PeoriaStory

Dear Evan Hansen: Grade B-plus

PEORIA, IL -- The award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen rocked into the Peoria Civic Center on May 30 and plays again  on May 31.  It's an interesting production with some flaws.

Among the most fascinating of the pluses -- the sets which are mostly screens and videos that help tell the story of how a lie turns into a social media fenom.

In fact the media overshadows the non-Actors Equity cast in many scenes. Some of them mumbled or talked too fast and over or under acted their characters.

An exception was the actor John Hemphill whose program bio shows he's been on Broadway, while some of the others are fresh from college productions. His lines were crisp and easily understood.

And yes, finally a printed program with cast and show information.  Thanks, outsourced managers at the American Theatre Guild.

The program advertises next season's Broadway series without a word about how to get season tickets except an 800 phone number (it doesn't work) and a website. There are four shows (seen 2 of them already)  plus an ad-on, most not especially fresh, like most of the productions they send to Peoria.

-- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Heartland Festival Orchestra goes rock

WASHINGTON, IL -- Roll over Beethoven.  The Beatles music has gone classical, as seen at the May 27 concert of the Heartland Festival Orchestra.

The event, at Five Points in Washington, featured the Classical Mystery Tour Beatles Tribute Band, playing now classical Beatles songs mostly with the orchestra.

It was lively, especially during the standing ovation that squeezed three more songs from the band. Kids and teens in the audience danced at their seats.

The band, four Americans (not British), sang and played guitars, drums, and  an electronic keyboard.  Their timing was perfect, and their costumes, straight from the past, were effective, along with wigs that made them look slightly like the original quartet.

It was a fun evening, with the orchestra backing up most of the songs. Artistic director/conductor David Commanday commented that the "symphonic backup...is played from the original charts used for the studio recordings" instead of stage performances.

One criticism -- it was LOUD. And some of the stage mikes were not top quality. But the large audience, preferring rock to classical, didn't seem to mind. Will this music last as long as Beethoven's? Stay tuned. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins