Theatre
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Ripcord by David Lindsay-Abaire
Produced By Altarena Playhouse
By: - Jan 30th, 2020Credit Lindsay-Abaire for building a comedy not just around women, but older women whose motivations are not limited to the sole objective of doting on grandkids. He makes his female protagonists full-bore individuals with zesty personalities who are willing to fight tooth-and-nail for what they want.
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Verböten by House Theatre
At Chicago's Chopin Theatre
By: - Jan 31st, 2020The old rock trope says that punk music is “three chords and the truth.” That holds true for the fact-based story about a kid punk band from Evanston in the 1980s, which just opened in a world premiere by House Theatre. Verböten is the name of the play and the band.
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My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Stout
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway.
By: - Jan 31st, 2020My Name Is Lucy Barton written by Elizabeth Stout and published to a chorus of Hosannas in 2016, is now a one-woman, 2-character play, running through February 29 at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway. Adapted from the book by Rona Munro and directed by Richard Eyre, Lucy Barton stars Laura Linney.
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The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith
By Angelo Parra at Center Repertory Company
By: - Feb 02nd, 2020Despite 7,000 attending her funeral, Bessie Smith lay in an unmarked grave for many years, as her ultimately estranged husband pocketed funds donated for her headstone. That was remedied in 1970 with a gift from one Janis Joplin.
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Evita in South Florida
At The Wick Theatre In Boca Raton
By: - Feb 01st, 2020The Wick Theatre presents a powerhouse production of Evita. Triple-threat performers and Behind-the Scenes crew shine. The production runs through Feb. 23 in Boca Raton.
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Queen for Nine Days Reigns at Jordan Hall
Gil Rose Brings Us Arnold Rosner's Lady Jane Grey
By: - Feb 03rd, 2020Jordan Hall in Boston was the setting for a concert version of Arnold Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine. His only opera for full orchestra is having its world premiere. Gil Rose, recent Grammy winner for best recorded opera, finds treasures in the archives and brings them to our attention. We are fortunate indeed.
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Tiny Beautiful Things
At San Francisco Playhouse
By: - Feb 04th, 2020The structure of Tiny Beautiful Things is comprised of unrelated letters requesting counsel, followed by Sugar’s responses, so the incoming letters lack a narrative arc. However, the themes of human dignity, self-worth, redemption, forgiveness, and especially love, course throughout, resulting in emotional connectedness.
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Groundhog Day: The Musical
A Co-Production in South Florida
By: - Feb 05th, 2020Groundhog Day is a meaty, moving and humorous story on stage. A shining Slow Burn Theatre Company/Broward Center for the Performing Arts co-production runs through Feb. 16. An ingenious, symbolic set design are among the strong production values. A talented cast shines in this convincing, vivacious production. The stage musical is based on the 1993 film starring Bill Murray as Phil Connors.
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Labyrinth by Broken Nose Theatre
By U.K. playwright Beth Steel
By: - Feb 07th, 2020I highly recommend this fast-moving, smart and funny play by U.K. playwright Beth Steel. If you’re not familiar with the early 1980s global economic recession and the Latin American debt crisis, you might want to read up on it before seeing the play.
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Pipeline at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C.
A Searing Take on Black Male Anger and Rage
By: - Feb 07th, 2020Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau opened at Lincoln Center Theater in July of 2017. Since it premiered, the play, a multi-faceted look at the 'pipeline' young black men travel from high school to prison, has had more performances across the US than any other play. It is easy to understand why. This powerful presentation of the role of parents, teachers, security guards and administration in this all too familiar path, the play provides rich opportunities for actors.
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Shakespeare & Company 2020 Season
A Mix of Classic and Contemporary in Lenox
By: - Feb 11th, 2020The 2020 season of Shakespere and Company starts on May 21 with Lifespan of a Fact by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell. The small stage production features Annette Miller. King Lear opens at the Tina Packer Playhouse on June 28. Berkies Award winner, director Regge Life returns to anchor the season with Harold Pinter's Betrayal on September 18.
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Williamstown Theatre Festival 2020
Audra McDonald in Streetcar Named Desire
By: - Feb 11th, 2020The Williamstown Theatre Festival launches with Streetcar Named Desire starring Audra McDonald on June 30. The season will feature five world premieres.
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Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle
At Yale Rep
By: - Feb 11th, 2020Manahatta, now at the Yale Rep through Saturday, Feb. 15, offers a great deal to think about. It is getting its east coast premiere, having had its initial production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2018. Playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is a lawyer, writer and activist.
