35MM: A Musical Exhibition

Ethereal Fantazy Productions—John Hirsch Mainstage

Right off the bat, I don’t like this show. At the close, I introspect about what I would write and how harsh would I be? Being my last show of the evening, I intentionally meander and linger around, trying to catch comments from my fellow viewers.

Based on the outcome that I do not hear a single positive comment about the play, I will list all the reasons I don’t like it. This of course, does not count the numerous people who left early (a few as early as song #3).

At 90 minutes (although true running time is only 75 minutes), I expect a storyline, complete with conflict, denouement and resolution. This is just a presentation of songs, some somewhat related, some completely unrelated. To their credit, that’s all they promise in the program.

Musicals are fun to experience because they feature toe-tapping, catchy, contagious music. Some of the songs here are nice but most of them do not have good melody. Andrew Lloyd Webber, this is not.

From some of the comments I heard (overheard), the theme is just too dark. I love a good, dark, eerie story, but there needs to be some sort of resolution at the end; this just leaves you with a bad taste for humanity when you leave.

The sound person completely failed this troupe. Two of the actors’ mics were so low, you could not hear them sing most of the time—and if you miss the words here, you do not understand what’s going on. A third actor had a faulty mic which cut out intermittently. I would expect a spare to be around for such emergencies.

Finally, I am a semi-pro photographer. I very much looked forward to seeing the work displayed. I can’t say much from an artistic perspective, but from a technical perspective, the photos were quite a disappointment.

I’m sorry to say but there are a lot of great shows out there, and to spend time in one where I kept wishing it would be over is not the best use of time or money. Sitting in the audience, your primary thought after every song should not be, “please come to the front now, hold hands, and bow.”

Ray Yuen