MUST SEE

Any production of GYPSY depends on who plays Mama Rose. I happy to report that Louise Pitre is outstanding (one of the best to every play the role!). Her strong, emotionally determined stage mother, commands all her scenes. She is small in height but a giant in her scenes. When Pitre arrives on stage, all eyes go to the dynamic woman. Pitre’s singing was smooth and heartfelt with a deep emotional base. especially when she blurts out “Sing Out, Louise” as storms onto the stage. We know instantly that Rose is in charge here.

Playboy is a look into the lower class rural Irish life filled with repressed sexuality, boredom and narrow-mindedness. One of the major indictments Synge makes of the rural Irish is their love for violence and their need for alcohol. The stage combat is thrilling and quite funny..

I was particularly impressed with several performances: Sam Hubbard’s Christy was charismatic and slick while Jen short’s Pegeen Mike was the strong Irish woman and Graham Emmons’ Shawn Keogh was the funny coward afraid of everyone. But Lawrence Garner’s scary yet hilarious Old Mahon topped them all!

That intriguing storyline is presented in balanced arguments as to the the wisdom of continuing the vengeance toward Ethan by Dennis fifteen years after the bullying supposedly caused Mitchell to commit suicide. We see how passionate Dennis is in his attack on bullying through his film and his continuing video encounters with Ethan on social media. Dennis is a zealot while , at first, Ethan tries to state that he is is not now that nasty teen from 15 years ago but a nice guy who regrets doing what he did. But Dennis is relentless making Ethan the poster boy for bullying worldwide.

Luna Gale examines what it means to be a good parent and can government ever really protect a child? This important drama has realistic dilemmas told in proper responses from the characters. The sheer honesty of Fisher’s performance along with the riveting turn from Reyna de Courcy as the meth addict Karlie make for powerful characters caught as they expose past secrets that affect present situations.

Luna Gale is one of those plays that leave you thinking and thankful that your family is functioning without the necessity of help from the social welfare system. Luna Gale is one of Rebecca Gilman’s better plays. it is worth seeing.

Credit Profiles Theatre for selecting Johnna Adams’ riveting, well written two-handerm, Gidion’s Knot. This drama will provoke after show discussions since it deals with the gray area of teacher-student relationships as well as child-parent relations. It also deals with school system failures and the issue of freedom of expression especially with 5th grade students.

McLean’s style of having May and the male characters spout run-on sentences and long stream-of-conscious outburst deepens the mystery at the expense of clarity. Is May experiencing a mental breakdown? Is she so filled with regret, grief and rage that she is vulnerable to feel pain from that mysterious event in the park twenty years age? Certainly, May’s behavior is bizarre, but why? You’ll have to see this show

To see The Snow Queen is to see what a troupe of dedicated to their art can achieve on stage. The Snow Queen, adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen diary tale by Tyler J. Monroe is the story of how the Snow Queen (Lindsey Dorcus) has the evil Goblin (Andrew Marchetti) shatter her mirror that reflects view of the world. some of the broken glass falls upon Kai (Christian Libonati) rendering him gloom and unloving. His girlfriend Gerda (Mara Dale) tries to get Kai back to his old loving self but Kai disappears into the world of ice and snow as he is smitten by the lure of the snow Queen.

Mel Brooks once again has a show with tremendous audience appeal (it got mixed reviews on Broadway) but it should do better in regional theatre. The opening night audience laughed heartily and applauded vigorously throughout. Brooks’ structured Young Frankenstein in the best Broadway traditions leaning heavily on vaudevillian Borscht-Belt elements. Brooks proves that his is a terrific song writer mixing tune-full melodies, many parodies of other Broadway shows, and witty, often satirical show specific lyrics. There doesn’t seem to be a musical style that Brooks can’t parody.