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| - This theatre company is known to do things off the beaten path, and the Stray Cat production of Heathers lived up to the billing. This was their first musical in a while, from what they told us, and you could tell from the occasional sound issues. It may be the venue (somehow both too small and too cavernous for the live, often rushing, band), so I'm excited to see what they do in different valley venues (as they become a traveling company this year).
The performances could definitely fill a bigger venue! The Heathers were all played well, and the jocks were a great fit as a comic duo. Cole Brackney was a serviceable voice and sizeable (albeit rather small) presence as J.D., but Brittany Howk was on another level vocally and emotionally as Veronica. It reminded me a little of seeing Chris Mann in the traveling production of Phantom Of The Opera: that girl could be something big.
The band, as mentioned before, tended to rush the tempo significantly, leading to some songs losing their most powerful moments, but they definitely had talent and could be significantly better by the time you are reading this. I've run sound before so I'll have some Grace on the tech crew (that size a production going through three 15s isn't gonna cut it, unless your sound guy is a minor deity). This is a 4 star production/company. They are darn good, entertaining, and have the potential and talent to be the best live production in the valley with a bit more development.
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