Sunday, March 6, 2011

Freddy's Underway!



Posted by: Noël Jones


I have been out of the loop on the high school musical shows that will lead up to the Freddy's this year, and am bummed to find out that I missed Easton Area High School's performance of Hairspray. So I am posting this list of all upcoming shows that a reader has sent me, so that everyone can have a chance to get out and support our talented youth in this competition which has garnered the Lehigh Valley nationwide fame both in last year's documentary, Most Valuable Players, and the fact that it was picked up by Oprah Winfrey's new documentary club on her new cable network, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).


Here is an Express-Times article on the Hairspray production with photos.



It looks like the next productions will be:

Northern Lehigh (Once On This Island )
 
Mar. 11 @ 7PM, Mar. 12 @ 2PM & 7PM, Mar. 13 @ 2PM
Belvidere ( Urinetown )
 
Mar. 11, 12 @ 7PM, Mar. 13 @ 2PM



I would love to hear reviews from readers who saw Hairspray--how was it over all? Who did you feel gave the best performances? What other aspects stood out (set design, lighting, costumes, sound, etc.)?

8 comments:

Jen Holzberger said...

I had the pleasure of seeing Hairspray with my daughter this weekend. It was amazing!!! I don't know where to start with the praise - singing, instrumentals, stage design, choreography.... My daughter's favorite character was "Link" (usually its Bieber fever in the house, so this is a welcome change). I would have a hard time choosing my favorite performance because of the range of talents. So glad we had the chance to see the show. Good luck to the entire cast and crew this year at the Freddy's.

Anonymous said...

I also saw Hairspray this weekend and the show was awesome!!! The cast, orchestra, sets & costumes were amazing! I must say that Penny was my favorite character and the girl playing her did a phenomenal job! She kept me laughing through the entire show! Good job Easton and good luck at the Freddy's!!!

Diane D. said...

Agreed great show! Corney & Penny were the best! Hope you two are nominated for Freddy's!!

Anonymous said...

Hi guys, my name's courtney schaming and i played Penny. Thank you guys so much for the compliments; Link, Corny and I couldn't appreciate them more. So happy all of you liked it! :)

noel jones said...

Hey Courtney--thanks for posting--and good luck at the Freddy's!

noel jones said...

And Courtney--please pass a link to the blog around to your friends--I want more input from youth in the Valley in these discussions--your views and voices are just as important as anyone else's!

Dennis R. Lieb said...

I saw the Sunday matinee. Great job! Courtney was excellent. There were also a number of familiar names in the pit orchestra and stage crew...Kim Kmetz's kids may have to take a bow for that. I saw two shows last year: Parkland and Warren Tech. Hope to see many more this season.

As a former architect, one thing that stuck out with me immediately about the EAHS production was the stage sets - specifically the mock-ups of Baltimore housing types.

In Easton we covered our traditional brick and wood frame buildings with "Brikote" stucco. In Baltimore it is something called "Perma-Stone"; a cheap imitation of real stone. It's everywhere. Easton's sets capture the essence of the housing in bold graphics and a campy style that fits the production values perfectly.

Hope The Freddy judges appreciate that.

DRL

Dennis R. Lieb said...

Correction...I was actually at the Saturday matinee. I'm losing track of time. Spoke to someone who attended Sunday and they said that that show was great too.

DRL