Pinnacle’s “The Lion in Winter” is a well-oiled machine full of good acting, good comedy, and an endearing zeal. It deserves a large and diverse audience. It is impossible to say what the historical Henry and Eleanor would think of their portrayal, but it’s obvious that “The Lion in Winter” is an enduring classic that can still present fresh material for a group of actors. Continue reading
Through numerous revivals and television adaptations, Arthur Miller’s allegorical play The Crucible has taken on new and important meaning, traveling through sixty years of American history and serving as a bastion of American theater. Though the story of the play is concerned with the Salem Witch Trials, its original intent was to hold a mirror up to the McCarthy-era fear of Communism, and the work has remained relevant through its portrayal of intolerance, prejudice and suspicion. Continue reading
Things you should not expect when you see Grassroots Shakespeare Company’s production of Macbeth: printed programs, silence in the theater, gasps of fear, and utter reverence for the Bard’s words.
Things you should expect: to be chilly, to hear some great music, and to have a riotously good time. Continue reading
Presenting a musical like Gypsy is no mean feat. Its subject matter is difficult (a mother who drives her two children to stardom, eventually driving one away from her and another into a career as a burlesque stripper). It’s been through four Broadway revivals. It’s been made into a film twice. It’s starred stage greats like Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, and Ethel Merman. It’s been touted as musical theatre’s answer to Shakespeare’s King Lear.
No pressure. Continue reading
Ex-Mormon and used car salesman Dave has some issues with honesty; namely, that he can’t stop employing it since he met nigh-divorcée Gail.
Directed by Jerry Rapier, Plan-B Theatre Company’s world premiere of BORDERLANDS boldly tackles the issue of stepping forward into unexpected honesty in a culture that can often, much to its detriment, subdue questions and doubts. Playwright Eric Samuelsen was inspired by “Braving the Borderlands”, a series of articles in Sunstone magazine. Authored by Jeff Burton, the articles open the floor to Mormons and their individual spirituality, addressing issues that are often ignored or swept under the rug in LDS culture. Continue reading
The play is a charming and heartfelt piece that tackles its themes with quirky aplomb: the difficulties of intimacy in a world of technology, the inability to connect to the people right in front of us, and how much we invent ourselves and each other. Continue reading
Say “Six Degrees of Separation” and most people remember the 1993 film starring Will Smith, with no prior knowledge that it was a play penned by John Guare– let alone a play based on real events. In the early 1980s, a young black man by the name of David Hampton began a long career as a confidence man, posing as Sidney Poitier’s son in order to gain entrance to upscale venues and the homes of several well-to-do New York City residents. Continue reading
