"There are no small parts, only small actors"
New Breath Productions
Where Egos Dare - The Musical
In college all thought they were cool,
At this reunion who's the fool?
Theatre alumae take the stage,
Egos act at any age.
(There are several more stanzas on their show page but that's the gist of it)
These are apparently the small actors you were warned about.
(Oh, not the actors in the preview, their characters. They're actors playing actors. I should be more specific. No disrespect intended to the performers, just their characters.)
This one falls into that category of "theater about theater" that isn't a favorite of mine, so take this assessment with that in mind.
The title bugs me, but that's just a random movie association problem of my own, so please disregard.
Another big group. Another musical. Another group of good voices, of various ages. And they got their preview in and out within the warning yellow light at 2-1/2 minutes so you can't fault them there.
The conceit seems to be that they're doing a fundraising event for their old school, actors returning to the place that spawned their talent, and their egos.
Where it kind of falls apart for me is when the one character is upset about being cast as the Nurse rather than as Juliet. The Nurse is not a small part, or a bad part, in "Romeo and Juliet." "Romeo and Juliet" may be a play that drives me crazy but even I have to admit that in the hands of the right actress, the role of the Nurse can walk off with the damn play. And if you can play the Nurse, you're set. You can't be a young ingenue forever, but you can be a character actress forever.
(I know all of the above just points out what an enormous, far-too-literal-minded, theater geek I am. Pity me, and move on.)
Then, rather than allow the character the chance to play the Nurse, everyone inexplicably starts belting out the "Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little/Good Night Ladies" number from "The Music Man" over top of her dialogue. So they don't even let her do what small bit of the supposedly crappy part she got stuck with.
What a bunch of jerks.
Jerks with nice voices. But jerks.
If you're looking for a group of people performing Shakespeare and show tunes in the same Fringe package, this is your show.
If you're not, well, then you're me.
The video clip of the preview should be uploaded soon to the Fringe's YouTube page, so you can watch and see for yourself if it's what you're after.
Their website - www.newbreath.org
Their show page
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