Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 2006 When I go to see an oft-produced classic like South Pacific I ask myself two questions: Does it effectively tell the story? Does it bring anything new to the story? Some theatrical reimaginings bring so much that is new that the original intent is lost,…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2005 Like every review I write, this is ONLY my opinion, but from where I sit Barry Manilow’s Copacabana is a terrible musical. It has a ludicrous book, cardboard characters for the hero and heroine, and a score with only one hummable tune – the title…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July 2005 A while back there was a cartoon in the New Yorker entitled “The Gay Agenda” that depicted a page in a daily planner with a “to do” list that read something like this: “Walk the dog. Pick up dry cleaning. Pick Susie up…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July 2005 If you are a tap dance junkie looking for your next fix now that Savion Glover has departed from Jacob’s Pillow, you will want to book tickets NOW for 42nd Street at the Mac-Haydn. I went to the theatre with high hopes and fond memories…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June 2005 In 1999, Time Magazine looked back over the entire 20th century, a century that saw the American musical take shape, and named Rodgers and Hammerstein’s second collaboration Carousel the Best Musical of the Century! High praise indeed. Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves liked Carousel the best of all…
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 The Mac-Haydn is offering up a cheerful, likeable, and oddly uneven production of Hello Dolly! Basically, the leading ladies are great and the leading men are miscast. Since this is a show about a woman, told very much from a woman’s point of view, things…
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…
