Mikaela Gatewood- Performance Review

The Jungle Book is a whimsical story of talking animals coming to the aid of an abandoned orphan, raising him as their own. It isn't until Shere Khan, the tyrannical tiger, returned to the jungle to reclaim his place, and more importantly, rid the jungle of the man-cub. The following adventures that ensued while trying to return Mowgli back to the man-village are ones of comedy and heartwarming heroism.

Such an emotional production might be daunting to not only a cast of high school actors, but to the first time directors of a musical, Kiefer Shuler and Kristian Junker. Despite the challenges, the performances given were nothing short of extraordinary.

Having two casts provided a wide range of talent, from the monkeys to Mowgli himself (herself?). Not only did the main characters put an immense amount of emotion into each performance, but even the supporting characters did a fantastic job with maintaining their character traits throughout the production. From the monkeys' oohs and ahhs, to the elephants disgruntled attitude towards their commander, there were no gaps in the cast's amazing talent.

The set design, lights, and costumes are a different level of amazing. The attention to detail in each scene was astounding. The lighting and sets were so maticulously planned that each scene vividly portrayed the emotions felt in the performance. The costumes were creative and innovative, the most impressive being the 20 ft snake puppet.

Overall, the Jungle Book was a wonderful production filled with creativity, emotion, and talent. I'm incredibly grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful production and experience.

Jungle Book Performance Review

The Jungle Book is a play centered around a young boy who has grown up in the jungle, being raised by the animals.  The boy's name is Mowgli, and when Shirkan, a tiger who hates people, returns to the jungle Mowgli is forced to return to the village.  His escort is a panther, Bagheera, who genuinely cares about him.  Bagheera and Mowgli encounter many other animals on their journey.  Some of these include an army of elephants, and a bear Blue.  Blue tries to convince Mowgli to stay in the jungle and they have fun together.  When Mowgli is kidnapped by the monkeys, Blue and Bagheera work together to save him, and then work together to help him get back to the village.  They then encounter Shirkan where Blue saves Mowgli's life, who then returns to the village.

I saw the play at Henry Clay High School on the 18th of March.  It was during the day in a packed theater.  One of the nicer, and somewhat surprising parts of the play was that there was a live orchestra accompanying the play.  While intuitively one would think this is a great thing, I believe it detracted from the play.  The orchestra was so loud that it was very hard to hear what the actors were saying or singing, and made it hard to follow what exactly was going on.  For example, I did not really know why the elephant army was included or why the monkeys abducted Mowgli because I could not hear what was being said.  Also the visual effects were not the greatest, but that is just the nature of a high school play.  These also subtracted from the play a bit as I was unsure of what they always represented.  For example, when Blue wins the fight against Shirkan to save Mowgli, there is a massive fire that helps Blue win.  The fire was represented by stage hands waiving some red and orange flags.  I had no idea they represented this, and was very confused until I looked up the final fight scene online to gain a better understanding.

The great part of this play was the actors.  They are all incredibly young, but also incredibly talented.  Raiffa Samil stars in the Jungle Book as Mowgli, and impressively displays the energy and curiosity and raw emotions of what a young boy who had been raised in the jungle would normally have.  Also the actress playing Bagheera, I did not catch her name and there were not play bills, was fantastic.  She was full of energy and had an air of maturity and responsibility that made up for the inability to hear the actors by making it understandable with body language.  The actress who played Blue was also fantastic, and energetically played the happy go lucky bear who loves the Jungle.  The greatest singer was the King of the Monkeys.  She was outstanding.  I hope that all of these people continue to act because they are so talented.

Overall I would say this play is pretty good for a high school play performed during the school day.  I would recommend looking up, and being familiar with the play before you go see it so you can understand exactly what is happening at all times.  If you enjoy the energy of young actors, and would like to hear some beautiful singing, I would definitely recommend it.  In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed this play and would definitely go to another play done by this school.

