This weekend, Marc and I went to go see Ordinary Days. It is a fairly new musical that just finished it's off-Broadway run in New York. It is currently premiering here in the West Coast,playing at the local South Coast Repertory until January 24th. The musical features 4 individuals living in New York City whose stories are individually highlighted as they sing various solos throughout. In the middle of the score, the characters connect as events bring them together. It was a pretty entertaining musical about life, decisions, and happenstance. The cast was comprised of 4 well-known Broadway actors; one of them being Nick Gabriel who played Fiyero in Broadway's rendition of Wicked last year. Each individual had admirable talent. However, I was quite disappointed as the songs they sung didn't really allow them to exhibit all they had. A piano was the only instrument used and the songs made me feel like I was at a piano bar/cabaret. Bottom line, the music wasn't that great.
The technical aspects were quite brilliant and enjoyable. Most of the scene changes were done via projections. I really enjoyed the theater as it was small and intimate. The Julianne Argyros stage was the perfect setting for this small production. Though we were seated on the balcony, we were still very close to the stage and could still see the expressions on the faces of the actors. I really enjoyed the actors and the story-line itself. In fact, I was able to relate quite well as one of the characters (Deb) opted for grad school after unsuccessfully job-hunting after college. She later realizes that her thesis isn't even what she wants to write on/care about and ends up throwing her entire draft (notes and all) from a tall building. I kept thinking to myself about how brave it was of her to give up everything she worked so hard for after realizing that it's not what she wanted in the first place. Just something to think about. Though the music was mediocre, the overall message of the musical made it well-worth it!
I was quite sad that the cast did not come out of the stage door this time as they went straight to the meet-and-greet happening inside the theater. As anxious as we were to meet them, we headed straight for the stage door which caused us to be locked out of the theater for the meet-and-greet. Oh well, next time!
