Saturday, October 2, 2010

- Theater Review - The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon

Illinois Central College opened their 2010 - 2011 Season with "The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon", a messy and disjointed retelling of the Grimm fairytales.

One of my favorite shows is "Into the Woods", the Steven Sondheim classic that is a brilliant musical adaptation of classic fairytales.  It is dark and funny with an amazing score.  I was expecting something similar from this ICC opener.

I could not have been more disappointed.

The first act consisted of five uncredited actors running manically around the stage and through the audience while shrieking at the top of their lungs.

I say 'uncredited' because while the program lists cast biographies, it gives no hint of who is playing which characters.

Although seldom up to the level of Bradley Theater, Illinois Central College has, in the past, presented some great shows.  "No Exit" and "The Underpants" come immediately to mind.

"The Brothers Grimm", however, takes the amateur in amateur theater to a new low.  I have seen better productions than this at the grade school level.

Perhaps the show got better in the second act. 

I couldn't bear to stick around and find out.
 

2 comments:

erik said...

good thing ur not a professional critic. it was a very funny performance and they did a very good job with it. u need to understand that the FOCUS was set more towards the humor and involving the entire family in the audience. think u may need to take a few more courses on critiquing there bud. just a suggestion tho :)

Paul R Day said...

Hello Erik,

It is ironic to me that you chose to capitalize the word "focus" in your comment, since it is the one thing that may have redeemed this truly dreadful production, but, unfortunately, was nowhere to be found.
I chose not to criticize the young actors who are working hard to realize their dream of being on stage. It is difficult for even the greatest performers to save a bad play that is poorly produced and badly directed.

Having said that, I am certainly glad that you enjoyed the show. I sincerely hope you will continue to support local live theater through your ticket purchases and involvement.

You are correct that I am not a professional critic or a great writer. I am simply a patron who always has an opinion. I thank you for sharing yours.

- Paul