Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2004 I knew that I had reviewed a previous production of The King and I at the Mac-Haydn many years ago, and that I had had some problems with it. Looking back at my review from 1998, I see that it was the first show I…
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, June 2004 You must excuse me because I know way too much about The Pirates of Penzance. I have known every note of the score since I was eleven years old and appeared in the policeman’s chorus as a pathetically adolescent member of the constabulary. Tarantara.…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May, 2004 The Mac-Haydn has billed its 2004 season as “Fantastic Fun” and has launched it with a bang with an hilarious and energetic production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. My companion for the evening, who had never…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 2003 “Our state fair is a great state fairDon’t miss it, don’t even be lateBet you dollars to doughnuts that our state fairIs the best state fair in our state.”– Oscar Hammerstein II Even the staunchest of fans of Hammerstein would have to admit…
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, 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, 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…
