Post by tylerlennon2007 on May 13, 2023 16:16:15 GMT
Last night (5/12/2023) I went and saw a play put on by Countryside High School's Theater 3 and 4 classes, entitled "The Bold, the Young, and the Murdered", written by Don Zolidis. This review will contain spoilers for the play, so keep that in mind before reading (I'm sure you can find a video online of the play if you're curious). Anyways, before I get into the actual review, here is a brief rundown of the plot for the uninitiated- Or at least the plot that was conveyed in this production of the show.
Plot synopsis
Soap opera director Oli is having a hard time getting his actors all on task and working effectively. The show is a mess and the executive producer Miles eventually comes by and warns them that if they can't finish an episode by that night, they'll be pulled from air.
All this gets disrupted though when Oli suddenly gets violently bludgeoned to death during a power outage. Once everyone realizes that he's dead (which takes them an embarrassingly long time), the assistant director Kaitlin takes over and they all go back to filming, despite the lead actor Morris begging for them to pause production and try to figure out what happened.
They film for a while longer when another actress gets killed, but Keri (actress on set) is quick to replace her and they move on. Morris is growing increasingly anxious, but Kaitlin continually dismisses him and they continue filming. Bill gets murdered next, muttering "It was..." before dying, confirming 100% that there is a murderer on the loose and implying it was someone among them.
Cybil, an elderly actress on the show, dies next and that's when the rest of the cast and crew finally seem to take the murders seriously, much to Morris' dismay. The actress playing the mom in the soap opera, Amy, reveals that she is an undercover FBI agent and begins questionably interrogating the cast and crew to try and deduce who the killer is.
This all gets thrown off balance, however, as the executive producer returns and reveals that he is the killer, explaining that he did it to increase ratings on the show. He then tells the actors that they can reap the earnings of the crimes and become celebrities if they agree to not tell anyone what happened. Upon Morris asking what would happen if they didn't take the deal, he explains that person (or people) would be framed as the killer(s), so overcome by grief that they killed themself/themselves after committing the crime. If everyone took the deal, then Cybil would be framed as the killer.
After some hesitation, Morris... Takes the deal and they wrap up filming.
But wait, there's more! After all is said and done, it is revealed that Miles was not, in fact, the killer. Keri was the killer but Miles was her dad so he covered it up for her.
All this gets disrupted though when Oli suddenly gets violently bludgeoned to death during a power outage. Once everyone realizes that he's dead (which takes them an embarrassingly long time), the assistant director Kaitlin takes over and they all go back to filming, despite the lead actor Morris begging for them to pause production and try to figure out what happened.
They film for a while longer when another actress gets killed, but Keri (actress on set) is quick to replace her and they move on. Morris is growing increasingly anxious, but Kaitlin continually dismisses him and they continue filming. Bill gets murdered next, muttering "It was..." before dying, confirming 100% that there is a murderer on the loose and implying it was someone among them.
Cybil, an elderly actress on the show, dies next and that's when the rest of the cast and crew finally seem to take the murders seriously, much to Morris' dismay. The actress playing the mom in the soap opera, Amy, reveals that she is an undercover FBI agent and begins questionably interrogating the cast and crew to try and deduce who the killer is.
This all gets thrown off balance, however, as the executive producer returns and reveals that he is the killer, explaining that he did it to increase ratings on the show. He then tells the actors that they can reap the earnings of the crimes and become celebrities if they agree to not tell anyone what happened. Upon Morris asking what would happen if they didn't take the deal, he explains that person (or people) would be framed as the killer(s), so overcome by grief that they killed themself/themselves after committing the crime. If everyone took the deal, then Cybil would be framed as the killer.
After some hesitation, Morris... Takes the deal and they wrap up filming.
But wait, there's more! After all is said and done, it is revealed that Miles was not, in fact, the killer. Keri was the killer but Miles was her dad so he covered it up for her.
Individual Cast Performances
Omar Lanuze as Morris Nyborg/Jake Strong : Omar was a compelling lead in terms of characterization. I never felt bored or annoyed by Morris as a character, which I feel very easily could've happened if not handled well. There was an issue of diction, particularly at the beginning of the play, though that got better as it went on and I could better understand what he was saying.
