TheatreDate.com Reviews

Community Review by Sarah King

I recently saw Jesus Christ Superstar at the Chico Cabaret. I was so excited to see this performance; I have always loved this musical. It was very enjoyable. The singing was wonderful, the lead characters, Jesus, Judas and Mary blew me away. Peter’s voice was also very nice; his duet with Mary, “Could we start again” was fantastic. Caiaphas and Annas were well performed, Annas was perfectly suited to his role. Pontius Pilate was well sung, but I felt he missed the mark during the whipping scene, why didn’t he count the lashes? The chorus sounded good as well and really brought a full sound to the show. The band accompanying them was spot on as well.

The costumes were well done; however, I don’t understand why one costume was cut so high. This is not a sexy show, it’s a Jesus show, the slit was not appropriate for the time. But that was only one costume out of many.

I was thoroughly enjoying the show until the big numbers, where the cast was dancing. The choreography was not good, it didn’t match the energy of the music, nor did it look well rehearsed. Dancers were out of sync with each other and the music, dragging down the energy of the big, important numbers. King Herod’s number was particularly bad; it was poorly choreographed, poorly danced and poorly sung. Rock and Roll musicals deserve good, rock and roll choreography and this musical doesn’t have that.
I would recommend this show to anyone! I really enjoyed it and found the cast to be delightful and talented. Even the bad choreography didn’t diminish my enjoyment because everything else was so well done. Go see Jesus Christ Superstar!!

Shakespeare’s plays, though well written, are full of deception, trickery, and fornication. In other words, they were made for Hollywood.

Back in 1934, Warner Brothers put that thinking to the test. The play “Shakespeare in Hollywood,” now showing at the Chico Cabaret, explores what might have happened on Director Max Rinehart’s set during the filming of the major motion picture, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The movie features performers like Joe E. Brown, James Cagney and Dick Powell. In the play these actors and many more become involved in a tangled love affair when The Bard’s most infamous fairy’s, Oberon and his right hand “man” Puck, descend magically on the set.

Oberon (played by Cabaret newcomer Gabriel Moss) falls in love with one of Hollywood’s up coming actresses, a young woman named Olivia (played by Kate Ruttenburg).

Director Max Reinhardt (played by Jeff Dickenson) finds himself in need of actors to play the fairies in his film. He stumbles upon Oberon and Puck (played by Keilana Decker) entangled in an argument and casts them on the spot.

Oberon instructs Puck to use a magic flower to draw other suitors away from his beloved Olivia. But Puck, who is wrapped in a vale of newfound stardom, bungles the job. And of course hilarity ensues.

The cast is a comic mix of characters, amusingly arranged by director Sue Ruttenburg. She enjoys plays by writer Ken Ludwig because they often incorporate lager casts and lack a single starring role, she said. When she’s looking for plays to feature at the Cabaret, that’s what she’s looking for.

“It’s a real ensemble cast,” she said.

The actors in the show have a healthy understanding of comic timing and put on a high-energy show. Studio mogul Jack Warner (played by Tony Varicelli) and his male secretary Daryl (played by Conan Duch) keep the laughs coming along with help from Warner’s love interest Lydia (played by Jennifer McAfee) and many others.

Even the extras, which were not written into the play’s script but are an invention of director Ruttenburg’s imagination, create a sense of action on the set and provide a healthy heap of laughs.

But the creative culprit who steals all the show’s comic currency is undoubtedly Decker. Playing Puck, she steals every scene with a mix of physical comedy, funny voices and a healthy blend of theatric “magic.”

Director Ruttenburg, has put together a must see comedy show, but she admits she had a lot of help from the cast.

“I was just really lucky,” she said.

And so is everyone who catches this show.