Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2008 The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ menGang aft agley,An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,For promis’d joy! – Robert Burns When Of Mice and Men was first published in 1937, it was termed a “novella” – a little novel – and it was,…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, March 2007 I tried to explain American Soup to someone the other day and ended up saying, “Well, at the back of the stage Andy Warhol is in purgatory, on the front we watch 50 years in the lives of this Italian-American family who run a restaurant…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, February 2007 “Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right.” – Rudyard Kipling The New York State Theatre Institute kicks off 2007 by giving Agatha Christie fans exactly what they have been longing for – the world premiere of a literate new stage adaptation…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, December 2006 On the way over the mountains to Troy my eleven-year-old nephew regaled me with tales of why his life was terrible. He had a good litany going and to listen to him his life was indeed nigh on to unbearable. It was amazing…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June 2006 It is a sad comment on how we prioritize our arts dollars that I am used to seeing even the very best children’s theatre presented with fairly low-budget production values. So NYSTI’s top-flight production of The Cat, the Sun, and the Mirror, a new…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, January 2006 For all her faults, our nation is an amazing place, and the story of her founding is a gripping one. 1776 the Tony award-winning 1969 musical by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone does as good a job as is possible in telescoping the events in…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, October 2005 I spent a great deal of time the past week grumbling about murder mystery plays. I am not much of a mystery fan, and I will never understand the American value system that categorizes murder as “wholesome entertainment”, but I find mysteries in…
