It isn’t every day you guess the exact setting of a play before the production even starts, but the stage of One Slight Hitch, playing at Newport Playhouse through May 15th, is instantly recognizable as middle-class-Ohio-80s. A killer soundtrack and bubblegum-colored outfits confirm the time and place within moments of the play starting, Lewis Black, one of the […]
In a world premiere, Contemporary Theatre playwright-in-residence Andy Hoover imagines a virtual reality combat game, “Triad,” played by teams of three seated at their respective computers, the objective of which is to confront and defeat various incarnations of “leviathans,” computerized monsters with almost unlimited variations of forms and capabilities. Fairly accurately modeling air combat, each […]
From the Boat to Obama features a unique combination of music, dance, poetry and dramatic vignettes to chart the history of African-Americans in the United States. Performed by Transforming Anew, the show was highly entertaining as well as educational. We see Africans being hunted and seized from their homeland. They are brought to America and […]
What better way to spend the weekend of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary than with the bard himself? A Winter’s Tale, now enjoying a run at The Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, seems to be the quintessential play to put on at this time. It has everything so deliciously Shakespearean: tragedy, comedy bordering on farcical, some singing, and of […]
Some magnificent performances elevate Jersey Boys, which is basically an extended live episode of “Behind the Music.” That show, which aired on the VH1 network, told us all about rock legends’ rise to fame, as well as their broken relationships, struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, and numerous sexual hijinks. In the 1960s, the Four […]
I didn’t know what to expect from Trinity’s world premiere of Katie Pearl’s play Arnie Louis and Bob. I knew it was based on her uncles and that three audience favorites were in it. Armed with that knowledge, I assumed I would enjoy it. And because I like to see this in print, I’ll put […]
With Murder Ballad, The Wilbury Theatre Group’s latest in-your-face rock musical, set designer Josh Christofferson has dressed down their Broad Street space to create the bare bones King’s Club, a dark, back alley bar that brings one right back to the old club days when Living Room, One Up and Rocket ruled Providence night life. […]
Studs Terkel, the son of a tailor and a seamstress, is an interesting cat. Equipped with a law degree he decided to instead become a concierge, followed by a career in theater and radio. In 1974 he published a transcript of one of his recording series named, Working: People Talk About What They Do All […]
Blues for Mister Charlie is an angry play from an angry time. The “Mister Charlie” of the title is a euphemism for “cracker,” a pejorative racial epithet for white people that has etymological roots in the slave driver of the antebellum South who literally cracked a whip. Trinity Rep deserves enormous credit for putting on […]
The Salve production of Spring Awakening is currently running at the Casino Theater in Newport through April 17, and you should make the time to go see it. You know a piece of art deals beautifully with the taboos of human experience when it has been banned and censored more frequently than it’s been able […]