It’s nearly certain that most aficionados of the American musical theatre would agree that Jerome Kern (Music) and Oscar Hammerstein II’s (Book and Lyrics) Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber’s novel, is one of those memorable shows that has – and will continue to – withstand the test of time for good reason. Its glorious […]
Archives for May 6, 2013
A handsome production of Pinter’s No Man’s Land by WSC Avant Bard
“This is a very pleasant room,” the garrulous Mr. Spooner (Christopher Henley) says to his host, the silent, opaque Mr. Hirst (Brian Hemmingsen), and indeed it is, as it is festooned everywhere with alcohol, of every variety, in large bottles and small. Hirst has met Spooner in a bar in a skuzzy town midway between […]
Smash 2:14 The Phenomenon
My dear readers, I am so, so, so sorry. After my praise of last week’s episode, I have to imagine that a handful of you, or perhaps even one, responded along the lines of, “Oh, how exciting! John clearly knows what he’s talking about and I will hereby watch next week’s Smash with a renewed […]
Actéon
Opera Lafayette bounded onto the stage at the Terrace Theatre this week offering a “post-modern” baroque opera that was both elegant and fresh. Artistic Director Ryan Brown teamed up with choreographer Seán Curran in a remount of Actéon, a minor classic by seventeenth century French composer Marc-Antoin Charpentier, that Brown’s company has given us straight […]
Other Desert Cities
Jon Robin Baitz’ fitful exposé of a coiffured, political-celebrity family in extremis, Other Desert Cities, the hit of the 2011-12 Broadway season, is a cool, captivating examination of the cracks in family myth and the slippery nature of truth.