The Critics Review

The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Musical By: Randall Darren Clio Cast and Crew, Inc brings to life their production of the beautifully tragic tale from Victor Hugo’s book The Hunchback of Notre Dame in a musical format set by the Disney film’s musical score. Set in the 15th century in Paris, France, the story centers around Dom Claude Frollo (William Adamo) who takes in his nephew, Quasimodo (Brady Stewart). Quasimodo was named as such by Frollo due to his physical congenital deformities. Frollo raises the boy and teaches him and  keeps him from the outside world in his “sanctuary”.    As Quasimodo gets introduced to the wonders of the world outside of the bell tower, encounters some of the townspeople, soldiers, and Gypsies.  Quasimodo meets a beautiful young woman, Esmeralda (Sonya Mckerchie), and falls in love with her kindness towards him. However, Esmeralda’s heart is captured by the strapping Captain Phoebus (Collin Brown). Unbeknownst to anyone, Esmeralda has ...

  Firebringer - Flint Community Players By: Marshall Summers Flint Community Players bring the fire in their production of the cult classic stone age musical,  Firebringer. Set in the dawn of time, a band of prehistoric humans must figure out how to survive in their somewhat unexplained world when dangers, such as the dreaded Snarl, threaten their existence.  The play is narrated throughout by the War Master (that is what they used to call her) and former leader of the tribe, Molag (Jen Dellorso), who decides that she is old and has had enough and she is going to travel to the ends of the earth. After Jemilla (Emily Sameck) diplomatically handles the Great Debate between Smelly-Balls (Olivia Dellorso) and Chorn (Jordie Parker), she is deemed the Peacemaker and new leader.  A lazy member of the tribe, Zazzalil (Olivia Greanias) disobeys Jemilla’s orders and ultimately ends up with the greatest discovery of all time: fire!  This leads to the tribe turning ...

              Aspirin & Elephants - Clio Cast and Crew, Inc. By: Laura Anne Miller Set sail with Clio Cast and Crew and their season closer, Aspirin and Elephants by Jerry Mayer.  Junior (John Dunning) and Honey (Joy Bishop), their daughters Liz (Marie Gilkerson) and Stephanie (Breanna Mitchell) and sons-in-law, Arnie (Collin Brown) and Scott (Alex Volkoun) , hope time away on a cruise will repair and revitalize their individual marriages. The title refers to Junior having had a heart attack a few months prior to the cruise and now he lives in fear of it happening again while Honey shields him from any stress. Their daughters both face different challenges in their marriages and everyone tries to downplay the tension building in all the family relationships.  The set (Todd Clemons & Rick Doll) stays the same throughout the whole show, with no moving pieces. The center is dedicated to Junior and Honey’s stateroom, where most of the pla...

By: Marshall Summers Judy (Kristen Rossiter), Violet (Melanie Kratz) and Doralee (AshLeigh Kreiner) are three female coworkers who are fed up with their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical boss, Frank Hart, Jr (Eric Lewis Johnson).  Together, they conspire to get back at their boss and take over their company. This musical is based on the book by Patricia Resnick, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and is based on the 1980 hit movie.  The set was very interesting (Set Design and Construction, Travis Palmer). At first, it appears to be a boring beige hallway of an office building - which is what it is supposed to be. Throughout the show, the side panels were moved out and turned around to reveal another set piece. One side completes Hart's office and the other is a bathroom. There is also an elevator that "works". At one point a whole bed is pulled down from a panel on the stage. You would have never guessed there was a bed hiding behind a sign.  Sometimes when...

  Shrek the Musical - The Muth Community Players By: Marshall Summers Shrek the Musical has come to the Bronner Performing Arts Center.  The story opens with Shrek (Steven P. Holty) and Fiona (Lauren Masud Visuri) tell the story of how they came to be kicked out of their swamp (Shrek) and locked in a tower (Fiona) at the age of seven.  The musical begins with Shrek singing about how happy he is alone in his swamp… only to have a bunch of misfit fairytale creatures invade his solitude after being removed from perfect Duloc. Aaron Swords does an amazing job playing the Captain of the Guards who takes his job seriously but is secretly hilarious. The fairytale creatures tell Shrek to talk to Lord Farquaad (James Lloyd) about getting the swamp back. Shrek sets out and encounters a very chatty and feisty Donkey (Jay Waliczek). Together, they make it to Dulac, where everyone is perfectly conformed.  Meanwhile, Lord Farquaad is questioning Gingy (Alia Dunning) about a prin...