Gershwin’s Greatest Hits is a slick well-sung two hour tribute to the genius of Gershwin. This revue is a fine introduction Gershwin to all who are interested in modern music. Light Opera Works has established a fine niche here and using Nichols Concert Hall is a plus. This revue is a “must see.”
Read MoreMotortown is a 90 minute journey into the abbess of a psychopathic soldier who returns from the Iraq war isolated, desperate and hopeless. Danny is also a self-proclaimed squaddie (A member of the armed forces who thinks he’s the “Gods gift to women”). Danny is determined to win back his old girlfriend Marley (Julie Siple) but she is fearful of Danny since he sent her weird letters from Iraq. her rejection send him on a downward spiral of violence and despair.
Read MoreGroener captures every facet and emotion of this complex and highly sympathetic figure. In a virtuoso performance, he reaches the heights and depths of Cyrano’s passion for his cousin, the lovely Roxanne (Julie Jesneck) and brings us to agony as we empathize with his torment in ghost writing love letters for his handsome, inarticulate rival Christian (Nick Dillenburg).
Read MoreThis well paced show has several vaudevillian songs that in themselves were witty and humorous. The jokes reminded me of grooming up watching the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday evenings where the likes of Alan King grabbed our laugh bones. Many of the jokes depend on razor-sharp timing and this cast delivered them with deft aplomb. For those of us who admire and are familiar with this unique style of humor, there is much to admire and laugh at here.
Read MoreWe meet a young female student (Sarah Wellington) and her lawyer boyfriend (Chris Ballou) as they seem to be touring an old house in New England. The older Irish couple, Amanda Jane Long and Sean Thomas are the caretakers of the house. They convince the girl to role play as Veronica for the sake of an elderly sister who is dying but she believes that her sister Veronica is alive and living in the room they all now find themselves in. The girl agrees to do that and she changes into one of Veronica’s dresses.
Read MoreThe drama builds into a tensely shocking twist that leads to a stunning climax. Amy Kasper’s performance emerges from mild sarcasm to blinding rage as her vengeance explodes toward Richard.
Read MoreMartin Crimp’s translation from German to English for Ferdinand Bruckner’s 1926 play Pains of Youth yields a stiff, too academic, use of words that no college student would use in common speaking especially a group of hedonistic pleasure-seeking students.
Read MoreTheatrically, mounting a music about the Holocaust is both tricky and daunting. But with tasteful, haunting music sung with deep emotions using rich harmonies and subdued tones, Signs of Life works as a profound depiction of the reaction and determination of the artists to “tell the truth” through their art (whether on stage or in drawings) as to what happened in the camp.
Read MoreIn the Raven Theatre production, now playing, Millicent Hurley Spencer plays the lead – Mrs. Carrie Watts. . Spencer’s deeply emotional and truthful performance as Mrs. Watts is filled with subtle nuances that only a talented veteran actor can produce. We instantly empathize with her character. Millicent plays the elderly character with a combination of physical and emotional pain as well as an independent stubborn streak
Read MoreThe Pullman Porter Blues is a “play with music” that contain the best of each element. It is a toe-tapping blues oriented show with 13 – 30’s blues numbers played with gusto by the onstage band and sung with deeply felt emotions by Marshall, Derricks , and Morohumfola. When the drunken feisty Sister Juba (E. Faya Butler) sings the blues, the emotional level gets intense. As a blues songfest, Pullman Porter Blues delivers; as a dramatic play, it works effectively as it presents the work ethic and plight of the Pullman porters.
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