On Saturday, Carrie and I got gussied up and went downtown to the Fifth Avenue Theatre to see Edward Scissorhands: The Play.

Earlier in the week, Carrie’s barista had led her to believe that this wasn’t a play in the strictest sense, but more of a musical. So when Carrie and I sat down, we expected something along the lines of ‘all singing, all dancing’. It turns out we were only half right–this would’ve been far better billed as “Edward Scissorhands: The Ballet” or “Edward Scissorhands: The Interpretive Dance”. Which isn’t to say it was bad–just that it was surprising! For a while, my mind kept trying to reject it–“You are NOT arty enough to appreciate this, you are NOT arty enough to appreciate this” but when I shoved that part of me back, I found it truly enchanting.

It definitely made me wish I had seen the movie more recently, as I felt I would’ve appreciated what was going on more if I had a clear memory of the progression of the narrative. Still, the show did an amazing job of telling a story quite clearly without words, and it’s quite possible that it was an adaptation that was better served without words.

The scenes between Edward and Kim were breathtakingly beautiful; not only was it easier to focus on the dancing when there were only two people onstage instead of twenty or more, but it seemed that extra efforts were made with their choreography. Immediately before the intermission, there is a scene where Edward shows Kim the topiaries he’s made, and as they dance together, what initially appeared as set pieces came to life and started dancing with them. It was gorgeously done, but that didn’t stop the gigglefest between Carrie and I come intermission. “Oh mum, I’m so excited–I got the part I’ve always dreamed of playing–DANCING BUSH NUMBER THREE!” “It’s so cute, it’s like a little bush dinosaur!” “I’m going to sign programs with XOXOX, Topiary Lizard!”

Half the people around us were highly entertained by our little intermission show, and half of them were giving us the stink-eye. The girl on my right, in particular, who couldn’t have been more than sixteen, gave me the stinkiest stink-eye in the history of the world. But come ON now, it’s not as if I was talking/giggling/making jokes DURING the show, and it truly cannot be expected that I’ll be stifled for many hours running!

It certainly didn’t hurt my enjoyment of Edward Scissorhands: Dance-O-Rama to note that the actor who danced Edward had an amazing ass. I think I missed a decent portion of the action just because I couldn’t take my eyes away from his hindquarters. It’s ok, though, as when you’re staring from a distance, it just appears that you are a VERY attentive theatre-goer.

Many, many thanks to Carrie for taking me to this show-I truly enjoyed myself, and I don’t think I could have enjoyed seeing it nearly as much with anyone else.

This theatre review brought to you due to an emotard post I had made a while back. If this is the sort of birthday gift one receives because one whines about one’s friends being too busy, I’m going to have to be an emotard more often.