The reputation of Night Mother by Marsha Norman is that it is intense. When I casually chatted with several local frequent theatergoers about going to see the show, they responded with some form of, “Wow, what a show.” Without having much more than a brief plot summary, I wasn’t sure if that was a good “wow” or […]
Stephen Brower is starring as Dmitry in the musical Anastasia, opening at PPAC on November 27. Based on the 1997 film, the musical adapts the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, who could have escaped the execution of her family. Years later, an amnesiac orphan named Anya hopes to find some trace of her family by siding with […]
Motif’s latest issue includes a spread on all of the dueling versions of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life, and makes mention of *one* alternative Christmas production (Barker’s Butterfingers Angel…). However, we kept digging deep into the stocking and, lo and behold, a couple of gems remained behind after the initial frenzy of […]
As a proud lifelong Rhode Islander, there are traditions that are really ingrained in me. It’s a bubbla, not a water fountain; coffee milk is the only milk worth its salt and Christmastime means A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep. I have seen this show at Trinity countless times. In fact A Christmas Carol was […]
For anyone familiar with the technological side of our modern world, receiving an “end of life” announcement for a piece of hardware or software is a very common reminder that all good things must come to an end. While the phrase may seem morose, within this lifecycle, there is often a new, improved replacement […]
The Gamm Theatre is continuing their new season with the dark comedy Gloria, from playwright Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate). The play made its debut off-Broadway in May 2015 and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The action takes place in the New York office of an upscale magazine focusing on news and entertainment (loosely […]
A few years back, Motif took a look at the RI theater holiday season and determined that the plethora of Dickens offerings amounted to one of two things – a cynical cash grab or a once-a-year experience not unlike the “Chreasters” who attend church once or twice a year and call it good. The jury […]
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As anyone who attends plays regularly knows, community theater is the biggest of crapshoots. Due to the limitations of space, resources, money, manpower and talent base, each production has a host of hurdles to overcome before it gets to opening night. Because of this, I typically expect certain things when I attend community theater: small […]