Written by Alina Mae Wilson
Garden Grove’s Strawberry Bowl Theatre was built-in 1979 and has provided a variety of programming: band shows, comedy skits, and movie nights. Most notable however are their Shakespearean plays, which Shakespeare Orange County performs, typically with fervor and quality costumes. Now they are breaking new ground with their first non-Shakespearean play (fine, musical), the Gilbert and Sullivan favorite Pirates of Penzance. Based on what could be heard the acting and singing ability are definitely on full display. To get the full picture across I will point out that I saw the preview night performance. As such there were visible kinks to work out. I can’t ignore the blatant issues, but if they intended to hook up the speakers before their real run then the problem may have already been fixed. But therein lies the problem–audio. Despite setting up chairs on the stage to form closed in quarters, the microphones do very little to pick up sound. The soloists are all but inaudible. In spite of this obvious problem the delightful chorus and enthusiastic acting communicate the story effectively. Continue Reading
