Edward Scissorhands—great dancing, sympathetic character…but less might have been more

By Daniel Hines
Publisher
www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com

Anyone attending ‘Edward Scissorhands’, now playing at the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis can’t claim they shouldn’t be ready for what happens. After all , this is a ‘musical’ (not in the traditional sense) based on a character created by Tim Burton, master of darkness, and made into a cult-like favorite by Johnny Depp’s deeply moving interpretation.

So, don’t be surprised that this is really a dance production, with absolutely no dialogue.  This means that it is imperative that there be a strong portrayal of all characters—and their reason for being in this interesting, but crowded production.

I say crowded because Edward Scissorhands as portrayed by the beautiful dancing and really impressive sensitive presentation of the lonliness, fear, and even anger of Richard Winsor makes the show worth seeing. 

He is an absolutely amazing dancer.

And therein lies my uneasiness with the show.  Winsor is a tremendous talent, but the ‘quickness’ of the show with many scene changes, and somewhat of an overpresentation of a lot of characters that I frankly did not care about, because of an attempt to use comical stereotypes to set the stage for the 1950s, interferes with what is truly a sensitive story.

All of that makes this a difficult show to rate.  It  has some truly interesting and good talent, especially, Hannah Vassallo, who plays Kim, the daughter of the kindly suburban mother who discovered Edward going through garbage cans, and takes him into her  home and her trust. 

It also has a good score, and, as noted, it has Winsor.  And, I must admit, that my wife, Brooks, who has studied dance, was enthralled with the production, finding it a mix of humor and  graceful charm, although, as I did, she found Winsor to be absolutely outstanding.

The audience was almost as interesting as Edward, himself, with many black motorcycle-type leather jackets, punk haircuts and body pierceings in evidence.  But there were also many families with young children, who were likely getting their first exposure to dance and the theater.

That’s because this is a show that does have a good moral—that kindness and sensitivity can be found in the unusual and those who are different.