Beehive: The ’60s Musical Sensation: Even as the fine band warmed up the crowd with an “It’s My Party”-infused medley, deep in my gut the pain began. It was the same pain that accompanies all such musical reviews, and it sharpened with the play’s first chipper hit-parade memory, “The Name…
Beehive: The ’60s Musical Sensation: Even as the fine band warmed up the crowd with an “It’s My Party”-infused medley, deep in my gut the pain began. It was the same pain that accompanies all such musical reviews, and it sharpened with the play’s first chipper hit-parade memory, “The Name…
In the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian’s new miniature play, Rosemary and Elizabeth, there is a moment as tender as it is brief, when two widows hold hands and sigh. Lovingly directed by Margaret Ledford and acted with exquisite delicacy by Elizabeth Dimon and Kim Ostrenko, Rosemary is a triumph…
Five Course Love: One night, five restaurants, and fifteen characters sum up this tasty yet not entirely filling new musical onstage in the Miracle Theatre’s intimate upstairs room. Directed by David Arisco, the ensemble of Oscar Cheda, Janet Dacal, and Christopher A. Kent is the hardest-working trio in show biz…
One night, five restaurants, and fifteen characters sum up Five Course Love, the tasty yet not entirely filling new musical onstage in Miracle Theatre’s intimate upstairs room. Directed by David Arisco, the Actors’ Playhouse ensemble of Oscar Cheda, Janet Dacal, and Christopher A. Kent is the hardest-working trio in showbiz…
The Impressionists: In the 2000 movie Pollock, a crucially transformative scene places Jackson Pollock breaking through his previous conventions to slap paint on canvases. When wife Lee Krasner comes around to see what would forever after be recognized as his signature groove, she proclaims, “You’ve done it, Pollock. You’ve cracked…
The Impressionists: In the 2000 movie Pollock, a crucially transformative scene places Jackson Pollock breaking through his previous conventions to slap paint on canvases. When wife Lee Krasner comes around to see what would forever after be recognized as his signature groove, she proclaims, “You’ve done it, Pollock. You’ve cracked…
Watching M Ensemble’s production of Seven Guitars is like sitting in your neighbor’s back yard on Sunday: Although there’s not a lot going on, simply being invited generates a feel-good sense of belonging. But after spending an hour listening to strangers jabber about their lives without any real story line,…
Carmen: We know her, we love her, and we can’t get enough of her. People who have never been to an opera house could probably recognize Carmen within a few notes. And those who love opera remain fascinated by this sexy creature. Florida Grand Opera, which began its relationship with…
We know her, we love her, and we can’t get enough of her. People who have never been to an opera house could probably recognize Carmen within a few notes. And those who love opera remain fascinated by this sexy creature. Carmen was the heroine of Prosper Mérimée’s 1845 novella…
What do you get if you combine eight musicians, forty-two singers, and one fast-talking con artist? Answer: “Seventy-Six Trombones.” Huh? Those good in math might be scratching their heads, wondering what the heck we’re talking about, but this was exactly the formula Meredith Willson used to create his legendary Broadway…
Family Secret: Edge Theatre, which last year served up Men on the Verge of a Hispanic Breakdown, now offers Family Secret, written and directed by Jim Tommaney. God smiles on roaming bands of small theater troupe experimentalists. One week they might be playing in an art gallery, the next a…
John Beauregard was 39 years old when he fell from a construction site and broke his neck. In one awful moment, the builder who loved to ski became a C7 quadriplegic, largely paralyzed from the neck down. “I remember when I first got hurt and for all those many years,…
The Sunken Living Room: This is one instance when the story behind the scenes upstages the action in the play. David Caudle’s family drama was scheduled to open in New Orleans last summer, but Hurricane Katrina hit. The play is about a 24-hour period in the life of a dysfunctional…
This is one instance when the story behind the scenes upstages the action in the play. David Caudle’s family drama The Sunken Living Room, now receiving its world premiere at New Theatre, has been through quite a real-life saga. It was scheduled to open at the acclaimed Southern Rep in…
Umoja should be presented with two disclaimers. The first: May cause serious fatigue. Meaning this 36-member troupe emanates more energy than a hyperactive four-year-old hooked up to an intravenous caffeine drip. And during Wednesday’s electric opening-night performance at the Gusman Center, an enthusiastic crowd barely kept up. From tribal snake…
Balm in Gilead: Lanford Wilson was a master of realistic dialogue in which monologue, conversation, and direct address to the audience overlap. Written in 1965, this work was the playwright’s first full-length play. The drama takes place in Frank’s Café, a seedy all-night diner in New York City’s Upper Broadway…
Ed Bullins is one of the most influential and controversial names in African-American history. Spike Lee may be more familiar; Denzel Washington and Halle Berry are undoubtedly more bankable. And in modern literary circles, Toni Morrison’s moniker might spark more interest. But Bullins, a prize-winning African-American playwright who dominated the…
In the evil galaxy of schadenfreude where theater resides, nothing is better than a darkly funny play about hopeless wankers full of big talk and even bigger dreams that will never be realized because of their cycles of obsession and addiction. In the case of Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice, onstage…
Educating Rita: With this tale of upper-crust English professor Frank mentoring lower-class literary wannabe Rita, Dramaworks’ director Nanique Gheridian sends us into a supposedly well-recognized Pygmalion paradigm. But for those of us who shied away from seeing the 1983 Michael Caine film version of the play, it is not as…
Mad Cat’s latest adventures in the wonderland of new plays have landed the scruffy Miami troupe in a good place. William Donnelly’s Painted Alice, now onstage at the Light Box, may not be especially profound, but it is very funny. And it also gives the Mad Catters a chance to…
Educating Rita: With this tale of upper-crust English professor Frank mentoring lower-class literary wannabe Rita, Dramaworks’ director Nanique Gheridian sends us into a supposedly well-recognized Pygmalion paradigm. But for those of us who shied away from seeing the 1983 Michael Caine film version of the play, it is not as…
