I liked the pre-show. It was simply a little bit about Queen Elizabeth giving instructions on how to properly drink tea basically. I was upset, no water squirts during the pre-show, but I suppose that is an effect in the works maybe?
So basically the show has a very loose plot which I will try to describe how the show is set out. First, the show starts with a news announcement from the Queen, then a song or two. Another news announcement from the Queen, followed by one or two more songs, and so forth. It seems that as said, you are following the different stages in the main character's life. Each stage separated by an announcement from the Queen. These announcements are made with the curtains closed on three rather small TV screens on stage for the most part. The first part of the main characters life seems to be the teenage stage, then it goes to her falling in love, to getting married, to having children, then those children grow up, and ends with the message of 'All You Need Is Love'. Personally I do not feel that message was portrayed entirely through the show clearly.
The puppetry was nice, but I really wish the puppeteers were invisible instead of just wearing black clothing. My suggestion would be make the puppets and other character black lighted so that the puppeteers are better hidden in the dark while the puppets pop right out similar to how the skeletons for Monster Stomp Revamped were done. I don't understand why they couldn't use younger people to play the children instead of puppets. Maybe children were not an option? The parachute pants used towards the end seemed to have a hole in them already.
The show seemed like there should have been much more excitement and crowd interaction; however, I felt the crowd was more confused rather than excited. They were probably trying to figure out what exactly is going on. That will be the question you will ask your self at least 10X in this show.
I literally watched this show with Zachary and there were parts were I had to laugh because of how 'out there' some of the scenes were. I really keep asking myself what is going on? What is the plot here? At least shows like Celtic Fyre and Entwined had a plot. I felt like this show was more like Mix It Up, music without an actual plot or story, yet there was one and it was loosely there and it did bug me somewhat that they did not really dive deeper into the story or at least left the story out altogether.
So as you may have noticed, plot, story, theme is my biggest issue. Something I am sure they can work on slightly here and there. Other than that, fix the puppetry some more I really don't know why they would blatantly have the puppeteers so visible. Otherwise, really fabulous, mind bending, rocking show.
