Review: MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS at Ogunquit Playhouse

Mr. Holland's Opus is a world premiere new musical currently running at the Ogunquit Playhouse based on the 1995 motion picture of the same title. It is a story set in San Francisco in 1969 about a successful musician and composer, Glenn Holland (Akron Watson) who switches careers to become a first-time music teacher at John F. Kennedy high school so that he can spend more time with his wife, Iris (Anastasia Barzee).

The play depicts his 39-year career starting with his struggles to connect with his music students and on through seemingly unsurmountable obstacles from school administrators, Principal Helen Chae-Jacobs (Veanne Cox) and her assistant, Eugene Wolters (Timothy Gulan) who task him with creating a marching band in a few weeks' time then threatening to cancel a long standing tradition, the high school musical.

Holland rises to every occasion presented. He connects with his students through rock and roll to expand their musical horizons. He helps the shy clarinet player Gertrude Liang (Angel Lin) find her inner confidence to break out of her shell to accomplish remarkable things. He takes a rough around the edges student, Louie (Napoleon M. Douglas), and turns him into a drum corps band leader with help from gym teacher, Bill Meister (Chris Orbach). And he stages a nontraditional musical, Cleo-Popera, that features student, Rowena Moraga (Kai And Chee) with her eyes on Broadway and her heart on falling in love with Holland.

The premise of the show resounds incredibly as every audience member, I'm sure, had a Mr. Holland once in their lives. There's not one of us who didn't have a teacher that pushed our limits, gave us confidence that we could set goals and reach them, and who served as a role model and inspiration in our lives. Mr. Holland's Opus pays homage to those educational warriors who make an every day classroom become a haven for endless possibilities.

While the first act is entertaining with ensemble numbers like "Angels Getting Their Wings," a rollicking graduation ceremony, and "Skin in the Game," a marching band on the football field, there are some heart wrenching ballads; "Gone the Son,"a funeral service for a student killed in Vietnam, and "My Day," an emotional outpouring by Holland's wife not coping with a struggling marriage and the birth of a son who is deaf.

The second act is when the show fully engages as Holland remains distant from his teenaged son, Cole (Joshua Castille), even failing to learn American Sign Language properly while Iris raises Cole by herself. The tension between father and son plays outs profoundly as they straddle the hearing and non-hearing world together. In hindsight, I wish that Cole was a bit more prevalent in the first act. His arrival as a full character is pivotal to the show's success. It is too bad he doesn't arrive until the second act.

Castille is a deaf performance artist who launches the opening number of the second act with subtitles for his signing. In other scenes, he signs while his words are spoken and sung by his mother offering a totally unique stage experience.

Watson is incredible as Mr. Holland showing every emotional nuance needed to portray the teacher's journey. His vocals are powerful in the haunting lyrics of "The Babies Crying" and whimsical in "What Am I Doin' Here," a lament for the challenges of a teaching profession.

Barzee works overtime in a remarkable performance portraying a troubled wife, singing her vocal numbers as well as Castille's, competently using American Sign Language, and even playing the flute in one of the numbers. (Is there anything she can't do?) Not every actor could pull off such a task and Barzee makes it look like a breeze.

Castille is an audience favorite with his boyish good looks and charming smile and expressions. He is an instant hit when he shows the audience the hand waving gesture for applause in sign language. If Mr. Holland is the heart of this show, then Castille's character is the soul.

The ensemble cast is striking in its diversity and talent. They are called upon to be singers in the choir scenes, dancers in choreographed numbers and accomplished musicians in individual performances and in a grand orchestra in the rousing final number, "Mr. Holland's Opus." The finale of this show is one of the best of I've ever experienced on the musical theater stage.

With music by Wayne Barker and book and lyrics by BD Wong, (Wong directed the show too.) Mr. Holland's Opus is a wonderful crowd pleaser. It has a wide range of musical styles which you probably want in a show about a successful music teacher. It also has a grandness about it that would thrive on the Broadway stage, a direction that this show might want to consider.

Nile Scott Studios Photography

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