In 1835, after sailing into Newport and then continuing his journey through the United States, famed French historian and apparent theater geek Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about the cultural and political revolution that was still taking place in this country. In his Democracy in America, he argued that as a society transitions from aristocracy to […]
There is no shortage of musicals that have been record-breaking successes in the West End but flop upon their transfer across the pond to Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1984 rock musical Starlight Express, for instance, ran for 7,406 performances in London but only 761 in New York. More recently, Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Björn […]
Congratulations, you survived the record-breaking Blizzard of 2026. With the anticipated arrival of clear skies and warm temps, how will you be spending your well-earned, much-needed downtime this summer? If you’re adventurous, you could explore some of the state’s 266 hiking trails, numerous world-class gardens, or the 14.5-mile Providence-to-Bristol East Bay Bike Path. Perhaps you could […]
So, how well will the musical Kimberly Akimbo play in Peoria? And by “play,” I reference the vaudeville-era idiom questioning whether a product or political candidate will be accepted or popular with the general, mainstream public in an average American place like Peoria. And by “Peoria,” I mean Providence. Not well, it would seem, considering […]
Disney’s The Lion King, which is coming to the Providence Performing Arts Center stage for the fourth time since 2011, is more than a mega-hit musical deemed “breathtaking” by Entertainment Weekly, “gasp-inducing” by Time, and “a marvel” by Variety. It is at the top of the food chain of an impressive franchise. It all began […]
The national tour of The Outsiders, coming soon to the Providence Performing Arts Center, will seem familiar. And not just because it’s the stage adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s seminal 1967 young adult novel – which was required middle school reading for most of us – and Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic 1983 film of the same […]
Cibber-Vanbrugh’s The Provok’d Husband, a comedy about an extravagant wife, was a huge success in Newport. And Nicholas Rowe’s brooding The Tragedy of Jane Shore, inspired by the life of the mistress of Edward IV, drew standing-room only crowds. That was in the late-1760s, when these plays were among the first theatrical stagings in RI despite anti-theater laws […]
This is the seventh in a series about community theaters located throughout and adjacent to Rhode Island. The West Bay Community Theater, North Kingstown, RI “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t do or teach, criticize.” So said disgruntled fantasy fiction author Marsha Hinds, riffing on the famous quote by George […]
This is the sixth article in a series about community theaters located throughout and adjacent to Rhode Island. With its 2024 production of The Lucky Chance — a 17th-century comic farce about the perils of arranged marriage, written by the first professional female playwright in England – Providence’s Head Trick Theatre “showcases what it does […]
By Bob Abelman This is the fifth article in a series about community theaters located throughout and bordering on Rhode Island. One of the defining features of community theaters – what with their grassroots operations, limited budgets, and non-profit status – is that they typically perform out of nondescript found spaces such as church basements, […]