Hi theatre loving friends! I have 2 shows to log for you today. It’s been a very busy time for me with both the summer movie season starting and plenty of live shows to see as well. I you want me to do a full review of your show I’d love to do it. Just email me at rachelsreviews65@gmail.com or message me on instagram. We had a fun episode of OnStage Blog this week where we talked about our bucket list shows. Check it out and I’d love to hear about your bucket list shows.

Like I said, I have 2 shows to log quick responses for. These logs are for shows I attended as a patron and not full reviews as a critic.

PAPER WEIGHT- VICARIOUSLY STAGED AT HIVE COLLABORATIVE, PROVO

As much as I love the classics I also love supporting new works by local talent. Recently I saw the new play Paper Weight written and directed by Skyler Denfeld and while it didn’t quite work for me I think with some additional workshopping it has potential to be a great play.

The concept for the play is easy to relate with and powerful. It explores the journey of a character named Rosie who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. We start out the play seeing the end of the disease and then it flips around to different key moments of Rosie’s life all told with an intentional madness to mirror the chaos of Rosie’s mixed up state of mind.

Eden Bostrom is very good as Rosie but the production is trying to do too much in my opinion. In one show they want to be a dance piece, a poetry showcase, a family drama, a love story and more. It’s too much. In the end some stories feel undercooked- like a character is rescued from domestic abuse which probably deserves its own play but felt out of place with the main narrative. I felt like just as soon as I was invested with one element it would be taken from me or a time and we’d be moving on to a different element.

Still, if you like workshopping new voices and talent there are aspects in Paper Weight that will be worth your time. It is playing through May 24 and they do offer a live stream option. Tickets can be purchased here.

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS- COPPER HILLS THEATRE COMPANY, WEST JORDAN

The husband of a friend of mine is a teacher over at Copper Hills High School and she invited me to see their theatre department’s production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I love supporting the youth so jumped at the chance to see these teens, and I’m glad I did. It was a lot of fun and I hope the teens feel proud of their accomplishments together.

I was surprised to hear a high school taking on this musical because it does have quite a few mature moments but director Jordan Morrell did a good job staging them in high school appropriate ways so it feels more silly than racy. I also really appreciate that he kept the sets and props handmade by the students. It could have been easy to go with a lot of projections in this story but that robs students of the opportunity to design and build their own sets.

The 3 leads carry Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and have nearly every scene and these 3 teens are very talented with Asher Adamson as Lawrence Jameson, Jack Bowler as Freddy Benson and Grace Farnsworth as Christine Colgate. Jameson brings a nice swagger to the role of Lawrence (Michael Caine role in the movie) and Farnsworth is up for the challenge of the many personas Christine takes on over the course of the musical. She needs to be confident, shy, devious and innocent all at the same time. Plus the songs are not easy for any involved and they were all terrific.

All that said, I don’t think Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a good show for high schools. When I see a high school production I want to see a lot of ensemble involvement and this really is a 3 person show with almost no true ensemble scenes. There are a few dance sequences but nothing that uses the ensemble effectively. This robs students from the opportunity of learning new skills and discovering what they love. Right now Hadestown: Teen Edition is the big craze for high school and it makes sense because it has such a large and active ensemble and lots of characters with solos. I just saw Grease: Teed Edition and that’s another great choice because the ensembles both boys and girls are crucial to the story and there are so many characters with solos (also it’s about teenagers so makes sense.)

I attended the closing night for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Copper Hills High School but you can find out more about their theatre department here.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has music and lyrics by David Yazbek with a book by Jeffrey Lane. Paper Weight is an original play by Skyler Denfeld and a production by Vicariously Staged.

These logged shows I pay for out of pocket and I’d love to do that as much as possible. If you have a show you’d like me to take a look at and write a full review let me know. I also have my patreon which is a great way to support what I do and get some really fun perks. Find out more here.