Moulin Blues Review
Fri, 13 Aug 2004, 12:35 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
Moulin Blues Review
Fri, 13 Aug 2004, 12:35 pmOverall rating was a good show.
There was very little publicity evident for this show apart from one of the weekend magazines so it the company must have a good following to almost sell out the Regal theatre for its one show.
Sadly lacking was a readily availble programme, an important part of any production for a lot of reasons including recognition of cast , crew and sponsors. Being an amateur production, there are a lot of people to thanks and the curtain call is not the time or place for speeches.
Overall the show was value for money ($30 a ticket) and a good showcase of a lot of talent. It fitted into the category of an end of season performance by a dance academy et al. The overall Blues Brothers theme worked to piece it all together, being spoilt by some poor delivery of dialoge at times.
The Prison Guards needed some more work. Overall they worked as a group but one of them kept upstaging the others and doing their own version of song movements which stood out. they all need to form a team as they got to do their own solos and they were very good ones. If you have seen A Chorus Line you will see Cassie playing this role of a lead trying to fit into an ensemble and the director rightly saying no part. When some of the dancers were trying to move behind the guards in front of the house curtain, the guards should have been moved further forward as it destroyed the mood with dancers fighting with the curtain.
The Blues Brothers, Jake played by Stuart Bailey and Elwood played by Trevor Patient brought their characters to life with their stage movements and attitude. Their singing was good on most numbers and the harp playing was great.
The Soul Sisters were great backing vocalists, had very tight team movements and did good solos. Well done.
Jake Junior played by Matt Gordon stole the crowd with his acrobatics which was shown at several times.
The Moulin Rouge set was simple and effective. The dancing was excellent, the Tango was very steamy, the AcroBalet ? were great to watch, like a Circe De Sole ? performance. The can can was vibrant and they did the splits . The costumes were good so if they provided their own, they did well as their was an overall match. The large ensemble numbers worked well considering therer were probably several different groups working together. The feather dancers look ok but showed us too much behind the feathers so we knew they wore skin coloured costumes. We need to be kept wondering with this dance so don't give us a clear view. The three feather dances worked well as a team at the end of the dance.
The band was excellent, Mike Barnett did a lot of lead solos which gave the show an overall concert feel which is what it is meant to be. A very tight sounding band, so much better that canned music. The extra string section for Moulin Rouge gave depth to the numbers and when they joined in with their finger snapping, it animated them and added to the carnival atmosphere.
The lighting was good but without a programme not many people would have known that it was LUX productions. The addition of 4 moving profiles provided a range of gobo designs that effectively broke up the show into different segments and worked well on the cyc. Having breakup gobos in the perch lights also provided good atmosphere and indicated a club atmosphere. The use of a hazer instead of a smoke machine would have provided a better atmosphere for showing off the light beams without having too heavy an atmosphere for the audience and cast. Some of the cues were cut too short which left the last 10 or 20 seconds on some numbers cut off in their prime
Don Allen
There was very little publicity evident for this show apart from one of the weekend magazines so it the company must have a good following to almost sell out the Regal theatre for its one show.
Sadly lacking was a readily availble programme, an important part of any production for a lot of reasons including recognition of cast , crew and sponsors. Being an amateur production, there are a lot of people to thanks and the curtain call is not the time or place for speeches.
Overall the show was value for money ($30 a ticket) and a good showcase of a lot of talent. It fitted into the category of an end of season performance by a dance academy et al. The overall Blues Brothers theme worked to piece it all together, being spoilt by some poor delivery of dialoge at times.
The Prison Guards needed some more work. Overall they worked as a group but one of them kept upstaging the others and doing their own version of song movements which stood out. they all need to form a team as they got to do their own solos and they were very good ones. If you have seen A Chorus Line you will see Cassie playing this role of a lead trying to fit into an ensemble and the director rightly saying no part. When some of the dancers were trying to move behind the guards in front of the house curtain, the guards should have been moved further forward as it destroyed the mood with dancers fighting with the curtain.
The Blues Brothers, Jake played by Stuart Bailey and Elwood played by Trevor Patient brought their characters to life with their stage movements and attitude. Their singing was good on most numbers and the harp playing was great.
The Soul Sisters were great backing vocalists, had very tight team movements and did good solos. Well done.
Jake Junior played by Matt Gordon stole the crowd with his acrobatics which was shown at several times.
The Moulin Rouge set was simple and effective. The dancing was excellent, the Tango was very steamy, the AcroBalet ? were great to watch, like a Circe De Sole ? performance. The can can was vibrant and they did the splits . The costumes were good so if they provided their own, they did well as their was an overall match. The large ensemble numbers worked well considering therer were probably several different groups working together. The feather dancers look ok but showed us too much behind the feathers so we knew they wore skin coloured costumes. We need to be kept wondering with this dance so don't give us a clear view. The three feather dances worked well as a team at the end of the dance.
The band was excellent, Mike Barnett did a lot of lead solos which gave the show an overall concert feel which is what it is meant to be. A very tight sounding band, so much better that canned music. The extra string section for Moulin Rouge gave depth to the numbers and when they joined in with their finger snapping, it animated them and added to the carnival atmosphere.
The lighting was good but without a programme not many people would have known that it was LUX productions. The addition of 4 moving profiles provided a range of gobo designs that effectively broke up the show into different segments and worked well on the cyc. Having breakup gobos in the perch lights also provided good atmosphere and indicated a club atmosphere. The use of a hazer instead of a smoke machine would have provided a better atmosphere for showing off the light beams without having too heavy an atmosphere for the audience and cast. Some of the cues were cut too short which left the last 10 or 20 seconds on some numbers cut off in their prime
Don Allen
Walter PlingeFri, 13 Aug 2004, 12:35 pm
Overall rating was a good show.
