What: Fire Island the Musical
Where: Theater Row
410 W. 42nd St.
New York, NY
Who: Teens and Up
When: Friday, May 6, 2022
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Fire Island the Musical revolves around a group of people sharing a summer house on Fire Island. The majority of the show takes place in flashback bookended by the beginning and end of the show which takes place in the present day. The story involves numerous plots and subplots, and it can all be a little hard to keep track of at times. It seems like it is trying to do too much at once. Some of the songs are cute, sweet, and/or relatable. Not all of the singing voices are great, however. Also, the singing is frequently out of sync when two or more cast members are singing together. Some parts of the story are sweet, a gay couple who gets married on the day marriage becomes legal. Others parts are just annoying a couple that keeps breaking up and getting back together. All in all, there are some good parts to this show, but it needs a lot of work.
For more about Fire Island the Musical go to bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/fire-island-presented-by-the-createtheater-new-works-festival.
XXX
We were given complimentary tickets to Sewing the Dream for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.
What: Sewing the Dream
Where: Theater Row
410 W. 42nd St.
New York, NY
Who: Teens and Up
When: Wednesday, May 4, 8:00 PM
Sunday, May 8, at 7:00 PM
This musical is the story of Issac Merrit Singer widely regarded as the inventor of the sewing machine although as you will learn from this musical, there may have been others who contributed to its invention as well. If Mr. Singer was really as awful as he is portrayed in this musical, he was not a man who should be respected or admired at all. In fact, most of the characters in this musical are not admirable people. They are narcissistic, greedy, selfish, and/or outright snobs.
Just about the only likable character in the musical is the young Irish immigrant seamstress, Katie although it makes no sense that only she can figure out how to use the sewing machine and no one else can. Due to a performer's Covid-related illness, the part of Katie was shared by two people. Choreographer, Tatyana Kot, with script in hand, acted and danced the part. Kerry Conte did Katie's singing. While Tatyana is a lovely dancer and Kerry is a beautiful singer, it was distracting when they were both onstage together. It might have been better if the singing was done from offstage.
This is not to say that there is nothing good about this show except for Ms. Kot's dancing and Ms. Conte's singing. There are some nice songs in this show although none that stick in your head. The singing voices are mostly beautiful and the acting is mostly good. The story is interesting but it would have been better if it focused more on the one likable character, Katie and you got to know more about her even though she is one of the only characters in the show not based on a really person.
For more about Sewing the Dream or to purchase, tickets. visit bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/sewing-the-dream-presented-by-the-createtheater-new-works-festival.
Fire Island and the Musical and Sewing the Dream are both part of the CreateTheater New Works festival. For more go to https://bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/new-works-festival-presented-by-createtheater. We will also be featuring more festival shows in a future post.
And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.
Photo credits:
All Fire Island the Musical production photos by Emily Hewitt
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment