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Thespian Thoughts Theatre Review – Green Grow The Lilacs

“pleasant mix of romance and ballads”

Everyone knows much loved musical Oklahoma but fewer people are familiar with the original play which inspired it, Green Grow The Lilacs.

Rodgers and Hammerstein took that show’s plot and characters and added better songs and pacing to create their enduring classic.

So while watching the original at Theatricum Botanicum is an interesting curiosity, you still can’t help wishing the cowboys and farm girls on stage would burst into more rousing numbers from the reboot, like title song Oklahoma.

Luckily there is some good acting on show to hold the interest and Zachary Davidson has a lot of fun with his role as the Syrian peddler, incidentally a part first played on Broadway in 1931 by method acting maestro Lee Strasberg.

The mix of romance and ballads all makes for a pleasant night out in Topanga, California, at what remains LA County’s most beautiful outdoor theater space.

Green Grow the Lilacs

By Lynn Riggs

Directed by Ellen Geer

At Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Blvd., Topanga Canyon, California.

Selected Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays thru September 26, 2015. For complete schedule of performances, or to purchase tickets – priced #27 and $39.50 with discounts for concessions – call 310 455 3723 or visit Theatricum.com

Cast: Zachary Davidson, Willow Geer, Steven B Green, Leo Knudson, John Manahan, Melora Marshall, Wendy Pigott, Elizabeth Tobias, Jeff Wiesen.

Creative team: Ellen Geer, Jonatham Blandino, Kim Cameron, Jackie Nicole, Randy Hozian, Beth Glasner, Erin Walley, Ian Flanders, Zach Moore, Jennifer Burkhardt.

Publicity: Lucy Pollak.

Pepper Jay Productions LLC

Thespian Thoughts is a theatre review article on Actors Entertainment, a channel on the Actors Podcast Network, a Pepper Jay Production.

Pepper Jay Productions LLC

 

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