Tom Williams, Author at Theatre reviews

Hot Mikado

For those who have not seen David H. Bell’s master work – Hot Mikado – trust me on this one – get to Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook to witness the most energetic, funny, toe-tapping musical comedy you’ll ever see. It is a tour de force comic satire: it is a dazzlingly spirited dance spectacular; and it is musical treat. In short, Hot Mikado deserves mention as one of the great all-time musicals. Amazingly, despite being a world-wide hit, this Hot Mikado has never played Broadway!

REVIEWS Theatre Reviews

Tom Williams

Blackbird 2010

Blackbird is a disturbing piece about a girl reuniting with a man, with whom she had a sexual affair with when she was 12 years old.

REVIEWS Theatre Reviews

Tom Williams

Godspell

One of the more difficult aspects of a rock musical is the sound design so that the powerful instruments don’t drown the vocals and reduce it to incoherent noise. Christopher Kris deserves a big round of applause of balancing all of these elements, including the addition of a hand-held microphone for solos.

REVIEWS Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Carousel

Stacey Flaster has found a rich emotional core that often is overlooked in many productions of Carousel. Natalie Ford, a terrific singer with strong acting abilities quite subtly but ever stead fast both understands and loves Billy Bigelow (Cooper David Grodin) unconditionally

REVIEWS Theatre Reviews

Tom Williams

In Love’s Bright Coils

In Love’s Bright Coils is a study on how we have expressed our love throughout the past 300 years, to how we express it today. It was inspired by the letters written by director Kat Paddock’s grandparents during World War II

REVIEWS Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Annie Get Your Gun

The core of the show’s energy came form the strong supporting cast led by the Michael Weber’s exuberant Charlie Davenport, the Wild West show’s manager. Weber and George Hearn (Buffalo Bill) and Michael Accardo (Wilson/Pawnee Bill) deftly landed the show’s tribute to show biz with their wonderful “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”

ARTICLES

Tom Williams

The Candle that Glowed for 36 Years

One of the great innovations of Chicago theatre in the 1960’s was the creation of America’s first and finest dinner theatre, the Candlelight. As early as the mid 1950’s, the fledgling Barksdale Theatre discovered that it could lure hungry theatre-goers to their rustic and historic Hanover Tavern just outside Richmond, Virginia, for an extremely diverse range of plays. I had the good fortune of knowing three of the original founders of Barksdale, which never considered itself a “dinner theatre”.

Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Alligator

Among the things that made this work a long 80 minutes are: the entire cast mostly spoke their dialogue in such a fast pace with their words running together that it was hard to understand much of it especially with that Southern drawl. What has happened to enunciating? Southern folks speak slowly – they do not machine gun their speech even when upset.

Cabaret Music Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

A Little Sondheim Music

Featuring the fully lush sound of the full Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Women’s Board 2010 Gala sponsored another birthday celebration (his 80th) for Stephen Sondheim in a concert that featured a rich assortment of Sondheim’s songbook with emphasis on his terrific wordplay lyrics.

Beverly Friend Theatre Reviews

Tom Williams

Reefer Madness the Musical

Once upon a time – way back in 1936 –an organization (some say it might have been a church, but others give the dubious credit to the U.S. Army) created an anti-marijuana morality play called Tell the Children.
In the 70’s, cannabis smokers (and others) rediscovered the script, now renamed Reefer Madness and, finding it an excessive, hilarious (if unintentional) comedy gave it new life.