Sonja Niles - Page 3

The national non-equity touring company of HAIRSPRAY was a hit at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with an audience full of fans of this musical classic. From the opening moments to the finale, the electricity of a youthful and enthusiastic cast is contagious. I found myself wondering how they could maintain that pace and level of energy for the whole show, but they did it.

Four young men who met at Boston University, and in their words, were reunited serendipitously, create the most compelling sound in music I have experienced in years.

The touring production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and The Chocolate Factory seems an unlikely place to find  inspiration in reconciling the events of the world’s political stage, but when viewed in the context of the current sociopolitical climate, it seems possible. The lyrics of the song “Pure Imagination” appear to map out the catalyst for social change. “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world? There’s nothing to it.”   The simplicity of that philosophy in song was written over the course of  a phone conversation between the composers Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley over 50 years ago. 

Make arrangements TODAY to get tickets to this MUST SEE offering from Premiere Playhouse!

Women Of 4G playing at the Fishback Studio at the Performing Arts Center at SDSU in Brookings, is a play that was written by Amy Tofte, a native of Brookings, SD. That fact alone, was impetus for me to travel on a frigid Wednesday night to see an opening night performance of this production.

Potted Potter at the Orpheum is a rowdy rollercoaster ride of inside jokes and sight gags, broad physical humor and a little audience participation sprinkled in. The audience assembled were a mix of ages with lots of folks in their 30's without kids.

Sometimes the magic of theatre is such a gift, that you carry it with you for days and weeks after a performance and you feel like a bit of an apostle, testifying to the beauty and wonder of what you have experienced. If that makes it sound like attending Fiddler on the Roof at the Washington Pavilion was a religious experience, well I would have to admit that it checked all the boxes for me this weekend.

Lombardi, at The Premiere Playhouse in Sioux Falls is an artistic production about the life of famed coach Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers football team. The play covers one week in 1965 with the team preparing for a championship game. The vehicle for moving the story forward is the character of a reporter whose purpose is to write a story about his Look Magazine editor's good friend Vince Lombardi and his Packers team. The catalyst is a disastrous story recently published in Esquire Magazine about the coach and the team. It would seem that the coach has agreed to the story as a way to redeem and control the spin on some things that loose-lipped players have divulged to the Esquire journalist. The main cast is comprised of Vince, his wife Marie, the reporter and some players from the team.

The production team did a great job of making the voices audible and the set inviting to the viewer's eye. There is merchandise to peruse in the lobby and I may be 'dating' myself by saying that the prices are a 'good bargain'. January can be a long and tedious month to put up with, so do yourself a favor and take in 'That Golden Girls Show: A puppet parody ' at the Orpheum Theater this weekend, you'll be happy to have something to smile about when you recall the days of Winter 2022.

The stage pictures created by A Christmas Carol presented by The Premiere Playhouse in Sioux Falls are a mixture of the traditional Dickens story and the inevitable temptation to 'tech it up' in the modern theatre.

The classic Greek tragedy Medea, presented by Augustana University Theatre had some nice theatrical moments and visual pictures. I was pleased by the presentation of the set with its stonework dais centered on the stage and large columns ascending, giving the audience the feel of being in a cavernous space.

Theatergoers may need to mentally prepare for the experience of Menopause The Musical at the Orpheum Theater because it was a party from the moment we sat in our seats until we leapt to our feet for a standing ovation.

It's a joyful experience at the theatre when I can sit at Jeschke Fine Arts at University of Sioux Falls, surrounded by so many students in attendance to support classmates on opening night of The Addams Family, A New Musical Comedy. Director Joe Obermueller very adeptly, and with great humor, brings a young group of performers to their own individual personal bests and then molds a team of artists who brought passion and whimsy to iconic caricatures that became the characters of this show with delightful layers. It is clear he has empowered every performer, from the girl with the contortionist poses in the ancestral family chorus, to principal and supporting cast members to bring their 'A+ Game' to the stage.

The touring production of Friends! The Musical Parody at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls, SD had an energy of excitement and anticipation on Thursday evening as the audience found their seats; many of them as a 'group of friends'. As recorded music ramped up the theme to the iconic television program, it was a familiar space of sense memory that took you back to a time when we were all less absorbed by our electronic devices and social media and more curious about the situations a cast of quirky and hilarious characters would navigate. Friends! was a series that spanned 10 years and 236 episodes. Is it possible that I saw every episode of this series? Now that the television show is in syndication, I would have to concede the answer is a resounding and celebratory, 'yes!' Twenty five years after it first appeared on the airwaves, it continues to be a favorite among fans, many of them not even born when it began.