Monday, December 12, 2005

THEATER: Angels We Have Heard On High

ABC took me to a wonderful musical at Playhouse West called "Angels We Have Heard on High". The play was written and directed by Stewart Irel and the music written by Amalia Stephenson who is an alumnus of my university, ABC's bestfriend and my bestfriend's roommate.

Aside from that fun piece of serendipity, I was happy to finally meet and hear Miss Amalia's work and attend a show at Playhouse West; a School and Repertory Theater in North Hollywood founded by Robert Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum. I am fascinated by how they teach their acting classes; the Meisner Technique. My friend, A. had studied this technique at their sister school in Manhattan. I am so intrigued that I would like to consider becoming a student in the future.

I loved the show, it is the playhouse's first musical and I was impressed and went through so many emotions during the course of the show. The story is about a unique choir of people gathered together for rehearsals where they support one another through the catharsis of music and relating. Through the leadership of a band, they meet, improvise, deal with life and build relationships.

I enjoyed the story, it was intricate, intelligent, emotional, funny and well woven. The stories between the 12 characters were real, had substance and was unapologetically real at many points that I had to sigh and think... whew... this is real life... Real hard core life in its glory and tragedy.

"Angels We Have Heard On High" has two more shows; next Saturday and Sunday evening. It's free. They ask for a donation and all the proceeds go to a cancer foundation. It's a great show. Attend their last weekend if you can.... You'll have a hard time deciding who your favorite character is and the music rocks.... at some points you may find yourself singing along.... or wishing you could be in "the choir." I may go again Sunday evening and bring friends along. If anyone wants to join us, dash me an email.

JNET

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous3:06:00 PM

    Very well written. Thanks for sharing!

    Ciao,
    Filippo

    ReplyDelete