An Afternoon at the Theatre

Mallorie and I went to see Movin' Out at the Greensboro Coliseum yesterday afternoon. We both loved it!

The storyline: Long Island in the 60's. Sweethearts Eddie and Brenda break off their high school romance, as James and Judy get engaged. Another member of the group, Tony, picks up with Brenda shortly before all of the boys head off for Vietnam. James loses his life on the battlefield, leaving Judy shattered. Tony and Eddie return home with feelings of loss and alienation. Tony and Brenda's relationship becomes more and more complicated, while Eddie slips into narcotic abuse. In a drug laced fantasy Eddie follows the image of Judy which steers him in the right direction and he soon finds solace. Meanwhile, Tony and Brenda renew their love for each other. The friend reunite to discover they have all found their way back home.

Due to the endurance needed for Eddie, 4 dancers rotate the role. We saw Andrew Pirozzi as Eddie, and he was awesome. Understudy Shayna Harris played Brenda. She was very good as well. John Corsa played Tony and when he and Shayna were on stage it was magic. I was not impressed with the dancers who played Judy and James. Kyle Martin was our Piano Man, and there were times when he sounded very much like Billy Joel.

The opening number, "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", was slow to begin. Once the band warmed up, they maintained the needed energy throughout the show. While some of the dance numbers were spectacular (Tony "skating" across the stage in his hi-tops, Eddie's leaps through the air), some were not. Some of the dancers had timing difficulty, so their performances weren't as clean. And some of Twyla Tharp's choreography was just unusual.

Still, it's a very impressive show, and Mallorie was thrilled to have seen it with me. We listened to Billy Joel's Greatest Hits on the way to the coliseum, so she was familiar with a few songs I had grown up listening to. And I couldn't help but sing along to some of the songs.