What I liked
6/17/2019 0 COMMENTS
The greatest gift is falling in love: A review of Let’s write a musical
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Actor Luke Wall
Lets Write A Musical is a joyous celebration of Musical Theatre, an instant classic in the making, this toe-tapping good time is a beautiful reminder that love wins out in the end.
Lets Write A Musical
Written and Lyrics by Lawrie Chiaro Smylie.
Director and Choreographer: John Coppola.
June 8th-30th
Venue McCadden Theatre – 1157 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Run Time 1Hr
Based on real-life events, the plot of this show focuses on the aftermath of writer/composer Lawrie Chiaro Smylie’s husband Ben who gets diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer, in an attempt to remain in good spirits they decide to write a musical together, and this show is the culmination of their work together.
They show is interweave of two different stories told simultaneously two very different heartfelt love stories that run parallel to each other that are braided seamlessly in one layered production, musical within a play if you will.
The story that we see on stage follows the character David(Bil Dwyer The Middle, Parks and Recreation, Hot in Cleveland) who after being diagnosed with cancer, turns to his wife, Lucy(Patricia Gillum), and says the titular phrase “let’s write a musical.” they decide to set their show in the ’50s based off when they first met. It is a romantic musical comedy that tells the story of Olive(Rachael McLachlan) and Blake(Luke Wall ) She is a waitress working at a local diner, he is a budding reporter working for a local newspaper, they both happen to fall head over heels in love at first sight after their first date. But as their two best friends Shirly(Chloe Zubiri) and Gus(Cameron Gilliam)get involved their “help” ends up causing more harm than good and soon the newly formed romance must find its way out of its rocky start.
The entire cast that is assembled is fantastic, with both leads delivering such emotion and consciousness to their roles. That being said the soul of this production and a lot of its success resides in its ensemble, there is a quite a bit of pressure to sing and dance a dozen well written energetic songs. And It is safe to say they gloriously rise to the occasion again, and again. It is rare to see such a powerful collective of performers brought together for one show, each one delivers a stand out performance.
Musical the original songs are a feel-good throwback tribute to the fun 50’s era music, the soundtrack could easily belong in the same conversation with past classics such as White Christmas and Singing in the Rain, they are complemented beautifully by Coppola’s well put together direction and choreography.
What I didn't like
N/A
My overall impression
Based on real-life events, the plot of this show focuses on the aftermath of writer/composer Lawrie Chiaro Smylie’s husband Ben who gets diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer, in an attempt to remain in good spirits they decide to write a musical together, and this show is the culmination of their work together.
