Low Budget Fantasia

Pageant of the 4 Seasons: A 99cent only modern Something. Bootleg Theatre. 12/7/06.

Ken Roht has been putting on 99cent shows for years around Christmas time. The highlight of these shows is their imaginative use of brightly-colored papers, plastics, and other kinds of junk from the 99 Cent Only stores. They also assemble an extremely talented cast who seems to be having a lot of fun, and that in itself is important and valuable.

I have mixed feelings about Pageant of the Four Seasons, however. It felt to me like it was trying a little too hard to be "experimental" and "edgy" and not trying hard enough to be cohesive. It would have been nice if there had been a little more gesture toward a story or even more of a throughline, rather than just an exploration of the 4 seasons, but even that wouldn't have been necessary if the 4 seasons themselves were a little more coherent. Summer, however, was a bit crazy and vaguely culturally offensive with its undertone of Polynesian natives and human sacrifice. Fall and Winter were more coherent and blended into each other nicely, but then Spring felt like it was in an entirely different universe. It was fun and pretty, though (I especially enjoyed the folk song trio who began the Spring section). Each season was beautiful in its own way, but they didn't really go together much at all.

Mostly, I was irritated that they charged $20 (no student discount even!) for this piece that lasted less than an hour. It was beautiful and fun, but overpriced for my budget and what it was and that makes me less likely to recommend it to others, even though it was a lovely piece of theater/dance/opera/experimentation. If it had either been longer and more cohesive OR cheaper, I would be raving about it right now. It was fun and funny and beautiful at moments, and everyone who worked on it is super talented. There were many performers who I would have liked to see more of. There was some fascinating tumbling and clowning, some compelling sugestions of character and relationship, and, of course, many gorgeous costumes (I would have loved to see more done with the fish!). There were many things they could have pulled out and made more of in this show, and I'm kind of sad they didn't. I very much admire what they do with the 99cent Only Store Shows, but I will say that I liked last year's better.