Queens of Avalon
Jun. 1st, 2016 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroCanadian folk/filk artist Heather Dale wrote a musical that was intended as a Wicked-style version of the Arthurian legend, a two-woman show starring herself and CJ Tucker. I joined the Kickstarter and got a DVD of the stage production.
I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed that it was only okay. The best songs were the pre-existing ones (“Mordred’s Lullaby” and “As I Am”) and Jethrien noted that several of the other songs felt like they were going to segue into “Joan” at any moment.
The special effects were clearly things that work on stage but translate poorly to close-up video: The inflated Lady of Avalon, the constant use of fan-streamers, many of the lighting effects, etc. On video, the production values feel cheap and amateurish. I’d imagine this is not the case live.
The show gets stronger as it goes along: The early scenes have them trying to act and sing in a childish manner which doesn’t work particularly well. I’m not wild about CJ Tucker’s voice to begin with, and while it’s fine for the duets that were clearly written for the two of them (which are more frequent in the second act), she has issues singing solos that Dale originally wrote for herself.
The issue of Mordred’s parentage is oddly unaddressed: The songs imply that he’s a bastard and that Arthur is his father; the dialogue never references this and implies that all five of Morgana’s sons are her husband’s. (For that matter, Morgana’s other four sons are neither named nor mourned—Mordred is the only one that matters. Why include the others at all?)
There are perhaps a few too many scenes that end with “Sisters forever!” (Not “brothers, sometimes” or “siblings, occasionally”. By the end, Fairylane commented, “So wait, are you saying that there’s a connection between Ben and Glory?”) I get that it’s the theme and all that, but I think the dialogue could stand revision to give us a bit more depth (and perhaps some better foreshadowing of Morgana’s anger and poor decision-making skills) and a bit less repetition. Given how dark the show gets by the end of it—even with a “happy” ending there’s a lot of death and destruction—the first act needs more nuance to lead in.
Overall: I love Dale’s music; I have all of her albums. I keep watching her tour schedule to see if she’ll be in the NYC area. But this is rough and has a bunch of the standard problems of filming a stage show; it’s not the vehicle I’d use to introduce someone to her.
I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed that it was only okay. The best songs were the pre-existing ones (“Mordred’s Lullaby” and “As I Am”) and Jethrien noted that several of the other songs felt like they were going to segue into “Joan” at any moment.
The special effects were clearly things that work on stage but translate poorly to close-up video: The inflated Lady of Avalon, the constant use of fan-streamers, many of the lighting effects, etc. On video, the production values feel cheap and amateurish. I’d imagine this is not the case live.
The show gets stronger as it goes along: The early scenes have them trying to act and sing in a childish manner which doesn’t work particularly well. I’m not wild about CJ Tucker’s voice to begin with, and while it’s fine for the duets that were clearly written for the two of them (which are more frequent in the second act), she has issues singing solos that Dale originally wrote for herself.
The issue of Mordred’s parentage is oddly unaddressed: The songs imply that he’s a bastard and that Arthur is his father; the dialogue never references this and implies that all five of Morgana’s sons are her husband’s. (For that matter, Morgana’s other four sons are neither named nor mourned—Mordred is the only one that matters. Why include the others at all?)
There are perhaps a few too many scenes that end with “Sisters forever!” (Not “brothers, sometimes” or “siblings, occasionally”. By the end, Fairylane commented, “So wait, are you saying that there’s a connection between Ben and Glory?”) I get that it’s the theme and all that, but I think the dialogue could stand revision to give us a bit more depth (and perhaps some better foreshadowing of Morgana’s anger and poor decision-making skills) and a bit less repetition. Given how dark the show gets by the end of it—even with a “happy” ending there’s a lot of death and destruction—the first act needs more nuance to lead in.
Overall: I love Dale’s music; I have all of her albums. I keep watching her tour schedule to see if she’ll be in the NYC area. But this is rough and has a bunch of the standard problems of filming a stage show; it’s not the vehicle I’d use to introduce someone to her.
