Theater/Film Reviews
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True West
It’s hard to imagine anyone being comfortable watching a Sam Shepherd play. His onstage world is a bleak one, no matter the setting. But of course that’s the way the world is; just because it’s a household with a paid-off mortgage and nice clothing doesn’t mean the occupants are happy, or even functional. True West
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Fefu and Her Friends
Perhaps the main purpose of art is to make us think. And while my general approach to reviewing theatre has been described – without malice – as being like the guy on the next bar stool, the more experimental shows always intrigue me. One doesn’t listen to Phillip Glass because of his hummable melodies, or
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Dreamgirls
People still argue over whether Dreamgirls is or isn’t about the Supremes and Diana Ross. The story only has some parallels, and there was an abundance of girl groups in the years before and during Motown’s golden era. But it really makes no difference. Go see Dreamgirls at Stray Dog Theatre because it sounds glorious.
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Popcorn Falls
Delightfully goofy. That’s The Midnight Company’s Popcorn Falls. A two-person comedy? Well, two actors. But not two characters. Way not two characters. Joe Hanrahan and Shane Signorino give us, seemingly, half the population of the small town of Popcorn Falls. The town has been, ahem, left up the creek by a dam diverting the water
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Time Stands Still
Time Stands Still was written in 2009 – although author Donald Margulies acknowledges he did some revision and tightening a few years after that. It feels all too fresh. Two young, or at least young-ish, free-lance journalists are partners and often work together. Sarah Goodwin (Wendy Renee Greenwood) is a photojournalist of considerable ability and
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The Play That Goes Wrong
Spring seems to be in sight. We should all be frolicking like lambs (except, perhaps, when we’re dealing with taxes). Sunlight has been seen, the snow seems all melted – so far – and spring training is on the radio. Enough with the heavy themes of the winter months, the furrowed brows, the deep sighs
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Beautiful
It’s hard to beat the exuberance of Beautiful. Of all the jukebox musicals, it has, I suspect, the longest time span of songs, so there are at least two generations that see the show and try to resist the urge to dance in the seats. It is, like so many of these shows, the background
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Nonsense and Beauty
Two people meet. A spark is struck. Words of love are spoken. After a while, one of them meets and marries someone else. What happens to the first relationship, especially if both parties are still invested in it, albeit to different degrees? Nonsense and Beauty, now at the Rep Studio, brings the first full production
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Buffon Glass Menajoree
Bouffon Glass Menajoree was staged this weekend when the Ten Directions Production was hosted by Young Liars Theatre. If you are, as I was, unfamiliar with the theatre style termed “bouffon”, here’s what Wikipedia says: “a modern French theater term that was re-coined in the early 1960s…to describe a specific style of performance work that has
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Well
Well, the current offering from Mustard Seed Theatre seems to begin with the concept of chronic illness and its effect on the family. It is, almost, a play-within-a-play-within-a-play. Don’t however, let those two descriptors put you off. Theatre is about storytelling, and often, indeed mostly, those stories are about stressful situations, whether the stress is