Skylight

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Skylight
written by David Hare and Mathew Beard
starring Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy
Golden Theatre – June 14, 2015
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Production website

๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰ out of 5.
This is going to sound a bit crude but watching this show seemed to me a very literate and brilliantly played out feasting on the Animal Channel. ย Crude I know – – but the constant clashing of horns for both the materialist, Bill Nighy, and the newly drafted idealist, Carey Mulligan was a scary thing.
Early in the evening Kyra (Carey Mulligan) puts a pot of Bolognese on the stove (literally food on the stove) and literally heats it for all of the audience to watch and smell. ย This meal cooks and cooks and when finally served we can only guess how hot it gets and how severely it burns the tongue.
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At its simplest, Skylight is the story of an old rich married man with a sickly wife who befriends and later woos a much younger woman. ย The secret plays out for a long time until the death of the wife andย conscious of the youngerย woman kicks in. ย Now, separated, they join on this rainy night to rekindle (?) what could have been, or might be, or hasn’t a chance of being.
It was very scary to watch the match up here. ย The language was so brilliantly sharpย and you couldn’t find twoย better actors/swords to wield against each other.
On a funny note, one of my teenage students with me found it totally unbelievable that a man as OLD as he was could ever have a relationship with someone as YOUNG as she was. ย “What could possibly drive them together?”
Patience young teenager – life will reveal stranger things then this.

Disenchanted

Didisenchanted-master675senchanted
book, music and lyrics by Dennis T. Giacino
directed by Fiely A. Matias
produced by Westside Theatre
June 14, 2015

๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰ out of 5.

Six women play dozenโ€™s of Disney Princesses in this adult comedy and send-up of all that is Disney and much of what is female in countless bedtime stories.

The result is super sweet, a bit naughty and truly captivating. My imagination was kept for the entire short 90 minutes of the play – grateful of course that they didnโ€™t overwork the bit for another hour.

As the musical asks, I found myself wondering why almost every happily-ever-after – – involves finding that certain someone, Canโ€™t a hard won happily-ever-after be just as sweet and rewarding on your own. I am NOT a Disney person and certainly not a Princess fan – but now I understand their appeal and danger to a young audience.