Saturday December 2nd

Town and Gown's Second Stage Production of My Blue Angel

This production was written by local playwright Rex Toddy and was adapted from the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon . Many of the same group of people in this play will be involved in a new theater group, Stray Productions, whose' s inaugural performance will be Arrogant Coyotes running March 23rd, 24th , 30th and 31st 2007.

I really hate to rag on any theater production in the classic city particularly one put together by such a talented group of people, but I have to say that I did not truly like this particular production. Maybe because it was a staged reading, which gave it the impression of being hastily put together and half done or maybe it was the subject matter ( a autistic boy retelling his story of a dog murder and the results of the investigation he does) or maybe it was the droning monotonous delivery of the main character. Whatever it was I was as impressed as I hoped to be.

With that said, "My Blue Angel" had its good points (other than the fact that it was only a $5 ticket). The plot was certainly captivating and exciting. The main character, who had Asperger's syndrome, while perhaps somewhat dull and monotone, was definitely a unique and very different character.

Also they did an excellent job with staging and characterization. Although "My Blue Angel" was
a staged reading, which means the actors had the scripts in there hands and there wasn't much action, the director, Catherine Clayton, did an excellent job of blocking the scenes that did allow for movement. The characterization was excellent. Both the boys playing Christopher (at age 15 Jameson Toddy, and at 17 Charlie Harper) were very authentic in there portrayals of a boy with Asperger's syndrome. There were two actors who each portrayed a verity of characters (Guy McCommons and Allan Aycock) and did an excellent job distinguishing the differences between them without use of costumes and very few props. My Blue Angel also feature Bryn Admonson as Mrs. Boone, Charlie's mother and Allen Rowell as Mr. Boone, Charlie's father.

Although I was not as impressed with this play as I could have been, it interested me enough to want to read the book and to see further productions by this group.