Prison Dancer at the Citadel - Always cool to see new works at a Regional Theatre
Photo Credit: Nanc Price
This week I caught Prison Dancer at the Citadel Theatre. It's a new work with Music and Lyrics by Romeo Candido, Book by Romeo Candido and Carmen De Jesus and Directed by Nina Lee Aquino. The Citadel was planning on doing this a couple of years ago but it was delayed by the shut-downs. Now it's up on their Shoctor stage and literally getting the audience up and dancing! I admit, when I first heard of the show I thought it was going to be in the smaller Rice Theatre, like other niche musicals have played (Gay Heritage Project, Craigslist Cantata, Bittergirl) so I was surprised to see it was on the much larger Shoctor. With the set and big dance numbers it made sense when I saw it.
It's a fun show in many ways, but seeks gravitas with the fact that prison life (particularly in the Philippines) is not easy. It is fun, because the prisoners have to find a way to find joy in their otherwise bleak and sometimes violent lives. It is fun, as well, because the music is pop-infused and delivered by good voices along with enthusiastic and athletic dance moves! There are some really great voices in the cast, the standouts being Daren Dyhengco as Christian Serrano and Diana Del Rosario as Christian's girlfriend on the outside, Cherish. Their songs were my favourites, both their solos and their duet. Their story also had the most hope, which a prison story definitely needs.
There were a few issues, it's clearly a new work, well on it's way, but hopefully this run in Edmonton will allow for a depending and strengthening of the script which lags a bit in places and is a little cliché in others. I also had issue with the sound balance, particularly in the first half of the show. Too often the band was too loud and I couldn't hear the vocalists. When you throw in accents and very rapid lyrics, it made for a challenge in knowing what was being said.
That being said, I was entertained and invested and it was fun to dance with a full house at the end of the show! There were a lot of younger audiences members who definitely were having a fabulous time form start to finish so I highly recommend for those of an age where you're still going out to dance AND for those who want to invest in new work, particularly new Canadian work. I can tell this show has a future and I will be pleased to say I saw it at the beginning!
Prison Dancer runs to May 28, 2023 at the Citadel Theatre.
They range from $33-126.
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