Theatre
-
Spinning by Deirdre Kinahan
US Premiere at Irish Theatre of Chicago.
By: - May 31st, 2016Spinning is notable for its fine direction and acting. Dan Waller is one of those solid Chicago actors who plays many types of roles and makes each one his own. His portrayal of Conor is wrenching and passionate as he gradually learns so accept his responsibility for his actions.
-
Annual Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Fever Was Red Hot in Charleston
By: - Jun 03rd, 2016Piccolo Spoleto Festival is officially the outreach arm of Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Spoleto Festival USA, and thirty-eighth year of Piccolo Spoleto.
-
Tragedy of Eugene O'Neill
Family Ravaged as Long Day's Journey Into Night
By: - Jun 04th, 2016Currently Long Day's Journey Into Night, the masterpiece of Eugene O'Neill, is enjoying an all star Broadway revival. One of the last of his plays before a decade of illness he left instructions that it not be published until 25 years after his life. It was produced in Sweden within three years of his death. Based on the horrendous circumstances of his alcoholic, drug addicted family he hoped to avoid collateral damage to survivors. It begs the question of who owns the moral and legal rights when artists draw upon family and friends as material for their art.
-
The Royale by Marco Ramirez
GableStage at Coral Gables, Florida
By: - Jun 04th, 2016The latter part of The Royale which played Broadway’s Lincoln Center Theater earlier this year, features one of the strongest, most powerful scenes of dramatic tension I’ve encountered in a theater in a long while
-
Lauren Gunderson's The Taming at S&Co;.
Political Comedy Disconnects
By: - Jun 05th, 2016Lauren Gunderson is widely renegaded as among the best and brightest of American playwrights. She can be thoughtful and provocative. With The Taming, however, which is being given an energetic and ambitious production, the comedy of brought down as too clever, thinky and talky for its own good. It was just too difficult to connect with and care for the unmanageable characters and their absurd situations.
-
Nunsense in Charleston
Footlight Players Part of Piccolo Spoleto
By: - Jun 05th, 2016Our coverage of Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston continues with Nunsense at Footlight Players. Saints preserve us.
-
Beauty and the Beast
Road Company Visited Ft. Lauderdale
By: - Jun 18th, 2016Pretend we’re on an airplane, because the oxygen mask above will prove beneficial. Certainly it will help you deal with the spectacular, breathtaking special effects of the mostly impressive non-equity national touring version we will see of the beloved Broadway musical “Beauty and the Beast.”
-
Golem Haunts Charleston
Robotic Presence in Annual Spoleto Festival 2016
By: - Jun 18th, 2016With a reviw of The Golem our Charleston correspondent, Sandy Katz, completes her coverage of the annual Spoleto Festival 2016. The mytical Golem was an exotic and exciting production.
-
Macbeth at Old Globe
Lowell Davies Outdoor Festival Theatre
By: - Jul 12th, 2016Under the deft direction of Brian Kulick, this ‘Macbeth’ production has been updated to a visual setting more or less around the time of World War I. However, the language, spirit, and the murderous intrigues that Shakespeare loved so dearly are still present. It’s a clever way to update the core story that is familiar to all without sacrificing any dramatic elements or story points as conceived by the Bard.
-
Wastwater at Chicago's Steep Theatre,
By English playwright Simon Stephens
By: - Jul 12th, 2016Wastwater by Simon Stephens is a loosely connected trilogy of stories, skillfully directed by Robin Witt. They’re set near London’s Heathrow Airport, where the village of Sipson is threatened with obliteration for the sake of a new airport runway. The playwright is best known for his Tony-winning adaptation, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
-
Between Riverside and Crazy at Steppenwolf
Funny and Poignant Stephen Adly Guirgis Play
By: - Jul 14th, 2016Between Riverside and Crazy is a rowdy, raunchy play with lots of action. (Sensitive ears alert: When I said raunchy, that’s what I meant.) Yasen Peyankov directs it with style and glee.
-
The Chinese Room at Williamstown
World Premiere of Michael West Play
By: - Jul 17th, 2016The hilarious comedy The Chinese Room by the Irish playwright Michael West is having its world premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival. The current production allows for fine tuning for when the play transfers Off Broadway to Manhattan Theatre Club. It is sure to be a hit in New York.
-
Kanze Noh's Inaugural at Lincoln Center
Traditional Japanese Theater Intrigues
By: - Jul 16th, 2016Even if you don't know the conventions of Noh Theater, developed over 600 years in Japan, there is great pleasure in its performance. The Kanze Noh troupe sports players whose descent can be traced back 22 generations. Deep emotions are generated by performances of dramas from this rich history.
