Why You Should See The Bodyguard

My daughter and I were able to see The Bodyguard on opening night and we highly recommend that if you can catch the show this weekend you should go. We also recommend that if it comes to your city you should go see it it is so good. Even if you haven’t seen the original movie that came out in 1992 you will enjoy The Bodyguard on Broadway.

The Bodyguard is currently at the Paramount for a very brief run. I believe there are only three shows left which is why I urge you to go see it this weekend. You can get tickets on-line at STGPresents.org, Ticketmaster.com, by calling 1-800-745-3000 or in person at The Paramount Theatre Box Office (Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm). Tickets start at $40 and you might want to check in on the Facebook page to see if the show is rushing or not and get the tickets even cheaper. Performances that are left:

Friday, November 17                                      8:00pm
Saturday, November 18                                  2:00pm (will not feature Deborah Cox) – An Open Caption performances 8:00pm

Sunday, November 19                                    1:00pm – An ASL / AVIA Interpreted performance

Why You Should See The Bodyguard

The Singing….

Of course the singing was amazing. Deborah Cox stars as Rachel Marron and her talent shines. She not only sings well but her emotions carry through each note she belts out. She really has you wanting to sing along, dance and just enjoy the show. My daughter wants me to mention that she actually favored, Jasmin Richardson who plays Nicki Marron, Rachel’s sister. Zoe thought her singing was even better than Deborah’s. I liked both. We also found the actor that played Rachel’s son Fletcher to be extremely talented. I’m not sure which child was on stage that night, he’s played by two different children, Kevelin B. Jones III (Idlewild Music Festival) and Sebastian Maynard-Palmer (Tour: Kinky Boots). I’m sure they are equally talented. THE BODYGUARD features a host of irresistible classics including So Emotional, One Moment in Time, Saving All My Love, Run to You, I Have Nothing, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and one of the biggest selling songs of all time – I Will Always Love You.

The Dancing

My daughter again really wants me to make sure you all know that the boy, was a really good dancer. He was very convincing as a cute little boy. Which yes that sounds silly but it is what it is. He is just adorable. Now for the others, almost all the characters have to dance at least once. Even the stalker danced at the very end. Which I have to say I loved the ending. If you leave as soon as they take a bow you are going to miss the final number of the show. The people sitting next to us did this. But this final number is the over the top Broadway number that you should stay for because you are invited to sing and shake and shimmy right along with the cast. 

The Talent

The talent isn’t only in the acting. Yes these actors were convincing and musically inclined. But there is also the set and costume design by Tim Hatley. The special effects were interesting as well. The combination of video or digital overlays on the set helped show that more than one thing was going on. The Choreography by Karen Bruce was spot on. The singing and dancing numbers were perfectly fit into the story. And the live orchestra is worth mentioning as well. I love how if you get there early you can walk over to the stage and see the orchestra warming up and getting ready to perform. The Paramount is really a great place to go see Broadway shows. We can’t wait to go to our next show.

The Suspense

The play begins with two shots firing off and my daughter and I both jumped a mile. At first I was worried that she would want to leave because of how loud and scary it was. I was wrong, she LOVED it. She was captivated from the start, even though she was extremely creeped out by Jorge Paniagua who played the stalker. He like my daughter has performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We think he is very talented because he was so convincing. The audience even booed him when he took a bow. He just smiled, because a boo just affirmed that he did a fantastic job playing a villain.

The Story

I actually forgot how the story went. All I remembered was that the singer and the bodyguard fall in love while he is protecting her from some stalker. A friend of mine said she didn’t go see this when it was in the LA area because she didn’t think her son would like it, it being a love story and all. My response is, this isn’t so much a love story. The focus was much more on the family, a love triangle maybe. But also, the story was much more focused on the bodyguard I thought. He had a job to do. Plus with the stalker on the stage so often we really felt more than just a love story going on. I think her son would have enjoyed it a great deal.