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Ballroom at CVREP
Lively Revival of 1970s Musical
By: - Feb 12th, 2020Ballroom features the music of Billy Goldenberg, with a libretto by Jerome Kass, and the lyrics by multiple Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy award-winning songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman, under the direction of Ron Celona. It’s the boldest and most audacious production in CVREP history.
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Adoption Roulette by Elizabeth Fuller and Joel Vig
Palm Springs Woman’s Club
By: - Feb 16th, 2020“Adoption Roulette” is an Actors play. The action takes place on a bare-bones stage with no props or set furniture. The physical movements in the play are mimed, and the actors play multiple roles.
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Actress Lynn Cohen at 86
Remembered for Magda in Sex in the City
By: - Feb 16th, 2020New York critic Edward Rubin remembers Lynn Cohen an actress fondly remembered as the Ukranian maid Magda in the TV series Sex in the City. Ed has often been close with the performers he writes about.
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Samuel Beckett in South Florida
Happy Days at Ft. Lauderdale's Thinking Cap Theatre
By: - Feb 17th, 2020Superb acting, technical work combine to create a compelling production of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at Thinking Cap Theatre. Veteran south Florida performer Karen Stephens shines in the role of Winnie.
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National Sawdust Presents Against the Grain Opera
Intriguing Peek Into Artists-in-Residence Program
By: - Feb 16th, 2020National Sawdust, an artist led Brooklyn group, is a leading incubator of new music. One aspect of their work is an artists-in-residence program. Committed to assisting the creation of music that has impact, artists are encouraged to draw from personal experience and their interpretation of the world. Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup explores the opioid crisis.
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Lipstick Lobotomy by Krista Knight
At Chicago's Trap Door Theatre
By: - Feb 18th, 2020Throughout the play, the patients engage in therapy scenes, identified by actors two-stepping in with signs announcing Opera Therapy, Steam Therapy, Abdominal Therapy, Dancing Therapy or Makeup Therapy (patients apply cosmetics to each other). The worst is the ghastly Smile Therapy, in which patients parade around wearing strap masks with garish painted-on smiles.
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Medea by Simon Stone at BAM
Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale Deliver Riveting Performances
By: - Feb 17th, 2020BAM is mounting an elegant, moving, hip update of the Medea story, written after Euripides by Simon Stone. Starring Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale, the set is a made up of a rectangular screen onto which video images are projected. Often we see the actors in extreme close up. Their miced voices bring them even closer. The backdrop of the stage and two wings which bend in at about 40 degree angles are white. So too the stage floor. It calls attention to the stage action and to the emotional temper of Anna and Lucas, Claire, the new girlfriend, Elspeth the therapist, and Anna's and Lucas’ two children, Edgar, and Gus.
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Lifespan of a Fact
TheaterWorks in Hartford
By: - Feb 20th, 2020This is one short play (85 minutes) that kept me so interested, that I never checked my watch. Overall this production is just as good as the one I saw on Broadway a year ago.
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Hamilton On Tour
At Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center
By: - Feb 20th, 2020A vibrant equity production of Hamilton invades Miami The show isn't available for school licensing just yet, but it should give student thespians something to look forward to. This production, running through March 15, was sold out on opening night.
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Momentary Opens in Bentonville, Arkansas
A Kraft Cheese Factory Transformed
By: - Feb 20th, 2020The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a jewel created by the architect Moshe Safdie near a natural spring called Crystal and a bridge construction which is built into the museum. It was conceived and financed by Alice Walton whose family created Walmart, a company headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Now other members of the family have joined her in creating an exciting performance space in an old Kraft cheese factory in town.
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Tú Amarás (You Shall Love)
At NY's Baryshnikov Arts Center
By: - Feb 23rd, 2020After performing around the world Bonobo, the internationally acclaimed Chilean experimental theater company finally made its way to New York City’s Baryshnikov Arts Center, with Tú Amarás (You Shall Love), a socio-political offering with a surreal touch that examines what is an enemy, how do we create one, and how do we connect to others.
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Princeton Atelier at National Sawdust
Humanizing Electronic Sound
By: - Feb 24th, 2020Introductory visual and audio moments originated in climate data released as sound in a work by Kyle Barnes. This prelude was “a sonificaton of data for voice, electronics and video.” Images played on the huge back wall, which often serves as a screen in this special venue. Gentle scales crested and fell, warming us up for an introduction by Elena Park, a curator of National Sawdust +.
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