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rounding up fellini
Seaside Music Theatre performs Nine
by dick kerekes    dickkerekes@yahoo.com

      Daytona Beach’s Seaside Music Theatre opened the 3rd show of its 30th summer season with the Tony-award-winning NINE last weekend. The show originally opened in l982 and won 5 Tonys. It was revived in 2003 and won two more.

      The musical is based on the l963 Federico Fellini movie 8 l/2. This unique musical is the self-portrait of a famous Italian film director as he struggles with his career and film projects. He wanders through his childhood with hallucinatory fantasies.

      This musical may be one of the most unusual you have ever seen. It opens with twenty-one attractive females on stage, all wearing different stylish black clothing and singing the overture. They are also on stage for the entire first act with the main character, Guido Contini.

      In Act II, as Guido searches for film projects to restart his career, the ladies come and go in dozens of lavish costumes. Guido also has flashbacks of his youth and of his mother, perhaps seeking to learn why he has an obsession with other women (lots and lots of other women), but always comes back to his rich and understanding wife.

      Director Lester Malizia has selected a truly outstanding cast, with Michael Shawn Lewis in the leading role. Lewis came to Nine from Broadway and The Phantom of the Opera, a show he has performed in five different times all over the world. His singing voice is wonderful and so are the many other marvelous voices who sing the exquisite Maury Yeston score.

      Scenic Designer Michael Brewer has created a visual delight that draws the audience into the story and makes us part of the fantasy. I recall this show playing in Jacksonville many years ago for one or two nights as part of the FCCJ Artist series. Seaside’s production offers a rare opportunity to see a highly-acclaimed addition to musical theatre history.

      I know that many of our readers are musical fans, and that is your preference when going to the theatre, whether it be to the Artist Series, the Alhambra or any of the community theatres. I know, as well, that many residents make trips to New York to see shows on a regular basis. Well, listen up.

      Seaside Music Theatre has done Broadway-quality shows since they started in l977. I have been reviewing them since l988 and can’t recall ever being disappointed by any production. Want to feel like you are at a Broadway show? Are you on a budget? The 90-minute drive to the state-of-the-art New Journal Center in Daytona, and reasonably priced tickets, make Seaside a true theatre bargain.

      Nine will run through July 22nd. Two more shows follow with Snapshots on July 26 and Peter Pan opening August 2nd.

      Peter Pan should be a special treat, especially since the amazing actor, Mark Chambers, will be playing Captain Hook. Chambers has many Jacksonville fans from his appearances at Gainesville’s Hippodrome in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Rocky Horror Show, and most recently in the record-breaking hit The Great American Trailer Park Musical. I am sure you will be “hooked” on Chambers after you see Peter Pan.

      Want more information? Call (386) 252-6200 or visit seasidemusictheater.org.

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