Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May 2005 Let’s get things straight at the outset:1. Nuncrackers is a Nunsense show.2. Theatre critics hate Nunsense shows and I am a theatre critic.3. Nunsense shows are completely “critic-proof.” Critics hate ‘em and audiences love ‘em. Some might argue that item three above proves that critics are woefully out of touch with…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, February 2005 If you are looking for high art, go back to my front page and make your selection of award-winning shows running the in Capital District. If you want to have fun, go see Meshuggah-Nuns at Cohoes Music Hall. The premise this time around, and it…
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, July 2004 And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure of announcing that a star is born! I have been saying all season that Renée Brna is star material, and here in Show Boat, cast in the leading role of Magnolia, she finally gets her…
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, 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…
