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Theater: ‘Shop of Horrors’ highlights theater company’s 43rd year
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Sarah Aili and Tyler Kent star in Broadway by the Bay’s “Little Shop of Horrors,” which kicks off the theater company’s 43rd season.
San Mateo County (Map, News) - Is it possible that a small exotic plant could take over the world? Broadway by the Bay explores that question with its 43rd season opener, “Little Shop of Horrors,” which runs April 3 through April 20 in San Mateo.
The musical, written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken and based on Roger Corman’s B-movie (Charles Griffith wrote the screenplay), opened off Broadway in 1982 and won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
The central figure is Seymour Krelbourn, a pathetic fellow who works in a Skid Row flower shop. When he discovers a mysterious, alluring plant that can sing, his world changes overnight.
Tyler Kent, who makes his Broadway by the Bay debut as Seymour, says of the character, “When I look at the journey he takes, from starting in an orphanage in Skid Row to achieving fame and fortune, it is a real challenge. There is a demand for sincerity and honesty, and Seymour is faced with difficult choices, including his own limitations.”
Sarah Aili, who plays Seymour’s co-worker Audrey, first saw the musical when she was in in middle school. She says, “What most intrigued me was that Audrey appears as an airhead without much depth in the beginning, but later grows to being a full-rounded, deep character who believes in her dreams.”
Director George Maguire became aware of the show when he passed by the Orpheum Theatre where it first played when he was a student at New York University. He says, “I was hooked, and so was everyone else. But I never would have guessed that one day I would have the opportunity to direct this remarkable piece of theater.”
As the company marks its 43rd year producing musicals on the Peninsula, Maguire also happens to be celebrating his 43rd year as an equity actor.
Performances are at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center, 600 N. Delaware St. Tickets are $17 to $45. Call (650) 579-5565 or visit www.broadwaybythebay.org.
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:22 PM MST on Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 re: "Performer gets risqué in new act"
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re: "Theater: Hillbarn closes season with Elton John’s ‘Aida’"
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12:15 PM MST on Sun., Sep. 9, 2007
re: "A ‘Macbeth’ in the Macbuff"
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5:18 AM MST on Sat., Sep. 8, 2007
re: "A ‘Macbeth’ in the Macbuff"
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2:23 PM MST on Mon., Aug. 20, 2007
re: "A ‘Macbeth’ in the Macbuff"
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11:14 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 6, 2007
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9:27 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 6, 2007
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9:09 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 6, 2007
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6:47 PM MST on Wed., Jun. 20, 2007
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2:03 PM MST on Wed., Jun. 13, 2007
re: "A trifle of a ‘Tempest’"
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10:45 AM MST on Wed., May. 30, 2007
re: "A harrowing choice at Theater J"
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9:33 PM MST on Mon., Apr. 23, 2007
re: "Shakespeare’s bloodiest"
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Bessica said:
The government should get out of marriage entirely. Straight or gay, we need good family law to protect children, we need contracts for interdependent relationships. Marriage is an important institution. Rename the legal part something else for EVERYONE. Many GLBT on the site **bisexualmingle c o m** want the same-sex marriage.
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I thought it was a great production and both Alexa Ortega and Adam Barry were absolutely fantastic.
16 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The Government Inspector: Quite poorly done. Actors unprepared. Line delivery mishaps. Overpriced. Prop failure at the end. It reminded me of sequels such as Oceans v11 - v13, where a group of well known actors use their names to draw a crowd and sell tickets. Uk. The result is a mediocre performance, in part because of too many cooks -- and some of these cooks, e.g. Geoff Hoyle are really good. Hopefully this review will save someone else the time and money.
16 agree | 11 disagree
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Parkside Poulegene said:
Re: High School Musical I just took my daughter Sharmuta to this show and we had to leave early! When we got home I took away all her "High School Musical" CD's and tee-shirts. If she even mentions the show again she's grounded for a month, and that goes for her other mother too. This show is really racist, homophobic and pro-Zionist and pro-Bush-Terror. There's too many white people in it. This show needs to be shut down and outlawed.
12 agree | 12 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Thank you for the first honest review that I have read on this production. The length of Act two was tortuous to sit through.
385 agree | 332 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I bet the scene where Macbeth and Macduff are branishing their CLAYMORES is a hoot!
300 agree | 314 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Playing naked? Not really - the main character's body is covered by fur! As the reader before wrote the actor playing Macbeth is extremely hairy. It is quite strange to see how hairy a mans body can be... His body hair was the most impressing thing of the whole play.
324 agree | 293 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Bloody, Bold, Resolute, and Naked - AND HAIRY!!! I read an article that all actors were not allowed to shave any body hair three months before the play started to look "naturally". So it is impressive how hairy the actor playing Macbeth is - he has a furry chest and even a quite hairy back and bushy pubic hairs. It is very unusual today to see such a hairy actor fully nude, because normally an actor shaves at least his back hairs doing a nude scene on stage or in a movie... So big compliments to Daniel Eichner for presenting us his great furry body fully nude!
353 agree | 308 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Good review... one of the few critics able to articulate some of the problems with this show. I left at intermission and the lighting was troublesome. sometimes I wonder what the other critics are thinking --- if you are still curious fgo on Saturday afternoons when the tickets are "pay what you can."
388 agree | 346 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Munch claims "there is no denying" that the nudity in WSC's "Macbeth" "does little to enhance or elevate Shakespeare’s Scottish play." Well, the critics at www.PotomacStages.com and www.DCTheatreScene.com have taken the opposite view. Potomac Stages, in fact, wrote: "in no uncertain terms that this is a quality production that presents "the Scottish play" in a new and very effective light (or is that a new and very effective darkness?)." DC Theatre Scene wrote: "The actors’ nudity provides an extra dimension to their presentations...By being physically naked, these actors become emotionally naked as well. This production of Macbeth is a great gift to those who have the will to receive it. We are unlikely to see anything like it in the foreseeable future." So it seems the only thing there is no denying is that Munch doesn't speak for everyone.
405 agree | 314 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Tonight's performance of "Macbeth" started at 8:05 pm and was done precisely at 10:30. I'm not the best at math, but that seems like under 2 and half hours...not over 3 hours, which the critic claims the play to be.
391 agree | 356 disagree
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JaimeK said:
Shame Fat Pig wasn't given an actual review on the acting. There were some pretty phenomenal performances. Especially Erin Riley as Helen and Courtney Ryan as Jeannie. Very VERY good show.
517 agree | 405 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Closes in 4 days
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Examiner Reader said:
Why review it a few days before it closes and not mention its closing in the review?
441 agree | 430 disagree
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EdnBetty said:
We just returned from Titus Andronicus, the play that Kenneth Tynan called "the worst play Marlowe ever wrote". We expected gore and got it! Tsoutsouvas was also great, but Valerie Leonard was vamping it over the top. And that voice set my teeth on edge!
745 agree | 480 disagree
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Reader said:
Yes, "She Stoops to Comedy" at Woolly Mammoth is a treat!
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Examiner Reader said:
Oh, we just a-DORed this show!
572 agree | 457 disagree
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