The Magic Tree sounds like the title of a children’s play, but consider that the first of several times that Irish playwright Ursula Rani Sarma plays with the audience’s expectations. Some of the initial twists are captivating in this gloomy drama making its American premiere as part of the Women’s Voice’s Theater Festival. Yet despite […]
Archives for October 20, 2015
Terri White says farewell with special Kennedy Center concert (review)
You might not expect a highlight of a cabaret concert to include the singer passing off her mic to the piano player, revealing a row of variously filled Makers Mark bottles, pulling out a pair of spoons, and accompanying a version of “Under the Sea” with a calypso-sounding percussion turn. But that happened Friday night […]
Aaron Copeland’s The Tender Land at In Series (review)
In 1954, The Tender Land at the New York City Opera was a box office flop. American composer Aaron Copland, already famous for his folkloric, cutting-edge ballet scores, Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944, for Martha Graham), felt so humiliated, he left town the next day and abandoned opera composing.