The word “appropriate” can be pronounced (according to the American Heritage dictionary) either as an adjective “(ə-prō′prē-ĭt)” meaning “suitable for a particular person, condition, occasion, or place; fitting” or as a verb “(ə-prō′prē-āt′)” meaning “to take possession of or make use of exclusively for oneself, often without permission.” The ambiguity is deliberate in the title […]
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical version of the beloved Peanuts, the long-running comic strip. Creator Charles Schulz depicted human frailty in the ongoing saga of Charlie Brown, the endearing sad sack who faces endless heartbreak and disappointments. You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown features all the famous characters: There’s Charlie’s […]
Time Stands Still is a powerful drama that depicts the sacrifices some people are willing to make in the service of a greater good. Playwright Donald Margulies has created some vivid three-dimensional individuals who are torn between their own desires. Sarah (Kathleen Povar) is a photojournalist who has been severely injured while covering a conflict in […]
The mark of a classic show is one that has received multiple revivals around the world and across the decades. Such shows are brought back again and again, not for nostalgia’s sake as a piece of history, but rather because of their timelessness. Perhaps it says more about humanity than the quality of a production […]
I am waking up on the second day after seeing Trinity’s Appropriate, by Brandon Jacob Jenkins, directed by Brian Mertes. After viewing, it took me about this long to digest and come up with a coherent way to express not only what this play says to me, but how this play says something I […]
Theater today impresses audiences with the extravagant; the more authentic and intricate, the better. To keep up with television and movies, sets and props have to be so lifelike that willingly suspending disbelief is no chore at all for the audience. In these shows, the work is done for you. Such productions are impressive spectacles, […]
Poet Emily Dickinson, who was more than a little odd herself, noted that madness is what society ascribes to those who do not conform: “Assent, and you are sane ;/Demur, — you’re straightway dangerous,/And handled with a chain.” There are, I would argue, three great novels that better than any others captured this theme for […]
Billy Elliot: The Musical makes its professional RI debut kicking-off Ocean State Theatre Company’s fifth season. Winner of 10 Tony Awards, this production, under OSTC’s artistic director Amiee Turner, shows some flashes of the brilliance that has earned it so much critical acclaim, but ultimately falls short of delivering a knock-out punch. During its final preview […]
I have a confession to make, mes amies. I am a sucker for a good bedroom comedy. Yes, a deconstructed think-piece is good now and then and Lord knows, I can get behind a good musical, but no matter how tough times are, all you have to do to is mention the words — […]
There’s a lot going on in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, currently opening the season at The Gamm. A viewer unfamiliar with the play might expect the poetry or the landscape design history from a story set in a country house in the early 19th century, but they might not expect it to contain quite so much […]