Tom Williams Sondheim shared his own memories of his early days with Oscar Hammerstein II who taught him the art of theatre with emphasis on lyric writing. I heard many new stories particularly about how Sondheim, at age 17 was involved with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s production of Allegro in 1947.
Sometimes a theatre group outsmarts itself. That is the case with Dog & Pony Theatre Company’s new, highly inventive theatrical event-The Twins Would Like To Say. Too many gimmicks starting with the use of a promenade ( having the audience walk around the playing area and standing throughout the performance) and having spoken scenes competing for attention marred the production.
He and Armin meet on a chat room on the Internet. They bond and express their needs and desires over months of online chat. Eventfully, the agree to meet. Armin comes to Berlin to take Bernd to Armin’s country home where he has made a torture chamber complete with chains and cutting tools.
While I was impressed with the weird movement and unique staging, Bernadette’s story was presented in a surreal, abstract, almost absurdest style. Scenes like Bernadette and her muse-the imaginary Clip, being punished by having metal clips place on their tongues for hours allowed the boy and girl to invent a new language-“clip”-a sort of pig Latin.
Strawdog Theatre, under the intelligent direction by Kimberly Senior, has a well acted and sincere production of Chekhov’s 1899 tragicomedy, Uncle Vanya…The cast of nine talents most effectively present Chekhov’s tragicomedy translated by Curt Columbus.
We meet a host of high school juniors about to turn 17 as World War II rages. The boys are on the brink of being eligible for the draft as their safe, predictable world is about to turn gray with uncertainty.
Back Stage Theatre, now in their 10th season, usually find stage worthy scripts that they cast and stage quite professionally. Their latest gem is Craig Wright’s comic drama, Orange Flower Water…Wright has some funny moments as the bed and sexual needs triumph over family obligations and loyalty.
Raven Theatre, under the tight direction by Aaron Todd Douglas, presents an emotional wrenching production of the classic court room drama, Twelve Angry Men. Douglass uses a modern, interracial cast, including several African-Americans, Latinos and an Asian-American. That added a sharper edge to the drama
The strength of this production comes from musical arrangements by Doug Peck has been sculpted to stress the soulful, Klezmer qualities of Bock and Harnick’s sumptuous score. The ensemble work was excellent.
We meet Sam (Tom Hardy), a nasty drunk whose life is through the bottle and occasional sex with his live-in girl friend, Annie (Greta Honold). Sam is drinking himself to death as we painstakingly learn, after a long and snail-paced first act, walked away from his injured wife and dead daughter nine years earlier