Theater Thursday - Treasure Island and Dogfight

We were given free tickets to Treasure Island for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Treasure Island

Where: Player's Theatre
             115 MacDougal St.
             New York, NY

Who: Ages 4 and up

When: Through November 12

Me - Treasure Island is a musical based on the classic book. This show is better suited to a slightly older audience than most Literally Alive Theate shows. It's a little bit hard to follow the story at times especially if you haven't read the book. The show is written as a show within show. This makes it less scary for young children because it reminds them that the pirates are not really pirates they are just actors pretending to be pirates. The acting, singing and dancing were good. The costumes and sets were good too. The songs were okay. They were not very memorable. It was nice that this was a show based on a book that there does not seem to be a million different shows based on the same book. I had never seen or heard of a stage version of Treasure Island before. Children who like adventure stories and stories about pirate would like this show.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit literallyalive.com/shows/treasure

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We were given free tickets to Dogfight for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Dogfight

Where: Kelsey Theatre
              1200 Old Trenton Rd.
              West Windsor, NJ

Who: Teens and above

When: Through November 12

Mom's view: In Dogfight,a group of soldiers decide to throw a party and so they round up dates. However,  their intentions in having this party are actually less than honorable and being asked to the party is not quite the honor a girl might think. The first act of this show can be hard to watch. It definitely doesn't showcase the better part of humanity. It may seem like there is no way the show can be redeemed in the second act, and you may be tempted to leave at the intermission.  However, that would be a shame, because the second act is actually much better and much more uplifting. At its heart, this show is actually a sweet love story. Eddie and Rose's story may not begin conventionally but that doesn't make it any less touching or tender. The show has a great score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul who would go on to write the scores for Dear Evan Hansen and La La Land among other things. This is difficult show which may account for why it is rarely performed. The Kelsey Theatre cast does a good job with the show, however. The acting is universally good but the two leads Alexandra Rush as Rose Fenny and Andy Bottecher as Eddie Birdlace are particular standouts. This is definitely not show for kids due to the subject matter. For anyone else, it is definitely worth seeing,  It will be running at Kelsey Theatre for one more weekend.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.kelseyatmccc.org/Dogfight

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