His Dark Materials Part 2

Wow, Part 2 was even better than Part 1! I was even a little choked up at the end (I don't want to say the exact moment because I don't want to spoil the movies for those who haven't read the books - that is, if they ever get made!). Steve had to laugh when I told him that, lol.

Steve says he wasn't offended by the anti-church theme but then, he's good at not taking things too seriously or personally.

I was a little disappointed that they left out Mary Malone completely and the world she winds up in. They had the Amber Spyglass be a possession of the witches instead. But I'm not really surprised. The story is already a long one and I guess this was one major part they had to leave out in order to make it work.

I was also a little disappointed by their portrayal of the Gallivespian Spies. In the books, they are fiercely proud and serious people. Despite their size, you quickly learn to respect them. In the play, their size and pride are portrayed humorously. It was a constant source of comic relief which it wasn't in the books. Also, the puppets used for them were a bit childish and unoriginal, especially in comparison to the daemons. I guess they felt they would not be able to make a puppet of that size play a serious role in a stage production so they just went the opposite way completely.

But those were my only two disappointments for Part 2. My third disappointment was the audience snickering at the gay angels but that wasn't the production's fault. It was otherwise very exciting and well executed. Part 1 was basically just setting the stage for Part 2 - all the important concepts of the story come out in Part 2 and I'd almost forgotten how exciting those concepts are to me and the play definitely reminded me.

Sorry, those of you who didn't read the books may be a little lost but hopefully the movies for The Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass will be out in the near future and it will make more sense!