire show and participates in a lot of dance numbers. Ruggieri is a full of energy in the role from the beginning to the end.  I wouldn't recommend the show for very young children due to some subject matter include spousal abuse and  a suicide (which takes place off-stage), but its fine for older children. All in all, it's an enjoyable production. 

For more information or to purchase tickets go to 

http://www.kelseyatmccc.org/The%20Boy%20From%20Oz.shtml

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We received free tickets to The Fantasticks. Any opinions expressed here are our own.

 

What: The Fantasticks

Where: The Theater Center
              1627 Broadway
               New York, NY

Who: Ages 10 and up

When: Now through June 4 only

Me - The Fantasticks was a really good show. It was about a girl and a boy who live next door to each other. Their dads wanted them to fall in love so they built a wall between their houses and pretended that they were having a big feud and that they hated each other. The story was interesting, and I liked the songs. It was funny because they had a person playing the Wall. Actually, a lot of the show was funny. The stage was the same level as the seats so it made you feel like you were part of the action. That was cool! Also, the characters talked to the audience sometimes so that also made you feel like you were part of the show. The Fantasticks is the longest running show ever in New York. It was running even before my Mom and Dad were born. It was originally playing at a different theater. The theater the show is at now is called The Jerry Orbach  Theater. It is named after the actor who originally played the part of El Gallo in the show. My grandfather once played El Gallo in a community theater version of the show before I was born. The theater where the Fantasticks is now playing has all different pictures and playbills and things from all different versions of the show. It also has a plaque for being the longest running show in New York ever. All in all, I would extremely recommend going before it closes on June 4.

For more information on The Fantasticks or to order tickets visit www.fantasticksonbroadway.com

For Mom's view of The Fantasticks go here

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We were given free tickets to Avenue Q. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Avenue Q

Where: New World Stages
             340 W. 50th St.
             New York, NY

Who: 16 and up

Mom's view: Don't be fooled into thinking that this show is for kids by the fact that it is full of puppets. It is not at all. The show is full of inappropriate humor. However, if your are not a child don't let that keep you away from this wonderful show. It is really an extremely entertaining and very funny show. The songs are very funny too and incredibly catchy. They include songs with such titles as It Sucks to Be Me, Schadenfreude, and Everyone's A Little Bit Racist. These are not necessarily songs that you are going to want to sing everywhere, but they will definitely stick in your head. There are also some really pretty ballads including There's a Fine Fine Line and I Wish I Could Go Back to College which are more appropriate for singing out of context. There is much more to the show than the songs, however. There is a story here, and some of it is actually quite sweet. It is about the inhabitants of neighborhood in New York City, and it will definitely leave you with a smile on your face. What more could you ask for from a show?

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