“In a thousand years man will sigh just the same, ‘Ah, how hard life is,’ and yet just as now he will be afraid of death and not want it.”– Anton Chekhov, The Three Sisters, translated by Constance Garnett Ventfort Hall, as it is struggling to become fully refurbished and functional…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2007 I cannot recall how many times I have seen The Fantasticks – once in summer stock when I was very young, at least once at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, and, memorably, once in Phippy Kaye’s living room when a group of 4th grade girls I…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2007 “War is a scienceWith rules to be appliedWhich good soldiers appreciateRecall and recapitulateBefore they go to decimateThe other side.”– Stephen Schwartz Last summer as I was driving around to many theatres, I listened to tapes of a BCC radio adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2007 Even theatre critics have their favorite shows, and it is no secret that Little Shop of Horrors is one of mine. My son Brandon and I make pilgrimages to see it whenever it is presented within reasonable driving distance. We have seen everything from an…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2007 “To emphasize only the beautiful seems to me to be like a mathematical system that only concerns itself with positive numbers.”– Paul Klee Among local theatre critics the debate has been raging: Is Tina Packer too old, too heavy, or too Celtic to…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2007 The title of this 1951 Lillian Hellman play is evocative. Imagine a garden in autumn – the light just so, the summer greens muted towards brown, wind swirling colorful leaves into ever changing patterns… Of course this play is set in September on…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2007 “I went to see an all African-American production of The Cherry Orchard with Gloria Foster and James Earl Jones as Lopakhin. I finally got it when [I watched Lopakhin buy] the cherry orchard – it’s the happiest and most devastating moment of his life! It’s…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2007 Richard Burton (1925-1984) was born in Pontrhydyfen, Wales, the 12th of 13 children of a coalminer. Burton showed a talent for the literary arts in elementary school, and an inspirational teacher took him under his wing and prepared him for the theatrical career…
