We think of Broadway as being a pretty gay place, but most musicals, even today, follow a rather heterosexual formula, with a straight couple at the center of the action and maybe some peripheral gay couples. Rarely do you see a musical with a gay main character. In fact, the first mainstream musical to feature […]
From the first melancholic notes of the opening number, “To Build a Home,” it is clear that this show aims to lay bare its very soul to audiences. Based on Robert James Waller’s 1992 novel, The Bridges of Madison County musical was written by the Tony Award-winning creative team of Jason Robert Brown (The Last […]
A year after the 2016 election, the same questions persist that have poked at the arts community for decades prior. The open debate about the roles of race, gender and sexual identity in this freshly riven society is not new, so much as it is in high relief. The echo chambers within the arts have […]
This continues a series of interviews where Epic artistic director Kevin Broccoli interviews other ADs in the area to create a more in-depth conversation about theater in Rhode Island. This month’s interview is with Trinity’s artistic director Curt Columbus. Kevin Broccoli: Trinity opened their season this year with two shows in rep, Skeleton Crew and […]
RI’s Devised Theater Festival, created by recently returned RI ex-pat David Ledoux’s First Day Productions, debuted in October at the newly renovated Mixed Magic Theatre on Mineral Spring Avenue. The fest challenges local makers of theater to create short (less than 15 minutes) original works with only two weeks to conceive, write, tech, troubleshoot and […]
The Stadium’s new production of Footloose the Musical will transport audiences back to the glory of the 1980s from November 3 through 5. Footloose is about a spirited teenager named Ren who leads a rebellion in a small farm town after the town elders ban dancing and rock music. The musical has all the […]
I’ve seen a handful of productions at the Stadium Theatre, and I’m consistently blown away by their talent and their production value. It’s not even a matter of being good for a community theater group – they’re easily on the level of a professional production. As good as they’ve been in the past, however, nothing […]
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is one of the notoriously polarizing plays of the 20th century: People either love it or hate it. Personally, it is one of my favorite plays because it is the epitome of theatrical form: It cannot be explained, but only experienced. It is impossible to get any sense of […]
Most musicals cover lofty themes central to the human experience – the likes of revolution, forbidden love, revenge, defying societal expectations and fantasy worlds. Then there are shows like The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which is about, well, a spelling bee. Unless you’re really into competitive spelling, it probably doesn’t sound like a […]
Newport Playhouse & Cabaret Restaurant’s newest offering is The Crazy Time, a laugh-filled look at men struggling to understand why the women they find so desirable don’t actually want to stick with them for very long. Being a Sam Bobrick comedy, the odds are that the lessons learned will be few, the jokes will be […]