This did not seem like the typical Hurrah show. There was no Hugh. Nor was there a table of happy parents hawking stuffed animals and raffle tickets. In fact, there was no one there at all other than the Roper staff and the performers, who introduced the show and plugged their sponsors by reading off the large placards held by the sugary toothed kids. The director, who also starred in the piece, stumbled through his curtain speech by stating they had rehearsed this roughly two hour piece for four weeks. I knew I was in for it. He plugged Hurrah's next show, Aladdin, which has the same $10 tickets for the kids, $17 for adults, oh and premium seats are over $20. Wow, that's more than the Generic charges... (If this is family theater to provide a chance to see a play for those who otherwise can't usually go...why gouge the parents? After all, aren't they bringing a van of kids anyway?)

After a few other bits of business, like announcing there was no intermission, the curtain opened on a bare stage. Well, bare except for a beat up platform with a set of escape stairs sitting on it. This platform was present for the whole show, upstage center with a keyboard sitting on it. This keyboard was played by a young man, who filled in time between musical bits by listening to his Ipod and joking/gesturing to his buddies in the wings. At least we didn't miss the jokes; we could actually hear them as the actors' mikes were left on when they were offstage several times. Most of the time, this musician followed the show, or sighed heavily and looked up at the lights or out at the audience. This was very distracting....after all, if the show doesn't interest the people involved in it...why broadcast that to the audience? But then the performances themselves were standard fare, community folks that make up for stiffness and stereotypes by using lots of gestures.

Did I mention the Black History Play began with the playing of the Urinetown cast album? The song "Run, Freedom Run" opened the show. All four minutes of blackout of it. Despite the copyright violation, the intention is way off. The song is used in Urinetown to describe as the character Bobby puts it what happens in the "hotness of battle". The irony is he is describing an act of cowardice. To survive and find freedom, you have to run away like Scooby and Shaggy, instead of confronting and fighting an enemy. Not exactly the message I'd want to pass to my children.

Lee Hunkins' script itself is not the best, and the four weeks of rehearsal was not enough to make something come out of it.

Slow pacing, splotchy lighting, and poor staging rounded out this show, which at curtain call, even the actors looked ready to leave. Not a good sign. Much like the "Happy Chanukah My Friend" skit that precedes Hurrah's Christmas show, this production seemed like Afterthought Theater. When a group like Hurrah can do such a large scale show so well puts out a piece like this, I wonder what they are trying to say, or even if they are saying anything at all.