Review by anonymous
June 21, 2017What I liked
There was a young man with a strikingly old-fashioned theatrical profile who started to make a humorous impression as a ne’er-do-well Southerner. Within moments, though, what energy he brought onstage was dragged down to the level of inaudibility and “in their head” playing that everyone else was committed to.
The Mary Seacole costumes were historic, good, nicely built.
The two modern-time students attempted a parody of the listless, vapid style of our modern millenials.
What I didn't like
Cast a more dynamic, offbeat, vocally outstanding woman to play the lead.
Though one could blame the folksy, golly-gosh-what-will-Mary-do-next? style of writing, I’d bet that a company who authentically related to the life-and-death situations in the story could make it interesting.
My overall impression
Two worlds: Modern medical millenials peruse a biography of a dark-skinned, up-from-under (Jamaica, in fact) version of Flo Nightingale, aloft, while on the mainstage the biography itself unfolds like a very P.C.- biopic. The actors are passionless and often seem hellbent on a “realistic” style that renders them inaudible and emotionally under-engaged. The Mary Seacole, played by a slender actress of unprepossessing disposition, gives absolutely no indication that she has the audacity, rebelliousness, or physical size that the author indicates.
