Hi friends. I hope you are doing well. I have just a quick update for you today. On Sunday I was able to see a new original musical Hope for Flowers at the Hart Theatre Company and it was a sweet and memorable production. I always love seeing new material and being a part of the workshopping experience. Sometimes shows can be more a work in progress than others but with Hope for Flowers there’s a lot of potential to have something special that really works.

Hart Theatre Co is in the Lightree Studios black box space and they have continually impressed me with the way they are able to manipulate and expand the small area and this is definitely the case here. They manage to have 2 levels of action happening and a 14 piece orchestra! I honestly could have just listened to the orchestra and been highly entertained. Talk about truly going above and beyond for a production to have so much live music.

I also enjoyed the overall aesthetic director Ben Henderson created with fluorescent colored sets and costumes (producer and costume designer Emily Wells.) The overall vibes reminded me of Seussical which is appropriate given it is also based on a children’s book (by Trina Paulus, music lyrics and script by Cathy Neff, stage adaptation by Henderson and Chase Ramsey.) It tells the story of a caterpillar who is trying to find his life’s meaning beyond his pre-destined role as a butterfly. Sunday night featured Geoff Beckstrand as Stripe, our questioning caterpillar, and Sam Torres as his love interest Yellow. They are both very talented singers and dancers with Torres doing very impressive work on the aerial silks.

While the story is cute I’d say the overall experience is more the appeal of Hope for Flowers. The dancing (and like I said aerial acrobatics) are exciting and dynamic and the orchestra is very impressive. If they wanted some advice on the overall show I would say to add a few more high tempo songs like “Sour Grapes” sung by Lisa Nicole Thurman (my favorite number.) A lot of the other songs meshed together as bland ballads and a show needs a mixture especially if it is trying to appeal to kids.

But I definitely think Hope for Flowers at Hart Theatre Co is worth seeing and would be a great way to introduce kids to live music, dance and sweet storytelling. It’s playing until Nov 24th and you can purchase tickets here.

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 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.