After a whirlwind of theater this weekend (well, for me at least, some of y'all be out here seeing 6 shows in two days somehow, haha), I am back from the other side (well, in one case at least the upside down, haha). Was able to see Little Shop, Masquerade, and Stranger Things in two days, and am happy to report thumbs up on all fronts.
Starting with Little Shop, this was just a really solid show. I know at this point it's been running a little over half a decade, so it's not really anything new to say they're pretty squarely in the pocket with the whole shebang by this point, but this just remains an excellent, solidly executed production of a show that doesn't really need any improving upon formula wise. We were between major stunt casting (outside of an unseen Noel MacNeal, aka Bear in the Big Blue House, as one of the Audrey II manipulators...and even that's just for the puppet nerds, haha), so the acting stood on its own merit, just very well done and truthful portrayals across the board. Tech and set were great, puppeteering was great, truthfully just a very very solid production. Groundbreaking? Not necessarily, but it was a treat to see the show at peak execution.
Stranger Things was also very solid. The effects were incredibly impressive, truly why you would go to see this in the first place (outside of it being the most expensive commercial for season 5 one could pay to see), and so it delivered exactly what I was expecting. It's funny, not having done my usual due diligence when it came to the creative team, I couldn't help but think to myself halfway through that this all felt very familiar...and then it dawned all at once that I was watching Stranger Things and the Cursed Child. Not surprisingly, Jack Thorne wrote for both shows, and...well...it definitely tracks. I have no ill will here, it was a very faithful, if not by the numbers show, where characters felt familiar enough to recognize, but the plot by and large felt like we were just going from (impressive) set piece to set piece, and ultimately kind of just gave off a little fanfiction vibe. All this to say, it was very well done, and by no means was I bored (at least two jumpscares that sent me flying, and plenty of visual treats!), but I did also feel like I spent most of my time predicting what was going to happen with each conspicuously placed set piece for each scene rather than caring about the plot. I think some of this comes from the "prequelitis" of it all, meaning there was not really much weight placed on immediate danger presented to our core cast...because we know they all are in the show. Not getting spoilery, and would still be a recommend to folks, I just wouldn't go out of my way to spend extravagantly to see this, as it (at least in my opinion) is in no way the "required viewing" for Season 5 that they made it all out to be in marketing.
To save space, I will be putting my thoughts for Masquerade in a separate post...but all I have to say is....Wow.