Flora the Red Menace

May 16th, 2008

Reprise Theatre Company
Musical by Kander & Ebb
We went with Pam




Starring: Eden Espinosa & Manoel Felciano
Megan Lawrence, Katie O'Toole, Matthew Rocheleau, Katherine Von Till, Gibby Brand, Wilkie Ferguson, Perry Ojeda


The plot is about a depression-era working girl who gets mildly involved with a communist group's push for unionization.

Flora is anything but a "Red Menace." She's a salutary effect on everyone who comes into her life. The irony of the title is kinda lost in the book, however. I expected it to be a bit more kooky with mix-ups and hijinx. Nope. I couldn't help but think about the kookiness that Liza Minnelli must have brought to it (1965, for 87 performances).



But the want of kooky was quickly forgotten the moment Eden Espinosa sang. She's wonderful. We loved her in "Wicked" (she's our favorite Elphaba, next to Idina). She has tremendous color and control over her tight vibrato, and her high notes are lovely and clear. She can also belt with the best of them. Her last song, "Sing Happy," was a diva-calibre performance with thrilling vocals that left the three of us quite impressed.



It was also a kick seeing Megan Lawrence again (originally saw her as Little Sally in "Urinetown" on Broadway). She gave some real humor to the production. We enjoyed hearing Manoel Felciano (his voice was golden as usual, but the songs don't show off his impressive voice the way "Sunday in the Park with George" did). The set was a lot of fun and worked well in it's simplicity.



Another opportunity from Reprise to hear Broadway-calibre performers doing an oft-overlooked musical. An enjoyable night of theatre.



Most notable song: "It's a Quiet Thing" ~which Eden Espinosa sang with great control and soaring vocals.




(thank you to Peter Goldman of Davidson & Choy Publicity for the photos; I'm assuming they were taken by Michael Lamont)