Richard Branagh’s Public Enemy, as presented by Scena Theatre, is an interesting mash of psychological drama, shoot ‘em up gangster story, and affectionate film tribute.
Archives for April 2010
La Cage aux Folles
This miracle musical from the pens of Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein, based on a French play by Jean Poiret, first landed on our shores in 1983 with a cast headed by George Hearn and Gene Barry. It returns now in a revival which was conceived and born in England at the Menier Chocolate Factory
Searching for Gabriela
Writers, one could argue, wield the most power out of any of us, since they build and destroy worlds with the flip of a pencil, the turn of a new idea. In Sybil R. Williams’s new play for the In Series, Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral speaks more humbly of her craft. “The people walking on […]
Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies
Starring Maurice Hines and a fabulous cast of dancers and singers, the Arena Stage production of Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies at the Lincoln Theatre is, hands down, the hottest show in town.
Son of a Stand Up Comedian
The estimable Paul Scott Goodman, who gave us the semi-autobiographical musical Rooms: A Rock Romance two years ago, is in town with his much-more-autobiographical Son of a Stand Up Comedian. Careful, Paul! Real life is incomparably messier than the tight narrative arc you crafted for Rooms,
An inside look at the Joe Louis opera, Shadowboxer
Composer Frank Proto and Librettist John Chenault and director Leon Major reveal what it takes to bring the life of boxing icon Joe Louis to the opera stage.
The Old Settler
Three women. One man. With odds like this, a man better have his wits about him.
The Fool at the Circus
Before the show, Director Nicholas Allen comes out to remind the audience that one of the things we should do is laugh. But his encouragement is hardly necessary. We can’t help but laugh because this production is brimming with funny moments,
Triumph of Love
What do you do when the man you adore wants to kill you? You seduce him, disguised as a man impersonating another woman, while fending off the affections of both his uncle and his aunt, of course!
The Dancing Princesses
Set in the Roaring ‘20’s, the show is a new musical take on the old Grimm’s tale. After the death of his beloved Queen, a grief-stricken King banishes dance from all the land, much to the distress of his people, including his two daughters, Lara and Lena. But the girls find their way to a […]
The House with Two Doors
A beautiful runaway and a mysterious foreigner chance to meet by night in the streets of Naples, transforming a cloak-and-dagger intrigue into a Renaissance bedroom farce complete with masks, swordplay, mistaken identity, and laughs for the whole family.
60 Miles to Silver Lake
60 Miles to Silver Lake bends time and space as a boy and his father traverse damage of a rough divorce and growing older. Set entirely in the front seat of a used car, the men are glued to the pleather and seatbelted in tightly as they speed down a California freeway toward territory both […]