My Favorite Year
at Tesoro
Reviewed on May 3, 2019
| Name | School | Publication/Broadcasts |
Sophia Burick | San Clemente | OC Register |
Sophia Burick | San Clemente | OC Register |
Cameron Newman | San Juan Hills | OC Facebook |
Cameron Newman | San Juan Hills | OC Facebook |
Bella Gordon | San Juan Hills | OC Facebook |
Bella Gordon | San Juan Hills | OC Facebook |
Sophia Burick
San Clemente
Submitted for publication to OC Register
Tesoro High School's My Favorite Year recounts the turning point of a lifetime
written by Sophia Burick, a junior at San Clemente High School
In a performance equal parts hilarious and heartfelt, Tesoro High School's My Favorite Year teaches of how our fantasies for the future can sometimes collide with reality through the captivating chaos of live television in the 1950s.
Benjy Stone (Carson Preusse), a freshman writer on King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade, is star-struck when his childhood hero, the swashbuckling movie star Alan Swann (Garrett Higgins), is asked to co-host. When the valiant image he held of Swann fails to live up to reality, Benjy learns to appreciate the people in his life that are "heroic" to him every day.
With childlike innocence and an endearingly nerdy persona, Preusse's Benjy conducts the energy onstage, leading the audience through his experiences in his "favorite year" of 1954. Through vulnerable and chemistry-filled exchanges with love interest K. C. Downing (Hannah Frank) and heartfelt moments with his wild but well-meaning family, Preusse expertly maneuvers Benjy's coming of age, and takes his audience along for the ride. As Preusse lifts Benjy from being a hope-filled boy to an honorable man, the contrasts between him and washed-up movie star Alan Swann only deepen.
Higgins' Alan Swann enters the stage as a hero to Benjy, but soon reveals himself to be nothing more than a has-been drunkard. Higgins affirms Swann's deeply disappointing tendencies through an incredibly emotional rendition of "Exits," recounting with sarcastic joy his ability to make a clean exit from the lives of everyone who is important to him, painfully reminding Benjy of his own absent father.
The delightfully dysfunctional trio of senior writers for the show, Sy Benson (Will Vochelli), Herb Lee (Nick Werfelmann), and Alice Miller (Gianna Piva), bring comic relief through slapstick squabbles and skits. With Alice's triumphant appearance in "Professional Showbiz Comedy," Piva establishes herself as a farcical force to be reckoned with.
The lighting design, created by Adrianna Ciscone, is instrumental to differentiating Benjy's present-day narration from flashback scenes, helping the audience to follow the story as it jumps around in time. Expertly designed and executed set changes by the set running crew aids to whisk the performance to locations all around New York City without ever removing the audience from the story.
Tesoro High School's My Favorite Year combines humor and heart to tell the turbulent tale of a boy meeting his hero - and then becoming one himself.
Sophia Burick
San Clemente
Submitted for publication to OC Register
Tesoro High School's My Favorite Year recounts the turning point of a lifetime
written by Sophia Burick, a junior at San Clemente High School
In a performance equal parts hilarious and heartfelt, Tesoro High School's My Favorite Year teaches of how our fantasies for the future can sometimes collide with reality through the captivating chaos of live television in the 1950s.
Benjy Stone (Carson Preusse), a freshman writer on King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade, is star-struck when his childhood hero, the swashbuckling movie star Alan Swann (Garrett Higgins), is asked to co-host. When the valiant image he held of Swann fails to live up to reality, Benjy learns to appreciate the people in his life that are "heroic" to him every day.
With childlike innocence and an endearingly nerdy persona, Preusse's Benjy conducts the energy onstage, leading the audience through his experiences in his "favorite year" of 1954. Through vulnerable and chemistry-filled exchanges with love interest K. C. Downing (Hannah Frank) and heartfelt moments with his wild but well-meaning family, Preusse expertly maneuvers Benjy's coming of age, and takes his audience along for the ride. As Preusse lifts Benjy from being a hope-filled boy to an honorable man, the contrasts between him and washed-up movie star Alan Swann only deepen.
Higgins' Alan Swann enters the stage as a hero to Benjy, but soon reveals himself to be nothing more than a has-been drunkard. Higgins affirms Swann's deeply disappointing tendencies through an incredibly emotional rendition of "Exits," recounting with sarcastic joy his ability to make a clean exit from the lives of everyone who is important to him, painfully reminding Benjy of his own absent father.
The delightfully dysfunctional trio of senior writers for the show, Sy Benson (Will Vochelli), Herb Lee (Nick Werfelmann), and Alice Miller (Gianna Piva), bring comic relief through slapstick squabbles and skits. With Alice's triumphant appearance in "Professional Showbiz Comedy," Piva establishes herself as a farcical force to be reckoned with.
The lighting design, created by Adrianna Ciscone, is instrumental to differentiating Benjy's present-day narration from flashback scenes, helping the audience to follow the story as it jumps around in time. Expertly designed and executed set changes by the set running crew aids to whisk the performance to locations all around New York City without ever removing the audience from the story.
