Goldstar

• Rated 4.0
• Written on May 22 2007

A multi-media extravaganza -- as only Mr. Gaiman can supply!! My 19-year-old son and I both had a wonderful time - very highly recommended!!

• Rated 4.0
• Written on May 14 2007

What a great show!

• Rated 2.0
• Written on Apr 30 2007

A fantastic array of sets and costumes almost, but not quite, save this poorly directed, horridly acted show. While forcing itself to stay too close to the book, the script is confusing and unintelligible. It never took its own form and therefore required already knowing the story (word for word) in order to understand even the most basic of plot points (and even then, much was muddled and the wrong parts emphasized or elongated). Melodramatic and amateur I found myself pleading for it to be over.
A small light in the dark was Tom Ashworth who, when not trying to voice Mr. Punch, has a very endearing vocal and physical quality. Lucas Salazar and Nina Silver were fine actors, but their parts were forced and unnecessary. As their importance was never given, they left us wondering who they were and why we were bothering to see them. The actors often took long moments to improvise which felt forced, sad and boring. Their accents left me cringing and the reason for them not worth the pain of listening to them, the young boy, Dalton O'Dell, especially.
Over all, if you feel the desire to see this, make sure you do not pay full price, and even then, please go to some bookstore and buy it instead. There's meaning in this story, don't let this catastrophic work turn you off finding it for yourself.
That being said, props go to Joyce Hutter and Patrick Rubio with a slight nod to Joel David as it was visually dreamlike. Dave McKean is hard to capture and they did a beautiful job with the masks and puppets especially. The sets were sometimes lost, but sometimes rather nice. Over all, I would like very much to wander them like a circus sideshow rather than be forced to see them used in this way.