Broadway Follies Review

By Matthew Fong

 

The Broadway Follies was a unique performance featuring the Chamber Singers and select actors from the theater program. Unlike the other concerts at LCA, excepting Artsfest in May, this show was performed with full choreography and staging to accompany the songs, and it brought the songs to life. During the middle of each act actors also performed short skits as a pleasant contrast to the music. 

The starting number was “Comedy Tonight”, with an emperor (James Palmer ’16) reveling in the fact that comedy is going to be taking place. When the curtain parted, much to the emperor’s dismay, instead of the promised comedy, a tragedy was portrayed quite evident as people beat each other with lead pipes and threw babies off balconies, to which he angrily responded “NO! Tragedy tomorrow! Comedy tonight!” It was certainly a comedic performance especially with the return of Monty Python’s grim medieval monks.

The next highlight of the night was the performance of David Ives’ “The Universal Language” where a con-man Don (Michael Burrowes ’16) tries to convince a linguistics student Dawn (Johanna Nathan ’16) that he created “Unamunda, un linkwa looniversahl” which is a language he pretended to create with false cognates from English, German, and Latin. In its hilarious conclusion, Don accepts the “language” he created and decides to continue to spread it to others.

Another highlight of the performance was the Phantom of the Opera’s “Music of the Night” sung by the “Phantom” (Will Stinson ’15) as he dared the target of his affection Christine (Sarah Newell ’15) to join him in a waltz. Though the song itself was shortened, the pair rose to the challenge and performed one of the most intense and passionate songs of the evening. The scene was very poignant and most definitely one of the highlights of the night. 

All in all, well done cast and crew! The night was very well done!