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Theatre

  • Hunchback of Notre Dame in Ft. Lauderdale

    Slow Burn Theatre Company Rings the Bell

    By: Aaron Kraus - Oct 25th, 2016

    Composer Alan Menken, lyricist Stephen Schwartz and book writer Peter Parnell have created a heartfelt, heartbreaking and riveting version of the popular Victor Hugo novel.

  • Red Velvet at Chicago's Raven Theatre

    Actor Ira Aldridge Challenged London's Racism

    By: Nancy Bishop - Oct 27th, 2016

    In 1833, the African-American actor Ira Aldridge (Brandon Greenhouse) was the first black man to play the leading role in Othello in a London theater.

  • The Piano Lesson by August Wilson

    Revival at Hartford Stage Company

    By: Charles Giuliano - Oct 31st, 2016

    In 1987 August Wilson's The Piano Lesson premiered at Yale Rep. It was one of two plays from the ten in the decades spanning Pittsburgh Cycle that won a Pulitzer Prize. It is being revived in a production at Hartford Stage Company. The stunning, vintage, hand crafted upright piano from the original Yale production has been borrowed for this occasion. It is the centerpiece for sibling tension that informs the iconic Wilson drama.

  • One Flea Spare by Naomi Wallace

    Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company Off Broadway

    By: Aaron Kraus - Nov 02nd, 2016

    The title of the play, which feels like a cross between Tennessee Williams and Harold Pinter's work, comes from words in a poem by English poet John Donne (1573-1631).

  • The Bottle Tree by Beth Kander

    Premiere at Chicago's Stage Left Theater

    By: Nancy Bishop - Nov 02nd, 2016

    The bottle tree is a background symbol in Stage Left Theatre’s haunting new play by that name—a world premiere script by Beth Kander—about the U.S. gun culture and its most horrific example, school shootings.

  • Tiger Style Purrs At Huntington

    Chinese-American Play Promises More Than It Delivers

    By: Mark Favermann - Nov 04th, 2016

    Squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen attained academic achievement. But as adults, they’re socially awkward depressed failures: he’s just been passed up for promotion and she’s been dumped by her loser boyfriend. So pivoting to the West and the East, they confront their Tiger parents and launch an Asian Freedom Tour! From California to China and back, this new comedy examines race, parenting, and success.

  • Zora Neale Hurston: a Theatrical Biography

    Celebrating the Queen of the Harlem Renaissance

    By: Aaron Kraus - Nov 05th, 2016

    The "Queen of the Harlem Renaissance" would probably be thrilled with the birthday bash Off-Broadway's New Federal Theatre and Castillo Theatre are throwing in her honor. They're presenting a fresh, dynamic production of the bio-play "Zora Neale Hurston: a Theatrical Biography" through Nov. 20 in Castillo's intimate black box theater.

  • King Charles III At Chicago Shakespeare

    After the Queen Dies

    By: Nancy Bishop - Nov 21st, 2016

    This is a thoughtful drama (with comic lines) about the nature of law and constitutionality and father-son relationships. Director Gary Griffin takes Mike Bartlett’s carefully shaped story and brings out its drama, compassion and relevance to the day’s events.

  • The Servant of Two Masters

    At Brooklyn's Theatre for a New Audience

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 20th, 2016

    The Polonsky Shakespeare Center mounts a charming production of Carlo Goldoni's famous play. Improvisation abounds. You'll hear about Flatbush and election night mares.

  • Topher Payne’s Perfect Arrangement

    At Florida's Island City Stage

    By: Aaron Krause - Nov 22nd, 2016

    The leadership of the multi-award winning Island City Stage, a bold and daring Wilton company near Ft. Lauderdale is dedicated to “producing theatrical experiences that positively impact the LGBT and general community,." “Perfect Arrangement” by Topher Payne centers on an effort to track down and fire homosexuals who worked for the U.S. government in the 1950s. .

  • Holiday Inn at Roundabout Theatre

    The New Irving Berlin Musical

    By: Edward Rubin - Dec 15th, 2016

    With a book co-written by Chad Hodge and Gordon Greenberg (he is also the director), Holiday Inn, stuffed with 22 Irving Berlin songs, some standards, others resurrected from the dead, is back on the boards again.

