Theatre Reviews

While much of the general arguments and insults sure make the older Butley’s look (and act immature), the young liberals come off as semi-heros as the battle over the yard emerges. It is well known that many neighborhood land disputes end up in ugly violence, Native Gardens has an unsatisfying ‘happy ending.’ This play is quite funny mostly, the coceit is plausible yet quickly moves from funny, problemic to silly farce. The undertow here is that the older folks are cliches and the young liberals should rule making an uneven age bias obvious.

The press release describes this production as “An irreverent comedy that imagines Shakespeare’s ‘lost years’”—the years for which we lack historical record of his life and activities—“as a rousing romp through the streets and across the stages of Elizabethan London.” To that, I chuckle. “Romp” is fitting, but surely “irreverent” is a misnomer: something so inane and infantile cannot possibly bear the prestige of “the irreverent.” We must hold to some standards.

Tony award winning score by Stephan Flaherty has a fine mixture of ragtime, vaudeville and early jazz together with lofty ballads, a touch of gospel, Eastern European Jewish flavors, a hint of Joplin and stirring anthems aptly moving the story along. Lynn Ahrens’ lyrics are meaningful and resonating.

Parade premiered on Broadway in 1998, and this was Jason Robert Brown’s first Broadway production which also won him the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score. The show was nominated for nine Tony awards and won two (Best Book and Best Original Score). Director Gary Griffin takes us on the ride of our life-so buckle up and enjoy.

The Night Season. An ensemble play I would describe as more about loneliness than love, The Night Season is an experiential success insofar as it offers the same disappointment of loneliness by not only conveying loneliness’s disappointment through its characters but also by leaving its audience disappointed at its end—all this despite its sentimental conclusion in which many characters actually find love.

At she bonds with Einstein, Harding segways from Einstein’s work to his personal life. She speaks about a child he had in 1902 who was never spoken again after 1904. Here playwright St. Germain fictionalizes about what happened to the baby and what Harding’s connection is to that happening. Einstein’s reaction to that baby, now a grown women, and to that women’s child, a genius savant makes for a compelling story.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Sophie Kaegi, none of the cast can sing. That spells trouble for a musical! With 19 songs in a 100 minute one act, Little Miss Sunshine’s songs sounded like someone scratching their fin