Josh Frechette as Bill Wiley/Sebastian Strong : Definitely one of the standouts of the cast, I jumped every time he comically began screaming after each death. His death scene was also a perfect tightrope between being presented seriously and comedically. Also, he was apparently a last-minute fill-in for the role, so extra props for that.
Nox Bowman as John Burke/Valencio Di Carpathio : Another great performance from Nox. They absolutely nailed the old man voice. This was one of the very few times in a high school production where I could buy into this actually being an elderly person despite obviously being played by a teenager. That's hard to pull off so my absolute tip of the hat for accomplishing that, and they were very funny as well.
Leo Cain as Cybil Dane/Mona Jeffries : Body language and facial expressions were a 10 out of 10 all around and made me chuckle every time. The old lady voice was a bit hard to understand at points but the lines I could gather were all well-delivered. Leo has great things ahead of him after he graduates, I'm sure of it.
Holly Nolan as Amy White/Eileen Silvertedt : Holly was a good actor when I saw Power Line but she's definitely improved a lot since then and that was very cool to see. She sold the over-the-top soap opera acting spectacularly and the incompetent, undercover FBI agent aspect was also very believable. Great stuff
Sarah Venable as Danielle Farris/Jessica Silvertedt : Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Great work. Every character I've seen Sarah play has been different and she's nailed each and every one. I particularly liked the ridiculous body language in the soap opera scene. The whole point with a lot of these characters is that they aren't great actors and that was a really good way to convey that. Just, great acting all around.
Tushar Ganguly as Tyler Tripodo/Doctor Williams : This character got some good laughs out of me. I particularly liked the evil laughing scene, I felt like Tushar did that incredibly well. There were some parts where he was talking quickly and it was hard to tell exactly what he was saying, but when he took more time with the lines they were all clear and well-delivered and I did love how ridiculous the character was.
Cyan Gieseke as Keri : Cyan excellently delivered the two-faced character that was Keri, seeming sweet and innocent on the surface but having something a bit more sinister underneath (as she ended up being the killer), which occasionally slipped out. That could've been completely missed in performance but I'm glad it wasn't because it was very cool to see. She's also improved a lot in terms of projection since I last saw her in Power Line.
Devin Strittmatter as Sequoiya/Lily Baumgartner : This character was not in the show all that long, but her death was well done and, overall, there was a sense of emptiness in group scenes after she died.
Finn French as Oli : I'm not sure if this was intended, but it did make me chuckle realizing that the in-show director was also the person who directed the play. Anyways, Finn did an amazing job conveying the uptight, mentally-not-all-the-way-there director and I was sad to see him go so quickly. I particularly liked the parts where he was yelling. Those were particularly amusing
Syd Sikorski as Brooke Louis : It is to my understanding that this character was supposed to play a more major role but, even putting that aside, Syd might have had my favorite performance in the show, or at least one of them purely on the basis of background acting. Obviously an actor doing background acting at all is always appreciated because it eliminates the distraction of "these are actors on a stage" but I have never- Seriously, never- Been so entertained by an actor's background acting without being distracted by it. Syd perfectly balanced reacting/muttering to other actors in the background while also not upstaging whatever the main focus of a scene was- I genuinely don't know how they managed that. All of the actual line deliveries were great as well, and Brooke easily became my favorite character largely due to the delivery. Amazing work
JT Thomas as Kaitlin : JT was another last-minute fill-in and had a script on stage because of that, which is 100% understandable and honestly makes the performance they gave all the more impressive because their eyes weren't glued to the page the entire time. Their acting was also one of the stand-outs of the show. Overall, once I realized it was a script in their hand and that they would take a more major role, I was a little worried it would feel like a cold reading (which, again, would be completely understandable since they got cast literally hours beforehand), but it never did. While I'm sure it was incredibly stressful, they are a great fill-in and an even better actor.
Sebastian Lucid as Miles : Again, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but the co-director of the play playing the in-show executive producer is deeply funny. Sebastian, per usual, absolutely nailed this performance and the twist at the end where it was revealed he wasn't actually the killer was very believable in large part due to how he conveyed it. He was incredibly clear with his line delivery and I loved every scene he was in.
As a whole, the cast was very entertaining. The one critique I do have for the cast as a whole was just that there were a lot of moments of people talking over each other and stepping on each other's lines in a way that didn't feel intentional. But, in the scenes that did go smoothly (at least from an audience's perspective), it was a very fun time.
