“Mad Musicals is back and it’s debut after a five year hiatus was a hit – and miss – affair.
Tara van Heel sings Diva's Lament
Putting together a show in just five rehearsals is a tough challenge for even the best trained performers but, despite this, the energy and enthusiasm during the group numbers last night was exuberant. From the striking opening number (from Seussical The Musical) and the following solos, the audience were quickly whipped into a frothy sea of ‘musical madness’ that heralded a polished and talent filled show ahead. The reality, unfortunately was a little different and, at times, was more reminiscent of a back-street karaoke bar than a theatrical performance.
I may be sounding unreasonably harsh and in truth, despite the downs, Mad Musicals 6 was a refreshing and entertaining night out interspersed with moments of real sparkle. Don Graybiel, Tara & Chad van Heel and Stacy McDonald knocked out some killer numbers that left the packed KLT auditorium roaring and whistling. Climb Every Mountain was powerful and emotional, Hello Little Girl (a little known number from Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Into The Woods‘ ) was lusciously lyrical and darkly humorous and the combination of Stacy McDonald and Tara van Heel (with the backing of the KLT chorus) on “What is This Feeling” from Wicked at the end of Act One was a true delight.
Master of The House
From classic musical hits to some lesser known tunes, the collection of numbers put together by Tim Waddell was at the very least eclectic. Maybe a few more well known crowd pleasers would have helped ease the evening along as the audience clearly responded with relish as they heard the opening chords of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” from Grease and were then treated to a gutsy rendition by Kristen Falcioni (who seemed to be struggling with a sore throat during the second half of the show.)
All That Jazz
Technically the show had great flow; swift changes between numbers, inventive lighting and – for the most part – clear sound that allowed the vocalists to be heard above the backing tracks; but whether it was the mix of songs or their delivery by the large number of soloists, the show never quite seemed to fully kick into gear until the final number – an electrifying staging of “I Know Where I’ve Been” from Hairspray (rumoured to be coming to KLT to end the 60th anniversary season). That said this is, after all, amateur theatre, and we do not expect every performer to deliver Broadway standards to a Broadway standard. As a paying audience we do expect, however, to enjoy soloists that at least know their words – whatever the quality of their vocal performance - and there were a few too many moments last night when this clearly wasn’t the case. Hopefully that can simply be put down to first night nerves and those taking the solo spotlight tonight and tomorrow will overcome them.
KLT continues to push the envelope to bring live, theatrical entertainment to the Kuwait community and this being their 60th season they are clearly doing something right. Mad Musicals 6 may not be their finest production in the genre but is a tribute to what can be achieved by enthusiastic volunteers and will certainly entertain all those who have booked to enjoy it this week. “
I saw Mad Musical 6 tonight. It was my first visit to Kuwait Little Theatre and I wish I had know about the place sooner. The song choices were great. Many of the songs had humerous notes, so it wasn’t just about singing. I particulaly liked the “Always Alone” number. It had just the right amount of humor added. I will definitely come back.
An awesome show of professional entertainers:) I was lucky enough to be sat in the second row and was able to see all of the facial expressions of the entertainers… YOU ROCKED guys!
Pauls, I’m all alone…..Adel in just about every song was as animated and AWESOME as ever! The lady who played the nun, sorry I don’t know your name, WOW!!! A truely fine set of pipes!
As ever KLT pulls out all of the stops and I had to remind myself that this was an amateur dramatic group. Amateur in the loosest of terms! Great job Tim, and all involved! Another good one to add to your portfolio!
Oh, and I loved being an audience member for a change…and no injuries sustained Tim…lol (well, apart from catching my top on a nail on the way out of the theatre! Did you plan that?)
Well done guys!
I attended two theater performances in Kuwait last week. One was performed by a group of amateurs and the other by a stage school troupe who pay for the privilege to learn the ropes of theater and appear on stage. I was fully expecting to enjoy the latter one more, But guess what? while the stage school musical ( which had been stage managed to within an inch of its life! ) had far superior vocalists, I enjoyed Mad musicals so much more!! The vocals and movements at Mad Musicals were a bit rough around the edges, but it didn’t matter! The people of KLT give freely of their time to entertain us and we should never forget that. The atmposphere at the KLT is always amazing with a real buzz in the audience before any show starts and we are always thoroughly entertained. One newcomer stood out to me and I hope we will be seeing more of him in the future, Mr song and dance man Mike Ricketts.
I have only one criticism of Mad Musicals and that is I wish producer and director Tim Waddell had chosen some more well known songs from the shows as some of his choices were a bit obscure and I do like a good sing-along. It was also very disapointing not to see him singing a few numbers on stage. All thats left for me to say is ~ Roll on the Panto!