Building up Bringing Down the House

I have to give one more plug for the production of Bringing Down the House at Maui OnStage. And that's because it just received a very special review.

Sure, the review is a rave. But that isn't what makes it special. What makes it special is that it's the very first video review I've ever received.

It's part of a weekly YouTube series titled Curtain Call and hosted by the very distinguished Paul James-Brown, a theater lover who makes his home on the Valley Isle.

Director Tina Kailiponi

James-Brown had some embarrassingly nice things to say about the script, pointing out that every member of the cast gets a chance to shine, which is something I always strive to do so I'm glad it worked here.

But what I really want to focus on is his praise for directors Tina Kailiponi and Francis Tau'a. James-Brown admired how they managed to take a huge group of actors (30 in their production) and turn them into "a well-tuned theatrical ensemble." He added, "This was a clearly well-rehearsed group who were all having fun, and so were we."

Assistant Director Francis Tau'a

The critic saved his greatest praise, however, for the program as a whole, saying, "Maui Onstage has built an exceptional theatre training center for our young people. This program continues to grow and produce quality youth theater."

But don't take my word for it. Watch the video above for yourself. You'll see lots of great production stills and even a short clip from one of the performances.

Enjoy!

Rave review for Okie Bookshop

It must be theater season again. I've just gotten my first review in months. And I'm happy to say it's a rave.

I mean, of course it's a rave. Like 90% of my productions, the show featured a youth cast--and nobody's going to slam a bunch of kids.

But still, it's always fun to see what the reviewer names as the best parts of the show,. picks out as being the best parts of the show.

In this case, the show was a production of The Enchanted Bookshop by the Ardmore Little Theatre of Ardmore, OK.

As it turns out, that little theater is not so little. The Charles B. Goddard Center, where they perform their shows has a huge stage and over 300 luxurious seats. 

In his review, Drew Butler lavished most of his praise on the costume and makeup artists. Not only were Bombalurina and Toto completely adorable, but somehow Long John Silver's pegleg was so authentic it clicked when he walked.

Butler also singled out the actors playing Eddie, Fingers, and Officer Ketchum, noting how they played their characters' below average intelligence to a tee.

He wrapped up his review by describing The Enchanted Bookshop as a "fun show" and "great for the whole family," which I'm very grateful for. He even sounded a little surprised that a kid's show could be so good, saying "I genuinely enjoyed myself, laughing out loud several times."

But what really struck me about his review was how much he appreciated the short duration of the show. The one he attended only ran 78 minutes, not including intermission.

Sometimes I've felt that my plays aren't long enough. That I should add scene fillers and subplots to give audiences a little more bang for their buck.

But you know what? I've heard many people complain that a particular show is too long. I have yet to hear anyone complain that a show is too short.

Sunshine State Butler earns a rave

 When you write for amateur theater--that is, schools and community groups--actual published reviews are few and far between. So one comes along, it's a real treat. Especially if it's a rave.

That was the case today as online magazine Florida Theater On Stage published a review of Curtain Call Playhouse's production of my very British mystery/comedy, The Butler Did It! This ambitious theater company has making the rounds of South Florida with the production. They opened November 16-17 in Pompano Beach, moved on to Sunrise for a single performance on November 24, and are now settled in at Boca Raton for two weekends of shows.

Reviewer Britin Hailer had lots of good things to say about the play, but I especially like how she wrapped up:

"The Butler Did It! is a roller coaster of reveals to keep you guessing up until you realize the little clues planted along the way were leading to a perfect finish. If you love murder mysteries, and even if you don't, we heartily and rousingly suggest you attend Curtain Call Playhouse's current production for a rollicking good time."

A big thanks to director Gary Solomons and the rest of the cast and crew for putting your heart and soul into the production. Sounds like it paid off nicely.

DC Bookshop Christmas wins raves

Photo by Cindy Kane Photography

As the theater world crawls slowly back to normalcy, it's nice to see local media outlets support that comeback with enthusiasm. Preview articles, of course, are a big part of that. But I've also been heartened lately to see it include reviews as well.

Reviews are a funny beast. When I was the theater critic for the Colorado Springs Gazette, area theater companies--especially the smaller, hungrier edgier ones--were desperate to have me review their shows. They'd send me special invitations, make sure I got the best seats in the house. And of course, they all said they looked forward to reading what I thought of their production--both the good and the bad.

As it turned out, they didn't really want to hear the bad. More often than not, my negative comments would earn a firestorm of  would Which is fine. It's human nature to defend yourself when you feel yourself being criticizes. Perhaps I was a bit more critical of the local productions than a small-city critic had a right to be. But my reviews were always honest and heartfelt.

