Junior casts negetive review on performance

Though The Best Christmas Pageant Ever seems to be an appropriate thing to observe during the holidays, given its Christmas play. However this performance ultimately disappointed and fell short in comparison to other Christmas themed performances. The $15 fee and the hour and a half entertainment are not worth the money or the time.

The story follows Grace Bradely (played by Liz Stoeckel) the typical, judgmental, church lady who gets asked to do some convoluted duty at the last minute during the holidays. I watched, unpleasantly, as her struggles with having to put on the Christmas pageant began to crumble down around her.

As she scrambles to pick up the pieces left by her predecessor the townsfolk and churchgoers look down on her and believe she will utterly fail. And as our good church lady slowly succumbs to the stress, a group of savage children, named the Herdmans, hijack the pageant and take all the lead roles threatening to make the already failing pageant a complete disaster.

The characters were, for the most part, unlikeable. The church attendees and Christians were the typical self-righteous, pious, hypocritical people that they are accused of being in the real world. The characters felt pretentious, condescending, and not at all enjoyable to watch.

The only characters that deviated from this hypocritical and condescending attitude were the Herdmans, but their character portrayal was just as hard to watch as the pious Christians. These heathens were overall lacking in intelligence, mean, crude, and again just unlikeable characters.

The actors must be commended for the portrayals of their characters. The characters felt real, I felt for them. Though the emotions were not good ones for the most part, I still felt and felt vested in the characters and watching their story unravel before my eyes. Actors must make their audience feel, though sometimes that feeling may be disdain or even hatred, they must make them feel. And these actors fulfilled that task, bravo. –Rees Roggenstein

The 2nd Space where the play was held was incredibly small and cramped. The seats were a step up from the plastic ones provided at local high schools. And the lighting would sometimes shine directly into my eye blurring my vision. This venue simply lacked in most categories. Perhaps someone who enjoys close company and bright lights would find it enjoyable.

The actors must be commended for the portrayals of their characters. The characters felt real, I felt for them. Though the emotions were not good ones for the most part, I still felt and felt vested in the characters and watching their story unravel before my eyes. Actors must make their audience feel, though sometimes that feeling may be disdain or even hatred, they must make them feel. And these actors fulfilled that task, bravo.

Kenzie Stafford played her role as Gladys Herdman amazingly well and provided enough comedic relief to make the other characters bearable. My advice to make the play more enjoyable would be to give this actor more screen time.

Though the overall plot felt unoriginal from other Christmas stories, the actors performed exceptionally well given the circumstances and the unlikeable characters they had to play. Even though I did not personally like the play, they made me feel something; they made it memorable at the very least. You may like it, you may hate it, but you will remember it for a while.

The play began on Nov. 1 and will continue until Dec. 21.

For more information on Good Company Plays, visit their website at http://gcplayers.com/.

Follow The Feather via Twitter @thefeather,  Instagram @thefeatheronline and Facebook @thefeatheronline.This writer can be reached via Twitter: @RRoggenstein.

For more reviews, read the Dec. 2 article, Third film in franchise raises expectations for final installment.