theater - review`Miss Nelson' scores a touchdown
November 3, 2006
|By Rebecca Swain, Sentinel Staff Writer
Think your favorite football team is bad? There isn't an NFL squad out there that can compare to the awfulness of the Horace N. Smedley Elementary School Tornadoes.
Seriously, when was the last time you saw a pro score a touchdown for the other team?
It is up to fearsome substitute teacher Miss Viola Swamp to save the team -- and the school -- from finishing last in Miss Nelson Has a Field Day, produced by the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival Darden Theater for Young People and directed by Katrina Ploof.
A new cast and director aptly pick up the reins from last year's production of Miss Nelson Is Missing. This sort-of sequel is filled with the kind of silly fun that kids enjoy, an interactive mix of poppy musical numbers and grade-school humor.
Hapless Coach Anderson (Sam Hazell) tries to inspire his wayward trio of football players (Ariel Heller, Blake Sims and Chris McIntyre) but only ends up inspiring them to Three Stooges-like antics.
Fortunately, kindhearted Miss Nelson (Janine Klein) knows what to do. Enter her secret alter ego, the supremely scary Viola Swamp.
The deliciously mean substitute teacher soon has the team running laps and high-stepping through drills. Cheered on by the cafeteria lady (Trista Duval) and one lone if superperky cheerleader (Mary Candler), the team reforms its wayward plays and makes it to the right side of the end zone.
There isn't a whole lot of substance at the heart of this brisk 50-minute show. The plot is slight, and some songs in Miss Nelson seem like filler (albeit fun filler). What makes it entertaining is the cheery way Ploof and her likable cast approach things -- there is a bright sensibility to the production that shows even when the football team is at its worst. The production also invites young audience members to join in with cheers and preshow entertainment.
So never mind Miss Viola Swamp and her ever-present ruler -- no one will rap your knuckles for talking during this class.
November 3, 2006
|By Rebecca Swain, Sentinel Staff Writer
Think your favorite football team is bad? There isn't an NFL squad out there that can compare to the awfulness of the Horace N. Smedley Elementary School Tornadoes.
Seriously, when was the last time you saw a pro score a touchdown for the other team?
It is up to fearsome substitute teacher Miss Viola Swamp to save the team -- and the school -- from finishing last in Miss Nelson Has a Field Day, produced by the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival Darden Theater for Young People and directed by Katrina Ploof.
A new cast and director aptly pick up the reins from last year's production of Miss Nelson Is Missing. This sort-of sequel is filled with the kind of silly fun that kids enjoy, an interactive mix of poppy musical numbers and grade-school humor.
Hapless Coach Anderson (Sam Hazell) tries to inspire his wayward trio of football players (Ariel Heller, Blake Sims and Chris McIntyre) but only ends up inspiring them to Three Stooges-like antics.
Fortunately, kindhearted Miss Nelson (Janine Klein) knows what to do. Enter her secret alter ego, the supremely scary Viola Swamp.
The deliciously mean substitute teacher soon has the team running laps and high-stepping through drills. Cheered on by the cafeteria lady (Trista Duval) and one lone if superperky cheerleader (Mary Candler), the team reforms its wayward plays and makes it to the right side of the end zone.
There isn't a whole lot of substance at the heart of this brisk 50-minute show. The plot is slight, and some songs in Miss Nelson seem like filler (albeit fun filler). What makes it entertaining is the cheery way Ploof and her likable cast approach things -- there is a bright sensibility to the production that shows even when the football team is at its worst. The production also invites young audience members to join in with cheers and preshow entertainment.
So never mind Miss Viola Swamp and her ever-present ruler -- no one will rap your knuckles for talking during this class.
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