Despite its Homeric inspiration, Happy Birthday, Wanda June is not a play that wallows in subtlety, as emphasized in its opening lines: “This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing – and those who don’t.” In the hands of Burbage Theatre Company, it’s a well-acted, viciously funny comedy, a dark satire that shows […]
It was, fittingly, early December when I began to contemplate my own mortality. There was always a vague awareness that nothing lasts forever, but I am descended from a family of hardy stock, a number crossing the century mark. Bad luck can fell anyone, but in my relative youth I had no expectation that I […]
Most lists of states likely to end prohibition within the next couple of years do not include Rhode Island, mainly because there is no opportunity for popular initiative referenda on the ballot, the proven route to success so far elsewhere: If Rhode Island is going to do it, the impetus will have to come from […]
A new and original work of prodigious audacity, Planet Christmas by Contemporary Theater Company playwright-in-residence Andy Hoover, is unlike any holiday-themed stage production you’ve ever seen. It draws from a diverse variety of sources ranging from H.G. Wells to Leonard Cohen, sometimes planting allusions so obscure that, like James Joyce, Hoover seems to be playing […]
I’ve long contended that the overwhelming factor that accounts for the consistent increase in college tuition at about three times the rate of inflation over at least the past 30 years is, paradoxically, the availability of financial aid: By increasing the supply of financial aid money, the government created a perverse incentive for colleges to […]
An impressively minimalist take on a very familiar story, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, written by playwright Tom Mula and performed by the Rhode Island Stage Ensemble (RISE) employs four actors, almost no props and a set consisting of nothing more than a few boxes, a platform, a table and a chair. It, therefore, throws all-in, […]
A musical stage version of a classic book beloved by young adults for over a century is a daring challenge inherently difficult to do. Despite many adaptations for the stage and screen, none have succeeded in compressing into a short few hours the rich texture of character and detail that account for the enduring appeal […]
As permanent employment in some fields shifts by employer choice to temporary and even outsourced workers, a complementary movement toward freelancing by employee choice is gaining strength in the creative fields. A simple web search will trivially turn up a plethora of articles with similar titles: “World’s 5 Best Freelance Websites 2015,” “10 Most Popular […]
It’s difficult to review a production of a show after seeing it numerous times elsewhere on stage and literally many hundreds of times on screen, because the inevitable tendency is to emphasize what is different or unusual. However, most audience members think of The Rocky Horror Show as perhaps the definitive iconic Halloween theater piece, […]
Playwright David Mamet in 1983 very much captured what would later be elsewhere called the “greed is good” era with this Tony and Pulitzer award-winning look into an office of seedy real estate salesmen trying to sucker gullible buyers into a world of pipe dreams wrapped up in worthless property. Most people know Glengarry Glen […]