James Jones- Performance Review- The Jungle Book

A Review of The Jungle Book (written by Rudyard Kipling)                                                                   Henry Clay High School                                                                                                                          May, 13^th 2016  

9:30am                                                                                                                                                      Directed by Kiefer Shuler

            Review written by student, James Jones.                                                                                                                                           

            The Jungle Book story centers on, Mowgli, a young boy living in the jungles of India. In the students of Henry Clay’s performance we receive a lively rendition of Mowgli’s escapades with friends Baloo and Bagheera. Talented performances by Raiffa Syamil as Mowgli, Cas Young as Baloo, and Emily Spencer as Bagheera provide the audience with fun and friendly characters. Whereas a fierce and mysterious performance by Yesmina Townsley as Shere Khan portrays the volatile nature of the great Bengal Tiger. Performances by the characters playing the monkeys and elephants and various animals provided comic relief in times where Mowgli was doomed or gloomed. The set of play conveyed the setting necessary for the story. A large painted tree showed the jungle setting as well ropes dangling from the catwalk that took form of vines hanging from the roof of the jungle. The medium lighting conveyed the hooded nature of the jungle. The music performed by the Henry Clay Band helped set the tone in each scene. One issue that I found with the play was that while the band put up a solid and pleasant performance at times they did overpower the actors a bit. Costuming was a solid job done that identified the type of animal or “man-cub” each actor was portraying. This performance was an overall completely pleasant and enjoyable experience that I would recommend anyone of any age attend.                                                                                                                               

                                                                 

Charlie Grimes - The Jungle Book / Performance Review

On May 13, 2016, The Jungle Book was performed by a cast of Henry Clay students during 2^nd and 3^rd hour in the theater. Directed by Kristian Junker and Keifer Shuler, the production was extremely energetic and engaging, doing justice to its source material. The individual performances, especially from cast members Raiffa Syamil and the actress who portrayed the evil Shere Khan, were very well-executed. Raiffa’s portrayal of Mowgli was a hit, relentlessly and naturally portraying the naïve, clumsy, and youthful nature of the character. Mowgli’s voice soared throughout the theater, as did her body as she was tossed and pushed around by her fellow characters throughout the play. (Unknown actress) also did a fantastic job portraying the bloodthirsty tiger Shere Khan, as she crouched and creept through the audience and back of the theater (at one point, this actress took my performance notes from my hands and wrote a friendly note). The movements, once again, seemed fitting and natural, and her performance demanded audience attention.

The set was also very well-done, with the stage pieces adding much depth and visual appeal to the production. Actors/actresses swung from ropes hanging from the ceiling, threw pieces of columns in a chase scene, and climbed to the top of trees – all of this added a level of excitement that could not have been achieved otherwise. The actors’ use of the audience rows and stairs also added an element of audience participation that kept my interest. It was nice to see the deliberate effort to make the experience captivating. At one point, a large number of cast-members came bursting out from the back of the stage, emerging with brightly colored flags and swirling around the main characters – I found this to be an effective and eye-catching choice.

Finally, there is much to be said about the music. While the music itself was thrilling to listen to and the musicians were clearly skilled, the music often overpowered the actors’/actresses’ singing and/or talking voices, sometimes to the point where they were completely inaudible. Regardless of whether this was a tech issue or logistical issue, the backing music did not comfortably accompany the cast members’ voices, and this often took me out of focus on the play. This was especially a shame because I found the music to be of such high quality, with intense drum solos, lighthearted flutes, and dramatic brass. In the grand scheme of things, however, this proved to be a minor issue, as The Jungle Book exceeded my expectations, and upped the standards of quality for school plays.

Book of Mormon Performance Review

The Book of Mormon Performance Review
April 2, 2 PM
The Aronoff Center, Cincinnati, OH.

The Book of Mormon is an incredible and award winning Broadway musical written by the creators of South Park. This musical is absolutely dedicated to humor, and it does its job very well. Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez do an incredible job at being totally insulting and spectacular at the same time.

The Musical's premise is this: Two Mormon boys are sent on their two year mission to Uganda to baptize people into the church but when they arrive and meet the other Mormons already sent there, they discover that they have yet to bring a single African to the church. They experience incredible culture shock, filled with profanity and aids and war lords. One of the two main characters uses his mind for white lies and tells all of the Africans that God talks about Aids and their other specific problems directly in the bible, which makes them gain a bit of appreciation for the text, and many of them agree to join the church. When the directors of the mission come to visit Uganda after their great successes, the Africans perform their rendition of the Book Of Mormon for the director and he is horrified. This is understandable due to the profanity and sex talk and the lies about the story. The boys are fired from their mission positions and are sent home, but the Africans continue to tell the story the way they were taught, Star Wars references and all.