-
Musical 1776 in Palm Beach
At Don and Ann Brown Theatre.
By: - Jul 18th, 2016The well-known historical musica "1776" about our founding fathers’ mission to make America independent from England is on stage through July 24 in the intimate, semi-circular Don and Ann Brown Theatre in Palm Beach, Florida.
-
Neil Simon's Broadway Bound
Stage Door Theatre Florida
By: - Jul 19th, 2016In “Broadway Bound,” Neil Simon shines a light on people who are flawed. You not only forgive them at the end, you feel as though you’re leaving part of your own family as the curtain closes.
-
The Pirates of Penzance at Barrington Stage
Swashbuckling Rogues Invade Pittsfied.
By: - Jul 21st, 2016In a world gone utterly mad, for a great escape, there is nothing quite like an evening at Barrington Stage and the swashbuckling production of the perennial Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan. It has been masterfully created by that other theatrcal partnership Rando and Bergasse the pair that brought Barrington's On the Town to Broadway.
-
Macbeth at Stratford Festival
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino Rethinks the Scottish Play
By: - Jul 21st, 2016Shakespeare’s Macbeth was presented with no timid wariness about “the Scottish play” but instead a dark, mysterious exploration full of visual and emotional surprises, including a sexy young Macbeth and a terrifying, shifting landscape dominated by the three witches, not the royal killer couple. Stratford’s Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino is clearly the star of the production, directing it where it usually doesn’t go.
-
Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme
French Production at Lincoln Center Festival
By: - Jul 21st, 2016Moiiere's gift for embedding comedy in character, and weaving the elements of musical theatre in a unified whole were on full display at the Gerald Lynch Theatre. We continue coverage of the annual Lincoln Center Festival.
-
Buyer and Cellar at Miracle Theatre
One Man Show in Coral Gables
By: - Jul 22nd, 2016Barbra Streisand is in this original and highly entertaining play – sort of, although you believe she really is, judging from the electrifying, hyperventilation-defying, incredible performance from award-winning actor Chris Crawford. He plays a handful of characters throughout the roughly one-hour, 45-minute play with no intermission.
-
Ira J. Bilowit at 90
Renowned New York Theatre Critic
By: - Jul 22nd, 2016Although elderly and in poor health Ira J. Bilowit, who has passed away at 90, continued to cover and work in theatre. Just last November he was co-chair, with Sherry Eaker, of a New York conference of the American Theratre Critics Association. He was among the most respected and revered members of that organization.
-
War Paint at Chicago's Goodman Theatre
Competing Costemtic Queens
By: - Jul 22nd, 2016War Paint is the story of two cosmetic industry pioneers, women who achieved corporate success in an era when it was even more difficult to do so than today. But once you get past the competition between the Polish Jewish immigrant Helena Rubinstein (Patti LuPone) and the sunny blonde Elizabeth Arden (Christine Ebersole) known for her pink color palette, there’s not much story left.
-
Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare & Company
Authentic Production Directed by Tina Packer
By: - Jul 11th, 2016A great production of Merchant of Venice requires inspired casting. The Tina Packer production has a truly magnficent Shylock in company member Jonathan Epstein taking on the complex and demanding role for the fifth time. It is his second with Packer. This version also has a first rate Portia in Tamara Hickey and suitably apathetic and melancholy Antonio played with nuance by John Hadden. It was Packer's intent to take the gloves off in attacking issues of race, religion, gender, homosexuality and racism.
-
Little Shop of Horrors Gobbles Audience
Smash Musical Comedy at Colonial Theatre
By: - Jul 10th, 2016A lot of theatre this season is feeding us heavy duty, pc, brain food. But for pure fun release and esape the best show in the Berkshires, Little Shop of Horrors, is presenting a hilarious musical comedy about a man eating plant which is chewing the scenery and devouring audiences at the Colonial Theatre.
-
Kimberly Akimbo at Barrington Stage
Debra Jo Rupp 60 Going on 16
By: - Jun 20th, 2016In Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsay-Abaire, as played by the masterful Debra Jo Rupp, Kimberly, celebrating her sixteenth birthday is about to die of old age. In a superb performance Rupp conflates giddy youth and the world weary wisdom that comes with time and lifde experience.
-
Fiorello! at Uniciorn Stage in Stockbridge
Political Musical Soars During God Awful Election Year
By: - Jun 21st, 2016Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947)a true man of the people was a study in contradiction. Of Italian and Jewish heritage he was an Episcopalian Republican who was elected Mayor of New York on a fusion ticket. A small, portly, homely man in a rumpled suit he possessed towering charisma. The 1959 Tony and Pulitzer winning musical Fiorello! is being given a compressed and powerful production at Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge.
<< Previous Next >>