Wonder, surprise, incredulity, excitement, joy. Maybe a rush of adrenaline. They’re all the things you’d hope to find in a magician worth his or her salt. And in Look Closer with Joshua Jay at Rhapsody Theater, they’re not only all present, each shine like newly minted gold. But in this magic show, you’re also enthralled …
Look Closer at Rhapsody Gives New Luster to Magic’s Glow Read More »
Unless you’re English, just the term “choir of man” may sound a little perplexing. More than likely, your mind will race to spiritual or religious connotations rather than beer. But in the land of monarchs and cricket, there’s a tradition of men coming together to sing in choirs at their local pubs. That history became …
What does it mean to be extraordinary? After meeting Bill Wilson, a New York stockbroker in the late 1920s, neither he nor the life he leads rings as remarkable. That’s also true for Dr. Bob Smith, a career surgeon in Akron, Ohio during the same period. They’re both men pushing through life with a particularly …
Bill W. and Dr. Bob Chronicles the Birth of a Pivotal Movement Read More »
In 2006, right after seeing John Kolvenbach’s Love Song in London, Marti Lyons immediately bought the script in the theater’s lobby. Monday, after experiencing Remy Bumppo’s production of Mr. Kolvenbach’s beautifully expansive take on love at Theater Wit, we can understand why. This time around though, as Love Song’s Artistic Director, Lyons used the opportunity …
Remy Bumppo’s Love Song Takes a Fresh Look at What Makes the World Go ‘Round Read More »
We’re probably not the only country where aging is seen as an ominous specter, something to be dreaded and even feared because of its proximity to consummate demise. Such perceptions may not be naïve, but they certainly are narrow and overlook our capacity to experience life’s fullness and wonder throughout all of its stages. Playwright …
WIPEOUT Proves the Compatibility of Fierceness and Aging Read More »
The act of living means that the present takes up most of our mental space. Pursuing careers, raising families and keeping up with the day to day doesn’t leave a lot of opportunity to look back and give adequate measure to what was. Black Ensemble Theater’s (BE) 2024 season opener, The Time Machine: A Tribute …
Some say that in any family with two or more children, each child has a different set of parents. The relationship one child has with either of them is never exactly the same as it is for another brother or sister. The ramifications of those relationships and the way they’re entangled with history, race, legacy …
Stories that crouch down and sniff out the human element behind some of our most contentious issues always seem to bring the most satisfaction. That’s certainly true of The Smuggler, Jackalope Theatre Company’s tiny new powerhouse of a play about what it takes to corner the American Dream. As we learn while listening to Tim …
Small But Mighty, The Smuggler Showcases Theater at its Best Read More »
When the United States hastily and clumsily pulled out of Afghanistan in August of 2021, chaotic became the single word that reverberated through the news cycle regarding its exodus. Although both promised and anticipated, the departure proved an abrupt and awkward end to a record twenty-year investment in U.S. blood and U.S. dollars. Scenes of …
Selling Kabul Lays Bare the Perils of Vulnerable Alliances Read More »
There are a lot of things this world could do with more of and that includes Cole Porter musicals. Porchlight Music Theatre must have sensed that void when it decided to launch its 90th anniversary production of one of Porter’s timeless jewels, Anything Goes. Now playing at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, the …
Porchlight’s Anything Goes Keeps the Magic Firmly Intact Read More »