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Sleeping Beauty

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The cast of Theatre Three's 'Sleepy Beauty'. Photo by Peter Lanscombe/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
Cassidy Rose O'Brien and Josie McSwane in a scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
A scene from Theatre Three's 'Sleeping Beauty'.
The cast of 'Sleeping Beauty' at Theatre Three.

By Heidi Sutton

Looking for something to do with the kids on a hot and humid summer day? Allow me to recommend an afternoon of live theater. And with a princess, a prince, a wicked fairy and a spinning wheel, Theatre Three’s latest offering, the premiere of the timeless tale of Sleeping Beauty, will surely fit the bill. Oh and did I mention there’s A/C?

Written by Jeffrey Sanzel and Douglas J. Quattrock, the musical follows the storyline closely but goes one step further in questioning why the wicked fairy put a curse on the princess ultimately causing her to fall asleep for one hundred years. Is she just plain evil or was it all just a misunderstanding?

Directed by Sanzel, a cast of 7 adult actors along with 26 preteen and teen actors from Theatre Three’s Dramatic Academy present this charming re-telling of the most wonderful fairy tale of all.

King Gilder and Queen Gwen have sent out invitations for Briar Rose’s first birthday party. While the good fairies Aurora and Lily receive theirs, the wicked fairy Algabrine does not. Insulted, she crashes the party and as her “gift” to the little princess, she casts a spell that Briar Rose will prick her finger on a spinning wheel on her 18th birthday and die. When she leaves, Lily, who has not given her gift yet, changes the spell to have Briar Rose fall into a deep sleep for one hundred years only to be awakened by her one true love.

The king decries that all spinning wheels be destroyed. But there’s always one somewhere, isn’t there?

Steven Uihlein serves as narrator and uses flashbacks to tell the story and to teach an important lesson along the way. Here we meet Algabrine when she was kind and sweet and witness the moment things take a dark turn. A nice touch.

Cassidy Rose O’Brien is perfectly cast as Briar Rose. Strong-willed, confident, thoughtful and kind, she is the perfect fairy tale heroine  and quickly becomes the audience favorite as does her counterpart, a terrific Kiernan Urso as Prince Constantine. Accompanied on piano by Quattrock, their duet, “When I Close My Eyes,” is magical. 

Aria Saltini and Heather Rose Kuhn are wonderful as fairies Aurora and Lily, as is Marianne Schmidt as Cecelia, Constantine’s mother. Josie McSwane knocks it out of the park as Algabrine and has the best entrance I’ve ever seen, thanks to the incredible sound effects and lighting. Costumes by Jason Allyn are the icing on the birthday cake.

The preteen and teen supporting cast play numerous roles throughout including singing and dancing and several have lines (great jokes!). For many, this is their first time performing in front of an audience and it is an amazing opportunity to hone their craft and all did an amazing job. 

With only three performances left,  order your tickets now. And if you reserve seats in the center section of the theater, you will be in for a special treat!

Take a keepsake photo with the cast in the lobby on your way out.

Cast: Steven Uihlein, Cassidy Rose O’Brien, Area Saltini, Heather Rose Kuhn, Josie McSwane, Kiernan Urso, Marianne Schmidt, Maggie Abcug, Kate Marin, Courtney Pearsall, Guiliana Vavalle, Jared Acevedo, Marlaina Baessler, Alissa Boryushkina, Mia Caputo, Aiden Choudhary, Tara Choudhary, Kelsie Curran, Erin Curtin, Ava Garcia, Kathleen Han, Faith Hennessy, Carissa Kaplan, Chloe Kelly, Sophia Kosinski, Amelia Lappe, Hailey Polanish, Lyla Reyes, Michael Rotundo, Francesca Scott, Sophie Weeks, Emilyanne Williams and Rebecca Williams.

Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson presents Sleeping Beauty on Friday, Aug. 12 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, Aug. 13 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Children’s theater continues with A Kooky Spooky Halloween from Oct. 8 to 22 and Barnaby Saves Christmas from Nov. 19 to Dec. 30. All seats are $10. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

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Angelina Jolie returns as the horned antagonist in the Maleficent sequel.

By Heidi Sutton

It’s been five years since Disney brought us the fairy tale Maleficent, a twist on the story of Sleeping Beauty where the focus is not on Aurora who falls into a deep sleep after pricking her finger on a spindle but on the evil fairy who put a curse on the princess in the first place.

