Theatre Reviews

The sheer negativity and hopelessness of this show was overwhelming. Add the slow pacing and The Hecubae becomes a long tedious evening. The show answers (over and over again) the question: “What remains after war?”

The joy of attending a festival of new works is everyone (for the most part) is experiencing the work for the first time. The plays are free of previous baggage and expectations to meet.

Without a Parachute suffers from several flaws: The work has a uneven mood–is it a romance or a drama or a comedy? The main character–Cory (Joanne Dubach) is an unlikable, shouting woman with whom we never warm up to…

Set in the Delta country outside of Memphis in the 1950’s, we meet a rich family getting ready to celebrate Big Daddy’s (Jim Farrell in a subdued yet strong performance) 65th birthday. Maggie (Kimberly Logan) and Brick (Michael Borgmann) bicker about their marriage

-Spring Awakening is so much more than a run-of-the-mill rock musical–it is a major break through musical that most effectively uses pop/rock music to enhance storytelling by underscoring the themes, moods and emotions of the piece. I loved this show!

Laura Eason’s Sex With Strangers is provocative contemporary romantic drama about a hot young 24 year old scenester, Ethan Strange (Stephen Louis Grush) wwhose online blog of sexscapades has turned him into the “it” boy of the Internet.

Honest is a star-making vehicle for Erik Hellman as he plays Guy/Tim to the hilt in this mystery drama.

Filled with a playful life story of Alfred (David Amaral)–a curiously marvelous boy–who works tirelessly in the attic of his home to build a world of imagination, illusion, and excitement with his best friend, Mr. Lady (Eddie Bennett)

Redtwist Theatre continues to utilize many of the finest directors in town. The have enlisted Jimmy McDermott to mount Samuel Beckett’s absurdist classic, Waiting for Godot. Casting older character actors such as Mike Nowak (Vladimir) and Bob Wilson (Estragon) indeed made for a terrific production.

My third production of The Light In The Pizza, now in a romantic staging at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, proved to be the best sung production I’ve seen to date. Winner of six 2005 Tony Awards including best score, orchestration and set design, The Light in the Piazza is a romantic musical that is more operetta than musical comedy.