Justin's Theatre Reviews

*I wrote this right after I saw the show in February, but it is barely being published due to my poor commitment skills*    The first thing I said when the lights came up at the intermission of the national tour of An American in Paris was that the dancing was lovely. Because it really was. In fact, it was quite likely some of the best dancing I have ever seen take place in a musical. In fact, if I were to rank the best choreography I have seen in musicals, this show is easily in the top three, if not the top two. Not to mention, that the orchestrations were simply heavenly. If I were to rank orchestrations, this show would certainly be high on the list as well. However, if I were ranking this production on it's book, design, acting, and singing, then this production would easily be nearing the lower end of said rankings in each category. It's so fascinating to me, that despite An American in Paris having dancing and orchestrations that are utterly stunning, the show falls ...

*I wrote this shortly after I saw the show in January, but I am only publishing it now because I am awful*    "The candy man. The candy man can." These are words that I imagine everyone in the English speaking langauge has heard sung at lease once or twice in their life. Even if you haven't seen the movie versions or read the book, you probably have still heard at least that one part of the song.  Just like the song, most people seem to have an idea or be aware of the story of Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka, the famous candy maker. There have been numerous adaptations of the story and the latest version of the story is the musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , which opened on Broadway in 2017, hit the road in 2018, and has been on tour across North America since. The aforementioned song, aptly titled, "The Candy Man" is the opening number of this musical adaptation, which I found to be absolutely charmless and devoid of anything that made the book or th...

    It is no secret that I do not care for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical  Cats (based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats , by T.S. Elliot). In fact, when I was in middle school and high school, I despised it with a passion to the point that it became a joke among my friends. However, I have a secret. When I attempted to watch the filmed version of the show, I grew so bored and tired of the show that I turned it off during the song, "Gus: The Theatre Cat." Since that time, I have not revisited the show, other than the occasional listen to a song or two from the Original London Cast Recording (never the full thing) or when one of the songs would come on as a part of the Andrew Lloyd Webber compilation album that I own. When the trailer was released for the Tom Hooper-directed film adaptation of the musical, I was THRILLED. It looked so awful to the point where I thought I may enjoy it. I thought it would become my most guilty of guilty pleasures. I planned on attend...