Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. While those ominous words may not hang above Flashpoint’s door, Dante would recognize this place. Cautiously making our way around the darkened room — the seats are roped off with black ribbon — accompanied by a jazzy score with otherworldly tones, we are both beckoned and repelled by […]
Archives for April 2011
They ‘pushed da button’: The Color Purple’s Dayna Jarae Dantzler and Taprena Augustine
I had seen The Color Purple the week it opened on Broadway in December 2005, with LaChanze and Elisabeth Withers-Mendes in the roles of Celie and Shug Avery and they were absolutely wonderful. In fact, both were nominated for the Tony that year and LaChanze won for her performance as Celie. I also saw The […]
Newest Forever stamp honors Helen Hayes
The latest Forever® stamp issued by the United States Postal Stamp will bear the image of Helen Hayes, regarded as “First Lady of the American Theater”. The first date of issue will be Monday, April 25, 2011 and will be honored with a special ceremony that evening at the Helen Hayes Awards ceremony.
The New Electric Ballroom
Multiply Miss Havisham by three, add Irish accents and a peculiarly compelling sense of the macabre and you have Enda Walsh’s The New Electric Ballroom, the female-driven companion piece to Mr. Walsh’s father and sons play, The Walworth Farce, also being staged at Studio Theatre as part of the New Ireland Festival.
Blues for an Alabama Sky
A rather decent rendition of Blues for an Alabama Sky is happening over at Atlas. The scene changes take too much time and distract from the quietly unfolding drama, but otherwise, the writing is well served and the actors have a field day with the material.
Margaret Colin at home in Arcadia and on the big and small screens
Arcadia’s Margaret Colin on playing Lady Croom and her stage, film, and TV roles I’m a big fan of Margaret Colin’s work and it was so much fun schmoozing with her about her role as Lady Croom in the revival of Arcadia now playing on Broadway. What a blast it was talking about her soap […]
Speech & Debate
Speech & Debate is about silence and lies, and about the sort of secrets that adults keep from teenagers and teenagers keep from each other. Another way to say this is that it is about sex – adult sex, practiced upon teenagers in a high school wilderness where they are taught that they are still […]
Immerse yourself in The Mikado
From time to time this column will take a look at a favorite activity of mine: immersion in a single play, musical or work of a single artist or creative team. What CDs, DVDs and books are out there that, taken together, give a deeper experience of the piece? Today, it is the work of […]
Clybourne Park wins Pulitzer
April 18, 2011 — Clybourne Park, a play by Bruce Norris, produced at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in 2010, was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama today. The jury’s citation praised the play as “a powerful work whose memorable characters speak in witty and perceptive ways to America’s sometimes toxic struggle with race and class […]
National Pastime
Most theatre companies line up as either devotees of drama or musicals. Keegan Theatre stakes its reputation on embracing and producing both. The company’s work is often strong and compelling. However, with National Pastime, the company has fallen into the sin of bad musical comedy: the actors are having more fun on stage than we […]
The Color Purple
The musical version of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning “The Color Purple” is the story of Celie’s odyssey from utter despair to triumph. It is the story of discovery and the power of love. The touring production of musical version is back for a brief stop at The National Theatre and it assaults the senses with […]
2011 Curtain Call – meet the producers
“Google “billionaire theater producer” and you will find no results. In fact, theater is often where investors go to lose money, as Mel Brooks hilariously taught us in The Producers. Why does any company do it, then – take on the incredible risks of producing a show or founding a new theater company? Generosity of […]