Review: Musical Theatre West presents Regional Premiere of Endearingly Powerful Musical "Bright Star"
Unless your heart is as cold as ice, "Bright Star" will handily win you over right from the start, then make you emotional, and then even later, embrace you tightly in a great big bear hug, as if to ensure you that even in the bleakest of situations, there is always a bright light in the distance that can guide you to where you need to be.
Review: "The Royale" at The Young Centre
I tremendously respect and admire playwrights who bring an immediacy of personal reactions to their stories of racial conflict and tension within the theatre. The Stratford Festival’s recent production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is only one example that comes to my mind. I had read in earlier press releases that Marco Ramirez’s “The Royale” deals with racial tensions in the Jim Crow era. As I sat quietly waiting for the play to begin, I wondered if audiences are becoming saturated to the point where we feel nothing about this theme?
Review: “The Roommate” at Long Wharf Theatre
Sometimes a dish made with wholly familiar ingredients can feel fresh just because of the way they’re put together. Maybe you use higher quality cocoa in your brownies. Or perhaps it’s the addition of a secret ingredient that does the trick. Peanut butter chips or, I don’t know, marijuana. Those exact treats are featured in Long Wharf Theatre’s 2018-2019 season opener “The Roommate” and, like a good pot brownie, the play often feels like a bite of comfort food spiked with a woozy twist.
U.K. Review: "Fame: The Musical" U.K. Tour
“Fame the Musical” is currently touring the UK with its 30th Anniversary tour, this week it stops off at Edinburgh’s delightful King’s Theatre.
The musical follows students of the New York City High School of performing arts, and their struggles to succeed or perhaps fail at reaching the career of their dreams.
Review: “The Amazing Story Machine” at The Tank
Each year, the Jim Henson Foundation aims to keep their namesake’s legacy alive and well by granting an annual Family Grant to an organization creating innovative new examples of children’s storytelling through puppetry. One recent example is the latest production to be showcased at The Tank: “The Amazing Story Machine”, a new story that tells the story of how seven generations after the brothers Grimm changed children’s storytelling forever with their book of fairy tales, the cousins Grimm seek to do the same with their brand new invention…only for things to not go quite to their plan along the way.
Review: “Billy Elliot” at The Civic Theatre of Allentown
“Billy Elliot” is a feel-good story of a mining town on strike getting together to support a child who has the chance to get out of the town. The show is full of great dancing, catchy music written by Elton John, and a script by Lee Hall that never lags. This production at the beautiful recently renovated 19th Street Theatre was of professional quality.
Review: “Constellations” at Hudson Stage Company
In this sense, “Constellations” constitutes a dazzling counterargument on both the theoretical and practical level to the idea that all meaning lies dormant in, for example, a script or sealed up inside the words on a page; and that no matter who utters them, or how, or in what context and physical space, they will mean the same thing. For this and many other reasons, it follows that only a talented and experienced actor can pull off Payne’s play. No doubt with invaluable assistance from director Mark Shanahan, and fostered by an excellent company that rarely misfires, Sandberg and Williams are terrific. They never miss a beat.
U.K. Review: "The Comedy About a Bank Robbery" at Leeds Grand Theatre
I’m pretty sure British theatergoers have seen a resounding revival of classic farce in recent times, both in London and across regional theatres. In the years since the revival of Richard Bean’s “One Man, Two Guvnors” back in 2015, I’ve noticed a resurgence in the genre that combines slapstick with endless gags in a bid to bring the auditorium roof down. As luck would have it, then, the new revival of Mischief Theatre’s “The Comedy About a Bank Robbery” has just rolled into the Leeds Grand Theatre.
Broadway Review: “The Lifespan of a Fact”
Under Leigh Silverman’s exquisite direction, the cast delivers a profoundly moving ensemble performance that insists the audience make the ultimate choice whether Emily will publish the essay. Fact and fiction have significant roles to play in humankind’s story telling.