After that experience, I vowed I would always read reviews of my own work with an open mind. I would try to understand what they were getting at and see of I could learn from it to make my won writing better. Just as important, I would never, ever respond to the review directly. The work should speak for itself. If it doesn't, then that's on me.

Of course, as a writer of youth plays, I'm mostly immune from negative reviews. Nobody wants to be "that guy" who rips apart a kid show in the local press. The reviews are pretty soft, as they should be.

Plus, the reviews almost always focus on the talent--the local actors, directors and designers who put the show together. Also as it should be. I'm lucky if I even get my name mentioned as author of the play.

So it's refreshing when I actually receive constructive criticism in a review. That happened this last week with a couple review of last weekend's production of An Enchanted Bookshop Christmas at Arlington, VA's Encore Stage.

The first review, published Sunday in the online-only DC Metro Theater Arts, said that the plot has a lot of fun moments, and singled out the dog-ear scene and the Gift of the Magi update as highlights.

Interestingly, it also notes that Cinderella got a lot of laughs. Which is cool because I didn't even have this character in my script. Apparently, the theatre company modified the script to have this famously lovelorn princess frantically search for her slipper at the start of each night.

As I've said before, I'm all for having theatre companies add their own favorite literary characters to the show. But you have to be careful. My dialog is tight. There isn't a single line in the script that doesn't advance the plot. So adding dialog tends to make things drag. But if Encore Stage was able to delight the audience with their additions, I say more power to them.

The review concludes by saying that the show is full of spirit and a great way to kick off the holiday season.

The second review, which came out Tuesday in the Sun Gazette, liked the way I set up the promise of the second act with the ominous curtain closing line at the end of the first act ("What could possible go wrong?"). But it also complains that there are too many literary characters thrown at the young audience, resulting in "a bit of visual and verbal clutter."

Okay, this is completely fair. And it bring sup to one of the dirty little secrets of youth theater. The script isn't written for the audience. It's written for the director. And directors of youth plays want lots of parts with a fairly balanced number of lines among the parts.

So yeah, if it gets a little confusing trying to follow all of the characters, I apologize. But believe me, the director and the kids performing the play love it because it means more of them get to perform in the first place.

The reviewer goes on to praise the way I tied up all of the intersecting plot elements at the end. Which I find especially gratifying because I worked really hard on plotting this one.

The show runs one more weekend (December 3-5) at the Gunston Arts Center in Arlington. If you want to see what the raves are about, I encourage you to get yourself down there. And maybe read some of the stories of the characters to your kids ahead of time (I especially love The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams). It'll make the show that much more meaningful for them. And you.

For tickets and information, visit the www.encorestage.org.

Photo by Cindy Kane Photography

Five-Star Butler

Well, that Missouri director who based his production of The Butler Did It! on Carol Burnett's old show must be doing something right because it just got a five-star review in KC Applauds.

Critic Bob Evans had some nice things to say about the script, but what makes me even happier is hearing how the cast really threw themselves into their roles.

"But all of the cast were strong in their performances. They knew their characters and delivered the punch lines were flair," Evans writes. "The play does not demand a lot of physical comedy so the line delivery, facial expressions, and tonal inflections are paramount to the comedy's effectiveness."

If you live near Kansas City, you have three more chances to see the show this weekend. If you don't, check out my Productions page to see what other shows may be playing in your area.

Rave review for Bay State Butler

Gateway Players of Southbridge, MA opened their 44th season this weekend with The Butler Did It! and I understand the cast did a fantastic job. At least that's the word from The Citizen Chronicle's theater critic Katie Alicea-Tilton in her enthusiastic review of the show.

The Butler Did It! was my first full-length play and my second mystery, so when I wrote it I was still feeling my way around this challenging genre. For inspiration, I turned to Agatha Christie, not just for the classic misdirection techniques she used in her novels but for the character of Edwina Corry, a world-famous mystery author who serves as the amateur detective in the story.

I soon realized there are two mistakes you can make in writing a mystery. One, you make it so easy that everybody figures it out. Two, you make it so hard that nobody figures it out.

Admittedly, the clues I planted were pretty hard--so hard that I worried I was veering too close to the second of those two mistakes. To make up for it, I added one line of dialogue that completely gives away who the culprit by showing that they know more than they're supposed to.

I know that some hardcore mystery fans have picked up on it right away. But apparently, the play still manages to fool most of the people who see it.

And yeah, I'm really glad that the critic and her mom were fooled.

Rave review for Arlington Bookshop

That Arlington production of The Enchanted Bookshop just got a big thumbs-up from DC Metro Theater Arts. Reviewer Betsy Lizotte had nothing but great things to say about the young performers, and she wrapped up her enthusiastic review by calling the production "a crowd-pleaser that mixes expert staging, dialogue, delivery and humor into a captivating show."

