MUST SEE

We understand how Jack broke barriers in Hollywood by defying being pigeonholed as either a comic or a serious actor. Due to the tight script and the use of music, Jack Lemmon Returns emerges as a captivating journey into the life of a film star from the point of view of his son.

Jacob is so fearful that once he learns that Eli, despite a restraining order, attempted to visit the father in the hospital, he realizes the Eli will attack him at his home. It is only when not if. That news got Jacob to leave his son Josh’s (Johnny Rabe) bar mitzvah before the ceremony was finished.

Lost In Yonkers, perhaps the finest family play ever, uses humor and richly developed characters to demonstrate the power of family especially as it becomes a survival place for all to learn to become tough enough to survive. Coming of age as an independent person covers more than just the boys. This heartfelt, humorous, nostalgic drama captures us from the start and keeps us engaged throughout

The retreating exhausted English army is in disarray but the arrogant French and fail to take advantage. Henry, fearful for his army, goes into disguise to assess the morale of his troops. He is uplifted by what he finds and his rousing speech before the Battle of Agincourt (a gem delivered by the fabulous turn from Harry Judge) rallies his troops to victory

This refreshingly engrossing and compelling musical contains all the humor, pain and tragedy of the 1922 O’Casey masterpiece, Juno and the Paycock while effectively presenting the music and lyrics of Blitzstein and Stein with a first class cast of actor/singers who add layers of heart and humanity to the story’s emotional range

Jackson Evans , as Princeton and Leah Morrow, as Kate Monster were among my favorites from a cast of accomplished troupe of talents that sang well, delivered laughs and won the hearts of the audience. Adam Fane, as the flaming queen Rob was a hoot!

This flawless production does everything right. From the opening scene that finds the nuns changing in Latin to Maria (Jenn Gambatese) soaring as she sings the title song on a set that screams Alps, we instantly become enchanted into the world of Salzburg, Austria in 1938.

Chronicling Charles Darwin’s discoveries was nicely and effectively presented due to Gmitter’s fluid writing upon Collette Pollard’s suggestive set. Director Jessica Thebus’ staging underscores the ambitious storytelling effectively. The combination of telling Charles’ amazing rise to fame as the most controversial writer of the 19th Century and his lifelong romance made for an engaging play.

Lay Me Down Softly is essentially a memory play centered around the patchwork family of Roadshow. The action and metaphors are sports references and the on-going boxing matches. We see how hope and dreams were stiffed as this group laments through melancholy their lost dreams. Each character depends on the Roadshow family for sustenance, companionship, and recognition.

In their year of one playwright – 2014 – Lynn Nottage, Eclipse Theatre Company, under the creative direction of Aaron Todd Douglas, have mounted a powerful and wonderfully performed version of Ruined, the finest play by the talented Lynn Nottage.

She dramatizing the atrocities committed against women in the long civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nottage puts her immense research and writing skills to work to create situations and characters aptly depicting the conflicts in East Africa from a women’s perspective.