Review: “Stranger Than a Rhino” at Fringe NYC
While thought-provoking “Stranger than a Rhino” is sure to polarize audience members on either side of the political spectrum with what at first glance is a blunt approach to what anyone would consider incredibly challenging subject matter. But know that the piece does redeem itself in the last five minutes and for the audience member that goes in genuinely assuming no ill-intent it is sure to provoke stimulating conversations on the train ride home.
Review: "Dear Evan Hansen" at the Ahmanson Theatre
The cast is splendid in their roles and the songs soar filling the entire theatre, yet the story line fails at the end with its weak consequence for such a selfish plot by a teenage boy. While creating an important role for himself to feel a sense of belonging, the boy gets girl and then loses girl, disappoints many because of his dishonest actions.
Review: “Mamma Mia!” Presented by Brick Road Theatre
Brick Road Theatre’s production of “Mamma Mia!” offered the powerful and energetic blast of warm island air this rain-soaked Dallas-Fort Worth-area crowd desperately needed on an otherwise dreary Friday night. Dynamic choreography, robust vocal stylings and charging musical numbers served as the ideal backdrop for this exuberant story celebrating the joyful heartbreaking and passionate moments life throws our way.
Review: "Serving Brulee" at FringeNYC
Telling a story about the unrealistic expectations of perfection through the lense of daytime television, an unapologetically plastic-perfect medium, is a brilliant concept. Though, I found myself wishing that “Serving Brulee” would take the time to lean into that concept a little more, peel back on the jokes, letting them come from a place of truth rather than absurdity, and leave us wanting seconds.
Review: Normal Ave’s “Completeness” Manages to Redefine Normal
Normal Ave, a relatively young company has started off their third season with a production of “Completeness” that is sure to affect audiences of all ages. Written by Itmar Moses and directed by Jeremy Landes “Completeness” is a love letter to non-committal relationships with a relevant exploration of how the millennial generation approaches or rather avoids approaching relationships.
Review: “Ruffles” at The Tank
Since 2003, The Tank has earned a reputation as one of the leading venues in New York for presenting some of the most unique work, presented by artists who aren’t afraid to think outside the box. When I say this, this often includes works that take social and cultural issues that are prevalent in society, and thus covered frequently in the arts, but explores them in a way that is experimental and different from most mainstream contemporary works. That is especially true of Ruffles, the latest world premiere to find a home at this venue this month.
Review: “Give ‘Em, Hell, Harry” at the Episcopal Actors Guild
“Wouldn’t you like to have someone as honest as Harry S. Truman in office now?”
At least, that’s the question that was posed by the prolific Ego Actus Theatre Company, as they revived the autobiographical one-man show “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry” this past weekend. Originally written by Samuel Gallu, former President Truman is brought back to life by prolific actor J. Dolan Byrnes, who brings a unique perspective to a role such as this, having once served as a Congressional aide during the Reagan administration.
Review: “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” at Under St. Marks Theatre
In terms of contemporary playwrights, John Patrick Shanley is arguably one of the finest, in terms of his ability to constantly write gritty, realistic dramas that explore the human condition and moral dilemmas in an in-depth way on a very human level. Among his works that seems to have been somewhat underrated, however, is his early tragic romance Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, set in 1983 when the play was originally produced, and now, revived in 2018 in the form of this latest indie theatre production.
A UK review in [Exactly] 250 Words: "Freeman"
Currently playing at London’s Pleasance Theatre, Freeman is a passionate, emotive and high-energy production which uses an impressive range of theatrical modes to tell interweaving stories about the lives of people of colour through the years.
Review: "The Men in White" at the Factory Theatre
Toronto premiere of Anosh Irani’s The Men in White disarmingly unravels the ties that bind the immigrant experience to Canada.
Review: "Onaje" at FringeNYC
Most people don’t like to be reminded outright of the trouble in the world around them, even if everything is crumbling to the ground. As long as they aren’t being hit with the debris, most people won’t even acknowledge it’s there. At its core that is one of the things that theatre is about, forcing an audience to witness, through the eyes of the play, the trouble that exists in the world every day. This is why Onaje is such an important piece of theatre. It tells a tragic story of riots, racism, and hate that, although it is set in both 1967 and 1980, is unfortunately still very relevant.