Bob Colonna and William Oakes make for a dynamic duo as “The Sunshine Boys”, a pair of ex-vaudevillians who reunite for a television special in 1972. Willie (Colonna) hasn’t seen Al (Oakes) for 11 years. The two men worked together for several decades but had a falling out. Willie despises Al, but respects his talent. […]
The 11th Annual One Act Play Festival, which began last month, is presenting eight plays in its second “wave.” Dwayne Yancey’s Death by Poinsettia is a deliciously dark comedy about a depressed woman who tries to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. Caroline sets up a video camera and proceeds to consume the leaves of a poinsettia […]
The 11th Annual One Act Play festival kicked off on July 22 at Theatre 82. The first wave concludes on July 30, and the second series of plays will run through August 13. The nine plays presented in the first wave all focused on the theme of time, according to Jessica Chace, the festival’s artistic […]
Ocean State Theater Company has served up a summertime treat with Damn Yankees, a good-natured and highly entertaining musical directed with a lot of style by Amiee Turner. Joe Boyd (John Costa) is a devout baseball fan who wants his team to defeat the dreaded New York Yankees. One day Joe is visited by a […]
The latest production of West Side Story at Theatre by the Sea features some terrific singing and dancing, as well as a wonderful score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. This is a good-looking show, featuring terrific costumes and sets. Unfortunately it feels too by the numbers, as if the creative team were merely […]
Free Man of Color, from playwright Charles Smith, skillfully and intelligently explores the issue of oppression. It is one of Mixed Magic Theatre’s strongest plays in recent memory. John Newton Templeton is a former slave who is studying at a university in Ohio in 1828. The university is overseen by Reverend Robert Wilson, who […]
Tuesdays with Morrie is another triumph for 2nd Story Theatre, which seems to excel with intimate dramas. Once a week Mitch visits college professor Morrie Schwartz, who is dying of ALS, to offer him companionship and in the process, learns some lessons in life. The two men discuss growing older, love, life and of course, […]
Bullets Over Broadway is a simply horrible musical. Woody Allen wrote the book, which was based on his screenplay for the 1994 motion picture. I did not see the movie, but could it have been this witless? Nearly all of Allen’s jokes fall flat and almost every character is an overplayed fool. David Shayne (Michael Williams) is […]
There’s plenty of offerings for Rhode Island theatergoers this summer. Matunuck’s Theatre by the Sea begins its season with The Buddy Holly Story June 1 through 19. The show follows the journey of rock legend Buddy Holly’s rise to the top of the record charts during the golden days of rock ‘n’ roll in this tribute […]
If you’re looking for some religious education without heavy-handed moralizing, then Late Nite Catechism is for you. This one-woman show, being performed at Trinity Repertory Company, features Colleen Moore as Sister, a no-nonsense nun who won’t tolerate any misbehavior in her classroom. The 90-minute show features plenty of interaction between the nun and the […]