474 stories by "MICHAEL SOMMERS"
Dozens of plays will be staged in New Jersey in coming months, and sometimes cooperation between theater companies helps to transform an idea into a reality.
In "Esther's Moustache," a comedy by Laurel Ollstein playing at the New Jersey Repertory Company, a cartoonist is haunted by her past and her most popular creation, a sexpot goddess.
In "Trelawny of the Wells," in Madison, a popular actress retires from the stage to get married, only to return when faced with the reality of her fiancé's stuffy relatives.
A revival of "The Sound of Music" at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn features all of the original songs written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and more.
The 1965 musical "Man of La Mancha" is performed without amplification in a 308-seat theater.
In "Blessed Are," a play by Jessica Bedford, a melancholy man returns to his hometown after 17 years in prison for a drunken-driving accident that killed several people.
The revival of "A Chorus Line" at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn is dedicated to the composer Marvin Hamlisch, and remains faithful to the original staging and choreography.
Ten Chimneys is the name of the country place in Wisconsin where the legendary acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne usually spent their summers. "Ten Chimneys" is the appropriate tit…
Poverty, grotesque comedy and violence characterize the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey's production of "Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist."
The play "Farragut North," better known by its screen adaptation, "The Ides of March," involving a spin doctor for a major presidential candidate, is at the Zella Fry Theater in Union.
World premieres, audience favorites, fresh Off Broadway hits and a Shakespearean drama are among the mix of works arriving this fall at New Jersey's professional theaters.
"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport through Aug. 19, takes a humorous look at the Manhattan dating scene and suburban married life.
"Handicapped People in Their Formal Attire," a new play by Kathryn Grant, is having its world premiere by Premiere Stages, at Kean University's Zella Fry Theater in Union.
"The Liar," now onstage at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey in Madison, is an effervescent comedy based on a 1643 play by the French dramatist Pierre Corneille.
A quartet of impersonators evoke a performance by Frank Sinatra and friends in 1960 Las Vegas in "The Rat Pack is Back!" at the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport.
"American Stare," a new play by Tony Glazer at the New Jersey Repertory Company, pits a bright teenager against a slick corporate executive in a struggle over a debt-ridden neighbor's lawsui…
The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey presents "Henry IV, Part 1," which centers less on the king than on his son, Prince Hal.
A revival of "Cats," by Andrew Lloyd Webber and T. S. Eliot, is at the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport.
Two British authors adapt "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's popular 1902 novel, expressly for laughs at the New Jersey Repertory Company.
"The Last Five Years," at Crossroads Theater Company, is a virtually dialogue-free, melancholy survey of the life of a youthful romance.
"100 Years: Titanic Survivors and Their Stories" will be staged on April 15, the anniversary of the disaster, at the Arts and Community Center on the campus of Ocean County College.
George Street Playhouse presents "Twelve Angry Men," Reginald Rose's 1950s work about the deliberations of jurors in a capital-murder trial.
"Reparation," a new drama by Gino DiIorio having its world premiere at Luna Stage, pits history against profits.
Steven Dietz's wistful comedy "Shooting Star" is onstage at Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater in South Orange.
Sexy classic pops up as a breezy musical about babes and basketball
