BWW Reviews: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES at Village Theatre

Village Theatre is presenting a new musical production of the classic Lucy Maud Montgomery novel, "Anne of Green Gables".  This new production stemmed from a prior workshop of the show featured in Village Original's Festival of New Musicals from 2009.  And the full staging of this show only leads me to the question, "Why?"

The story centers around Anne Shirley, a young orphan in the early 1900's who has been sent to live with the Cuthberts in Avonlea.  The problem is the Cuthberts had requested a boy orphan to help around farm.  But of course, Anne charms the Cuthberts and works her way into their hearts.  And what follows are the exploits of this outspoKen Young girl as she grows up and falls in love and becomes a very smart and outspoKen Young woman.  Not much else to say there other than it's a classic that people have loved for years along with its many subsequent sequels.  Sounds like perfect fodder for a musical right?

Well, it has been attempted a few times before and never with very much success.  I think the main problem with adapting this story is that there is just so much character development to it that to really capture the whole thing would make the show several hours long.  And to trim it down to a reasonable length, which authors Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman have attempted here just cuts all the heart out of the story.  Not to mention that the way they have cut it, the ending seems so very rushed and glossed over.  But by that point I had a hard time caring since the main problem I had with the show was the writing itself.  Vogt and Friedman have weighed the show down with some of the laziest, cliché and least clever lyrics I've heard in some time.  In several instances they would even put the same word at the end of lines in order to make the rhyme.  Repeating the same word over and over again does not a rhyme scheme make.  And speaking for someone who loves good lyrics, these just made me angry. 

Furthermore, someone needs to go back and take musical theater 101 again.  Songs in a musical are put there for two reasons.  One, to move the story along and/or two, for when the characters are so emotional that they can no longer express themselves except to burst into song.  Not the case here.  It seemed every few lines the characters just decided to sing for no reason.  At one point they sang because they were having tea (also one of the songs that used the repeated word rhyme scheme as they put "tea" at the end of every line)!  Now while it is true that singing through your dialogue can work in operettas like the ones of Gilbert and Sullivan, that style wasn't consistent enough here to be considered in that vein.  The show just really did not know what it wanted to be.  Other than overly sweet that is.  Right from the first moment it was so saccharin filled that I thought I was going to get a cavity.

The only thing that made the show bearable was the cast.  A group of very talented performers who were unfortunately stuck doing this.  Specifically I should mention Dennis Bateman as Matthew Cuthbert and Kasey Nusbickel as the titular Anne.  Bateman's presence in each scene he was in was like a warm blanket as his character was so likable and real.  And Nusbickel's energy and zeal for her character shone through every pore.

But even with these wonderful performers, I couldn't help but be annoyed as I was pelted with song after unnecessary song filled with hackneyed lyrics.  Which leads me back to my original question of "why?"  Why did they feel that the production from 2009 was good enough for a full out mainstage production?  What did they see then that we didn't see now?  And why did they insist on repeating Anne's name and location throughout the entire show?  We get it.  Her name is Anne Shirley and she lives in Avonlea.  Probably because it rhymes.  Kinda.

"Anne of Green Gables" plays at Village Theatre's Issaquah location through January 2^nd and then moves to their Everett location from January 7^th through the 30^th.  For tickets or information contact the Issaquah box office at 425-392-2202 or the Everett box office at 425-257-8600 or visit them online at www.villagetheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Jay Koh

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