Photo by Dan Brady

Fresh from the Casting Hall metaphorical oven, this fall’s play Twelve Angry Jurors is a sweet success.

With main ingredients Joe Manganiello and Nick Blaney as archrival jurors, things were spicy from the start. The rest of the cast, Alex Martin, Josh Smith, and Navzad Dabu in particular, peppered in some excellent dialogue. Additionally, Adam Rothenberg and Seth Mathews provided some flawless, delicious monologues.

All cheesy food metaphors aside, the play delivers. For a play about a boy tried for the murder of his own father, the cast did a fantastic job of moving the plot without dwelling too much on tragedy. Although it was far from lighthearted, the banter of the characters prevents the play from slipping into a droning pace.

Things picked up quickly: after a quick shuffling of seats, the jurors were positioned in numerical order and ready to start debating over a young man’s life. Against eleven of his peers, one juror, played by Joe Manganiello, desperately clings to his instinct: that the boy is innocent. Slowly, cunningly, and hopefully, he tries to convince his fellow jurors to simply consider sparing the boy’s life.

With a simple, easy to understand background, the play moved swiftly, pounding through all three acts in less than two hours. While most of the action is conducted somberly and with stern faces, the audience was not devoid of laughter. Comic relief such as Manganiello waddling clumsily across the stage pretending to be an old man, and Dana Katz’s character’s repeated assertions of her occupation kept audience members from falling off the edge of their seats.

An overall excellent performance went on tonight. I’m still amazed that my own classmates can carry on a story with such a dark subject matter without it becoming stale, and undoubtedly, others would be impressed as well. Tomorrow, on November 14 at 7:30, the final performance will be held. Don’t be guilty of skipping one of the highlights of this year’s fine arts performances at Liverpool High School.