Phase One of the $50,000 Initiative will Preserve the Exterior Integrity of This Architectural Treasure [GHENT, NY] – The Ghent Playhouse is just two seasons away from celebrating its 50th anniversary and the 130th anniversary of its historic building. With this in mind, Phase One of a capital campaign, The…
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…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, January 2003 The World Goes ‘Round is a revue of the music of Kander and Ebb. The amassing of songs by a particular composer/lyricist/team or made famous by a certain star or all on a common theme seems to be a very popular form of theatrical…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2002 Sometimes, comedy writers just wanna have fun. Sometimes it is good to pick up your pen and be funny just because you can, not because you have to or because you are trying to sugar coat a darker theme, but because making people…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May 2002 I think it takes real chutzpah to stage Assassins less than a year after 9/11. In a summer season where many area theatres are busily waving the flag, scheduling this daring, edgy musical which explores the lives and possible motives of nine people who attempted…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, January 2002 Quilters is a fascinating show based on real stories of 19th century pioneer women in the American west. Most of those women would have been quilters, and authors Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek uses quilting and quilt patterns as a way to organize these…
