Edward Scissorhands

Have you ever been to a musical without any singing or dialogue and with just dancing? That's the concept behind the new stage adaptation of Edward Scissorhands, which Ken and I saw last night at the Belk Theater in Charlotte.

I actually remember seeing the movie. It was January 1991, and Mickey Carroll took me to see it at the Hanes Mall Cinema. I loved the theatricalness (is that a new word?) of the movie and was very impressed with Johnny Depp as Edward. So, when we were in Charlotte for NCTC, and I saw the brochures for the show, I asked Ken if he wanted to see it with me. (I tossed in quite a few please, please, pleases as well.)

While we had good seats (row D, seats 1/2) to begin with, they became even better seats when the couple in front of us left during intermission. Ken and I then had an unobstructed view of the whole stage. The show was impressive before the intermission, but after intermission, it was breathtaking.

I watched in awe as every dancer brought the movie characters to life. Some even brought to life Edward's garden shrub creations. I wanted to go backstage just to see how those costumes were made! I was not as impressed with the dancer who played Kim, the Winona Ryder role in the movie, though she and Edward had some nice "duets". One of two dancers plays Edward and I'm not sure which one we saw. But whichever it was, he was phenomenal! (And had really nice dancer's buns to boot!) He conveyed such wonderful innocence and humanity for Edward. Many in the audience connected with him as evidenced by the sniffles that could be heard during the final scene. A lump was in my own throat.

My favorite part of the production was the curtain call, specifically Edward's bow. Sam or Richard (damn, I wish I knew which one it was!) tottered out, in character, to the end of the stage. He stood there, soaking in the well-deserved applause and standing ovation. He titled his head to one side as if "Edward" was curious about the thunderous noise, raised his scissorhands over his head, and opened his arms. And then it started to snow. All over the entire audience.

Two words: breathtaking and unforgettable.