Stage Review - Miss Nelson is Missing (Admiral Theatre - TYA)
Stage Review - Miss Nelson is Missing
Presented By: Admiral Theatre - Bremerton, WA
Show Run: February 10/11 (School Performances); February 15, 2025 (Public)
Date Reviewed: Monday, February 10, 2025
Run Time: 60 minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
Kitsap County is spread out geographically pretty wide, and with that comes a surprising number of theaters and theatre groups, providing coverage from Bainbridge Island to Port Gamble, through Poulsbo and Bremerton, to Port Orchard, and points between. What many don’t know is that there’s a hidden gem providing high quality theatre in addition to some of the more well known venues in the county, lesser known because of both the nature of its programming, including concerts, films, and comedy acts, and because of it’s heretofore intended audience. When Richard Padro came on board as the Producing Artistic Director of the Admiral Theatre in Bremerton some ten-ish years ago, he brought with him his vast experience in directing, acting, and producing, an impact that was felt immediately through the theatre’s summer youth camps, which were attended by many who have since gone on to become regulars on Seattle regional, community, and professional stages, or are currently attending university theatre programs, in some cases a combination of these. Part of the impact Richard has had on the performing arts in the area is through the Admiral’s Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) program, in which the group has presented programs aimed at children from local schools, hoping that they are not just entertained by what they’re seeing on the Admiral stage, but that they also become inspired by it. This year marks a few firsts in the program, some milestones that have been a long time coming, but if they are any indication of what is to come, they could change the landscape of Kitsap County theatre in a most positive way.
This year, Richard and his team have decided to develop their first in-house production, the musical Miss Nelson is Missing, and while the Admiral is still presenting it to school groups, they are also making a performance available to the public, on Saturday February 15 at 3 pm. I had the pleasure of attending one of the school performances to preview the public showing, and what I saw was a presentation of a quality that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, performed by a cast of some of Kitsap’s best vocalists and actors who applied their craft in a way that makes me believe that Saturday’s public performance will be very well received and that it’s something worth seeing if it’s not already in your plans.
Miss Nelson is Missing, with book, music, and lyrics by Joan Cushing and based on the books Miss Nelson is Missing! and Miss Nelson is Back! (spoiler alert!), is the humorous tale about a class of misfit elementary school children, perhaps the worst single classroom of kids that room 207 at Horace B. Smedley Elementary School has ever seen, a group so bad that they have their teacher, Miss Nelson, at a loss for how to handle them. Miss Nelson is that elementary school teacher, you know the kind, with a sweet disposition, the kind who believes in positive reinforcement rather than punishment, but also with a personality that can be taken advantage of, which is exactly what this class of four unruly kids does. Tormented so much by these children, Miss Nelson has clearly had enough that one day she just doesn’t show up for school. The students, upon hearing that they’ll be getting a substitute in her place, think that school will be even more of a cake walk than it was before, that is until they see who the substitute is, Viola Swamp. Miss Viola Swamp is everything Miss Nelson isn’t, she looks and talks like an honest to goodness witch, and she gives no quarter to the students. But are her methods effective? What will the students learn under their new teacher, perhaps a little humility and some appreciation? Time will tell, but watching this all transpire as a journey is so entertaining.
The cast that Richard, as director of the show, has assembled is excellent. There is a lot that I like about their performance as a group. First off, is their enthusiasm. When performing for kids, appearing to enjoy what you’re doing on stage draws them in, it makes them have as much fun watching as the actors are having performing. Plus, it makes theatre look like a fun activity to them, which helps to inform their choice of activity when they’re looking at how they want to spend their own free time. Second is the seriousness in how the actors take the material. This is a funny show, but the actors play their parts just as they would if they were performing for adults. People of any age, kids included, can tell if they’re being patronized, and there’s none of that here. Finally, the actors play to the audience, making them feel a part of the story. During the show I attended, I took note of the reactions from the audience, and it’s clear they were engaged throughout. The cast’s energy is matched only by their talent. Ensemble harmony, fullness, and volume, are all excellent, though I feel the microphones used for the show might be up a tad high, catching the actors’ breaths and causing a slightly hollow sound in their loudness. This is a group that knows how to project, so a little less on the microphone volume would more than work to the show’s benefit.
