Sneak Peek of "The Civil War" at Ford's Theatre

Two guesses where your humble blogger was last night.



... Got it?


That's right- Ford's Theatre held a special blogger preview of their new production of Frank Wildhorn's The Civil War last night. We got to see some of the fabulous renovation work that's been happening at the Theatre- gone are the terrible chairs of yesterday!- and take a peek at a rehearsal.

We didn't get to stay for long, but here are a few Things to Watch:

• There is some AMAZING projection work- incredibly sophisticated stuff and from what I can see, it really succeeds in adding another layer to the production. Fantastic.





• The cast sings GLORIOUSLY. It's a wonderful sound, and the joy of Frank Wildhorn (with the help of Jack Murphy and Gregory Boyd) is that his music is imminently singable and instantly likable, which is no mean feet.





• Because Wildhorn certainly doesn't try to write in a period idiom, this production doesn't limit itself to painstaking recreations of the period, either. It's an approach I haven't seen done with this piece previously, and I'm looking forward to the way that it's going to change the way we see the piece.
  
  
  
  

In short? I'm excited to see this show, and I imagine that I'm not the only one- I think this is a show that's going to have a wide appeal, and this production has the pizazz and the talent to spare, and a very special place in which to perform it.

The Civil War opens March 27th, and runs until May 24th.