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, […]
God is kind of a dick. Why does he allow so much suffering? Why all the smiting? What is his obsession with blood sacrifice? For their latest production, The Wilbury Group staged the world premiere of Ben Jolivet’s Cain + Abel, a thoughtful take on the impotence of God in a world of temptation and […]
Sarah Ruhl’s In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, directed by URI associate professor Bryna Wortman, delivers — in multiples — exactly what the titillating subtitle promises. Yes, this play is about the advent of the vibrator in the late 1880s. An invention that single-handedly brought about – usually in 3 minutes or less […]
There is a saying in sales, “Don’t lead with your chin.” In other words, don’t lead with your best offer. At first glance, it appears that Festival Ballet Providence is doing just that by opening their 38th season with Ballet Russes Reinvented. This ambitious triple-bill pays homage to one of the 20th century’s most revolutionary […]
Encore Repertory Company’s production of the classic Walt Disney musical, Mary Poppins, which opened Friday at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, is an unqualified triumph. Every aspect of the show is first-rate, from the performances and music to the set design, costume and special effects. It is not just a children’s show, either. There is plenty […]
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 […]
Warren’s 2nd Story Theatre has dubbed this event a “pop-up” production and quite honestly, if they wanted to keep this show going, Buyer & Cellar starring the inimitable Kevin Broccoli and handsomely directed by Lara Hakeem, could “pop-up” and probably sell out virtually anywhere for a long, long time. Alas, anyone who follows local theater […]
Let’s face it – when it comes to live entertainment, sometimes you want the Bard, sometimes you like it avant-garde and sometimes you just want your theater like a nice shot of tequila (fast, salty and with a twist). Murder on Us has been in the business of giving folks a bawdy and satisfying good […]
Playwright Lenny Schwartz delves into a topic we don’t always like to face in America in his play, Our Distance Between Stars. What happens to those left behind in war? Schwartz has written a beautiful script that focuses on the greatest generation, and specifically the women of the Women Auxiliary Corps. It is touching, funny and leaves you thinking. It […]
Have I mentioned that I love black box theater? It is, in my opinion, the rawest and most intimate form of theater. Take a room, some black paint, chairs; fill it with hard-working performers and voila! You have a night of something truly magical. The element of a story, stripped down to the bones. I […]