It’s official that until May 12, Alhambra Theatre & Dining will be on island time, or at least that is the vibe created as the theatre is currently showing Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville.
The show was one of the most highly anticipated shows on this season’s slate of show at the Alhambra, and since Buffett’s death in September 2023, it now marks as an opportunity for fans of the singer to honor him and pay their respects the best way they know how, by singing along to his songs.
And that they do, as from the beginning Escape to Margaritaville provides a vibrant atmosphere focused on non-stop singing that makes it feel almost more like a party than a theatre show.
However, it also still has its share of dialogue and the time spent not singing is quickly filled with laughter as the show has its share of one-liners and innuendo throughout.
Matthew Fecko stars as Tully, one of the main characters in the play, and it was his first time on stage at the Alhambra and he does his part to make sure he makes quite the first impression for those in the audience.
Not only does he fit well as a singer along with his co-stars Logen Cheatham, who plays Rachel; Arrione Magee, who plays Tammy; and Paul Gary, who plays Brick, but the four also display an excellent sense of timing as actors and actresses and seem to feed off each other’s performances, which goes a long way in helping the comedic timing land strong.
The casting for the production was spot on and the result was a very natural approach to both the dialogue and the humor.
The majority of the 18 scenes that make up the play have Jimmy Buffett lyrics sung during them, with several scenes having more than song sung.
Some plays do not require a lot of props and scene changing to take place but Escape to Margaritaville allowed for vice president of production and director Shain Stroff and his production to staff to be creative in their approach.
And creative they were, as they used several different elaborate props throughout, including a boat and dock while on the island, an airplane, and of course, it cannot have Jimmy Buffett’s name on the play without a tiki bar and plenty of flip-flops to go around for the cast to wear.
However, the creativity did not stop there, as really helping to establish the party atmosphere was the setting of the theatre itself, which was transformed in its own tropical paradise with multi-colored lights strung from the ceiling, green palm fronds lit up on the walls and random decorative parrots placed throughout the facility.
It was a colorful sensory adventure that could easily make you forget and truly think that you were on island time during the length of the show, and a sight that first-time attendees to the Alhambra will sure not forget anytime soon.
They may have come to the show as fans of Jimmy Buffett, but they are likely to leave as fans of the Alhambra now as well.