There was very little publicity evident for this show apart from one of the weekend magazines so it the company must have a good following to almost sell out the Regal theatre for its one show.
Sadly lacking was a readily availble programme, an important part of any production for a lot of reasons including recognition of cast , crew and sponsors. Being an amateur production, there are a lot of people to thanks and the curtain call is not the time or place for speeches.
Overall the show was value for money ($30 a ticket) and a good showcase of a lot of talent. It fitted into the category of an end of season performance by a dance academy et al. The overall Blues Brothers theme worked to piece it all together, being spoilt by some poor delivery of dialoge at times.
The Prison Guards needed some more work. Overall they worked as a group but one of them kept upstaging the others and doing their own version of song movements which stood out. they all need to form a team as they got to do their own solos and they were very good ones. If you have seen A Chorus Line you will see Cassie playing this role of a lead trying to fit into an ensemble and the director rightly saying no part. When some of the dancers were trying to move behind the guards in front of the house curtain, the guards should have been moved further forward as it destroyed the mood with dancers fighting with the curtain.
The Blues Brothers, Jake played by Stuart Bailey and Elwood played by Trevor Patient brought their characters to life with their stage movements and attitude. Their singing was good on most numbers and the harp playing was great.
The Soul Sisters were great backing vocalists, had very tight team movements and did good solos. Well done.
Jake Junior played by Matt Gordon stole the crowd with his acrobatics which was shown at several times.
The Moulin Rouge set was simple and effective. The dancing was excellent, the Tango was very steamy, the AcroBalet ? were great to watch, like a Circe De Sole ? performance. The can can was vibrant and they did the splits . The costumes were good so if they provided their own, they did well as their was an overall match. The large ensemble numbers worked well considering therer were probably several different groups working together. The feather dancers look ok but showed us too much behind the feathers so we knew they wore skin coloured costumes. We need to be kept wondering with this dance so don't give us a clear view. The three feather dances worked well as a team at the end of the dance.
The band was excellent, Mike Barnett did a lot of lead solos which gave the show an overall concert feel which is what it is meant to be. A very tight sounding band, so much better that canned music. The extra string section for Moulin Rouge gave depth to the numbers and when they joined in with their finger snapping, it animated them and added to the carnival atmosphere.
The lighting was good but without a programme not many people would have known that it was LUX productions. The addition of 4 moving profiles provided a range of gobo designs that effectively broke up the show into different segments and worked well on the cyc. Having breakup gobos in the perch lights also provided good atmosphere and indicated a club atmosphere. The use of a hazer instead of a smoke machine would have provided a better atmosphere for showing off the light beams without having too heavy an atmosphere for the audience and cast. Some of the cues were cut too short which left the last 10 or 20 seconds on some numbers cut off in their prime
Don Allen
There was very little publicity evident for this show apart from one of the weekend magazines so it the company must have a good following to almost sell out the Regal theatre for its one show.
Sadly lacking was a readily availble programme, an important part of any production for a lot of reasons including recognition of cast , crew and sponsors. Being an amateur production, there are a lot of people to thanks and the curtain call is not the time or place for speeches.
Overall the show was value for money ($30 a ticket) and a good showcase of a lot of talent. It fitted into the category of an end of season performance by a dance academy et al. The overall Blues Brothers theme worked to piece it all together, being spoilt by some poor delivery of dialoge at times.
The Prison Guards needed some more work. Overall they worked as a group but one of them kept upstaging the others and doing their own version of song movements which stood out. they all need to form a team as they got to do their own solos and they were very good ones. If you have seen A Chorus Line you will see Cassie playing this role of a lead trying to fit into an ensemble and the director rightly saying no part. When some of the dancers were trying to move behind the guards in front of the house curtain, the guards should have been moved further forward as it destroyed the mood with dancers fighting with the curtain.
The Blues Brothers, Jake played by Stuart Bailey and Elwood played by Trevor Patient brought their characters to life with their stage movements and attitude. Their singing was good on most numbers and the harp playing was great.
The Soul Sisters were great backing vocalists, had very tight team movements and did good solos. Well done.
Jake Junior played by Matt Gordon stole the crowd with his acrobatics which was shown at several times.
The Moulin Rouge set was simple and effective. The dancing was excellent, the Tango was very steamy, the AcroBalet ? were great to watch, like a Circe De Sole ? performance. The can can was vibrant and they did the splits . The costumes were good so if they provided their own, they did well as their was an overall match. The large ensemble numbers worked well considering therer were probably several different groups working together. The feather dancers look ok but showed us too much behind the feathers so we knew they wore skin coloured costumes. We need to be kept wondering with this dance so don't give us a clear view. The three feather dances worked well as a team at the end of the dance.
The band was excellent, Mike Barnett did a lot of lead solos which gave the show an overall concert feel which is what it is meant to be. A very tight sounding band, so much better that canned music. The extra string section for Moulin Rouge gave depth to the numbers and when they joined in with their finger snapping, it animated them and added to the carnival atmosphere.
The lighting was good but without a programme not many people would have known that it was LUX productions. The addition of 4 moving profiles provided a range of gobo designs that effectively broke up the show into different segments and worked well on the cyc. Having breakup gobos in the perch lights also provided good atmosphere and indicated a club atmosphere. The use of a hazer instead of a smoke machine would have provided a better atmosphere for showing off the light beams without having too heavy an atmosphere for the audience and cast. Some of the cues were cut too short which left the last 10 or 20 seconds on some numbers cut off in their prime
Don Allen