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 […]
Ah, A Christmas Carol … who doesn’t know and love this holiday chestnut from one of its many incarnations? Whether your favorite adaptation stars Michael Caine, Mr. Magoo or Patrick Stewart, we all happily revisit this age-old tale of that one fateful Christmas Eve when miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited upon by the ghosts of […]
Mixed Magic Theatre’s production of Driving Miss Daisy is powered by some outstanding performances and smooth direction by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley. The setting is Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1940s. An elderly Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan (Melanie Stone) crashes her car, which prompts her son Boolie to hire a chauffeur to drive his mother around. Boolie […]
Trinity Repertory Company has delivered a first-rate production of playwright Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, and Angela Brazil delivers a winning performance as Heidi Holland, an art historian who is perpetually searching for fulfillment. Directed with a lot of polish by Vivienne Benesch, the story follows Heidi over the course of three decades, […]
There are some experiences that are so painful they find a way to sink into our souls. In The Love of The Nightingale, the darkest parts of human nature are laid bare in the world of ancient Greece. Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a harrowing portrait of the battle between the sexes, adorned with symbols […]
‘Tis the season when many turn to theater for a little Christmas cheer. Locally, we are fortunate to have several wonderful options; Trinity’s A Christmas Carol, Festival Ballet’s The Nutcracker, and, this year, add Ocean State Theatre’s It’s a Wonderful Life to your Christmas “must see” list. Based on the beloved 1946 film starring Jimmy […]
If you’re looking for something completely different (nods to Monty Python) this holiday season, take time to see this uproarious original story, Ant’ny Claus: A Dysfunctional Family Christmas, produced by the Academy Players. The character and the play spring from the mind of Rhode Island comic, actor and director Frank O’Donnell. So yes, expect a […]
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 […]
In Cloud Eye Control’s Half Life, performed at Columbus Theatre on November 21, images projected in front and behind an actor create the illusion that the woman, moving subtly on the stage, is being whipped through mountains or getting lost in the sea. She holds up her hand to have a flurry of dots fly […]