Birds of Paradise Review

I figure I should put a disclaimer at the beginning of this entry: You may not like what I say. So there.

I didn't like Birds of Paradise. I don't mean to be rude or ungrateful, but I just didn't like it. It wasn't particularly my style, and some things either fell flat, or detracted from the story, in my opinion. It was a mix of everything, I suppose.

I didn't particularly enjoy the story itself, but then again that could have been because of certain directional choices or other factors. I found it to be a little... Well certain things in the plot didn't seem to have "high enough" stakes, such as the possible falling-out of Nancy Snow's character and Justin Deater's character. It seemed like it was merely a subplot that I knew, and the characters knew, would end up ok. The only thing that seemed to be a high-stakes situation was the main conflict of Brandon Joel Maier's character with the script and "struggle for power and recognition."

I personally found Brandon as Homer to be just about the best actor in the whole production. I found his performance to be the most sincere and realistic. In addition, he really pulled off being a younger, more awkward character, which must have been a huge challenge considering his height. He really did his homework as far as character study goes. However, I found the other actors to all have their moments of truly breaking through and being real, but for the most part it seemed as if they were just an actor on a stage playing a role. Don't get me wrong, they're all great singers, but some of the actual lines were said extremely... Campy. And honestly I don't like campy stuff.

The line delivery seemed to be either campy, or like they were over-acting. Not the annoying, in your face "OH HERE I'M ACTING LOOK AT ME ACTING" kind of over-acting, but the kind where it sounds and looks like they're aware that they are playing a character and that they're telling a story. I found the diction to be to be really enunciated and clear, but it wasn't realistic at all. Not in my reality, at least. I also found that some of the characters seemed extremely shallow and fake. While they were, in fact, more minor characters, I truly believe that in order to make a production real and poignant, every character has to seem just as deep as the "main" characters. Otherwise, the audience is subconsciously aware that it's a play that they're seeing, and they become aware of who the leads are and who's most "important". In reality though, everyone is just as important as everyone else, so just because a character is minor doesn't mean that it is any less important than the lead. The playwright wouldn't have written the role if it was dispensable. So you may as well make the character seem like a real person.

Altogether, I found it to be a show that captured my interest for it's duration, but that's about it. Nothing I saw there will stick with me emotionally like other shows have stuck with me. It didn't make me think or ponder about anything, and it didn't strike me emotionally. Actors need to reach out to the audience and make them see that they're not that different from one another, but the entire show I felt as if there was a plexiglass wall between us. It was somewhat disappointing, but eh. At least I went in with an open mind and no expectations.

Also, that penguin sequence was just weird.