by Barbara Waldinger A middle-aged Englishwoman, identified only as Homebody, tries in vain to remember the name of her anti-depressant: “a portmanteau chemical cocktail word confected by punning psychopharmacologists.” She imagines her “brain floating in a salt bath, frosted with a rime of salt, a pickle-brine brain, pink-beige walnut-wrinkled nutmeat…
by Barbara Waldinger Wilted spinach salad with warm bacon dressing; seared wild salmon with a Bengali onion chutney; seared asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper; gnocchi, pork belly sliders, scallops. . . This is not a restaurant menu but rather a gustatory appreciation of Theresa Rebeck’s Seared at Williamstown…
by Barbara Waldinger In a recent interview with the Times Union, Nicole Ricciardi, director of Shakespeare & Company’s current production of Creditors, describes the play as “one ninety-minute song.” Despite the fact that there is no music, Ricciardi and her consummate cast devote themselves to “following the rhythm” in Strindberg’s…
by Barbara Waldinger How is it possible for a local theatre, performing in a school with a cast of seventeen, including a small group of experienced actors working alongside a number of young students, to mount a credible, fully-staged and costumed production of Shakespeare’s Richard II, a play written entirely…
by Barbara Waldinger Henrik Ibsen is a tough act to follow. At the end of his 1879 masterpiece, A Doll’s House, audiences gasped as Nora Helmer left her husband and three children, delivering what George Bernard Shaw famously called “the door slam heard around the world,” presumably never to return.…
by Barbara Waldinger Imagine a production of Macbeth without the witches. No “When shall we three meet again?” No “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.” No cauldron for that matter; no murderers to kill Banquo or Macduff’s family—only blood magically spurting from their chests. These are…
by Roseann Cane I was just shy of 15 when Hair opened off-Broadway and began to cause a stir in 1967, a pivotal time in American culture. When a significantly revised version of the show opened on Broadway in 1968, it rapidly permeated the culture it reflected. It’s impossible to…
by Barbara Waldinger The local go-to venue for big, splashy summer musicals is usually Chatham’s Mac-Haydn Theatre. The tiny stage is characteristically populated with dozens of talented young singers/dancers/actors, energetic and beautifully costumed. However, the latest production, Mamma Mia!, despite showcasing all the usual ingredients, is largely a disappointment. Part…
