The first Broadway revival of Miss Saigon is being marketed as the return of a classic. But, if the show has become an undeniable fan favorite, the production’s impressive visual spectacle, lively staging and crowd-pleasing vocal calisthenics cannot completely mask a script that leans heavily on emotional manipulation and one-dimensional storytelling.
Archives for March 23, 2017
Time to respond to Trump’s threatened cuts for the arts
Abolish all government funding for the arts and humanities? Eliminate the NEA? Seems inconceivable, yet that is what President Trump proposed in his budget sent to Congress. Hopefully it won’t happen. Hopefully Congress will not accept this proposal and will at least maintain the minimal funding now in effect (spending on National Endowment of the Arts, […]
NEA shutdown? We learned its impact on theatre in the DC area
The imminent shutdown of the National Endowment for the Arts, promised in President Trump’s 2017-2018 budget, will result in fewer and smaller new plays, bring an end to cultural exchanges with theaters in other countries, sharply curtail a program to bring theater to rural America, and increase competition for the private donations that smaller theaters […]
Don Giovanni gets a youthful outing at Washington National Opera
Mozart would have been grinning at this youthful production of his tried-and-true opera that reached out to a new younger and diverse audience Friday night, March 17th. Washington National Opera’s Don Giovanni was Mozart as he wanted to be known: someone who delivered stories-in-song with popular appeal.