The deliberate and pointed contrast being made between the first and second acts results in something of a slowly plodded and (at times) underwhelming first act. Be advised, those unfamiliar with Enchanted April may have to be forcibly cajoled to stick it out. But rest assured, the second act more than amply compensates, so slowly catching you off guard that you have hardly time to realize the extent of your involvement in its story and in the lives of its characters.
But because every scene is a deliberate effort to circumvent, repress and avoid having to talk about the play’s strained central relationship, there’s sadly little internal to Bear Claw’s scenes to draw us in. The relationships we are actually witness to are fleeting and of little consequence to anybody (including the characters involved in them). A futile and wry irony is the only emotion Bear Claw can sustain for any prolonged period of time.
Rudy Hogenmiller, the artistic director at Light Opera Works, returns to the stage after more than a decade, as the Emcee in Kander & Ebb’s ground-braking Cabaret. Hogenmiller’s performance is a tour de force. Welcome back to the stage Rudy!
The creative folks at the American Chamber Opera Company find a way to makes grand opera intimate, understandable without losing any of the charm and fluidity. They find young classically trained singers and musicians that respect the source material thereby enticing their audience to enter the world of opera. Presenting classical operas like Mozart’s The Magic Flute in English adds to that intimacy. They capture the essence of the whimsey, charm and beauty of Mozart’s genius most effectively.
Done with loads of pizzazz and loads of heart, Sergio Trujillo’s smart and sift dance musical faithfully depicts the hit film. Filled with several nicely stage and beautifully light dance numbers including “Flashdance-What a Feeling. ” “Maniac,” “Gloria,” “Manhunt,” and “I Love Rock & Roll,” this Equity national tour of Flashdance – The Musical contains enough fabulous dances to be worth seeing.
So ultimately despite Inventing Van Gogh’s more obtuse qualities, I’ll venture to say that Strange Bedfellow’s current mounting is still worth the price of admission. At times as wildly out-of-control as Van Gogh himself, there’s nonetheless something intoxicating about its particular brand of madness. Never content to simply tell us what it’s trying to say, the play requires that we actively wade through the muck to find it out. And only even then do we find ourselves reflected back at us. Much like the action internal to the play itself, extracting meaning from Inventing Van Gogh is its own form of self-portraiture.
silkroadrising
Khemiri uses wordplay about the term Abulkasem. It means a beloved quirky Lebanese uncle to a term used as an adverb, noun, verb that has multiple meanings including a term for an Arab terrorist. The clever wordplay here demonstrates how the semantics of Middle Eastern -Muslim types can lead to us Westerners , particularly Americans to fear them.
So sure. Kokandy’s Last Five Years is a tad underdeveloped and doesn’t always take dramatic advantage of the openness of its material. But at the same time, it also doesn’t obfuscate or overcomplicate the show’s purposely lean emotional through line. Powerful and resonant when it matters most, more than anything, this production is a solid testament to the enduring power of Brown’s revelatory score.
n less capable hands than the astute director, Alison C. Vesely, this play would not be believable. Instead, Vesely has selected the perfect cast, and each talently nails their character’s moments of reckoning. You could almost hear the sighs in the audience, and certainly many laughs.
Only Aaron knows what Katie really wants. As the story unfolds, we see how Aaron reacts and comments on all the family dynamics with complete and ofter perceptive candor. During the fast-paced direction by Scott Weinstein, we witness the awakening of each family member as ultimately the underlying love carries the family through their struggles.