Neil Shurley - Page 9

We asked director Nicole Stratton to share with BWW readers a little about the production. She told us about the beauty of the music, the challenges of trying to direct yourself on stage, and how her own childhood dreams resonate with this story.

One week into rehearsals, Glow Lyric Theatre's Jenna Tamisiea Elser shares an update on their progress.

With plenty of humor and, yes, heart, Sean Grennan's script celebrates mysterious connections, the healing power of family, and the great circle of life.

Immersive, irreverent, and almost anarchic, this show demands your attendance.

'I think that when people are crying or laughing, there is something in them that is open and engaged and invested with the story. That's what I always want.'

'It's a very emotional show and it ends in a every delicate, sad way and it really touches people. I don't think they're expecting that.'

'I had a great time watching Dearly Departed, and I know you will, too.'

In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South is seldom tidy and always hilarious.

'It is a lovely, heartfelt, beautiful, emotion-filled, laugh-til-you-cry and cry-til-you laugh show'

What do you get when you mix Singin' in the Rain and The Philadelphia Story with one of Shakespeare's most pleasant comedies? Director Anne Kelly Tromsness explores that question in her production of Much Ado About Nothing, now playing at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC.

'If you were working with a symphony orchestra or a studio full of synthesizers, you could make lots and lots of different sounds, but if your palette of sounds is restricted, it makes you really focus on how the music comes across. So in a way, I think it stimulates creativity because there are limitations to the sound and the range of notes that you've got.'

'I hope audiences will walk away realizing more fully that fear builds walls instead of bridges and that this will make them strive to see the perspectives of others who may be different, but who in reality as people are very much the same.'

'Film, one character says, is light and shadow. The Flick manages to illuminate both.'

'Stay away from the botox injections before coming. You're really going to want to smile and have fun, so make sure your face muscles are ready.'

'I think if you've seen the movie, if you've read the book, you won't be disappointed with the musical. You won't be like, 'Oh, I wish they would've left it alone.' No, you'll be like, 'That was amazing.'

'It's going to be a body pile, we're going to get there, but there's also a lot of really great lightness and wittiness and intrigue and interest.'

'As far as we know we're the only professional company in the world producing this story.'

Packed with joyfully familiar songs performed by a winning ensemble, California Dreamin' is guaranteed to brighten your outlook and get you feeling warm and happy inside.

Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten, running now at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC, is all about struggle.

When the band kicks in and those eight young performers really let loose, you'll find it nearly impossible to stay in your seat.