The light rain on Sunday afternoon, January 21st did not deter four Matinee Friends from driving to Peoria for the Spotlight Youth Theatre presentation of “Anastasia: the Musical”. Inspired by the Disney film, it was the story of a brave young Russian woman in her quest to discover who she is. The story
takes her to Paris in the 1920s, accompanied by a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. The story begins in truth, with the murder of the Tsar and his family, and becomes a fairy tale search with a happy ending. The teen actors were extremely talented, especially the young lady playing Anya/Anastasia, who also had a beautiful singing voice. It was impressive what these players did with a small stage and limited scenery. Scene changes were smoothly choreographed as well. We were even treated to a brief ballet. This was a lovely musical about discovering who you are and who you’re meant to be.
Six Matinee Friends went “On the Town” Saturday afternoon, Feb. 3. Our destination was the Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch with very attentive service and the musical “On the Town”. New York, New York; it’s a helluva town! We traveled back to The City in 1994 with three curious US Navy sailors, in search of landmarks, fun and girls. With only 24 hours to hit the Big Apple, Gabey, Chip, and Ozzie found points of interest as well as interesting ladies for romance. The cast was fantastic, the choreography gorgeous (inspired by the original work of Jerome Robbins), and the music wonderful. Most of the songs written by Leonard Bernstein for the musical were omitted from the movie; we were glad to hear the show as written. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
