Share

Theatre

  • Teodor Currentzis Brings Verdi to The Shed

    Dramatic Performance Accompanied by Jonas Mekas Images

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 22nd, 2019

    The Verdi Requiem conducted by Teodor Currentzis with the musicAeterna Orchestra and Chorus is performed at The Shed through November 24. The McCourt is a grand space and can seat 1,250 and hold 2000 standing. Designed to be flexibly conformed, this performance has bleacher seats extending from the floor before the stage up to the rafters, or heavens if you will. This program's music is both other-worldly and very much in the now.

  • West Side Story

    Classic Musical In South Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Nov 23rd, 2019

    Broadway in Broward series kicks off strong with a heartfelt production of West Side Story. Broadway Palm's inaugural series production features talented triple threat performers. The production runs through Dec. 1.

  • Lucy Dhegrae at National Sawdust

    Giving Voice to Rape

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 24th, 2019

    Lucy Dhegrae, a superb mezzo soprano, lost her singing voice after an assault. In finding her singing voice again, she follows the sounds of a human from the first grunts and breaths to the glorious free sounds of song. Dhegrae is National Sawdust's Artist-in-Residence.

  • Jack Lyons on Broadway

    California Critic Covers Three One Act Plays

    By: Jack Lyons - Nov 25th, 2019

    It takes stamina and seven league boots to keep up with my running buddy Jack Lyons. He was my plus one for the recent American Theatre Critics Association annual New York Conference. In addition to a day of panel discussions and lunch with the stars at Sardi's he took in the three plays covered here. When out of breath trying to keep with some affection I call him Jack Rabbit.

  • A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum

    Classic Sondheim Musical in South Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Nov 25th, 2019

    A highly physical and playful production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is on stage at MNM Theatre Company. The West Palm Beach-based nonprofit company features equity and non-equity Florida actors. Cast members shine in their roles, but the sound system needs improvement. The production runs through Dec. 8 in a South Florida theater season featuring several Sondheim works.

  • Critic Herbert Simpson 1934-2019

    Covered Theatre Insight Out

    By: Charles Giuliano - Nov 26th, 2019

    During conferences of American Theatre Critics Association the Rochester based critic, Herbert Simpson, was a raconteur and noble presence. Rooted in the classics he had little patience for current foibles. His opinions were always crusty, witty, scholarly, loquacious and well crafted. As a correspondent we were honored to repost his reviews.

  • The Interitance on Broadway

    Matthew Lopez, Stephen Daldry and Bob Crowley Truple Team for Brilliance

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 28th, 2019

    The moving two-part drama, The Inheritance, began its stage life at the Young Vic in London. The play transferred to the West End and is now on Broadway. For seven hours, divided into two sessions of theater, the history of gays in American unfolds. At its heart, the playwright Matthew Lopez weaves language of great beauty mixed with humor. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout, ay meo (oh God), la fiesta (the party) and maracon (faggot) among them. These are not phrases but rather exclamations. The word 'faggot' is never used in the play.

  • Hansel and Gretel

    At Opera San José

    By: Victor Cordell - Nov 30th, 2019

    Opera San José’s production is specifically designed to be family friendly. The opera is sung in English and the supertitles are given in pretty basic vocabulary. Yet, only 15% of the audience is children, so adults, do feel welcomed. It is a quality production, beautifully staged and sung, that will satisfy audiences of all ages and levels of opera understanding.

  • Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson

    Marin Theatre Company

    By: Victor Cordell - Nov 30th, 2019

    The playwright’s contribution to the Joan of Arc literature is that her mother, Isabelle Arc, becomes the voice and the central character. Thus, while Joan’s actions are of historic significance and drive the narrative, Isabelle dominates the stage time. The play centers on family relationships, especially between mother and daughter.

  • Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill

    At Custom Made Theatre

    By: Victor Cordell - Nov 30th, 2019

    What makes many of Churchill’s works distinctive and what helps in understanding them is her frequent non-traditional approaches to time representation and to casting.

  • A Christmas Carol

    At the Lyceum Theatre

    By: Karen Isaacs - Nov 30th, 2019

    Even if you say bah humbug to holiday shows you might want to check out this one on Broadway.

  • Groundhog Day

    Me and My Shadow in San Francisco

    By: Victor Cordell - Nov 30th, 2019

    The premise of Groundhog Day is that Pittsburgh TV meteorologist Phil Connors is assigned to cover the annual event against his wishes.

  • The Music Man

    Meredith Willson Classic in South Florida.

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 02nd, 2019

    The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton is mesmerizing folks with its production of The Music Man. This mounting features vivacious dancing, credible, energetic performances and solid design. The show runs through Dec. 28 and features the largest cast in The Wick's history. Broadway actor John Tartaglia stars as "Professor" Harold Hill.

