Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2003 Like millions of young girls, Frances Hodgson Burnett was one of my favorite authors when I was growing up. I confess that I vastly preferred the plucky Sara Crewe of A Little Princess (1905) to the sour Mary Lennox of The Secret Garden (1911) but in my adult years…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2003 It doesn’t really matter what I say in this review because the Theater Barn’s production of Chicago will sell out (if it hasn’t already) anyway. That is because, as Artistic Director Bert Bernardi remarked in his curtain speech, America has Chicago fever. Cleverly timed to open the…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2003 I just loved this show! Of course, I know every line, lyric, and note of Gilbert & Sullivan’s 1878 operetta H.M.S. Pinafore – of which this 1945 George S. Kaufman opus is a clever parody – so I cannot imagine what entertainment value the show…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2003 As soon as I saw Ragtime announced on the Weston 2003 schedule, I knew it would be wonderful. Weston does just about everything well, but especially big musicals. I have fond memories of the productions of Most Happy Fella and Candide that I saw there, and so I booked…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2003 The Mac-Haydn is offering up a cheerful, likeable, and oddly uneven production of Hello Dolly! Basically, the leading ladies are great and the leading men are miscast. Since this is a show about a woman, told very much from a woman’s point of view, things…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2003 Your curmudgeonly critic confesses that she is not a country music fan, nor is she a fan of these “tribute” shows that are all the rage at the moment. But even though country music isn’t my favorite genre, there is no mistaking a…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2003 WOW! Wowie-wow-wow! Whatta show! What a load of silly fun! Go! Buy tickets NOW, I tell you! There is no plot to Sugar Babies, no moral, no uplifting moments. Just songs and dance, laughs and fun, all for you. That’s what it says on…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2003 Ok, I confess, I just don’t get it. I don’t understand the current popularity of staged musical revues. To me they just aren’t theatre. They are concerts with costumes, and if that’s what you want why not spend the cash to see Elton…
