Monday, May 24, 2010

Review of Steel Magnolias

A positive review of the show (one where my name actually appears!):

‘Steel Magnolias’ is a strong production at Rodgers
Written by:
Dave Mortensen May 22, 2010.

Playing through June 5, 2010
CENTERVILLE – As a single 20-something male, the idea of going to see “Steel Magnolias” did not thrill me. But part of being a part of the UTBA means going to shows you probably wouldn’t attend otherwise. This latest production by Rodgers Memorial Theatre certainly changed my mind about the show. This is by far the strongest production I’ve seen at Rodgers and I’m very excited to see more.
The story is probably familiar to most. The 90-minute show is comprised of just four scenes spanning three and a half years. All take place in the local beauty salon run by Truvy (Missy Riffle/Angela C. Brown) and her new employee Annelle (Melissa Robinson Hurst (SEE! LOOK! THAT'S ME!!!)/Adren Swenson. The rest of the cast includes Shelby (Ashley Gardner Carlson/Jillian Tirado) with her mother M’Lynn (Robin M. Edwards/Jane Merrell Huefner) and two more neighbors: Clairee (Chris Brown/Linda Jean Stephenson) and ouiser (Meredith Gibson/Rebecca Hess).
I attended the Saturday evening performance (I ACTUALLY PERFORMED THIS SHOW, EVEN THOUGH IT WASN'T MY REGULAR NIGHT. Okay, no more commentating in this review, I promise.) and was incredibly pleased by the performance. This marvelous group of women has formed one of the strongest ensembles I have seen in Davis County. Each was wonderfully convincing in her own right and bring together a simple and powerful story of the beauty, pain and laughter experienced in Chinquapin, Louisiana. The story is immediately approachable and applicable to any household. Director Leslie Giles-Smith has done beautiful work bringing this story to the Centerville stage.
Special compliments go to the costume designer Sandy Hunsaker. The costuming for the production was subtle, strong and perfectly captured the spirit of these women and their community. Set designer Scott VanDyke and scenic artist Tammy Coleman created a clear design that transported me to 1980s Louisiana.
This is really great work by Rodgers. It’s so refreshing to not only see a non-musical performance in the space, to not be deafened by overzealous sound reinforcement, but also to see quality acting and direction on the community stage.
Steel Magnolias plays through June 5 at Rodgers Memorial Theater on Pages Lane in Centerville. Tickets are $11-17 and can be purchased at the box office or by calling 801-298-1302. More information can be found at
RodgersMemorial.com.

The show has received several good reviews, but, for some reason, I haven't been mentioned in any of them!
Inside fact: I've never been mentioned in a review. Even shows where I've played the lead. Weird.
Not that I'm complaining. I guess it's better to not be mentioned at all than to be told you completely suck in print, right?!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Flowers

As previously stated, I am not a nature girl.
Don't get me wrong, I love flowers. But only the kind where someone else did the growing and the weeding, that are bug-free and come in a vase with a packet of flower food. (And that have a thoughtfulness behind them, of course.)

So, when Mike suggested that we go look at flowers to plant in our front yard, I thought, "Why not? It's a Saturday, we have nothing to do, and they'll be so many people there, Mike will get frustrated and we'll leave before we buy anything."
My train of thought did not coincide with reality.
To say it was an out-of-body experience would be the understatement of the year.
We bought flowers.

Flowers that Mike was somehow convinced I was going to plant in our front yard.

Who did he think he was dealing with?

Me?!

Put my hands in the gross, dirty DIRT?!

There's a reason it's called DIRT!!!

I THINK NOT, MR.!!!
In case you can't tell, I hate dirt.

And when my mom called and asked what we were doing and I told her we were planting flowers, I think she laughed for 10 minutes straight.
Then she asked that I put her real daughter on the phone.

I really don't do things like this. And how Mike convinced me is nothing short of a miracle.

But in the end . . . I did it:
The only problem now is Mike expects me to remember to water them.

And weed them.

HA!

Yeah, like that's happening.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Opening Night

For opening night, our costumer, Sandy, brought each of us a present: Yes.

Those are our very own individual bleeding armadillo groom's cakes. (Which is completely hilarious if you know the show.)

Just amazing. We haven't hacked into yet to see if it looks like it's bleeding to death, but I'm told from the rest of the cast that it does turn your teeth red. Which means we'd have to change the show to Dracula or Lestat or something with vampires (okay, I give, I'll state the obvious: Twilight) if we ate them before curtain.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Yes, That's Me

For those who keep asking, yes, that is me in the Deseret News with the 80's hair and incredibly big Christmas bow.


GROSS.

There's a reason the 80's went out of style.

And that bow is the reason.

The worst part?

The 80's are coming back.

Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that shoulder pads don't come back like stretch pants and wide belts. Hopefully, we're fashion-conscious enough now to realize how embarrassing it was to walk around looking like Jerry Rice all the time.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700028724/Stage-calendar-Magnolias-among-theater-offerings.html

P.S. By the way, the show is Steel Magnolias and I'm in the MWF cast, except for Friday, May 21st and Wednesday, June 2nd. I will also be appearing with the TTHS cast on Saturday, May 22nd, Tuesday, June 1st and Thursday, June 3rd (although there is the possibility that Missy might get her way and I man up and tell my counterpart she can't have my shows, but, let's be honest here, that really doesn't sound like me). Steel Magnolias runs May 7th through June 5th.

And you want to know the very best part about playing Annelle?

She's supposed to be 19 years old.

Yes, I laughed REALLY hard when I was told that's who I would be playing.

P.P.S. Not that I'm expecting anyone to come and see me embarrass myself (Mike's not even coming; he's afraid a show with this much estrogen will start his "cycle"), but if you mention my name when you buy tickets, you get a whopping $2 off.