I've noticed that a lot of the productions add characters so that they can involve more kids. I think that's great (and no, you don't have to write me for permission, though I do love to hear from theaters doing my shows).

Normally they add other well-known book characters (Amelia Bedelia and Alice of Wonderland fame are popular choices). But here, director Sarah Conrad decided to split a couple of characters that already exist in the play. Fingers became Fingers and Toes, and Bombalurina became--what else?--Bomba and Lurina.

Hey, if it works, go for it!

Best part of the review? I learned that Robin Hood hat.

Bringing characters to life

Besides seeing your plays on stage, the best part of being a playwright is hearing the impact your plays have had on people.

That was the case yesterday when I came across a Facebook post from Tiffany in GA. She had just seen a production of The Enchanted Bookshop and described the play this way:

A story about a bookstore that no one visits anymore because no one ever reads books anymore! Sound familiar? Such a perfect modern day tale that reminds us that the characters of a book really can come alive if we just give them a chance! When was the last time you read a book and then missed the main character when it ended? I know I'm inspired to dust off some of our old books and bring the characters back to life!

Thanks, Tiffany! That means a lot to me.

Cornhusker Bookshop builds community

And here's another article about one of my plays, a preview of a production of The Enchanted Bookshop by the Kearney Community Theatre.

In it, co-director Judy Rozema describes how theater builds community in their small Nebraska town. Not only did they get a huge turnout for auditions (75 children for 25 roles), but the kids who got cast come from 15 different schools and represent a wide variety of interests, from die-hard theater types to math whizzes to musicians.

"It just shows you that the arts can involve everyone. It encompasses all sorts of groups of people and personalities. It brings them together to make something that is a joint effort across so many areas of different interests."

More than half of the kids have never acted before.

"And they are loving it," Rozema adds. "This is something that is timeless, something that's not going to die regardless of what the funding does."

Thank you, Judy, and all you hard-working directors out there for making this something possible.

'Bama Rumpelstiltskin earns raves

I remember the first time I saw my name in print. I was about ten and it was printed in the local paper, the Beaver Dam (WI) Daily Citizen.

I don't remember what it was for, probably some Cub Scout activity. But I remember how proud I felt. And I remember all the greeting cards my parents received with a clipping of the article inside (yes, in those ancient days of the 1970's, they actually sold greeting cards that said, "I saw you in the newspaper...").

So I think it's a pretty big deal when young actors get a mention in their local paper for the hard word they put into the production and the excellence of their performances.

That was the case for this article in The Greenville (AL) Advocate. It's a review of the middle school's production of Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye and the author makes a point of giving a shout-out to every single performer in this large-cast play.

I hope these mentions mean as much to them as mine did to me. And who knows? Maybe one of them will grow up to see their name in print a thousand times over as a playwright or actor... or even a kindhearted critic.

Catnip comedy

It's always nice to get reviewed, whether the review is good or bad. Of course, good is a whole lot better than bad.

Fortunately, Attic Productions' production of my mystery/comedy The Butler Did It! just got a rave review in The Roanoke Times. Critic Mike Allen praised Anthony Neal's droll delivery as the butler (seen above) and described the play as "amusing, engagingly plotted catnip to amateur sleuths."

To read the whole review, click here.

Rumpelstiltskin rave

The illustrious Bill Wheeler, theatre critic for the Colorado Springs Independent, attended the Black Box Theatre production of Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye and gave it a glowing review. I'm too humble to quote the whole thing here (no, I'm not), but I'll leave you with this one tidbit because it really gets to the heart of what I try to achieve in all of my plays:

"Wallinger's script has something for everyone. The kids connect to the fairy tale characters and the constant physical comedy. Adults get a big dose of puns. Everyone has a good time, and the good guys win in the end. It doesn't get any better than that."

I'm glad that for this play, at least, I may have hit the mark. You can read the whole review here.

Another milestone

And if yesterday's announcement wasn't enough, Google Alerts just emailed me about another milestone: last week, Long Tall Lester received its second Canadian production at the Milestone School in Milestone, Saskatchewan.

I'm starting to think Saskatchewan is like the Canadian version of Wyoming--lots of cowboys. Anyway, you can read the glowing review of the show here.

And this is a great time to remind all of you writers out there that if you haven't already created a Google Alert for all of your plays and books, you'd better get on it.

Yes, it can be tricky coming up with a search string that delivers exactly what you're looking for and not a boatload of similarly named items (which is why I love to include made-up words in my titles like "_urloined").

And it doesn't catch everything. It completely missed the Broadview production mentioned yesterday. But at least it catches some of my shows without me having to Google myself every day.

Not that I would ever do that. ;)