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Nice Girl by Melissa Ross
Finalist for Primus Prize at Raven Theatre
By: - Feb 07th, 2018Several years ago Nice Girl by Melissa Ross was a finalist for the Primus Prize for oustanding new plays awarded by the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). It is being given a heartfelt and down-to-earth production at Chicago's Raven Theatre. The four actors carry off the middle class Boston accents almost perfectly, thanks to the work of dialect coach Jason K. Martin.
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Parsifal Returns to the Metropolitan Opera
Klaus Florian Vogt a Lyric Hero
By: - Feb 06th, 2018The Metropolitan Opera opened its lone Wagner offering of the 2017-18 season on Monday night: a revival of the extraordinary 2013 François Girard staging of Wagner's Parsifal. This production was acclaimed when it opened, for its stunning visuals (including a lake of stage blood in Act II) and its potent, spare message. It was also the second opportunity for the Met's new maestro-designate, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to prove his mettle with Wagner's music, this time conducting the composer's final opera.
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Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin
Produced by San Francisco Playhouse
By: - Feb 06th, 2018Audiences will possibly find many behaviors in Born Yesterday less acceptable and more abhorrent than in earlier times. But along the way, they will be mightily entertained by a powerful production. And for those of us with a lot of miles on our shoes who wonder how a stage show can compete with the great 1950 movie cast of Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, and William Holden, just sit back and enjoy the performances.
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Williamstown Theatre Festival 2018
Five New Works and a Beloved One
By: - Feb 06th, 2018In a star studded program yet again Williamstown Theatre Festival brings Broadway to the berkshires. The season starts on June 26 and runs through August 19. There are three Main Stage productions and four on Nikos Stage. There will be a Main Stage world premiere musical;, Lempicka, as well as a new play , Seared, by Therese Rebeck on the Nikos Stage. Casting includes Mary-Louise Parker, Steven Pasquale, Jessica Hecht, Brooks Ashmanskas and Matthew Broderick.
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Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King
A Broadway Pratfall for Multiple Tony and Oscar Winner
By: - Feb 06th, 2018The appearance of famed British actor and multiple Tony winner, Mark Rylance, is always a much anticipated event. Accordingly, the run of Farinelli and the King is mostly sold out though a run that ends on March 25. The script by his wife, Claire van Kampen, entails a bonkers king, and his queen allegedly having an improbable affair with the castrato, Farinelli, who has abandoned his career to perform nightly for the king. Our critic was not amused.
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Clark Gable Slept Here by Michael McKeever
Pitch Black Comedy by Talented South Florida Playwright
By: - Feb 06th, 2018Clark Gable Slept Here is an unabashedly penetrating satire about the cutthroat world of Hollywood. A talented cast shines in a production of the play at Main Street Players in Miami Lakes. The company, which turned professional last year, delivers a fast-paced, furiously funny mounting of Michael McKeever's play.
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Blind Date by Rogelio Martinez
Robert Falls Directs Goodman's World Premiere
By: - Feb 05th, 2018The blind date actually took place on November 19, 1985, in Geneva. Goodman Theatre’s world premiere of Blind Date by Rogelio Martinez, directed by Robert Falls, takes us through the tense period and the negotiations leading up to that summit—and finally, briefly, the summit itself.
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Tine Thing Helseth Trumpets
Carnegie Hall Rocks with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
By: - Feb 04th, 2018Orpheus Chamber Orchestra invited Tine Thing Helseth, a star trumpeter, to join them at Carnegie Hall. Clarion tones rang out at Helseth displayed her consistently singing instrument with a special touch.
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Julia Cho's Office Hour
Long Wharf Theater Co-production with Berkley Repertory Theatre
By: - Feb 04th, 2018Julia Cho’s play is often successful, yet the fantasies become less effective as the play goes on even though they are ratcheted up. Despite reservations about the play, the production is excellent.
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Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath
At Center Repertory Company
By: - Feb 04th, 2018Center Rep has produced a sharply drawn realization of Lucas Hnath’s Obie winning play. The story line is riveting, and director Markus Potter’s pace is brisk and assured.
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Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond
At South Florida's Palm Beach Dramaworks
By: - Feb 03rd, 2018The classic comic-drama On Golden Pond is enjoying a funny, touching production at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Cast members and director create complex characterizations. This production set in 1988 looks homey and rustic
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Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau
Co-produced by Marin Theatre Company and Theatreworks Silicon Valley
By: - Feb 02nd, 2018Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau is set in an automobile stamping plant in Detroit in 2008. Its window to the greater world is the shabby break room of the laborers on one of the assembly lines, where the abiding concern is the rumor that the plant will shut down. And if so, when and how?
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The Attacca Quartet Celebrates Life at Crypt
With Beethoven's Hymn of Thanksgiving, Time Stands Still
By: - Feb 01st, 2018In the spring of 1825 Ludwig von Beethoven was very sick with liver disease and stomach inflammation. He wrote to his doctor asking for help. The doctor wrote back: "No wine, no coffee, no spices. And I wager if you drink any spirits you will be on your back in pain." He recommended recuperating in the country for fresh air and natural milk. Beethoven went to the country and cured himself with musical notes. These notes are the music of Opus 132.
