If The Building Stage’s current production of Dawn, Quixote feels undergirded by a pervasive—even wistful—sadness, it’s not hard to understand why. For following the show’s completed run on April 27th, The Building Stage will be shuttering its doors for good. Thankfully founder and artistic director Blake Montgomery’s recent adaptation of Cervantes’s classic is a final act truly worthy of remembrance.
Read MoreThe libretto doesn’t shy away from the sexual power of the original script as it contains references to Blanche’s gay husband and as it presents the provocative kissing the newspaper collector “on the mouth”scene. This free-flowing three hour plus production has the haunting tone and a fluid use of trumpet and solo clarinet to amplify the atmosphere and psychology of a scene. Previn demonstrates his perception of the cloudy views of reality as seen by Williams’ characters. A Streetcar Named Desire pack a wallop and must take its place as one fine contemporary operas. Renee Fleming makes Blanche her own.
Read MoreUnder A Rainbow Flag is a delightful, light-weight musical that explores the various types of love that gay men endured in those closeted-days during WWII. This show is a tribute to the wholesomeness and heart of gay men. It celebrates the essence of being gay with a high-energy expression. It contains humor, angst, love, and hope as those early brave souls were determined to live in truth. This is a fun show that could use a trim and more authentic military uniforms but it delivers a well-sung tribute to gay veterans all around bravery. It is a worthy new musical that begs an audience.
Read MoreYet I suppose its luridly overdone production design is the closest Priscilla comes to actual camp. Like a drag queen who genuinely believes her own tinsel-laden illusions, Priscilla is more often than not only “playing” a good time. Desperate to keep you from noticing the wrinkled clichés beneath all the makeup or how its only ever lip-syncing someone else’s tunes, Priscilla blinds you with tasteless spectacle, gaudy costumes and enough bitchy “shade” throwing for an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
But Priscilla isn’t fooling anyone. Dress it up however you like. It still doesn’t sing…
Read MoreThus with a remarkable eye for Shakespeare’s darker tonalities, Falls’ Measure for Measure is wickedly smart even as it seemingly pulls our inner moral compasses all which ways. As beautifully constructed as it is intellectually evocative, it comes highly recommended.
Read MoreThere’s no denying that Smokey Joe’s has immense commercial appeal. Dispensing altogether with the narrative conventions of a book musical, Smokey Joe’s is all revue, featuring near forty pop standards from the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller—responsible for such leviathan-sized hits as “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Stand By Me,” and “On Broadway.”
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Re-imagining the world of Shakespeare’s Venetian army as that of a vast hip-hop empire, the traditional Moorish general is here recast as MC Othello (Postell Pringle), who rises up from the ghetto to reach the heights of music stardom and the full extent of the “American dream.”
Read MoreAs the story progresses, we learn to love the characters, hate the hypocritical American film makers and we feel the pain as we hear about the desperate action of one young lost Irish soul. Humor and heartbreaking situations give Jones’ script depth. You’ll laugh and be amazed at the stage craft of David Ivers and Brrian Vaughn – they even do some expert Irish dance steps!
Read MoreJ & H relies too much on style, staging and video and lighting gimmicks to convey the dreadful murderous acts of Hyde. We don’t get to know, much less like Jekyll, so when Hyde emerges, we are not surprised. Constantine Maroulis shouts and screams his songs relying on increased volume to convey dread and angst.
Read MoreLa boheme is not the greatest opera ever composed, but it is perhaps the quintessentially atmospheric operatic experience; it justifies its reputation not by overwhelming the audience with dramatic power but by sweeping us up into the many small currents of life and emotion that run through it and depositing us at its heartrending yet intimate conclusion. Such a work needs a really sensitive performance to make its full effect, and that is just what can be heard at Lyric this month (aided by Michael Yeargan’s warmly evocative set).
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