The musical opens with lightening, thunder and smoke and a young Yankee soldier walking on stage singing a song with the chorus ‘As I walk through the valley of death,’ and no, for those of you thinking of Coolio’s rap song it wasn’t. Within the first 5 minutes I wanted to go home - a feeling I had not felt in the last 10 years of my going to the theatre. The first question that came to mind was (and in the words of my writing professor): What’s at stake? The second question was: Why was such a talented cast in this production?
It is a shame really; the story line seemed interesting but the lack of originality was too hard to overlook. When the ‘Oh Susannah’ song came on I literally turned to my mother, rolling my eyes like I was 15 again hoping she would pick up on my ‘I cannot sit through this for one more minute’ look, luckily she felt the same.
The musical attempts to weave multiple stories together while keeping a definite ‘American’ tone but fails miserably by attempting too many story lines - slaves acting out Shakespearian plays - a yankee dressed as a confederate behind enemy lines hoping to survive the end of the civil war and the unrequited love of a woman named Atlanta who does not know her lover is gone.
Phenomenal cast…actors I would love to see in a different production…unfortunately, not Atlanta.
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1 response so far ↓
1 Lilith // Dec 13, 2007 at 10:08 am
I know…I felt the same. good review.
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