Theatre Reviews

Celebrating its third season, Bluebird Arts begins its six-week run this weekend of Jon Robin Baitz’s 1993 off-Broadway hit Three Hotels. With its focus on stories exploring the human condition through the “genuine problems of real people,” Bluebird Arts certainly fulfills its mission with Baitz’s study of a well-meaning, modern American family of liberal idealists turned cynical by the compromising ambiguities of the high-power, executive world. Unfortunately, despite what seems to be a strong script, the two performances, though engaging and energetic, left me emotionally ambivalent toward the production and wanting for more grounded, emotional truth.

Black Ensemble’s fortieth anniversary season continues with a remount of its wildly popular musical revue The Jackie Wilson Story. First produced in 2000 and originally running for two years, this creation of Black Ensemble’s founding artistic director Jackie Taylor can be thought of as an quintessential Black Ensemble show, as it depicts the tumultuous life of a mid-twentieth century titan of African-American music, contrasted with the energy of his songs and a redeeming message.

Dustin Spence’s world premiere play The Promise of a Rose Garden, produced by Babes with Blades, depicts a hypothetical near future, and therefore, fictional events based on commonly held perceptions of soldiers, including its female protagonists.

The new theatre group Fraud & Phony defines themselves as a collective instead of a company, they say, because they are more concerned about producing their own works when they feel it is of particular benefit to the community than in sticking to a regular schedule. Their first work, Troll, by Elizabeth Archer, demonstrates strong potential, and for the incredibly low price of the tickets, has excellent production values.