This performance was not with the original cast, but I have no doubt that the original cast was any more or less amazing than this one. The choreography was impeccable. The music, both instrumental and vocal, could and did give me chills many times. The sets were obviously of a professional level, with incredibly lighting, set changes, screens, and bonuses like fog. At one point, one of the screens did not want to come down, and the show was delayed by about 5 minutes after intermission. This was the only hiccup, and it was not of anyone's fault. This performance was above a professional level. 

When you attempt to analyze the language choices in this musical, you could go on for days. The script is incredibly filled with all types of humor, from plain jokes, to satire, to puns, and then to hilarious pop culture references. The humor comes largely from the poking fun at religion and its participants. In order to watch this musical, you could not allow yourself to be offended. Every curse word I've ever heard of was used at least 40 times, and the mention of sex was constant. The actors were invested in their roles. The Mormon boys spoke very cleanly and with enunciation. Their voices were happy and innocent. In comparison, the Africans spoke very openly, loudly, and with honest emotion. 

In addition to the language choices, the societal connections can be analyzed. In the song "Turn it Off," the missionaries speak of horrible things like domestic abuse, cancer, and the worst of all, homosexuality. (haha.) The song's basic idea is to crush all of these feelings, and "turn them off." This song addresses how the church is often said to ignore large issues and answer everything with "God has a plan."

Stereotypes and racism are almost constant. When the boys are first told they will go to Uganda, Elder Cunningham asks where that is. When told it is in Africa, he responds with "Ooh! Like the Lion King!" Racism comes in when they boys meet the female main character in Africa, whose name is Nabulungi, and they can't grasp the pronunciation. For the rest of the musical, she is addressed as random things that start with N. Neosporin, Neutrogena, and Neiman Marcus to name a few. This disregard for other cultures can also be considered a commentary on the close mindedness of the church.

This musical was incredible. I loved every second of it. The soundtrack is played in my car at least three times a week. I have no critiques. This performance replaced Wicked as my favorite musical. 10 out of 10.

Performance Review

Fiddler on the Roof Review

CALEB COMBS

On my recent trip to New York City, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof directed by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick based on the book by Joseph Stein.   The musical covered the story of a father who must accept the men that his daughters want to marry.  This man Tevye (Danny Burstein) is torn between his daughter's happiness and maintaining tradition, as is made very clear in some of the musical numbers.  Some other members of the cast include Jessica Hecht, Alexandra Silber, Samantha Massell, and Melania Moore all of which play his wife and daughters.  The performance itself included a number of musical numbers with elaborate dances, most of which were very upbeat and fast.  The writers did a good job of not only telling a good story, but also including great choreography as well as humor throughout to keep the audience on their toes.  The costumes included old clothing, relevant to the time period in which the story is set.  The lighting used perfectly sets the mood in different spots.  During depressing scenes, the directors used a dark purple light on Teyve, which contributes to the sad feeling created in the scene.  The lighting and sound used in the performance electrified the performance making it pleasant and entertaining to watch.  The explosive dance numbers had the audience in awe unable to believe what they were watching.  Finally, the acting was top notch.  Danny Burstein was phenomenal in his role, creating the perfect blend of emotion, humor, and storytelling.  I would rate this film 4.5 stars out of 5, and would highly recommend this film to all audiences.

Performance Review Emmet Allen

The Jungle Book was performed by the Henry Clay Theater Department this month, with more than a full cast of student actors. The school's interpretation was true to the full length movie that it was based on. Actors did a good job bringing life to the characters, but there were some shortcomings. On a couple of songs, microphones weren't on when they should have been, and there were some other issues with volume and clarity.
Because this was a piece focused on animals, there were some difficulties regarding the options for displaying the characters. Jade Curless, for example, did an excellent job as the snake. There were two individuals responsible for its representation--one holding the head, and the other swaying the body. Similarly, when the monkeys were portrayed, ropes were dangled from the ceiling to make their appearance more true to conventional ideas about monkeys in children's films. The actors swung from the ropes in an impressive display of creativity on the part of the directors.

