Last Saturday, I went to the Stage of Life (SoL) Theatre Company and the Sopris Soarers’ first-ever collaborative show, “This Is Halloween: Songs and Soaring From The Nightmare Before Christmas.” It was pretty good, and there was a surprising amount to unpack from a show with a runtime of only 45 minutes.
First off, the venue was absolutely packed. There were 20 more people in the theater than those who had bought tickets. If people are sneaking into your show, it’s got to be good. Even after all that, we had three or four people that had to stand due to there not being enough chairs.
The show opened up with a fun, ensemble rendition of the titular song, “This Is Halloween.” For those who don’t prefer audience participation, the only downside were the karaoke letters up on the screen prompting anyone and everyone to sing along. Fortunately (for this writer), the other members of my cohort on this viewing experience, as far as I could tell, did not participate.
The ensemble did great though, and the level of quality to come from such a young group was quite remarkable. If you didn’t know, SoL Theatre is composed of kids 15 and under, making this accomplishment all the more impressive. The show ramped on even after a banger of an opening, displaying lead vocal talents Lucas Munn (Jack Skellington), Genevieve Vickers (Sally) and Zack Hanrahan (The Boogeyman). Everyone sang very well and I was, again, shocked by the quality of the show with such a young cast.
Furthermore, the costume design was on point, and it was pretty easy to pick out individual characters in the cast even if they never had a line. The costumes all looked as if they were professionally made with incredible hair and makeup backing them up (courtesy of the wonderful parents of course — who really help make these shows happen).
Wrapping up SoL for a moment, the Soarers were incredible. It would have been difficult not to have been captivated by the indeed soaring performers. This reporter was able to get an interview with one of the aforementioned SoL leads. When asked about the Soarers, Vickers described the aerial performers as “so distracting — just watching them. Like, they’re so amazing out there. (ambien cr online) You just get lost.”
Vickers shared that the day before the first show, “Things weren’t looking up.” If that’s true, obviously there was some serious improvement within that short time, as the show was highly polished.
Upcoming
So, dear reader, since you cannot see this show for yourself, this reporter took it upon himself to learn of the next SoL Theatre performance. They will be performing “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” which is a show they have done before and loved, said Jennifer Johnson, head of SoL Theatre.
Johnson described the upcoming show as “The classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge discovering the true meaning of Christmas with the help of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.” Then she added, “But this time there is a twist — we have cast SoL Theatre vet Sara Gray Kokish as ‘Ezmerelda’ Scrooge, which puts a new spin on an old tale.”
Sadly, they will not be collaborating with the Sopris Soarers this time, but Johnson did give the inside scoop that they are already planning future collaborations. Yay!
The Christmas show will be SoL’s first in-residence production at its new home, Thunder River Theatre Company (TRTC). So, be on the lookout for The Muppet Christmas Carol. I know I will! See you there, and here’s hoping it’s just as fun as “This Is Halloween” was.
“The Muppet Christmas Carol” opens Thursday, Dec. 8 at Thunder River Theatre Company and goes through the weekend. Visit www.soltheatrecompany.org for details.