Mid-Life, The Crisis Musical

Mid-Life, The Crisis Musical
Book, Music and Lyrics by Bob Walton and Jim Walton
Directed by Shawn Kettering
Produced by Toby’s Dinner Theatre, Columbia
Reviewed by Ted Ying

You’ve heard the one about a person who spends the day trying to do some chores but, getting distracted at each step of the way, ends the day with nothing done.  Absent-mindedness is just one of the many humorous aspects of approaching mid-life along with medical problems, embarrassing exams, landmark birthdays and more.  With such a cornucopia of material to draw from, Mid-Life, The Crisis Musical should be a side-splitting success. Read more

Isn’t It Romantic?

Isn’t it Romantic?
Written and directed by David Hunter Koch
Music Direction by William Knowles
Produced by MetroStage
Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

No one this side of the Blue Note or the Algonquin Hotel delivers a silver-plated lyric like Jimi Ray Malary.  Just as in prior MetroStage hits, Ellington: The Life and Music of The Duke and Nat King Cole: King of Cool, Malary mixes old school technique with a modern flair for just the right classic touch. Read more

Forbidden Broadway and The Seagull

by Richard Seff

Gerard Alessandrini, creator, writer and director of the Forbidden Broadway series of small revues designed to skewer the Broadway of its current season, has announced that the series will end.  The latest, called Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab, will be the last. If this turns out to be true, it’s good to be able to report that Rehab is among the top five of the Forbiden shows which first appeared in l982. Read more

Pearl Bailey .. By Request

If you enjoy live R&B/jazz and are looking for an entertaining musical evening out, the MetroStage world premiere production of Pearl Bailey . . . By Request admirably fills the bill. Read more

A Night at the Dew Drop Inn

•  A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn
• Conceived and Directed by James Foster Jr.
• Produced by Theater Alliance
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

We may as well face it.  The cabaret musical isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  It’s an entertaining crowd pleaser that fills seats, so if the genre is not for you, that’s fine.  Just fill your dance card with “legitimate” theatre.  For the rest of us who enjoy or at least don’t mind the cabaret theatre combo, catch Ella at Arena or Cookin’ at the Cookery at Metro Stage. Read more

Ella

• Ella
• By Jeffrey Hatcher
• Conceived by Rob Ruggiero and Dyke Garrison
• Presented by Arena Stage
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

A Tisket, a Tasket– only the marvelous vocals of Ella Fitzgerald could turn a children’s play song about losing a yellow basket into a scat-wielding marvel and only the unassumingly delightful Tina Fabrique could make it swing.  In this upbeat, sassy production Ella, at the newly revamped temporary home of Arena Stage, Ms. Fabrique hits her stride channeling the energy and pizzazz of legendary jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald with enough bee-bop to shimmy across the innovatively designed new stage.

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