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No, it's not Beetlejuice, it'sGarrett Liggett (l.), Mason Hallberg, Evan Shafran, Rebecca Lane in 'Sally Spectre' at the Eclectic Company Theatre's Hurricane Season. / Photo credit: Rebecca Bonebrake.
We’re big fans of one-act and short play competitions around town because it gives LAist an opportunity to see some of the most creative work on stage by up-and-coming writers on one night. But sometimes, too, you have to sit through mediocre and pedantic productions to get to the good stuff – and that’s exactly what happened Saturday night at the Eclectic Company in North Hollywood -- opening weekend of the Fifth Annual Hurricane Season: One-Act Playwriting Competition.
We watched three short plays in Saturday’s competition. The winner, voted for by audience ballot, will move on to final rounds of the Hurricane Season Festival and Competition.
The evening opened with the quirky “Fish: A Love Story” by Evan Lai. Brent Schindele played Chris, who meets the goldfish (Nick Freilich) who loved him in a previous life. The former goldfish is gay, and it turns out that Chris is too. The entertaining play provided a few laughs, but we couldn’t tell by Freilich’s distracting facial expressions whether he was trying not to laugh or whether he was in character.
The relationship drama “Gun Play” by Kurt McGinnis Brown had a decent script, but the actors couldn’t quite pull it off that evening. Whether it was his nerves or low energy, we had trouble hearing Jason Britt at first – he seemed to be emoting a la Brad Pitt/James Dean squinty look, which is great for TV or film, but not for the stage. The other actors (Beth Ricketson and Mike “fuz” Edwards) tried to lift the energy, but the trio together seemed a bit off balance.
So when it came time for “Sally Spectre: The Musical” to end the evening, we weren’t sure what to expect. The production stills reminded us of Beetlejuice, and we wondered how writer David P. Johnson could turn a story about a little girl with a hatchet embedded in her skull into a musical. But as weird as it sounds, the storyline, the acting and the direction by Chelsea Sutton worked fantastically. And while lead Rebecca Lane (as Sally) didn’t have the greatest singing voice, we didn’t mind at all because the cast -- individually and as an ensemble – were on point from the opening line.
Though we don’t know which play from this first weekend the audience ultimately chose to compete in the following weeks of the competition, we’re pulling for a certain dead little girl and her playthings.
Hurricane Season: One-Act Playwriting Competition
Eclectic Company Theatre
5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, until Aug. 24
$15
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As much as I agreed with your assessment of the three plays ("Sally" won according to my friend and the writer, David P. Johnson), I beg to disagree about Jason Britt's performance in "Gun Play". 'Twas he who elevated the play to greater heights. His two costars were very good, but he should be the lead in some major work, or, at least, be the next replacement detective on one of the "Law and Order" shows. His stage style was realistic of someone in crisis, and who wouldn't want to see Brad or James (RIP) on stage? That's emotion. Even while fumbling his lines a few times, Jason seriously emoted, especially as the play progressed. That is my humble opinion, anyway. I liked the play despite some flaws (or maybe I just missed some connections and the ending puzzled me). I laughed and enjoyed "Fish", but loved "Sally" and her gang, especially the Wraith ("Trust Me")and, believe it or not, I am not saying this out of friendship for David P. Hooray for the Eclectic Theatre! We'll be back.
We can't have possibly seen the same production. I went to the Eclectic theater this week-end to see Sally in its semi-final run, in part because of your recommendation. I thought it was amateurish in the extreme. I felt as if I were watching a mediocre high school production. The lead was all but unwatchable, and when she sang, God help us. Of the other two plays on the bill, Preposterous was good but Break was phenomenal. It was clearly a professional piece sandwiched in between two far lesser ones. Have standards in LA sunk so low that something as paltry as Sally gets a rave?
I think the first guy is right. I also saw the show over this past weekend and think that "Sally Spectre" was the best of the three plays by far. I understand that the production value itself wasn't tip top, but I also didn't expect it to be tip top considering the fact that we're talking about a small theater that probably had a very limited budget. My understanding is that this is part of a playwriting competition. Audience members were asked to vote for their favorites. I cast my ballot for Sally Spectre because I thought it had the best script, but I also think the actress playing the role was fabulous. I admit she didn't have the greatest singing voice, but it wasn't offensive either. Her acting was simply brilliant. The other plays were both fine. "Break" being my second favorite. Those actors were also really very good. But we were asked to judge on writing, not production value or even acting skill. My vote went to Sally Spectre and I'm glad it did.
I am absolutely stunned that the person above found the actress in Sally fabulous. Her performance was a leering, overacted mess. But I do have to give the commenter credit for pointing out an important fact, that we were asked to vote for the best script, not performance or production value. I went back and revisited the evening, but have to conclude that Sally was no where near the best script. The play is simplistic with shallow characters and the story is completely predictable with a miniscue story arc. Granted it is a one-act, but the ending was so obvious, why were we tortured to sit through the whole play? Secondly, it is a musical but not one song was memorable a beat after the last note faded. If Sally wins this week-end it is becasue the cronies of the cast ignored the instructions from the producer to vote for the best script first and our friends' second. I think the only place Sally would truly win would be at an elementary school in Alaska.
So the real question is which show that theaterinLA has running during Hurricane Season. Obviously you're worried about Sally Spectre getting more votes than your own show, and you feel like the only way to win is to badmouth both the play and the performances.
The reality is that Preposterous has some interesting moments, but is far from finished, and Break has a fundamentally unbelievable premise (in spite of that play being previously performed in NY; seems like it still needs some work).
Envy and fear can be ugly things, and it's sad to see someone throw stones from the safe anonymity of the web, especially because theaterinLA's comments reek of someone writing with a hidden agenda.
Obviously the comment above has misunderstood completely. I am not in any show, but was an audience member who came to the theatre in part because one of the things I do is check out the theater reviews on LAIST, among other sites. I was intrigued by the review Sally got, as I love "out there" theater. I was disapointed in what I saw, especially since Christina gave it such a rave. Am I the only one has strongly disagreed with a critic? Maybe you are the one with an agenda. And if I'm not mistaken whoever wins will have been decided before any of these posts were written, so who am I influencing? If you think I am alone in my feelings about Sally, maybe you should have checked out the comments from the audience afterwards. I can assure you , I was not alone in my opinion. If my comments seem mean-spirited, I apologize. I am tired of bad theater being given high marks. No wonder it's impossible to get decent audiences at small theaters in this town.