With an offering as light and breezy as the ’60s jukebox musical Beehive, it seems somewhat petty to pick apart any aspect of the production, especially one so seemingly crowd-pleasing as the current 2017 season-opener at Theatre by the Sea. Capacity houses, exuberant audience participation and crisp musical performances are something with which it’s hard […]
Twenty years after her death, Princess Diana remains a legendary figure. Playwright James Clements’ In Her Own Words: The Diana Tapes is an entrancing look at the creation of Diana: Her True Story, Andrew Morton’s best-selling book about the doomed princess. Diana was a woman who gave birth to a future king – Prince William […]
A staged reading of TRANS was held June 1 and 2 at the URI Feinstein Providence campus. Steven Pennell, coordinator of the Urban Arts and Culture Program at URI, conceived TRANS as an oral history project focusing on the lives of transgendered individuals. Playwright Frank Toti, Jr., who also directed, focuses on six characters […]
“Theatre By The Sea broke every record last year! Fastest selling opener, matinee, season, all of them. I talk about this and sometimes I think people think I’m [kidding] them!” TBTS’ proud owner enthuses to Motif about his most recent success and how the venerable performance venue is on track to smash their own records […]
What a difference a few years can make in the life of a theater. On March 9 of this year, Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC) issued an upbeat press release announcing the group’s plans for their 2017-2018 season. Producing Artistic Director Amiee Turner was “thrilled” to announce that tickets were on sale for the six-play […]
From the moment evil Knight Commander Fernán Gómez (Fred Sullivan, Jr.) appears on stage eager to grab the women of the town by the pussy, there is no mistaking the contemporary relevance of this play by Spanish Renaissance master Lope de Vega. Grounded in a real historical incident that took place in 1476, Commander Gómez […]
Nineteenth century German Lutheran adolescents singing rock music might sound like an off-kilter premise for a musical, but throw in clever staging and universal, timeless themes, and Spring Awakening’s massive success since its opening on Broadway a decade ago is no wonder. Based on the 1891 German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, […]
“Come and meet those dancing feet. On the avenue we’re taking you to.” – old Weybosset St. No, not THOSE feet. These feet are the thunderous, stage-vibrating, Irish step-dancing feet that belong to the large cast of Riverdance, The Show, the sensation taking over the stage at Providence Performing Arts Center June 2 through 4. Years […]
Playwright Nick Albanese has high hopes for his hit one-man show, The Last Sicilian. Albanese intends to perform the show in New York next January, and he launched an online funding campaign (gofundme.com/thelastsicilian) to allow him to bring the project to the 13th Street Repertory Theatre Company for a tw0-week run. Albanese took questions from the […]
I love theater. I love British Literature; from Jane Austen to JK Rowling to JR Tolkien to Roald Dahl. And then these two entities that I adore got together and formed Matilda The Musical. This show is playing at the Providence Performing Arts Center until Sunday, and you really don’t want to miss it! Matilda […]