The Last of the Dragons opened this weekend! We’ve got songs, sword fights, a talking parrot and — of course — a DRAGON! Oh yes, we totally have a dragon. The story calls for a 70-foot beast and Lifeline only has a 26 foot stage, but that did not deter our dragon-maker, Joanna Iwanicka, because she is brilliant as well as intrepid. Our dragon is gorgeous, ginormous and nimble: he fights, too.
Joanna Melville (yes, another Joanna — we had two amazing Joannas on the team) also had a challenging path. As always with Lifeline shows, we have several people playing multiple parts, making quick changes with very specific costume demands. David Fink plays three different characters (two of them animals) and Anne Sears mus
t be elegantly attired as a princess on her wedding day — and then run, leap, dive, roll and wield a broadsword. Yes, a broadsword! Do you know how much those weigh? We’re all very impressed with Anne, who is a heck of a fighter. But — the dress! It is one powerful, flexible and stain-resistant yet gorgeous gown that Joanna M. has crafted for our princess with the mad fight skillz!
I’m also super geeked about the music in the show. Mikhail Fiksel has composed a really catchy score and the CDs are flying off the concession stand. You can check out a video clip of the Fight the Dragon song here.
All three shows were packed this weekend, plus we had a special event. Between shows on opening day, there was a sword-fighting demonstration upstairs led by fight choreographer (and adaptor) for the show, David Gregory Bareford. That was something no one wanted to miss. Every single person from the sold-out 1am show went straight upstairs to watch. David and fight partner Matthew Bartels kindly did the demo twice so that we could accommodate the incoming 1pm crowd as well.
Like most of our KidSeries shows, this one is appealing to adults as well. And it’s under an hour! I hope you will come and visit us.
Dorothy Milne
Artistic Director