Newport Playhouse has opened their season this year with Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite. This charming show is a bit different from the farces I’ve grown accustomed to seeing at the Playhouse, but the switch is welcome as they put on a solidly funny show. Plaza Suite is a bit of a switch for Simon as […]
In Wilbury’s “Fascist Mash-Up” of three plays – although really two plays and an epilogue – director Josh Short deserves praise for conceiving a radical experiment well carried out. Interweaving scenes from The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht and from Party Time by Harold Pinter, the result is surprisingly more palatable than […]
When it comes to music, keeping it real is usually the way to go. What do I mean by keeping it real? Being straight to the point and just writing a good song. You don’t always need a 3-minute guitar solo or 10 minutes of jamming nonsense. All the song needs is a fine strum, […]
Purchasing a new album has always been a thrill. The only problem I have is learning when enough is enough. I don’t buy a lot of stuff, but when I go in on grabbing new tunes it’s as if I stumbled into a buffet after not eating for week. When it comes time to listen […]
The next time your partner, roommate or mother starts bitching about the bottles piling up in your recycle bin, here’s a whole new belt load of ammunition to defend your love of beer.You have the researchers at the Mediterranean Neurological Institute in Italy to thank for these recent findings. They devoted themselves to reviewing over […]
There is so much theater out there that when you come across a show that has that ever lasting endurance, you know you’ve stumbled upon a classic — an iconic play. Wicked is one of those plays. I remember when it first hit Broadway how I desperately wanted tickets (and how they were one of the […]
The little note about Professor Lardaro’s index of the RI economy that appeared on Wednesday August 10 again reflects a set of biases that distort how the RI economy is doing. According to Dr. Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, economic growth has dramatically slowed since 1973, and the fundamentals of the economy […]
Every time Beach Slang’s James Alex writes a song, it seems he makes a conscious effort to discover the communal essence of punk rock. It doesn’t consist of bouncing around the mosh pit in a drunken haze; it embodies the moments when you’re singing along as you watch your favorite band on stage in the […]
SEED, the Untold Story would be worth watching if only for the lush beauty of its visuals; the opening sequence is pure art, glowing and smoldering with fecund life. Jewel-like ovules and whirligigs pour into the viewer’s eyes in a hypnotizing swirl. But behind the colors lurks a dark cloud, and this story, like the germ […]
This continues a series of interviews where Epic artistic director Kevin Broccoli interviews other ADs in the area to create a more in-depth conversation about theater in Rhode Island. This month’s interview is with 2nd Story’s artistic director Ed Shea. Kevin Broccoli: 2nd Story produces theater year-round. Is it difficult not being able to take […]