Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 2003 This is one of those head-scratchers. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote tons of fabulous rock ‘n’ roll songs in the 1950’s and 1960’s – the kind of songs that make you want to get up and dance. And the Mac-Haydn has a…
by Gail M. Burns, June, 2003 Two decades ago, as her youngest child approached high school graduation, Joan Phelps turned to her husband Abe and said, “Let’s mortgage the house and start a theatre.” You can imagine his response, but they took the plunge and 20 years and 160+ productions…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 2003 You know how sometimes you attempt to relate something that really cracked you up to a friend who wasn’t there when it happened and you fail? You want SO MUCH to share the fun with this person who just doesn’t get it. And…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 2003 In an effort to entice audiences to this play, which contains no song, dance, sex, or violence, marketing types have used words like “hilarious” and “suspenseful.” The Drawer Boy is neither. And that is not a bad thing. In fact, the amazing thing is the…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May 2003. “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more; it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.”– William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, scene v I could not…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May, 2003 My fourteen-year-old son Brandon was my date last Thursday for the opening of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Mac-Haydn. He is not under the same restrictions I am to keep professionally quiet and reserved throughout the show, and his comments were as…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May 2003 The French find Molière and Jerry Lewis hysterically funny. I find them both mildy amusing but slightly inscrutable. Since my mother’s mother’s mother was French I have apparently inherited just enough French blood to get the jokes but not to laugh myself silly…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, March 2003 The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a deeply disturbing play. It is an alarming blend of hysterical comedy, grand melodrama, horrifying violence, and the most bleak tragedy. That being said, this production at the Ghent Playhouse is beautifully and powerfully performed and directed, and…