Now its darker sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil hits local theaters and does not disappoint. King Stefan is dead and Aurora has been raised by her fairy godmother Maleficent in the Moors, a magical place filled with strange and mythical creatures. Humans and fairies live separate but in peace.

Aurora meets her future mother-in-law in a scene from Maleficent 2.

When Aurora becomes engaged to Prince Phillip, his parents, King John and Queen Ingrith of the Kingdom of Ulstead, invite Aurora and Maleficent to the castle for dinner. It is there that we discover the queen’s true intentions — to frame Maleficent for the murder of the king in order to have cause to declare war on the Moorfolk with devastating consequences.

Fans of the first film will be pleased to know that much of the original cast is back, with the exception of Brenton Thwaites who played Prince Phillip in the first film. Angelina Jolie is back as Maleficent complete with horns, wings and cheek prosthetics; Elle Fanning is the sweet Aurora; Sam Riley returns as Diaval, Maleficent’s loyal servant and pet raven; while Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville reprise their roles as pixies Knotgrass, Thistlewit and Flittle.

Newcomers include the handsome Harris Dickinson as Aurora’s prince, Robert Lindsay as King John, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Conall the Dark Fey and the incredible Michelle Pfeiffer as the villainous Queen Ingrith, aka Aurora’s future mother-in-law from hell.

A scene from Maleficent 2

It’s hard to figure out who director Joachim Ronning’s target audience is. On the one hand, the film is at times very violent, with an intense war scene between the humans and an army of dark fey, an attempted extermination of the Moorfolk in the palace’s church of all places and the sacrifice of one of the film’s most beloved characters. On the flip side, many of the Moors’ inhabitants are borderline silly with big eyes and cute voices and seemed geared toward children.

With a budget of $180 million, the film is visually stunning with special mention to the  scene where an injured Maleficent is rescued by her own kind and given a winged tour of a secret world where the dark fey eek out an existence away from humans. (I predict a new ride at Disney World.) 

In the end, the wedding of Aurora and Phillip serves as a union of the Kingdom of Ulstead and the Moors and a timely lesson against fear, bigotry, racism and intolerance and that makes it worth a view.

Rated PG, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is now playing in local theaters

Photos courtesy of Disney Studios

 

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‘Frozen’ sing along edition and ‘Cars’ are just two of the Disney movies to be screened next week in Smithtown. Image from SCPA

There’s no better way to spend a week off from school than watching some of the best Disney movies around on the big screen.

The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts is hosting a Disney classic movie week that takes place during many districts’ spring breaks April 4 to 12. Each day, a different movie that caters to both boys and girls will be shown.

“The kids are off from school [and] we always try to do something for when kids are off from school,” owner Ken Washington said.

The movies include “Frozen” (sing along version) on April 4, “Wreck-It Ralph” on April 6, “Tangled” on April 7, “Cars” on April 8, “Sleeping Beauty” on April 9, “Brave” on April 10 and “Toy Story” on April 12.
“The biggest response so far has to be Disney’s ‘Frozen,’” Washington said.

Each movie starts at 1:30 p.m. and tickets are $5 each. Advance tickets are on sale now.

But it’s not just Disney the center is celebrating. On select dates through October, classic movies are being shown at the theater. Coming up in April is “A League of Their Own,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Sting,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “As Good As It Gets.”

Since bringing the classic movies back to the theater in November 2014, the theater has experienced a very positive response, Washington said.

In June, the theater will be showing “E.T.” and “Jaws,” which Washington expects to be the biggest movies of the season.

Washington had a hand at picking all the classic movies that will play and he worked hard to find movies that everyone would like. “I kind of picked the whole roster,” Washington said. “I started at the top 100 films of all time.”

Another big weekend at the theater will be superhero weekend in May, where movie lovers can see “The Amazing Spiderman” 1 and 2, “Superman” 1 and 2, “Batman” and “Batman Begins” as well as “Ironman” 1 and 2. The theater will also host a Lord of the Ring trilogy, which is expected to be a 12-hour adventure.

Part of the reason the theater is taking part in the movie events is because the town is celebrating its 350th anniversary and Washington wanted the theater to be a part of that.

“I think it’s been enough of a response that we are looking to continue [the classic movie series] next year,” Washington said.

The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts is located at 2 E. Main St., Smithtown. For more information on the theater’s classic movies, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org/show-schedule/movie-nights.

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