Custom «Play Review» Essay Paper Sample

Plot

            Suds: The Rocking 60s Musical Soap Opera is a very entertaining comic play. There is plenty of soap and suds in the musical setting in a Laundromat. This music features some of the best tunes including; do you want to know a secret, Do Wahl Daddy Diddy and I will forever follow him among others. This represents major favorite hits done by famous artistes such as those of Mo Town, Phil Spector and The Beatles of the setting’s time. Sung by a talented cast, they bear the feeling and the touch of style and originality. The music sung by the characters was a job well done by the directors who created sweet smart harmonies that easily seduce the audience.

            Each song filled with rhyme and repetition is introduced in time adding the musical entertainment, Cindy works at the neighborhood Laundromat. Her soap opera character is introduced together with her first song, please Mr. Postman. The music also plays along with the mood during a scene, enabling the character to say what words cannot describe. It has the effect of taking the audience where the character goes. In a sad mood, a sad song helps the character connect with the audience.

            This play is purely entertaining and fun across all age groups. However, those who experienced the era of the featured songs enjoys the double edged sword, where the nostalgia of their past is revived as they laugh themselves off at the same time. The combination of old fashioned rock and roll sets the beauty o of the comic script

Suds the Rocking 60s Musical Soap Opera is a comic play and falls in the category of a comedy. This is because it is aimed to trigger laughter as a form of entertainment to the audience.

            The characters in Suds; The Rocking 60’s Musical Opera   go a long way in giving the play the comical effect it is meant to portray. We meet Cindy in the first act as a happy-go-lucky character that seemingly enjoys her company while singing happy birthday to herself. She is also a dreamer, earnestly waiting for the postman to deliver a letter from her pen pal boyfriend in New Jersey wishing her a happy birthday. Cindy is donning a ponytail, with a skirt, socks and saddle shoes. From the way she carries herself that morning in the Laundromat we detect a sweet character without too many worries. Her pessimistic side is however revealed when she tries to commit suicide by trying to drink laundry bleach as well as hang herself using a cloth when her pen pal boyfriend informs her that he has found someone with better penmanship.

            The second main character is Marge. She is portrayed as a sexy, tough redhead and with a very sharp tongue. Despite these powerful characters, Marge unexpectedly has a heart of gold. Marge is in a sexy top, capris and high heels. We see her tough personality when she harshly says to Dee Dee” How the hell would i know? Do I look like I work here?” This is when Dee Dee tries to enquire when she can have her clothes fluffed and folded. She also lashes out at Dee Dee when they clash in the Laundromat.

            Dee Dee is one enthusiastic character in the play suds. She sounds very optimistic and humble. She readily takes the blame when she and Marge collide in the Laundromat and quickly apologies. Dee Dee also sounds confused when she mistakes Marge for the operator of the Laundromat. Her dressing can be described as sharp, and dressy.

            The directors did a good job in choosing the character’s descriptions. They have enhanced variety and have brought together three unexpected characters, an aspect which goes a long way in spicing up the play. Their dressing also enables one to easily pick them out. For instance one can easily pick out Marge for her sexy attire. Not forgetting the characters they portray. Marge is sexy; your typical sexy woman would have a sharp fearless tongue to go with it. Sweet dreamy girls as portrayed by Cindy are also easily heartbroken. Then there are the humble girls as portrayed by Dee Dee who always find a quiet way out of a misunderstanding. Looking at the characters one sees just how easily the director has brought your typical girl on stage, an aspect many people enjoying this play can relate to easily.

            All in all Suds: A rocking 60’s Musical is one fast, humorous play that seeks to explain a serious issue that is love. In the end it is a play about three girls who find true love.

Themes

Love and romance

            This is portrayed when Cindy and Dee Dee engage into a conversation in a song where Cindy sings “girl, have you ever been hungry so hungry that you had to cry well, I've got that feeling that biting, gnawing deep inside it's a funny pain, one I can't explain you gotta help me girl help me girl 'cause I’m going insane I need someone, someone to comfort me be my someone, be my reality girls. And Dee Dee responds “you can't hurry love no, you just have to wait. This conversation shows that both are in love (Melinda , Eve , & Will , 1987).

            The play also seeks to define and understand love. When Dee Dee and Marge find out what makes Cindy sad, they try to comfort her by talking of the times they too were heartbroken. They say the men tried to change their personalities for the sake of the so called love, yet the girls were in love with them. They break into song whose theme is heartbreak. There is also the choice faced by Marge over career and love. Marge, being the tough woman she is obviously chose her career above her ex-boyfriend Johnnie. She however doesn’t deny that she still feels something for Johnnie, who is in the street where she left him. The three girls also try to find what loving a man really means. Sometimes they imagine it is through his boots, a laughable notion, and then sometimes it is through giving him all your heart as Dee Dee imagines, yet sometimes they do not believe in true love.

Music and humor

            It is a rollercoaster of music, nostalgia and laughter all combined in lively characters that would lift an audience’ spirits at any time. This is a classic about day to day things told in an unusual way, laughably so. In this play, all is set for fun and good fun it is a knock them, straight-out, an all-out piece of work that is received by its viewers with a spectacular cheer. This theme is well portrayed in the way music is applied and also by the comic comments that the characters utter.

            Greatest old hits from the Beatles, Motown and Phil Spector create a very strong, yet healthy sense of humor. This is well portrayed by the way its nostalgia is described and presented throughout the play.