Tom Williams

It is valid that Broadway musicals can be pure escapist fluff—as long as the show’s production elements contain a bouncy score, cute characters and smart lyrics and creative choreography. Unfortunately, none of these elements are present in Legally Blonde.

Therefore, the selection of music Stoppard choose was bewildering and distracted from the play’s focus. I simply couldn’t make the connection from rock music to the political dissent in Cambridge and Czechoslovakia. This play supposes as true the intersection of rock music and politics.

Frances Limoncelli’s funny and whimsical adaptation of Busman’s Honeymoon contains the marriage of Wimsey and Vance. The early scenes take us into their world that memory reminds me that Lord Wimsey proposed marriage to Harriet Vance many time before she accepted.

This spoof is a pop/rock parody of groups like “New Kids on the Block” and “Backstreet Boys,” Altar Boyz works hard to please audiences and it sure does with charm and panache.

By Chris O’Connell Directed by Ben Fuchsen At Oracle Productions Video design and energetic acting saves Zero Oracle Productions, and

The Lieutenant of Inishmore—a most gruesome yet hilariously dark comedy about the absurdity of political violence. This amazing production illustrates the power of live theatre to reach into the hearts and souls in a most visceral and earthy manner.

Raven Theatre’s fine production of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 Hedda Gabler, in a contemporary adaptation by Jon Robin Baitz, is a star turn for Mackenzie Kyle as the neurotic, spoiled and totally devious Hedda Tesman (formerly Gabler). Hedda Gabler is the story of Ibsen’s ultimate socialite, the daughter of a Norwegian aristocratic General.