Thursday, September 18, 2014
If there is a theatrical heaven whence long-deceased playwrights can watch their work, then I'm certain that George Kelly is thrilled with The Mint's new production of his fascinating play, …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:46PM[SHARE]Sunday, August 31, 2014
Oh, the joys of a well-made, genuinely funny comedy. Oh, the joys of a solid cast of Broadway stalwarts doing what they do. Oh, the joys of a sold-out theatre rocking with laughter. Oh, the …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:20PM[SHARE]Saturday, August 30, 2014
What happens when people have no options? Specifically, what happens when a pair of women, best friends who met in prison, try to make good lives for themselves in a world that has little us…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:05PM[SHARE]Sunday, August 10, 2014
It's a great concept: "the story of a Young Adult paranormal romance writer who accidentally creates a dangerous cult." The cast includes the fabulous Lorinda Lisitza and Hannah Sloat. What …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:37PM[SHARE]Sunday, August 3, 2014
If ever a play merited skewering, it's Shakespeare's messy, pointless bloodbath, Titus Andronicus. The delightful Puppet Shakespeare Players skewer it with great glee, fabulous pup…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:34PM[SHARE]Thursday, July 31, 2014
I am a big fan of Cirque du Soleil, so it pains me to write the following: Varekai is mediocre and even kind of boring.Octavio AlegriaTo be perfectly fair, I'd like to provide some context. …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:35PM[SHARE]Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Bob Fosse was talented, driven, kind, nasty, dedicated, unfaithful, brilliant, limited, addicted, and unhappy. By all accounts, he was also charismatic, seductive, and a great lay. Since the…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:32AM[SHARE]Saturday, July 19, 2014
With its even-handed, honest, and thought-provoking examination of the gray area between sex and rape, The Long Shrift has the makings of an excellent play. However, its execution is no…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:55PM[SHARE]Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Derek Ahonen's The Qualification of Douglas Evans, directed by James Kautz, is the second in the Amoralists' "two play repertory exploring man's vicious cycles." (The other is Enter at Fores…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:58PM[SHARE]Monday, July 14, 2014
The people in Mark Roberts' Enter at Forest Lawn, directed by Jay Stull, fall down, squat in frozen crouches, twitch like dying break dancers, sashay, and ooze disjointedly, respectively. Th…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:00PM[SHARE]Saturday, July 12, 2014
Great news: the Pigeoning is back at HERE."The Pigeoning is 70 minutes of pure delight. . . . Do yourself a favor and go."Photo: Richard Termine
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:31PM[SHARE]Monday, June 23, 2014
It's easy to see why The Mint might choose to revive Jules Romains' comedy Donogoo. In its sarcastic skewering of business and ambition, it is as pertinent now as it was in the 1920s. Howeve…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:00PM[SHARE]Sunday, June 22, 2014
Watching the revised version of Side Show (book and lyrics by Bill Russell, music by Henry Krieger) at the Kennedy Center is a multilayered experience to fans of the original, part…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:01PM[SHARE]Monday, June 9, 2014
See Hugh Jackman hop. See Hugh Jackman hop some more. Watch minutes pass that could have been devoted to a number from Bridges of Madison County. Wonder why Jackman is stealing a not-in…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:10AM[SHARE]Friday, June 6, 2014
The many productions of Much Ado About Nothing I have seen boasted wonderful Beatrices or wonderful Benedicks, but not since Sam Waterson and Kathleen Widdoes in the glorious AJ Antoon versi…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:53PM[SHARE]Song of Spider-Man--or, as it is more fully know in these post-colon-crazy days: Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History--is a must-read fo…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:12PM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 14, 2014
The characters are familiar high school archetypes. Lexi the Sexy. Scotty the Hotty (quarterback on the football team, natch). Betty the Pretty (head cheerleader, natch). Leeson the Decent. …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:36PM[SHARE]Thursday, May 8, 2014
Red-Eye to Havre de Grace submerges us in the paranoid fever dream of Edgar Allen Poe's last days. Using Poe's poetry and prose, other people's memories (real and fictional), and a prodigiou…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:08PM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 6, 2014
In Sharr White's Annapurna, a by-the-numbers but diverting two-hander, Emma shows up in ex-husband Ulysses's dilapidated trailer 20 years after she took their son and disappeared while …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:00PM[SHARE]Sunday, May 4, 2014
Decades ago, the brilliant and beloved acting couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were doing a play together. Lunt was surprised and pleased when his line asking for a cup of tea received a…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:31PM[SHARE]Friday, April 25, 2014
The often delightful (but too frequently slow) DonJuan, or Wages of Debauchery, adapted from a Czech classic, is conceived and directed by Vit Horejs and presented by the Czec…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:42PM[SHARE]Saturday, April 12, 2014
Catherine Trieschmann's new play, The Most Deserving, aspires to be both entertaining and significant. It is completely successful in the former regard, and not so much in the latter.Kristin…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:12PM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 8, 2014
You can credit Ted and Lo for truth in advertising; their show does hurt a bit. It also entertains, charms, and delights. I'm not sure that it gels overall, but what can you expect from a so…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:04PM[SHARE]Saturday, March 29, 2014
Okay, they were both previews. Okay, maybe they'll fix the problems (if they even perceive them as problems). But in one week I have experienced not being able to see and not being able to h…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:50PM[SHARE]Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sir Patient Fancy is a humorous yet serious look at the effect money--or lack of money!--has on romantic relationships. Written in 1678 by Aphra Behn, England's first female professional pla…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:30PM[SHARE]Kyle Nesbit. Congratulations, Kyle. You have won the copy of Nothing Like a Dame. Here are the correct answers: Angela Lansbury: 4Audra McDonald: 2Bebe Neuwirth: 10Betty Buckley: 3Carol…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:43PM[SHARE]Sunday, March 9, 2014
To win a copy of the very enjoyable Nothing Like a Dame (review here), just match up the quote and the dame and send your answers to [email protected]. A winner will be picked at random from …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:25PM[SHARE]Saturday, March 8, 2014
What happens when you assemble five writers (Kara Lee Corthron, Sarah Gancher, Virginia Grise, Dipika Guha, and Lauren Yee) and three directors (Elena Araoz, Lydia Fort, and Lauren Keating)…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:16PM[SHARE]The not-quite-accurate publicity synopsis for Emily Schwend's new play Take Me Back goes as follows:James Kautz Photo: Russ RowlandAfter a four-year stint in federal prison, Bill is back at…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:52PM[SHARE]Thursday, March 6, 2014
Axis Company's Nothing on Earth (Can Hold Houdini), written and directed by artistic director Randy Sharp, has all the ingredients of a fascinating and thought-provoking thriller. Harry Ho…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:00PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Part sketch comedy, part minimalist drama(s), Caryl Churchill's Love and Information is unlike any show I've seen. Consisting of dozens of playlets, some barely a minute long, Love and Infor…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:56PM[SHARE] 
