The musical plays out as a series of sketches with over-blown incomprehensible production numbers sung badly in that irritating Broadway pop-rock style to a collection of the worse choreography danced by a cast that can neither sing, act or dance. The labor dispute at the heart of the piece is trivialized to the point that both the players and the owners come off as idiots being traumatized by a directorial commissioner.
Read More“Next to Normal” is not a feel good musical, but a truly believable drama that can ignite your emotions and enlighten your understanding of some of extreme life problems people have or could face in their futures. The author wrote a very heart-wrenching story that demands exceptional singers with remarkable acting ability. For a very memorable night of theater, let your mind and heart embrace “Next to Normal”, a brilliant and exceptionally rare theater experience indeed!
Read MoreThe musical version is funny, but not consistently funny enough. The plot appears fragmented, uneven and sometimes clunky, painted with strokes so broad that they obscure the cleverness of the original. Unfortunately, the exaggerated, two-dimensional characters fail to come to life — or seem worth caring about. A shining exception is the villain, heartless Franklin Hart, Jr. played with great verve by James Moye as a callous, lecherous boss.
Read MoreFor when it comes to fully realizing the ominous violence lingering always at the margins of this play, one could certainly do worse than with Proud Kate Theatre Project’s current production, now on view at The Alley Stage. Under the direction of Charlie Marie McGrath, actors David Winkler and Shane Michael Murphy deliver two intimately compelling performances, moving together with the rhythmic pull of a yo-yo between the easygoing and the emotionally fraught.
Read MoreIt isn’t clear what Annie is looking for. Act one sets up an interesting agenda but unfortunately the play fizzles in act two. Anne Bosh is Missing wonders adrift and ends up with a series of melodramatic resolutions. While it is fine not to tie up all lose ends in a play. a playwright must not leave major items unresolved or resolved in a preposterous or cliched manner.
Read MoreWithout giving away too much, let me state that Edith Freni’s plotting and her rich characters expertly play by the cast are engaging and real. From Vaccaro’s bittersweet mother to Tom’s stoic father to Monica’s hot-cold emotional swings to Noah’s character contradictions, Buena Vista tackles the diluted family dynamic into a bizarre nightmare played out in a snow storm.
Read MoreBut were it that easy. As The Gospel of Franklin makes clear, the truth isn’t always so easy to say. Buried underneath years of repressed memories, falsehoods and dissembling appearances, the truth—even of those we love and know best—becomes fractured, woolly and hard to sort through. Aaron Carter’s play is hence not unlike a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces don’t quite fit together but which nonetheless form some exhilaratingly incongruous biographical snapshot.
Read MoreI sure do applaud the efforts of a new ensemble, Underscore Theatre Company, as the have mounted a promising new musical -PrOne -The Casting Couch Musical Comedy. Unfortunately, their collective efforts were more ambitious than their theatrical skills. By far the best element of PrOne is the music. It contains a pastiche of styles ranging from classic Broadway to patter songs to gospel to Broadway pop-rock. There are ballads, comic tunes and strong anthems
Read MoreThe deliberate and pointed contrast being made between the first and second acts results in something of a slowly plodded and (at times) underwhelming first act. Be advised, those unfamiliar with Enchanted April may have to be forcibly cajoled to stick it out. But rest assured, the second act more than amply compensates, so slowly catching you off guard that you have hardly time to realize the extent of your involvement in its story and in the lives of its characters.
Read MoreBut because every scene is a deliberate effort to circumvent, repress and avoid having to talk about the play’s strained central relationship, there’s sadly little internal to Bear Claw’s scenes to draw us in. The relationships we are actually witness to are fleeting and of little consequence to anybody (including the characters involved in them). A futile and wry irony is the only emotion Bear Claw can sustain for any prolonged period of time.
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