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.