Josh Frechette as Bill Wiley/Sebastian Strong : Definitely one of the standouts of the cast, I jumped every time he comically began screaming after each death. His death scene was also a perfect tightrope between being presented seriously and comedically. Also, he was apparently a last-minute fill-in for the role, so extra props for that.
Nox Bowman as John Burke/Valencio Di Carpathio : Another great performance from Nox. They absolutely nailed the old man voice. This was one of the very few times in a high school production where I could buy into this actually being an elderly person despite obviously being played by a teenager. That's hard to pull off so my absolute tip of the hat for accomplishing that, and they were very funny as well.
Leo Cain as Cybil Dane/Mona Jeffries : Body language and facial expressions were a 10 out of 10 all around and made me chuckle every time. The old lady voice was a bit hard to understand at points but the lines I could gather were all well-delivered. Leo has great things ahead of him after he graduates, I'm sure of it.
Holly Nolan as Amy White/Eileen Silvertedt : Holly was a good actor when I saw Power Line but she's definitely improved a lot since then and that was very cool to see. She sold the over-the-top soap opera acting spectacularly and the incompetent, undercover FBI agent aspect was also very believable. Great stuff
Sarah Venable as Danielle Farris/Jessica Silvertedt : Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Great work. Every character I've seen Sarah play has been different and she's nailed each and every one. I particularly liked the ridiculous body language in the soap opera scene. The whole point with a lot of these characters is that they aren't great actors and that was a really good way to convey that. Just, great acting all around.
Tushar Ganguly as Tyler Tripodo/Doctor Williams : This character got some good laughs out of me. I particularly liked the evil laughing scene, I felt like Tushar did that incredibly well. There were some parts where he was talking quickly and it was hard to tell exactly what he was saying, but when he took more time with the lines they were all clear and well-delivered and I did love how ridiculous the character was.
Cyan Gieseke as Keri : Cyan excellently delivered the two-faced character that was Keri, seeming sweet and innocent on the surface but having something a bit more sinister underneath (as she ended up being the killer), which occasionally slipped out. That could've been completely missed in performance but I'm glad it wasn't because it was very cool to see. She's also improved a lot in terms of projection since I last saw her in Power Line.
Devin Strittmatter as Sequoiya/Lily Baumgartner : This character was not in the show all that long, but her death was well done and, overall, there was a sense of emptiness in group scenes after she died.
Finn French as Oli : I'm not sure if this was intended, but it did make me chuckle realizing that the in-show director was also the person who directed the play. Anyways, Finn did an amazing job conveying the uptight, mentally-not-all-the-way-there director and I was sad to see him go so quickly. I particularly liked the parts where he was yelling. Those were particularly amusing
Syd Sikorski as Brooke Louis : It is to my understanding that this character was supposed to play a more major role but, even putting that aside, Syd might have had my favorite performance in the show, or at least one of them purely on the basis of background acting. Obviously an actor doing background acting at all is always appreciated because it eliminates the distraction of "these are actors on a stage" but I have never- Seriously, never- Been so entertained by an actor's background acting without being distracted by it. Syd perfectly balanced reacting/muttering to other actors in the background while also not upstaging whatever the main focus of a scene was- I genuinely don't know how they managed that. All of the actual line deliveries were great as well, and Brooke easily became my favorite character largely due to the delivery. Amazing work
JT Thomas as Kaitlin : JT was another last-minute fill-in and had a script on stage because of that, which is 100% understandable and honestly makes the performance they gave all the more impressive because their eyes weren't glued to the page the entire time. Their acting was also one of the stand-outs of the show. Overall, once I realized it was a script in their hand and that they would take a more major role, I was a little worried it would feel like a cold reading (which, again, would be completely understandable since they got cast literally hours beforehand), but it never did. While I'm sure it was incredibly stressful, they are a great fill-in and an even better actor.
Sebastian Lucid as Miles : Again, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but the co-director of the play playing the in-show executive producer is deeply funny. Sebastian, per usual, absolutely nailed this performance and the twist at the end where it was revealed he wasn't actually the killer was very believable in large part due to how he conveyed it. He was incredibly clear with his line delivery and I loved every scene he was in.
As a whole, the cast was very entertaining. The one critique I do have for the cast as a whole was just that there were a lot of moments of people talking over each other and stepping on each other's lines in a way that didn't feel intentional. But, in the scenes that did go smoothly (at least from an audience's perspective), it was a very fun time.
