Shakespeare set to music...

Went to see Two Gentlemen of Verona tonight. I enjoyed it, although I was very forgiving due to the fact that there were challenges with the whole thing. The sound was an issue. It was better in Act 2, but never perfect. Basically the balance was totally wrong whenever it was a female solo or an ensemble number. The band was TOO LOUD! Other than that the only other major issue I had was that you could tell the "ensemble" was not usually in musicals. They worked hard, but the sopranos were weak (too much alto) and there was just a gap between their skill in the musical form compared to the leads. The songs were fun and we (my friends Vero, Richie and I) debated the balance between Shakespeare and Musical. We felt there should have been more "Musical" less "Shakespeare" to really make it work. Some outstanding work by Chris Bullough, Kevin Corey, Natasha N., and Sheldon Elter. The other female lead had the skills, but not the subtlety to be as good as these four. Funny, funny, funny was Ron Pederson. Oh, and Troy and Julian seemed so out of place in a musical.

Oh! And I noticed, because it was obvious. Not one of the women was overweight or out of shape, but a 1/3 of the men were in less than prime condition. What's that about? Even the "slim" men had odd body shapes, while ALL of the women were slim with nice figures. Double standard! I saw it. It was there (how could you miss it when the women's ensemble were in hot pants!?!).

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