The charming, witty script of I Love You, You’re Perfect Now Change remains as fresh and apt today as in1996! Only a few minimal tweaks update the original musical comedy — like using a cell phone instead of an answering machine. This deservedly is the longest running off-Broadway smash hit! (1996-2008 for over 5,000 performances.)
Without a doubt, Lifeline Theatre’s recent stage adaptation of French novelist Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers contains all the adrenaline-pumping athleticism and quick-turning escapades one may dutifully expect from this timeless adventure story.
For Rick Stone evinces so strong a personality that he’d no doubt overwhelm whatever narrative mold you’d try to squeeze him in, and Taylor’s script at least is broad enough in its outline to give Stone the necessary wiggle room (or rather, crawling room) to do what he does best. Equipped with seemingly limitless energies and an unparalleled ability to seduce us into an easy familiarity, Stone moves breathlessly between musical numbers sung with husky bravado and a narrative affability so cool he might as well be telling jokes in your living room.
With all that being said, let me state that this Non-Equity National Tour is still a worthy and sometimes moving theatrical event. Bernstein’s music and the Robbins’ inspired dances are so exquisite that this production is a terrific show to introduce teens to the magic of classical Broadway musicals. West Side Story certainly captures the angry voice of urban youths in the 1950′s. Much of that angst still resonates today. But in this high energy production – dance and a heart-throbbing score dominate. And that is all that is needed to make WST worth seeing
The highlight of act one is the whimsical witty tune “When I was a Lad” wherein Sir Joseph Porter recalls how he became First Lord of the Admiralty. James Harms is the perfect comic as Porter with his unique blend of lovable slapstick and nice voice to land this difficult song with its long rhyming phrases. He thrills the audience with his wonderful presentation as the entire ensemble repeats his rhymes and gestures
Famed poet Sherod Santos demonstrates his skill at dialogue and quirky character development in his 75 minute one act drama, Lives of the Pigeons. Two older men, Gus (Vincent Lonergan) and Max (Done Bender), old friends for years, spend many days in the park playing chess. Theses two exchange stories, social commentaries and observations about such things as the nature of “good behavior.” The quip that good behavior only is rewarded in prison; that in normal life good behavior goes unheralded.
It’s thus with considerable relief to report that Theo Ubique’s newest revue featuring the work of America’s most urbane songwriter is, at the very least, never boring. Under the auspicious vision of director Fred Anzevino, A Cole Porter Songbook is the tenth of Ubique’s unique cabaret-style productions featuring the blockbuster songwriting talents of Broadway.
Kiss explores the relationship between two very different men in a Latin American prison in 1980’s. Molina (Nathan Carroll) is a flamboyant, super-queen (gay) window-dresser imprisoned for sexual advances toward a juvenile. His cellmate is Valentin (Evan Tyrone Martin) a political prisoner and super-macho (straight) freedom fighter
The Internationalist is a very long one act play. Is this play about jet lag or is it an overused exercise in the limitations of language? Who knows? The lack of hints are manifested by the decision to have all the Europeans speak perfect unaccented English as they stitch from the gibberish they normally speak. I can only conclude that playwright Washburn was determined to not give any concentrate meaning to her work. This, at first, makes the show a mystery but as the endless scenes mount up, and nothing much or with any meaning happens, it dawns on us that we are being duped by Washburn.
…since The Drunken City is a funny yet poignant one act about how we love and what it is to be able to love. Is love an acquired social skill? And can we love someone but not be in love with that person. Last, can we change our mind about getting married despite all social pressure around the ceremony?