I mean, a show about a high school theater troupe putting on Spring Awakening, starring Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) and Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) and produced by Jeffrey Seller (Hamilton)? So naturally I had high expectations going in, but I also worried that Rise might fall into the dangerous trap of clichés. I can go on about the things Rise didn’t do well, but the one thing it got right is really the only one that mattered to me: the spirit of theater and theater education. Student and amateur theater may not be Broadway or West End in quality — it probably shouldn’t be anyway — but it best embodies the spirit of the arts and exemplifies the ideals of the theater tradition. So speaking solely in terms of honoring the theater tradition and showing theater education’s power to change lives, Rise has more than done it justice.

Source: Daily Sun March 22, 2018 03:11 UTC