Not since Oscar and Felix – or Laverne and Shirley – have we cackled so hard at the antics of mismatched roommates bumbling through life. Somehow the Trinity Repertory Company team knew what we needed this season, staging a show that delivers a one-hour-and-40-minute laughfest that cleanses the heaviness of winter and the news cycle […]
Slapstick comedy, overly dramatized characters, and a Byzantine maze of a set buoy a comedic stage production that evolved from the popular murder mystery board game “Clue.” On a Broadway tour stop at the Providence Performing Arts Center, the show drew heavily on the 1985 black comedy film featuring a brilliant ensemble cast that included […]
Is it true love or a rewarding romp in the sack? You’ll go back and forth for two hours trying to decide in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” What’s undisputed is the sparking chemistry and riveting banter between the diner waitress and cook on their first date. Specifically, the show, playing at […]
Just when you think you’ve experienced all live theatre can do, the line is pushed even further into the realm of utter amazement. The latest “did-you-see-that?” moments come in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, at Providence Performing Arts Center through Oct. 4. Mind-warping visual trickery and clever direction take this written-for-stage franchise extension to […]
Power to the playwrights who can effortlessly weave together disparate themes and characters, something Ro Reddick manages deftly with Cold War Choir Practice, making its world premiere at Trinity Repertory Company. In a gritty Syracuse roller-skating rink in the waning days of the Cold War, she crafts a satirical, genre-defying look at power – Ronald […]
Through the scented mist of Ultra Clutch hairspray and the thrum of sugary ’60s pop tunes, there’s no mistaking the Broadway-level quality of the musical Hairspray at Theatre by the Sea. From exquisite staging to jaw-dropping vocals, the show is mesmerizing from start to finish – literally. Tracy Turnblad, bubbly Baltimore teen played by Niki […]
Although set almost 100 years ago in Depression- and Prohibition-era Harlem, today’s political climate makes the soul-wrenching tale of oppression and hatred in “Blues for an Alabama Sky” eerily familiar.On stage at Trinity Repertory Company, the nearly three-hour piece was written by Pearl Cleage, dubbed the most important playwright alive by Trinity Artistic Director Curt […]
Jeff Church was born to play Hamlet. As lead in a retelling of the Shakesperean tragedy at Gamm Theatre, Church is physically and emotionally nimble, leaping and swashbuckling about the three-tiered stage to deliver iconic lines – “To be or not to be,” “To thine own self be true,” “To die, to sleep, perchance to […]
Gritty, profanity-laced, and unforgiving might be just the elixir audiences need these days and Gamm Theatre delivers via a gut-punch production of Between Riverside and Crazy. The dark comedy by Stephen Adly Guirgis and 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it should be. The reason is Guirgis’ […]
You’ve never had a history lesson like it and if you’ve managed to avoid the “Hamilton” buzz for the last nine years – or you’ve been missing the punchy tunes since the show’s last stop in Providence – here’s your shot. The touring production of the smash Lin Manuel-Miranda hit musical is at the Providence […]