As performed, Let My People Come! has some funny and titillating moments but they were too few. Some of the girls sang off key, some screamed, with many of the ensemble singing weirdly flat. The non-sing bits and sketches suffered from being bland.
Read Moreas so many of the great stories are, The Nutcracker is also prone to reinvention, which is what the House Theatre has done here. The storytelling is infectious. A happy equilibrium is struck between straight acting, sheer exuberance, and clever winking at the audience. To call this a children’s show would miss the point; to call it a Christmas show would too, although to a lesser extent. It is, after all, about saving Christmas. But more than anything it’s a good time, and certainly gets you in the mood for what can otherwise be a soul-crushing shopfest that has now started to infest even Halloween.
Read MoreThe script is at once serious yet playful, superficial yet deep. Depression, suicide, and deadly disease sit next to the dalliance of drugs and frat-boy pranks. It’s the combination that Adam Rapp balances so well that makes this piece what it is. And Mary-Arrchie Theatre brings a smart interpretation of the text with strong actors that make this a piece really worth watching.
Read MoreMuch of the show involves Star Wars inside jokes and screaming and predictable corn-ball humor that we’ve seen too many times on TV sitcoms. There is little to laugh at here and we quickly tired of the characters. Max in particular grates as he screams and nerds-out so often that I wanted to hit him with a slick!
Read MoreThis nicely plotted drama is full of surprises that I’ll not reveal but as each character gets fully flushed out, we see how each character changes how they define themselves. Becoming an a adult has nothing to do with age as this tightly drawn drama so nicely shows.
Read MoreModest Mussorgky’s only completed opera is not for the faint of heart; it is not for those who like the Italians and nothing else, the lyrical, the symphonic, the easy ones. Boris Godunov is a difficult piece, at once crass and deep, with, on the one hand, somewhat technically amateurish composition, and, on the other, incredible insight into not only how to musically convey the moods of the characters but how to convey the chaos and horror around them.
Read MoreMaestro is an amazing theatrical tour de force that finds Hershey Felder once more capturing the essence of his subject – this time his passion is for Leonard Bernstein(1918 -1990). Felder nimbly uses his prodigious piano skills, his stellar accents and his deep understanding of Leonard Bernstein – the artist and Bernstein the man.
Read MoreSeascape is a quirky romantic love story filled with raw emotions and strained credulity. Would Ben constantly put up with Tracy’s insults and combativeness? Is the sex with Tracy that good or is he the mensch from heaven? The drama explores fear, joy, pain that comes from the struggle for trust, acceptance and love. Tracy has trouble believing in unconditional love,…
Read MoreRe-Imagined Musicals “Candide,” “Porgy and Bess,” and “The Original Grease” Dominate 43rd Equity Jeff Awards; Chicago Shakespeare Scores Big with
Read MoreBunny dances with bears with chairs, the Cat (Aaron Holland) and the Fiddle (Becky Poole) , and the Cow Jumping Over the Moon (Sara Sevigny). Bunny also takes a trip through the night sky and he dances with the constellations.
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