  • MsTrial at New World Stages

    Can a Lawyer Be Truthful and Succeed

    By: Rachel de Aragon - Dec 05th, 2019

    Dep Kirkland asks us to inhabit the legal world and fathom truth from within the walls of a well appointed law office. The leather sofa, floor-to-ceiling bookcase, long wooden table and oak desk with curtained view of the city, act as silent signifiers.

  • Newsies the Musical

    At Hillbarn Theatre

    By: Victor Cordell - Dec 09th, 2019

    What makes Newsies really jump is the dancing with the accompanying choruses like “Carrying the banner” about the independent but challenging life of selling papers on the streets, and “Seize the day” about striking to get their due.

  • Amahl and the Night Visitors

    Gian Carlo Menotti's Christmas Spirit for Today

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 10th, 2019

    On Site Opera revived what one hopes will become an annual production of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. In choosing settings for familiar and unfamiliar operas, On Site adds an intriguing dimension to the form. With Amahl, the location in the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen returns the opera to its original meaning.

  • Heartbeat Opera's Der Freischutz

    Louisa Proske Creates a Present Moment

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 11th, 2019

    Der Freischutz is everything an 1821 opera should be in a present day performance. The brilliant conception by Louisa Proske, credited with the adaptation and direction, surrounds us from the moment with enter the theater. The circle in the square encompasses the audience. Next to the home of Agathe at one point in the circle is a looming rock which is part of the Wolf Canyon. The orchestra is inside the circle under one section of audience. In the largest seating area, a platform extends. The singing actors use all these spaces. They come very close to us at time, ignoring our presence, but allowing us to see into their souls. Immersion hardly describes what the production offers.

  • Judgment Day at Park Avenue Armory

    Richard Jones and Christopher Shinn Disturb and Thrill

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 13th, 2019

    Entering the drill hall at the Armory, we are greeted first by sounds of birds flitting through the tall, pine trees in a forest stage left and right. Branches are laden with snow. The platform of a train station fills the front of the station. The scent of the plywood from which the big blocks of the moving stage are built, also wafts through the hall. The station master’s home is above the tracks. His wife often sits in the window, observing the action below. Express trains roar by, their lights glancing off the ceilings and the other block structures on a shiny floor, whose surface reflects. We are taken in.

  • Everything Is Super Great

    World Premiere Of Comic-Drama In South Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 16th, 2019

    Everything is Super Great is a touching and relatable comic-drama. Stephen Brown's new play is receiving a co-world premiere production at Florida Atlantic University's professional company, Theatre Lab. The production runs through Sunday and features strong acting. The play might remind some of Terrence McNally, with its focus on themes such as the power of art and the importance of human connection.

  • Second Mainstage Musical for Barrington Stage Company

    Ain’t Misbehavin’ Joins South Pacific

    By: Barrington Stage - Dec 17th, 2019

    Can there be too much of a good thing? Barrington Stage Company is known for staging classical musicals. But now Ain't Misbehavin has been added to South Pacific. This seems more about the bottomline than balanced programming. The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg is the third high season production on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage. Anna in the Tropics, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Nilo Cruz, will highlight the St. Germain Stage.

  • Seance with Benjamin Britten

    The Crypt Conjures Brittain

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 14th, 2019

    The Crypt Session as imagined and realized by Death of Classical point the way to music’s lifefulness going forward. New, young audiences wait for months to get a ticket to one of these events. Tickets sell out moments after events like this Salon Séance are announced. Andrew Ousley, whose creation Crypt Sessions and The Catacombs assures us that more events in new locations are coming. A cave is promised in the future.

  • Pride and Prejudice Reinvented

    Long Wharf Produces Kate Hamill Adaption

    By: Karen Isaacs - Dec 19th, 2019

    Kate Hamill, playwright of Long Wharf’s current production Pride and Prejudice has created somewhat of a cottage industry adapting famous 19th century novels by Austen and Thackeray though now she has moved onto 19th century American novels. Her approach will either delight or infuriate you.

  • The Plot at Yale Rep

    Will Eno's World Premiere

    By: Karen Isaacs - Dec 19th, 2019

    I’m looking forward to seeing the next iteration of The Plot as Eno continues to develop and refine this work.

  • The Thin Place by Lucas Hnath

    Playwrights Horizons Holds a Seance, Sort Of

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 21st, 2019

    Lucas Hnath is a master storyteller, weaving threads from seemingly odd places into a seamless whole, which always intrigues. Playwrights Horizons has mounted his The Thin Place, in which shifting forms ask deep questions. Some suggested answers are novel.

  • A Christmas Story: The Musical

    Stage Adaptation Of Beloved Film in South Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 20th, 2019

    The professional, non-profit, regional Slow Burn Theatre Company is staging a rousing production of A Christmas Story: The Musical. The Ft. Lauderdale company's production runs through Dec, 29. A top-notch cast delivers as triple threats.

  • << Previous Next >>