Tag Archives: segerstrom theater

Hadestown: a Spoiler-Free Review

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Recently I saw Hadestown live – a retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, in musical form. It was so good! The songwriting, the aesthetic, the performances, they all came together to form an amazing experience that I’d highly recommend.

As I said before, this musical retells the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, starting from their first meeting all the way to Orpheus’ fated trip below. If you haven’t heard of the story yet, that’s completely fine! It makes your viewing experience perhaps even more dramatic, because you won’t know how it’ll end.

The show sets the Greek Underworld in a sort of industrial, Depression-era aesthetic, making for some really creative interpretations of the various features of Hell. It also does a great job of setting the contrast between the grungy, oppressive, sweltering Hadestown and the bright, airy, but freezing overworld.

The traveling cast that I saw was amazing (they performed in Segerstrom Center in late October) and the Broadway Official Recording is also spectacular. The emotion carries through even without the visuals!

Notably, the band is prominently displayed on stage along with the actors. Not only does this look insanely cool, but it gives the musical a different feel – something more personal. The songs of Hadestown are heavily inspired by different jazz genres, which is a breath of fresh air compared to other musicals.

Overall, I would highly recommend checking out Hadestown if you can!

Shrek the Musical Review

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On November 24, 2024, my family and I went to see the Broadway performance, Shrek the Musical, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The hilarious musical is based on the first Shrek movie made in 2001 and starts off in the fictional fairy-tale medieval town of Duloc. 

Summary of the Musical:

Lord Farquaad bans fairy tale characters from Duloc and sends them to Shrek the ogre’s swamp.  Shrek is enraged by this, and with the help of a talking donkey, embarks on a trip to speak with Lord Farquaad. Farquaad needs to marry a princess in order to become the king of Duloc, and he makes a deal with Shrek. Shrek needs to save a princess named Fiona, who is in a castle guarded by a dragon, and bring her to Lord Farquaad for marriage in order for Shrek to have his swamp back. Shrek accepts and both him and Donkey travel together, where they slowly grow fond of each other.

They finally reach the castle and cross a bridge above lava. Shrek goes to find the princess, leaving the Donkey alone. Donkey is captured by the dragon, who falls in love with him. During this, Shrek finds Fiona and he fights off the dragon, saving her and Donkey. 

Before reaching Duloc, they take shelter and the audience finds out that Princess Fiona has a curse that turns her into an ogre by night and she can only take her true beautiful form with a true love’s kiss. The next day, Shrek and Fiona become romantically interested in one another and by night she again demands shelter. Donkey discovers she is an ogre and describes herself as ugly. Shrek tries to confess his feelings to her, but overhears her talking about him.

He calls Farquaad to marry her, but misunderstands the situation that Fiona was indeed talking about herself and not Shrek. Shrek stops the wedding, kisses Fiona, and she takes her true form as an ogre. The musical ends with them married with children, and Farquaad eaten by the dragon, who marries the donkey.

Favorite Song:

The composition I liked best was “I Know it’s Today” by Leah Greenhaus, Marissa O’Donnell, and Sutton Foster. The style of the song is pop and I feel it is this because of the use of female singers, who sing with strong voices in unison, the piano, drums, flutes, who give the song the pop aspect. I liked this composition the best because of the passing of solos between the singers, the blend of the background vocals, and the catchy music. The music made me feel happy and calm and the music evoked the images of the Shrek movie. The song reminded me of when I was little on the couch watching it with my family. It gave me nostalgic emotions but also joyful emotions.

Overall, I 100% would recommend the musical to others and I had an amazing experience!

– Sophia B.

Review of Hamilton: Live at Segerstrom

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Recently, Hamilton came and performed at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. My parents got my brother, themselves and me tickets to the last show on the final day of their tour. I’ve been a fan of Hamilton ever since my friends and cousins got me into it a few years ago. Ever since then, I’ve listened to the soundtrack, watched the animatics on YouTube, and even got Disney+ just to watch it. But nothing I’ve watched could beat seeing the show live. Seeing the full show in person was a completely different experience than from seeing it through a screen. 

For those who don’t know, Hamilton is a musical based around the life of Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the founding fathers of America. It goes through all his accomplishments and everything he took part in, such as the Revolutionary War and the makings of the financial system in America. However, the musical also shows everything that happened in his personal life, and everything he had done or failed to do. If you haven’t taken a look at Hamilton (the songs or the story or both) I would highly recommend you do.

Despite how many times I listen to the songs, none of the recordings will blow me away in the same way hearing and seeing it live will. All the visual effects and sound effects within the songs created a whole new sense and feeling. You could feel the vibrations of the effects throughout the theater allowing shivers to run through my body. Being able to see and hear all the effects and visuals in person made everything more intense. The actors did a great job, and for the most part, I could understand what they said (probably because I’ve listened to it so many times). The choreography was stunning, the different kinds of lighting was awesome and connected well with the scenes, and the acting was phenomenal. The actors really did an amazing job, and they were very fun to watch. What’s even more exciting when seeing something live, is the fact that no show is going to be the same. The night my family and I went, the cast was different from any of the other days they showed. I won’t ever get to know what the other shows were like, how the characters sounded or anything. I am only going to know what my show was like, which makes the experience feel even more special. 

Hamilton was great to listen to and watch through a screen, but seeing it live was a completely new and amazing experience and I couldn’t be happier to have been there to see it. Once again, if you haven’t taken a look at any of the songs or anything even pertaining to Hamilton, then I would highly recommend you do. It has an impressive soundtrack that somehow manages to tell the entire story, even without hearing the parts in between (especially since the story is told through the music). Even if the music isn’t your cup of tea, just try listening to it at least once. Now, if you do find interest in the musical and end up liking it, I would definitely recommend you to watch the next showing of it whenever they come to your area. Seeing this show live is something you wouldn’t regret if you already like the music.

-Nicole R.

The Car Plays at Segerstrom

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The Car Plays are a set of short scenes acted out by actors and actresses in cars. The audience is one to two people at a time who sit either in the front or the back of the car, depending on where the actors are, who watch the short play unfold before themselves. Some plays were sad, weird plays; some plays were humorous, laugh-out-loud funny.

All of them portrayed great acting abilities by the actors and actresses and demonstrated acting at its core. Many of the scenes were very moving as well as gave the audience the ability to contribute to the scene as characters themselves because of the fact that the audience sits in the same car as the actors and actresses, just feet from the scene being performed. This type of entertainment requires very versatile and accomplished actors and actresses who do not have to simply act to people hundreds of feet away in an enormous auditorium, but a few inches away in a car. Segerstrom put on this event and many people, including myself and my best friend, attended it and were blown away by its brilliance.

-Kyle H.