The use of two pianos utilized the orchestrations created by the original producers but locked away for 50 years was made available to Porchlight Music theatre by R & H Productions ( owners of the Rodgers & Hammerstein rights) after they found the orchestrations a few years ago. So, this production contains “world premiere” orchestrations that Eugene Dizon and Allison Hendrix played marvelously.
Read MoreWhy anyone would want to make a musical about mental illness and it’s debilitating effects on a family is one of life’s mysteries? And, if anyone really must have such darkness expressed in song, they best use serious baroque or other classical chamber music influences to express the pain, angst and agony of the mentally ill on and her dysfunctional family.
Read MoreThe 16 brave performers blend an original electronic score (composed by Jean-Phi Goncalves) with 10 different urban dance and circus arts. The skilled talents (from seven countries) showcase thrilling skills such as juggling, contortion, in-line skating, stilts, Cyr Wheel, hand balancing, straps, bike trial, Chinese pole and various aerial silks that move swiftly toward the spectacular finale on the dynamic trampowall
Read MoreThe author combines dirty, low-to-the-ground, gritty language with flowery metaphors and far-reaching similes. And if the play has you early on, you go along when it has lines like, “A good murder, a true murder, a beautiful murder, so beautiful as one can only ask to do, we’ve had none for so long.” But Pony doesn’t quite manage to do that.
Read MoreThis presents an interesting dichotomy with the music: the Baroque orchestration is so refined and meticulously structured, following strict guidelines; yet the action on stage is immense, tragic, emotional. There is an incredible marriage here between the Apollonian music and the Dionysian story.
Read MoreGerman playwright Manfred Karge’s 1986 dark comedy The Conquest of the South Pole, written in East Germany before the wall fell, vividly demonstrates the ill effects of long-term unemployment on a group of adult men. The translation by Calvin McLean, Caron Cadle and Ralf Remshardt aptly yields Karge’s penchant for poetic language as the first scenes contain verse-like dialogue. The work is quite in the Brechtian tradition of theatre which Karge respects dearly
Read MoreAre they really dead? After a doctor certifies that each of the six are in fact dead so the General berates they to let the Army bury them. They silently refuse. A priest tries exorcism, their Captain engages them in a philosophical discussion – to no avail.
Read MoreDirector Julie Ritchey loves the play as a director loves a play. She has burrowed deep and nestled in its earthy, root-filled warmth. She has eaten this play, drunk this play, dreamt and woken this play. And not without advantages. The moments she creates – crafts, more like – are heartfelt and complex.
Read MoreThe blending of forms (theatre, dance, concert, club, Commedia, circus . . .) is done as if by a person who’s never seen a play – or rather like this: by a person who has not been told what he can and cannot do, what is and is not theatre, what must and must not be so, according to the establishment. And what he has created is not only a compelling and innovative piece of theatre, but a show that would feel right at home in London’s Fringe scene or a cabaret in East Berlin.
Read More