Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2004 Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) was 60 years old when Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus made its debut. At the time, it was the largest circus venture in American history. Shortly thereafter Barnum coined the phrase “The greatest show on earth,”…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July 2004 Swing! is the kind of show that I am on record as disliking. It is all song and dance – no script, no plot. I just panned Honky Tonk Angels last week as being a bad example of this mindless genre. But I am happy to…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2002 Mame Dennis must be up there in the Bawdy Broads Afterlife laughing with delight at the lengthy run her nephew’s tales of her have had. Patrick Dennis became an overnight sensation when his memoir Auntie Mame was first published in 1955. Considered risqué at the…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2002 The Spirit of ’76 is alive and well at the Mac-Haydn this week in this lively, well-staged production of the Tony award-winning musical play 1776 brimming with talent and excitement. Towards the end of the second act I actually found myself biting my nails and…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May, 2002 Nuns wearing wimplesAnd captains with whistlesBrave young MariaAnd Nazis who bristleEdelweiss, goatherds,And children who singThese are a few of my favorite things— with apologies to Oscar Hammerstein II Although I entered the Mac-Haydn the other night with my curmudgeonly “I Hate Rodgers &…