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Monday, January 25, 2016
*Milk Like Sugar* at Studio 201
The Tartan Online: Even the journey to Studio 201 seemed perfectly suited to the experience that was Milk Like Sugar, a play about an underprivileged 16-year-old girl who must decide whether to follow through on her friends’ pregnancy pact. When our Lyft dropped us off at a seemingly deserted warehouse, we were near positive the location was wrong and we’d been stranded God knows where. But thankfully, Carnegie Mellon is a master of signs. We followed a trail of logoed arrows, which circled almost 360 degrees around the building and finally arrived at an unassuming door marked “ENTER” in spray-painted letters. This one actually opened, and once inside, we were given our tickets and ushered into the largest, coolest freight elevator I’ve ever seen.
Well at least we’ve found one person who likes or even trusts the elevators at the warehouse. I know I certainly don’t. I felt this review fell about where I would expect as far as a review for milk like sugar goes. The show didn’t really blow me away but I felt as though there were some really strong concepts on the design side that, with a little more budget and time could have really led to an extremely successful production. Of course there were parts of the production I felt were a little lacking, in particular the script felt a little forced at parts, Malik in particular being forced into a one dimensional role of needing to get out without any context beyond his desire to leave. Overall I enjoyed the production even if I would hesitate to call it a masterpiece it was entertaining and kept you guessing right up until the last moment how it would end.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this review did a good job in describing the essence of the show from sensory perspective. Insight into the world of the play's conception wasn't very apparent, but the writer definitely did a great job in describing the warehouse and how different the environment is from a traditional space. The writer seemed to really enjoy the contemporary aspects of the show and how it was infused with modern pop images like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Nikki Minaj. I personally loved the story of the play as it was a story about adolescence and wanting a way to a better place and a better life. I think the actors did an incredible job in portraying the characters bringing the story to life and affecting the audience how they did.
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