Theater
2680 results
Page 238
"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' at the Walnut (1st review)
No country for old (con) men
This musical comedy about a pair of con men on the Riviera is plagued by a fatal flaw that no amount of sprightly performances, witty lyrics, energetic music and lavish sets can camouflage: Its characters lack character. There is simply no one to root for or empathize with here.
Articles
4 minute read
"Nuda Veritas' at Fringe Festival
When women just don't get it
Four women pose all the right questions in their quest to explain women's inexplicable behavior. But thanks to their obfuscations, I actually knew less about women when I left the theater than when I entered. Playwright Melissa James Gibson could learn a thing or two from Tennessee Williams, not to mention evolutionary psychology.
Articles
4 minute read
Gombrowicz's "Operetta' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)
Satirist without a country, in search of an audience
The Polish émigré satirist Witold Gombrowicz never lived to see the gleeful mayhem of his Operetta onstage. This is a fresh production with some priceless performances, although American audiences may not know what to make of much of it.
Articles
4 minute read
Berczynski's "Life Is a Dream'
The depths of narcissism
In her latest one-woman exploration of narcissism, the gorgeous exhibitionist Aleksandra Berczynski engages in less complaining and more pondering about the unfortunate aspects of her existence.
Articles
4 minute read
"Edgar Allan Poe Comes Alive' at Fringe Festival
Poe as Rip Van Winkle
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, and Scott Craig Jones is Poe reincarnated. Too bad he chose to bring Poe into the present, instead of taking the audience back into Poe's past.
Articles
2 minute read
Pig Iron's "Welcome to Yuba City!' At Live Arts Festival (2nd review)
Shooting fish in a barrel
Dexterous characterizations and vivid costumes make Welcome to Yuba City! the funniest show in this year's Live Arts/Fringe Festival. But most of its humor derives from poking derisive fun at exaggerated stereotypes.
Articles
4 minute read
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Whit MacLaughlin's "Fatebook' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)
Actions and consequences in cyberspace
Whit MacLaughlin's Fatebook asks rhetorically: What actually happens in cyberspace? The answer eludes him, but in the process his 15-person troupe provides one of the most unique and immersive theatrical productions I've ever experienced.
Articles
4 minute read
Pig Iron's "Welcome to Yuba City!' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)
Way out West: A finely tuned ridiculousness
Pig Iron's Welcome to Yuba City! lampoons the absurdity of America's Western mythic culture while simultaneously displaying respect and affectionate empathy for its values— no easy feat in comic theater of this sort.
Articles
4 minute read
Mike Daisey's "How Theater Failed America'
Is there an economist in the house?
In a 100-minute rant, Mike Daisey purports to expose the economic forces destroying American theater. He succeeds in demonstrating only that actors know nothing about economics.
Articles
3 minute read
Canada theater festival roundup
Only 24 hours from Broad Street: Five provocative days in Canada
In two charming Ontario towns through early November, you'll find theater as good as New York's or London's. At the Shaw and Stratford Shakespeare Festivals, I managed to squash eight plays and a hippy-dippy folk concert into five days. Here's what I saw.
Articles
8 minute read