The combination of a rowdy crowd and an unseasoned Advanced drama cast made for an unpleasant evening. I came in with high hopes that the cast would give a great performance, just as they had in their last performance that I saw, “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.” However, I left feeling awfully disappointed.
Most of the skits lacked the “wow factor” I was hoping for and I often found myself becoming bored watching the skits. “Princess,” “Playwriting 101,” “Spy School Training,” “Employees Must Wash Hands,” and “Rula” were all skits that made me wish show was over already.
The skits that were written by students usually turned out worse than the ones that were already on Saturday Night Live, with the exception of the skit ” Janitors.” This was by far the best skit of the play, and the only one that I found entertaining. Brandon Wilson and Matthew Aquino, the actors and writers of the skit, both portrayed their roles exceptionally well as janitors who aspire to be doctors and who recieve the opportunity to becomes doctors in a time of need for the president.
Two more skits that were well executed were “Most Popular Girls in School Scene 1” and “Most Popular Girls in School Scene 2.” The actresses played high school dolls in two rival cliques. A new “doll” comes along and the two rival cliques fight over her. All the girls did a great job portraying their roles as obnoxious high school dolls, and I found their performances very entertaining.
On the contrary, I found the skit “mynewbff..” to be extremely inappropriate when Caitlin Chan, who played a goth girl, pulled out a fake gun and started shooting it around. Because the tragic shootings that have occured so recently, I was surprised that the Advanced Drama class would include something like this in a play, even more so in a high school play.
The two actors that impressed me most were, again, Brandon Wilson and Matthew Aquino. Wilson was hilarious in his depiction of a janitor and looked extremely comfortable on stage. His delivery communicated that comfort level as he bantered effortlessly with his fellow actors as he would with a friend. Aquino also offered a wonderful performance, especially in his monologue, “Spy School.” His impersonation of a nerd was extremely fun to watch.
I was really disappointed with the “set” that was nothing more than a couple pieces of wood on stage. A plain background would have been better than those long pieces of wood.
Aside from the bad acting and the boring plot lines, the audience left me with the worst impression. Friends of the cast were constantly yelling the names of their friends who were about to perform, in addition to yelling out other obnoxious things before every single skit. The people behind me were especially loud, and I found the rowdiness of the crowed to be extremely rude and disrespectful.
Overall, my experience with “Thursday Night Live” was definitely not a positive one, and I hope that next year’s plays will return to the quality of those last Fall.
