BWW Review: Theatre UCF's Talented HAIR Cast 'Trips' Back to 1968
Since its Off-Broadway debut in 1967, HAIR has become a touchstone for musical theatre fans with a fondness for the decade's counter-culture revolution. Having won both a Tony and a Grammy, there is no doubt that this musical, which defies nearly every theatrical convention, has become as important a part of the genre's cannon as any of the Golden Age's classics. However, it is a show that I have just never 'got.' Perhaps I am too square to appreciate the flower-power sensibility, or too straight-laced to understand the era of psychedelic drugs and free love. Nonetheless, the score by Galt MacDermot (music) and James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics) contains some of the theatre's best 'rock' songs with pop cross-overs 'Aquarius,' 'Good Morning Starshine,' and 'Let the Sunshine In.' Theatre UCF's production of 'The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,' which runs through October 25th, might not have been able to make me appreciate the show's trippy conceit, but it did confirm that the program has just as much talent as nearly any of Central Florida's professional theatres.
BWW Review: Theatre UCF's '(a love story)' is an Entertaining Modern Take on Classic Tragedy
'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.' For many, those words are the definition of what a love story should be about. However, in Theatre UCF's play '(a love story),' which runs through March 1st, three intertwining tales chronicle all of the fevered, messy emotions involved with falling in, and out, of love. The highly-stylized play casts a disapproving eye on love in the modern world, all the while casing the storytelling in the trappings of a classic tragedy. Playwright Kelly Lusk occasionally uses the familiar structure to illuminate the universality of love, but more often than not, he allows it to run roughshod over the story being told, robbing it of any genuine emotion. Nonetheless, Theatre UCF's production is marked with uniformly impressive performances and thrilling production design; reaffirming why Central Florida's colleges provide some of the best, cutting-edge theatre in the region.
