REVIEW: “Thirst” at the Dorset Theatre Festival

by Barbara Waldinger “Set during Eugene O’Neill’s classic Long Day’s Journey Into Night, failure, denial and passion roil as two Irish servants and an American chauffeur pass the day in the kitchen of the Tyrone family’s residence in 1912.” (Publicity blurb: Dorset Theatre Festival’s production of Thirst by Ronán Noone). …

REVIEW: “To the Moon and Back” at the Chester Theatre Company

by Barbara Waldinger Chester Theatre Company’s mission statement includes two important goals:  offering audiences “fresh perspectives on vital issues” and developing and supporting new work.  Responding to this, along came Fran Henry, founder of a thirty-year-old organization called Stop It Now!, devoted to preventing “the sexual abuse of  children by…

REVIEW: “Hymn” at Shakespeare & Company

by Barbara Waldinger The Shakespeare & Company production of Hymn by Lolita Chakrabarti feels like two actors and a director searching for a plot.  Overstuffed with music, singing, dancing, boxing, changes of costume, set pieces and props (not to mention a ticking metronome) to help fill the 95 minutes, the…

REVIEW: “Next to Normal” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

by Barbara Waldinger Bravo to the Mac-Haydn Theatre for daring to produce Next to Normal as part of their busy summer season schedule!  Imagine a musical about mental health alongside a lineup including A Chorus Line, Urinetown, Kiss Me Kate, The Full Monty, Xanadu and Forever Plaid.  Undaunted, Artistic Director/Director…

HRC Showcase Theatre Presents Reading of “Touch the Moon” at The Theater Barn

NEW LEBANON, NY—On July 30th, 2022, at The Theater Barn in New Lebanon, New York, HRC Showcase Theatre will present a staged reading of Touch the Moon, by Arianna Rose.  Based on a true story, the play dramatizes the mysterious disappearance of a college student during spring break in 1995.   Although The…

REVIEW: “A Walk in the Woods” at Shakespeare & Company

by Barbara Waldinger Shakespeare & Company’s production of A Walk in the Woods is a master class in Acting.  Jonathan Epstein and Allyn Burrows play Andrey Botvinnik, a career Soviet negotiator, and John Honeyman, a younger American negotiator, respectively, as they attempt to craft a treaty over the course of…