Tesoro High School's My Favorite Year combines humor and heart to tell the turbulent tale of a boy meeting his hero - and then becoming one himself.
Cameron Newman
San Juan Hills
Submitted for publication to OC Facebook
Tesoro's "My Favorite Year" is "professional showbizness comedy"
written by Cameron Newman, a junior at San Juan Hills High School
From Manhattan to movie stars to the 3 musketeers, this show has it all: it's Tesoro's "My Favorite Year"! The show follows Benjy Stone during his first year writing for King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade. When his childhood hero, actor Alan Swann, arrives to appear on the show, Benji is elated, but soon realizes that not everything is like the movies he once idolized. Filled with romancing, sharp dancing, and hilarity most entrancing, the show is a universal commentary on becoming your own person.
Carson Preusse endears as the charming but awkward narrator, Benjy. His earnest, sincere voice is paralleled by his open, grounded physicality, consistent through both starry-eyed admiration and rueful dismay. His goofy smile lights up when wooing K.C. Downing (Hannah Frank), the loyal and straight-laced assistant. Dreaming of one day being funny like her colleagues, her plight is personified through stilted, restrained movements and a concerned tone as she attempts to tell a joke. She is redeemed, however, through her angelic voice and graceful movement as she professes her love for Benjy in "Shut Up and Dance".
Garrett Higgins plays the suave and self-assured Allan Swann. Bibulous and womanizing, he careens about the stage drunkenly in one scene, but transforms into slick and glamorous when faced with an audience. Macy Buckley dominates the stage as Benjy's overbearing mother, Belle. With grand, sweeping gestures and a heavy Brooklyn accent, Buckley embodies the stereotype with enthusiasm and force. Her vocals vacillate between powerful and delicate, her dialect consistent all the while.
King Kaiser (Hunter Keene) booms with assertiveness at every entrance, His resounding voice matched by his confident posture and machismo. Gianna Piva is uproarious as writer Alice, her gravelly voice and bombastic physical comedy adding life to every scene, particularly her showstopping and self-indulgent number "Professional Showbizness Comedy."
Tech for the show is period accurate and colorful. Hair and makeup designers Natalie Pappalardo and Cate Oveson styled by hand more than thirty wigs, featuring victory roll bobs and a bouffant for Belle. Costumes by Faith Moore and Kellie Petrosian include hats constructed to resemble giant blue and white coffee cups. Sound design by Cole Shoemaker is particularly effective, with all mics leveled in real time with no major mistakes.
With cohesive tech and standout performances, "My Favorite Year" at Tesoro is a show to remember.
Cameron Newman
San Juan Hills
Submitted for publication to OC Facebook
Tesoro's "My Favorite Year" is "professional showbizness comedy"
written by Cameron Newman, a junior at San Juan Hills High School
From Manhattan to movie stars to the 3 musketeers, this show has it all: it's Tesoro's "My Favorite Year"! The show follows Benjy Stone during his first year writing for King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade. When his childhood hero, actor Alan Swann, arrives to appear on the show, Benji is elated, but soon realizes that not everything is like the movies he once idolized. Filled with romancing, sharp dancing, and hilarity most entrancing, the show is a universal commentary on becoming your own person.
Carson Preusse endears as the charming but awkward narrator, Benjy. His earnest, sincere voice is paralleled by his open, grounded physicality, consistent through both starry-eyed admiration and rueful dismay. His goofy smile lights up when wooing K.C. Downing (Hannah Frank), the loyal and straight-laced assistant. Dreaming of one day being funny like her colleagues, her plight is personified through stilted, restrained movements and a concerned tone as she attempts to tell a joke. She is redeemed, however, through her angelic voice and graceful movement as she professes her love for Benjy in "Shut Up and Dance".
Garrett Higgins plays the suave and self-assured Allan Swann. Bibulous and womanizing, he careens about the stage drunkenly in one scene, but transforms into slick and glamorous when faced with an audience. Macy Buckley dominates the stage as Benjy's overbearing mother, Belle. With grand, sweeping gestures and a heavy Brooklyn accent, Buckley embodies the stereotype with enthusiasm and force. Her vocals vacillate between powerful and delicate, her dialect consistent all the while.
King Kaiser (Hunter Keene) booms with assertiveness at every entrance, His resounding voice matched by his confident posture and machismo. Gianna Piva is uproarious as writer Alice, her gravelly voice and bombastic physical comedy adding life to every scene, particularly her showstopping and self-indulgent number "Professional Showbizness Comedy."
Tech for the show is period accurate and colorful. Hair and makeup designers Natalie Pappalardo and Cate Oveson styled by hand more than thirty wigs, featuring victory roll bobs and a bouffant for Belle. Costumes by Faith Moore and Kellie Petrosian include hats constructed to resemble giant blue and white coffee cups. Sound design by Cole Shoemaker is particularly effective, with all mics leveled in real time with no major mistakes.
With cohesive tech and standout performances, "My Favorite Year" at Tesoro is a show to remember.
