Theatre
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Kopernikus at the Image Project Room
Claude Vivier Takes the Fear Out of Death
By: - May 18th, 2019Claude Vivier died in 1983 at age 35. He lived in Paris at the end of his life and was stabbed to death by a young man he had been attracted to. His final opera which told this story before it happened was sitting on his work table. He never heard Koperikus produced, but in this century it has built up a head of steam. Its New York premiere was held at the Image Project Room in Brooklyn.
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Anne Bogart Directs Boston Lyric Opera
Vivid production of The Handmaid’s Tale
By: - May 17th, 2019Boston Lyric Opera has surpassed their charge to “translate this story in the moment for the audience” as stated by renowned theater and opera director Anne Bogart, who joined the creative team at the helm of “The Handmaid’s Tale” production.
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Patience & Sarah at Danny Kaye Theater
Paula Kimper's Folktale of Love Come True
By: - May 14th, 2019Patience & Sarah was one of the first same sex love stories produced in the United States. It was radical subject matter in the 20th century. It hardly seems daring today, as Brokeback Mountain has stormed opera houses and a transgender work, As One, will have a New York premiere later this month. Yet the production by Hunter College and American Opera Projects was lovely and hopeful.
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Precious Little In South Florida
A Thinking Cap Theatre Production
By: - May 13th, 2019The deceptively simple Madelein George play, Precious Little, is multi-layered, funny and thought provoking. A talking ape is a main character in George's strange, but relevant piece. Precious Little is packed with big ideas and themes. A strong cast shines in this 90-minute, intermissionless, yet complex play. Let it grow on you.
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Life Sucks by Aaron Posner
Deconstructing Uncle Vanya for the Umpteenth Time
By: - May 12th, 2019Here we go again messing with Chekov. This time Aaron Posner has his way with the Russian master. Uncle Vanya is a comedy in the sense that it is full of pitiable, laughable characters in awkward situations, and nobody dies (but one almost does!). In Life Sucks, Posner makes the characters more ridiculous and more expressive to add energy and bolder humor. Vanya is shlepier. Aster is more passionate for his causes. Ella is a stronger magnet.
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Significant Other by Joshua Harmon
At San Francisco Playhouse
By: - May 11th, 2019The very title Significant Other is poignant and of our time. Its abstractness as a term contrasts with the more intimate traditional words it represents. The topic matter is also relevant and the treatment authentic.
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The Diary of Anne Frank
Palm Canyon Theatre
By: - May 11th, 2019“The Diary of Anne Frank”, at the Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) in Palm Springs, is a must-see production no matter wherever and/or whenever it is staged. It’s a poignantly dramatized play written 76 years ago by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, that unfortunately is very relevant today.
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The Resurrection of Son House
Legendary Mississippi Blues Singer
By: - May 11th, 2019The show is emotional, bewitching, and always entertaining. It is based on the biography of Son House by Rochester native Daniel Beaumont. But ultimately it is a celebration.
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A New Take on Immigration
Sea Dog Theater Produces a Winner
By: - May 09th, 2019The Rare Biosphere, a new play by Chris Cragin Day presented by the Sea Dog Theater and directed by Christopher J Domig is a charming and poignant look at at the question of immigration. Through the lives of a very American adolescent lens we are confronted with realities which upset the norm-- and intensify choices
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All in the Timing by David Ives
Comedy by Tony Winner at North West Rep
By: - Apr 28th, 2019David Ives won a Tony for the sado/masochistic, dark comedy "Venus in Fur." Although written twenty-six ago, "All in the Timing" features six comedy vignettes that are highly relevant to audiences of 2019. There is no dated material in this cleverly written and sensationally performed production.
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Emmeline by Tobias Picker
Classic Contemporary Opera at Manhattan School of Music
By: - Apr 27th, 2019Manhattan School of Music mounts a superb production of Tobias Picker's Emmeline this spring. Directed by the gifted Thaddeus Strassberger, the work has been moved into the present and resonates as a universal tale. George Manahan. who conducted the world premiere of the work at Santa Fe Opera over twenty years ago, led the orchestra, revealing all the richness of the score. Young talent created unforgettable characters in this re-telling of a Greek myth.
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The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess
Directed by Kimberly Senior at LA's Geffen Playhouse
By: - Apr 27th, 2019“The Niceties”, a sharp, intelligently written drama by playwright Eleanor Burgess that is smartly and seamlessly directed by seasoned director Kimberly Senior, is currently on stage at the Geffen Playhouse, in Los Angeles. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives in age and place explodes into an urgent debate about race.
