Just a Song Before I Go

It’s only 4 days to go before the RTCC awards and dang, things are just popping! Several productions are nearing the ends of their runs, “King John,” “Regrets Only” and “A Bright New Boise” closing down this weekend. At the same time, the second round of Fall productions is gearing up, “The Pillowman” from Cadence and “The Fox on the Fairway” from CAT bowing next weekend. It’s hard to keep up.

Amidst the clamor, a couple of things to accentuate:

If you want to go to the RTCCs, buy your tickets soon! Last time I checked, there were only 6 seats in the orchestra and almost 40 seats had sold in the Grand Tier. You can order online here. Also, I’ve updated the website with listings of what songs are scheduled to be performed and what presenters are scheduled to show up (what actually happens on the night itself is always a little up for grabs!)

If you haven’t yet, try to fit a viewing of “King John” into your schedule. There are so many great productions happening in town right now that I’m afraid this one is getting overlooked (the cast outnumbered the house at the Thursday show I attended). I raved about this show in my review in Style this week as did John Porter and Julinda Lewis in theirs.

Why should you see this show? Three quick and easy reasons:

1) David Janosik gives an incredible performance -- a truly larger than life performance -- and his is only the best of a long list of greats in this production (Ryan Bechard, Jennifer Frank, Thomas Cunningham, etc. etc.);

2) Technical elements that really pop, specifically, a less-is-more set design that seems simple but does everything it needs to do plus a remarkable sound design that has made me think more deeply about the benefits of a good sound design than I have in years;

3) Fighting! I cannot deny that the show occasionally seems long and the plot had me a bit confused at times. But just as your mind might wander, Ryan Bechard fight choreography brings you right back into the action.

Director Jan Powell has done a great bit of work here and even if you have a hard time with Shakespeare, I’d recommend you check it out.

Finally, I will be hitting the road the morning after the awards and my access to the Internet, as well as my free time to access it, may be a little spotty. That means I may be a little out of touch next week, meaning I may not participate as much in the post-RTCC grousing and/or celebrating as I have in previous years. Y’all are welcome to talk about things on this space all you want. Cries of outrage, exclamations of gratitude, and everything in between are welcome. I’ll try to chime in as I can.