Aida: Great Start for Marquee Theater Company

aida-3
West Boca has a new theater group, as we mentioned back in August. The Marquee Theater performed its first show – Aida – here at West Boca High. It was a wonderful performance.
If you’re interested there are only three more performances, Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. You can buy tickets online.
The stage was rich with color, even in the curtain.
aida-stage
We were surprised by how big the audience was. It was comparable to Slow Burn Theatre’s shows, but this was just Marquee’s first weekend. Slow Burn did take on more challenging and less popular material, so it may just be a reflection of that.
The story is a love triangle involving Nubian princess Aida (Alexandria Lugo, an Egyptian princess (Darcy Hernandez), and an Egyptian soldier (Bruno Faria – a West Boca High grad).
Our notes from the performance speak well of it:

Great voices and dancing. Extravagant set design and costumes. Quite a production.
Bruno solid in the lead male role. Can hear Elton John in his voice.
Lugo is spectacular – voice, presence. It’s a great role and she fits.
Elijah Word delivers in supporting role as Mereb.
Darcy Hernandez also pops as the vain material girl princess. Another outstanding and powerful voice.

Hernandez has a delightful performance in the first act as a spoiled rich girl obsessed with clothes and looks. But she grows, particularly in the second act.
aida
Faria and Lugo have great chemistry that grows throughout the show. While we liked all the lead performances, our favorite was Elijah Word as Mereb. He brought depth to the character through his facial expression, body movement, and tone of voice.

Elijah Word
Elijah Word

There was also a fairly large ensemble with well choreographed dance numbers.
Please keep in mind that we are not professional theater reviewers. You can read a more professional review in the Miami Herald.
They were somewhat critical of costume choices but we thought it was intentional and worked well.
AidaRadames

Slow Burn Going Out Hot: Little Shop

Twoey and Seymour (Mike Westrich)
Twoey and Seymour (Mike Westrich)

We’ve been fans of Slow Burn Theatre Company since we first noticed them at West Boca High. Happily for them (and sadly for us) they’re moving on up to a deluxe performing arts center on the east side of Broward.
Their last show at West Boca High is Little Shop of Horrors, which is more of a mainstream hit than their usual stuff. We saw it opening night (Saturday) and really enjoyed it.
For starters we should note that the show is relatively family friendly. There are a couple swear words and some content that may be troubling for some kids, but there is no gore like in the PG-13 movie version.
Amy Miller Brennan as Audrey
Amy Miller Brennan as Audrey

Slow Burn’s performance of Little Shop is wonderful. There were four of us and we all enjoyed it. We’ve heard from other friends who were also delighted.
For this writer the highlight was Amy Miller Brennan’s voice in the female lead as Audrey. The show is designed to highlight her character’s voice and she knocked it out of the park, especially on Suddenly Seymour.
Matthew Korinko as Mr. Mushnick and Mike Westrich as Seymour
Matthew Korinko as Mr. Mushnick and Mike Westrich as Seymour

Mike Westrich and Matthew Korinko were both great. Westrich has the male lead as Seymour and Korinko has the biggest supporting on-stage role as Seymour.
Shane Tanner as Orin the Dentist, with Elisa Danielle as Chiffon in the background
Shane Tanner as Orin the Dentist, with Elisa Danielle as Chiffon in the background

Shane Tanner was a crowd-pleaser playing the sadistic dentist and several other minor parts. The other major character in the show was Audrey II, aka Twoey, one heck of an unusual plant with a taste for human blood. The larger version of Twoey later in the show was performed physically by Rick Peña in his dual role as both puppeteer and costume designer. Twoey was voiced offstage by Geoffrey Short. Our only regret was that he didn’t get to sing Mean Green Mother from Outer Space, a song from the movie that was not in the Broadway show.
Little Shop of Horrors will play Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through June 28th. It’s your last chance to catch this great performance company on the rise here in West Boca. Don’t miss it.
Meanwhile the West Boca High team won’t miss a beat. They’re bringing in the Marquee Theater Company which will start in September. The first season will include Aida, Songs for a New World, Jekyll & Hyde and Footloose.


Here’s our video from just before the start of the show last night: