Our daughters share my love for musical theatre. Some of my favorite memories of all time are moments watching Brannon or Lillian on stage. And on a few occasions, I have shared a stage with one or both of them.
Last night Sheila and I had an uproaring good time at the Marietta Theatre Company's little black box theater, just off the square in downtown Marietta, Georgia, watching --- for the third time --- the madcap musical Lucky Stiff, starring our daughter Lillian Shaw in the role of Rita. The show's tickets havecompletely sold out for its final four shows.
Here are some pictures Lillian posted on her Instagram page:
When Brannon and Lillian were maybe 13 and 8, we bought the 1994 studio cast recording for Lucky Stiff and they fell in love with the goofball comedy and Ahrens and Flaherty's gloriously ridiculous script and songs. The two girls would act and sing scenes from it for fun. I suspect they each knew most if not all of the lyrics to all of the songs. But Sheila and I had never seen the play on stage until we saw this production a couple of weeks ago.
One of the greatest joys of our third trip to this production was having a vantage point to observe the audience. I have rarely seen an audience respond so completely from beginning to end with big laughs and smiles. The MTC did an excellent job of casting. The whole ensemble was outstanding and each of the characters had shining moments. And, ahem, especially so in the case of the goofy Rita with belting solos and a larger than life presence every time she burst onto stage.
How I wish we could bring this production to a stage in Rome to share it with more of my friends.
Looks like a lot of fun. The costumes are great. Wish I could have seen it.
ReplyDeleteA real farce and a lot of fun! Wish you were here.
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