culture

How an observer pigeonholes Strangely Familiar will dictate the review. You came looking for something in English (or Spanish), and got something bilingual? You came looking for a standard dramatic plot, or one of the usual musical theater formats, and didn't quite get it? You came looking for a rock opera, but the music wasn't just rock and this wasn't anything like Tommy?

It would be the stuff of which a horrible review could be written. But only by someone with stodgy tastes and narrow perspectives. Strangely Familiar was a multimedia review by a talented group of artists from several musical genres, English and Spanish theater, contemporary and hip hop dancing and the plastic arts. It was the showcase for a new organization, the Panama Artists Collective Foundation, the musical composition of Krista Quinn, the writing of Kimberly Hall and Quinn, Hall's directing and many fine individual performances coming from so many fields. It was a huge undertaking that drew some good crowds to the small Teatro Anita Villalaz on October 23, 24 and 25. This reviewer's bottom line was that it was a lot of fun and a welcome break from Panama's usual fare of adaptations of works from other places. The possible cultural implications remain to be seen, but are potentially huge.

So what were the show's highlights as seen through these eyes, which are attached to this brain?

First, there was Krista Quinn. She played several roles but above all she was the musician, composer and band leader, at the head of a very large ensemble of which she (guitar and vocals), Giulio J. Mercer (lead guitar as well as a bit of acting) and Graciela Núñez (violin) usually formed the heart. Quinn also did a bit of acting and collaborated on writing the play. So where had I seen her before? It was with Last Chance Caravan, a band that played at Guildstock in the Ancon Theater. She teaches music to the little kids at Balboa Academy, and despite the talents she showed says that she doesn't have much formal musical education. The 1998 Balboa High graduate told this reporter that playing with the rock band got her into a more serious attitude about her music, and now she's hanging out with the folks around the Danilo Perez Foundation, as are many of the other musicians who played in this production. There are so many brilliant musicians here, and we are such a small entertainment market, that it's hard to predict where Quinn's music might take her. It does seem, however, that Strangely Familiar serves to carve out a new niche in which Quinn and others can hone their talents and grow their reputations.

Then, Panama's last chance for a while to see Matthew Addis play straight man to Varoon Anand's inspired madness. (OK, allow that Addis plays a mad doctor, to Anand's all-around poseur and maladroit would-be sorcerer, and that it took TWO straight men --- Addis and Benjamin Avila as a priest --- for Anand's theatrical silly putty to bounce off of.)

And then we had Elsa Fajardo going nuts, or in any case sometimes thinking that she might be off of her rocker.

So much more happened in this show that selecting these few highlights necessarily overlooks many noteworthy performances. May the following photos and captions begin to redress the injustices of that: