Lowcountry Stages

One of the most adapted stories of all time gets another incarnation with the production now showing at Memminger Auditorium. Charleston Stage's Artistic Director Julian Wiles' new creation is fortunately less murderous than Frankenstein's creature. This is not ground breaking work, as the creator states, he has based it on many prior adaptations, but it is very entertaining. Wiles manages to wring out a few new moments from the story, quite the feat given the number of iterations that have come before it. The presentation at Memminger feels appropriate for the larger than life tale and allows for some larger than life sound effects a well. However, it is the laboratory that is the star of this show, As design by Wiles and veteran Charleston Stage set designer Stefanie Christensen, it completely overshadows the actors when present. Featuring a working water wheel, what appear to be actual electric Jacob's Ladders, and generating enough power to supply the city during the performance, it is a grand creation. The resulting production is a fitting tribute to the season and a fine start at Memminger for Charleston Stage. 

The Village Repertory Company takes great pride, with some justification, in the casting of the Charleston School of the Arts students in its shows over the years. Given the schools unique approach to theatrical instruction, featuring less time on stage and more time learning the craft, the opportunity for the students to be in a professional production outside of school hours is a incredible benefit. Previously this has been limited to one or two members cast as roles decree in various Playhouse shows. This season, Producing Artistic Director Keely Enright goes a step beyond, casting and directing a full School of the Arts cast into the exact same script, set, and staging as their current main stage production. (See our review here of the main production) The results are to be expected, given the outstanding performance of the professional cast. But taking into account the seriousness with which the SOA student pursue their craft, this is well beyond a normal High School play. While the original show garnered this seasons first 4.5 out of 5 from Lowcountry Stages, the SOA version is a 3. This is not a bad ranking, it is the standard that is expected of any production we review.

Footlight Players presents a Robert Ray production. This should have been a good thing, bringing in a purely professional act into a community theatre can help revitaize a season, even though it eliminates using the normal cast of actors. Yet for Footlight, the production of Puttin on the Ritz is a messy compilation of the music of the great Irving Berlin. This should have been a sure fire winner for them, but on the night reviewed, the arrangements were poorly done, with many famous songs hard to recognize. The costumes were uninspiring, the lighting dim and often not on the performers, and the band seemed to be going through the motions. This is a revue, and as such, a suprise to find as a part of the Player's main stage season. Following last month's excellent production of Biloxi Blues, this is a letdown and continues Footlight's roller coaster of ups and downs. Most of the fault goes to Robert Ray, who had a much better show with 2 For Broadway at the Charleston Music Hall, so perhaps the booking of this show could be understood. Yet the resulting mess is unsatisfying and rushed, with 41 songs crammed into a scant 90 minutes, and that including a 15 minute intermission.