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Around the World in 80 Days
Seven League Boots for Solona Beach California
By: - Feb 01st, 2018North Coast Repertory Theatre (NCRT) of Solana Beach, CA is gifting its audiences with a ‘master class’ in farce/comedy ensemble acting with its delightful, whimsical, tongue-in-cheek, production of the Jules Verne classic tale “Around the World in 80 Days”.
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The Dining Room by A. R. Gurney
Produced by Sonoma Art Live
By: - Feb 01st, 2018Without the benefit of a narrative arc, A. R. Gurney has written a cohesive and compelling comedy/drama with a structure that moves successfully from one climax to another. Director Joey Hoeber has molded this small but significant play into a very convincing theater piece.
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Romance Romance by Barry Harman and Keith Herrmann,
At CV REP Theatre, of Rancho Mirage
By: - Feb 01st, 2018“Romance/Romance,” by Barry Harman and Keith Herrmann, is another stellar production that performs at CV REP Theatre in Rancho Mirage, through February 11, 2018. Emmy winning set designer Jimmy Cuomo doesn’t disappoint with another outstanding design
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Brett Neveu's Traitor Updates Ibsen
Based on 1882 Play An Enemy of the People
By: - Feb 01st, 2018Brett Neveu has taken Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play, An Enemy of the People, and transmogrified it into a contemporary setting. Neveu transplants a scandal surrounding the water flowing through the Municipal Baths in a Norwegian town to the soil underlying a charter school in an Illinois town. Traitor in a slashing world premiere at Chicago's A Red Orchid Theatre, is directed by the company's most famous alum, Michael Shannon.
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Adrienne Kennedy at Theatre for a New Audience
Compressed Memory Beautifully Staged
By: - Jan 31st, 2018Over the years, we have come to count on Theatre for a New Audience for superb productions of interesting work. They do not disappoint in their mounting of Adrienne's Kennedy's first play in a decade. At the Polonsky Center, the stage is configured with the audience on three sides. A very tall staircase looms in the center, bridging time and place.
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David Hockney's California Dreaming
Subdued Met Retrospective of a Pioneer of Pop
By: - Jan 31st, 2018While described as a retrospective in eight galleries with just 60 paintings, 21 portrait drawings and five of his ground-breaking “Joiner” photo collages the David Hockney exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a bit of a tease. Now 80 when Hockney depicted homosexuality during the 1960s it was still illegal in Great Britain. He left for the laid back lifesyle of LA in 1964 and now commutes between continents. The exhibition is on view through February 25.
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John Lithgow's Solo Show on Broadway
Stories by Heart Is Masterful.
By: - Jan 30th, 2018Stories by Heart is really Lithgow presenting two short stories to us. The first is by Ring Lardner, “Haircut.” It is essential the thoughts and words of a small town barber, circa 1925 talking to his customer who sits silently in the chair. With no props, Lithgow recreates the old-time barbershop experience from the hot towels, to the stropping of the blade, the lather and more.
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Feeding the Dragon at Hartford Stage
Written and Performed by Sharon Washington.
By: - Jan 30th, 2018Sharon Washington is a fine actress, but as she plays the multiple people in her story, including her mother, aunts, grandmother and others, her portrayals are good, but not great. This 90 minute play is heading to Off-Broadway’s Primary Stages
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Professional Wrestling as a Satiric Parable
Body Slamming Satire near South Beach
By: - Jan 30th, 2018The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity deftly uses professional wrestling to shine a light on racial stereotypes, politics and hypocrisy. Kristoffer Diaz's electric play is a bold statement on the darker side of America. Miami New Drama and Asolo Repertory Theatre shine in co-production of bitingly funny play.
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Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed
Riveting Selection of 43 Works at Met Breuer
By: - Jan 29th, 2018With just 43 works Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed at Met Breuer through February 4 provides a small but succinct view of his work. He was a prolific artist, creating approximately 1,750 paintings, 18,000 prints, and 4,500 watercolors, in addition to sculpture, graphic art, theater design, and photography. More than half of the works on view were part of Munch's personal collection and remained with him throughout his life.
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Megabytes! The Musical
At Shelton Theatre in San Francisco.
By: - Jan 28th, 2018Playwright and composer Morris Bobrow is the master of what San Franciscans might consider the Pier 39 musical, a light but entertaining diversion. His previous compositions include “Shopping! The Musical” and “Foodies! The Musical.” Can anyone detect a common theme here?
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Marilyn Horne at Carnegie Hall
The Song Continues with Graham Johnson and Renee Fleming
By: - Jan 27th, 2018Marilyn Horne created The Song Continues for emerging vocal artists. She retires this season to be succeeded by an artist for whom she has enormous respect, Renee Fleming. Another icon, Graham Johnson, led a master class the night before Fleming's.
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