Posted April 14, 2015

By AUTUMN ROBERTSON

I had the pleasure on Sunday, March 22, to see a live adaption at the University of Miami’s Cosford Cinema of John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club,” put on by the University of Miami’s very own Quantum Entertainment.

Quantum is a student-controlled club through Hurricane Productions that puts on free shows for the student body.

(From the right) Stephanie Weetman as Claire, Nick DeAngelis as Brian, Even Forsell as Andrew, Alex Kamphorst as Bender, and Kelly Zahnen as Allison.

I am well aware of the movie version of “The Breakfast Club”, but I have never witnessed the stage adaption of the incredibly popular 1980’s film. I have to say that the stage adaption was a mirror image of the original story and the students who put on the show did a fine job.

The doors to Cosford Cinema did not exactly open at 2, which is when the one and a half hour show was supposed to start. We were seated about five minutes after the start time. Luckily, we did not wait a long while for the show to begin. Once we were seated, a brief introduction was given and we were off to explore a draining Saturday at the fictional Shermer High School.

The show had a small cast of six and we were introduced to each character within the first two minutes of the show. The story consists of five students who seem to share nothing in common but are unfortunately stuck in an all-day Saturday detention ran by a tyrannical principal.

The group consists of: Brian the Nerd, played by Nick DeAngelis, Andrew the Jock, played by Even Forsell, Allison the Basket Case, played by Kelly Zahnen, Clair the Princess, played by Stephanie Weetman, and Bender the Criminal, played by Alex Kamphorst. The principal was played by Noelle Rode.

I thought overall that the actors did a great job at making their characters believable. The passion and quirks found within all of the characters were portrayed wonderfully, yet I thought that DeAngelis, Zahnen and Kamphorst did the best jobs out of the entire cast. I believe that they felt the most comfortable playing their characters and had the most fun with their roles. I thought that Rode’s portrayal of the principal was a bit too intense for me.

Although her goal was to be a complete asshole, I personally believe that her irateness could have been toned down more and her point would have still gotten across.

As I mentioned earlier, the stage production pretty much stuck to the screen version and I enjoyed it for the most part. I guess it is easy to put on a stage version of the show since the cast stayed in the same room throughout the entire movie, despite moments when they wondered off through the school. There were some moments that stood out to me. I thought that the cast was directed well, but compared to the movie, some of the lines and scenes seemed rushed to me, and some of the comedic timing was off. And the famed library dance scene came off as awkward to me and was lacking a natural flow.

Tyler Felts, the chair of Quantum and the director of “The Breakfast Club” decided to include some audience interaction in the show. Even though it was a good attempt to differ the stage production from the screen production, I felt that it could have been omitted since it was unnecessary.

One moment the five students walked through the entire audience, and another moment Clark impulsively chucked a book out to the first few rows (luckily someone caught it). This show is not meant to be “Rocky Horror.” Interaction should have been kept solely between the actors.

I thought that Quantum put on a good show. The entire production process from creative to technical was ran by students, and I find that extremely impressive. Even though “The Breakfast Club” run ended, I will definitely attend another Quantum production.

• “The Breakfast Club”
• Performed by the University of Miami QuantUM Entertainment
• Show dates: March 19, 20, 21, 22 at the University of Miami Cosford Cinema
• Starring: Nick DeAngelis, Evan Forsell, Kelly Zahnen, Stephanie Weetman, Alex Kamphorst and Noelle Rode
• Reviewer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
• Visit https://www.facebook.com/HPQuantUM for updates on QuantUM’s future events