Tech, Set, Direction, All That Fun Stuff
This was student-directed by Finn French and Sebastian Lucid. For a student-directed play, I think they did an amazing job and a lot of the smaller issues that came up are things that I believe were beyond their control. I particularly liked how things were staged because the backdrop never changed but I also never felt bored because everything always felt different from scene to scene, even when there weren't set changes. I think as a duo they did a great job and I'd love to see any directorial efforts from them, either solo or as a team again, in the future.
Serenity Irvin-Churchward did a great job as stage manager, both interacting with me and other audience members before the show and during intermission, but also balancing it with their jobs and the many hats that a stage manager has to wear. It's to my understanding that a door was broken beforehand which is why the show was slightly delayed. Under different management, that could've been a much bigger issue, but it was quickly solved, which was nice to see. Especially since the solution wasn't distracting in any way. Yeah. Great work
Set changes (Jordan Pescio, Atlas Lehr, Astrid Turner, and I believe also Syd Sikorski) were all quick and efficiently done, especially considering it was typically 3-4 people moving multiple large pieces of furniture. That stuff can really distract from a show if it takes too long, but it was all hammered down pretty well, so good on ya for that.
I don't know who was in charge of sound or lights, so apologies for that. Music was typically played quietly under scenes and never distracted from the scenes where music was playing. Sound effects were not as tightly timed out, but were hardly a distraction. The lights were also well done. There were a few moments where lighting changes would go through a few settings before settling on something but, again, those were very brief and didn't distract from the actual scenes.
The set (once again, apologies, I don't know who to credit this to) itself was very neat. I particularly found it amusing how Finn's character went on a whole tirade about how their focus is on quality but the backdrop was kind of hideous, with chipped paint, fake windows you couldn't see through, and bits of the framing were missing. And the furniture for each set change was all well-selected and immediately clued the audience into what the focus of the scene would be.
As a whole, tech was definitely one of the strengths of this show and I will forever envy how good this troupe is at tech.
Serenity Irvin-Churchward did a great job as stage manager, both interacting with me and other audience members before the show and during intermission, but also balancing it with their jobs and the many hats that a stage manager has to wear. It's to my understanding that a door was broken beforehand which is why the show was slightly delayed. Under different management, that could've been a much bigger issue, but it was quickly solved, which was nice to see. Especially since the solution wasn't distracting in any way. Yeah. Great work
Set changes (Jordan Pescio, Atlas Lehr, Astrid Turner, and I believe also Syd Sikorski) were all quick and efficiently done, especially considering it was typically 3-4 people moving multiple large pieces of furniture. That stuff can really distract from a show if it takes too long, but it was all hammered down pretty well, so good on ya for that.
I don't know who was in charge of sound or lights, so apologies for that. Music was typically played quietly under scenes and never distracted from the scenes where music was playing. Sound effects were not as tightly timed out, but were hardly a distraction. The lights were also well done. There were a few moments where lighting changes would go through a few settings before settling on something but, again, those were very brief and didn't distract from the actual scenes.
The set (once again, apologies, I don't know who to credit this to) itself was very neat. I particularly found it amusing how Finn's character went on a whole tirade about how their focus is on quality but the backdrop was kind of hideous, with chipped paint, fake windows you couldn't see through, and bits of the framing were missing. And the furniture for each set change was all well-selected and immediately clued the audience into what the focus of the scene would be.
As a whole, tech was definitely one of the strengths of this show and I will forever envy how good this troupe is at tech.
Special Thanks
I would like to thank Serenity for giving me the names of the three stage techs as well as the name of Lily's actress.
And, per usual, I'd like to give thanks to the Troupe as a whole as well as Mr. Saienni for being incredibly kind to me before the show, during intermission, and after the show. You all are absolutely lovely individuals and it's always nice getting to see you guys perform. I understand this show didn't go necessarily how it was intended to, but I genuinely had a very fun time
As always, much love,
Tyler Hogan from Troupe 2055
And, per usual, I'd like to give thanks to the Troupe as a whole as well as Mr. Saienni for being incredibly kind to me before the show, during intermission, and after the show. You all are absolutely lovely individuals and it's always nice getting to see you guys perform. I understand this show didn't go necessarily how it was intended to, but I genuinely had a very fun time
As always, much love,
Tyler Hogan from Troupe 2055