Author: Thomas Degroat

MUSKET has continued to surprise me with their musical choice and amazed me with their performances. Big Fish was a triumph and a joy to watch. This comes as no surprise though, as MUSKET’s performances have always been amazing. Big Fish is different though, as it ran for a very short time for on Broadway and only received mixed reviews. MUSKET had to take this unknown musical and present to an audience. This is both a blessing and a curse as the audience has no preconceived notions, but also will be less attached to the music and plot of the performance. MUSKET Was able to overcome this and make the musical something that one could grow attached to.

In this musical, we are first introduced to the father/son duo of Edward and Will Bloom at Edward’s wedding. This initiates the true conflict of the plot as Will asks his father to not tell his stories at the reception, giving us a clue as to what their relationship is like. Of course, Edward doesn’t listen. In the beginning of the musical, the actor portraying Edward, Ben Reitemeier, seems to be overacting. He’s very hammy, but as the musical progresses, you come to realize that this is the perfect acting needed for the character. The character is a fantastical storyteller, always making himself the brave, noble hero. This hammy acting really accentuates the characters peculiarities and make him an entertaining watch.

Throughout the rest of the piece, we transition between the present real-world, and the fantastical world of Edward’s stories as Will tries to understand who his father really was. The first story we get introduced to is the tale of how Edward was told of his death by his hometown’s witch. This is where the musical really starts to shine. Kat Ward plays the witch and is easily the funnest part of the entire musical. Kat Ward pulls out all the stops as the witch and sings her heart out. I watched in amazement as I couldn’t believe the performance I was watching. This is truly the best part of the entire performance.

This plot continues on until we come to the end and Will realizes why Edward only told fantasy stories and never really revealed who he truly was. The rest of the musical is very adeptly performed and is a delight to watch, though none of it is as impressive as the witch sequence.

Some negatives of the play do not come from the performances, but from the actual script/music of the play , something that MUSKET can’t change. Two of the problems, revolve around Will’s wife. First, the writer found it necessary for some reason to state the entire plot of the story through Will’s wife’s line. This was completely unnecessary and treats the audience as children. Secondly, Will’s wife did not have a large part in the story as it mostly focused of Will and Edwards relationship and Will’s mother, Sandra mediating the relationship. This made it necessary for them to find ways to keep the wife out of the narrative. This was very obvious and could have been handled a lot more effectively.

In addition, the character of the doctor was completely unnecessary. He could’ve been cut out of the narrative entirely without losing anything. This was further made apparent as the actor did not do justice to the character. His line reads felt unnatural and the characteristics did not match the tone of the scenes that he was in.

Overall, this performance was spectacular. For those who have never heard of Big Fish, but still saw the performance, I am sure this is now a favorite musical of theirs. It was a fun, sappy time that audiences will love.

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Come join MUSKET for what is sure to be another amazing production. This time, they are tackling Big Fish, a musical adaption of the novel by Daniel Wallace. This story follows the fantastical tales of Edward Bloom as he recounts them to his son Will. See how MUSKET tackles this relatively new musical.

March 18th & 19th at 8:00

March 20th at 2:00

Performed at the Power Center

Tickets are $7 for students, $13 for adults. Prices for tickets at the door are increased.

MUSKET has once again accomplished an amazing performance. The singing acting and set were as amazing as they have been for most of their other performances. I could blather on about the amazing skills of everyone involved, but I don’t think that will accomplish anything (though I will say more at the end of this review). Instead, I will focus on the interesting creative liberty that the director took with the story.

This change was the addition of a framing device at the beginning of the story. Instead of telling it like a period piece, they chose to turn it into a story that a group of individuals is telling to one another after breaking into Sweeney Todd’s barber shop. There are many advantages to this framing device. It allows the production to be smaller since the actors could perform tasks usually reserved to crew without breaking suspension of belief, there are no set changes since the story is all told in the abandoned barber shop, the costumes are cheap since the actors can wear their own clothes, and it allows the director to add their unique spin to the story without compromising the meaning.

Unfortunately, there are also many disadvantages as well. First, the production felt small. Sondheim musicals are large productions and deserve to be performed that way in order to produce the desired effects in the audience. Next, the audience is left waiting for the transition to period attire. Throughout the beginning of the production, I was waiting until they would transition into period appropriate attire and the real show to start. This served as a large distraction from the otherwise amazing performances. Finally, and most importantly, the change didn’t add anything to the musical. If one wants to make changes to an existing piece, they should be deliberate. They should add emphasis or form a new perspective. This framing device did none of that. It felt somewhat lazily tacked on without much reason.