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An Important New Sondheim Overture
Lisa Yuen Narrates Tale of International Intrigue at Lyric Theater
By: - Apr 26th, 2019Lisa Yuen returns to Boston's Lyric Stage performing multiple, male roles in Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures. If you are familiar with the musical expect to see a fresh and accessible revival by director Spiro Veloudos. The production runs from May 10 through June 18.
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Anastasia On Tour
Broadway Musical Adaptation in Ft. Lauderdale
By: - Apr 25th, 2019Anastasia offers eye-popping visuals, soaring music and heartfelt emotion. The projections seem stunningly authentic, yet never get in the way of the emotion or story. This equity production is in South Florida before heading north and then west. Cast and behind-the-scenes artists shine.
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Boston Lyric Opera’s The Handmaid’s Tale
Based on the Novel by Margaret Atwood
By: - Apr 24th, 2019The award winning Hulu production of Margaret Atwood's "The Hanmaid's Tale" will make this Boston Lyric Opera production readily familar to audiences. Composer Poul Ruders’ stunning contemporary score brings this dark social tale to the stage in large-scale, presenting his work with a massive, multi-faceted approach to orchestration. BLO has commissioned Ruders to create a new edition of the opera, bringing an expected orchestra size to approximately 65 players, with a chorus of about 34 singers.
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Hilma af Klint, The Opera
Guggenheim Presents Benjamin Staern's Chamber Opera
By: - Apr 23rd, 2019The Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum is full of surprise and delight. The notion that one’s experience of art can be enhanced by music is not new. Yet in the case of Hilma af Klint, the exhibit of whose works has been the sensation of the New York art season, using a chamber opera to take us inside her experience, was enormously helpful for a better understanding of the woman and her work.
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First Love Is the Revolution by Rita Kalnejais
At Steep Theatre in Chicago
By: - Apr 21st, 2019Rita Kalnejais’ play, which premiered in London in 2015, is a gorgeous display of animal choreography, directed by Devon de Mayo. As I watched this zoo-rama of animals scuffle among themselves and fight their antagonists, both animal and humans, I was smitten with the energy and genius of their movements.
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Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate
On Broadway at Roundabout Theatre’s Studio 54.
By: - Apr 20th, 2019It is great to have Kelli O’Hara back on Broadway. As Lilli/Kate she once again proves herself a fine actress who can develop chemistry with every leading man she plays opposite.
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Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story
At TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
By: - Apr 19th, 2019Hershey Felder now takes on the life and works of Claude Debussy in a world premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. The great turn of the century composer is credited as the originator of the classical music genre of impressionism, though he didn’t care for the term
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Murder Ballad
South Florida's Measure for Measure Theatre
By: - Apr 18th, 2019While sound issues require fixing, Measure for Measure Theatre's mounting of Murder Ballad offers an engrossing theatrical experience. Strong singing, emoting characterize this non-traditional theatrical experience. Murder Ballad, which featured Off-Broadway, centers on a love triangle gone wrong.
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Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee
Winner of Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award
By: - Apr 18th, 2019Lauren Yee manages to create a small miracle with her brave, heartwarming and funny play Cambodian Rock Band. Victory Gardens’ new production, directed by Marti Lyons, skims across two time periods—from present-day Phnom Penh to a 1975 Cambodian prison.
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Bound by Huang Ruo at Baruch Performing Arts Center
Freshly Squeezed Opera Presents New York Premiere
By: - Apr 16th, 2019Bound, Huang Ruo's chamber opera, is produced at the Rose Nagelberg Theatre in the Baruch Performing Arts Center. Originally commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, this production is the New York premiere. It is a fresh take by Freshly Squeezed Opera. Ashley Tate who specializes in multi-media production, directs.
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Steinberg/ ATCA Award for New PLay
Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band Takes The Honors
By: - Apr 16th, 2019Playwright Lauren Yee wins the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for her play, Cambodian Rock Band. ATCA adjudicators hail Yee's multi-faceted approach to her play as "absolutely inspired." Cambodian Rock Band explores the Cambodian holocaust. Yee is a previous ATCA award winner.
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All Our Children at the Sheen Center
Stephen Unwin's Play Explores Eugenics
By: - Apr 15th, 2019The Sheen Center's Black Box Theater is stacked with files containing the case records of 'defective' young people who are institutionalized and awaiting their death. All Our Children takes up a theme developed in Florian Henkel von Donnersmarck's latest film. The doctor in the film and the doctor running a clinic for children in the play, both are charged with duties best left to God. Who is to live, and who must die, is in play because upkeep is expensive and the State needs money for munitions.
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Madama Butterfly
At Opera San José
By: - Apr 15th, 2019Opera San José has mounted a stunning production of Madama Butterfly. Maria Natale leads the cast as Cio-Cio San, or Butterfly, with a remarkable performance.
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