  • Dear Evan Hansen

    Backstory of How the Musical Made Its Way to Broadway

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 15th, 2016

    During a meeting of American Theatre Critics Association in New York there was a panel devoted to the development from page to stage of the recently opened, well reviewed musical Dear Evan Hansen

  • Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde

    Promethean Theatre Ensembles

    By: Nancy Bishop - Dec 15th, 2016

    Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is a documentary-style play set in a courtroom. Lest you think that sounds dry, it isn’t. Jamie Bragg stars as Oscar Wilde. Her performance is nuanced and persuasive as the jaunty Oscar in her every word, look, gesture and posture.

  • Projection and Sound Design in Theatre

    Panel During ATCA Critics NY Conference

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 17th, 2016

    “See Me, Hear Me: Innovations and Challenges in Projection and Sound Design," moderated by Martha Wade Steketee, was the toipic of a penel during the New York conference of American Theatre Critics Association. A video of the panel may be viewed at the ATCA website.,

  • Million Dollar Quartet In Coral Gables

    Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 20th, 2016

    The Tony Award winning show,which enjoyed a Broadway run, Million Dollar Quartet, dramatizes a real-life historic jam session between rock stars Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tenn. on Dec. 4, 1956.

  • Lucas Hnath’s Play The Christians

    At Chicago's Steppenwolf

    By: Nancy Bishop - Dec 20th, 2016

    Lucas Hnath’s play The Christians at Steppenwolf Theatre challenges the belief systems of its characters on stage as well as those of religious and nonreligious audience members.

  • Sandy on Broadway

    No Business Like Show Business

    By: Sandy Katz - Dec 20th, 2016

    During the ATCA NY conference Sandy and Gerry Katz saw a bunch of shows on Broadway. She also has terrific travel tips.

  • My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy

    Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 23rd, 2016

    While Zimmerman’s show is obviously meant mostly for laughs, there is at least one lesson to learn: In life, perseverance, thick skin and luck can lead to successes that once seemed impossible.

  • Conor McPherson’s The Weir

    Irish Theatre of Chicago.

    By: Nancy Bishop - Dec 26th, 2016

    Conor McPherson’s The Weir isn’t your typical Christmas play, but I’ll take it any day over any of the traditional treacly tales that grace our stages this time of year. The play, however, has a Holiday theme.

  • An American in Paris

    Road Company in Miami

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 29th, 2016

    “An American in Paris” is a musical composition by George Gershwin, which he referred to as an “extended symphonic tone poem.” The New York Philharmonic commissioned it and the piece soon became one of his most famous compositions. It was inspired by his visit to Paris during the 1920s.

  • Avenue Q Lives On in the US

    From College Grads to the 99%

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 28th, 2016

    In the beginning, almost a decade and a half ago, target audiences were young people whose lives paralleled those of the characters on stage. Princeton has just graduated from college with an unmarketable BA in English. Kate can't find a job to fulfill her teaching ambitions. Gary Coleman peaked at fifteen and is now a building superintendent. Today these characters can be any one of the 99 % that make up our nation.

  • Touring Company of 42nd Street

    On the Road in Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Jan 02nd, 2017

    Current non-equity national tour director Mark Bramble doesn’t disappoint in a mostly commendable production of 42nd Street that played a one-night stand in West Palm Beach on New Year’s Eve. The 16-week touring production will continue at Florida venues until Jan. 6, when it heads north.

  • Light Up the Night for New Year

    Treasure Trove of Songs by the National Yiddish Theater

    By: Susan Hall - Jan 02nd, 2017

    Jewish music is often in the minor mode, but the enduring spirit of the people who sing it and live it creates a hopeful and joyous atmosphere.

  • The Charleston Christmas Special

    Yet Again Produced by Brad and Jennifer Moranz

    By: Sanmdy Katz - Dec 14th, 2016

    Brad and Jennifer Moranz want y'all to have a Holly Jolly Christmas and a Happy New Year. For the past 21 years their Charleston Christmas Special has provided Broadway-quality entertainment with the gusto of holiday happiness.

  • Jay Presson Allen’s Tru

    At Palm Beach Dramaworks

    By: Aaron Krause - Dec 13th, 2016

    Jay Presson Allen’s historical one-man play, “Tru,” which is on stage through Jan. 1 at Palm Beach Dramaworks in a first-rate production, deftly depicts the humanity and resiliency of late celebrity author Truman Capote.

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