Lips Together, Teeth Apart
October 18, 2010 By 1 Comment
I have delayed my review of Bay Theatre’s production of this Terrence McNally play for nearly a week, for two reasons. The first is that, despite my great admiration for McNally’s work, I did not like what I saw on stage. The second is that McNally himself, along with the work’s director and actors, were going to appear post-show on October 17th. It would give me an opportunity to find out directly what the people responsible for the play had in mind. [Read more...]
Blood Sweat and Fears III
October 18, 2010 By 1 Comment
Blood Sweat & Fears III – The Red Velvet Curtain
This latest collaboration between Molotov Theatre Group and Shawn Northrip is designed with a particular type of audience in mind. You know who you are. You’ve just come back from the pleasures of “Jackass 3-D” and you’ve not quite exhausted your taste for the startling, the bizarre and the disgusting. [Read more...]
A Standing Ovation! Performances to Cherish
October 15, 2010 By 16 Comments
In the last three months, there were many performances that moved me, made me laugh, and made me stand up and cheer at the final curtain. Here are my favorites. Bravo to all of you! [Read more...]
In Transit
October 14, 2010 By 1 Comment
Primary Stages is continuing its policy of bringing new works, straight and musical, to the New York stage with In Transit, a small musical with not a lot on its mind. Seven appealing performers sing out its message, which is that we must not worry too much about past or future, [Read more...]
Kickstarter backers give shows a hand
October 14, 2010 By 2 Comments
After eight years of working on it, and a lifetime of thinking about it, he finally had a musical ready for prime time, but needed $6,500 to showcase it. She had a once-in-a-lifetime invite to bring her Denver company’s vaudeville-meets-Cirque show to an Off-Broadway theatre but needed money to build a juggling machine for the finale. They both turned to the online community of backers at Kickstarter.com for help. [Read more...]
Richard Stafford directs Curtains
October 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Part 1 in a series on Philadelphia directors from
Curtains, SilverHill, Macbeth, and The Three Penny Opera.
It’s one of my favorite Kander and Ebb musicals and I’ll be seeing the final performance of Curtains at the intimate Walnut Street Theatre on October 24th. Last year I loved Walnut’s production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and was impressed by the work of director Richard Stafford, so I was delighted to hear that he was back at The Walnut to direct Curtains. [Read more...]
Two by J.M. Barrie
October 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
J. M. Barrie authored a treasure trove of other note-worthy plays along with the age-defying Peter Pan. The rarely seen one-acts currently playing at Rep Stage are threaded together with a focus on the families left behind during the “Great War” while their young men gallantly fought for their beloved homeland. [Read more...]
Terrence McNally at Bay Theatre this Sunday
October 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Playwright Terrence McNally, last in town to see Tyne Daly, John Glover and Jeffrey Carlson perform his trio of opera-themed plays at the Kennedy Center this past April, returns to the area, this time to the tiny Bay Theatre in Annapolis, MD to see their production of his play Lips Together Teeth Apart. [Read more...]
The Wiz
October 12, 2010 By 1 Comment
Put on your platform shoes and pimp suit and ease on down the road—in this case, I-95—to Baltimore, where Center Stage has created a sturdily upbeat revival of the musical The Wiz that pays tribute to 70s kitsch without being slavish to the boogie. [Read more...]
Sabrina Fair
October 12, 2010 By 1 Comment
Ford’s Theater opened its 2010-2011 season last week with a charming production of Samuel A. Taylor’s romantic comedy Sabrina Fair.
Written in the early 1950s, Sabrina Fair opened on Broadway in 1953 and tells a Cinderella-esque story about a young girl who is looking for true love but finds her hopes and dreams stunted by the class and social conventions in place at the time. [Read more...]
