“All the world is a Sweet Little Variety Show and all of our LBGTQ friendly humans merely feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, body positive players in a cabaret,” to paraphrase William Shakespeare. Aurora in DownCity PVD demonstrates their commitment to diversity and acceptance as host venue for the Sweet Little Variety Show, one of the biggest hits […]
Nominated for nine Tony Awards and winning two, Lend Me a Tenor by playwright Ken Ludwig is an unambitious and ridiculous farce that depends upon numerous perfect coincidences and character stereotypes. The central plot element is a case of mistaken identity that depends upon both parties to the confusion wearing blackface makeup to perform the […]
The Low Mountaintop Collective’s Ronald K. Lewis This month, AS220 LIVE ARTS presents its second annual MODERN MOVEMENTS Dance Festival, featuring 7 dance artists/companies which celebrate creativity and experimentation through the art of Dance. The festival began Saturday April 1st and continues through the month with performances, classes/workshops and discussions. I sat down with choreographer, […]
Inherit the Wind is one of the great plays of the past century and Ocean State Theatre Company does it due justice as a masterpiece, originally produced in 1955 at the height of McCarthyism. In his “director’s note” in the program, Fred Sullivan, Jr., compares it to other political plays that reach general principles beyond […]
If you know the music of Tom Lehrer, underground satirist of the 1950s and counter-cultural television star of the 1960s, Tom Foolery is a revue that will trigger waves of nostalgia. The musical and its song selection date from 1980, only a few years removed from Lehrer’s active performance days which, it is worth noting, […]
If there is one thing I love about community theater, it is the obvious heart and soul that go into each production, and Granite Theatre did not disappoint in that department. This company has a lot of heart, and it shows in their production of Communicating Doors by Alan Ayckbourn, running through April 9. Communicating […]
Burbage Theatre Company’s production of Nicky Silver’s The Altruists is about a group of liberal activists who claim to care about women’s rights, gay rights, the plight of the homeless and other social issues, but are so self-centered and shallow they really seem incapable of doing anything. Director Vince Petronio says of the characters, “They […]
Telling people that I was going to review the Wilbury Group’s production of Mr. Burns, I got a few variations on the same response: “Maybe I don’t know a lot about theater – the only Mr. Burns I know is the one on ‘The Simpsons!’” That is, in fact, the one. Anne Washburn’s play, subtitled […]
Anyone who knows Rhode Island knows that Rose Weaver is an icon who works in stage, film and television. She sometimes graces the steps of the state house with her powerful singing voice and has numerous awards to match her endless credentials. Now she’s bringing dinner theater to the state with her show Menopause Mama. […]
The latest in a series of biography plays written by Leonard Schwartz, Goodbye and Hurry Back is about the romance between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall that began in 1944 on the set of her first movie, To Have and Have Not, when she was 19 and he was 44. Although at the Arctic Playhouse, […]