Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, December 2008 Somewhere along the joyous roller-coaster ride that is the Barrington Stage production of This Wonderful Life I gleaned the following: It’s not about Christmas, its all about money. The “it” in question is Frank Capra’s iconic 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life which, although it is habitually…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, December 2008 The last time I saw Nuncrackers, in May (yeah, in May, go figure) 2005 at the Mac-Haydn, I called it “one big Christmas turkey*.” Now I really like roast turkey, but at that time I did not use the word in a complimentary manner.…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2008 Fabulosity, thy name is Panto! Everyone I took with me to see the 9th annual British-American Panto at the Ghent Playhouse – this year’s incarnation is nominally Jack and the Beanstalk with a smattering of Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill and Simple Simon Met a Pieman,…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2008 Once I went to a ridiculously trendy restaurant and saw on the menu an exotic dish made with all the foods I like best in the world. I ordered it and discovered that when you put all the foods I like best in…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2008 The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ menGang aft agley,An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,For promis’d joy! – Robert Burns When Of Mice and Men was first published in 1937, it was termed a “novella” – a little novel – and it was,…
by Gail M. Burns, October 2008 You know that saying: “Old age is not for sissies”? Well that applies to theatre companies as well as people. Late in its ninth decade of existence, the Town Players of Pittsfield, the second oldest community theatre group in the nation, has appeared to…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, October 2008 Harper Lee (1926- ) published only one novel, but in her case one is enough. To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) is a truly deserving Pulitzer Prize winner, weaving together elements of faith and hope, comedy and tragedy, seen through the fresh eyes of youth –…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, October 2008 Looking at Dames at Sea today, you think, “Why, this is just a poor man’s version of 42nd Street” The fact that director/choreographer Tralen Doler mounted a boffo production of the latter at the Cohoes Music Hall just last March really begs the comparison. But it…
