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Tri-State Theater

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bil Neal's "Best of 2010"

My pal Bil Neal is the latest to send in his comments about the "Best Community Theatre for 2010."

He writes:
In looking through my Franklin this past year, I noticed that there was a lot of theatre in our area that my schedule didn't allow me to see. Since that's the case, I find myself unable to post a "Best of " list this year - I feel like I missed too much.

Among the shows I somehow didn't get to see, I can say that lots of folks were talking about the following, and I feel bad that I didn't get to...

First Day of Summer (by Jonathon Joy), Annie (at HOT), Pippen: His life and times (gonna try to get out to that theatre in 2011), Barnum (CLOG - heard a lot of great stuff about that one and missed Kris Corbet), Steel Magnolias (Fifth Avenue), 25th Annual Spelling Bee (Pullman Hotel), Dreamgirls (CLOG - saw some of the costumes, missed the play).

Also missed a lot of the Benefits this year, but heard a lot about the one for Hospice (No Place Like Home) and the ones that Marina Jurica organized. Hope the MU Theatre Guild will do another, there's just so many causes I'd like to support.

There were several things I was able to get in town at the last minute to see at least one act. In this way I was able to enjoy Peanuts (First Stage - That role was written for Levi Kelly), Baby (ARTS - really good work, especially George Snider III and Jane Modlin), Once Upon a Mattress (First Stage - Costumes, Cast, Set - lovely), Little Shop of Horrors (Andrew Surber had me laughing out loud), and White Christmas (Fifth Avenue - good to see tap onstage, and who doesn't love Josh Janotta's voice?).

Of the plays and musicals I got to enjoy from curtain to curtain, most noteworthy were I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (ARTS - Dave Benton was a blast!), the Concert Version of A Chorus Line (MU - did anyone else cry over Nathan Mohebbi?), Harvey (ARTS - Dylan Clark's dialect, and Kenny Harbolt's physical comedy was wonderful), Always, Patsy Cline (Logan State Park - always wanted to see this show, the ladies who pulled it off were brilliant), It's a Wonderful Life (Portsmouth Little Theatre - Mark Near had me from the beginning), and (naturally) Will Rogers Follies (ARTS, but I've said enough about that).

Looking forward to so many things in 2011.

2 comments:

marshallmark said...

Nathan's performance in the concert version of "A Chorus Line" was incredible. I saw the revival on Broadway, and he was better than the guy in that production.

Chuck Minsker said...

I sadly missed "A Chorus Line" but would have said the same thing about Nathan's performance in "Rent" last year.