Ultimately, the performance was an absolute pleasure to see, but the addition of the framing device was useless. Would I recommend it? Absolutely, the performances were spectacular and some people might like the change, but I’d personally prefer to see it how it was meant to be performed. That is my final verdict on the show as a whole, now onto some mindless applause for the performances.

First, bravo on the accents. To my American ear, none of the accents sounded faked or forced. That was really shocking to me. Second, special commendations to Brian Flores playing Tobias Ragg and Noah Weisbart playing Adolpho Pirelli. For me, and my firend, those were the two breakout stars of the production. Weisbart had us laughing and Flores made us sympathetic. Finally, personally, I think the best part was the performance “Not While I’m Around” by Brian Flores and Emma Sohlberg playing Mrs. Lovett. This really was a beautiful performance. They both sounded like they truly cared for one another, while Sohlberg still kept that uneasiness necessary for Mrs. Lovett’s character. It must have been incredibly difficult to accomplish, but it was amazing.

What: Musket’s Sweeney Todd

Who: Performed by Musket, Starring Kyle Timson and Emma Sohlberg

When: Nov 21st at 8pm, Nov. 22nd at 8pm, and Nov. 23rd at 2pm

Where: Power Center

Tickets: $7 for students, $13 for adults.

Come see MUSKET perform one of the most successful musicals about a cannibalistic bakery ever. It’s sure to be one of the most entertaining shows that the university has to offer since MUSKET always seems to knock it out of the park.

This was the first time I was ever introduced to the musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and I must say that it was perhaps the best introduction I could have to this musical. Musket’s performance of this over-the-top extravaganza was so incredibly well done that it could go straight on Broadway with no alterations. Let’s break down the performance piece-by-piece and really see where this talented group of students really soared.

First, let’s start with the acting. The acting was mostly on point, though there were a few instances where the acting was a bit more over-exaggerated than I personally would have like. Regardless of that, the acting genuinely helped to sell the lines and added a lot of character to the piece. Every role was uniquely acted and humorous in its own way. I must also give much adulation to Brenna Gildenberg in her role as Smitty. It was a smaller role than the two leads, but I thought it was the role that was best performed. Her charisma and perfect comedic deliveries really sold the character to me and made the whole play much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. I would really love to see what she could do with other characters, perhaps even in a dramatic role.

(From left to right: Karl Skyler Urban as J. Pierrepont Finch, Brenna Gildenberg as Smitty, and Kimmy Hay as Rosemary Pilkington)

Now, to move on to the singing. The singing was also wonderfully well executed. There was no missed note to be heard within the entire performance. Everyone sang beautifully and it was a joy to hear. It was especially amazing how the singing shined through on the comedic songs as well. Again, special commendations must be given for one particular part that really astounded me and that was Sunshine “Ximone” Rose as Miss Jones. Her vocal talents were most impressive during the song, “Brotherhood of Man.” When she entered the song, it brought to a whole new fantastic level that honestly made me a little giddy with joy. I do not know where the university keeps finding such amazing singers, but I hope they never stop.

Onto the final reason this play was truly well executed: the choreography. The choreography was absolutely the best part of the entire production. It was lively, original, and funny when it needed to be. I first realized that the choreography was going to be my favorite part during the song “Coffee Break.” After that song, I was hooked on the movement and they only continued to get better. There is no one standout from this part, everyone was fascinating to watch. (Though I have to bring up the surprising splits from Gideon Levinson and the great tap dancing from Karl Skyler Urban and Sunshine “Ximone” Rose.) I applaud the choreographer, Chrissy Papetti for what she was able to accomplish.

Unfortunately, even though I adored the performances of everyone, I was disappointed by the play itself. This is something that Musket could not change, but I was not too pleased with. The plot was okay, and genuinely funny, but seemed padded out to get extra time, and the songs were unnecessary. I love musicals, but the songs need to have a reason in order to be placed in a musical. Most of the songs had no actual bearing on the plot and didn’t really lead to any important character development. There were of course some that were there with a purpose, but this does not excuse the fact that most of them were not. In addition to that, many of the songs got tiring before they finished. A lot of them, like “Coffee Break”, are based on a single joke that lasts way too long for its own good. I definitely think that they could have been better, but that is not something could really be changed in Muskets performance. And of course this is only my opinion, the musical did win seven Tony Awards and was revived twice on Broadway, so it of course connects with a lot of people.

I did really enjoy my viewing of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and if Musket can promise to continue to put on great performances like this one, then they have earned themselves a life-long fan.