Play Review: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

A play of an old angel (who is later named Afar) who fell from the moon, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is a story for all ages. This play was available at the Hippodrome Theatre from February 24^th to March 19^th 2006. I got a chance to watch the play on closing night. I got a pretty good ticket for thirteen dollars with my student ID. The play featured actors and actresses such as Armando Acevedo, Jessica Peterson, and Ryan Leopold. The cast featured a thespian as young as a nine years old. The play was adapted from the original script written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and adapted by Nilo Cruz.

When I first entered the stage of the hippodrome theatre it was unlike any other stage I had seen before. The stage wasn't above the audience but on the floor. I had never seen that in my life, and I was interested in seeing how the play would go. The play started in complete darkness with a man playing an instrument and I had no idea what it was. I'm not sure of it purpose other that to entertain, but the story started with a martial arts dance that I believed to be the capoeira which originated in Brazil. It was a very interesting mixture of karate with dance. This dance was not only in the beginning but integrated throughout the story. With a bunch of kicks and all different kinds of flips, this choreography made for an exciting part of the show.

Another things that I paid attention to was the lighting. Most of the time the light was a dull colored light that lit the floor to an amber like color. Basically it lit the floor to its original color. I also noticed that the lights came from the side and they weren't like any light I learned about in stagecraft. They identical, with a rectangular shape and had about six colors on each of then.