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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > May > 18 > Entry
Review: ‘Oceana’
Vortex Theatre lives underwater for the next few weeks. The new musical “Oceana” created by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles floods the East Austin theatre space through June 6.
Through movement by Cullum, and design, Jason Amato’s lights and Ann Marie Gordon’s, the production does an excellent job of fully embracing another world. The parable-esque musical has worthwhile messages to send: the sea deserves care and protection. But the story unfolding inside the elaborate world gets murky at times.
The young girl (Betsy McCann) sent on a grand tour of the ocean by god Olokun (Gabriel Maldonado). He hopes she will be the one to save the ocean from destruction. She hopes to survive. But she eventually lets go, letting the water and its many spirits in.
Two groups guide the girl: merpeople who catapult through “Oceana’s” sea with the help of aerial equipment and an operatic doo-wop trio, who sometimes offer explanation. A magical seal (Katherine Craft) forges the deepest connection with the girl, but it is unclear why. The seal says the girl once saved her life, but that story-shifting event escaped me, making “Oceana’s” climax confusing.
The girl also meets a series of goddesses. Hindu goddess Lakshmi (Kira Parra) eventually helps the girl discover desires bigger than her individual needs. Parra has one of the show’s best voices. Karina Dominguez as Pele, Hawaiian deity of earth and volcanoes, is another performance standout.
Pele also has more opportunity to grow into a full character. Most of the spirit presences have one significant scene and otherwise perform with the ensemble. Meeting each goddess so briefly robs the figures of time to make the traditions from which they are borne specific or deep.
“Oceana” continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays through June 6. Vortex Theater, 2307 Manor Road. $10-$30. www.vortexrep.org.
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Image: Rachel Martsolf and Jonathan Blackwell as The Mer in ‘Oceana.’ Photo by Tony Spielberg.
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