Welcome to winter wonderland, presented by 1^st Stage.  If you’ve been to this theater, things will seem a little different this time.  The arena-like seating is curtained off for the performance, and chairs are placed in the round on the stage itself.  Getting to your seats will be tricky with very strict no-walking-on-the-stage’s-set rules in place.  Seated, you just might feel a chill, with much of the stage covered in theatrical snow, with more to follow as the play progresses.  As you wait for the actors to take the stage, chilly music, reminiscent of George Winston’s album “December” plays on the sound system. [Read more...]

If you like comedy that makes you smile as well as laugh you can’t do much better than 1^st Stage’s presentation of Miklós László’s Parfumerie.  Audiences on this side of the world are not particularly familiar with this play from its title – written in Hungary in 1936, the comedy has been a favorite in Europe for decades, but only made its U.S. debut in 2009 - but it could very well become a standard Christmastime production in the years ahead.  1st Stage Artistic Director Mark Krikstan, wanting to stage “a Christmas play that is different than what is normally done,”  gave it his third season’s holiday slot. [Read more...]

A central question for any two character play is whether the playwright can keep the audience interested.  Sarah Treem’s The How and the Why succeeds through an intelligent blend of personal, political, and intellectual conflicts in an absorbing  new production at 1st Stage. [Read more...]

If you are looking for a crowd pleaser to open your theatre’s season, a fine farce like Don’t Dress for Dinner is an excellent choice.  1st Stage launches its new year with an enjoyable production of a famous French classic work from the late Marc Camoletti, best known as the author of the recent successful Broadway revival Boeing-Boeing.  [Read more...]

How light is the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Alan Ayckbourn musical now playing at 1^st Stage? Imagine a chiffon pie, covered with whipped cream and meringue. It is lighter than that. Imagine a field of chipmunks floating on helium balloons. It is lighter than that. Imagine The Unbearable Lightness of Being, made not only bearable but turned into a gigglefest. It is lighter than that. [Read more...]

The Tennessee Williams Centennial Festival has closed, but 1st Stage’s sensitive and skilled rendition of The Glass Menagerie allows us to revel in the talent of the great Tennessee Williams once again. [Read more...]

Life is already chaotic and amusing enough when your life is somewhat normal.  Add in a peculiar twist and your day can really take a left turn into the Twilight Zone.  “Good morning.  How are you?  How would you like to get dressed.  You really like this dress.  Would you like to have some breakfast?”  “Yes, thank you.  Oh, what an awful dress.  Do I really like this dress?  By the way, who are you?  And…who am I?”  How would you like it if your day started this way?  What if every day started this way? [Read more...]

Can an Agatha Christie mystery still be interesting if you already know who did it?  Thanks to a talented cast and a polished production from 1st Stage, the answer is a solid “Yes.” [Read more...]

Hard-working corporate lawyer Johnny Case wants to use an eminent business score to “retire early and work late” so he can experience life.  This plan is a surprise to his heiress fiancée, a delight to her rebellious sister, and an anathema to her wealthy banker father.  Such is the plot behind Philip Barry’s Holiday, a classic theatrical chestnut that receives a pleasant but understated production from 1st Stage. [Read more...]

“I’m so glad nobody was killed,” an audience member, walking past me, remarked to a companion.

Well, of course, murder was on the table. We’re talking about stamp collecting, aren’t we?

Mauritius is a love story – a story about love of stamps, and love of money, and other, mostly doomed, love drifting mysteriously through a half-told backstory. [Read more...]