SUV Review: The Last Ship

Hello Everyone! 

In an effort to, you know, actually put something on our SUV page, we've invited one of our fellow LG (Logan Girls), Becca to do a guest post for us!  
Steamers, and confetti, and unicorns!  Hooray!!!!  

But first, let's introduce Becca!  

One of our very multi-talented LG's (well that's a bit repetitive, since we all have our respective fingers in multiple creative pies), Becca is badass music therapist who also did a stint during our collegiate years as a very badass Stage Manager.  
Hence, she still loves the theatre and attends as often as she has time and funds.  
She also comes to the productions with a critical eye based on years of training in both music and theatre.  
Prepare yourself for a rather thorough review of Sting's new musical: The Last Ship, which she attended in her adopted hometown: Chicago.

Without much more ado:  
Here's Becca.  

Here is a summary of what the show's about:

 

(from Wikipedia)

The Last Ship is an original musical with music and lyrics by Sting and a book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey. Inspired by Sting's own childhood experiences and the shipbuilding industry in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear. The characters are based on people Sting knew in the shipyard community.

 

I'm sure you can still access the PBS links from the PBS website. You can also find clips through YouTube of individual songs or the PBS concert.

 

The Last Ship

 Bank of America Theatre, Chicago, IL

6/11/14

 

 

 

Singing

I was really impressed with the singers they chose. Their voices conveyed the emotion behind the character they portrayed, all the voices really blended well together, and the group numbers were my favorites, as the unison or harmonies were really great. I liked that the singer’s didn’t have 100% polished voices, because it didn’t fit the musical, but they were still solid. My drama therapy co-worker pointed out that they were working so hard to not have the rhyming component of the lines sound soo rhyme-y and sing-song-y, and he was right.

Acting

Again, all the actors really did a great job. None of them overacted or underacted. Each of them had really great chemistry and played off each other’s lines really well. The only times the acting wasn’t the most convincing were during the numbers I didn’t particularly like, because they were overly cheesy ballad-y. I especially loved the acting of Fred Applegate, who played Father O’Brien. The cast had a great blend of characters, ranging from more extreme to those who were the comedic relief, as well as the typical protagonists and the usual love triangle.

Story

Overall, the plot wasn’t too complex or hard to follow and it wasn’t too simple that you bored. The plot is inspired by Sting’s life and that he grew up in a shipping community. He wrote the musical based on some of the people in it and the premise is it’s a ship yard community where the lead protagonist leaves to escape from his father, and returns after he’s dead. The ship yard community receives word that the ship building is being stopped and the community responds by building one last ship. There is enough character development, while pretty simple and at some times, not fully believable, that allows you to easily follow along with what is happening.

Blocking/Choreography

This is one of the only aspects that I wasn’t overly impressed with. There were some numbers that were pretty clever and well done, and other numbers that were either very awkward, didn’t fit what I thought was happening in the song, or were too cliché. A lot of the blocking was pretty standard to what you see in musicals (emotional distance=physical distance), staggered blocking for epic/group numbers, bar scenes always had two clusters, each cluster on each side of the bar. They did use all the stage and there didn’t seem like there were dead spaces on the stage, though. There was a number where the female protagonist was tossing glasses around and other actors on stage would catch them, so that took a lot of practice.

Songs

Overall, the songs were really good. There was way too much overuse of iambic pentameter, but it was more noticeable during the slow ballads. I didn’t like any of the slow ballads or the love songs—they were way too cheesy in their musical construction and lyrics. They kind of actually didn’t match the rest of the musical. I loved the group numbers—they had a great lively, more Irish and spirit and were more in the theme of sailor shanties and other maritime songs. And then there were a few songs that just amusing because as you heard the opening strains you thought to yourself, “yep, this is a song written by Sting.” So, the overall consistency of how the songs sounded in addition to the gross overuse of rhyming lines were my two biggest complaints about the songs. There were definitely some catchy songs and some songs I definitely think will be used for future auditions or flash mobs J

Mixing

I’m really picky about this area, so overall it was good. The mixing of some of the group numbers was not really mixed all that well, as the individual voices were okay, but then when they were all singing was way too loud. I definitely caught at least 4 occurrences when someone’s mic was not turned on before the beginning of the line, which is the sound engineer’s fault. The mixing of the music was okay, although the drums were definitely a little too loud in the mix in the beginning but as the musical went on, it seemed like the overall mix got a little better.

Scenic Design/Scenery

Absolutely loved it!! Loved the background—it was designed to be like a ship, and had all the rivets and was textured and painted in red and blue to make it look more vintage with the red acting more as rust spots. The rest of the stage was super functional for all the scenes and they had so many great drops that flew in and out. It was interesting—they had a portion way down by the pit that was a little tiny pool of water. The floor of the stage evolved from a brick path, to wood for the ship. There was the main floor, which was basically the hull of the ship and was rounded, which elevated and also became raked. There were the two stationary pieces on the sides that were rounded to fit the curve of the ship floor and were used for the bar scenes, and all the ship building scenes. There were drops for the hospital scene, drops for the lights in the bar, and there was a great iron bridge that they used for several scenes too. There was also a drop for the jail scene that was a cut out of a jail cell. There was a bar with working beer taps, several wood tables and stools which the actors incorporated into bringing on and offstage with the rhythm of the music, which was cool. There was also a wrought iron window on the back wall for the church scenes, and another matching window on the proscenium arch area they used in the second act.

Light Design/Lighting

Again, I was really impressed with the lighting for the show. They did a great job with the use of the back and side lighting to light the back wall, they had tiny lights on the iron frames of the stationary sides for the church scenes, they even incorporated lights underneath the iron catwalk/bridge, that you could see when it flew down to be on the ground and you could see the shadows/outlines. The spotlight operators never faltered and never missed their mark, the light board operator never missed a cue, and the lights really helped accentuate what was happening, which is the point of the lights :D

Costumes

There were some great high collared, long-length wool coats, but overall it was mostly regular pants, checkered shirts, some floral shirts or skirts for the women, etc. Since the musical is in a poorer shipping community, it’s not like pearls, fur, or lace were common or likely to be seen. The costumes definitely seemed consistent to me for the timeframe and location and economic situation of the area.

Makeup

I think the makeup was fine—again, it wasn’t a show really meant for fantasy makeup or anything beyond standard makeup—they didn’t really have to show the progress of age on anyone or show wounds or anything, so it was pretty consistent.

Props

So, I guess I already covered some of the props with the set. The bar was really pretty and simple, and there were tiny props, like an old tin lunch box with a dome top, there were certainly tons of glasses for the bar scenes, and then there was a garbage can that was rigged with some lights and I think a very small hazer or smoke machine, that looked pretty realistic from afar until an actor put their hands by the “fire” and then you could see the strobing pulse of the light inside. Here is the best part of the show—they actually had welding devices! Four of them during one song were used! It was the coolest thing ever! There was a chair and boxes and tiny ship for the scenes involving the male protagonist and his father, and there was a hospital bed for the hospital scene. There were ropes for the last scene, but I couldn't tell you what knot (if any) they had used. At the end, they used a bottle and “broke” it on the set and it looked like it “broke” except it really collapsed. I imagine it was made out of some sort of plastic or other material that kind of “sets” into the shape of the full bottle, and when it experiences force, it will collapse. At least, that’s what my guess is without seeing it up close.

 

 I know Becca has plenty of other show reviews up her sleeve, it's just a matter of chasing her down and making them give them up.  Like a name tag elimination or something.   Look forward to more reviews soon!