Great music....great play
Saw Magdalene and loved the music and story line. Have you ever checked your watch half way through a play to see how much longer before it was over?? NOT THIS TIME!!! The story line was suspenseful, the acting especially the lead female engaging, and the music helped drive the story. Would recommend this to anyone who has an open mind.
Reviewed by theaterghost on Monday, Jul 4th, 2011
Offensively Anti-Semitic and Otherwise Boring
I found this to be an offensively anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic play and, although the producers insist that that was not their original intention and proclaim their commitment to ?considering, in consultation with Christian and Jewish experts, various proposed revisions,? there is no evidence that any real action has been taken. But even setting aside the issues of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism, I didn?t think much of the play anyway. The inspirations for the play were the intriguing Gnostic Gospels of Mary and Thomas, with their suggestions that Mary Magdalene was not the repentant prostitute she had been made out to be in the Biblical Gospels, that she was one of Jesus? Apostles indeed, that she was first among them and the one he loved the most, that she was Jesus? lover and perhaps his wife, and that she bore his child. That would seem to provide lots of raw material for a satisfying play ? or novel, for that matter ? and, in the hands of a talented writer, it does. Working with much the same original material, Dan Brown produced ?The Da Vinci Code,? no work of literary genius to be sure, but a thrilling pot-boiler of a novel that kept the reader on the edge of his seat, nonetheless.
Here, however, similar source material inspired nothing more than a somewhat disjointed, occasionally incoherent, and generally soporific musical. The book was slow and dull and the song lyrics forgettable. The actors were energetic and did the best they could with the material they were given but were given too little to work with. And at least one actor ? Eugene Barry-Hill as Pontius Pilate ? was badly miscast. Indeed, the only positive things I can say about this production are that 1 the musical score by James Olm was pretty good and 2 Lindsie Van Winkle, who starred in the title role of Mary Magdalene, has a rich, powerful voice, and belted out number after number to my satisfaction. I have posted an expanded version of this review and reviews of several other plays on my blog www.aseatontheaisle.blogspot.com.
Reviewed by alansshows on Monday, Jul 4th, 2011
Directions & Map
