Sight & Sound Theater: JONAH ~ Review

I was extremely privileged to be able to see this fantastic production by Sight & Sound theaters – in my city! Sight & Sound filmed one of their musicals, JONAH, in front of a live audience, and the film came to regular theaters on May 2! I’m going to review it now, so you might want to find yourself a cup of something to drink; this might take a while…

First of all, this was phenomenal! Everything from the sets, animals, costumes, props, actors, lights, and THE fish were just blow-your-mind amazing! I was really, really impressed. Even though the connection at the theater I saw it in was bad (and I missed several minutes of the play), the rest of it was really good, and it made up for the parts I missed. And who really makes a 40 foot long fish for their musical play? These people did!

Now, the critiquing stuff.

1. Acting

It was amazing! Everyone did such a good job, and Jonah (well, really everybody) was so believable it didn’t seem like they had any forced lines or got out of character – ever. Delivery of lines is so crucial; and these actors knew exactly how to do it perfectly!

Note: Be warned – Jonah is really funny at some parts!

 

2. Singing

Yes, they had actors that not only acted amazingly, but sang incredibly well! I. Love. Musicals. Okay, so maybe it’s not so realistic when a whole crowd of people sounds like the London Symphony Orchestra choir, but that’s not the point – and if you don’t like musicals like that, then why are you watching them?

Jonah’s “arise and go” song was definitely where he shined the most – and he was outstanding the rest of the time, too!

And that brings us to the…

 

3. Music

Ah, yes, the music. The soundtrack was amazing! (Let’s see, I need to use a different word than “amazing” for everything – how about stellar?) Yes, the soundtrack was stellar! The use of different instruments gave it a touch of a Jewish sound, while other times it sounded underwater. (I can’t explain it any better than that – once you see it, then you’ll know what I mean.)

 

4. Dance/Choreography/Costumes 

The choreography for the dances were really well done (like everything else) and the dances were beautiful and wonderfully danced. And just think of the choreography for everything else besides dances – everything was beautifully arranged to please the eye. I really loved the bright colors on most of the costumes, and you could certainly tell that a lot of time and effort was put into making them. Just with all the beads, jewels, ruffles, layers, stitching. Not to mention – how many hundreds of costumes did they have to make?

 

5. Sets/Props

Didn’t I already say everything was fantastic? This certainly ups the count of wonderful things about this musical – the sets were gorgeous! Nineveh was actually two stories – and two BIG stories, too! And they weren’t fake stories; there was a person actually on the top story! Wow, right? And the weapons featured at Nineveh looked extremely real – because even a really good actor would have a hard time holding a sword that’s made out of plastic or Styrofoam like it’s really heavy and made from metal! But these actors did hold them like they were heavy, which makes me curious… what were they made of?

 

See? I had nothing bad to say about it! And, really, truly, I’m not joking – I enjoyed every single second of this whole production, and I really want to see it again!

But guess what? It was so popular the first time they showed it on May 2, they’re going to do an encore! So that means if you missed seeing it on May 2, you still have another chance! So what are you waiting for? Go buy your tickets here!

♥Amara

Note: The pictures I am not selling, making a profit from, or benefiting from these in any way, shape, or form, and are wholly for the enjoyment of the reader. All copyrights remain with the respective owner(s).