iluminate

Illuminate is playing at the Theatre 80 located at 80 St. Marks Place. The musical runs for one hour twenty minutes with one intermission. It closes on September 4, 2016.

The stage is dark all the time. A voce tells us the illuminate light has been in existence beyond time but is no longer around. Where it went we do not know.

We are now in the present time. Each character name appears in lights on the stage walls as they appear.

The story revolves around the bad, Darius (Shane Carrigan) and the good, Jacob (Charles Way). Darius proposes to Ali (Alessandra Marconi). She turns him down and gets involved with Jacob. Jacob finds the illuminate. He learns how to make good things with it, like paint. When Darius finds it he uses it to do bad things, like set fire to a club.

There is also a cool cop Lt. Calhoune (Simon Mendoza) on the beat where the characters hang out.

This is a great show. The only fault I found was at times the story was confusing. But who cares, it pulled it together at the end. The dancing and light show were unbelievable. It was amazing and delightful to see. That made up for the confusion. The music was also was captivating and the whole cast does a breathtaking job.

The cast sometimes interacts with the audience. Near the end of the show they ask if they have a volunteer from the audience to come up and figure out the puzzle on the stage. A little boy comes up and hits the right buttons.

I’m not telling you why he had to solve the puzzle or what happens. Go see the show to find out, you have until September 4, 2016 to see it. You won’t be disappointed.

Review by Rozanna Rdadkovich