Disclaimer: The tour company gave me comps. They didn’t require that I write about the show, though they did ask if I’d consider posting about a promo ticket program, now expired. I decided not to promote the tix until I’d seen the show.
I have no cred for reviewing dance. It’s not something I know anything about or go out of my way to see. It’s not that I actively dislike dance – I always tag along when invited – it just doesn’t draw me out. I’m not a complete cretin, the last time I went to a dance performance I was gobstruck, really, I was overcome. See, it’s not like I can’t be moved by dance, but it’s not really my thing.
And there I was at Edward Scissorhands, surprised to find that the whole thing was a dance performance – I’d done no homework on purpose. “How’s that gonna work?” I asked. “We’ll soon find out!” said M, my fellow not a philistine but no high arts critic companion. The answer. “Meh. It works okay, I guess.”
The staging is spectacular – no, truly, it’s a spectacle. I loved the light and the sets and the costumes, they absolutely capture the aesthetic of Tim Burton’s genius movie. The row houses in the suburbs are brilliant and I laughed out loud when the families came out the front doors. The color is perfect and there’s one scene where it seems like everyone is dressed in the same patterned material – think the Von Trapp kids in those curtains – except for Edward, the Outsider. There’s a huge moon in the night at the dilapidated mansion scenes – it seems to fill the theater. And there are magical things with snow and and light. It’s a visual wonder.
As for the dancing? Well. It goes something like this: There are small scenes that move the story along and then, there are these Big Dance Numbers. Think about those crazy movies from the 40s and 50s where all of a sudden, in the middle of the story, with the thinnest of motivations, there’s a Big Dance Number. An American in Paris is a great example of this. You’re moving along through the story and then, what the hell? And there are, like, nine costume changes and nine different sets and it keeps going on and on.
Okay, I get it, it’s a dance performance. It’s about dancing. Except in this case, it’s not, it’s a story. I was kind of bored during the Big Dance Numbers. I wasn’t sure where to put my eyes – I kept losing the principals. I wasn’t so overcome by the skill and/or beauty of the dancing that I forgot about the story, so I kept trying to find the story in the crowd.
There were a few things I did really like – there’s a magical scene with topiary (of course) and a bit at the end (no spoilers) that transforms the theater into a Tim Burton wonderland. But I really disliked the bit with the cheerleaders in the pink bedroom – icky teenage fantasy – and I was too often bored. I did love the short fire and brimstone bit with the churchy family. That was hilariously expressive. But there wasn’t enough of that kind of integration between the medium (dance) and the story.
I was predisposed to like this show – I love Tim Burton and I love the movie. I just bought a suburban home with obsessively manicured hedges, too. But I didn’t love the show. If you are all about staging, you might enjoy this production. But if you’re in it for the dance, well, I can’t say. I should be saying “I don’t know nothing about dance, but this show, wow!” And I’m not.
Edward Scissorhands is at the 5th Avenue Theater in downtown Seattle. The show runs through May 15th.
[tags]Edward Scissorhands[/tags]