How to Break – Dance Musical – Village Theatre

Watched a developing hip hop dance musical "How to Break." Urban teen gets leukemia. Very promising piece. But not a fan of stereotypical inner-city teen characters with nobody-understands-me rude attitude.
Watched a developing hip hop dance musical “How to Break.” Urban teen gets leukemia. Very promising piece. But not a fan of stereotypical inner-city teen characters with nobody-understands-me rude attitude.

Type: Dance Musical

Recommendation: It’s worth seeing. But watch out, this isn’t your gay grandpa’s musical.

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3.5 Stars

Negatives: For a dance musical, I didn’t consider it to have enough flashy dance routines. Not a fan of stereotypical inner-city teen characters with nobody-understands-me rude attitude. It’s a tired old annoying role.

Story, Script, and Lyrics: Urban teen who like break dancing (or “hip hop dancing?”) gets leukemia. Surprisingly, writers got a lot of the medical portion accurate (I’m an oncology pharmacist).  Note that this is a Beta Series production, which means it’s a developing musical that will change everyday based on the audience feedback.

Cast and Theater Company: Not much to say. Typical Village Theatre quality theatrical production.

Venue and Set: Minimalist set that’s mostly in a children’s hospital. Had to be minimalist since this is a Beta Series musical in development.

Music and Audio: Music was mostly via guitar, beatboxing (vocal percussion), and synthesizer. While not a fan of beatboxing, I was pretty impressed by the dude’s talent.

Price: $ (Low-priced at $30)

Dates: January 5, 2018 – January 14, 2018

Seating: Assigned Seating

Link: http://villagetheatre.org/issaquah/beta-series-how-to-break.php

Disney’s Newsies – Musical – Village Theatre

Watched the stage adaptation of Newsies. For a musical that's very dance intensive, they didn't give enough room for the performers. Okay but not amazing.
Watched the stage adaptation of Newsies. For a musical that’s very dance intensive, they didn’t give enough room for the performers. Okay but not amazing.

Type: Musical

Recommendation: It’s worth seeing but like every Disney musical, it usually doesn’t inspire any awards. I’ve seen the official tour and (obviously) it was better than this local production, which was still alright.

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3.75 Stars

Story, Script, and Lyrics: Newsboys strike against “the man” to protest rising newspaper prices back in the day.

Cast and Theater Company: Typical Village Theatre good-quality theatrical production.

Venue and Set: Cramped stage during dance numbers. Great sets and scene changes though.

Music and Audio: Musicals should excel in “musical” quality but this show definitely focuses more on the dance aspect, which was unfortunate since the stage was crowded.

Price: $$ (Moderately Priced at $57-82)

Dates:

  • Issaquah: NOVEMBER 9 – DECEMBER 31, 2017
  • Everett: JANUARY 5 – 28, 2018

Seating: Assigned Seating

Link: