“What if (mother) *is* dead? Think how pathetic I’ll be then!” – Tiny Tim, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge Playwright Christopher Durang’s absurdly irreverent take on A Christmas Carol wears its cynical, hardened heart on its sleeve, ensuring that the titular Mrs. Cratchit negatively invokes the word “pathos” repeatedly in order to drive home […]
December looks to be a very raucous month at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Shortly after King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ride through, a regiment of soldiers, a cluster of mice and a Yorkie will take up residence. Following a week long run of Camelot, PPAC will host Festival Ballet Providence […]
In RI we are fortunate to be surrounded by many wonderful arts organizations. Whether you prefer equity or non-equity performances, theatergoers have many viable options. Yet, it is always refreshing to visit a place where many of the state’s talented artists – literally — took their first steps toward stardom. For a remarkable 55 years, […]
Last year, Motif combined theater and religion and discussed just why A Christmas Carol should be so ubiquitous at this time of year. For many, Christmas is the one time they get out of the house and experience live theater. A Christmas Carol is the perfect way to infuse that holiday spirit into the kids […]
Barefoot in the Park, which recently opened at Trinity Repertory Company, is a silly, lightweight confection that coasts on the appeal of the stars: real-life engaged couple Rebecca Gibel and Charlie Thurston. Gibel and Thurston play Corie and Paul, newlyweds who move into a fifth floor apartment in New York City. The place is threadbare: no furniture, […]
Trinity Repertory Company’s annual production of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol features a top-notch cast of adults and children and some truly inventive staging. Fred Sullivan Jr. plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a cranky old miser who treats everyone with disdain, including his long-suffering employee Bob Cratchit (Stephen Thorne). One night, Scrooge is visited by his deceased […]
At the start of my professional life I had the opportunity to work at Trinity Square Theatre, building scenery designed by a world-renowned set designer: Eugene Lee. Lucky me! Theater offers so much in the way of great positive interaction with other creatives all working toward one common goal. It’s a vast soup poured into […]
When I think of Walt Disney, I don’t think about the man, I think about the corporation that has lived on long after Disney’s death in 1966. For me, Disney was the “Wonderful World of Disney” that aired every Sunday night during the ’70s after Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom.” I grew up in the Disney […]
The current show of Counter-Productions Theatre at AS220 is their delightful, every-other-year homage to classic stories of science fiction. This year, the show named Atomic Bride of X-1 is a collection of four one-act stories originally written as radio plays in the 1950s. Says Ted Clement, artistic director of the Counter-Productions Theater, “From the far horizons […]
Festival Ballet Providence opens its 37th season with the first installment of Up Close On Hope, a dance series presented in the company’s Hope Street studio. While not as demanding as past programs — the classical numbers do not deliver the usual knock-out punch — the near sell-out crowd of FBP diehards is not disappointed. […]