#with the beautiful Timothy Scott front and center

[storyweaverofgondor]

Got randomly bit by the Cats merch bug and bought myself an OBC brochure. It even has the little pamphlet with the actors’ headshots in it.

No Regrets! :D

[rndyounghowze]

Shaken Not Stirred Players are Not Getting Married Today with Company at Gateway by the Bay in Somers Point, NJ

By: Ricky and Dana Young-Howze

The Gateway by the Bay was the jewel of the shore last night with a production of Company staged by the Shaken Not Stirred Players. This musical with music by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth was directed by Sally Castle and gave us a great reason to be alive!

It's Bobby's thirty-fifth birthday. He's got a great apartment, lots of friends. You could say he's always in good...well company. But there's this nagging thing inside him. He's not married and even though he has so many friends he's still lacking... something. He hangs out with all of his married friends and some on again off again girlfriends but does he ever really have someone? Will he find it before he has to blow out another set of birthday candles?

I used to do a lot of theatre with a small theatre group just like this so I can appreciate something about the direction by Sally Castle. When you have a company (ha) of community stage veterans like this you're more directing traffic and channeling energy. You get a group of stage friends with great energy and all of a sudden you're on the same wavelength. I felt like there was a little bit of dragging energy up front but then the first bars of the opening number struck up and this show just took off! You can almost rev them up every night and get out of their way.

This cast gave me so many feels! I don't know where to begin!

When you first look at Robert (played by Mark Leggieri) you think "really, him"? And then he sings and you're like "oooh!" And then he acts and you're like "him!" It's not that he doesn't look the part but you almost can't see it with such a lovable looking guy! So yeah he's the biggest sleeper hit of the night. You gotta come see him. He really holds his audience and delivers a powerhouse performance. He bowled me over.

Sarah (played by Nina Meron) can rock bright patterns and knock a guy on his rump. That's a skill set not always called for but she delivers. Don't forget that she's also a great singer and dancer and mixes great against James Dalfonso as Harry. Speaking of him...

Harry (played by James Dalfonso) can now add punching bag to his resume! It's great to see a producer cutting a rug with the cast onstage. I know producers who work in the office or direct behind the scenes. I like the producers who act in the trenches with the rest of the battalion.

Susan (played by Sherry Mistler) gave her best southern drawl that she could muster and this Tennessee expat was kinda impressed. You can hear her splendid voice in the background all the time! I definitely would love to see her onstage again!

Peter (played by Timothy J. Cooper) should really be known for his wonderful two step in "Side by Side" but he also has some really great acting chops. She and Sherry really need to share the stage again.

Jenny (played by Deborah Jenkins) was just a laugh riot from the very beginning to the end. I really liked her voice the best. This Indiana native had the Jersey shore rolling in the aisles last night!

I won’t talk about how David (played by Keith D. Cooper) played high “a little too well”. And he can sure cut a rug. His work in the mail ensemble pieces really took the cake!

I definitely couldn't keep my eyes off of Amy (played by Chelsey Jean) she gets my second favorite song of the night and she literally made me put down my phone and laugh out loud! To be so cool and trained to be off your rocker so divinely is an amazing gift! Thanks for sharing it with us!

A great shout out to Paul (played by Eric Williams) for being in character all the dang time especially since he has to be right behind Bobby center stage most of the night. A great voice with a lot of promise in it!

Joanne (played by Karen Sutherland) Is my spirit animal with her sass and snark. It's just what you need in a musical like this. You have to listen to her rendition of "Ladies who Lunch". It's the topper on the wackadoodle cake of this musical.

Greg Dragon who played Larry is an anesthesiologist by day but leaves people feeling anything but numb in real life. His singing and dancing is sure to give tingles! You think he should dance like a Sherman tank but he's really quite nimble.

Marta (played by Katie Risko) gets to sing my favorite song and so loved the way that she rambled on and on and verbally flowed all over us. That's the best way I can describe her performance. It's a really great thing I promise.

Kathy (played by Kimberly Glenn Tunney) is normally one of my favorite high school directors and was so great to see her hit the stage for the first time in a long time. I really hope it isn't the last! She was really good!

April (played by Jacklyn Buckingham) just made me giggle. It takes a lot of skill and intelligence to be so ditzy. Great job!

A good shout-out to the choreography by Nancy Gibson. It's hard sometimes to adjust for a large mix of actors that aren't exactly chorus girls but aren't greenhorns either. She was able to coax a mind-blowing performance out of them.

Conductor and pianist Scott J. Breiner worked hard with percussionists Jason Koenig and Ed Shea to fill the house with the rich music of Sondheim's score. This is a good thing about your director also being your musical director. You can directly control the mixes of sound and voices. Actually I have to commend the whole cast for having great voices that carried very far into the house over all the music and noise and karate going on. Great job!

Set design and construction by James Dalfonso, Eric Peterson, and Tyler Hogg made such a dynamic and beautiful staging. I wish a little thought would be taken on the height of steps in future productions. The many stepped platforms ensured a lot of actors were more looking at their feet so as to not trip instead of being in the moment.

Lighting Design by Philip Pallitto made great work of using the cyclorama and bright colors to brighten the atmosphere. I adore the use of shadow and light to draw our focus to what we should be seeing when the stage is full of couples.

Costume Design by Karen Sutherland and Sarah MacArthur gave me characters that "printed" in my head. I could tell you exactly who was who if you asked me something as simple as their shirt color and that's important in huge ensemble numbers. Great job!

This is a show that I love no matter how dated it gets. You get a fun loving cast that loves the show and you can still have a lot of fun stepping inside of it. You can tell that they really loved this show and want you to love it by the end too! They have a matinee today and another weekend coming up. Go see them!