Aislinn Langley Performance Review

The Jungle Book Performance Review

               Henry Clay’s triumphant production of The Jungle Book marked the beginning of a new era of HCHS theater. Running intermittently from April 29^th to May 16^th, the production that drew attention in the papers and online came five months in the making. From double-casted leads to innovative set design and crew work, The Jungle Book proved entertaining and sufficiently impressive for audiences of all ages.

Taking up the directorial torch on something of a whim, Kiefer Shuler and Kristian Junker began their co-directing run in the fall with the drama Twelve Angry Jurors, followed in January by The Frogs, whose cast was largely made up of actors who were simultaneously rehearsing Jungle Book. Feeling the need to prove their worth as directors, the two sought ways of stepping up the game throughout the process of putting the show together, always seeking improvements and innovation. This search led them to hang ropes from the rafters, construct a massive tree, and attach wheels to massive set pieces. Each of these bold choices contributed to the imagination of the show—a simple stage gains a multitude of new dimensions when actors can climb and swing before a fluid and malleable setting.

The fact that a double cast was necessary conveys the pool of talent the directors had to draw room. Instead of having to choose between Raiffa Syamil and Viviana Ortiz for the role of Mowgli, it was simple enough to simply double cast and roll right along. Only the roles of Mowgli, Baloo, Kaa, and King Louie were double cast, but even these changes created an entirely different dynamic with the rest of the cast. Green Cast was stocked with actors who had previously taken to the stage this year in the two previous shows and brought endless energy that created some artistic synergy and led to fantastic acting. Orange Cast brought together an especially talented group of musicians and excelled musically. Whether viewing Raiffa’s petulant Mowgli or Vivi’s utterly adorable Mowgli, the audience was gifted with genuine interpretations of the Kipling character.

As impressive as the acting, singing, and dancing is, the crew and tech work is what brings a show together, and The Jungle Book is no exception. Just as important as what’s seen on stage is the twenty-five-piece pit, the forty light cues being worked out in the booth, and the constant microphone work being done both in the booth and backstage. A set of ten mics is shared by a cast of thirty-something, necessitating a system of sharing, passing off, and switching in the dark. Actors also double as crew workers, moving set pieces and props when they aren’t on stage. A crew of four actors who play the vultures at the end of the show spend the rest of the show moving the large wheeled set pieces and lounging in the rafter catwalks above the stage to drop and haul up ropes throughout the show. This cast duality of acting and working backstage highlights every actor’s dedication to the show.

The high energy, complicated choreography, staged hits and use of audience space all add up to a performance that is engaging for all. The monkey’s massive swing dance number brings down the house every night while the percussionist’s badum-tss accompanying puns and jokes earns giggles. Younger audiences never fail to be amused by physical humor and enjoy the staged hits and action of the show. The Henry Clay production of The Jungle Book was well worth the five months its growth required and made a worthy final show for the first year of the artistic reign of Junker and Shuler, who have next set their sights on the works of Agatha Christie and Shakespeare, as well as another monumental Disney classic.

emily cashman performance review

Emily Cashman

Jungle Book Performance Review

The morning school performance of The Jungle Book last Friday was, by far, the best school play I have seen during my time at Henry Clay. Directed by Mr. Shuler and Mr. Junker, The Jungle Book went above and beyond my expectations. Raiffa was an excellent Mowgli and her singing was fantastic. Sydney Young played Baloo and was also great at singing. Jade Curless’ performance as the snake was geat, and I heard Anne did a fantastic job as well. My favorite aspect of the show had to be the monkey scene with many kids swinging from actual ropes hanging from the theater ceiling. I was awed by the creativity of that, and it was, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the play.

Another one of my favorite parts of the play was the continuous audience interaction. It wasn’t usually direct, except for the quick note writing to Charlie Grimes, but the cast members moved across a row in the audience multiple times and also moved up and down the aisles. I happened to be sitting in the row directly behind the row that the cast members used, and I loved being so up close and personal to those parts of the play. I enjoyed this aspect of the show because it brought the cast and the audience together, if only for a short moment, and made the experience much different from previous plays I had watched.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed Henry Clay’s rendition of The Jungle Book and was blown away by the quality of the performances by the actors. I liked that there were more actors than usual because the group dances and songs were more lively and enchanting simply because more was going on on stage.