by Roseann Cane We first see Daniel (Andy Lucien), a 30-something event planner for a major bookstore chain, as he bursts into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) of a leading hospital. In the center of the stage is an isolette (a plastic-encased crib equipped to maintain temperature control and…
by Paula Kaplan-Reiss As someone privileged to see the original Broadway production of Something Rotten in 2015, starring Brian D’Arcy James and Tony winner Christian Borle, I was excited to have the chance to see this satirical musical again. Yet, I tempered my expectations for the outdoor production offered by…
by Macey Levin The theatre, the world, and life are at the core of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s complex play-within-a-play The Making of a Great Moment at Chester Theatre Company, Chester, Massachusetts. Terry Dean (Bill Bowers) and Mona Barnes (Esther Williamson) are an acting team whose company is named Victoria…
by Barbara Waldinger The Contention (Henry VI, Part II) is probably Shakespeare’s first play, according to the program note of the Director, Tina Packer. As such, it is as stuffed with extreme actions and emotions, violence and humor, power struggles and severed heads as is the nearly extinct ice cream…
by Macey Levin There is a rollicking production of a witty and very corny show with exuberant musical numbers at the Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, Connecticut. Something Rotten!, book by Karley Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell with music and lyrics by Karley and Wayne Kirkpatrick, takes place in London, 1595, when…
by Jana Lillie Friday night, I went to the Dorset Theatre Festival see the preview of Misery, the play by William Goldman, based on the book of the same name by Stephen King. Executive Director Will Rucker, informed us that this would be the first full run-through of the play.…
by Lisa Jarisch Is there a better way to celebrate the first full day of summer than an evening spent at a theater putting on a show about putting on a show? Surely not, and in classic Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney “ Here’s a barn. Let’s put on a show!” fashion—complete…
by Barbara Waldinger Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 is not only significant because of its account of Dr. Rosalind Franklin, a Jewish female scientist whose essential contributions to her field continue to be overlooked sixty-five years after her death, but also as a psychological study revealing how Franklin’s all-consuming approach to…
