Exit, stage left

So the Friday before the fast, I had the opportunity to see a production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, put on by Christ Community Church. I had seen a production of The Miracle Worker there last year, so I was familiar with their productions. When you think about a church production, quality may not be one of the defining words that will come to mind. But CCC does a nice job with their stuff.

The Chronicles of Narnia are my single favorite book series. Regular readers will attest to my excitement at the fact that the screen version of TLTWATW will be released in 67 days. So I had some lofty expectations. I knew the story and I knew the characters. But I didn't know how creative they would be. Working with a multi-purpose room stage leaves lots to be desired as far as space is concerned, but the set design team did a great job with the sets. As the children traveled back and forth from Narnia to the "spare oom," they used a monstrous wardobe and trees to accentuate the travel. I should mention that both the trees and the wardrobe moved in a circular fashion. Costuming was well-done, especially in the case of Aslan. I regret I have no pictures to show, but it was well-done.

The acting was fairly good. No one seemed to drop lines, but there were some slight hiccups here and there. The cast consisted of members of the previous production, as well some new folks from outside the church.

The only complaint that I had, was that the play seemed to be a little disjointed. But that was bound to happen. You see, I was following along with the book in my mind. And that could not possible translate onto the stage in a two-hour plus production. So there was some skipping around. You couldn't really avoid it, but I still missed the parts that they cut.

But I enjoyed myself, and it only helped get me more excited for the movie. And if you haven't been there in a while, check out the Narnia website. Good stuff abounds there.