Directed by Niclas Olson, the actors on the Tacoma Little Theatre stage succeed in smash hit fashion! The Opening Night crowd stood as one in a full-house standing ovation, roaring their appreciation! It's a memorable hit in a season of excellent TLT shows! - Kim Hastings
"Tacoma Little Theatre begins 2017 with John Steinbeck's classic tale, Of Mice and Men... Olson is building a career of making classic plays relevant to modern times. He did it with Romeo and Juliet and with August Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie." - Alec Clayton
"When it comes to tech, though, the biggest bow goes to lighting designer Niclas R. Olson, whose complex and dramatic lighting changes clearly delineated not only times and locations, but moods and intentions as well. Kudos are indeed in order." - Michael Dresdner
“(A)n intelligent, challenging, well-written and well-acted play. It is a play that calls into question the relationships between fiction and reality, between actors and the characters they play, and between characters and the author…. It is a wild and imaginative play filled with absurdist arguments about what is real and what is play acting and about the relationships between actors, the characters they play, and authors, without whom the characters cannot exist. It is presented in the round with no set decoration and no set pieces other than a table and a few chairs.... Niclas Olson… adapted Pirandello's play and does a fine job of directing it. The three lead characters, Gallion, Philbrook and Ali, are outstanding, making unbelievable characters totally believable. Ali is brash and seductive, and has a marvelous laugh. Philbrook plays the director as a most complex character, arrogant and sure of herself, which turns out to be a cover-up for self-doubt. She beautifully and convincingly portrays the director's astonishment at the audacity to these interlopers at her rehearsal. And by the way, the director was a man in the original. Gallion plays the father as a kind of bumbling but sincere man who lurches around the stage in a manner that brings to mind Peter Falk as Columbo.“ - Alec Clayton (The Weekly Volcano)
"New Muses Theatre Company's Into the Woods... is quite different in some important ways, primarily in that it is scaled down with a much smaller set in a smaller space with fewer actors, and those actors are physically much closer to the audience. I like the closeness and the scaled-down set with cheap but highly inventive props… Both princes are charming, sleazy, arrogant narcissists, as portrayed with great comic effect by Olson and Mesford, whose duet on the song "Agony" is the comic highlight of the show... The music throughout is wonderful. Highlights include the wolf's flirtatious "Hello Little Girl" as sung by Mesford to Cattin, "A Very Nice Prince" as sung by Dewey and Smith, and Dewey's "Moments in the Woods." The choreographed movement of the entire cast popping in and out like so many Jack-in-the-Boxes ads a magical quality... Clawson, Cattin, Dewey and Chris Serface as the narrator and "Mysterious Man" turn in marvelous acting jobs… Olson, founder of New Muses, not only sings and acts wonderfully in multiple roles, but he also does a great job of directing this show, rising to the challenge of scaling down a big stage production to fit in a small house." - Alec Clayton (The Weekly Volcano)
"The New Muses production features a rock solid cast beginning with Carrie Schnelker’s riveting performance as Mrs. Alving. Schnelker commands the stage with a stately presence. She is at times imperious and at times vulnerable... Manders is played by John Kelleher, a dynamic actor who breaths life into the role of a man of the cloth who, while earnest, is too beholden to rules of propriety, is a little too willing to take others at their word, and is somewhat overly concerned about his public reputation… (Niclas Olson) plays Oswald, an artist and the son of the Alvings. Oswald has returned from the sunny parts of Europe to wet and dreary Norway where he is in the midst of a malaise. Mrs. Alving has kept Oswald away from the family in order to protect him from his father’s influence. Tragically, however, Oswald proves to be his father’s son… Two other complex characters round out the cast. Monica Lorin plays the vivacious, bright and dutiful maidservant, Regina. Engstrand, the crippled (both physically and spiritually) carpenter is played by Eric Cuestas-Thompson… “Ghosts” is haunted by an air of doom. At one point in the play Mrs. Alving laments that dead ideas and useless beliefs are passed from one generation to the next long after they have outlived their usefulness.” Dave R. Davison (Tacoma Weekly)
"(A Doll’s House) is a smart play that is both intriguing and provocative... the most believable and engaging acting came from the two lead female characters, Katelyn Hoffman as Nora and Kathryn Grace Philbrook as Mrs. Linde. In Hoffman's subtly controlled expressions of anger and joy, I sensed the withheld fury of a woman held prisoner by circumstances. The range of expressions by Philbrook and by Olson as Krogstad, the most complex character in the play, were both noteworthy… I loved the beautifully layered blue-lighted backdrop (design by Olson), and I loved the equally beautiful white dress that Nora wore… Both A Doll's House and Ghosts are plays that are historically important and that intelligently and dramatically depict the evolution of relationships between the sexes. These are plays that should be seen." - Alec Clayton (The Weekly Volcano)
"The set is wonderfully spare. The story unfolds in three acts that flow along at an easy clip… The cast and crew do a good job of presenting the Ibsen masterpiece in a way that seems simple and straightforward. Yet the play’s multiple layers will continue to reveal themselves to the mind long after the curtain has fallen (metaphorically in this case)… Katelyn Hoffman anchors the show in her role as Nora, the titular “doll” of the story. She is sweet and docile with her moralizing and condescending husband Torvald. By the end of the play, however, she has become clear minded; steadfastly defiant of the man whom she now realizes is a stranger to her… Kathryn Grace Philbrook, as Mrs. Linde, and Niclas Olson as Krogstad are great as a pair of worldly characters who are able to find and redeem one another while the “perfect” marriage of Nora and Torvald is falling to pieces." - Dave R. Davison (Tacoma Weekly)
"The company opened "Romeo and Juliet" at Dukesbay Theater this weekend, and did it with style and grace… Mr. Olson (Romeo) performs the intricacies of Shakespeare's dialogue as well as anyone on stage. His pacing is expertly accurate, and his stage presence is palpable… The lovely Ms. McRill (Juliet) handles the dialogue as if born to the task. She is pensive, in love, angry, and distraught by turns and in exactly the proper measure… And stage combat is one of the true strengths of this show. The intimacy of the Dukesbay stage means the crowd is within 15 feet of the flashing knives. Fakery would be easily seen. But, the actors who fight in this show make the audience believe danger is afoot!" - Kim Hastings (Axs.com)
Review: New Muses turns ‘Romeo and Juliet’ back into a compelling teen drama - Tacoma News Tribune1/18/2016 "(W)hen you discover a production that not only says something new with “Romeo and Juliet,” but says it in a compellingly contemporary way, you rejoice… once the lovers get going, this production starts to soar. Olson makes a moody, Hamlet-ish Romeo, flitting with ease between wholehearted passion and cynical weariness. He woos Juliet (Jenna McRill) with charm and adorable insecurity, and McRill responds with a startling wisdom and a real sweetness… Sara Geiger is perfect for the joshing, tough-faced Benvolio (with a surprise twist); Deanna Martinez brings out both the gabbling comedy of the Nurse and her deeper, caring side. Lance Zielinski makes a calm and philosophical Friar Laurence… Set inside a cinematic scene sequence with an emotive backdrop of pop soundbites (Beyoncé to Lorde), this “Romeo and Juliet” dives inside the teen mind, pulling the Renaissance firmly into our present. If you have a teen in your life, this is the Shakespeare you’ll want them to see. And if you don’t, see it anyway and ponder that crazy period in all our lives when only death is as strong as love." - Rosemary Ponnekanti (Tacoma News Tribune)
|