Breakthrough Theater
Breakthrough Theater Retrospective Years 6-10
Directed by Wade Hair
Winter Park FL
A decade of successful theatrical production is no small feat. But that oddly shaped space right by the railroad tracks in Winter Park pulled it off, and now they stare at their own belly buttons and bring us an evening of their favorite tunes from the last five years. It’s an amazing collection, and the dozen plus actors do elaborate costume changes for each number.
We begin with the always popular Rogers and Hammerstein numbers and an “Oklahoma / Sound of Music / South Pacific Retrospective,” then skip merrily to Sondheim obscurities from “Tick, Tick Boom” and “Company.” Then it’s on to the social cometary of “Urinetown” and the very funny “We’ve Got To Clean Out the Freezer” from Nunsense. Catholics – always good for a laugh, if they aren’t hitting your knuckles or firing up the stake.
The evening flies, and if you pay attention you can see when someone sneaks off stage to change costume for the next number. The Hair clan amuses us with other great shows: “Shrek,” “High School Musical,” “Chorus Line,” and even the dread Sondheim project “Assassin.” Even with the occasional rough spot, Breakthrough has done yeoman’s work putting the American Song Book on stage in one of the most intimate spaces in town. Beware of the front row: their fourth wall is about one millimeter thick.