Individually, there are some excellent performances as well. The class is comprised of Zachary Fitzgerald (Adam), Mia McGlinn (Allison), Drew Bates (Gregory), and Kylie Cordero (Cheryl). This is perhaps the best group of adults that I’ve seen portray elementary school children in a long time. There’s a tendency for performances like these to skew corny, but these don’t. They’re funny, and they’re active, seemingly always in motion, executing Livi Ingram’s fun choreography and Richard’s blocking extremely well. Outside of the ensemble of classroom misfits is an actor of many talents, in this case a man of many characters, Kristopher Jones. He’s Pop Hanson, the schools janitor, and the show’s narrator, Mr. Blandsworth, the school principal with a thousand bird calls, and the hapless Detective McSmogg. Kris is known in local theatre circles for his versatility and it’s on full display here, with a different accent for each character, and a completely different persona, each funny in its own way.
The star of the show, though, is Miss Nelson, and Ila Sarah Dreessen. Miss Nelson is Missing is really a tale of two Ilas, though, as she also plays the evil substitute Viola Swamp. Ila’s dual performances are both quite good. As Miss Nelson, she’s sweet, and in her performance she does a nice job presenting to the audience. Her portrayal of the overwhelmed Miss Nelson is matched only by that of her alter ego, which actually may upstage the former if I’m being honest, though her vocal ability is clear in “The Worst Kids of All” and later in “The Secret Song”. When she transforms into Viola Swamp, accompanied by some excellent accompaniment from lighting designer Tim Hoffman, it’s a full changeover, physically and vocally. She looks like a witch, credit to costume designer Kristin Bradberry and the responsible party for Ila’s prosthetics, and sounds like a witch, and when she sings in “The Swamp Song”, she sings like a witch, but a witch who knows how to hit her notes. Oh, on the prosthetics, full marks to Ila for recognizing her struggle with the adhesion of Swamp’s chin and knowing her audience. In a show with an adult audience, a prosthetic chin falling off could be a funny moment, but with children, something like that could ruin a show, and Ila’s presence of mind to turn her back to the audience whenever her chin came loose is definitely deserving of an acknowledgement.
I mentioned my tracking the audience’s reactions during various points in the show I attended. As proof positive of Ila’s excellent performance, when her Swamp was asking math problems of her students, the kids in the audience were trying to answer, even when they were problems well above their level. The audience reacted throughout, and I believe that this has a lot to do with some of the things I mentioned above, in how the cast delivers this show, how seriously they take it.
What makes me believe that what the Admiral is doing with this show could impact the Kitsap theatre landscape comes down to the overall quality of the production. I highlighted the cast and their performances, but even creatively, how solidly the music is done under the direction of Vicki Knickerbocker, the quality lighting (Tim Hoffman) and sound (Jace Godfrey) designs, Livi Ingram’s choreography, and Kristin Bradberry’s costumes. Additionally, Erik Furuheim’s set is simple, but functional, and perfectly designed for the pace of the show. These names are all familiar to people throughout the county in the community theatre space, and with Richard at the helm I feel that if their energy was put toward creating productions aimed at a community theatre audience, with Richard’s experience, the infrastructure that the venue provides, and the talent pool in the region to pull from, including from Seattle, the Admiral Theatre could put up some amazingly successful and entertaining shows.
Miss Nelson is Missing, the first in-house production from the Admiral Theatre’s Theatre for Young Audiences program, is a humorous and entertaining show suitable for the whole family, aimed at younger audiences, but designed and performed in a way so that it can be appreciated and enjoyed by older folks as well. Cast with actors and vocalists familiar to Kitsap County audiences, Miss Nelson shows us what can be accomplished when a team comes together in a historic venue to produce a fun and entertaining piece of musical theatre. I, for one, would love to see the Admiral make a habit out of this.
The Admiral Theatre in Bremerton is presenting its first in house production as part of its Theatre for Young Audiences program with Miss Nelson is Missing. Following two days of performances for schools, there is one public performance on February 15 at 3 pm. For more information on this show, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.admiraltheatre.org/.
Photo credit: Brian Johnson
