The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
Directed by David Morgan

Reese Phillip Purser - Tom
Stephanie Breinholt Foster - Laura, his sister
Karen Baird - Amanda, his mother
Daryl Ball - Gentleman Caller (aka Mr. O'Conner), his co-worker and an acquaintance of Laura's from High School

For more information on The Glass Menagerie visit here.

Mortals Fools website. (They have several production photos on their website as well on their facebook page.)

So last week I was playing around on facebook, which has, oddly enough, become the center of my social life...Pathetic, I know...when I ran across a post from Mortal Fools (one of the groups I am a fan of) offering comp tickets to anyone who would come to the show and write a review about it on their blog.  (Sure, there was more to it then that, but it's late and the caffeine in the Pepsi I'm drinking doesn't seem as potent as it should...)  Where was I?  Oh, yes.  Free tickets.  Free is always good.  (Sort of...but that's another story.)

So I did the thing (requirements to get the comp tickets), got two comp tickets and got the nerve to ask a girl out for the evening...(She canceled three hours before.  Story of my life.  I'm calling it quits in regards to dating for now.  But I'm not here to talk about my personal life.  That's what I pay my psychiatrist for.)

So that cancellation put me in a bad mood for the evening, but despite that, The Glass Menagerie WAS AWESOME!!!

I'm not going to give a synopsis in this review, you can visit the above link for that.  I'm going to discuss (well, I'm going to type and all y'all will hopefully read what I type...there'll be no actual "discussion.")  :) the overall production.

The set was designed by Nat Reed.  He also designed the set for The Sound of Music (the production I was in a few years ago with the Lehi Arts Council...I played Herr Zeller...I still hate that show!  Though I'm forcing myself to see it this summer in Logan with the Utah Festival Opera.  Three years is enough time...)  The set was relatively simple.  At least in appearance.  (Having designed the set for a couple of chamber operas and a couple other short plays (I'm only in my first year of doing theatre), I know sometimes the simplest looking is sometimes the most difficult to pull off.  My assistant can attest to that.)  Despite it's simple nature, I loved it.  It was dark.  Much like the story.

The character of Amanda (played by Karen Baird) reminded me of some of the women I met while serving an LDS mission in the south.  (Amanda is, after all, a Southern Belle...)  Constantly trying to be charming.  Worried about her family.  Wants to make sure that her family is taken care of.  (And looks, "right."  Because, evidently, how the world perceives us (generally speaking) is the most important thing.  I gave that up awhile ago myself, hence the three inches of mold growing in my kitchen.  Kidding.  My kitchen is clean.  My car on the other hand...You know that's one good thing about my date canceling on me.  I didn't have to clean my car!)

Reese Phillip Purser as Tom, is torn between his loyalty to his dreams and his loyalty to his family.  (Sounds familiar.)  Laura (Stephanie Breinholt Foster) is a shy, timid girl who seems to know what she wants, but is afraid to reach for it.  Amanda (without giving away the plot), to me, blames Tom for what her husband, Tom and Laura's father, did.  (Sorry, I'm not giving it away here.  I only give the plot away if I didn't like something...As an example of this, please see one of my somewhat recent posts.)

There was only one thing that annoyed me about the production, well "on stage" anyway.  The story takes place in 1937.  I could swear they had 33's (that's type of record...you know, an early CD player...) on stage, when in 1937, 33's didn't exist.  They used 78's (okay, so there's more to the numbers then just "33" or "78"...I don't remember the exact "number."  I'm a virgin "audiophile" for cryin'-out-loud!)

When I arrived at the theatre it was about 6:40.  (I left from Salt Lake (about 8000 south for those in the area) and was planning on lots of traffic.  I didn't want to be late.  It's this little thing I have about being early for shows (and rehearsals, hint hint to my performers if they're reading this).)  The show was scheduled to begin at 7:30 (it didn't actually begin until about 7:35...but whatever...They weren't waiting for me!)  So, since I was SOOOOO early, I decided to wait in my car, read some emails (UNIPAC stuff...it never ends.)

About 6:50 I walked to the front door...Locked!  A woman waiting in her car said they'd open the door in about ten minutes.  My first thought was, "what? No lobby!?!  I need to pee, dang it!"  So I went back to my car and checked Fox News.  What did I ever do before a Blackberry?  About five minutes after seven, I went back. The door was STILL locked.  But this time I walked around the building...There was another door!  Imagine that!  Another door.  (Note to anyone from Mortal Fools who may be reading this, a sign on the front door would nice.  It would sure save a little old lady from walking up the steps to get to that door and then have to walk down them again to get to the other door.   Which happened.  I saw it.)

Other then the 33's (I emailed one of the producers about this, offering to loan them one of my "78" albums to use...), the lack of a sign on the front door and the apparent not letting people into the theatre until 30 minutes before curtain (with UNIPAC, the House doors open 60 minutes before curtain, but people can come in anytime before the show opens...well as longs as the person with the key, typically, the person who we're renting the building from, is there to unlock the building for us) it was a GREAT show.

I would go again, unfortunately though, my finances won't allow it.  (This March is quite busy.  Opera.  Theatre.  Concerts.  Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas...)    But, hey, I could always sacrifice decent food and live on peanut butter and Ramen noodles for what I love.  Art.  Music.  Theatre.  It's what I do.  Something to say, "I Was Here." Of attending the theatre doesn't exactly help the sentiment of this song along, but, well, never mind.  (This link will take you to youtube.  This recording isn't exactly the best, but it's decent enough for my purpose in posting this song.)

If you're able; GO SEE THIS SHOW! 

And then come see the FREE concert that I'm directing of "The Garden" by Bryce Neubert and Michael McLean on Easter Sunday, April 4th @7:00 at the Alpine Tabernacle in American Fork (110 East Main Street).  Visit UNIPAC's blog for more information.