Bella Gordon
San Juan Hills
Submitted for publication to OC Facebook
Come Witness the "Professional Showbizness Comedy" that is Tesoro's "My Favorite Year"
written by Bella Gordon, a freshman at San Juan Hills High School
With devoted acting and intricate technical elements, Tesoro creates an engaging rendition of "My Favorite Year" brimming with fervor and euphoria.
Set in 1954, "My Favorite Year" is a coming-of-age story following Benjy Stone, a freshman writer of the hit comedy show "King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade," as he frenetically babysits amorous washed-up movie idol Alan Swann and attempts to keep him sober to be a substitute guest star on the show.
Upbeat, starry-eyed Benjy Stone (Carson Preusse) is forced into chaperoning his hero and father-figure Alan Swann. Preusse enthralls the audience with his heightened, comedic physicality. When Benjy's mother ceaselessly pressures into inviting Alan for dinner, Preusse begins to shrink into himself with his shoulders rigidly shrugged up and eyes staring stiffly forward while he uneasily swallows.
Debonair movie veteran Alan Swann, portrayed by Garrett Higgins, receives another chance to be watched by the public years after his career fell apart due to his alcoholism and Casanova tendencies. Higgins charms with his suave, captivating demeanor as he interacts with members of the King Kaiser company, but allows his veneer to intensely melt away, poignantly revealing his disconsolate, vulnerable personality to Benjy.
Another writer at King's show, Alice Miller (Gianna Piva), constantly retorts her coworker's statements with snide quips or a ruthlessly timed toilet flush. Piva truly shines after she commandeers the song "Professional Showbizness Comedy" and dominates the stage with bold, grandiose hip thrusts, smirks, and unreserved tambourine rattles.
Lighting (Adrianna Ciscone) and Audio (Andrew Green and Cole Shoemaker) work together to subtly deepen the immersion of the audience into the show, such as when Benjy envisions a battle scene from one of Alan's movies. Reminiscent of old black-and-white films, Alan and another actor appear battling behind Benjy while a spotlight continually flashes over the fight with a vintage projector audibly rolling in the background.
The show consists of fifteen set changes, and the running crew, comprised of Samantha Melanson, Elise Sorenson, and crew, superbly and assiduously execute each of the transitions. The crew deftly choreographed every change so that the movement of each set piece is unobtrusive and undetectable, even when the shift is during a scene.
Through passionate acting and scintillating technical design, Tesoro delivers a performance of "My Favorite Year" that reminds us how life is more obscure and perplex than it appears in stories.
Bella Gordon
San Juan Hills
Submitted for publication to OC Facebook
Come Witness the "Professional Showbizness Comedy" that is Tesoro's "My Favorite Year"
written by Bella Gordon, a freshman at San Juan Hills High School
With devoted acting and intricate technical elements, Tesoro creates an engaging rendition of "My Favorite Year" brimming with fervor and euphoria.
Set in 1954, "My Favorite Year" is a coming-of-age story following Benjy Stone, a freshman writer of the hit comedy show "King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade," as he frenetically babysits amorous washed-up movie idol Alan Swann and attempts to keep him sober to be a substitute guest star on the show.
Upbeat, starry-eyed Benjy Stone (Carson Preusse) is forced into chaperoning his hero and father-figure Alan Swann. Preusse enthralls the audience with his heightened, comedic physicality. When Benjy's mother ceaselessly pressures into inviting Alan for dinner, Preusse begins to shrink into himself with his shoulders rigidly shrugged up and eyes staring stiffly forward while he uneasily swallows.
Debonair movie veteran Alan Swann, portrayed by Garrett Higgins, receives another chance to be watched by the public years after his career fell apart due to his alcoholism and Casanova tendencies. Higgins charms with his suave, captivating demeanor as he interacts with members of the King Kaiser company, but allows his veneer to intensely melt away, poignantly revealing his disconsolate, vulnerable personality to Benjy.
Another writer at King's show, Alice Miller (Gianna Piva), constantly retorts her coworker's statements with snide quips or a ruthlessly timed toilet flush. Piva truly shines after she commandeers the song "Professional Showbizness Comedy" and dominates the stage with bold, grandiose hip thrusts, smirks, and unreserved tambourine rattles.
Lighting (Adrianna Ciscone) and Audio (Andrew Green and Cole Shoemaker) work together to subtly deepen the immersion of the audience into the show, such as when Benjy envisions a battle scene from one of Alan's movies. Reminiscent of old black-and-white films, Alan and another actor appear battling behind Benjy while a spotlight continually flashes over the fight with a vintage projector audibly rolling in the background.
The show consists of fifteen set changes, and the running crew, comprised of Samantha Melanson, Elise Sorenson, and crew, superbly and assiduously execute each of the transitions. The crew deftly choreographed every change so that the movement of each set piece is unobtrusive and undetectable, even when the shift is during a scene.
Through passionate acting and scintillating technical design, Tesoro delivers a performance of "My Favorite Year" that reminds us how life is more obscure and perplex than it appears in stories.